The Liberty Intrigue

by Tom Grace

  “Who owns the other half?” the President inquired.

  “That’s the interesting thing—the rest is owned by Maya Randell and her husband.”

  The President arched an eyebrow.

  “Indeed,” Rezi replied. “The relationship between the Randells and the Egans dates back to the seventies, long before Maya Randell became a billionaire. Egan and his parents are modest millionaires because of stock they bought early on, when Randell took her company public.”

  “So Randell is the bank behind Egan,” Page offered. “Egan didn’t announce his candidacy until May, so any flow of cash moving through Terrafuma won’t show up until after the election.”

  “We need to mine this connection further,” the President said. “See what other radical groups Randell is funding. Perhaps we can paint her as the puppet master pulling Egan’s strings.”

  “I like it,” Page agreed.

  “I’ve saved the best for last,” Rezi said, grinning like the Cheshire Cat. “You recall my saying that I hadn’t found anything in the morals department to hang Egan with—that’s not exactly true. At this point, what I have is only a rumor, but it is too damn juicy to ignore.”

  “How juicy?” Page asked.

  “If we play it right, it’ll kill Egan’s campaign.”

  CHAPTER SIXTY-FIVE

  TRAVERSE CITY, MICHIGAN

  “The magic number is sixty-seven,” Egan announced to a gathering of his senior campaign staff. “The voters go to the polls in sixty-seven days. That gives us just over nine weeks to make our case for a change in leadership.”

  Egan stood at the head of a long oval table. He was dressed in jeans and a golf shirt embroidered with his campaign logo. Around the table sat his campaign manager, communications director, IT director, appearance and logistics director, regional campaign directors, foreign and domestic policy directors, head of opposition research, and campaign finance director.

  A large video screen on the conference room wall displayed a similar room in Florida populated by Governor Oates and her campaign staff.

  “To start, I’d like to commend everyone both on Governor Oates’s staff and on my team for their excellent work in marrying our two campaigns. I also laud the enthusiasm of your grassroots network in backing our ticket.”

  “Thank you, Ross,” Oates said. “My supporters recognize that we are singing from the same hymnal and that I have not changed a bit to sign on with you.”

  “Which is what all of our supporters are counting on. Since the convention, the integration team has streamlined our joint campaign for the general election and repositioned our assets around the country. Also, we’ve acquired the full support of the other GOP candidates in a coordinated effort to improve conservative gains in the federal and state legislatures and the statehouses. General Hook has, in the proper military fashion, dubbed the whole enterprise ‘Operation Coattails’ and has taken charge of that effort.

  “We got a big jump in the polls after the convention. It was a great mix of fascinating political drama with a strong resonance of our message. Merging with the GOP transformed us from a third-party curiosity into a viable alternative to the President and his agenda. The President got his post-convention bounce, too, though from a tragedy rather than anything productive.”

  “Aside from dodging a bullet,” the head of GOP opposition research opined. “The assassination attempt gives us a clear example of the type of opponent we’re up against. The President is not to be underestimated. When it comes to campaigning, he’s about as smart as they come and he will not be easy to defeat. The President and his surrogates are working overtime to tar the political right with the Vice President’s murder, using conservatism as the cause of this lone gunman’s actions. The President has authorized a commission to investigate the assassination, which keeps this story alive without reaching any conclusions until after the election. They will hammer us on the fact that Unden was former military, an NRA member, and a frequent protester at presidential appearances in recent months. According to their narrative, Unden opposed the President’s health care reforms and the death tax, as do we, and his opposition led directly to the Vice President’s murder and the attempted murder of the President. Any bad guy who leans to the right is to be used to tar us.”

  “As bright as the President is regarding politics, he is also incredibly consistent,” Egan said. “We know how he and his team think, and how they will react. Most of his inner circle is steeped in the activist strategies of Saul Alinsky and much of what they do comes almost by reflex. But Alinsky’s rules work best when employed by an underdog against the establishment. In this fight, the President is the establishment.

  “So what are we to do? Well, I’ve read the President’s playbook and I think Alinsky’s third rule of power tactics suits us well: ‘Whenever possible, go outside the experience of your enemy.’

  “Where the President seeks to make me the personalized, polarized, demonized focus of his campaign, we will act as if he and his entire administration simply do not exist. We will not engage him or his surrogates. We have the ideas and everything we propose has been proven to work time and again. Our message must always be positive. Better days are ahead for our nation. It’s morning in America. Our nation is and must always be that shining city on the hill. A free, prosperous, and strong United States is a benefit to the entire world.

  “Our opponents cannot fight us on the numbers—Who Is I will refute any attempt to distort the record, with cold hard facts. That will keep us from getting bogged down in policy wonk minutiae guaranteed to glaze the eyes of most voters. When the campaign speaks, it is with broad strokes. We’re communicating a complete vision. The details of our plans are available on our website—nothing hidden, there for all to see—so there’s no reason for us to deviate from the big picture.

  “A campaign like this moves beyond anything the President and his advisors have ever experienced. And like the rebels who founded this country, we are not fighting against anyone, but rather we are fighting for the greater good of everyone.”

