The Weed War Page 9
Then she pointed to free market. “This could be said for free trade as well. Adam Smith wrote his book to reflect the governments of his time, mainly dictatorships and monarchies. Those forms of government were highly centralized and corrupted by an aristocracy that made all of the decisions. Smith favored a protectionist approach that by giving the people a free market would insure national prosperity even if that wasn’t the business owner’s intent. Adam Smith was a moral man who would invest his money domestically because it was the right thing to do. His vision of the free market had nothing to do with the laissez-faire movement of Milton Friedman's and his assertion that ‘underlying most arguments against the free market is a lack of belief in freedom itself.’ It should be noted that Mr. Friedman was the economic advisor for Ronald Reagan and Margaret Thatcher.
By the time the 1980’s hit, the majority of the country had heard politicians from both sides of the political divide claim their allegiance for free market capitalism, under the assumption that to do otherwise would be to disavow freedom itself. Politicians reinforced this part of the lie by dismantling every protection the people had against what would come to be known as crony capitalism. If all of these so-called experts would have noticed the key word ‘domestic’ in the only paragraph Adam Smith wrote about the Invisible Hand, they would have seen the error in their judgment.”
She pushed a button, a quote flashed up, and she read it. “By preferring the support of domestic to that of foreign industry, he intends only his own security, and by directing that industry in such a manner as its produce may be of the greatest value, he intends only his own gain, and he is in this, as in many other cases, led by an invisible hand to promote an end which was no part of his intention.”
She stopped and paused, then said, “The word ‘domestic’ is the key here, and we found the same preference when we examined, Alexander Hamilton’s The American System.”
She pointed up at the last two bullet points floating in the air. “Laissez Faire and Objectivism became the financial industry’s objective, and they obtained it by telling the people that anything less was tyranny. Don’t make the mistake of thinking that this happened over night. The parties involved began this mantra at the inception of the country. Over a two hundred year period they told the lie in every possible way until the majority of the county believed it. In late 2007, the stock market crashed and the country bailed out the banks instead of the people. People began to wake up and take notice. Why would our government do such a thing? By the time the weed war was in full swing, it was evident, that our politicians had been sold to the highest bidders. This is why as Dax said we passed the money out of Politics amendment. Then we also passed another amendment from this book. Can you tell me what it is?”
Someone on the far side of the room was called on.
“The prohibition on prohibition,” the student responded.
She said, "I’ve heard it referred to as that, but it is really called the individual liberty amendment.” Amendment 30 prohibits any laws that infringe upon an individual’s right to decide what they do with their freedom, including privacy, what they ingest, or inhale, or how they conduct their life as long as it doesn’t infringe on another person’s same right. The third article of this amendment also prohibits business from prying into a person’s personal life, including data mining of students’ schooling, health records, past convictions, and drug tests. The fourth article excludes corporations, religions, and co-ops as they are not people and are not afforded the same rights.”
She looked at her watch and said, “I’ve got a couple of minutes to pull all this together. Mr. Borinski’s classroom which I had the privilege to attend, afforded me the opportunity to see outside my own personal perspective and challenged the very foundations of my world. Every day that I am fortunate enough to be alive in this new frontier, I thank the Creator for leading me into knowledge and reason. Our country and the world owe a great deal of appreciation for the man who sacrificed himself so that we may be free. The two amendments we discussed are really only the tip of the iceberg when we look back at the importance Borinski had on the second revolution. We can also see with our own eyes the destruction that the big lie tying the free market and the invisible hand to objectivism and laissez faire economics had on freedom. Back room deals became the norm as the concentration of wealth created a vacuum of power and political influence. Millions of lives were ruined, and people spent years in prison to further a profit-based agenda set by private industry. Money bought the prohibition of marijuana and laid the foundation or road map for the completion of the coup that eventually gave our country to the corporations. The people didn’t see the slavery in the sweatshops, the dumps of waste, or the massive carbon imprints these corporations had, because they thought the invisible hand would take care of it. When I’m here in Apple, on campus, I often explore level one and find myself drawn to the water’s edge where you can still view the tops of the building peacking out of the water. It’s been nearly 60 years since fossil fuels became obsolete and we’re still not sure if we will be able to turn the tide on climate change. Our world bled and we were all nearly destroyed, but we are a resilient species, and with the help of technology we are helping the planet make a comeback. We must always study the past and make sure that we never allow again the taint of greed to infect our democracy.”
