The Smiths and Joneses (7 page)

Wolf looks up, smiling, he says, “President Brownstone, look’s who’s just joined us on a video conference. Welcome President Brownie. Thank you for joining us. Would you like to say something about the massive project you undertook as soon as you became President?”

“President Brownstone it’s a pleasure to see you again. Sean, Wolf, it’s my pleasure to join the program for a short time this evening. It looks like I picked the right time to join the discussion.

“In order for the LSA to succeed and prosper we had to separate ourselves from our old roots. One way to do this was literately to build a wall between our two nations. If our people could always walk across the border to get anything they missed, we wouldn’t have progressed as quickly as we did. Our people had to learn to fend for themselves. We, as a nation, had to decide what was really important versus what we would like to have. The building of the wall also enabled us to put tens of thousands of unemployed people to work. One change I made was welfare required work or at least the real search for work. A strong country is one where the people worked to increase the GNP of the country. Once we got the wall up, we were forced to depend on ourselves. Self dependence forced us to admit things had to be different. We needed a hard slap in the face to recognize things had to be different, and we were going to be different. It took some pain, but it has paid off handsomely.”

President Brownstone asked, “Mr. President, what did you do with all of the trained wall builders once the wall was completed?”

“We used them to build new factories. One of my goals was to be as self-sufficient as possible. We couldn’t be dependent on others to fulfill our basic needs. If the LSA was to grow into a standalone country, the LSA had to control our own destiny. We built factories to build commonly used products, so we weren’t sending trillions of dollars overseas. The wall drove the point home that we had to stand on our own two feet. It worked as your viewers are going to see when they meet our two families.”

Sean looked at President Brownstone, saying. “President Brownstone, we are very thankful that you agreed to join us in the production of this program. We know that you’ve tried to stay out of the public eye after you left office. Is there a reason you refused to give any interviews or make public appearances after you left office?”

“Gentlemen, I’m not a politician, I was asked to assume the office by the Senate. I did the best I could to improve the lives of the people of the USA. I promised not to run for another term. Once my term was completed, I needed to fade away and allow President Cruise to manage the country without any interference. If I had stayed in the public eye, President Cruise couldn’t have managed the country without everyone asking me what I thought of President Cruise’s performance. No President deserves to have his or her predecessor telling them what they did right or wrong. I had my 15 minutes of fame; I made my own mistakes, and it was time for President Cruise to make his own mistakes without worrying what I thought. As General MacArthur said, it was my time to fade away. Something I thought I had managed to do pretty well until the two of you and a hundred of your staff invaded my home.”

Sean and Wolf look surprised, “Mr. President, we didn’t invade, I’m not sure anyone could have invaded your property unless you allowed them access.  We saw heavily armed men on your roof. We saw heavily armed men patrolling your property. Frankly we weren’t aware former Presidents had a private army.”

“Not so much a private army as friends who took it upon themselves to look after an old man.”

Wolf shows a video of four heavily armed men in the woods outside of President Brownstone’s home. “Are these your friends?”

“Yes, they’re my friends. If I were you, I wouldn’t do anything to make them nervous. They don’t have the best sense of humor. Nor do they like their pictures taken. I’d erase that video if I were you.”  President Brownstone replies winking his right eye.

Wolf says, “OK, I didn’t mean to upset them or break their cover. Can you say who they are?”

“Wolf, I thought I did, they’re friends of mine.”

“Are there more of them at your property?”

“Maybe. Wolf, there’s no reason to tell anyone looking to do me harm, who’s at my house.”

Wolf, looking embarrassed, says, “Mr. President, I’m sorry. We’ll delete the video and any others of them we have,”

Chapter 4

Sean says, “Mr. Presidents, thank you both for your frank comments. If you don’t mind, let’s see how our two average families have fared under the different economic programs.”

President Brownie says, “Ladies and gentlemen, I’m sorry, but I have to take my leave now. As I’m sure some of you know, the LSA has an executive board that assists the sitting President. As the only remaining former President, I have many responsibilities as the chairman of the executive board. I promise to return tomorrow evening. For now, I’d like to say hello again to the Smith family who agreed to allow the world to see everything they do. I’m asking everyone watching this week’s historic program to listen to them, and watch with an open mind and see the progress we’ve made in the previous twelve years. The odds makers didn’t think we’d make it, not only did we make it, we improved the lives of our people - that is what the government should do.”

President Brownstone says, “Mr. President, it’s always a pleasure to see you. I agree its time to introduce the Smith family to the world.”

The image on the screen behind the hosts fades. A high altitude image appears, it’s like looking outside of an airplane window as the country side rolls by as it flies across the country. The images of the ground become larger, details can be seen, the high altitude image is replaced by images of a local street. There are rows of houses on quiet streets in Beaverton, Oregon. The camera zooms in on one particular house. From the outside, the house looks the same as all of the others on the street. Every house is painted one of three colors; every house is of a similar design. Each house on the street appears to be of the same size. There are solar panels on the houses’ southern facing roof. Lawns are neatly trimmed. It’s obvious the homes are well cared for. Older viewers are reminded of Levittown, Long Island, New York. Levittown was one of the first mass produced subdivisions built at the end of World War 2.

Most houses have one or two micro electric powered cars in their driveway connected to a bright green electrical charging pole that’s designed to look like a tree, mounted in the front of the driveway. Later on, people will remark that no one could remember seeing any cars parked in the street. The street in front of the homes have orange painted bike lanes. Some homes have play sets in their backyards; these have fences around them so that no one can gain access without permission, further ensuring children aren’t injured playing unsupervised. The thought that goes through many people’s minds looking at the images is
sameness
. All of the homes look the same.

