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Category:
Action/Thriller
Publisher: createspace
ISBN-10: 1461029244
Type: Fiction
Pages: 210
Copyright: Dec. 4, 2004
ISBN-13: 9781461029243
Price: $1.99 (eBook)
A suspense-filled tale of conspiracy, intrigue, revenge, love and redemption that weaves the country’s past, present and future into a disturbingly plausible blend of reality and fiction.
Angered by Barry Goldwater's defeat in the 1964 election, four wealthy businessmen and a United States Senator conspire to take America in a new direction. By the year 2030, the federal government has been virtually
privatized away, Christianity declared the official state religion and the outcome of every election determined before the first vote is cast.
In 2031, University of Michigan graduate student Joshua Freeman begins work on a thesis with the objective of isolating the primary reasons for the country's decades long shift to the political right. Using a supercomputer, he affectionately calls Buddy to mine and analyze vast quantities of Internet data in support of his thesis hypothesis, Freeman stumbles upon the existence of the conspiracy. Determined to expose those he suspects are ruling the nation from the shadows, Freeman embarks on a dangerous journey.
Will he survive long enough to warn the America people that their democracy has been stolen from them? And if even if he does, will anyone believe him?
Excerpt
Chapter One
The five men had come to the rustic lodge hidden deep in the Canadian Rockies to lick their wounds in privacy and comfort. These were wealthy and powerful men unaccustomed to defeat and as they watched the flames dancing in the great stone fireplace, they struggled to come to grips with the reality of what had occurred. This was not their first visit to the lodge and scattered about the hand-hewn log walls their trophies from past hunts—the mounted heads of elk, moose, bison, deer, big horn sheep and a cougar with its mouth open in an endless silent roar—provided ample testimony to their prowess as hunters.
It was their intense dissatisfaction with the results of the 1964 Presidential election that had prompted them to seek the solace a hunting trip in the mountains provided. They had contributed heavily to Barry Goldwater’s campaign and considered the trouncing he received a personal affront. A conservative Republican in the White House would have caused the myriad of government agencies charged with regulating business to take a sharp turn to the right. Goldwater’s defeat ensured that wasn’t going to happen. Instead, heavy-handed federal bureaucrats would continue to wreck havoc on American businesses while the federal government danced to music orchestrated by labor unions, environmentalists, civil rights activists and feminists. Four more years of Lyndon Johnson also meant there would be no relief from the oppressive taxation required to fund the continually expanding federal entitlement programs, foreign policy giveaways and the daily carnage in Viet Nam. Carnage that might have ended if the American people had elected a President with the guts to authorize the military to do what was necessary to win the damned war.
“I’m sixty-one years old and it’s unlikely that I’ll live long enough to see this country return to the principles upon which it was founded.” Senator Richard Sedgeman said, studying the cognac in his glass thoughtfully. “America is being destroyed by self-serving bureaucrats and bleeding heart liberals. The sheer weight of the federal government is crushing the life out of this great nation and nothing’s going to change as long as the tax and spend Democrats are in power.”
“I agree these are dark days for our beloved country, Senator, but eventually the pendulum is going to swing back to the right. The dilemma we face is how to speed up the process and ensure that the country never turns to the left again.”
Sedgeman lifted his eyes from the amber liquid to meet the gaze of the man who had just spoken. Joseph Kurtz had inherited the family business, a small chain of Ohio department stores, when he was only thirty-two and in fifteen years transformed it into the largest retail empire in the country. Although his competitors charged the tactics that he used to expand the business were ruthless and unethical—the meteoric growth of Midwest Retail Incorporated was highly touted as an American success story. After thirty years at its helm, Kurtz turned responsibility for day-to-day operations over to his eldest son and began spending the majority of his time serving on corporate boards and promoting the cause of political conservatism.
“What could have possessed the American people to keep a fool like Lyndon Johnson in the White House? For God’s sake, Kennedy didn’t even respect him.” Kurtz walked across the black bearskin rug and sat down on one of the stools lined up in front of the hand carved wooden bar. “What we have to do now, my friends, is make sure it’s only four more years of LBJ and not eight,”
“How are we going to do that, Joe?” Roger Wittenberg, the fifty-two year old CEO of American Financial Services asked. “There’s a limit to how much money we can pour into losing political campaigns. I invested a small fortune in Goldwater’s and pressured the entire management team at American Financial to contribute as well. Some of them are still complaining about it. Perhaps if Barry had made a good showing I wouldn’t be so discouraged, but he got his clock cleaned.” Wittenberg was the group’s resident financial expert and firmly believed that every investment must provide an acceptable rate of return. He was deeply annoyed that there was to be no return on his investment in Barry Goldwater.
“Middle America doesn’t understand conservative ideology and if the liberal media has its way they never will. They portray all conservatives as right wing fanatics and Jesus freaks. Morgan Media did the best it could, but we don’t have a presence in the mainstream markets we most needed to reach.” Giles Morgan was the founder of Morgan Media and at forty-seven years old, the youngest man in the room. “Most Americans get their news from the major television networks and they’re all firmly under the control of the liberal Jew boys.”
