Brutally Honest Audio Rant: The Worst Fears – Part 5
Audio Transcripts
10/31/07
[Start Program]
(Computer – Introduction)
(Music intro – “American Idiot Remix” – by Green Day and David Matthews 2)
Good evening and welcome to this week’s Brutally Honest Rant. I’m David Matthews 2, writer of the weekly online column Brutally Honest.
All this month I’ve been giving you “The Worst Fears”… a series of narratives that describe what some people are truly afraid of. The things that keep them up at night.
And what a time for going over this subject! This is, after all, the time of Halloween! A time of ghost stories and tales of things that go bump in the night! And tonight is certainly one of those stories.
For the past few years we have been led around by nothing BUT FEAR. We, as a nation, are collectively AFRAID. We are honestly AFRAID of a lot of things. And we are told that we simply CANNOT move on and move past that fear! No, we are actually browbeaten back into that FEAR. We are told that we cannot stand up to that fear. We are told that we have to let OTHERS do that for us.
And we learn that there is another group of people that we have to fear… and those are the fear-mongers. Because if we’re not genuinely afraid of what they tell us to be afraid of, then they will use the power they have to GIVE US a reason to fear THEM.
But what to THEY fear? THERE is the real mystery! What fears do the fear-mongers have? What would disturb their sound sleep?
Maybe it would involve the last fear of this series. The one that nobody would see coming.
(Lead-in music – “Heavy Price Paid” by Martin O’Donnell and Michael Salvatori)
Thomas sat on the bench across the street from the White House. It was a cloudy day. No rain yet, but no chance of the sun coming out either. It was an appropriate setting for what was happening at that moment.
He watched as the Marines started taking down the American Flag from atop the White House roof. No doubt this was something that they did not want to do, but something that they were ordered to do nonetheless. That would be a common problem today as their actions would be duplicated in federal buildings, schools, and businesses all across America.
The president would make the announcement at noontime, in just a few minutes, but Thomas knew exactly what would be said. He knew it because he had helped to write it before he quietly resigned from his White House position several weeks ago.
The announcement and the actions done afterwards would only be a formality. He knew that many people would object to what was going on, but they would have no idea that this was already a done deal.
The new administration came into some really dire straits left over from its predecessors. The economy was collapsing. Unemployment was at thirty percent and rising. There were more Americans living in bankruptcy and foreclosures than ever before. Inflation was in double-digits as well.
The cost of energy was crippling. There were already two winters where hundreds of Americans froze to death, and one summer where thousands of Americans suffered from heat strokes and heat exhaustion. The resources were simply not there.
Taxes were astronomically high, supposedly made as a parting political gift, but in truth it was to help pay off a certain longtime bill that had come due. It was a bill that the federal government did not want to publicly admit owing, because it would incite a riot if that fact ever came out. Almost every dollar that was coming in through taxes, tariffs, and other revenue had to go to help pay off that bill. That was money that couldn’t be spent on other essential government operations. Many federal agencies had to furlough their workers because they simply couldn’t afford to pay their salaries.
Internationally, things were a complete mess. The American military was spread out more than it had ever been in previous administrations. Every rogue country, every mad despot, every terrorist organization or renegade political faction seemed to sense trouble and come out to exploit it. And that only caused even more of a financial strain on the federal budget, because the government couldn’t even afford to pay the soldiers, never mind adequately arm and equip them. They made promises, but promises didn’t pay for bullets or fuel the planes.
And the delegates at the United Nations were more interested in bashing America than they were in doing something to step in and help with some of these international problems. They were quite content in letting American soldiers and American diplomacy try and fail miserably to save a world that clearly does not want to be saved.
Worse yet, nothing could be done to fix any of these problems. Every attempt to work out a new deal for oil or trade agreements seemed to either collapse or get held up. Congress was waylaid by the overwhelming influences of unnamed lobbying groups. Nothing seemed to work, and public opinion for the whole federal government was in the single digits.
That was when the deal was offered. A deal that would wipe away that staggering hidden debt that depleted most of the federal revenue. A deal that would give political support in the United Nations. A deal that would help free up failed trade agreements and failed oil deals. A deal that would essentially save America from self-destruction.
There was, of course, a catch. The catch was that the new benefactors would become the new owners of the United States of America. They had no plans on changing the current political system. Everyone in the federal government would still keep their same jobs and titles. But certain matters would have to go through the new benefactors first. Certain future agreements and arrangements would have to be rubber-stamped by the current administration; no questions asked.