The camera angle changes to that of street level, the image zooms in focusing on the home’s number, 27238 painted on the curb in front of the house. Another aspect of the house people notice is there is no mail box. A moment later Sean and Wolf are shown standing in front of the home’s front door. A smiling Wolf knocks twice on the front door. The door opens, revealing a smiling, well-groomed man in his early thirties. Jason Smith shakes Sean’s and Wolf’s hands. He’s smiling and nodding; he pushes his front door open as wide as it will go.

“Hello, I’m Jason Smith, welcome to our home. Wolf, Sean, and everyone watching, hello and welcome.” The camera follows them inside Jason’s home. Standing in the living room is Jason’s wife and children. Jason says, “I’d like to introduce my family, my lovely wife Sharon, Scott, our oldest, who is 14 and our daughter who was born after the split, Sissy age 7.”

Sharon says, “Welcome to our loving home. Wolf, Sean, would you like some refreshments? I’m sorry we don’t have enough refreshments to offer everyone watching.”  After Sean and Wolfe decline, Sharon continues, “Thank you for selecting us. We hope you learn from us as much as we hope to learn from the Jones family, our mirror image. It kind of reminds me of the old Star Trek episode, ‘Mirror Mirror.' You selected two families that are almost the same and yet also direct opposites. We look forward to learning as much as the world does. What would you like to ask first?”

Sean and Wolf thank the Smiths for taking part in the program, Wolf asks, “Sharon would you mind giving the audience a tour of your lovely home?”

“I’d be pleased to.”

Standing, Sharon says, “As I’m sure you can guess, we’re sitting in our living room, it’s pretty normal as far as living rooms go, we have the semi-standard 40-inch flat screen HD television with programming supplied by the LSA national cable company, we have 127 channels, or it could be 130, the channels seem to change monthly. One channel is a preview channel which I guess is normal on either side of the divide.”

Sean looks into the camera asking, “Sharon, you said the ‘divide,' what did you mean by that?”

Blushing Sharon replies, “I’m sorry, if the term insulted anyone watching. It’s a common term used here. I guess I need to be extra careful of slang. I guess I shouldn’t have used that term. I really didn’t mean to insult or cause anyone watching any discomfort.”

Sean responds, “Sharon, no, nothing like that. The term itself is not one everyone may recognize.”

“Oh, the divide is the wall that separates the LSA and the USA. I’ll try to be careful and use words that are common on both sides.”

Sean smiles responding, “Sharon, it’s not insulting or hurtful to anyone. We just want to make sure all of the terms used are ones everyone watching will understand. As time has moved on, some words and customs on each side of the ‘divide’ as you call it, have changed.”

Wolf says, “Sharon, I know the answer. However, I’m sure many in the USA don’t recognize the brand of your television, where was it made?”

Smiling, Sharon responds, “One of the key changes President Brownie implemented was to stop importing many of our basic products. He encouraged companies to open factories here in the LSA. We don’t import many products from the Far East any longer. We build and buy the products we make here. I’m very proud of what we’ve accomplished. All of our factories are very environmentally friendly. Everything is recycled; there’s very little waste. In fact, everything is recycled everywhere. Whatever can be reused is. Even our cars are made here. We have car factories in Oakland, California; Trenton, New Jersey; and of course Detroit, Michigan. We’ve turned Detroit around. Almost all of our trucks are built in Detroit. Bringing production home brought new middle-class jobs and increased tax revenue to support our social programs.”

Sharon continues, “Let’s continue the tour. To our right is our dinning room where we have our meals, next to the dining room is, of course, our kitchen. I’d guess it’s pretty normal, counter, sink, microwave and regular oven, bunch of cabinets. Nothing special, just like any other kitchen you’ve seen.”

Wolf jumps in, “Sharon, is that a computer display or TV built into the wall of the kitchen?”

“Wolf, of course, it is. I assumed every kitchen has a built in computer now; I use it for recipes and to order from the market. To the right of the kitchen we have a half bath and a laundry room.”

Sean responds, “Sharon, you electronically order from the market?”

“Of course. Anything I use is scanned and reordered, I go to the food store twice a week. That is if the food we’ve ordered is available and within our approved foods for a week. We have to make sure we all eat healthy.” 

Sean says, “I’ll want to return to that in a few minutes, first let’s continue the tour. The first floor of your home is very nice, however it does seem a little small, how many bedrooms and bathrooms do you have?”

Jason responds, “We have three bedrooms, one for Sharon and myself, one for Scott and, of course, one for Sissy; we have two full bathrooms upstairs and then the half bath next to the kitchen here on the first floor. Our home, like the others in this and most subdivisions built in the past ten years, is 1,500 square feet. That’s 375 square feet per person.”

Wolf asks, “Jason, if you had three children, would your home be larger?”

“Wolf, as you know, we couldn’t have another child unless we already had the children before the population control act of 2020. If we had three children before the population control act, we would have a larger home but the average square feet per person would be the same. Of course, our tax base would be higher to pay for the required government services for the third child. I’m sure you know; the LSA is based on equality.”

Sean asks, “Sharon, what are your thoughts on the population control act of 2020?”

“Sean, it’s a very logical rule, one that should have been passed many years ago. If we had controlled population growth, there would have been many less people, and maybe no wars fought over the world’s diminishing resources. The amount of pollution would have been drastically reduced. The drain on the planet’s resources would have been reduced. We wouldn’t have needed to strip mine and destroy the environment. By limiting our population growth, we ensure every child gets the best education possible. We ensure everyone has a full stomach. We’ve just about beaten hunger in the LSA. We have controlled our growth and balanced it with the available resources. I’m 100% behind the law. We have a very small number of homeless people. Almost no one goes hungry or cold here.”