A Brief History of Political Satire and its Evolution.
In the beginning, when man started to become more organized in his ways of living, he found it hard to balance every aspect of his life. Making sure this thing worked, making sure this thing grew, this ate, this ran, etc. Then a thought was planted into his head. Maybe there could be someone, or a bunch of people to think of all these things for him. So began the history of politics and leadership, which began as a system of managing and providing direction for the people. Over time, however, leaders became corrupted with the power that was given to them. Some went so far as to say they had descended from gods, or were gods themselves. Leadership qualities evolved from having the merit to lead, to having enough money and a large enough army. Once royalty was established, there was no authority over who would rule the people. The first born son would inherit the throne. Some leaders were good, and the people liked them. Many were bad, ravenous for wealth and power. Over many centuries, leaders began to spread out their power, and instead of one man controlling things, many men each held an office, making things fair and just. This change of thought did not occur overnight, however; it took hundreds of years of fighting, protesting, and rebelling to change the way leaders did their job. Many times, though when the protesting became too much, leaders initiated martial law, and anyone caught openly protesting would be killed. The only way to protest, then, was through the written word. The philosophers and authors who published their works changed the way people viewed the politics and caused silent rebellions that led to giant revolutions. The people, guided by an orderly thought process, were usually successful in overthrowing the tyrannies they toiled under due to the literature. Though many authors got their start during a war or rebellion, many political satirists are just that, satirists.
