AP thread 872.6 - Statement ITT

[McSeafield]

Another truth:

Imagine the following scenario. You are a successful businessman with much economic power but you have no clean slate. You want to expand into gambling, but you are being harassed by a local council that is worried about laws that you don't think apply. You try to do an end run around them, they fight back, you persist -- and in all of this, you are wondering just how can you get these troubling people out of the way. You know that gambling is not popular with the voters. If you can somehow swing the voters to your side, you can cut the council off at the legs and get what you want. You are the largest employer in the area, but that doesn't seem to be enough. You are respected, but the people aren't going to give you a blank cheque just because you run a local factory. You need to be a hero! What better way than to put it all on the line, take on forces larger than yourself in a classic David-vs-Goliath battle, and if you're lucky, get yourself roughed up, just a little. Now the people don't just respect you, they adore you. Those cowards on the local council know you have the people behind you, and realize that they will need to pay a price to keep their jobs. That price is to give what you wanted in the first place -- the sole right to managed a lucrative gambling interest without interference or resistance.