The Land of the Free (28 page)

“You already have, John,” said
Torres.  His eyes closed and his head rolled to the side.

Respecting the President’s last
instructions, Simpson was preparing to leave the room to gather Torres’ family
when Kurdi came over and whispered, “Bring them to my farm in western
Maryland.”  Kurdi gave Simpson a map.  He took it, nodded, and was gone.

…

With the President dead, confusion
set in briefly.  There was no sign of Morgensen, who had slipped away during
the chaos.  Kurdi spoke up first.  “There’s a convoy of armed trucks headed
this way.  I suggest you all disperse.  Leave in ordinary cars, not in
government SUVs.  Use the subway if you have to, and above all stay anonymous. 
There aren’t that many of them, so they can’t root you out house by house. 
Stay off the highways, and use back roads wherever you go.”

Matt Simpson returned with a
grieving family and several men helped carry Torres’ body to his vehicle.  “I
hope he did some good here,” said the First Lady.  “He always wanted to be a
good man, but never felt he could get past the system.”

“Mrs. Torres, he did more good than
I ever imagined he could,” said John Corson.  “With the President himself
breaking open the conspiracy within the government live and on the air, there’s
no longer any room to hide under the skirt of official denunciation and
denial.”

Kurdi then gathered John and Frank,
Jess and Lyle, Millie Howe and Roger Snyder and left with them in his minivan. 
They took back roads and encountered no problems.  The effect of Torres’ speech
was immediate, as many Homeland Security Agents promptly walked off the job in
response to the President’s order, leaving those still enforcing the traffic
curfew understaffed and forced to abandon many of their checkpoints.

Derek Ellis took the phone call
from General Kim and listened to his complaints.  “The soldiers here expect
official recognition from the Chinese government, or at least the annihilation
of the Chinese government.  How do you expect to get that without the nuclear
strike?”

“I’ll take care of that within a
few days, General,” said Ellis.

“President Torres did not respond
as you said he would,” went the next complaint.  “I don’t see how you can maintain
an air of legitimacy after what he said.”

“Relax, General.  The American
people are lazy and stupid.  We just have to avoid interrupting their
television broadcasts and they’ll roll over and accept it.  And perhaps you’ve
forgotten, but you can’t exactly turn back now.  If you withdraw your troops,
you lose, and China has no choice but to court-martial you.  If you win, they
will accept your victory in the end.  Nothing succeeds like winning, General.”

Ellis put on a brave face for his
call with Kim, but his task was now vastly more complicated.  Torres should
have acceded to the demand to launch the strike.  Everything that followed
would then have been much easier.  The international community would have
condemned the overreaction to the invasion in the absence of proof the Chinese
had ordered it, and replacing the US administration would have had an air of
legitimacy.  Now, it seemed like an unprincipled coup d’état, led by ruling
interests set on enslaving the people. 
No matter
, thought Ellis. 
I’ve
organized my share of those over the years
.

Ellis arrived at White House later
that afternoon, to find it devoid of its staff, and his technicians had to
familiarize themselves with the communication system for a couple of hours
before they were confident they could broadcast his address.  They were ready
at 7 pm, which seemed an ideal time in any case.

…

“Good evening, America.  I’m Derek
Ellis.  I have here with me Vice President James McEwen who is going to sign
this emergency declaration, appointing me as the Governor General of the United
States.”

Ellis held up a document to the
camera and handed it to McEwen who promptly signed it.  Ellis countersigned it
and they shook hands.  McEwen then left the stage and Ellis continued his
address.

“There has been a
string of corrupt governments that have bankrupted the United States.  This
string has now been broken.  Earlier today, patriotic Americans employed by
Morningstar Security Services, aided by international troops, accomplished the
liberation of the United States.  The corrupt Torres administration is hereby
dissolved.  As is the corrupt Congress and the corrupt courts.  In their place,
I’m implementing a new, lean government.  The new government will provide true
security in our cities.  And it will pay its debts, above all including the
debts of the corrupt governments of the past.

The forces of
anarchy and terror are certain to oppose our new order.  To counter them, I am
ordering a suspension of all internet sites save for those operated by
legitimate media concerns, as recognized by my administration, and those
engaged exclusively in commerce, again as recognized by my administration. 
Government websites will remain down for some period of time until the missions
of each agency are redefined.  The exception will be Homeland Security, which
will take on a new mission.

As the Governor
General of the United States, I will rule by Executive Order.  I will not be
encumbered by the legislative process that has caused so much misery for the
United States.  My first Executive Order is to place all police powers in the
United States under the command and control of the Department of Homeland
Security.  A new Federal Police will be formed shortly and all existing Police
Departments will answer to an Officer of the Federal Police.  The jurisdiction
of the Federal Police will be universal.  Fortunately, much of the training
required for this transition was already in place, so the transition will begin
immediately.

