Once upon a time, there was a small American town, set on the banks of the
Retroit River, cleverly named Retroit.
Joe Blow was an enterprising young politician who grew up in Retroit, a proud
product of their schools.
Joe Blow had what seemed like a good idea at the time.
He had realized that when you extinguish the candles on a cake you
"Blow" out the flame, and if you spit a lot people would be upset when
the cake became wet.
Joe's claim to fame was that if he was elected Mayor of Retroit, he would
replace the current Fire Trucks, that sprayed water, with newer rigs that had
big blowers on them that would blow out the fire. "Just as simply as a
child blows out the candles on a birthday cake." Joe would tell the voters
of Retroit.
The voters of Retroit overwhelming voted for Joe Blow, and his blowers.
One tragic day, Mayor Blow had all the townsfolk in the community room for a
session on the evils of smoking. Unfortunately one of the townsfolk threw a lit
cigarette in the bushes behind the community center. He was late for the
occasion and did not want to be caught smoking, with the risk of jail time and
all. The fire was spotted smoldering by one of the "Traffic Cameras"
mounted near by. The Fire Department trained their Blower on the fire and
whoosh! The air flow fed the fire oxygen and the community center was engulfed
in flames before most of the folks of Retroit could exit.
Retroit then became a ghost town.
One can look up video clips in library of some of the survivors of the Retroit
Fire moaning to a television news crew, "We paid our taxes, we don't
deserve this!" or "The citizens of Retroit have a
right to expect reliable protection from the fire department as well as
the police department. The fire department is paid for by tax dollars."
On the other side of the world, in a small town, government workers remove a
sign, proclaiming Retroit as a "Sister City". They are grateful their
King watches out for them, and would never replace their Fire Trucks.