“What do you mean?” Greg asked.
“I expect you’re going to usurp my command out here,” Spencer said. “I’ve got a system set up out here and that’s going to get upset when you come out here.”
Greg paused. “We should have had better communication,” he muttered to himself. “Okay, we aren’t coming for a month and we can work out these kinds of details before it occurs. We can’t waste time arguing about this kind of thing when the Black Hand will be gunning for us.”
“Fine,” Spencer said. “But seriously, how many are coming?”
“A few hundred,” Greg said. “Since we’ve lost our spies, we’re down mostly to the leaders and a company of former military personnel that have taken out multiple Black Hand companies.”
“Taken out?” Spencer asked. “Like, killed?”
“Killed or captured,” Greg replied.
“I think you’ll fit in fine,” Spencer admitted. “These are like trained military personnel?”
“Yes,” Greg replied. “We have a capable leader in Lieutenant Colonel Zach Gates.”
“Zach Gates?” Spencer asked. “That name sounds familiar.”
“He’ll be there soon,” Greg said. “He tried to train our spies in weapons training and military tactics, but obviously we lost all of them in the Black Hand crackdown. He would be happy to train your recruits if you wanted as well.”
“We need it,” Spencer said. “I can only do so much.”
“Is there anything else you need?” Greg asked.
“I’m going to keep your number if I need anything,” Spencer said. “Since we are establishing better lines of communication, then I figure we should stay in touch.”
“Good idea. I’ll keep you up on when we are coming out,” Greg said.
“I’ll prepare for it,” Spencer said.
Greg hung up the phone and said, “It might be complicated integrating the Continental Army into one cohesive unit.”
“We’ve got a month to work on that,” Ashley said. “And it needs to happen too. That way we can fight as one force and not get split apart and killed separately.”
“I suppose,” Greg replied. “We need to get to work though. I need to get rid of a lot of this stuff before we move out.”
Chapter Forty-One
The Debate
“This is going to be a huge circus,” Liam grumbled. He was backstage with Abby and Ryan at the Lied Center at the University of Kansas. The one and only Presidential debate was about to begin and Liam was fighting his nerves by venting to his chief campaign staff.
“Yes, but we’ve prepared for this circus,” Abby said.
“I hope we have,” Liam said, peeking out at the crowd. “Two hundred million people are going to see this.”
“There’s nothing we can do about that now,” Ryan said. “You’ll be fine. You didn’t get this far by accident. You’ll kick their asses.”
Liam nodded. “Okay, let’s do this then.”
Moments later, Liam went out on the stage and saw the other three major candidates gathering in front of four podiums. Liam shook hands with the three of them, but nearly had his hand crushed by Felicia Hall. He returned the favor and the four candidates took their places. Liam and Felicia, the leaders of the Presidential race, were in the center two podiums and they were flanked by Javier Sanchez and Tom Green.
“Welcome to the 2040 Presidential Debate, hosted by the Commission on Presidential Debates at the University of Kansas in Lawrence, Kansas,” the moderator, NBC anchor Henry Cable, said. “Despite incidents during the previous election cycle, the commission felt that this time-honored tradition must continue, though in a more limited way. The debate will be shorter by one half hour and I will be given more control to restrict the candidates’ responses.”
“The audience is reminded that they are to maintain silence until the end of the debate. Our first question will be for Conservative candidate, Felicia Hall. The other candidates will be allowed to share their rebuttals after the initial response.”
“Ms. Hall, much has been made of the current security crisis that is plaguing our nation. A terrorist organization known as the Black Hand has grown all over the nation and threatens the nation’s safety and security. In your estimation, what would be the best response to dealing with the Black Hand?”
“I believe that the policies of our party will suffice to end the security crisis,” Felicia said. “In states where Conservative policies have been in place, citizens have enjoyed more safety and security then the other areas of the country, because they are allowed to protect themselves, which deters insurgents such as the Black Hand from interloping in these areas.”
“Extending these protections to all corners of the nation will deter the Black Hand from spreading further. To deal with those that already exist, police forces across the nation will be given the authority to deal with localized threats from the Black Hand, which will in turn weaken the organization nationally, ending the threat.”
“Mr. Hensen, your rebuttal?” Henry asked.
“Conservative policies are not doing the citizens in the midsection of the country any good from the Black Hand,” Liam started. “In the past two weeks alone, the Black Hand have engaged in more criminal activities in states such as Kansas, Missouri, Arkansas, and Mississippi to name a few. Clearly the access to this ‘protection’ as you would call it is only making matter worse.”
“Excuse me, what criminal activities would you be referring to?” Felicia demanded.
“Ask the moderator!” Liam retorted. “He’s reported on a good number of them. There were five arson attacks in the last week in towns across Missouri, all of which were connected to the Black Hand.”
Felicia looked unsettled somewhat, but recovered and said, “And what would your plan be then?”
“I’ve already made my plan clear,” Liam said. “These gangs and rogue militias will be allowed to give themselves up for reeducation so they can be productive members of our society.”