To further
implement the new order, in the coming weeks every resident of the United
States will be implanted with a radio frequency chip in their right arm.  Any
Department of Motor Vehicles will be able to implant chips starting next week,
when their stock of chips should arrive.  I give fair warning to every person
right now.  Implanted chips are Federal property, and any person tampering with
their RFID chip will be subject to prosecution for interference with Federal
property.  After 30 days from today, any person not bearing an RFID chip will
be presumed to be involved in terrorist activity and will be subject to summary
execution.

I deplore the
irresponsible statements former President Jackson Torres made in his last
address.  Order will be enforced, regardless of his statements.  Any opposition
to the new administration will be considered an act of terrorism, and may be
met with summary execution.  All Federal employees are expected to support the
new administration, or face harsh consequences.

In the transition
to a new order, it will be necessary to relocate certain people who are known
to be intransigent opponents of reform.  Fortunately, the government has an
extensive database that has already defined which people constitute security
risks, and FEMA has already established emergency relocation camps across the
country.  Lists of those selected for relocation will be circulated through all
communities in the next week.  All citizens are expected to help find the
people whose names are on the lists.  Any person harboring a person on the FEMA
list will be jailed for aiding a terrorist cause.

People of America,
you will be freer under my administration than you ever were before.  But with
freedom comes responsibility, and your first responsibility is to establish
public order.  We must prevent the rise of terrorist elements within the
populace that would seek to undermine the new order.  Congratulations America! 
Freedom is here to reign at last.”

Kurdi’s farm
was in the rolling hills of Western Maryland, down a dirt road, and for all
intents and purposes, invisible to the rest of the world.  There was a large
main house, and three other houses, each larger than a typical single family
home.  About 20 people had gathered in the main house, where Kurdi assured them
that he was well stocked with nonperishable goods and water.  They could hide
out here for over a year, if it was necessary.

“Mr.
Kurdistani,” started John.

“Call me
Kurdi.”

John chuckled. 
“Okay, Kurdi.  Won’t Ellis’ people be able to just look up your address and find
us straight away?”

“That’s the
beauty of being part of the government,” said Kurdi.  “The ownership of this
place is untraceable.  They have a better chance of finding all those misplaced
billions at the Pentagon than finding any link between me and this place.”

“What exactly
happened back there in the White House?” asked Jess.  “Who’s behind all this?”

Kurdi looked
around and saw everyone looking at him expectantly.  Even Matt Simpson and
Roger Snyder, who had seen their share of shady dealings, were eager to hear
his take. Kurdi felt it was time to tell the story as it really was.

“Most people
think the President is the head not only of the government but of the world,”
said Kurdi.  “When they see that he’s a figurehead, they’re shocked.  What
happened is that President Torres was manipulated into facilitating the
takeover of America.  To top it off, he was supposed to launch a nuclear
attack.  Thank God, he refused.

“I can’t believe what they did at
the Pentagon,” said Simpson.

“That’s the true definition of
Terror, Matt.  Lenin understood how to use terror to control the people. 
That’s what they’re doing here.  It was calculated to achieve maximum effect. 
That’s why they picked the Pentagon, with its iconic status.

“So is Ellis a figurehead also?”
asked Snyder.

“The puppet masters now have their
protégé in charge of the United States,” was Kurdi’s reply.

“Who are the
puppet masters?  The Bilderbergers
?” asked Lyle.

Kurdi sat back,
smiled, and said, “Not exactly, but you’re looking in the right place.  The
Bilderbergers serve principally as an advisory group.  They never make the
strategic decisions.  My former mentor was at several Bilderberg meetings, so I
got to hear his stories.  They meet to discuss topics that are assigned to them
at each meeting.  They develop a consensus, and the Session Chairs report it
back to the Council of Seven.  That’s where the real decisions are made.
  The
decisions are then distributed back to the  members of the Bilderberg group,
whose responsibility it then becomes to implement the decisions.  They’re a
perfect cross-section of elite society, and so they’re perfectly positioned to
execute the will of the Counciul.

“Who makes up
the Council?” asked Frank.  “I’ve never heard of that.”

“The secrecy
around Bilderberg is pretty loose,” said Kurdi.  “You could never keep a
meeting that big secret.  Not with that many global leaders in attendance.  The
New York Times won’t cover the meetings, but if anything that fact draws more
suspicion to them.  It’s kind of a game, where they don’t care if you know
about Bilderberg.  But you aren’t supposed to know about the Council.  They’re
the same people who’ve been pulling the strings of world history for much of
the past millennium.”

“The banking
families of Europe?” asked Frank.

