The following is from the [Sixth Chapter] of Let Your
Will Be Done. The book is presented as
what I consider to be a realistic fantasy.
For there is nothing about the book that absolutely could not happen,
but in all fairness, it is highly unlikely.
Alas, this goes double for the political chapter, I suppose. For there is just not the political will to
accomplish most (if not all) of the programs mentioned in the chapter. If you see enough value, however, political
wills can be changed.
Chapter Six
The next step was
not going to be an easy one. For it is widely said that football is a
religion down south, but football is as nothing in comparison to how much
politics can inspire people to want to take up arms against both family and
friends.
Not that there
would be trouble within the Erickson ranks. Nonetheless, becoming the
next governor of Arkansas was sure to be a very treacherous step to take.
Yes, one could
argue that Arkansas is not really down south, but such a person would not get
very far with that sort of talk inside the borders of the state. For
Arkansas was a proud member of the Confederacy, and much of the psychological
damage done by Yankee carpetbaggers during the reconstruction period after the
Civil War was yet to be repaired.
Subsequently,
Arkansas voters were generally very wary of those who would want to implement
major changes to the status quo—even when they were very dissatisfied with the
way things had been, and this was exactly what Zeke wanted to do. In
fact, the only thing he was really campaigning upon was a complete overhaul of
the state’s bureaucracy for the purpose of eliminating as much incompetence and
corruption as possible at first, and then seeing what could be done with all of
the taxpayer money he suspected was being wasted and flat out stolen by the
fistfuls.
No, Zeke’s platform
did not go over too well with most already in office, and it certainly did not
help them to want to be more accepting that he was one of THOSE
Ericksons. For grudges often pass down from generation to generation as a
matter of honor and tradition throughout the south, and several descended from
those who butted heads with Zeke’s family during the Civil War now held
positions of power at several levels of government in the state—including the
incumbent governor.
Oh yeah, Governor
Mills tried to make a big deal out of the fact that Zeke’s family harbored
Yankees and runaway slaves while loyal sons of Arkansas fought and died in the
hope of preserving a genteel way of life that no one in Washington, D.C. had a
right to end, and it seemed to be working for a while. For every
pre-election poll had him winning by a large margin over Zeke and State Senator
Thomas.
Governor Mills was
a typical southern democrat for the time, who were generally much more
conservative (both fiscally and socially) than democrats from other parts of
the country. Although, Governor Mills was not nearly as conservative as
State Senator Thomas, who wanted state government stripped-down to just working
with more local forms of government to support order through the rule of law,
as well as help to build and maintain roads and bridges, all while imposing the
barest minimum of taxation upon the population.
Zeke was running as
an independent, and his platform appeared to have something for both of the
other sides to hate. For it promised to greatly change the way Governor
Mills and his kind had been doing things while keeping the state government way
too large for State Senator Thomas and his supporter’s comfort, but after all
of the official votes had been tallied, it was Zeke and his family moving into
the governor’s mansion next.
Greatly aiding to
Zeke’s cause was the election of a new state auditor, Scot Campbell, who also
wanted to get rid of as much waste as possible, but there was still a great
problem to overcome. For without legally-admissible evidence of
incompetence and corruption to present before the state legislature, there
would be no changing of the old bureaucratic system, and with the old
bureaucratic system still firmly in place, there would be not much (if any at
all) legally-admissible evidence to be found.
Therefore,
something drastic had to be done before Zeke’s wrecking ball could start
swinging, and in his inaugural address, Zeke revealed just how far he was
willing to go to make the state government of Arkansas a model of effective
efficiency for the entire country to marvel at. For he announced that
under the supervision of the state auditor’s office, he would be paying for a
truly independent entity to conduct a comprehensive examination of all state
agency policies and procedures out of his own pocket, and in order to insure
the integrity of the examination, the U.S. Government Accountability Office
would assess the findings.
Oh yeah, there was
much pulling of hair and gnashing of teeth in Little Rock (all over the state,
actually) that day. For both conservatives and liberals screamed about
the governor overreaching to the point of abusing his power. Some even
went as far as to file court challenges, which went nowhere fast.
Six months later,
Zeke and Campbell were handed a report that found where 70% of state funds were
not being used as they should be, with even 50% of the remaining 30% not being
used nearly as well it could be. This added up to 85% of state funds
being wasted to Zeke, and the state auditor readily agreed.
The press went
crazy in anticipation of there soon being much blood in the water after some of
the details were leaked, but this did not phase most of the state
legislators. For when Zeke presented the full report and offered some
suggestions on what to do next before a joint session, most of the members of the
state house and senate summarily rejected the findings.
During press
conferences afterward, many different reasons were given by state
representatives and senators for why they would not accept the findings of the
report, nor go along with Zeke’s suggestions, but there was one thing that
remained abundantly clear. For his opposition was solidly united in their
resolve to keep things as they had been.
So, Zeke and
Campbell called a press conference of their own to ask why anyone would be in
favor of wasting so much money if they were not profiting from it. After
hearing (a lot) from their constituents, many of the legislators were soon
swearing that they would be most cooperative, and when it came time to adopt
Zeke’s first proposal, he had the votes he needed to pass the resolution.
Campbell agreed
with Zeke that the right approach would be to keep everything going as it had
been while focusing upon one department/agency at a time. As soon as what
was broken about that one was well on the way to being fixed (if not already
fixed completely) another department/agency would be focused upon.
Zeke decided to
focus upon the state highway and transportation department first. For
aside from a great many of the current roads and bridges in the state being in
desperate need of repairs, new roads and bridges would open up areas to further
commerce and progress.
Speaking of
furthering commerce and progress, the road and bridge projects would have a
ripple effect throughout the state’s economy. For not only would they
provide good jobs in many economically-depressed areas, much of that additional
income for workers would be spent in local businesses, and there was also the
matter of more tax revenues being generated by those good jobs (both directly
and indirectly) which would be of benefit (in one way or another) to all of the
citizens of the state in the long run.