  CHAPTER SIXTY-SIX

  OMAHA, NEBRASKA

  SEPTEMBER 5

  “Niki Adashi?” a man’s voice asked.

  Niki squeezed off a few final shots from her camera as Egan left the stage. She turned her head and discovered a man approaching whom she dimly recognized. He was dressed in a sport coat and tie with press credentials dangling from a cord around his neck.

  “Edward Turcott?” Niki offered tentatively.

  “Good memory. It’s been a while since Dutannuru. Do you have a minute?”

  Niki considered the question. She knew Egan had some brief downtime scheduled, then a few private meetings before departing Omaha.

  “Yes.”

  “I’m working on a piece about the night of the Dutannuru miracle.”

  “Starting with you, that story has been written from nearly every conceivable point of view, has it not?”

  “Probably,” Turcott said in apologetic agreement, “but it’s the assignment I drew. Anyway, the question I have is about the powerhouse. After I left, did you get inside?”

  “No. I was only there a few hours after you left and it remained off-limits.”

  “Were they hiding something in there?” Turcott asked.

  Niki laughed. “Do you recall what Ross told us when we asked what was inside the power plant?”

  “Nothing,” Turcott replied. “But there’s no reason for all that security to protect nothing. Cudjoe wanted the power plant, so I think the place was booby-trapped.”

  “If it was as you say, then perhaps they did not want us to accidentally detonate the explosives.”

  “Do you think they would have done it—blown the power plant up?”

  “Cudjoe was a monster,” Niki replied. “If he wanted the power plant, then I absolutely think Ross would have destroyed it rather than let him take it.”

  “I see. Are you and Egan close?”

  Niki’s ex
pression turned guarded.

  “My relationship with him is primarily professional,” Niki explained with a camera in her hand, “but we are friends—in the strictly platonic sense.”

  “Hey, I’m stringing for the Gray Lady, not Page Six,” Turcott said by way of an apology. “It’s just that night at the dam was a life changer for both of you. Who else can relate?”

  “For someone who never sought fame, Ross has adapted well and remained remarkably grounded. If you’re looking for deep psychological insights into the man, just ask him.”

  CHAPTER SIXTY-SEVEN

  SAN DIEGO, CALIFORNIA

  SEPTEMBER 10

  “On behalf of the Commission on Presidential Debates, I am pleased to welcome you this evening to the first of four presidential debates. I am Dale Redmond of NBC News. “Tonight’s subject is the economy. The rules of this debate are simple. Over the next ninety minutes, I will ask a series of questions. Each of the candidates will then have two minutes to respond, followed by a period of discussion. I will encourage the candidates to ask follow-up questions of each other. If they do not, I will.

  “And now, let us welcome our candidates for the presidency of the United States.”

  The audience seated in the Don Powell Theatre at San Diego State University applauded enthusiastically as the President and his challenger appeared from opposite sides of the stage. Both were impeccably dressed, every element of their attire—from the suit to the cufflinks— selected to craft the most positive image. Egan referred to the process as “packaging.”

  “Good luck, Ross,” the President said warmly as they met at center stage.

  “And to you as well, Mr. President,” Egan replied as he shook the President’s offered hand.

  They retreated to lecterns on their respective sides of the stage, adjusted their microphones, and mentally girded themselves for battle. The audience quieted down as Redmond removed a binder clip from a stack of index cards.

  “Prior to the start of tonight’s debate,” Redmond said, “there was a coin toss backstage and the President won, so he will receive the opening question.”

  The President nodded that he was ready.

  “In the summer of 1992, the nation emerged from a recession that was both brief and mild in comparison to our current economic climate. The successful aspirant for the presidency that year ran his campaign with the simple slogan: ‘It’s the economy, stupid!’ I think it’s fair to say that the topic of tonight’s debate is first and foremost in the minds of a majority of the American voting public,” Redmond said. “Mr. President, our country remains mired in what many observers liken to the malaise of the 1970s. While the market downturn that ushered in this period of lingering economic difficulty preceded your election to the presidency, as we approach the end of your first term, strong signs of recovery remain elusive. What do you propose to put the economy back on a solid footing?”

  The President began, “To understand where we are now, you have to remember the tremendous economic mess I inherited when I took office. The near-total collapse of the nation’s financial sector brought about by greed and speculation on Wall Street, financial deregulation, and lax oversight wasn’t something that could be fixed overnight. The US economy is not a sports car that can turn on a dime, but a lumbering leviathan. The actions we’ve taken are turning the economy in the right direction, but there’s no quick fix to get us out of the hole we’re in.”

  As the President spoke, Egan noted that the attention of some audience members repeatedly shifted between the stage and their laps. More than a few had defied the President’s ban on cell phones and were checking Who Is I for its on-the-fly critiques.

  “The steps we’ve taken to stimulate economic growth are bearing fruit. In most regions of the country, housing prices have stabilized and the market for new and existing homes shows positive signs of improvement. During my first term, we’ve added millions of jobs, and the economy has shown positive GDP growth over the past seven quarters.”

