Almost as if it had joined the funeral procession, the mild winter departed Brno with the body of its favorite Abbot. Hours after a jet-black hearse had carried the coffin to the train station, and minutes after the train carrying the last remains of Cyril Napp had chugged it's way out of the station, the storm clouds rolled in and the first serious snow of the winter fell in earnest.

With many a sigh of regret, the citizens of the town cleared their paths, unhitched their carriages and took out their sleighs once more. Horses spent more time in their barns and shelters and people spent as little time out of doors as possible. But the life of the town had to continue, and it was not long after the last black cloud had rolled away, and an incongruous, if somewhat weak, sun had reappeared that Brother Timothy could be seen trudging towards the Bishop's Palace.

His body may have been forced to walk slowly, pushing the mounds of snow before him, but his spirits were soaring far above the vanishing clouds. He was going to be the next Abbot of St Thomas's! A long standing ambition was about to be realized at last, and a dream he had dreamt for many years was about to become a reality. He could already see himself in Abbot Napp's office, behind his desk, sitting in his chair and rearranging his own papers.

All this he had been promised by Monsignor Schrattenbach, on whom he was about to pay a visit. The Bishop's Vicar General had been quite sure that his elevation was about to begin, and Brother Timothy had no reason to doubt that it would be so. True, there was the small matter of an election, and there the first tiny seeds of anxiety crept into his certainty. His fellow monks all had to vote for him, and sure as he was of success, he was not quite as confident of his popularity as Msgnr. Schrattenbach seemed to be.

This was the reason for his visit to the Palace; he was about to receive his first lesson in how to get elected.

"It is important that you understand why people will vote for you," Monsignor Schrattenbach told him after they had made themselves comfortable in the Vicar General's imposing office. An equerry had taken Brother Timothy's outer garments, and had provided a warming glass of the strange liquid Brno residents called coffee, before bowing himself quietly out of the room and leaving the two men together before the fire.

"In many parts of the world, little tin-pot dictators assume the mantle of legitimacy by forcing their citizens to the polls at the end of a gun, and intimidating them to vote in favor of continued authoritarianism. Thus we see that brute force is a very popular way of getting someone to vote for you. Do not laugh," he could see a grin beginning to form around Brother Timothy's mouth, "several of your fellow monks may need a 'visit' from the Politikteil section of the Staat Polizei before this election is over. Never underestimate fear as a motivating tool.

"But when it comes to matters of the church the Staat Polizei are reluctant to be too overt, so we must only count on very subtle help from the Untercommandant, not that he is a very subtle man, but he will have his uses, never fear".

Pausing to sip at his glass, the Vicar General watched his pupil over the rim of the beaker. Brother Timothy was, without doubt, a very ambitious man who had proved a useful tool to the Bishop and particularly to the Bishop's chief aide. He deserved this reward and the fact that the new Abbot would be beholden to the Palace for his elevation, made the arrangement all the more important. Msgnr. Schrattenbach had lost count of the number of times Abbot Napp had frustrated him or thwarted some of his plans for the diocese. The new Abbot had to be a man who was both pliable and adaptable; a person very like Brother Timothy.

"But," he continued, "if we leave force out of our repertoire for a moment, we still have many other well tried and tested tools with which to achieve our objective. People are easy to lead and to convince if only the right approach is used. As a famous American President once said, before he was assassinated, 'You can fool most of the people most of the time', and that is all we intend to do".

"I have always worked for the good of the Monastery," Brother Timothy insisted, "most of my fellow monks know that I have only their best interests at heart. They will not be hard to convince that I am the right person to be their next Abbot".

Schrattenbach looked at him sharply. He had expected more experience and more intelligence from his pupil. "That is the thinking of a simpleton," he said harshly, and watched Brother Timothy's face change into one of shock. "Nobody will vote for you because they think you are the best candidate, or will make the best Abbot. They may say that in public, or to your face, but their real motive will not be one of altruism or public service".

"What then?" Brother Timothy asked, sullenly. He thought he had understood the reasons people voted for their leaders. Hadn't Abbot Napp always been loved by his monks because of his devotion to them and because of his inspired leadership?

"There are only four motives that are important when a person decides who to vote for," Schrattenbach said, "these are fear, greed, hatred and inertia". He paused to see the effect of his remarks. "I see you do not understand, so let me explain further.