Of course, it is
arguable that many good jobs were also lost. For several administrative
positions were eliminated during the reorganization of the state highway and
transportation department, but since the affected were greatly helped to find
other employment, very few did much complaining.
It was certainly a
different story when it came to outside contractors with the department,
though. For many of them had been getting very rich off of charging the
state way too much for their services over the years, and Zeke was bound and
determined to put a halt to it.
Zeke cited as a
perfect example of outside contractors overcharging for their services being a
bridge built over the White River in the northeastern part of Arkansas.
For the state paid $2.6 million for a project that should not have cost more
than $975 thousand to complete—even with a 10% profit margin added to
construction expenses.
The construction
company that had been awarded the contract to build the bridge cried foul upon
the grounds that they had participated in good faith in a time-tested bidding
process where the lowest bidder with the ability to complete the project on
time would be awarded the contract. When they went on to add that it
would not be worth their time to bid on projects where they could not make more
than a 10% profit, which was repeated by all of the other construction
companies, the stage was set for Zeke to present his solution to the problem.
With over 200
bridges needing to be either replaced or repaired at the time, along with over
16,000 miles of roadways in various stages of disrepair, which was not counting
any new bridges or roads, Zeke proposed that the state highway and
transportation department should have its own heavy construction division.
Taking it even farther, Zeke contended that the state would save even more
money (along with providing even more good jobs) by purchasing iron ore on the
open market and producing its own steel, with the same result holding true for
producing its own concrete and other building products.
In response to
critics raising concerns over Zeke’s proposal being the first step down a road
leading to communism, Zeke sought to make it abundantly clear that he was most
definitely not against free enterprise. He did so by declaring that he
wanted the old bidding process left in place, with the only thing changing
about it being the state also bidding. Getting down to the nitty-gritty,
the state would be required to include a 10% profit margin in its bids, based
upon paying very competitive wages (according to industry averages) to all
working on a given project and purchasing raw materials for building products
on the open market, with none coming from state properties—especially not
through the use of eminent domain. In cases when an outside contractor
with the ability to complete a project within a reasonable amount of time was
willing to at least match the state’s bid, the outside contractor would be
awarded the contract.
To appease
environmental concerns over the proposed building of state-run steel mills in
Arkansas, Zeke contended that great advances in electric arc furnace designs
allowed for the clean production of steel—especially with more and more of the
electricity for the entire state being generated through the use of advanced
hydraulic, wind and solar technologies as coal-fired plants were phased
out. Needless to say, the environmentalists were very pleased.
Zeke most
definitely did not please the environmentalists when he told them that he wanted
to keep the one nuclear power plant in the state online. He fired them up
even more by adding that he wished it was possible to build even more, but
suffering through a meltdown of their own was averted when he finished with
that he could not justify the building of more nuclear power plants until a
truly safe way to dispose of nuclear waste was found.
It was not just in
regards to producing building products for roads and bridges that the new
state-run concrete plants and steel mills would prove to be most
cost-effective. For the next target was the state department of
education, and a very great many public school buildings were in desperate need
of being replaced or repaired.
There was not much
opposition to replacing or repairing public school buildings, but it was
certainly a different story when it came to the rest of Zeke’s proposal.
For Zeke wanted all of the students in the state to have an opportunity to
receive for free the same sort of education he had received under the guidance
of Uncle Willie and later at various universities. This would include
opportunities to receive plenty of real-world experience with practical
applications of what they were being taught through more formal methods, and in
respect to higher learning, even doctorate degrees from the state universities
could be obtained without charge by all residents of the state (regardless of
age) able to complete the requirements.
Speaking of more
formal methods, one of things Zeke was proposing was most definitely abnormal
at the time. For he wanted every public school district in the state to
have high-speed internet access so that both students and teachers could
benefit from all of the educational resources available online.
Ironically, it was
the internet aspect to Zeke’s proposal that public school teachers and
administrators felt the most threatened by. For they did not like the
idea of students being able to move beyond what they knew and/or were familiar
with teaching, and they liked what Zeke had to say in response to their
concerns even less. For he told them that they should embrace learning
new things right along with their students on account of it being in the best
interest of all concerned.
The public school
teachers and administrators generally remained resolute in their opposition,
and they stirred up a lot of support among parents not quite sure of what Zeke
wanted to accomplish. However, Zeke was able to talk five school
districts across the state into giving his new curriculum a try for at least a
year.
The way the new
curriculum was meant to work was that not much would change for elementary and
junior-high students—other than what the internet had to offer them. High
school students would be encouraged to accept unpaid internships with
businesses involved in fields they thought they might be interested in pursuing
as a career, with the time spent off-campus depending upon the
internship. In order to encourage local businesses to participate in the
internship program, tax breaks would be offered to the businesses, and in
situations where not enough of the right kinds of internships were available,
the school district and/or another state department would provide them.
Since there would
be also opportunities for great abuse of the program on both sides, the
internships would be very closely monitored. Businesses found to just be
interested in taking advantage of the free labor would be dropped from the
program until their attitudes improved, with the same thing happening to
students found to be more interested in just getting out of a classroom than
actually receiving some invaluable on-the-job training.
Allowances would be
made for participation in sports, music and other more traditional
extracurricular activities. For Zeke was a true believer in making it
possible for students to experience all they wanted to—within reason, of
course. However, participation (passing or otherwise) in the internship
program would not be required for graduation.
At the end of the
first year of the public school experiment, most of the opposition from all
sides had melted away. For test scores for the participating students
were significantly higher across the board than the state average, and several
other businesses in the pilot areas were asking to be added to the internship
program after seeing how much goodwill it was generating for the participating
businesses. Furthermore, the public school teachers and administrators in
the pilot districts found that they really liked being around students excited
about learning for a change.
Subsequently, all
of the public school districts in the state adopted the new curriculum for the
next school year, but not all of the districts could take full advantage of
it. For high-speed internet access was not yet available in all parts of
the state, and from what was being said by the commercial broadband internet
service providers, it sounded like it might be many years before it would be
because of there not being enough potential for profit in those more remote
areas.