Thomas Houston got up from his chair and walked over to join Kurtz at the bar. Houston was CEO of International Petroleum Resources and their host, since he owned the lodge. “Something had better be done and soon or else the federal government is going to end up destroying the oil and coal industries. If the environmentalists get their way, we’ll be installing solar panels on our roofs, building windmills in our yards and driving electric cars that have to be recharged every five miles. These people have their heads so far up their asses they can’t see that the American economy is dependent on cheap sources of power if it’s going to continue to grow.”
Sedgeman, Kurtz, Wittenberg, Morgan and Houston had been friends for many years and trusted each other completely. An observer seeking to understand the reason these powerful men were drawn to each other might assume the fact they were Christians played a part in forging the bond that existed between them. Actually, they rarely discussed religion—all five having concluded early in their professional careers that the simple teachings of Jesus Christ lacked relevance in the modern world. What bound them to each other was not religion, wealth or race, although all were white and very rich—it was their fanatical devotion to the political ideologies of the extreme right.
“We should have known from the start that Goldwater didn’t have a chance in hell of winning once the liberal media began ripping him apart?” Kurtz said pouring himself another whiskey and water. “There’s an important lesson to be learned from this fiasco.”
“Don’t pour money into losing political campaigns?” Wittenberg suggested, his eyes following Kurtz as he rose and began pacing back and forth in front of the fireplace.
Sedgeman smiled. “Somehow I don’t think that’s the lesson Joe’s talking about. What we have just witnessed is the incredible power of the press—that’s why the country’s founders placed so much importance on freedom of speech. They understood that the more control a government has over the information disseminated to its citizens; the easier it is to control how they think. Of course, they couldn’t foresee that one day millions of people could turn on their radio or television set and all hear exactly the same message. That’s why mass media is such a powerful tool—isn’t that right, Giles?”
“Yes, but unfortunately it’s not that easy to get control of the public airways,” Morgan explained leaning forward in his chair as he spoke. “It’s television that’s shaping public opinion in America today—and liberals have control over prime time programming in the markets we most need to reach. There’s no way the conservative message will ever get out as long as the left controls network television.”
Kurtz stopped pacing and turned to face them. “Never say never,” he said moving away from the fireplace—the back of his legs and buttocks growing uncomfortably warm from the heat. “It may take time and money, but nothing is impossible if you want it badly enough. Most people fail because they don’t know what it is that they really want. That’s why we’re sitting here with egg on our faces—we didn’t understand what it was that we wanted.”
“I know what I wanted,” Houston insisted. “I wanted Barry Goldwater to win the fucking election and send that idiot Johnson back to his ranch in Texas.”
“Stop and think for a moment—is that really what we wanted?” Kurtz asked. “Or did we want to see the country move in a different direction? Wasn’t Goldwater just the means to an end? We knew that he would have a positive impact on the regulatory process by appointing the right people to key jobs in federal agencies and on the courts—but would that really have solved our problem? The Democrats and moderate Republicans in Congress, with the help of the liberal judges on the Courts, can severely limit the power of the Presidency and in four years there would be another election.”
“It seems to me that you’re making a strong case for my suggestion that we stop pouring money into losing political campaigns,” Wittenberg said.
“What I’m saying is that we have to set our sights higher than trying to get conservative politicians elected to office,” Kurtz explained. “If we limit our focus to that, all we’re doing is climbing up a sand pile. It’s time to face reality. The political system in this country is so obsolete and corrupt it should be scrapped entirely.”
“Is this your way of telling me you won’t be contributing to my next campaign or are you actually proposing that we replace the federal government with something else?” Sedgeman asked crossing his legs and sitting back in his chair. “If it’s the latter, just what are you suggesting we replace it with?”
“Personally I think we five could do a hell of a lot better job running this country than the fools who are doing it now,” Kurtz said.
“But we’re not running the country and I doubt that the people who are will be knocking on our doors any time soon asking us to take over. Unless you’re proposing that we enter into a conspiracy to seize control without bothering to obtain a mandate from the electorate,” Wittenberg said.
“Is the idea really that far fetched?” Kurtz asked. “The country is in serious trouble and there’s little possibility it’s going to heal itself. Why shouldn’t men like us step up and take charge? How different is running a country than running a business? Sure it will take time, plenty of money and a well-conceived plan, but we can either choose to explore the possibilities or sit around and whine because we don’t like the man in the White House.”
“I don’t like the part about plenty of money,” Wittenberg said, tapping his fingers nervously against the armrest of his chair.
“The kind of money I’m talking about far exceeds what we could contribute personally, notwithstanding our considerable collective net worth,” Kurtz replied.
“Remember the four of you are captains of industry, but I’m just a humble civil servant.” Sedgeman said sensing that whatever crazy scheme Kurtz was hatching was going to come with a very high price tag.
