Yes, it’s a hypothetical with an absurd fantasy premise and longish storytelling OP. If you don’t like these, I don’t understand why you’re still reading. Anyway, today’s story is once again about Bob X, the slacker superhero with Kryptonian powers. But it is not Bob who’s facing a dilemma; it’s the people of Chicago, his home town. Here’s the sitch:
Six months ago, Bob’s Earth was invaded by the Unpronounceable Interstellar Armada, a race of warlike space nomads who live on their fleet of gigantic ships. With no more warning than a lion gives a gazelle, they warped into Earth orbit, sank Hawaii into the Pacific, and and announced that they were about to do to humanity what the white man did to the Cherokee. Earth had 24 hours to surrender; otherwise the Unpronounceables would destroy each nation’s capital, then repeat the ultimatum. Naturally Bob sprang into action. Fortunately as lazy as he is, he excels at space battles, as he goes from Byrne-era Superman in atmosphere to Silver Age Kal in space. He was able to trash the fleet before any cities got vaporized.
But not everything was rosy. Bob’s victory infuriated the Unpronounceable commander, who decided to vent his spleen on Bob’s home town. While Bob was dumping the enemy ships in Mare Orientale, the commander took his personal fighter and started shooting up the Windy City. Bob zipped home and stopped him, of course, but over five thousand Chicagoans joined the choir invisible before the Unpronounceable leader joined them.
A lot of people in Chicago are pissed off about this. They’d never have drawn the aliens’ attention if Bob didn’t live there, they say. Moreover, three or four times a year, some psycho with optic blasts or a battlesuit comes to town to challenge Bob to a fight; though he generally smacks them down without any civilian casualties, it’s just a matter of time before one shows up while Bob is off dealing with a tsunami or an earthquake. All in all, these folk feel that Bob needs to go build himself a fortress of solitude someplace far away from inhabited areas.
On the above, Bob’s supporters call bullshit. The Unpronounceable leader was going to seek revenge on somebody; what was Bob supposed to do, let Earth be conquered? In addition, they point out that with Bob around, Chicago’s street crime is practically nil. You see, he’s been feeling guilty ever since he decided to let the Syrian civil war take its course, and consequently he’s been johnny-on-the-spot whenever there’s a gunshot or cry for help in his city. The gangbangers, Mafia, and freelance thugs have all been chased off; in all of 2013, there were fewer than a dozen deaths by violence or mischance in the entire city. Surely that’s worth the quarterly, unsuccessful super-villain attack.
Bob’s annoyed by this initiative, of course. He doesn’t want to move; Chicago’s where he grew up, and his mom and all his friends live there. Nonetheless he’s willing to abide by the election results. Several other metropolises are offering to pay him for his services, so if the vote goes against him, he’ll ditch the altruist bit and hang his [del]shingle[/del] cape in whatever city offers him the most cheese. (Probably Tokyo; he’s already there about once a year fighting kaiju, so he might as well get paid for it.
Now to the thread question. If you lived in Bob’s Chicago, how would you vote on the ballot initiative? Regardless of that, how do you predict the vote will go?