So, Zeke went to
talk the state legislators into approving the establishment of the state’s own
digital media distribution system, and he did not have to say much. For
in all of the areas where cable companies already were, people (a.k.a.
potential voters) had been literally screaming for alternative choices to be
provided because of being charged way too much for very poor overall
service. Yeah, people could also get their MTV through a satellite
company, but they were generally considered to be as bad as the cable companies
in many respects. Besides, the satellite companies did not offer good
internet service.
As with the road
and bridge projects, a 10% profit margin was calculated into the price for the
state’s cable television and high-speed internet service to be fair to private
companies wanting to compete for business. The existing cable and
satellite companies slashed their prices almost immediately after receiving
word of what Zeke was up to, but they still lost most of their customers as
soon as ADD (Arkansas Digital Distribution) became available in an area.
For not only was ADD’s prices for television and internet service considerably
less than what the cable and satellite companies were willing to go down to,
ADD’s internet speeds were 1,000 megabits per second for downloads and 250
megabits per second for uploads at less than what some people had been paying
for dial-up service while the cable companies were bragging about offering up
to 100 megabits per second download speeds in some select areas (for a premium
price, of course).
With him now having
an overall 90% approval rating, Zeke had accumulated an enormous amount of
political capital, and he set about to spend it upon his most ambitious program
to date. To be exact, it was actually several related programs. For
he wanted to institute radical changes to the state’s social welfare policies
and procedures, which would involve education, employment, health care, child
care, food, shelter, clothing and whatever else was needed to help make it
possible for the downtrodden to live better lives for the benefit of everyone
in the state.
Since all of Zeke’s
other ideas had proven to be absolutely brilliant, he did not receive much
opposition from the state legislators, but state social workers revolted in
mass when they heard about what Zeke wanted from them. For at the heart
of what Zeke wanted to change about their department’s policies and procedures
was having them take as much of a personal interest in the welfare of their
clients as possible, which would include truly caring about how well they were
actually doing. Whereas, most of the state social workers had become
quite comfortable with keeping a good distance (both physically and
emotionally) while doing little more than trying to make sure of the necessary
paperwork being filled out correctly.
Yes, there is
indeed a great need for paperwork to be filled out correctly—especially when
dealing with thousands upon thousands of clients, but there is always so much
more to a person’s situation than can fit into a written report.
Furthermore, aid offered to one might just add to the problems of
another. Therefore, personal interest by someone who truly cares about
how well their clients are actually doing is crucial to the effective
implementation of any program meant to be of genuine help to the poor and
needy.
On the other hand,
since a majority of the most pressing needs were so painfully obvious, an army
of highly-qualified social workers was not an absolute necessity. For it
does not take a trained eye to see that people living under highway underpasses
are probably in desperate need of food and shelter. Still, it is better
to have knowledgeable people in place to help the poor and needy to receive the
right kind of help, and there were enough state social workers willing to stick
around and give the new system a try to begin the implementation of it.
Although combatting
homelessness was certainly a priority, the most help would be received by the
so-called working poor. These were the people barely making enough money
to survive from day to day—let alone able to live a relatively good life.
Hardcore fiscal
conservations in a capitalist society contend that the state should not have to
pay for poor decisions made by individual citizens, and the truth is that a
series of foolish decisions often do lead to a very great many becoming trapped
in abject poverty. Good counseling can help the foolish to stop making the
wrong decisions over and over again, but when one cannot afford to go get a job
because of daycare for their children costing more than what they would make,
how can they start to pick themselves out of the proverbial gutter?
Besides, is it
really in the best interest of even a very serious capitalist society to let so
many citizens languish? For people with money have a tendency to spend it
on goods and services, which is certainly good for business. They also pay
taxes, which could fund a true safety net for the benefit of all citizens.
Nonetheless,
excessive taxation can lead to an awful lot of resentment. It can also
lead to the impoverishment of the entire population, but Zeke’s proposals were
not costing Arkansas taxpayers one extra penny. Moreover, there was great
potential for all citizens to be able to eat much higher on the hog after all
of Zeke’s programs were fully implemented. For a great many of his
programs were designed to actually make money for the state so that taxes could
be cut.
Speaking of eating
much higher on the hog, Zeke proposed that the state should start processing
meat and other ingredients purchased from private producers to greatly reduce
the cost of food for the poor and needy, public schools, state-run hospitals,
state prison facilities, county and city jails, fire stations and other such
places. For there was generally a 300% difference between the price for
beef on the hoof and even just a pound of hamburger in a grocery store, and
over a 3,000% difference for steaks and other better cuts. Margins for
plant-based items were generally much lower, but there was still a pretty penny
to be paid for commercial processing and distribution.
Part of the new
food program was to open state-run grocery stores for those with authorization
and able to get out and about to shop for what they wanted to eat. These
state-run grocery stores would also serve as distribution centers of both
ingredients and cooked meals to be delivered to homebound individuals and
institutional kitchens.
In the first year
after the new food program was fully implemented, the state of Arkansas
(including county and city interests) saved over $10 million—even with a 10%
profit margin calculated into the prices so that private contractors could
compete.
With news spreading
rapidly across the state about just how much cheaper items were at the
state-run grocery stores, more and more regular Arkansas citizens starting
demanding access, but Zeke resisted the temptation. For he recognized
that this could force some privately-owned local businesses into bankruptcy and
possibly going out of business altogether, which would not be in the best
interest of the state as a whole.
Furthermore,
state-run businesses moving into the field of retail sales could lead to
financial ruin far beyond the borders of Arkansas. For Zeke understood
that the free market-based economy of the entire United States of America had
become way too entangled with speculative stock market prices instead of the
actual supply and demand of goods and services, and he was not in a position to
do much about that. Well, at least not yet.
If you are not
quite getting it yet, take what happened to the cable companies after ADD came
online. For several other states followed Zeke’s lead and implemented
their own digital media distribution systems, and the stock prices for all of
the publically-traded cable companies (including even those not yet facing
state-run competition) plummeted.