"Fear, we have already discussed, but fear has two components. One is the fear of the authorities or of brute force, but the second use of fear is more subtle, and more closely resembles intimidation than crude threats. Power intimidates people; they admire, respect and are a tiny bit afraid of men who project their authority with confidence. No one will vote for a week candidate, or someone who appears soft and pliable. But, despite all evidence to the contrary, they will vote for someone already in power or who they think will be a strong leader".

Bother Timothy nodded slowly at this, then said, "But I have never been a leader, how will this work for me?"

"In the next few weeks," Schrattenbach said, "you will become much more forceful in your opinions, you will speak firmly and often at all chapter meetings and you will not hesitate to put forward your solution to any trivial problem that may arise. Your fellow monks will become used to turning their heads in your direction every time an issue needs resolving, and they will automatically assume that you have the answers. They will become intimidated by the force of your presence, and will begin to see you as a natural leader".

"And the other methods?" Brother Timothy asked.

"Greed is the most powerful of motives. It works the vast majority of the time, and nothing else comes even close to matching its effectiveness. People vote for leaders who will reward them in some way, or at least promise to reward them in some way. A promise of lower taxes will be vastly more effective than any promise of good or fair government. You must not stress how moral your leadership will be, you must stress how profitable it will be".

At this Brother Timothy grinned. "I agree with you on this motive. Many is the time Abbot Napp persuaded us all to go along with one of his many schemes by promising us more pork at Easter or more blankets in winter. I will start making a list of those items long missing from the monastery and start arranging the funds to buy them".

"No, no, no!" Monsignor Schrattenbach almost shouted, "haven't you learnt anything about people. Most of the monks in your monastery are Liberals who read the Tagsbote every day. All that these media-reading liberals require is that you promise them the extra blankets, more money for the poor, extra visits to the sick and less gristle on the meat. The promise is the most important part, not that you actually carry out that promise and deliver the better joints of meat".

"I cannot agree there," Brother Timothy responded, "they will see at once that I do not carry out my promises, and then they will not trust me! My administration would be ruined!"

Msgnr. Schrattenbach laughed out loud at his pupil's last remark. "You must understand the Liberal frame of mind. To these people what you say to them is much more important than what you actually do. A Liberal must always be told what he wants to hear; you must never confuse them with the truth. Promise Vaclav Sembera that you will hold more prayer meetings and that you consider his choir the most important part of the monastery, and he will happily vote for you. It is a lie, or at least an empty promise, but he will believe you because it is what he wants to hear you say.

"On the other hand, tell him that your fellow monks cannot stand any more praying, which is the truth, or tell him that his choir practices disrupt important monastery business, which it does, and he will hate you for your honesty. Then he will vote for someone else who has told him the lies that he wants to hear. Always say the words Liberals want to believe, and they will go away happy. Tell them the truth and they will think you are a conservative, a reactionary or a hard hearted villain and they will flee from your presence."

"But you still have not said what to do when the promises are not kept!" Brother Timothy insisted.

"That does not matter," Monsignor Schrattenbach replied. "With Liberals what you say is far more important than what you actually do. If, at some future time, Sembera reminds you that the prayers are still not being said, put your arm around his shoulder and tell him in soft words that you are working on the problem, but it is not as easy as he imagines, that you have encountered opposition, that the suggestion is making you very unpopular with the other monks but you are sacrificing your dignity to get him more prayer sessions. He will actually go away feeling sorry for you, and you will have won again".

"So," Brother Timothy said slowly, "with any Liberal, who gets his opinions from reading newspapers, all you have to do is say the right words, and they will follow you anywhere? Basically the reality of any situation is unimportant as long as you can make them feel happy and contented about the situation, what ever it is".

"Now I think you understand," Msngr. Schrattenbach said. "Liberals have 'feelings', and so long as you promise to make everyone feel happy all the time, you can actually do almost anything you want".

But before the Master and the Pupil could investigate this idea any further, the equerry reappeared and whispered his message into the Vicar General's ear.

"I fear we must terminate this interesting discussion," Schrattenbach said, getting our of his chair. "But you should start applying these principles to your fellow monks right away, and watch the results. They could make you the next Abbot".