In a country like the Baylor Federation, people always joked and laughed in a tone that was half joke, half helplessness, that taxes and death were something that no one could avoid.
In fact, besides taxes and death, there was another thing that people could not avoid, whether they were born, old, sick, or dead, and that was political affiliation.
There are three major parties in the Baylor Federation, and it is a requirement of the Baylor Federation Charter that there must be three political parties vying for the power to govern the Baylor Federation at any given time. (I'm being totally fictional here, don't let the FBI get me as a tiny author, okay?)
The Federal Progressive Party, the Federal Conservative Party, and the Federal Socialist Party, these three political factions actually behave very aggressively at times in a seemingly loose and free political environment.
Even when you go to jail, the courts have people fill out a questionnaire that includes the political affiliation of the inmate, and then the jails and prisons where the sentence will be served are arranged according to that questionnaire.
His Excellency the Mayor was satisfied with Lynch's answers, reactions and ideas, and the political affiliation was his last question, if Lynch had a political affiliation different from his own, he would downplay Lynch's role in this, and would even interview some local capitalists and ask them to think of a way to replace Lynch, and then drive Lynch to other places.
Allowing a capitalist from another party to thrive in Progressive Party territory is something that is simply not possible, unless His Excellency the Mayor decides to give up his future political life or switch sides to help Lynch rise without compensation.
There will always be a complementary relationship between politicians and capitalists, with the capitalists providing the politicians with enough political contributions to give them jobs and more content to do with building the city.
Likewise, the politicians will give the capitalists what they want, political favors, development plans tailored to the capitalists.
This requires that both sides can trust each other and be close in some of their collaborations. People can't trust "outsiders", they only trust "their own people".
What kind of people are "our people"?
Obviously, people who share the same political stance and are united by the same goal are their own people.
Fortunately, the answer Lynch gave him made him very happy, and he didn't mind introducing Lynch into the Progressive Party, because allowing the power of capital to invade the party is not a scandal in Baylor, any famous politician has the support of capitalists or even consortiums behind him.
Without the support of these people, even the most wonderful politicians could do nothing in this wonderful country!
Of course, the political environment in Baylor was still very loose, at least on the surface, there was never any political persecution of civilians, people could say they were from the Progressive Party in the morning, and then in the afternoon they could change their stance and become fans of the Conservative Party, no one would say anything about them, and at most some ordinary people would scold them for being shameless.
Such an environment is indeed very relaxed. There is no need for a substantial application form, no need for lengthy examination and approval, just a word, a word of support, and the whole process is basically complete.
However, after leaving the lower strata of society, the political environment in the middle and upper strata of society becomes relatively strict. It is not easy for people like capitalists, politicians, and the like to change their positions, and carelessness will easily cause trouble.
There were some other more complicated situations here, but they had nothing to do with now.
Lynch had looked up some information before going to the banquet and had some understanding of the Progressive Party, and his words just now weren't exactly flattering to His Excellency the Mayor.
In his eyes, the Progressive Party was indeed much better than the Conservative Party currently in power, whose political program was to stifle development, which was why isolationism had become so prevalent over the years.
From a certain point of view, the Baylor Confederation had stayed out of international disputes and wars, and had worked hard to develop technology and industry behind closed doors, which seemed to have allowed the Baylor Confederation to make great strides in certain areas.
However, this has also created hidden dangers for the Baylor Federation.
People may not realize that with the development of technology, the concept of Bluestar will change from a "planet" to a "village". (I'm replacing the term "planet" with "Bluestar" here because Earth looks mostly blue from space).
It takes about a month and a half to travel from Baylor to the United Kingdom of Zariscu, both by land and by sea, and people are not interested in such a distant country, nor do they believe that this distant country can affect Baylor.
But in the future, when airplanes or other faster means of transportation come along, it will shorten the perception of distance so much that one can leave in the morning and arrive in the United Kingdom of Zariscu in the afternoon or the next day.
Today's rejection of the outside world will inevitably be exchanged for the isolation of the Union from the outside world in the future - as other countries begin to develop rapidly through exchange, the Union will gradually fall behind and eventually be eliminated.
While the Conservative Party was still singing the hymn of isolationism, the Baylor Federation was already experiencing some problems, and if these problems could not be solved in a short period of time, they would inevitably affect it for a long time to come.
Compared to the Conservative Party, the Progressive Party's political program and philosophy were clearly more in line with the trend of world development and Lynch's needs for the future.
Integration into the international arena, that was a most correct choice!
He shared some of his views on his dissatisfaction with the Conservative Party, which resonated well with His Excellency the Mayor.
Sometimes you don't have to praise a person, just go ahead and criticize their opponents to gain that person's admiration, and that admiration can be more satisfying than weakly dismissing them.
"Your insights are very advanced ...," the smile on His Excellency the Mayor's face was always present as he spoke, there was a pause as the door to the room opened and Ferrell took a quick look at the two men's demeanor before telling them that lunch was ready.
The happy atmosphere between the two men made Ferrell breathe a sigh of relief, Lynch was a guy who looked soft-faced and sometimes made people feel a little shy, but in reality was very opinionated and tough, he had feared that this guy and the mayor had fallen out, but now it seemed that the two men were getting along well.
"Then let's fill our stomachs first?" His Excellency the Mayor's slightly consultative tone and the smile on his face made Ferrell even more shocked, the higher-ups wouldn't show a certain preference nakedly, but then again, they would show it through the details.
This tone of consultation didn't happen often in the working life of His Excellency the Mayor, and Ferrell got the impression that Lynch was an amazing young man.
Lynch stood and straightened his clothes, "Of course, Your Excellency!"
The two of them walked into the dining room where they dined, there were only two seats at the table and only two sets of cutlery on the table, Ferrell dined out of place even though he was His Excellency the Mayor's personal officer.
According to the plan, Ferrell should have excused himself to eat at this time, there was a special waiter here, but he grabbed the waiter's job, wanting to hear exactly how Lynch had impressed His Excellency the Mayor.
After the two were seated, the Mayor looked at Ferrell who was opening a bottle of wine and pulled his eyes away, he felt that Ferrell knew his stuff and knew that some things were not quite right for other people to hear, he was a reliable man.
Today's lunch was a steak and filet platter, pan fried with a base of T-bone steak, a single serving of food that could be tasted in three different styles and have a greater variety of flavors, such was the joy of the rich.
While the poor are still looking for ways to fill their stomachs, they are already looking for more variations in flavor, more layers of texture, and that aftertaste that lingers in the mouth at the end.
Poor people eat to really eat, just to fill their stomachs.
The rich eat to enjoy themselves, and getting food into their stomachs is just a process that can't be skipped.