Zeke felt like he
did not have a choice when it came to health care, however. For it was
plain to see that the benefit greatly outweighed the risk to opening state-run
hospitals and clinics to people with or without money and/or health
insurance. Besides, privately-owned medical facilities were generally in
a much better financial position to remain in business while adapting to the
new system than grocery stores were.
As to be expected,
not everyone shared in Zeke’s vision. For both the American Medical
Association and commercial insurance carriers brought lawsuits against the
state of Arkansas.
Since the state was
not doing anything unsafe, nor unethical, none of the lawsuits were allowed to
proceed past the preliminary stages. Zeke still felt compelled to argue
the state’s case before the public, and he had quite an argument to make.
For he contended that privately-owned medical facilities were more than welcome
to continue to conduct business as usual, and that they should actually be very
happy with the establishment of the new state health care system. For
they would no longer have to deal with Medicaid and Medicare patients—other
than in cases where someone needed to be stabilized and a privately-owned
medical facility was much closer than a state-run one.
Oh my, it looked
like nothing short of a miracle after the new Arkansas state health care system
was fully implemented. For desperately-needed surgical procedures that
had been costing thousands upon thousands of dollars were being performed for
hundreds—and not by quacks, neither! For very good doctors came by the
droves to practice where they did not have to fight with insurance companies
over what was obviously in the best interest of their patients, and with the
ability to display test results and stream live imaging footage online,
consultations with some of the best medical minds in the world were just a
mouse-click away.
Under the old
system, most people had to have health insurance. For just a simple visit
to a family practitioner could cost well over $100, and woe be it unto even
those with health insurance if they had to pay a visit to an emergency room
and/or be admitted into a hospital—especially if the medical facility was out
of their plan’s contracted network.
Making bad
situations even worse was health insurance companies restricting the amount of
diagnostic testing to the barest of minimums, and strongly discouraging doctors
from seeking second opinions when they were not quite sure about
something. Tragically, far too many doctors and hospital administrators
went along with this so that they could get paid.
Zeke looked upon
the old health care system as being another example of how much harm can be
caused by unbridled capitalism, and he could see where there was much more that
could be done to rein it in. As with the food situation, however, the
other things would have to wait until he was in a better position to help
manage the fallout.
I should add that
another thing looking like nothing short of a miracle was stock prices for
publically-traded companies involved in the health care industry only going down
slightly before rallying quite nicely. For the major stock traders were
betting upon what was happening in Arkansas not being allowed to spread across
state borders without the federal government getting much more directly
involved, which would surely put out the fire in even Arkansas.
The major stock
traders were right about one thing. For when other states started looking
into following the example set in Arkansas, federal regulators strongly advised
against it, but they left Arkansas alone after Zeke assured them that he would
not be trying to implement any more programs that might lead to another great
crash of the stock markets.
Having very nice
low-rent apartment complexes erected where eyesores once stood was the next
major project that Zeke focused upon. Full-time security officers and
very effective sound-proofing helped to keep the peace, but it was social
workers taking more and more of a personal interest in just how well their
clients were actually doing that made the most difference between the way it
was now and the way it had been in years past.
It really was a
very beautiful thing to see. For with more and more people starting to
believe that their welfare actually mattered to those in position to help them,
the help became much more personally meaningful to them, and they started
wanting to truly care for the places made available for them to live in until
they could afford to purchase a place of their own.
Having police
officers (both state and more local) to stop treating people they had sworn to
serve and protect as adversaries (to varying degrees) also greatly aided in the
easing of community tensions. As with the social workers, a great many
police officers almost knocked themselves out knee-jerking over the proposed changes
to policies and procedures, but those willing to give it a try were amazed at
how much easier their jobs became when they started treating people as wanted
friends instead of suspected enemies. Of course, there is not much
reasoning to be done with hardened criminals, but with the general public
helping them to make arrests and obtain convictions for a change, even hardened
police officers found themselves actually enjoying interacting with most of the
people on their beats.
Those under the
influence of drugs and/or alcohol are a horse of a very different color,
though. For most people are not the same as they usually are while
completely sober.
What Zeke proposed
was that junkies and drunks should be given treatment without anything going on
a criminal record unless they committed some other offense. He also
wanted simple possession of illegal drugs and drug paraphernalia
decriminalized, along with making it legal to grow, possess and ingest
marijuana and peyote for medical, religious and recreational use. He
argued that these things would save the state millions in judicial expenses
(covering policing, prosecution and incarceration) and taxing the sales of the
formerly illegal substances at even a reasonable rate could make the state even
more than it would be saving on judicial expenses over time.
As with alcoholic
beverages, it would be illegal for anyone under the age of 21 to have anything
to do with the decriminalized substances—except in medical cases. Zeke
actually wanted the legal age for both lowered to 18, but he felt like that
might be asking for too much to change too soon.
There was a lot of
opposition to the new program, but Zeke was proven right again. For in
the first year of implementation, state and local jurisdictions saved a total
of over $25 million in judicial expenses, and despite the threat of the federal
government coming in to shut it all down keeping the dispensary business from
flourishing as much as could, over $1 million in added tax revenues were
collected from the sale of marijuana and peyote. Oh, and all of this
happened without chaos erupting in the streets from grade-schoolers getting
high and rampaging about (as predicted by several very prominent religious
leaders)!
With Jenny and
their children looking quite excited behind him, Zeke announced at a televised
press conference that he would not be seeking a third term as governor.
Before he could proceed, a collective groan rose up from those in attendance
outside of the press section, and some groans could be heard coming from among
the press, too.
Zeke chuckled to
himself that many of those groans might be in anticipation of what they
believed would be surely coming next, but he went ahead with saying that he
felt like he had accomplished all he could as governor and the time had come
for him to try to do even more for not only just the citizens of Arkansas as
president of the entire United States of America.
The collective
groan quickly turned into a hearty roar of approval, which grew even louder
when Zeke continued with that he expected to work very closely with next
governor of Arkansas, Scot Campbell. Yes, this was the same Scot Campbell
who had spent the last seven years strongly supporting Zeke’s proposals as the
state auditor.