“Three of
them,” said Kurdi.  “The Vatican will have a seat, and two seats go to royal
families.  Only six seats are actually taken.  The seventh is vacant, for now. 
Some big importance is tied to whoever is supposed to fill that seat.”

“The
Antichrist,” said Frank, with a nervous chuckle.

“They like to
joke about that,” said Kurdi.  “If it’s a leader of the whole world they want
to appoint, I think they’ll make him match the popular Christian conception of
Antichrist, for a very practical reason.  We in government always gave subtle
encouragement to reports of UFO sightings.  We had secret aircraft, and wanted
to keep them secret.  But people saw them flying around.  You couldn’t avoid
that.  If they reported seeing space aliens, it seemed to the world like they were
hallucinating.  So, too, if they ever appoint a leader for the world, having
the Christians call him Antichrist will be tremendously useful to make all
criticism of him seem ridiculous.”

“How did you
encourage UFO reports?” asked Jess.

“By denying them
with clumsy explanations,” replied Kurdi.  “We would always make sure there
were plenty of errors in what we released.  People would find them and decide
they had caught us in a lie.  When you act suspicious in government, people
always assume the worst.”

“Why would the
Vatican be on the Council?” asked Simpson.

“The Vatican’s
alignment with royal families goes back to Constantine,” replied Kurdi.  “The
banking families came to be involved within the last 150 years.  They’ve been
funding the Vatican’s operating deficits for some time.  The Vatican simply
can’t afford to turn them down.  And the others all want the Vatican there to
make sure they’re complicit in every decision.  It ensures a soft tone for any
criticism later, and often secures endorsement of their most ambitious goals. 
All in the name of helping the poor, of course.”

“Wait a
second,” objected Jess.  “These groups are often at each others’ throats.  How
can they be cooperating to rule the world?”

“I never said
they were friends,” replied Kurdi.  “But I’m telling you the facts.  They have
differences, to be sure, but that’s neither here nor there.  They all need each
others’ cooperation at the highest levels, so they cooperate.  They’d probably
betray each other in a heartbeat if they felt they could get away with it.  I
guess they don’t think they can.  At least, not for now.”

“What about the
royal families?” asked Frank.  “They’ve been figureheads for a century now.”

“Most of Europe
is still owned by the nobility.  The royal families always drew their power
from the nobility, and in return represented their interests.  That’s how it
still works.”

“And how does
Ellis fit in with their plans?” asked Lyle.

“He’s useful to
them at this time,” replied Kurdi.  “Having full control over the United States
was an important element in working towards world government.  When he outlives
his usefulness, they’ll ditch him.”

“Why did they
want China destroyed?” asked Frank.

“They think
nothing of killing millions.  Asia to them is simply a consumer of their valuable
resources.”

The TV was on
in a corner of the room, and everybody’s attention shifted to it when Torres’
picture appeared on the screen.  They turned up the volume, and a leading
pundit came on with his commentary.  “President Torres made an impassioned
speech before his death, to be sure.  But I would argue that it can’t be taken
in full seriousness.  The man was dying.  He couldn’t have been thinking
straight.  In this great time of need, it’s the patriotic duty of all Americans
to get behind Governor General Ellis.  What would our enemies think if we were
divided among ourselves?  Those who oppose Governor Ellis are no different from
the terrorists we’ve been fighting.  They should be treated as terrorists, and
denied any rights under Habeas Corpus.  There comes a time when duty to one’s
country becomes the same as duty to one’s government.  This time has come.”

“Right on cue,”
said Kurdi, shaking his head with a sarcastic grin.
 

“So, what can we do about it?”
asked Jess.

“The best thing
we can do is to spread the truth,” answered Kurdi.  “The people now have the
late President’s words as a wedge between the increasingly ridiculous stories
from the press and the obvious truth.

“How’s that
going to help?” asked Roger Snyder.

“Simple,” said
Kurdi.  “The whole economic system of the West is based on confidence.  
Confidence in the value of the dollar, which is only underpinned by debt. 
Confidence that the system works in your favor, when that’s the public
narrative, completely at odds with the reality.  And, yes, confidence in the
legitimacy of the government.  Take away that confidence, and people’s
individual actions will undermine the system from within.  They won’t hold
dollars, but will buy gold or other hard assets instead.  They won’t borrow money
for a new house or a new car.  Doing those things requires a lot of confidence
in the future.  Take that away, and the whole system will soon collapse under
its own weight.  Without borrowing, the money in circulation drops by over
ninety percent.  Mr. Ellis may control the security apparatus, but he’ll soon
run out of ways to pay them.  Gandhi once famously told the British that they
simply could not govern India if Indians refused to be governed by them.  It’s
the same thing here, today, and everywhere.  All we have to do is withhold our
consent to be governed.  If enough people decline to participate in the
economy, the system will collapse.
”