The Second American Revolution - The Building of an Empire

by Kenneth Szulczyk

  On the last sentence, Jerrick’s dad embraced him tightly, emphasizing his last point. Then his father released him, and his smile widened.

  Jerrick stood with his mouth hanging open. Just when you think, you know a person all their lives, they throw a curve ball at you, shaking up your convictions. He didn’t know what to say except, “Thanks dad.”

  Until tonight, Jerrick and his father were never close. They rarely spoke to each other throughout their lives. Jerrick mentally counted the number of conversations he held with his father and counted twelve. When his father was home, he surfed the internet or watched sports while drinking copious amounts of beer.

  Jerrick never participated in sports. His dad beat up kids like Jerrick in high school, the nerdy, weak kids. For his punishment, God gave him a son whom he would despise, or at least until this day. Today, his dad was proud of Jerrick.

  His mom came next and hugged him; then she kissed him on the cheek, “Son, do your best. Be the first Davis to graduate from college.”

  Then his mom let go and climbed back into the car on the passenger side. She looked at her son and waved good-bye to him with tears forming in her eyes.

  His dad started the car and pulled away.

  His parents stayed at a hotel. Early, the next morning, they drove home, completing their long journey.

  Jerrick felt a tinge of sadness. He didn’t know it, but he wouldn’t see them again in four years. Unfortunately, a poor, college student’ reality is returning to the parents’ house was a luxury. They spend many lonely Christmases at the university, pursuing their dreams in sadness and grief.

  The College Years

  One word can describe Jerrick’s college years: lonely. He became isolated from everyone.

  In Upper Michigan, everyone talked like Canadians, and ended a sentence with AYE, such as ‘How ya doing, AYE?’

  Jerrick could never talk that way, and he didn’t make any new friends in upper Michigan.

  All the locals spotted and despised the outsiders. Locals wanted the outsiders to return to the other side of the Mackinaw Island Bridge and return to their caves. The Mackinaw Island Bridge spanned five miles over the Straits of Mackinac, connecting the two large peninsulas of Michigan.

  Upper Michigan residents circulated a joke – Lower Michigan residents are trolls, who live under the bridge.

  Residents of Upper Michigan even wanted to break away from Michigan and form their own state.

  Despite the intense loneliness of Upper Michigan, Jerrick expanded his mind at college. He poured over books and learned things he would never learn on his own. His mind became a sponge, soaking up massive quantities of information.

  Unfortunately, Jerrick didn’t make any new friends in college. He kept to himself, spending hours studying in the library on the second floor, where he had a nice view of the small woods outside the window and he watched the sparkling waters of Lake Superior in the background.

  Jerrick’s grades reflected his hard work and earned almost all A’s in all his classes. Of course, Jerrick didn’t shy away from the challenging classes like calculus, chemistry, and economics.

  Jerrick studied because college had a different atmosphere than high school. In college, the professors don’t care if students come to class or spend the whole night partying and drinking. If students chose not to learn, then professors will fail those students. In high school, the teachers shackled their students to their desks and fretted over every insignificant detail about the students’ lives.

  In college, Jerrick fell into a routine. As clockwork, he awakened every day at 8 o’clock, showered, ate breakfast in the cafeteria, and left for class.

  Jerrick always arrived early, sitting in the second or third row, usually dead center. That way, he saw everything on the blackboard.

  Many professors noticed Jerrick. He wasn’t the smartest kid in class, but his grades were always in the top 5%, competing fiercely with the Asian kids in math and science.

  Asians were programmed automatons, who spent their whole lives eating, sleeping, and shitting mathematics and engineering. Homebred American students rarely attained the top 10% of these hard classes.

  Jerrick’s college social life, unfortunately, was pitiful, and he often reminisced about his old friends from high school, missing the parties, booze, and weed.

  Jerrick’s hometown friends avoided hard work and ethics, and continued freeloading off their parents, like bed bugs coming out at night to quench their carnal thirsts. They even stole from their parents, friends, or acquaintances, pawning the stolen jewelry, and power tools at the local pawnshops.