Zeke ended his announcement
with that he would be running as an independent upon the same basic platform he
had before while running for governor of Arkansas. He then took
questions, but when repeatedly asked if he would seek to expand upon the
programs he had implemented in the state if elected president and what those
expansions might entail, he repeatedly answered that it was a wait and see
situation.
It was quickly made
abundantly clear that major stock traders were most definitely unwilling to
wait and see. For the Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 10% of its value
within an hour of the opening bell ringing the next Monday morning, along with the
S&P 500 and NASDAQ composites following suit by losing 12% and 7% of their
total values, respectively.
Zeke had purposely
chosen to make his big announcement on a Friday evening in the hope of cooler
heads prevailing after being given a couple of days to think before the opening
of the next trading session, but it took the stock exchanges suspending trading
to stop the slide. Zeke took some comfort in many commodity stocks
posting sharp gains, but he knew that this did little to mitigate the overall damage
that had been done to the nation’s economy.
On the other side
of the economic/political fence, Zeke’s opponents were dancing jigs. For
they believed they had enough personal resources to survive another great
depression relatively unscathed while not believing that Zeke’s candidacy could
survive such a catastrophic event.
Like the calm
before a great storm, the stock market averages did not move much in either
direction for two weeks after the initial plunge. When the first polling
numbers showed Zeke’s candidacy dead upon arrival in all but a few areas of the
country, stock prices across the board started to make nice rallies.
Nonetheless, the
threat of Zeke being able to lead the federal government toward going into
business against publically-traded companies still weighed heavily upon the minds
of major traders. Subsequently, when it started looking like Zeke might
actually have a chance of being elected president, they started greatly
reducing their holdings in companies that might suffer the most under an
Erickson administration, which triggered sell-offs of many other stocks.
If it was not for
so many pension funds being heavily invested in stocks, Zeke would have looked
upon the sell-offs as being a good thing in the long run. For
unconscionable speculators had driven stock prices to untenable heights, and at
least a 35% reduction in overall stock market values was needed to place the
nation’s economy upon much more solid ground to sustain true growth of the GDP
(Gross Domestic Product) and prosperity for all of its citizens—not just the
wealthiest 1% or so.
Of course,
thousands of jobs would be surely eliminated as stronger companies swallowed up
weaker ones as stock prices continued their downward spiral, which would add
even more to the darkness before the dawning of another golden economic age for
the United States of America. Oh, and with so much of what happens here
being strongly felt around the globe, the possibility of a repeat of the great
global economic depression after the stock market crash of 1929 loomed large
upon the horizon.
Zeke saw a simple
solution to both problems. For the federal government could retroactively
insure actual contributions to pension funds in the same way as bank deposits
were being insured, and the federal government could also maintain the incomes
of workers caught in the crossfires until another job could be obtained.
So, Zeke asked the
ranking member of the Arkansas congressional delegation to sponsor bills and
gather support for the passage of those measures. All of the members of
Arkansas delegation eagerly agreed to do all they could to help, but staunch
fiscal conservatives from other states holding high positions of power in both
the United States House of Representatives and Senate made sure of the measures
dying a quick death in preliminary committee hearings.
Zeke then played a
hole card. For with Arkansas sitting on more than $25 billion in cash
reserves—even after dramatically cutting many tax rates, the state had more
than enough to fund the measures for at least a year.
It was most
definitely a very decisive presidential move, and Zeke had more cards up his
sleeve. For the chairman of the National Reserve System Board of
Governors was a supporter of what Zeke wanted to accomplish on a national
scale, and he worked closely with Zeke to assure his counterparts in other
countries that they had nothing to worry about, which kept the value of the
dollar stable against other currencies.
The voters noticed
what Zeke was doing, and when the November election rolled around, they elected
him as the next president by a very comfortable margin. Moreover, enough
of his supporters were elected representatives and senators to insure Zeke of
having an easier time of it at the beginning of his first term in Washington
than he had in Little Rock.
Zeke could not have
scripted a better day for his inauguration. For when it came time for him
to place his hand upon the Bible and swear to uphold the Constitution (along
with the other stuff) the ambient outside temperature was a balmy (for January)
70oF. The sun was shining brightly, and there was not a cloud
to be seen in the sky for miles. With the ceremony being held outside at
the top of the west front steps to the Capitol Building, an enormous crowd was
able to be in attendance, and they waited in breathless anticipation of what
Zeke was going to say in his inaugural address.
As if all of that
was not enough to secure an academy award, the piercing cry of a lone bald
eagle was then heard coming from high overhead. After circling the Capitol
Building a couple of times, the eagle landed on top of the flag pole on top of
the west portico and turned to face the crowd. The crowd gasped as one,
and Zeke began to speak.
“It is most
appropriate for a representative of the American spirit to be in
attendance. For at the heart of the American spirit is freedom, and this
is what I want to talk about. Those who know me well understand that I do
not like to see people being forced to do what they do not want to. This
is at the heart of all I have wanted (and still want) to accomplish while in
office. Some think that I want to institute a socialist system in the
place of capitalism, but they are mistaken. For instead of forcing
privately-owned businesses to get with some program for the greater good of
society, I would much rather see those business continue as they want to be and
have the government itself provide citizens with what they could at much more
reasonable prices. Instead of forcing the rich and powerful to pay for the
welfare of the poor and needy, I would much rather help the poor and needy to
fend for themselves as much as possible. This is what was started in
Arkansas, and this is what I want to see continued for the benefit of the
entire country. No, it will not happen overnight, but with a little
patience and a lot of understanding of what we are trying to accomplish here,
America can start truly shining from sea to shining sea again. We? President
Abraham Lincoln spoke of a government of the people, by the people and for the
people. Nothing of any good and lasting value can be accomplished without
your help.”
It was an address
that even Lincoln would have had to have been most impressed with. For it
took less than five minutes to deliver, and it contained so very, very much.
