Giants Fall - a Political Satire

The decline, fall and dismemberment of the USA had been predicted since the earliest days of the Union. In the name of Health, Welfare and All That Was Good, all that could be given was given to an ever larger portion of the citizenry – and later even those who were not even citizens. No cost was too high, not even liberty.

Laws were passed for decades, escaping notice by the simple expedient of never being enforced after passage. Why worry about the consequences of bad laws when judges should render justice instead? If the justice given created new laws, then that justice must be followed. And the laws made in justice must be obeyed, even if the new rights created restricted the old ones.

Pravda came to America, with TV, Internet and all but talk radio proclaiming what those seeking more power sought to have said. Those who dissented against rising dictators were unruly, rude, and unpatriotic. Thou shall not question the new Messiah to save us. The questioner would risk of one’s job or grant money or seat at the royal White House Press Room.

Government agencies were set up to control the segment of the population who might resist having their country converted to a Socialist State. How could one resist? Guns were evil. Those who wielded them had their children taken away. And yes, some of the enforcers were armed, but that was for their own safety. The cure for the parents? The doctors realized were anti-social and thus insane. There were drugs for that, for all were now legal, but for evil tobacco, of course.

And who dared criticize the government too much, for being black-listed meant no medical care. Your family became “units” long before the age of 70, and parents often recanted the first week after a child had a 105 fever with strep throat or bronchitis.

FEMA held a Martial Law Exercise one summer, right after Obama’s reelection. Foreign Troops were invited to participate, to strengthen our peace-keeping ability at home and abroad. Four countries were invited to this joint exercise. The not-so-Great Britain, the U.S., Canada and Mexico came for the practice. The first three were considered honorable but Mexico had long been known for the corruption of its officials. Then there were the good and upstanding members of their military, outgunned and often moon-lighting with the drug lords. The military became tightly knit, seeking tighter control of the flow of illegal immigrants to less tightly controlled areas of Alaska and Western mountains and, also, Mexico’s ongoing drug / civil war.

In 2016, the nation descended to Detroit’s standards of trouble, but all over the country. This was the start of Civil War 2. The “Multinational United Military Arrangement”, quickly nicknamed Mau-Mau, implemented full Martial Law on the whole continent. To ensure safety and security, a Military Dictatorship was established by a pacifist and peace-loving President who was tired of trying to save everyone who did not adore him, which was nearly everyone.

Civil War 2 quickly broke out across the continent. While guns were illegal now, there were still as many guns as the remaining stands of grass. Cities burned despite the environmental impact. Government Officials and their families were exterminated by Rebel Suicide Squads in return for the murdered citizens they had ordered dead. Military bases and supplies were attacked by those seeking weapons against the military and to protect themselves from the chaos. Like a wildfire, it covered the entire country with only questions of degree. The death toll mounted daily. There was an app for that, though the numbers eventually became an estimate. Resistors were shot at the slightest provocation for the safety of all. The price of a trial was too high for the difficult economy.

Eventually, the Eastern half of the country was pacified by new waves of Blue Mau-Mau soldiers, but not until 2019 did it cease to smolder.

Much of the infrastructure had been destroyed no matter why they stood up for obsolete ideals like value of all life and all individuals. Highways, bridges, airports, factories, water treatment plants, sewage disposal, gas lines and pumping stations, all useless but for where they had been individually owned and operated and thus defended. But here, we had government control and protection. And we took what the owners wrongfully kept running for themselves. And we still have to work hard to repair the damage that others caused, whether troublemakers who want us to de-develop entirely or corporate scum who destroy what was rightfully taken from them.

The Civil War 2 shattered hope for the North American Union. Rivalries far older than any Republic came back to life. Atzlan reclaimed much of the territory it had claimed to have owned. Texas had given them the greatest problem, them remembering a strange place called the Alamo.

There were still pockets of resistance where the invaders dared not tarry. Surprisingly, even some of the La Raza insanely fought their own kin, choosing obsolete ideas of the country they had adopted instead of the Motherland they had left long before. Then the golden tide spread.

California capitulated early, since it was ethnically part of La Raza long before the war. Life did not change much there, for many of those who had not liked the growing poverty and crime had already fled to the East of the “free” West, the old heartland of the continent. To those who remained, it mattered not to them who ran the Government as long as tortillas were given and circuses still aired often enough between brown-outs. Atzlan is now much of the West Coast and parts of the Southwest, bordering the mid-America, while we ourselves live in the oldest and most secure part of the former United States.

Atzlan washed up upon the shore but did not rise to the coastal mountain ranges. Into the hills led to a massive death trap, held firmly by the rebel forces still loyal to the former United States of America. These “insurgents” held because their numbers were bolstered by those fleeing the La Raza tied, either too pale or too dark to live in that land.

All of the US military bases from the Mississippi River to the Cascades had been seized by the Rebels during the War. That many of the Rebels had originated here before serving in the prior military had given them the experienced people-power to do this. Environmental protesters became an Endangered Species themselves after a few abortive attempts to block drilling to tap the known vast oil reserves in these Western States. No, students, this was not the environmentalists’ choice, though those abortive efforts were, too, for the good of humanity and the Earth.

Thus the Rebels did not lack for weapons, food or resources to buy other needed materials. Though their money was almost useless for their rebellion, their rapid and careless mining of gold, silver, coal, and uranium led to fast trade through the black market and evil, sometimes corporate Atzlan ports for trade. Atzlan broke with its historic and ethnic ties to Mexico, previously part of the North American Union, to become its own nation. They decided to trade port access and eventually trade goods from Asia for raw materials from Mid-America was more important that continuing to shelter growing numbers of their brethren from the south.

Backward-freedom loving people of all national origins found their way West and they were welcomed with open arms into the wage slavery they so proudly proclaimed. Spies and other infiltrators also made the trip. They sought to understand the supply networks that managed to ferry tons of coal and metal ore out of their nation and to the world while bringing in the high technology that was illegal under the Mau-Mau.

The Western Alliance clung to the old ways and restored them in full force. They even changed their laws so that women did not have greater rights in divorce than men and all minorities were seen as equal in the law. They do not appreciate diversity, public welfare or fairness. And they suffer mightily for it.

Children, this is the end of the day’s history lessons. Check in with your assigned work crews. Today’s tasks will be the vegetable gardens and tree-tending. In the afternoon will come a television broadcast. I know, that’s exciting because it’s so rare. Keep your listening ears sharp, for your homework is to recite the speech of the One given tonight. As a teacher, I am called to remind you to appreciate all that the State has given you. Now, children, off to work, and remember, yes, we can!