Thursday 3 October 2013

A Senior Citizen's Lament


After the collapse of the Established Order, and a period of civil war, the Remnant of the American Republic, which had prevailed,1 in trying to re-establish some sense of order out of the chaos, called on the reincarnation of George Washington to assist them in the process.  With the help of some sensitives,2 he had been located in retirement after a life of running a small auto body repair shop in Ethiopia.3  The nation - or what was left of the notion of a 'nation' in the minds of the body politic, after its formal collapse - was trying to get on a solid footing again, and the leaders of both political parties, after a search in the nation for a likely leader from their own ranks who could rally the national spirit back into place, had hit upon the idea of help from the Higher Realms, through prayer, and, more practically, via consulting some channelers who had a particularly good record.4  Between them, the channelers, after some hits and misses that confounded the process, decided to consult what they called 'the Akashic records,' and thereby located the reincarnation of George Washington; whom the leaders of both political parties in the moribund nation then sought out for his good advices.  Seeming a wise sort of fellow, they installed him in the White House as an interim (and constitutionally-allowed-for) Officer of The People; where the head representatives of both political parties held a meeting with him, to look at what should be the nation's next steps.  But before they got into that stage at the meeting, he asked them to brief him on the recent history of the nation; for him to get some sense of where it - or to say, "they", as he noted - had gone wrong.

So it was that the reincarnation of George Washington met with the leaders of both the most-current political parties in the Oval Office.5  Their respect for the man was evident.  Whether they believed he was in fact the reincarnation of George Washington or not, he had a gravitas about him that was palpable to all in the room.  

They reported to him the state of the nation before the split, according to their respective perspectives.  The reincarnation of George Washington grew quieter and quieter during their presentations, almost as though he were losing interest; but then he seemed to perk up when the subject got around to the financial details of the matter - the matter of the socio-econo-political predicament the nation had gotten itself in.  But then an uncomfortable silence grew from his sphinx-like silence when a particular financial subject was mentioned; and then he spoke.  Quietly.

"But surely, those monies in the Social Security Trust Fund weren't used to fund your operating budget."

People in the room looked at each other.

"Well…actually; yes, it was.  Sir," spoke up one of the leading males present.

"But surely, that was illegal."

"Well…actually; no, it wasn't.  Sir," replied the same man, with an uneasy look at the others.

 "But surely, it should have been."

"Well…actually; I suppose you're right.  Sir."  

A sense of discomfort seemed to be growing in the room. 

"How had you been able to get away with that sort of sleight-of-hand for so long?"  He looked to both political camps.  Who looked guiltily at each other, like children caught in the act.

"What you need to understand, sir," a woman from one of the camps spoke up, a bit defensively, "is that the people elect us to look after their interests."

"But surely, 'looking after their interests' includes the financial health of the nation."  

"Well…I suppose, that...you are right.  Sir," she replied, with a look to the others.

"You suppose."

It was not said in sarcasm, or accusation.  It was said as if in enquiry; as if the reincarnation of George Washington were genuinely trying to understand the mentality behind the answer, and in the room.

A man in the back of the room spoke up, in an accusatory, and defensive, way:

"Yes sir, you are right.  And some of us tried mightily to hold the line on that fact, and matter."

A number of the members of both camps looked as if they wished the man would just have kept his mouth shut; as though he were known for not doing so.

The reincarnation of George Washington noticed; then said to the man: "And you have, obviously, not prevailed."

"Yes sir, I mean no sir; that's a fact."  A note of irony was missed by the man; but not by all those in the room.  Some of whom, in both camps, were beginning to listen very closely to what was going on, intrigued by the 'note' that was creeping in.

"And what sort of thing did you vote for; sir?" a man in the other camp said, accusingly, and somewhat sarcastically to the first man; going on, "You are having at us for - "

The reincarnation of George Washington held up his hand in a gentle manner.  The man who was about to speak further in somewhat angry response fell silent. at once.  The reincarnation of George Washington looked inquiringly at the first man for his response to the question that had been posed.  The man cleared his throat, and replied, in a gentler tone than he had used before:

"I voted for…projects, that enhanced our security as a nation.  Sir."

"That enhanced that."

"Like boondoggles," some young male in the opposite camp interjected softly, with sarcasm and disgust dripping from his voice; who was immediately shushed by members of both camps, listening closely now to the exchanges in the room, and where, and how, the reincarnation of George Washington seemed to be guiding it all.

The man who had been posed the sort-of question looked at the reincarnation of George Washington, and tried to figure out what he was supposed to say, how he was supposed to react.

The room waited; each in their own thoughts.   

And to the consternation of his audience. and with an obvious sigh, the reincarnation of George Washington then started making preparations to stand up. 

"I can't help you, ladies and gentlemen,'"he said, while doing so.  "Nothing can grow out of the kind of soil you have explained here, but poisoned fruit.  Or," he added, pausing and turning back to them from having started to walk away from the meeting, "you need to start all over again.  On a higher level, than the soil that produced that fruit."

And as he continued to walk on away he was heard by those closest to him to mutter to himself, while shaking his head, "We should have listened to John.  He was dead right.  'Liberty' was beyond the ability of these poor bastards to manage.

"And still is."       

---

footnotes:


1 in large part due to the Veterans of foreign wars 'rising to the occasion' and standing by their oaths to "support and  defend" the Constitution


2 who had a good record. They had all predicted various hurricanes, and the Second Civil War itself; some even before the attempt at impeachment of Obama, which act had ignited the conflagration.


3 His current race was a bonus, in helping to heal the wounds left over in the body politic from the civil war.  That he looked a lot like Morgan Freeman was also a plus.  


4They had scored no fewer than five out of ten of predictions of their own.
     As to the whole matter of the consulting of sensitives on the one hand and channelers on the other: many on both sides of the conflict were against such actions; but it was a measure of their willingness to try to strike some degree of common ground that the scenario was entered into.  (Many on the Left were secretly delighted at the discomfiture over the matter experienced by the hardcore religionists on the Right; but so were many on the Right over the same feeling experienced by the hardcore atheists and 'rationalists' on the Left.  It was definitely a draw; and in the basic spirit of compromise, that both sides were trying, even desperately - after their dust-up - to achieve.)     


5 There had been some changes during the melee that led up to the civl war, on both the right and left of the politics of the nation; but for the sake of simplicity, in the interregnum period, the extremists on both sides acceded to the reincarnation of George Washington' s request to 'keep it simple,' in the initial in-person briefing for him of the picture. 

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