Oh, and it was
obviously what a very great many wanted to hear. For calls with words of
encouragement and suggestions on what could be done to improve things started
flooding in from every state and territory in the Union, as well as from
several countries across the globe.
Those calls were
being taken (mostly in their own homes around the country) by a fairly
good-sized army of GSRs (Government Service Representatives—not gun-shot
residues). For Zeke absolutely hated having to fight through menu-based
automated telephone answering systems before being able to talk to a real
person, and on the way back to the White House from his inauguration ceremony,
he told Jenny that he was sorely tempted to add to his request for help from
the general public at the end of his address, “Call now. Operators (actually
alive and breathing) are standing by!” Jenny laughed, but she went ahead
and told him that she was glad he had resisted.
No, not all of the
calls were of a positive nature. Ironically, one of those more negative
calls was from a high-level executive at a health insurance company accusing
Zeke of being a closeted communist, which was taken by a former customer
service supervisor at that very same company, who had lost her job when the
company merged with another health insurance company during the freefall of
stock market prices the summer before.
The GSR handled the
call in a very polite and professional manner by asking the executive if he
would like a call back from the White House addressing his concerns, but he
showed no class after she also asked him if he knew who was now occupying her
former office. For he ended the call without making any attempt to answer
either one of her questions.
The telephone call
switching system that allowed many GSRs to work from their homes was quite
ingenious. For it made it possible for a call to a single 800 telephone
number to be answered by a real person within three rings by going through
several computerized switching substations at the speed of light until it
reached the phone of a GSR not already on the line with someone else.
There were 100,000
GSRs standing by to take calls on Inauguration Day, and the switching system
worked flawlessly. Zeke figured that not nearly as many would be needed
later on, but with all of the planned changes to this and that, he conceded
that even more (maybe a lot more) might be needed before all of the dust
settled. Besides, there were over 900,000 other walking wounded from the
great stock market price massacre, who would much rather being doing something
productive than just receiving a government check.
Within a week, all
of the old menu-based automated telephone answering systems being used by the
federal government had been replaced by the new GSR system, and in the same
time frame, all of the old virtually impossible to navigate federal government
websites were replaced by very easy to use ones. All of this was to the
delight of everyone but the major telecom companies, who had been making a
killing off of the old systems.
Yes, making
high-speed internet access as readily available as electricity throughout the
country was one of the first major programs that Zeke sought to implement, but
instead of making it a strictly federal system, he proposed working with each
state and territory so that they could have their own Arkansas-like
systems. Needless to say, all of them immediately signed-on immediately
after being informed of the plan, with the only fuss being over who would
receive the new service first.
It turned out to be
that there no need to jostle for position. For it is amazing just how
much can be accomplished in an extreme hurry when there is the political will
to find a way, and in less than a year, all of the state and territorial
digital media distribution systems were up and making their citizens very
happy.
Zeke would often
shake his head in bewilderment over so many refusing to participate in his
programs when it was obviously in their best interest over the long run.
After all, just how many of even the greatest of widgets can be sold when they
are priced way too high for most to afford simply on account of greed dictating
profit margins?
Some were willing
to participate to a certain extent, and as part of a compromise with the major
telecom companies, they received $5 a month per customer now taking advantage
of free (on a limited basis) telephone service over the government internet
systems in exchange for keeping their hard-lines in place as a backup for the
new systems. Another part of the compromise was that the federal
government would pay for the maintenance of their outside lines.
Speaking of outside
lines, one of Zeke’s major projects that Congress had already approved funding
for was the construction of huge utility tunnels for such things as fiber-optic
cables, high-voltage electric lines and plenty of room for other stuff to run
through. After his plan had been presented, most in Congress agreed that this
should have been done years ago. For the overall cost to the nation’s
economy each year from major storms taking down just outside electric lines
made the tunnels most cost-effective—not to mention offering more peace of mind
to potential voters. Yes, earthquakes were still a threat to anything
underground, but with technological advances giving the tunnels and what would
be running through them a fairly great amount of flexibility, the threat from
earthquakes was greatly minimized.
Of course, the
biggest difference between now and then was following Zeke’s lead in Arkansas
by having the Army Corp of Engineers construct the tunnels instead of accepting
grossly-inflated bids from outside contractors. For plans had been drawn
up to construct a utility tunnel between Washington, D.C. and Baltimore,
Maryland thirty years before, but the $10.7 billion estimated cost was too much
for the federal and state authorities to go along with. Whereas, a much
larger tunnel between the two cities was now going to be built for less than a
third of the previous estimate. No, none of the bids made by outside
contractors came even close.
There was another
major matter that contributed to the utility tunnels being constructed.
For plans for large desalination plants to be constructed later on were in the
works, and the freshwater from those plants was to be distributed through the
sealed bottom third of the utility tunnels to water reservoirs for additional
hydroelectric power generation, drinking water and agricultural irrigation
during times of drought. The utility tunnel water distribution system
would also help to disperse flood waters, with all excess freshwater being
dumped into the Ogallala Aquifer.
The utility tunnels
were also used to hold pipes for the distribution of refined petroleum products
from government-run refineries around the country for use in both public and
private vehicles. Oh yeah, the major oil companies threw a genuine
hissy-fit over this program, but after seeing news of them making billions upon
billions in profits each quarter while charging over $4 for a gallon of regular
unleaded gasoline, their grievances did not receive much support from the
general population.
Ironically, the
major oil companies did find allies in environmental groups. For they
were counting on the oil companies’ greed to keep driving the prices for
petroleum products high enough to force more and more people to stop
driving vehicles burning gasoline and diesel, but when Zeke convinced them of
how serious he was about helping to develop reasonably-priced electric vehicles
with enough power to replace even diesel-powered big trucks, which was backed
up by him talking Congress into funding the placement of very low-cost charging
stations no more than 100 miles apart on all government-maintained roadways,
all but the most radical environmentalists backed off.
The major oil
companies found out that they had not bought as much influence in Washington,
D.C. as they thought, and so did the major pharmaceutical drug companies.
