Andreea Amariei
06/08/2005
ENG099
Dr. Clark
Jennifer Government and Nation States
I was watching the News showing two Romanian people captured in Iraq. They were asking for help from the Government. If the Government didn’t take any position they would have been shot. Eventually the Government did rescue them. Do people’s lives depend on the actions of our Governments? I believe they do. In Max Barry’s book, Jennifer Government, people can’t rely on the actions of their Governments. There is competition between powerful companies and their goal is to dissolve the Government. While the Government in the novel is trying to its job in a society where business transformed everything into chaos, the game Nation States refers to the Government as the most powerful mean of control in a society.
Jennifer Government is a novel where business is the central organizing structure and the connector between well-developed companies. There are two corporations like Team Advantage and U.S. Alliance, which want to rule the world and transform it into means of obtaining capital. The methods they are using in order to achieve their goals have direct effect on the population. In this world people don’t have their own personality. You are whom you work for, so they wear the names of the companies they work for, like Hack Nike, John Nike, Violet ExxonMobil, Buy Mitsui, Jennifer Government, Billy NRA, Holly T.A. The Government’s role here is useless because money makes this world function. I had the opportunity to play the game Nation States, create my own country and establish the role of my own Government. I created my own society. The purpose of a country is to be flourishing. Its Government should be a benefit for citizens, should be helpful and provide what people are in need of.
In Max Barry’s book, John Nike, a genuine businessman who has influence towards most of the people involved in business, wants to diminish the role of the Government. He wants to be the Government because he wants to create a world where taxes shouldn’t be an impediment, where laws shouldn’t exist. Therefore his actions are inhuman. He kills customers and he goes so far that he even orders that the President should be killed. The President is indeed killed and when he is questioned about his actions, he only has one answer: “I just want to do business” (page222-the novel). He works for Nike Liaison. He has relations everywhere. The Government, through Jennifer Government and Calvin Government, is trying to stop him. He is in charge of killing Hayley McDonald’s and other fourteen people, which is the reason that gives the Government the right to arrest him. He doesn’t have any limits and by killing the President he claims: “I’ve given you a world without Government interference” (page 222-the novel). So what kind of world has he given? I think he only destroyed the order of a world where the Government should lead. That is not the society people want to live in. A good society is where people have rights and should also obey the law. I believe everything is going smoothlyas long as the society and the rules of it don’t harm the population. You can’t be an employee without signing a contract that specifies the rights and the duties you will have and be required to do.
While in Jennifer Government the definition of a good society for John Nike means eliminating the competition and breaking the rules established by the Government, in my country it is mandatory to respect what the Government decides. My country, called The People’s Republic of Andrutza, is “a large, safe nation, remarkable for its compulsory military service” (Nation States). The population has increased lately from 14 million people to 36 million people who have civil rights and they are rarely given political freedoms. In my country people feel safe. They will not encounter situations when customers are killed for buying a pair of sneakers like it happened in Jennifer Government. My doctrine:” You Are Free As Long As You Don’t Bother Me” says it all. You can make business, you can have your own company where you rule, but you will have to respect what you have been asked to. The average income tax rate is 34 % and the economy is still developing. I have been proposed some issues and as a response to them I chose what I thought it was the best for my country. It has been suggested to add the ogre in the menu. How can I sacrifice my national animal? He is a protected species and SPCA President Miranda Wong declared: “The ogre is part of what makes Andrutza a great nation!” (Nation States). My nation is different to the one created in Jennifer Government. Competition will exist, but it won’t lead companies to kill people in order to maintain their place in the top ranks.
You may want to create a new world with new rules and political system or you may want to create a world that doesn’t have any of them. In Jennifer Government it is a world that doesn’t take into consideration that people are at the same time customers and owners of companies, but they are not means of a good, successful business. Do we want to live in a chaotic world? I personally don’t that is the reason that I believe John should have played the game in order to create his own world and do what he had to do: business.