America Gets Her First Woman President (Short Story) - 2/6/2017 8:11:25 AM
You have written a fairytale story with a total misconception of what it means to be a citizen of the United States. You have painted a picture of liberal and conservative viewpoints that is so polarized that it is almost comical or satirical in its delivery.
An average (upper) middle-class family with purchasing power for all kinds of gadgets and guns, senses great danger from reliable sources and goes off on a great adventure to retake Washington from the terrible liberals. Protest appears to be going to be in the form of an armed uprising using military hand weapons against the real military. Magically and predictably, the military steps in and saves the day by a coup, arresting the evil president. A daughter lost as a "patriot" is no big deal because after all, women, while necessary for providing food, sex and moral support, are certainly not capable of major strategic decisions and leading anything. So much better the daughter rather than her twin, the son.
This bullshit panders to the worst in us. The fairytale idea that arming ourselves to the teeth and venturing out in our SUVs to the countryside will make us strong and weather anything to come is a pipe dream. Watching "strong" types like this take on survival reality challenges is a lesson on what it really takes to survive… Three days without water and 21 days without food. Regardless of preparation, in the kind of anarchy that you are suggesting, those two inevitables would come into play very quickly for most but the most resourceful (or already isolated and self-sustaining). Most preppers are laughable in their expensive, but flawed, preparations.
The problem is clearly a schism between rich and poor. The rich are continuing to maintain their control over the poor by promising the poor tidbits like jobs (low-paying servitude), ensuring that they have little access to education, promising freedom while restricting it, and blaming "liberalism" for causing their problems using churches and other means of propaganda like conspiracy theories, fake news and pundits who explain things to those less educated on matters political to psychologically win these sheep over.
Donald Trump, in his first few days of office, has installed superrich, self-centered cronies in his cabinet, acted without consulting Congress (or the people) and written more executive orders than any other president, most of which have caused large sectors of the population to be disgusted and moved to protest (not riot). Trump has already blamed the press for his trouble and cut them off in various ways except where they favor him. These are all the same kinds of tactics that Adolf Hitler used in the early 30s to galvanize the German people and find blame for their own misgivings. In those days it was the Jews and intellectuals. Today it is Muslims and intellectuals. Sound familiar?
Ron (not Ronald or Ronnie… Ronald is too formal among friends and Ronnie is something I was called as a child. It is like calling someone "boy" when they have become a Man. We have to get over that simplistic childish way of thinking if we ever are to grow up and accept the world the way it is, rather than the way we think it should be)
Food Project (Short Story) - 12/12/2014 8:20:23 AM
Very poignant and realistic. A case of tragic mistaken identity.
I've been learning recently that animals have much more intelligence than we have thought earlier and means of communication that we are just beginning to understand. Whether they understand the future and remember the past (many think elephants do) or not remains to be seen.
Tragic or not, I enjoyed your fine and unique story.
Ron
Dead Animal Farm (Short Story) - 4/28/2014 7:08:22 AM
Nice and brutal. Did I say, quite profitable as well? Makes one wonder how the bodies of homeless are treated. I'm sure many undertakers have undertaken shortcuts and profit-making enterprises with their indigent clients. I used a similar theme for removing bodies of sexually violated young monks in my novel, American Mole: The Vespers.
I really liked it. A sense of the macabre without all the stupid fantasy that usually runs through macabre stories like Stephen King's.
Gave me an idea for a short story. Thanks. When I was a teenager, my brother and I would always want to fish in one of the best spots in the whole area… Below the local rendering plant. So I will serve up a tasty story treat for everyone to snack on… Yummy.
Ron
The Last Unemployed Man (Short Story) - 4/17/2014 6:47:19 AM
The suspense is killing me. But that's the idea of a good short story. I can only assume that Bentley is "erased," so that population and employment stays in line.
Hope you post more of this good stuff. I tend to like to read short stories because they take less time to read. I can't hold a book in my hands, so I read from the computer.
Ron
