Exponential

by JM Addison

  Chapter 17

  Bob Danvers was getting a little sick of it already. Running for a political office as big as governor of Massachusetts was a real headache. Television ads, mudslinging with the other candidates, personal appearances and still trying to run a multi-billion dollar company. He knew he would need to find a successor to take the reins of Viiradium if he were to be elected. It would be a difficult choice given the morons that were supposed to be serving as vice presidents and corporate executives of the company now. If it weren’t for him, they would have driven the company into the ground long ago.

  He was the one who recognized the need to find motivated and talented technical people who understood the science and principles and who could develop what amounted to theories into marketable products. Now look where they were. Their products were ubiquitous. You could hardly find a modern technology company today that didn’t have some Viiradium products in use someplace within their organization.

  The motivated and talented people, the ones usually referred to as ‘geeks’, were indeed strange and eccentric. So what? Give them what they wanted and they would be happy. As long as they were happy, they would make you happy. That was the part most executives didn’t get. Technology companies depended on a strange natural resource – not fossil fuels or earthly ores, but eccentric techno-weenies that worked strange hours, wanted all kinds of outrageous pay and basically glued the organization together. You had to make them happy to be a success.

  He believed administering the state as governor could use some very similar principles. First and foremost, you had to do all that you could to make the people happy. Only, in this case, the people were not employees, but voters, constituents. You couldn’t simply pay them, you had to make their government perform. Then, if they were happy, they wouldn’t mind paying high taxes. What really made people upset wasn’t the high taxes, it was the high taxes for nothing! You had to have results! You had to use the money to produce something worthwhile.

  People wanted lower crime, lower unemployment, better roads, less traffic, more security in retirement, a future to look forward to. They wouldn’t mind paying for it. He felt that he could overhaul things from a corporate executive standpoint, reduce or eliminate waste and from an overall perspective, give people what they wanted.

  He was sick and tired of the campaigning though. What a bunch of crap. No matter what tactic he tried, the other candidates would counter any effort with even more crap. In fact, they would simply lie to make you look bad. Didn’t matter if it was later proved that they straightforwardly lied, some listeners already had their minds changed by the lies and it would be almost impossible to get their trust back.

  Fortunately, he had a respectable bearing and a friendly, believable presence whenever he walked into a room. He seemed like a man you could believe would get things done. This had pushed him a long way and he intended to make the most of his natural abilities. Especially compared with some of the wimps that were supposedly his contenders.

  Deep down inside, he knew that this was only a stepping stone. His long term sights were set much higher than governor. However, he didn’t want to follow the same failed footsteps of other self-funded candidates of recent campaigns. They lost because the American people just wouldn’t elect a non-politician for President. Schwarzenegger and Regan did it the right way. They was no politicians, but it was a lot easier for an actor to get into politics in a state like California where acting is taken seriously. The same with Danvers – it would be a lot easier for a powerful corporate executive to be elected governor in a state like Massachusetts where corporate executives were taken seriously. Then, you were considered politically experienced and then the American people would take you seriously. You were no longer a corporate minion, you were an experienced governor with a proven track record.

  The only trouble was, you had to put up with these buffoons, these so called other candidates. Even the incumbent democrat was a pansy as far has Danvers was concerned. The state needed a man of action! Sure, it would cost him, but money was not the issue. He had plenty of that.

  Power.

  That was what drove a man like Danvers.