“Reeducation?” Javier Sanchez demanded. “I wasn’t aware we lived in Nazi Germany.”
“We don’t,” Liam advised. “This is no different than when we send a normal criminal to jail. Instead of calling it rehabilitation, we’re calling it reeducation.”
“And what about the people who don’t take you up on your offer?” Tom Green protested. “Do you just kill them all?”
“If it comes to that,” Liam said. “Violent resistance to police or government authorities cannot be tolerated, especially when it threatens the safety of law-abiding citizens, like these Black Hand monsters do.”
“We can’t trample on people’s rights just to clear up a few criminals!” Tom protested.
“A few criminals?” Javier demanded. “What is your plan for this anyway? Do you have one?”
“I think that the current course of action is the correct one,” Tom said resolutely.
“And what would that be?” Liam said sarcastically. “Continuing to have a corrupt and inefficient Fed prop up rogue militias to do their dirty work for them?”
There was much muttering across the room at this statement. “What are you talking about?” Felicia demanded.
“I’ve got it on good authority that the Fed has been propping up a rogue militia to fight the Black Hand for them. Such reckless behavior is dangerous and should not be tolerated. Is that what you are for?” Liam asked of Tom.
Tom stammered and said, “I…uh…I…these things have difficult answers…”
“Where’s a gong when you need it?” Javier asked sarcastically.
“Mr. Sanchez, what would your plan to deal with the Black Hand be?” Henry asked.
“Whatever solution to be used against the Black Hand will come from the Fed, although I can assure you we won’t be gun running to rogue militias,” Javier said, nodding at Liam. “I would appoint a special task force to oversee this task.”
“The last time that happened, two thousand people were killed,” F
elicia shot back.
“Obviously,” Javier said impatiently, “We’ll have to run the Task Force in a different way than the one that failed so heinously in New York.”
“How can you try the same thing that failed before and expect a different result?” Felicia retorted.
“There was nothing wrong with the mission of the Task Force, just the execution,” Javier protested.
“We’ve run out of time on this subject and we need to move on to other areas,” Henry interjected. “The next question will be for Liam Hensen. There has been a lot of talk of your plan to reduce unemployment and fix the economic depression in the country. Why would you think that having the Fed control every aspect of the economy work?”
“The federal government has been cruelly inefficient to the point that it should be a crime. There is no accountability for the bureaucrats that run roughshod over our lives. Under my program, they would be forced under the force of law to work for the people that give them taxpayer money. And they would do so by giving everyone a job, everyone a home, and everyone a function,” Liam explained.
“That is the worst idea to fix the economy ever,” Felicia suddenly interrupted, not wanting to wait anymore. “In the last 150 years, numerous governments around the world have tried the all government approach. The Soviet Union, North Korea, China, Vietnam, Cambodia, Cuba, and Venezuela have all tried this. All it did was bankrupt those nations and get hundreds of millions of people killed!”
“The difference between these Communist nations and my plan,” Liam shot back, “Is that there won’t be a ruling class ruining the whole system. The ruling class in this case will be forced under threat of a long prison sentence to work as they are meant to.”
“And who’s going to make sure they are doing that?” Felicia demanded. “Some other unelected bureaucrat?”
“I will myself if I have to,” Liam said.
“You’re going to supervise millions of government employees yourself?” Felicia asked caustically.
“Somebody has to,” Liam said. “No President has tried to in decades.”
“Yes, because micromanaging is ineffective,” Felicia said. “Just ask Jimmy Carter how that worked out.”
“Ms. Hall, you’ve made your opinion clear already, but we should move on to the other two candidates,” Henry cut in. “Mr. Sanchez, what is your response to the Globalist candidate’s economic plan?”
“It doesn’t go far enough,” Javier replied. “What Hensen forgets is that many Americans don’t have quality health care…”
“Now hold on, wasn’t it YOUR President some thirty years ago who tried to fix that?” Felicia cut in again.
“Let me finish!” Javier shouted over her. “The Affordable Care Act didn’t go far enough. If Hensen is insisting that the federal government give everyone a job, then I don’t understand why he doesn’t want everyone to have health care as well.”
“I don’t think it would be hard to include health care in my plan,” Liam said. “It would be a little more complicated to edit existing laws like Obamacare to include our doctors and nurses in the program though. In other industries, there is no such complication.”
“People have been trying to edit Obamacare ever since it came out,” Tom suddenly said. “It hasn’t been done yet so why would you be able to do it?”
“Because, I am the only here promising to actually do something about what ails our country. The three of you are only suggesting solutions that have created the problems we are facing today. You’re just piddling around hoping to keep the wheel of power turning in your favor!” Liam started. “First, it’s this party, then it’s that one, then back to the first one, it has accomplished nothing! Have you experienced the problems facing our country like I have?”
“When would you have experienced those things?” Felicia asked caustically.
