It was no surprise that the people rose up during the Crisis. By the “people,” she meant the public employees being unfairly targeted for the draconian cuts. She joined the unions in their protests, but she never got violent like some of them did.
Carol, as a proud socialist progressive, had never liked the government. It was so corporate and reactionary. But, she had to admit, during the Crisis, the government was doing the best it could. There were shortages at the stores, but that was to be expected. Fat greedy Americans shouldn’t expect to get everything they wanted on demand, so shortages would actually teach them a lesson. She had been hungry for a while several days go, but it wasn’t the government’s fault. It was using its emergency powers to go get these teabagger “Patriot” militia whackos.
Then the government finally did what it should have done years ago: nationalized most of the economy. What took so long? Carol was especially happy about the FCards. What a brilliant solution, converting bloated retirement accounts of the rich into food for the masses. Simon Bolivar would be proud.
She and her brother Grant weren’t close. He was an OK guy and she wished him the best. He would probably say the same about her, but they were so different. She couldn’t stand his politics. What a hillbilly knuckle dragger he was. All that conservative crap he was always talking about. And he was religious. He had fallen for every lie the capitalists had put out there. It was sad, really. But whatever. He wasn’t hurting anyone.
Or was he? One of Carol’s colleagues, a professor in the Latin Studies department, told Carol that a “Grant Matson” was on the POI list. Was it her brother? She was afraid for him. His crazy politics had gone too far.
Yep, it was him. Grant Matson of Olympia, Washington who worked for the Washington Association of Business. Oh no. Her own brother was a terrorist. Her first thought, she was embarrassed to admit, was whether she would lose her job because of it. Wait. She couldn’t lose her job. She was tenured. The stores around the University were pretty well stocked. She was even starting to get her beloved lattes again with her FCard. She would be OK.
This would all be over soon, she said. She’d probably be teaching again in the fall. The government would solve the problems. They had all the smart people working for them. How hard could it be get rid of these right-wingers? The teabaggers were stupid. Not educated at all.
She hoped her brother wouldn’t get hurt but, quite honestly, he had done this to himself. If he wanted to be a macho “Patriot” and that was against the law, then he needed to pay for his actions. It would all work out. She was confident that socialism would make people’s lives better in America. Just like it had all over the world.
Copyright
Copyright © 2012 by Glen Tate
All rights reserved.
Printed in the United States of America.
Prepper Press Trade Paperback Edition: November 2012
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