  Murmurs rippled through the auditorium as the attention of many audience members shifted from the stage to their smartphones. Who Is I confirmed the President’s limited assertions, but clarified that those added jobs were more than offset by the millions more lost during the prolonged downturn. The modest improvement in the nation’s unemployment rate resulted primarily from the elimination of millions of long-term idled workers from the unemployment calculation, reducing the overall official size of the labor force, and not from job creation. It also noted that only the public sector experienced significant job growth, a trend that had an overall negative net impact on the national economy.

  Who Is I further noted that the U-6 measure of national unemployment averaged 15.2 percent during the President’s first term, never dropping below 14.6 percent. The demand for labor in the United States remains weak. And while GDP had been positive over the period specified by the President, the rate of growth never rose above two-tenths of a percent.

  “The economy isn’t roaring yet,” the President stammered, distracted by the sudden loss of audience attention, “but most economists agree that the worst of the recession I inherited has passed and our economy is poised for a substantial recovery.”

  “Lastly, my program seeks not to simply restore our economy, but to correct significant flaws in our economic system that are the root cause of the recurring boom-bust cycle and, of course, the terrible disparity between the rich and poor in this country. The sweeping healthcare reforms passed by Congress and that I proudly signed into law address a sector of the economy where costs for individuals, businesses, and the government were skyrocketing, yet millions had little or no access to affordable healthcare.

  “The Republican-controlled House has squandered the people’s time and money attempting to repeal these vital healthcare reforms, which are essential in bending the cost curve down and, in the long run, reducing the federal deficit. The healthcare status quo was a bullet train to economic disaster and the reforms veered the nation away from certain financial suicide.

  “The economy and jobs are my top priority, and will continue to be my top priority in my second term. But fixing the economy takes more than just money—you cannot have economic justice without social justice.”

  “And how do you plan to address the nation’s economy, Mr. Egan?” Redmond asked.

  “‘Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it,’” Egan said. “While specific details differ, the current economic downturn is similar to others in our nation’s history and those experienced elsewhere in the world.

  “And many of the supposed solutions adopted by the President and his economic team were tried before with similarly dismal results. For example, Japan’s booming economy of the late eighties suffered a spectacular crash in the early nineties. Subsequent economic intervention, classic Keynesian stimulus with massive public-sector spending by the Japanese government, led to a lost decade of economic growth from which they never really recovered.

  “Hoover’s progressive agenda of domestic spending after the crash of 1929, and Roosevelt’s massive expansion of this policy in the thirties, had little positive economic effect. In fact, most economists now agree that stimulative spending by Hoover and Roosevelt actually prolonged the Great Depression.

  “The thing is, we know what works. The United States slipped into a depression in January of 1920 after the relatively new Federal Reserve began raising the rates on money it lends to banks. In response, instead of priming the pump through increased spending as we’re doing now, the government cut taxes and spending. A year and a half later, the economy healed and the Roaring Twenties began. A similar policy in the eighties created an economic expansion that ran for much of the next twenty years.

  “A century of government intervention based on the theories of John Maynard Keynes has failed to produce one success story, and in fact proved that the interventionists do more harm than good. I’m an engineer, and when I look at a flow chart of
how this beloved theory allegedly works, I see something I know for a fact cannot work. The idea that the state can take money out of the economy—through increased taxes, increased debt, or inflating the money supply—skim a little off the top, then pour what’s left back into the economy and expect the whole thing to hum along indefinitely is the economic equivalent of a perpetual motion machine.

  “My economic plan is simple. Cease stimulative actions by the government because they don’t work. Cut government spending—and yes, everything is on the table. No sacred entitlement cows. Cut taxes in the immediate short term, and completely restructure how the government receives revenue over the next few years.

  “I am a believer in dynamic, Darwinian capitalism. Businesses blink into existence and go extinct. They adapt to changing conditions or die. They defeat competitors or are overtaken. The invisible hand of the marketplace, not the whims of the ruling class, determines the winners and losers.

  “While not all government regulations are bad, those that effectively raise barriers to entrepreneurs distort the organic marketplace. These barriers are often the spawn of lobbyists seeking to protect their corporate masters from the threat of a more efficient competitor. I propose that all government regulations be reviewed for intent. Job growth in this country does not come from large established concerns, and should not come from the already bloated and wasteful public sector. In a vibrant economy, entrepreneurs fuel job growth and they must be encouraged.”

  “So you want to cut Social Security and Medicare?” the President charged.

  “As part of a long-term restructuring,” Egan replied calmly, “both should be phased out and replaced with programs based on sound investment principles and not a pyramid scheme.”

  “Pyramid scheme?” the President bristled. “The integrity of Social Security has never been in question.”

  “That’s the problem,” retorted Egan. “It should have been questioned from day one and exposed for the fraud that it is. The Roosevelt administration sold Social Security to the American public as government insurance and not a tax, but defended its constitutionality before the Supreme Court as a tax and not insurance because the government does not have the power to compel an individual to purchase anything. In truth, the government lied to both the Supreme Court and the people as to the program’s true purpose—providing the government with another way to tap the incomes of productive American wage earners.