For Zeke had the health care program he implemented in Arkansas expanded to
include government production of medicines and medical equipment.
Amazingly, many pharmaceutical drugs going for hundreds of dollars per dose were
made available for less than $1 for several doses—even with a 10% profit
margin calculated into the price. The price for a government-manufactured
MRI scanner was $3 million (including installation costs) less than machines
made by privately-owned companies, and even motorized wheelchairs could be sold
to the public for less than $250, with heavy-duty regular wheelchairs going for
around $75.
Zeke stayed true to
his policy of giving privately-owned companies a fair chance to compete for
business by adding a 10% profit margin to the price for the pharmaceutical
drugs being produced in government facilities, but he hoped that none of the
major pharmaceutical companies would try to play nice for a change. For
after it was discovered that they had been holding up treatment advances for
years so that they could maximize their profits through patenting formulas only
slightly more effective than the one before while already having the most
effective formula perfected, Zeke did not want to have anything to do with them.
As it turned out,
Zeke had nothing to worry about. For the major pharmaceutical drug
companies were only interested in defending their honor by claiming that making
huge profits on patented formulas was necessary to pay for the research and
development of new and improved formulas that can take many years to complete.
It was an old line
well-practiced by the major pharmaceutical drug companies, and it did not take
long for it to be proven quite untrue. For when efforts were focused upon
truly finding cures instead of simply securing patents worth billions,
incredible breakthroughs were being made in a matter months (sometimes even
mere weeks) instead of every seven years or so, which is the usual length for
patent protection against competitors.
Moreover, those
breakthroughs were not costing the federal government billions. For teams
of research scientists already in place at several state universities across
the country started truly collaborating with each other purely for the
advancement of medical science instead of competing against each other for
corporate grants.
In all fairness to
the major pharmaceutical drug companies’ position, another big reason for why
it was now taking far less time and money to make new pharmaceutical drugs
available was the process for government approval being greatly
streamlined. On the other hand, this was accomplished before the federal
government started actually making their own pharmaceutical drugs, and the
companies still stuck with their old line.
Streamlining the
pharmaceutical drug approval process was one of a great many things that were
changed about the federal bureaucracy under the direction of Zeke, and these
changes made it possible to implement all of his new programs without raising
tax rates, nor adding to the national debt. Just changes to the Social
Security Administration policies and procedures (as well as the staff
administrating them) alone freed up over $137 billion a year for use on other
things.
No, social security
benefits were not being cut. That is, at least not for those who should
have been receiving them, but billions in actual social security benefits were
cut for those who should have been receiving other kinds of much more effective
help.
The rest of the
cuts to the Social Security Administration’s budget were in administrative
costs, where billions were being wasted each year on such idiotic things as
having different field offices duplicating the work of other field offices,
which always led to complications needing to be resolved by other field
offices, who added even more to the complications, with everything having to be
finally settled by the national headquarters office (constantly complaining
about being overworked and underfunded).
As with the
Arkansas social welfare programs, the biggest changes to the federal ones were
due to a drastic changes in the way they were being administered down through
to the social workers in the field. For billions had been wasted on
programs that sure sounded good in the press while actually being worthless
when it came to really helping the poor and needy.
Changes to
deployment procedures in the military did much more than just save the federal
government money. For overall moral increased dramatically when the
policy of moving personnel around to different duty stations so much was
stopped.
Another big change
to the military was expanding its role to include newly-formed active duty
National Guard units replacing the U.S. Border Patrol and serving in support
positions to state and county police and fire departments. Many of those
new National Guard units were fashioned after the Army Corps of Engineers
model, but there were combat-ready elements to all of them.
Newly-formed
National Guard units also took over much of the field work formerly performed
by the Immigration and Customs Enforcement Agency, Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco,
Firearms and Explosives, Drug Enforcement Administration and the United States
Marshals Service, which set the stage for those agencies and their hefty
budgets to be eliminated. The Federal Bureau of Investigation was expanded
to directly oversee the operations conducted by the National Guard units in
place of the eliminated agencies and take up the slack.
Another big change
to the role of the military was professional accreditation being officially
given for service as everything from medics to mechanics, which included the
necessary schooling. For the way it had been working was that experience
gained through military service generally did not count toward professional
accreditation in many fields, which forced veterans to have to practically
start all over again with schooling and on-the-job training if they wanted to
secure a really good job after leaving military service.
No, privately-owned
businesses would not be forced to recognize the government accreditations, but
to refuse would be to cut off their own noses to spite their faces. For
with there now being so many opportunities to work for the government in a
civilian position at very competitive wages, the privately-owned businesses
simply could not afford to be all that choosy about who they hired if they
wanted to stay in business.
Speaking of such,
another thing about employment prospects that drastically changed was
privately-owned businesses no longer being forced to hire people they did not
want to on account of the color of their skin, religious beliefs and other such
issues. No, the antidiscrimination laws were not rescinded, but with people
of all races, colors and creeds being very welcome to come work at often much,
much better jobs for state/federal-run business, there was no longer a need to
enforce them, which added up to more government savings each year.
Zeke succeeded in
gaining approval for an immigration policy that allowed the undocumented
already in the country to stay and gain citizenship if they demonstrated a
sincere desire to truly become an American, along with the borders being opened
up to all others wanting the same thing. Those who did not have firm
grasp upon the use of English were given jobs in state and federal-run
businesses and projects where they also received intensive help with mastering
the language. Help was also available for those having a hard time adjusting
to the ways of American society.
No, Zeke’s
immigration policy was not very well received at first, and this was the case
with his proposal to make drastic changes to federal criminal sentencing
guidelines. For critics considered them to be a return to the brutality
of Old Testament justice that a modern, much more civilized society just could
not abide by.
Zeke considered the
changes perfectly sensible and certainly most cost-effective. For the
difference between someone simply making a stupid mistake that resulted in a
law (or maybe two) being broken and someone with true criminal intentions
needed to be recognized, and when it was, many court dockets could be kept
fairly clear and most prisons emptied-out.