  Jerrick longed to be with his friends, but knew his life would be limited. Party lifestyle always included a stint at the local jail, entailing the finest accommodations: bars on the windows and doors, and a metallic bunk bed, where the metal would gnaw at the prisoner’s ass.

  Besides, Jerrick still had his aspirations where he vividly dreamt he was a great leader, delivering powerful speeches to the people.

  Then people would shout his name, “Jerrick! Jerrick! Jerrick!. . .”

  ***

  One weekend, Jerrick was particularly lonely and reached out to his old friends.

  Jerrick tried calling Larry, but Larry was never home. Next, he called Tommy, and Tommy answered after the third ring.

  “Hello,” Tommy said sluggishly.

  “Hey Tommy,” Jerrick replied cheerfully.

  After a pause, Tommy recognized his friend’s voice and hollered, “Hey Jerrick, what’s up?”

  Tommy didn’t sound drunk or high, but the constant partying made him sound slow as if he became stuck an eternal stupor. Daily partying was reducing Tommy's intelligence.

  “What are you and Larry up to?”

  “Ah dude, you’re missing some awesome fun. Larry is crazier.”

  “Crazier? What’s he doing now?”

  “Ah dude, last weekend we're drinking, smoking, driving around in his old pickup truck.”

  “Yeah, yeah,” Jerrick became excited as he clutched the phone receiver tightly.

  “We drove by his old girlfriend’s house, Tanya. He saw a strange car parked in the driveway. Larry is so messed up. He thinks some guy is in there fucking her. I’m like dude, she’s not your girlfriend anymore. He stops the truck and puts it in reverse, ‘he’s in there, he’s fucking her, he’s fucking her.' He backs the truck up and rams the car.”

  “You gotta be kidding?”

  “He rammed the car several times with the truck’s back end. Then we got out of there fast.”

  “Damn, that’s crazy!”

  “It gets better. Next day we went to Ed’s house. We wanted to smoke some weed. Ed is like ‘Larry, did you hear, Tanya bought a new car?’ Larry says, ‘Ah I think I’m getting sick.’ Then he pucks in the bushes.”

  Afterwards, Tommy burst into laughter for several minutes.

  “So Larry didn’t get caught?”

  “No, we didn’t hear anything.”

  “Damn, a guardian angel is watching over you two.”

  “When are you coming home?”

  “I don’t know. I’m so far away.”

  “How’re the college parties? College women?”

  “Dude it’s great. Parties are awesome.”

  “Ah, I must go. I must meet Larry at the pool hall.”

  “Later.”

  “Later,” and the phone line went dead.

  Jerrick felt a tinge of sadness because he wished, he was home partying with his friends. He also felt bad about the lie of the college parties and college girls.

  During his first semester at college, a burly guy always stopped Jerrick from entering the front door. Who could blame him? Guys despise other men who crash their parties, disturbing the male-female ratio. More guys mean more competition.

  Jerrick thought about joining a fraternity and attended several rushes, but he shook his head in disgust at paying membership dues to befriend a
group. He also despised rushing because the inductees became slaves to the fraternity, satisfying every whim and fancy of the fraternity brothers.

  Jerrick was no one’s slave.

  ***

  During Jerrick’s junior year, he learned about the world’s dictators.

  On April 3, 2001, Jerrick headed to his political science class.

  Jerrick didn’t like political science, but he had a brilliant professor, Dr. Szulcheck.

  Towards the end of the last class, the professor said we would do an experiment. His experiments always turned the students’ world upside down as the professor tore at the students’ beliefs, shaking up their convictions.

  Jerrick arrived early to class and sat in the second row, dead center. He would see everything unfold.

  Fifty students attended this class, but half always skipped. Students knew the true attendance during exam time as professors rarely let students miss exams.

  As the university’s clocks chimed 9 o’clock in the morning, Professor Szulcheck popped in, slamming the door behind him. He had taught at this institution for a long time; he knew when to leave his office and arrive at class at the exact time.

