“The worst-case scenario is that we will never be allowed to join the transnational government, which means that America will not be part of the Federation. It is quite possible that the effects of such isolation will be utterly devastating. The remainder of the world will soar ahead into space, their industrial bases upgraded by the Federation, while we remain mired in the gravity well. You all know what would happen to our economy if we lost the ability to trade with the rest of the world. At best, we’d be a modern version of pre-Perry Japan; isolated, backward and unheeded. At worst…”
“They’d take over,” Senator Hamlin growled. He was renowned for being excessively right-wing, but he was under a great deal of pressure from his home state. Elections were coming up and the deciding issue would be the Galactic Federation. Making the wrong choice could destroy his career. “We’d be ground away until we’d just collapse like the Ottomans…”
Toby wondered, as the President cleared his throat with a hint of irritation, if the Senator had just signed his own death warrant. He had no way of knowing that the aliens were watching the meeting, or that he ought to guard his words. On the other hand, a Senator was far better protected than an ordinary blogger and any assassination attempt, even an unsuccessful one, would run the risk of exposure. He started to lay plans in the back of his mind, wondering if the aliens could be pushed into exposing themselves, as the President continued to speak.
“At worst, we’d be looking at total social collapse,” the President said. Toby remembered the day, just before his inauguration, when the President had been shown some of the highly-classified contingency plans drawn up by government agencies. Some of them had been harrowing, warning of the dangers of racial and ethnic conflict in America, or of the sudden loss of all oil supplies from the Middle East. In theory, the United States could survive such an embargo, but in practice the results would devastate the economy. “I don’t think that our public would thank us for condemning them to outright chaos while the French and the Russians get to go to the stars.”
There was a long uncomfortable pause. “Let’s be clear on this,” the President said. “We are talking about giving up almost all of our ability to influence the world. We are talking about giving up most of our ability to defend ourselves — even though the Federation has promised that any state that joins the world government will be protected by the Federation. And, most importantly of all, we are talking about giving up ultimate authority over ourselves. We have refused to work with the International Criminal Court and other such transnational entities because they would compromise our independence and our right to stand in judgement over our own people. If we join now, we will have some say in how the global government is organised, but we won’t have a decisive vote. That, ladies and gentlemen, is what is at stake here; America herself.
“Do we accept their terms and become part of a world government, or do we refuse and attempt to negotiate better terms for ourselves?” He asked “But we have very little to bargain with, don’t we? They do not need our technology, or our food, or our industrial base. The space components we have seen them order from our industrial corporations can be just as easily be produced in China, or Russia, or even Africa. We are in a very weak bargaining position; on one hand, technology in exchange for surrendering part of our independence; on the other hand, isolation and inevitable decline.”
And the termination of a number of political careers, Toby thought, coldly. The mainstream media had been painting Federation membership in glowing terms. There was no constitutional basis for a national referendum or any other form of direct democracy, but if a referendum happened to be held, Toby was not sanguine about the prospects. The latest polls showed a massive upswing in pro-alien views. If any of the politicians took too strong a stance against the Federation, their careers would likely be terminated.
“The choice is ours,” the President concluded. “Where do we stand?”
Unsurprisingly, Jeannette McGreevy was the first to speak. The Secretary of State, according to the FBI’s counter-intelligence division, had had at least a dozen meetings with the aliens, during which they’d discussed… what? She’d been reluctant to allow the CIA or anyone else to debrief her afterwards, citing confidentiality concerns. As the Secretary of State, she’d been involved in any number of sensitive negotiations — including some with countries the American public regarded as one step below Satan himself — that would have caused a political catfight if any details were released into the public domain, but surely negotiations with an alien power were different. Toby would have given his right arm to know what the aliens had said to her — and what she’d said to them.
“I feel that our choice is obvious,” she said. “I think that we should accept the alien terms, without hesitation. We are a very strong and capable nation, even outside the military field. We will be very well placed to take advantage of the infusion of alien technology and the loans they’ve promised us to get our technology up to speed. Given ten years, we can make the switch to a fusion economy and start repairing the damage we’ve done to the Earth — and, just incidentally, see the Arabs try to drink their oil.”
There were a handful of nervous chuckles. “We should not think of this in terms of giving up our independence,” she added. “We have been told that we will have full internal autonomy and our local government systems will remain as we choose to keep them. There will still be a Senate, there will still be a Congress, there will even still be a President. And, given the time needed to develop our own industries, we have the ability, the drive, the determination, to take what the Federation can offer us and use it to take America to the stars. Is there any other nation on Earth as capable as we are of developing and deploying technology?”
She shook her head. “We are always scared of change, as a race,” she said. “There are people who prefer to remain in squalor rather than make a jump to an unknown destination, fearful of what might happen to them if they move. We see battered wives remaining with their husbands because they’re scared to leave. I tell you now that there is no reason to fear the future. We have the ability to take the alien technology and use it to our own best advantage. And the Federation will allow us to do just that!
“Yes, we are puny by their standards, but that will change. A bright shining future awaits America — awaits the entire human race — if only we dare to reach out and grasp it for ourselves. Don’t think of what we will be giving up, Mr. President; think of what we will be gaining by joining the Galactic Federation. We are no longer alone! We are children in a universe of adults. It’s time to put aside childish things and grow up into the adults we have always known we could be. It’s time to join the interstellar community.”
Her speech sounded good, Toby had to admit. Anti-alien bloggers had concentrated on the negatives, wondering aloud why the Federation would even care about human military forces when they could obliterate them from orbit with ease. By focusing on the positive, she made the negative seem absurd, a small price to pay for humanity’s leg up into adulthood. And if Toby hadn’t known about the alien bugs, he would have wanted to believe her. The entire world would want to believe her, if only because the promise was so… promising. A bright shining future seemed to beckon, waiting for the entire human race.