WAR (51 page)

President Rand knocks on Rod’s office door
“Rod, you still here?”

“Yes sir, come on in.”

“Why are you sitting in the dark?”

“I hadn’t realized I was, I was lost in thought.”

“Are you OK?”

“Yes, very much so. What can I do for you?”

“I thought we might discuss our next steps over a late dinner.”

“Excellent idea, I think I forgot to have dinner.”

“I know, the staff told me. Why don’t you spend the night here instead of going home? Kelly was saying just yesterday that she hasn’t seen you in a while.”

“You talked me into it.”

As the two men are walking down the hall towards the stairs to the residence, a Marine aide snaps to attention, he salutes the two men, handing the VP a sealed envelope. The VP and President return his salute. Rod opens the envelope, reading the message inside, smiling he hands it to the President who nods smiling. Rod says to the aide, “Please tell the general, thank you.”

“Yes sir.”

“Rod so it appears the Director of the LSA DepLIES had a fatal accident. Such a shame, sometimes those large battery packs overheat.”

“Yes, accidents happen.”

The President doesn’t ask the question on his mind deciding he doesn’t want to know the answer. “Rod, who do you think Booker will tap to lead the DepLIES next?”

“No idea, whoever it is will most likely be worse than Dianne. Booker will do anything he can to sway the upcoming election.”

The two men, trying not to look as tired as they felt, walk into the residence dining room, Rod says, “I’m not sure if I want dinner or breakfast.”

“I know, let’s ask the kitchen to cook us up some steak and eggs, that way we’ll have both at the same time.”

Laughing, Rod nods his agreement.

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The second program kicks off with a very nervous Wolf trying to convince viewers everyone is better off with a separate progressive state. He goes on to say, “Without the LSA we progressives would be trying to convince the rest of the USA we were right and you were wrong. Many remember the way it used to be, government got nothing done due to all of the internal fighting. We’re all much better off with two countries.”

A caller to the program says they have a question for Wolf, “I want to make sure I understand you correctly. You said if the people on both sides of the divide vote to come together, you think we’re making a mistake because you progressives are going to act like spoiled two-year-olds and cause problems for the country because you didn’t get your way? What happened to do the best for all of the county’s people?”

“I didn’t catch your name, never mind, you have to understand, we progressives know we have the answer. We are planning the perfect society.”

“Your perfect society, the LSA seems to resemble George Orwell’s 1984 more than it does a paradise.”

Jason laughs saying, “Speaking as a family who lived in the progressive paradise, it’s nice to be here in the USA. We’re learning this is closer to paradise than the LSA, which tries to control everything including our very thoughts. Right and wrong is what the government says it is, it could all change tomorrow, the people are supposed to just accept the daily changes. We’re not supposed to think for ourselves, we’re supposed to be good little robots, yes sir, no sir, we’ll do our job to build a progressive paradise. We’ll happily pay high taxes so sixty-fiverpercent of the country can stay home and do nothing while the thirty-five percent of us can support them. Those of us who are lucky to have a job work for the government which owns everything, every company, every utility. The unions, which are supposed to protect us from the bad management practices, are also managed by the government. The LSA was founded on a belief everyone was equal, everyone was entitled to certain rights, these rights came not from the creator or God, but from the government who also could just as easily take them away from us. Hate speech is anything that the government says it is. No one can speak out against the government. Anyone who speaks out against President Booker is racist. Anyone who doesn’t accept everything President Booker says is a racist. Racism has been turned into the most used abused adjective. Anyone who protests at their job is a racist. Anyone who doesn’t like the new ‘Shared Responsibility Tax’ is a racist. I could continue, but I’m sure you get the idea.”

Wolf says, “Jason, it’s not that bad.”

“Isn’t it? Please provide one example where a news reporting organization reported anything negative, please, why don’t you explain to everyone watching how many people are kept in the re-education camps in the far North West Terrortiy above the Artic Circle. Why don’t you tell the viewers the number of families that disappear in the middle of the night?  Why don’t you tell the viewers about the new LSA laws which force the local police into a quota system of arrests, the number of people arrested in a thirty day period has to equal the percentage the types of people living in the community. This means that if a community has thirty percent African-Americans living in; no more than thirty percent can be arrested that month. It has no relationship the amount of crime or who committed the crimes. Certain minorities track crime stats, when the quota is reached for them that month, they have no fear of being arrested. Is this the equality you preached in the founding of the LSA? In the LSA, we are all treated as racists-in-waiting, we are all just one step away from being a criminal. We left because we did the unthinkable, we committed the most serious crime that can be committed in the LSA, we began to think for ourselves and to question the decisions our caring and loving government were making.”

Sharon picks up the conversation, “We lived our entire lives either as progressives in the USA state of Oregon or in the progressive country of the LSA, we discovered things were improving only in the government’s and the media’s eyes. In reality, things weren’t improving at all. People disappeared for disagreeing with those in power, our children were taught to spy on us. They were taught a completely different world history than what’s true. The government worked daily to remove all vestiges of religion. We were supposed to accept that everything we had, came from the government. There was no creator or God, there was no Messiah. We would be saved only by our President and by following the orders of the DepLIES. We’d like to address everyone living in the LSA.” Sharon leans forward staring into the camera; “You are people, each of you is unique. We have rights which have been given to us by God, or the creator whichever you want to call him. Our President is a man, he can be and usually is wrong. We have free choice, we have the right to decide for ourselves. We shouldn’t go to bed at night worried if the government is going to kick in outdoor at 3AM and take us away. Do you want to be free? Do you want your children to grow up to a better life than you have? Do you want to live your life without being spied on? Do you want to be able to disagree with your managers? Do you want the right to do with your earnings what you want? If you answer yes to any of these questions, then you have to vote to join the USA. Do your family a favor, do your future generations a favor and vote to join the USA. Staying separate means disaster. Your children will grow up in a country that resembles a prison camp more than a country. The government will control what they think, where they work, where they go to school, what they eat and even how long they sleep. Anything the government decides in their wisdom, will be banned. Soon we’ll all be living on bread and water because everything else will be banned.”