“I was abducted by the Black Hand from my own convention!” Liam shot back.
“My nomination speech was interrupted by the Black Hand as well!” Felicia shot back. “You don’t have a monopoly on being a man of the people, Liam.”
“Aren’t we talking about the economy?” Tom asked.
“Yes, we were,” Henry said. “What do you propose to help the economy recover?”
“I’ll answer that for him,” Felicia said. “He’s just going to try the same failed policies of President Hoch.”
Tom looked abashed, but said in a slightly higher voice, “Those policies would be working were it not for the Black Hand clogging the economy…”
“Which you also don’t have a plan for, so any economic plan you would have would be useless until the Black Hand was stopped,” Liam said.
“Look, people don’t like extreme answers to these questions,” Tom said. “That’s why there is a Center run Congress and a Center President in the White House!”
“That may have flown in 2036 and 2038,” Javier said. “But that won’t fly this year. Have you seen your poll numbers lately?”
“Have you seen yours?” Tom shot back.
“What are we, in grade school?” Javier shot back. “The national polls don’t matter, I’m doing well in enough states to be able to win the Presidency.”
“Oh, so you’ve realized the popular vote doesn’t matter?” Felicia said sarcastically. “It only took you twenty-four years.”
“The popular vote does matter,” Javier shot back.
“Not for getting into the White House,” Liam said. “But we’re being really argumentative about that considering none of us are going to get a majority in the popular vote anyway.”
“That doesn’t matter,” Felicia said. “The only thing that matters is getting 270 electoral votes.”
“The popular vote is important as well to gauge how popular an incoming administration would be,” Tom said.
“So since Hoch lost the popular vote in 2036, then he wasn’t very popular then, was he?” Felicia said.
“He’s the President though!” Tom protested.
“Not in three months, he won’t,” Liam said. “Do we have another topic we can talk about? I don’t think the people are learning much about us talking about the Electoral College.”
“Very well,” Henry said. “There has not been much said of any candidate about the United States’ role in the world in this day. Starting with Mr. Sanchez, could all of you explain your views on foreign policy? After that point, we will open up the floor for debate on each of your plans.”
“The United States has too many problems domestically to focus on being a global police force at this moment,” Javier said. “On top of that, with all of the global wars ongoing, it would be impossible for America to fix all that ails the world.”
Tom spoke up next, “I think that the United States should be involved in international affairs, but we can’t interfere with the wars that are ongoing overseas. We should at least reestablish trade relations with the various nations of the world, especially the ones that aren’t at war.”
“The United States does have many problems at home, but fixing those problems will help the world overall,” Liam said. “When the other nations see a strong, peaceful America again, they will deescalate their conflicts and reestablish cordial relations. They know that a strong America means that we could interfere in their affairs if they wanted and they will start to behave themselves again.”
“The United States does need to recover at home before we can take a more active role abroad, but I don’t think we should actively try to stop other nation’s wars that don’t directly involve our great nation,” Felicia said. “The point of ending global conflicts is to help us rebuild trade and help the American economy grow again through that.”
“Some intervention may be needed,” Liam said. “If overseas wars threaten the country or its people, then we will need to do our best to stop the conflict.”
“And how would you go about doing that?” Javier asked.
“It depends on the situation,” Liam said. “Some c
onflicts may just need mediation, like Theodore Roosevelt did with Japan and Russia in 1905. Some conflicts may need more active intervention though, but it just depends. We would have to look at each individual conflict and determine the best approach. But if we are to be the strongest nation in the world, we can’t sit idly by while the world rips itself apart.”
“The other nations of the world aren’t our problem while we are being terrorized by the Black Hand and caught in an economic morass,” Javier said.
“I think our issues domestically and internationally are related,” Tom said. “But it’s hard to excuse foreign intervention when we are stuck with these troubles at home. We have to do something though, because a more peaceful world benefits us just as much as it would the rest of the world.”
“So, what would you do as President then?” Felicia asked.
“Mediation is a good idea. It’s cheap and it won’t get Americans killed,” Tom said.
“Sometimes that just doesn’t work,” Liam said. “The United States tried to the same thing during the First World War. We ended up at war anyway despite that effort.”
“The world isn’t at war with itself this time,” Tom said. “These are more regional conflicts, which should be easier to resolve.”
“Then why hasn’t President Hoch done anything about it yet?” Felicia asked.
“He’s tried,” Tom said. “He hasn’t been able to focus much on it due to the ongoing issues at home.”
“So why would you be able to do anything about it if the President of your party can’t?” Liam asked.
“I’m not the President, am I?” Tom said. “We may be of the same party, but that doesn’t mean we are the same people.”
“No, you’d be worse at it then he is,” Felicia said, causing some chuckles from the crowd.
“This has been a spirited debate,” Henry said.
“What are we done already?” Tom asked.
“We’ve talked about all of the issues that we needed to broach on and I think the country will appreciate that the four of you did not resort to personal attacks, unlike the last debate,” Henry said.
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