John C Wright - The Horators lyrics

These Hortators, as they were called, were a response to the paradox of free government; namely, that free government is sufficiently limited in power to leave all nonviolent activities, i.e., the culture, in private hands; but that the cultural values allowing for such liberties must be maintained, and pa**ed to the next generation, in order for the society to remain free. Unlike all prior governments, the Foederal Oecumenical Commonwealth could not use force to maintain the loyalty of her citizens to those values and mores she needed to survive; the unity of culture was maintained on a strictly voluntary basis. The Hortators commanded a wide and precarious power, both economic and social, which they maintained by carefully retaining the goodwill of their subscribers. Many particular contracts had Hortator mandates written into the fine print, including clauses requiring the users to cooperate with embargoes and boycotts. Because of the extraordinary lifespans of the Golden Oecumene peoples, the College could be staffed with what would have been, in earlier ages, culture heroes and historical figures, and, in the cases where no mental record survived, with ghosts or reconstructions.