And, of course, it all had to remain a secret. Not a word of this agreement would be able to go out until such time as they were ready to make it all official. And that, they claimed, may take years. A small price to pay, they said, in exchange for taking the credit of “saving” America from total collapse.
The arrangement was sold as a new trade agreement. It was spun as being “renewed friendship” and “a better understanding with our international partners”. It was quickly and unanimously rubber-stamped into ratification by Congress. Most of the members of Congress never even bothered to read the document. They never read anything put before them; they just vote in the way that they are told to vote by the party leaders. And for those who did bother to read the document, they found that most of the fine print was censored in the name of “national security”. The only people who would truly know the full details of the arrangement were the White House inner circle and the party leaders in the Congress. And they knew at this point that they had no choice but to go along with it.
For the first year-and-a-half, it was almost magical. It was like a light switch was flipped. The budget office announced a series of “corrections” that would give the government a budget surplus in two year’s time. There was plenty of available money for social programs, and they even managed to cut the taxes and curtail some of the tariffs and the draconian regulatory fines that were previously assessed.
The price of oil was eased. Quickly at first, but then it slowed its price decent until it was just under $100 a barrel. The price at the pump soon followed.
More jobs were available. Businesses stopped outsourcing and started re-investing in American workers. Inflation started going down with the stabilization of prices. More people could afford to buy homes again, and the banks were stable enough to loan them the money.
The troublemakers all around the world started calming down. UN resolutions suddenly were passed and international help was available. American forces started coming home, some for the first time in years.
Things were looking good. It was a strong recovery, almost miraculous in nature, and nobody except for a select few knew what was really behind it.
Then people started asking questions. They wanted to know why a certain country was buying out more and more businesses in America. They wanted to know why that certain country is able to get controlling interest in many of the major media outlets, from TV stations to radio stations to newspapers and Internet providers. They wanted to know why with this “new understanding” that the trade deficit with this certain country was still getting higher and higher. They wanted to know why quality control for goods and services coming from this one country was virtually non-existent. People were actually suffering and dying from either poor craftsmanship or from the toxic materials used in these products! And more importantly, they wanted to know how businesses controlled by this one country would end up with lucrative government contracts, including defense contracts, in violation of many protectionist laws imposed in the past few decades.
People started to figure it out. And they didn’t like it.
So the benefactors decided to make it official. This wasn’t a “hostile takeover”, as the media was starting to hype it to be. The takeover was already done, and it was far from hostile. Much of the world already knew this to be true. After all, many of them were in on the plan. Now it was time for the American people to be given the news.
Thomas knew that there would be many people who would object to the President’s announcement. They will want to fight. They will scream and shout and start protests and try to rally resistance. But it is really too late for them to do anything. This country isn’t theirs anymore. It was already bought and paid for and ratified by the very people they put in office.
In hindsight, Thomas said to himself, we should have seen it coming. Who else had the influence around the world to cause the world’s troublemakers to act up? Who had the power to stymie the United Nations? Who had the influence to manipulate global markets? And, more importantly, who was the principal country that was buying up all of the bonds used to pay for decades upon decades of our government’s reckless spending?
As the president made the announcement that Thomas had helped to write all those weeks ago, a new flag rose on top of the White House roof. It was the flag that belonged to the new owners of the country.
It was the flag of the People’s Republic of China.
Welcome… to the worst fear of the American people! The fear of losing our country without so much as a single shot ever being fired.
(Computer – fear)
(Fade Music In – “Mythodea” by Vangelis)
Okay, how many of you saw that one coming? I don’t think many of you could… and that’s the real secret behind this fear.
We’d like to think that if there was some great invasion against this country that we would be able to defend against it and that we would rally our brothers and sisters together so that we would be able to make a stand and fight it. But unfortunately, much like a nuclear war, you can’t defend against this kind of attack!
And look at where we are right now! Not too long ago we were about to turn the security of our ports over to the United Arab Emirates. And that monstrous debt I was talking about? That’s not ficational. That’s real! And China IS one of the principal financiers of the federal debt, which is running in the TRILLIONS. And of course you have been hearing about all of the product recalls that are coming from China.
The really scary part of this story is that it could very well happen tomorrow, and we wouldn’t know anything about it until it would be too late. What then, guys? What then?
That is what makes it the worst fear… because it is one of those situations that you have absolutely no control over whatsoever.
(Pause)
Brutally Honest is a Get Brutal production; all opinions expressed are those of the commentator, and may or may not be shared by the online provider. This is David Matthews 2 saying good night, Happy Halloween, and I’ll speak with you soon!
(Fade out)
(Computer – Ending/“End of Recording”)
[End of program]
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