She pushed a button and all her holograms disappeared. “Please read The Surveillance State and be prepared to discuss it in the next class.”
***
Abby and I sat there waiting for the auditorium to empty before we began to discuss the class and the implications of our discussion. Abby was beaming with excitement and her words danced off her lips. A few stragglers stopped and listened but never became fully engaged and I got the feeling like they were stopping more to gawk at the two oldest students they had ever seen.
In retrospect, we were something of an anomaly, leftovers from the corporate world, trying to find our place in a free society. Neither of us was ever married because our place in society wouldn’t allow for such unions. Abby was an office cleaner and I was sanitation specialist, so we were relegated to the life that came with bottom rung jobs, no education, no training, no marriage and never any personal connections. We had no Idea that the breakfast they fed us daily was fortified with birth control, appetite suppressors and hormone suppressors, We never desired interaction with others because we were so chemically altered.
Most of our counterparts and colleagues didn’t take advantage of their newly earned freedom and they stayed in the jobs that they knew. Abby and I had no desire to allow some test we took when we were twelve to dictate our future. For the others in the class the corporate world was nothing more than a scary a bedtime story as most of them weren’t even born yet when the second revolution began. Still, they knew something was strange with the two of us because it was so unusual to see older people in an educational setting.
I’m not sure why the young people didn’t seem as interested in the class as we were, but it didn’t matter. We were lost in philosophy, enamored with theory and smitten with each other. After a good half an hour, a man came in with a mop and a bucket. He asked us to relocate because he would be locking up after he finished and didn’t want any footprints on his newly cleaned floor.
We walked down to the maglev connector station just north of the campus and made plans to meet at the same coffee shop on Saturday to discuss the new readings. Just before she stepped onto the train I squeezed her hand and pulled her back toward me. It was my turn to take the leap and our lips met. The world stopped and everything disappeared until the attendant tapped her on the shoulder,
“Excuse me, Miss, we’re about to close the doors.” He pointed at her bag that was hanging off her shoulder just far enough to be in the way if the doors closed. “In or out, but you have to decide.”
Abby leaned in and whispered in my ear, “See yo
u Saturday.”
She stepped back and the doors slid shut. She placed her hand on the glass window between us and smiled as the train began to slowly and quietly pull off.
I made my way home that night and dove head first into reading The Surveillance State.
Read more of The Freedom Files in the next book The Surveillance State
***********************************************
Sneak Peak of the Surveillance State
The Surveillance State
Chapter 1
Michael walked into the dark, smoky room past the bar and two pedestals with pole dancers on them. He sat down at the last table in the back.
A waitress wearing nothing but a thong and five inch high heels bent over and asked, “What are you drinking, honey?”
“Club soda,” Michael said, trying not to stare at her cartoon-like breasts.
“I’ll be right back.”
He didn’t frequent places like this because he felt it was demeaning to women, but this is where his informant wanted to meet. He looked at his watch, “It’s 7:00 pm, and this is the table. I hope she shows,” He said to himself.
A tap on his shoulder startled him and he nearly spilled his ten dollar club soda.
“I’m sorry, sweetie.” The nearly naked woman bent down and whispered in his ear, “How about a private dance?" She ran her hand up his thigh.
“Uh, no thanks,” Michael said pulling away. “I’m meeting someone.”
She leaned down and whispered, “Falcon.”
His eyes widened, “Mrs. Lopez.”
“It’s Sunfire.” She smiled and winked. “Now are you coming?” She turned and walked into a private room with a curtain as the door.
Michael hesitated, then pushed the curtain aside and stepped into the room.
Chap 2
Two teenage boys were hovering over a computer screen with their jaws hanging open. A knock at the door startled them; the shortest one shut down the screen, muted the speakers, and yelled, “Yes.”
“Dirk, open this door.”
“Uh, hold on,” Dirk muttered.
The door handle shook as the two boys’ hid papers and tried to look innocent. Dirk opened the door.
“Yes?” Dirk said with a smirk on his face.