  Dr. Szulcheck approached the podium with his long gray hair sticking up in all directions, like a crazy, mad scientist. He wore slacks, a polo shirt, and brown leather shoes. At least, he dressed better than the other professors did. For example, the odd, economics professor, Dr. Okins, wore t-shirts and shorts with his school colors, Louisiana State University.

  When temperatures dropped below freezing in Michigan, Dr. Okins added a sweater and jogging pants to his attire.

  Dr. Szulcheck glanced at his watch, allowing for late students. Then he began his lecture.

  “Today class, we’ll begin with the Butler Shaffer’s election test.”

  Professor turned to the board and used a chalk to write neatly Candidate A on one side of the board as the chalk screamed like ants as letters appeared on the chalkboard. Then he wrote Candidate B on the other side.

  “Candidate A,” the professor began with his voice rising to a crescendo, “Is a critic of government. He was involved in numerous tax protests and evaded taxes. He wants to restrict immigration and limit the government’s power. He is a strong supporter of the Second Bill of Rights; all Americans have the right to own a firearm. Candidate A is also a businessman, who earned his money from smuggling, tobacco, and alcohol.”

  As Dr. Szulcheck spoke, he wrote every point under Candidate A on the chalkboard.

  “Candidate B is a war hero. He does not smoke or drink. He believes in using government to foster medical research and to cure cancer. He opposes animal cruelty and wants stronger restrictions on gun ownership. Finally, Candidate B does not mind sending troops to a foreign country to establish order or enhance national security.”

  Finishing writing, professor turned to the class and stated, “Your task is to vote for one of these candidates and list your reasons why.”

  A student in the background vociferated, “Doctor; that’s easy. Everyone hates the Republicans, which, of course, is Candidate A.”

  Infectious laughter erupted in the classroom. Educational institutions were havens for liberal thinking. Candidate A would garner few votes on this campus.

  “Now, now, let’s still vote,” the professor demanded.

  Jerrick scanned the room and noticed several students scribbled in their notebooks.

  After a pause, the professor stated, “How many voted for Candidate A?”

  Jerrick looked around and only saw several hands rise hesitantly into the air.

  Professor wrote seven votes under Candidate A.

  “How many voted for Candidate B?”

  Jerrick looked around and saw the majority of hands shoot up into the air like patriotic salutes, including Jerrick’s hand.

  Professor counted and wrote 28 votes under Candidate B.

  “Congratulations,” exclaimed the professor. He wrote ‘founding father’ under Candidate A and “Adolf Hitler” under Candidate B.

  Students’ mouths dropped in awe, and then they burst into nervous chuckles.

  Professor snapped, “Why are you guys laughing? Didn’t you see the results?”

  “Candidate B was doing more for his country,” one of the students exclaimed weakly, rationalizing her obvious bad choice.

  “Adolf Hitler did a lot for Germany. He plunged Germany into a world war, executed millions of German citizens, tried to exterminate the Jewish race, and almost wiped Germany off the face of the earth in the process.”

  Professor looked around the room, “Which one of you voted for Candidate A?”

  Then the professor pointed to one of the students in the fourth row.

  “My parents would kill me if I had voted for the Republicans,” the male student mumbled.

  Several students hissed and heckled in disapproval.

  “Class, don’t worry. Everyone fails the Hitler test. I have given the Hitler test for 20 years. Everyone publicly hates and despises Hitler, but they don’t hesitate to vote for him as President. Hitler always gets 70 to 80% of the votes. Always!”

  Professor paused, and the classroom became eerily silent. He pushed the students towards thinking, which now days was difficult. Professors and teachers competed for a student’s attention among the myriad distractions of cell phones, rambling emails, violent computer games, bad movies, and profanity-laced music.

  After Jerrick’s class had ended, he rushed to the library. He had read thousands of books, but he never read the biographies of dictators.

  Jerrick immediately checked out the biographies of Adolph Hitler and Napoleon Bonaparte from the library, devouring these large books in two days.