“Who do you think you’re kidding, Senator? We all know how much you’re worth and that was before you married money.” Wittenberg shot Sedgeman a look that made it clear any attempt to portray himself as a man of limited means wasn’t going to fly. “Why don’t you explain what you mean by a well conceived plan, Joe? A plan to do what? And try to remember you’re semi-retired with plenty of time on your hands, but our plates are full.”
“We all agree that this country needs to change direction and I believe the power to make that happen is within our grasp.” Kurtz explained. “I also believe that it’s our duty to seize that power anyway we can. The first step is getting the majority of Americans who actually vote to accept political conservatism as the one true religion. Once that happens, they’ll start to view the federal government as we do—an enemy that needs to be contained.”
Houston shook his head. “I don’t see that happening anytime soon. Although the Founding Fathers didn’t intend for the federal government to become the monster that it has the American people are addicted to big government. They have all kinds of illusions about what it means to live in a democracy and think it’s the government’s job to take care of those too lazy to take care of themselves. Sometimes I think the fools are happy to pay their taxes—they see it as their patriotic duty. How the hell do you get them to see the light?”
“I can answer the question about how you get people to see the light,” Morgan volunteered, raising his hand as if they were in a classroom and Kurtz was the teacher. “It’s no different than selling soap. You just keep hammering them with the same message over and over and eventually they believe it and buy the product.”
“Exactly, Giles,” Kurtz agreed. “And I wouldn’t worry too much about the American people’s love affair with the idea of living in a democracy. For God’s sake, democracy doesn’t work. You can’t run a major corporation as a democracy and you can’t run a superpower like the United States as one either. The constitution says nothing about democracy, because the country was founded as a constitutional republic. How many Americans even bother to vote, and of those that do, how many can provide a reasonable explanation for why they voted the way they did? The entire process of holding elections and encouraging people to get out and vote is a colossal waste of time and money. People should have to pass some sort of intellectual competency test—or at least prove they’re marginally informed before they’re allowed to cast their ballot. The truth is Joe Public can’t be trusted to elect the country’s leaders because he makes very bad choices. America desperately needs men of vision and courage to step up and begin moving the country in the right direction. Why shouldn’t we be the ones to do it?” Kurtz had resumed pacing, this time well away from the heat of the fireplace.
“What do you mean take charge?” Wittenberg asked. “Are you proposing that we seize control of the country from its elected leaders, as pathetic and inept as most of them are—present company excepted, Senator?” He smiled and nodded in Sedgeman’s direction. “Because if that’s what you’re suggesting—please share your thoughts about how we accomplish this. Are we to going to orchestrate a bloodless coup or hire mercenaries to exterminate the nation’s present leaders? For heaven’s sake, this entire discussion borders on the absurd. We all share your disappointment over the election, but let’s not allow it to drive us over the edge. And for God’s sake, Joe, stop that damn pacing and sit down.”
“It’s the country that’s in danger of going over the edge,” Kurtz replied settling himself in a cedar log chair next to the Senator. “It’s poised on a precipice created when liberals and socialists succeeded in infiltrating the government and the country’s academic and religious institutions. What I’m proposing is that we try to save it. Don’t we owe this great nation that much?” The room fell silent for several moments as Morgan, Wittenberg, Sedgeman and Houston contemplated the answer to Kurtz’s question.
It was Giles Morgan who finally broke the silence. “We love this country as much as you do, Joe. Perhaps we even agree that its future would best be served if power were placed in the hands of men more like ourselves. But if what you’re proposing is that we conspire to seize control of the government of the United States of America, please explain exactly how five men accomplish something of this magnitude?”
“I’m not suggesting that we take control of the government,” Kurtz explained. “Quite the contrary—what I’m proposing is that the federal government be dismantled. The power to govern belongs in the hands of the private sector and we’ll be the ones to orchestrate that transference of power. Once it’s complete, a few carefully chosen men will serve as guardians to ensure the nation remains on the proper path. What I’m proposing doesn’t make us traitors—quite the opposite. We will be amenders dedicated to incorporating present day realities into the fine work of the Founding Fathers.”
“Dear God!” Houston exclaimed. “Oil men free to run the oil business without government interference, what a novel idea.”
“I must be crazy, but what you’re proposing is beginning to make sense to me too,” Wittenberg said. “God knows the private sector can do a better job running this country than the government bureaucrats and politicians—no offense intended, Senator.”
“None taken, Roger,” Sedgeman replied graciously. “And I’ll admit I’m fascinated by what you’re proposing, but let’s take our time—I want to serve one more term in the Senate before we dismantle the government.”
“There is just one small detail we still need to discuss,” Wittenberg reminded them. “I have yet to hear how five men are going to accomplish what Joe is proposing.”
“That’s easy,” Kurtz said, smiling broadly. “We just have to come up with a damn good plan.”
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