There are certain people who have stayed quiet for four-plus years who now are emerging with little bravado.
Their interesting thesis is that, yes, the coupmeisters and the general prime minister (but we repeat ourselves) have acted with great unfairness, what with their guns and all. They have managed to stay in control, but come the end of the election, whatever year that might occur, the battlefield (metaphorically) will retilt to "even", to fair for everyone, and they will show those green shirts a thing or three, and take the country back.
Key phrase: "free for everyone, with a level playing field". Where do they get that idea?
The unfairness isn't going to stop (read on). But as currently playing out, everything after the election may already have been decided exactly by the amount of fairness.
The general prime minister has three massive advantages. As head of the National Council for Peace and Order (junta) he has all the power including a Section 44 magnum, the world's most powerful extralegal lawmaker. He has the incumbents' veto -- an inalienable right to the most media attention, and about half a dozen photo opportunities per day. He has full control of all welfare, handouts and "gifts" such as new roads or school improvements, that used to be spread among political parties and MPs to use to influence votes, English translation "buy".
That is all before a vote is cast.
Now if that seems somewhat unfair, and if it seems we could have the first free-but-unfair election since Pibulsonggram was squeezed out, well, as the highly respected philosophers' commune BTO wrote, "B-b-b-b-baby you ain't seen nothing yet", compared with what the military has not yet shown but will bring to bear.
Those who haven't been paying attention have some surprises in store. Probably, so will many who have been paying attention, because what is on the books is martial law without the law part, Big Brother without the brother, constitutional rights without the pesky rights.
In the final days of the year, Gen (Ret) Prayut addressed the presumably loyal NCPO brass. He ordered them to order their soldiers, airmen, sailors and marines to spread out and beard people in their villages and towns, even though none of them has asked for help.
The man who promised national reconciliation in 2014 is now promising forced political education.
In coming weeks we're going to look at the post-election landscape, and what to expect. For example:
New laws now actually ban discussion of lese majeste laws, on penalty of 15 years of state-provided room and board.
Here is what we know about public support for such laws, beefed up, multiplied and thoroughly muscled since 2014: Nothing at all.
This was a lively topic before the green shirts revived their high-minded duty to tell 70 million people how to live their lives or go to prison.
If you had a mind to know about this pre-2014 attitude, you could request permission to come on down to picturesque Soi Na Ranong and look it up in our riverside morgue. Repeat: request.
The best military minds in the country have not figured out how to know if you read something laid down on the surface of processed, dead trees. Neither have their brothers in surveillance in the Middle Kingdom.
The same can't be said for simulated text drawn at lightning speed on a computer monitor, a smartphone screen, a tablet, a laptop -- any such electronic device. Thanks to their special friends in a large, Mandarin-speaking country, the best military minds and their internet warriors now know as much as Santa Claus. They know if we've been bad or good because they know exactly what we've read, liked, commented upon and shared. And they have unlimited supplies of concrete floors for room. They will be nice to those who've been naughty, for each of the 5,478 days after sentencing. Or so.
There have been around 100 people prosecuted for lese majeste since 2014. "Around" because arrests and trials and sentences are mostly revealed by families and friends. Similarly, dozens or scores or hundreds have fled abroad ahead of arrest and imprisonment.
The number "112" is often mentioned in regard to these illegal discussions. It's still okay to mention the number, but it's not at all okay to say very much about it.