From The Ashes: America Reborn

by William W. Johnstone

  Ben Raines had a good laugh at that, then said; “When it gets away from classical and opera, some country music, and some music from my own youth, I actually like very little of it. But I won’t deny others the right to listen to it. I don’t believe in censorship. You’ve got to remember: I was a writer before the Great War.”

  Ben Raines had another good laugh, then said, “Although some of the snootier types of authors might argue my ability as a writer.”

  WWJ: You’re aware that your work is banned outside of the SUSA, General?

  Ben Raines: Oh, yes, I know. Doesn’t make any difference. Hell, I haven’t received a royalty check in years.

  Now it was my turn to laugh, and I did. Out of the corner of my eyes, I watched General Raines smile. I said; “Needless to say, the publishing business isn’t what it used to be.”

  He replied, “Any number of writers might consider that a blessing.”

  We were once more heading out into the country and I asked where we were going.

  The general said, “I want to show you something. It’s just a couple of miles out of town.”

  A few minutes later, Raines pointed to a cluster of buildings set in a copse of timber and said; “That’s a writer’s colony. One of half a dozen in the SUSA. Fiction, nonfiction, essays, poetry. We don’t care what they write, as long as they write. Some stay for a few weeks, some a few months, some have been there for several years.”

  WWJ: Who supports the colonies?

  Ben Raines: Most of the cost is paid by the SUSA. But they have gardens within the colonies; some of them quite large. We encourage creative thinking here. Bookstores are a lucrative business in the SUSA. I would say that ninety-five percent of the people who live in the SUSA read for pleasure. In our schools, we stress exercising the mind as much as the body.

  WWJ: You don’t have any professional sports teams in the SUSA, do you?

  Ben Raines: Not yet, but we will eventually. We do have what I guess would be called, outside the SUSA, semipro teams.

  WWJ: What is the local team called?

  Ben Raines smiled and said; The Generals.

  We toured the writers’ colony and then were back on the road. Something had been nagging at me, and I finally figured out what it was and asked about it.

  WWJ: What percentage of the population is black in the SUSA, General?

  Ben Raines: About eight or ten percent, I think. And yes, that puzzles a lot of us.

  WWJ: I would think that more blacks would be interested in living in this type of society.

  Ben Raines: I think many minorities outside the SUSA view us with a lot of suspicion, helped along by a lot of misinformation that is deliberately spread by various SUSA-haters. But you see, we don’t have anything resembling a Civil Rights Commission here. We don’t have an Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. We really don’t have any affirmative action laws here. Here, everybody is equal.

  WWJ: How about hiring practices?

  Ben Raines: Business people can hire whomever they choose to hire. It’s their business. Government has no right to tell them whom to hire. One of the great fallacies about the civil rights legislation passed back in the 1960s was that no matter how many laws are passed, the law can’t make me like you if I choose not to. The law can’t force me to associate with you. No piece of legislation is going to change human nature. That’s got to come from within. And it’s going to take a mighty effort on both sides of the color line. It has to have some bending and adjusting from both sides. And more importantly, a lot of compromising. And the bulk of the compromising better come from the minority side, because the majority side doesn’t have to, and no law is going to force them to accept what they don’t like . . . if they don’t want to accept it. All it’s going to do is widen the breach.

  WWJ: Is that the way it works here in the SUSA? Is that why only about eight percent of the population is black?

  Ben Raines: It’s hard to say. If I had to guess at the principal reason, I would say it’s because with very few exceptions, this is a very conservative gathering of people. I think the word conservative scares off a lot of black people who, in reality, would fit right in here.

  WWJ: I gather abortion is still a heated issue here in the SUSA?

  Ben Raines: You bet it is. But as long as I’m alive, a woman can have an abortion on demand if that is the way she chooses to go.

  WWJ: You don’t seem too worried about the issue ever coming to a head.

  Ben Raines: Long before that ever happens, what was once the United States of America could well be a smoking ruin. I will not return this country into the hands of liberals and lawyers to fuck up. Never again.

  WWJ: You seem actually certain the SUSA will be attacked.

  Ben Raines: I’m as sure of that as I am the sun coming up in the east.

  General Raines pulled over to the shoulder of the road and we got out to stand by the side of a field of sweet corn. We stood silently for a few moments. Summer in the Deep South, but a nice breeze was stirring the air and the day was pleasant.

  Ben Raines: They have their country, and we have ours. The SUSA is the most productive, strongest, and most stable nation on earth. Why in the hell can’t we just be left alone to live in peace?