“What’s going on in here?” Dirk’s mom asked as she walked around the room, sniffing for signs of drugs. “You know I would be able to smell it if you were smoking that wacky tobbaky.”
“We’re just hanging out,” Dirk said.
“And does Steve’s parents know he is here?” she asked.
Dirk looked at his friend Steve who answered, “Yes, Mrs. Stone.”
“You have a visitor at the front door.”
“Is it Greg?” Dirk asked.
“I’m not sure I’ve never seen him before.”
“Ya, cause he’s new this year,” Dirk said as he brushed past his mom and said, “We have some homework to do.” His voice trailed off as he descended the stairs.
After a few minutes of small talk and introductions, the boys made it back into Dirk’s room. He locked the door turned and said, “Holy crap Greg I can’t believe your program works.”
He turned on the screen and speakers. Hundreds of small thumbnails playing video popped up. “See anything interesting yet?” Greg asked.
Steve pointed at the naked woman. “Yep, look at that, it’s Mrs. Jumelon.” He clicked on the icon and it switched to full screen. Speechless, the boys watched as their English teacher walked in and out of the screen cleaning off a large teacher’s desk.
“Holy crap, Greg, how in the hell is this happening?”
Greg’s face lit up, “It’s actually a pretty simple app that allows us to control the front facing cameras on pretty much anyone’s phone. I took a programming class the last two summers and accidentally found a way to do this. Put in any cell number that has a front facing camera and bam we can remotely watch what people are doing.”
Steve shook his head and said, “Looks like none of us will be getting F’s in our classes anymore.”
The boys looked over at the screen, and saw that Mrs. Jumelon who was married to the head football coach was joined by a second female, the boy’s P.E. teacher, Mrs. Drost. The next few minutes left them speechless as they witnessed something they only dreamed about.
“Do you think we can blackmail them?” Dirk asked Steve.
“I doubt highly she would want anyone to see this, especially her husband,” Steve snickered.
Greg cut in, “Hold on.” He shook his head. “No one said anything about blackmail. I showed this to you guys because I thought…”
He paused, then said, “I’m not sure what I thought other than I just needed someone else to see what I created.”
Steve laughed. “What’s the big deal? We can use any leverage we can get on these teachers.”
Dirk smiled, “Come on Greg, imagine the power this gives us.”
Greg looked up at his teachers kissing each other, “I guess it wouldn’t be that bad.”
Suddenly both of the women’s faces turned in the same direction. Fear was evident in their eyes as they jumped up off of the desk.
“I can explain,” Mrs. Jumelon said as she tried to cover herself. Mrs. Drost popped up and out of the screen as she desperately tried to gather her things.
The male voice in the background was unmistakable.
“It’s Mr. Jumelon,” Dirk whispered as if the people on the other end of the phone could hear him.
The coach screamed, “Whore!”
“Fuck you,” Mrs. Drost screamed back.
Then suddenly blood splattered out across the screen and all over Mrs. Jumelon.
“Oh noooooo! What have you done?” She collapsed to her knees, naked and covered in blood as she reached up toward the screen, “I’m calling the cops.”
The screen jumbled, but in a glimpse the boys could see Mr. Jumelon holding a softball bat. The screen went black.
“What happened? Why did it turn off?” Dirk asked.
Greg hit the stop recording button, “The program automatically shuts off when the phone is being used to make a call.”
The three boys stood there in silence not sure what they should do.
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This novella is an original creation by a Native American artist. Duke Kell is a member of Citizen Potawatomi Nation, Tribal ID number 89RD101025.
Published by:
Two Ton Productions
Kona, Hawai’i, USA
www.twotonproductions.com
About the Author:
Duke Kell, Author, Poet, Philosopher, resides in Kona on the big island of Hawaii. He and his wife Nancy, own and operate Two Ton Productions. Disillusioned by the corporate dumbing down of popular entertainment, their company is dedicated to publishing works of substance.
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Freedom Files Books
The Cancer Culture
The Weed War
The Surveillance State
Gun Games
Corporate Control
Other full length novels:
The Point of Origin, by Duke and Nancy Kell.(2010)
Hawaiian Heart. The Soul Warrior's Journey, by Duke and Nancy Kell(2013)