The Arendt Files

by Ivan Rosemblatt

“Our operational capabilities are vast and kept in check until the time where they can be deployed effectively and without risking regional thermonuclear attack. But as I was saying a moment ago, we are not here today to revist this concern, once again, but rather to seek new common ground on an issue of long term and strategic concern.”

  “Finally we get to it.” one of the elders who had remained taciturn spoke up

  “Hannahh, I realize you were a professor, but please get down to it.”

  “Gentleman allow me to use an American colloquialism. Hold your horses. The resistance has been successful because of the clarity of it's platform. We propose simply to defeat the enemy and return the country to the exact same structure as prior to invasion, with no changes in legal or territorial structure. Thus we all cooperate exclusively in the name of the Republic and without self interest. Along and completely concomitant to that is a commitment to total war until and up to that time. And now I come to my proposal.”

  “One of the key concerns with re-establishing our democratic institutions is to re-establish the documentary basis of that system. The population must be formally reinstated into the democratic process of citizenship, with proper identifying formality.”

  “This seems a formality.”

  “I assure you it is not. The great danger we face will be challenge to the authority of the new government. Continuity has been broken. That continuity is not just a product of conquest, but a focused attempt to create a permanent break in institutional and cultural memory. That is where your church can be of help. Of course this is not only a question of the living. It is the question of the dead. We must be able to name them. We will need to be able to speak their names”

  “Well if there is any way we can help we will.”

  “We need to secure you archive of the name of American citizens along with their ancestry.”

  “When the time comes, I am sure we will be able to assist. Don't you think gentlemen?” He looked around and all the men nodded their heads.

  “We need to have access them now to ensure their integrity.”

  “I assure they are quite safe.”

  “I am afraid that won't do. We need to have access to the documents first to make sure they are in fact safe and then also to create copies. We will at least need your microfilm copies.” The room went silent.

  “You do have microfilm copies?” Again there was a long pause.

  “Are you saying you haven't made copies of the only existing census?

  “This is a church matter we are not at liberty to discuss. We are continuing to offer salvation to the dead through baptism.”

  “Are you telling me that you are not copying these documents? Are you mad?”

  “Hannahh.”

  “Have you completely lost your mind?”

  One of the elder's rose to leave, “I don’t have to sit here and take this from a woman.”

  “I am the General of Resistance army and you will stay where you are seated.” her guards stood up behind her. “You know that the entire population has no official standing as citizen’s?”

  “People know if they are citizen’s. They know if they are born here.”

  “People are only citizen’s if the state tells them so. Do you want a return to a Democratic Republic.”

  “We will never go back to the way it was. I am not naive.”

  “At this moment you are only naive. I am not speaking of a time machine where everybody goes back and we all huddle around the radio and listen to cheery songs as we did before the war years ago. I am talking about a democratic system of government? Are you secretly hoping for some kind of independent state? Some Mormon republic?”

  “We put our trust in god on these issues.”

  “Let us make this crystal clear. There will never be a independent Mormon state of any kind. What there will be is freedom of religion. If you persist in this plan then you will become . . .”

  “There is no plan.”

  “If you persist in this fantasy you will be a traitor. Make no mistake. If any group tries to carve out their individual ideologies or strongholds they will destroy our chances of victory, we will splinter into a thousand pieces. It is a fact. You didn’t rise to where you are without knowing the importance of unity. And know this I respect your organization and the character and discipline of your people. The nation requires your help. But there can be no negotiating now. And there will be no negotiating immediately after. We won’t redraw any states borders based on who collaborated and who didn’t. We will not draft new laws to privilege this or that group. There will be an amnesty for soldiers and otherwise there will be three branches of government, 48 states and due process and freedom of religion. We need an administrative foundation for the re-establishment of the government. No state functions without it. You Mormon’s above all others understand the importance of a name. Just as the name of each person is inscribed on the holy scrolls in heaven each person’s name is inscribed onto the fabric of the nation through their name. Without it a part of them doesn’t exist.”

  “Miss, why do you bring up scrolls in heaven if you do not believe.”

  “I believe that the Nazi’s are trying to erase us all from memory.”

  “God remembers everything. You won't be lost in oblivion.”

  “God has no preferences damn you. Don’t you know that. The highest god includes everything, even the damn Nazi's.”

  “We are not Jews we see things differently. You think of god in conceptual, intellectual and abstract terms, ours is alive and offers real life relationship”

  “Don’t presume to know what I believe. Life changes people”

  “So what is it are you a believer, or not? You can’t have it both ways”

  “I have given up taking a position on any the existence of god until we restore the nation? There is a time for theological discussion and there is a time to defend the walls of the city.”

  “We won’t give you the documents.”

  “Will you allow me a team of twenty people to copy them onto microfilm. Think on your answer. Old stubborn people like you and I have destroyed entire generation before based on foolish pride”

  “Yes. Ten people.”

  “It will take them years.”

  “Good things are worth waiting for.”

  “Fifteen people.”

  “Twelve.”

  “Done.”

  They were all silent. The tension in the room settled but no one knew what to say. The elder spoke first

  “A good number to settle on. Like the apostles. Cup of tea?”

  “Do you have any whiskey?”

  “I'm afraid not General. This is a dry county.”

  “Yes, a cup of tea would be lovely elder. How are the grandchildren?’

  “Wonderful. It’s one of the benefits of having a lot of kids and keeping them close to home.

  Chapter 11