  Jerrick had no idea. Germany was a developed European country. Which crisis is so severe, the people voted for a non-German leader who dropped out of high school and spent his youth, wandering the Vienna streets as a homeless man? That was equivalent to Americans handing the U.S. presidency to a homeless, high-school dropout from Canada.

  Jerrick snickered at his analogy because Michigan's citizens voted a Canadian for governor. She promised to turn the Michigan economy around, but the Michigan economy resisted and continued sinking into the abyss.

  Jerrick noticed four things about these two dictators. First, they, obviously, were brilliant. Hitler, the greatest orator in the 20th century, seduced audiences with his speeches, and Napoleon, a brilliant general, won major battles for the French Republic. Second, they were never career politicians. They founded their political parties, but they never held a political office before seizing power. Third, they beat the odds as if a divine hand of providence came down from the heavens and pushed aside their obstacles. Finally, most people didn’t know this observation. These dictators rose out of republics that were destroying themselves. People turned to the dictators as a last measure to save them. Nobody hands power to a dictator, when times are good. People must be desperate to hand power to one person.

  For example, the German government destroyed the German economy with hyperinflation in the 1930s. Prices increased a million percent in one year, drowning half the German people in poverty and homelessness. Thus, Hitler easily seized power and blamed the Jews for all of Germany’s problems.

  The French Republic expropriated property, turned social classes against each other and invaded its neighbors. When the war went badly, the French Republic turned on its citizens, accusing thousands of being spies. Then the French Republic executed the spies with guillotines. The French call this the Reign of Terror. Napoleon rose up and stopped this insanity. Although the French Republic had noble ideas, Napoleon brought them to fruition.

  Jerrick discovered the same pattern with other dictators, like Benito Mussolini and his soon to be favorite, Gaius Julias Caesar Octavianus, otherwise known as Augustus I, the first emperor of the Roman Empire.

  Removing the dates and names from Roman history, history was repeating
itself. Same problems plaguing Rome 2,000 year ago were occurring in the United States today.

  The Roman Republic was killing itself. Taxes became out of control as the Roman government taxed everything and anything including every door, window, and column. Rome’s few wealthy citizens controlled the machinery of government, bribing the corrupt Senate and juries and judges while lawlessness erupted throughout the Republic. Bandits roamed the countryside while pirates roamed the seas.

  Augustus rose up and saved his country by reforming his government and building the Augustan Empire that lasted 500 years, even with several centuries of bad emperors.

  Now Jerrick understood his mission. Those daydreams mapped out his destiny, being similar to Augustus’s.

  Jerrick must rise and save his people, the Americans, creating an empire in the process. Jerrick faced many obstacles and knew he must be cunning.

  Augustus inherited his adopted uncle’s wealth, his uncle, of course, being Julius Cesar. Augustus used his wealth to finance an army and crushed all opposition to his rule.

  Jerrick’s family didn’t have the money to reform the U.S. government or to raise an army.

  ***

  Jerrick started his senior year in college and enrolled in several tough classes.

  Then it happened two and a half weeks into the semester. On September 11, 2001 about 9 o’clock, Jerrick grabbed his notebooks and left his dorm room. Locking the door, he saw a commotion in the TV room, which was unusual this early in the morning. Usually half the residents slept until noon, recuperating from a night of drinking and partying.

  Jerrick walked to the TV room and sat on the couch with everyone else, mesmerized by the images on the TV, showing black smoke bellowing out from one of the twin towers of the World Trade Center in New York City.

  Then a Boeing Jet struck the other tower.

  Jerrick squawked, “What in the hell?”

  No one knew who did it. Did homegrown terrorists or radical Muslims highjacked the planes and crashed them into buildings?

  Missing his morning classes, Jerrick remained on the couch, spellbound by the images sweeping across the TV screen.

  Then the final images flashed on the TV screen as both the great towers crashed to the ground, spewing thick dust clouds into the air and destroying the surrounding neighborhoods. An icon of America’s greatest capitalistic institutions came to an explosive end.