“There are so many departments and layers in the government, those who make the laws are too far removed from us who have to follow their rules. They don’t understand us because they live in another world. They don’t worry about the cost of food or where the money is coming from to pay the electric bill or put food on the table. The more people the government hires, the further it pushes them away from us. Unless the LSA government cuts hundreds of layers between us and those who make our laws, we’re lost. We might as well be on another planet.”

“Since we’ve been in the USA we’ve learned that capitalism is really the best economic system, it rewards the winners and punishes the losers, capitalism improves the lives of people, it supplies new products and services quicker than any other system. It reduces prices quicker. Look at the personal computer, look at the 4D DVD players, I remember buying our first DVD player when they were $500, now you can purchase a 4D DVD player for $30, and that includes 3 years of movie downloads. Workers are rewarded for their effort, more people have been able to work their way from being poor to the middle class and even become rich through capitalism. Socialism holds people back, it ensures people stay in the class they were born in or it forces them into a lower class through high taxes.”

“Progressivism, Socialism, whatever you want to call it encourages and forces an entitlement mentality. People learn to rely on the government, they learn they don’t have to work, they don’t have to do anything. Look at the LSA, more than half of their population does nothing. When people do nothing society stagnates or erodes.”  

“Trust us, think about what we’re saying. Think about what you’ve heard, think about what’s happened in the past twelve years. Think about your children and their children.”

The show ends with a display of all of the items the LSA has outlawed or banned.  The list runs for five long minutes.

Sean says, “I want to thank both of you for taking on these long and stressful days. No matter what happens in the election, the country thanks you.”

Both families nod their heads. Leon says, “Scott, let’s check out our new FB page, yesterday we got over 50,000 likes and friend requests.”

“Yeah, many of them are really cute. I can’t wait to see who posts tonight.”

Carol and Sharon shake their heads. Carol says, “Sharon, I’m sorry Leon has rubbed off on Scott.”

“It’s OK, they’re teenagers, at least he has a chance now to be a normal teenager.”

Jason says, “The election is in a week, how do you think it’s going to go?”

Wolf says, “You tried hard to change history, but you’re going to see the inner strength of the LSA, people know we have the answers, we are the path forward not the slavers in the USA.”

Bob says, “Wolf, I don’t own a single slave, none of my ancestors owned a slave, what’s with all of the slavery bullshit?”

“Capitalism is slavery.”

Jason laughs saying, “Wolf I think your mind is decaying, you’re not making any sense. You know damn well capitalism isn’t slavery.”

“Yes it is, you make your workers into slaves.”

Sharon laughs saying, “Wolf, isn’t it time for you to go home? By the way, what are you going to do if you lose the election?”

“What do you mean?”

“Where are you going to go? You won’t be able to stay here, no one believes you anymore.”

Laughing Wolf says, “You don’t understand the power of the press, we form your opinions, we form your thoughts, we tell you what to believe. If the vote goes against the LSA, I’ll just work my way back into favor with the new media. We always win. You never spend the time to investigate what we’re saying. You take what we say as the gospel. In the end, we always win.” Laughing Wolf shakes his head as he packs his briefcase.

Chapter 38

              President Booker sits in his new office reviewing the ‘instapolls’; he’s depressed by the numbers in the report he’s reading. The recent television program with the Smith and Jones families is destroying his hope the people of the LSA will vote to maintain their independence from the USA. He calls his recently appointed Director of the DepLIES, Leh Johson.  Booker convinced Leh to come out of retirement to take over the DepLIES after Dianne died in a tragic battery explosion, supposedly a rare occurance but it happens a dozen times a month which they’ve covered up for years. “Leh, what are we going to do about the election?”

              “With the Council of Fifteen watching every voting location, my people aren’t allowed within 1 mile of any voting location, I don’t know what to do. We can’t send illegals to vote because the security force is checking everyone’s embedded ID chip, we had to give them a list of our citizens, they’re matching them against those who vote, we won’t be able to have people vote two or three times. We can’t bus people from one voting site to another. I think we’re going to have to let the people vote.”

              “Leh, you know as well as I do, people don’t understand the issues, they vote for jobs or food or when we pay them.”

              “We could pay them, promise to pay everyone a bonus for voting for us.”

              “We can’t, the security group told me this morning they are spot checking people’s bank accounts to ensure we didn’t pay them.”

              “We could pay them later after the security groups leave.”

              “I tested that message. Most people questioned, laughed. They don’t trust me! I don’t believe they don’t trust me. I’m insulted by the implication I’m not trustworthy.”

              “How about creating a charity to pay the funds from.”

              “That’s an interesting idea. Why don’t you check out how to pull it together, we’re almost out of time. The election is in two days.”

              “I’ll get right on it.”