Depending upon what
they did, first-time offenders would usually just face counseling meant to help
them avoid making more stupid mistakes and restitution when damage to person(s)
or property occurred. Second-time offenders (and those doing something
serious the first round) would face some jail-time focused upon true
rehabilitation, with the amount of jail-time being based upon the severity of
the personal problem to overcome. The mentally-ill and
chemically-dependent would receive treatment in a medical facility until they
could function well on their own.
No, there was not
much opposition to those two changes—except for hardcore social conservatives
demanding harsher punishments, but Zeke’s third major change brought up bile
from liberal stomachs, which is usually much more acrid than the conservative
variety. For he wanted the death penalty imposed upon all determined to
have a true criminal nature (even if their last offense was merely petty theft)
with a mandatory wait of five years before execution so that all mitigating factors
could be exhaustively explored.
Zeke’s argument was
based upon it being an exercise in futility to keep incarcerating those who had
no intention of ever being law-abiding citizens—let alone contribute to the
overall good of society. Moreover, the old system encouraged convicts to
reoffend by marking them as being a risk to society, which kept them from
securing good legitimate employment after they had served their time. So,
if someone cannot be truly welcomed back into society, how can it not be crueler
to keep them alive behind bars than ending their misery?
When the more
religious started screaming about only God having the right to end a life, Zeke
referred to the sword mentioned in Romans 13:1-6, and gently pointed out where
their stand against capital punishment made it harder for the skeptical to
believe in the existence of Heaven. For why would they be against making
it possible for a tortured soul in this world to go to a better place much
sooner than later unless they did not really believe that such a place
existed?
All in all, over $2
trillion from the budget Zeke inherited was reallocated each year for use on
truly effective measures. When many of those truly effective measures
started paying for themselves, more and more was spent on paying off the
national debt, which was up to $20 trillion when Zeke took office.
The stage was now
set for Zeke to propose an institution of a flat federal tax rate of 15% on
personal and corporate incomes until the national debt was completely paid off,
at which time the rates could (and should) be lowered even more. Part of
the proposal was that U.S.-based multi-national corporations would have to
repatriate funds now being held in foreign accounts or lose their status as a
U.S.-based corporation, and with the promise of a much lower tax rate being
most feasible with privately-owned businesses and government working together
to lessen the gap between the haves and have-nots, trillions of dollars in
corporate funds were made available to be taxed, which contributed to $1
trillion more of the national debt being paid off each year.
No, the other
countries were not very pleased with losing the tax revenues they were
receiving from those corporate trillions, but already greatly benefiting from
Zeke’s foreign policy directives kept international incidents down to a
minimum. For when American aid was now being offered, it did not come
with very cumbersome strings attached, and it also helped that several in
places of power overseas actually knew Zeke from when he had been on his
magical mystery tour years before.
At the beginning of
Zeke’s seventh year in office, he heard talk of a repeal of the 22nd Amendment
to the United States Constitution being in the works. This is the
amendment that limits a president’s term in office to no more than 10 years,
and with Zeke’s popularity rivaling that of George Washington’s when he
accepted Lord Cornwallis’ sword after the battle of Yorktown, the repeal of it,
which would become the 28th Amendment, was sure to be passed by Congress and
ratified by the minimum number of states long before the next election.
In a special
address before a joint-session of Congress, Zeke broke down in tears while
trying to express just how much he appreciated such an overwhelming show of
support. He went on to say that he supported the repeal of the 22nd
Amendment, and that term limits should not be in place for any public
office. For he believed that properly informed voters participating in
free elections served as a sufficient guard against abuses of power while
imposing term limits just cheated the public out of getting all of the good
they could out of great leaders.
As far as most in
the country at that time was concerned, all would have been just fine if Zeke
had of ended his address right there, but he added that he did not want to
serve a third term as president on account of feeling that it would be in the
best interest of his family to go back home to the Triple E. A stunned
silence fell over the great hall, but when he ended his address with declaring
that he had absolute confidence in the leaders already in place and waiting in
the wings to take the United States of America to heights of strength and
compassion few dare to dream of, a thunderous standing ovation erupted.
With the address being nationally-televised, few doubted that the thunderous standing
ovation was limited to just those in attendance.
It was nothing like
the first seven, but one could hardly consider Zeke’s last year in office to be
uneventful. For there was plenty of fine-tuning needing to done to
programs, policies and procedures, as well as fires to put out—both literally
and figuratively.
You sure would not
have heard anyone on Zeke’s Secret Service detail talking about how easy they
were having it. For Theresa came ashore near Pensacola, Florida as a very
strong category five hurricane during that last year of his presidency, and
Zeke was among some of the very first to respond.
No, we are not
talking about a staged photo-op here. For Zeke was always willing to lend
an actual helping hand when he saw an opportunity to do so, and being in the
middle of the action (even in a limited capacity) let him see for himself if
improvements to policies and procedures were needed to be made.
It took some
getting used to, but most of Zeke’s Secret Service detail came to greatly
admire him for being so willing to grab a chainsaw during a forest fire or jump
into a boat to help rescue stranded people and their critters during times of
severe flooding. Although, you still would not hear any of them talking
about how easy they were having it.
Despite being
somewhat easier, another thing that his Secret Service detail had to get used
to was Zeke liking to go for a drive and take long walks out of the public eye
whenever he wanted to really think about something. Adding a few more grey
hairs to the heads of his detail was that these excursions often involved going
out at odd hours of the night and in inclement weather.
It was during one
of those think sessions the night before he was scheduled to make his first
major speech after leaving office when Zeke spotted someone sitting by
themselves under one of his favorite trees on the main campus of the University
of Arkansas in Fayetteville. Since the person was almost completely
covered with snow, it was hard to tell if he was looking at a man or a
woman—not to mention being alive or dead.
Much to Zeke’s
surprise, his Secret Service detail had evidently not seen the person.
For they were not making any moves in that direction. So, Zeke went over
to see if he could be of some assistance to the person sitting in the snow, and
when their eyes met, Zeke could not believe what he was seeing—to put it very
mildly.
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