  I sensed that the general did not want a reply; that he already knew the answer to his question. I said nothing.

  Ben Raines: I can take a lot of pride in knowing that I beat the skeptics and the doomsayers. The Tri-States philosophy of government works. Not for everybody, but it wasn’t intended to work for everybody.

  WWJ: There is no way you would consider compromise?

  Ben Raines: Not a chance. You can’t give a left-winger even the smallest toehold. Those liberal bastards outside our borders would turn this productive nation into something resembling a fire drill in a lunatic asylum.

  WWJ: (laughing at that analogy): That is not a very politically correct remark.

  Ben Raines: To hell with politically correct. If something ain’t broke, don’t fix it. And for those of us who live here, the SUSA ain’t broke.

  WWJ: When did you realize the United States was heading toward revolution?

  Ben Raines: One indicator was when the number of registered voters who did not vote reached the fifty percent mark. The ballot had become useless. It didn’t make any difference what political party held control, they were all liars. Besides, the country had become too diverse—dozens of parties and groups all pulling in different directions and accomplishing nothing. We were heading toward a national police force, some sort of new world order, and the citizens were losing their independence. I called it subtle socialism. The liberals, with the help of much of the press, were trying to convince anyone who would listen that a class system was wrong. There should be no rich people or poor people; wealth redistribution was the way to go. The rich were all evil; the poor were poor because the upper middle class and the rich were holding them back. Many bookstores were removing the action/adventure section of their displays; there was a quiet move on to force publishers to cease publication of books that “certain groups” deemed too violent. Groups of pantywaist weasels deemed those books responsible for advocating violence. The left-wingers wanted freedom of speech, but only so long as that freedom was theirs, and to hell with everybody else. The country had nothing that even resembled a moral standard. The abnormal become the normal. We couldn’t have a moment of silence in public schools but teachers could hand out condoms to students without the parents’ permission. There was no longer any stigma attached to having a baby out of wedlock; perfectly all right. Just fuck anybody you wanted to fuck anytime you felt like it, and if the girl gets pregnant, hell, don’t worry about it. Just squat down and dump your load and go on as if nothing important happened: the taxpayers will be forced to take care of you and the bastard or bitch you whelped. Musical talent had degenerated to mooning the audience, the so-called “musicians” exposing themselves and shaking their dicks at the crowds, and for a grand fi
nale, everyone would puke on the stage. The government would proudly announce that crime statistics were dropping. What they didn’t tell you was the reason: certain felonies had now become misdemeanors and certain misdemeanors were no longer put on the books. Parents couldn’t spank their kids for fear of being charged with child abuse and put in jail. Johnny could stand up to his father and call him a goddamn lowlife sorry-assed motherfucker and if Dad punched Johnny out, Dad went to jail. Discipline in schools became nonexistent; sports became more important than the teaching of English or history or math. We were graduating a bunch of jockstrap-for-brains kids who could scarcely read or write. Anytime of the day or night anybody of any age could turn on the TV and witness people jumping in and out of the sack. But that was all right, it was those ol’ terrible guns and all that gratuitous violence that was responsible for the hole in the ozone, the hurricanes and tornadoes and floods, the decline of the dollar, the earthquakes in California, and the rash of forest fires in the Northwest . . .

  I started laughing and soon General Raines was chuckling along with me.

  Ben Raines: Sorry. I do get wound up at times.

  WWJ: That’s all right with me. I get a truer picture of your real feelings when you do.

  Ben Raines: Well, I’ll sum up by saying that many of us finally realized that government was so powerful the only way to restore some much needed common sense was to knock it down and rebuild from the ground up.

  WWJ: And you think you could have succeeded with that plan?

  Ben Raines: Yes. But that’s another story. Right now, let’s head back into town and get something to eat. I’m hungry.

  BOOK #13

  FURY IN THE ASHES

  “I want to be thoroughly used up when I die, for the harder I work, the more I live.”

  –George Bernard Shaw

  After clearing out the cities of the Northwest coast, Raines and the Rebels move south to retake territory in California. They know their most difficult battles will be waged in San Francisco and Los Angeles against the cannibalistic Believers. What is left of the forces of Lan Villar, Kenny Parr, and Malone have taken refuge in Alaska to plot their revenge.

  While he still mourns the death of Jerre, Ben realizes that he has to put the past behind him. And just as he is recovering from the initial shock of her death, Linda Parsons, a very attractive nurse, is assigned by Dr. Lamar Chase to Ben’s company.

  The Rebels, with armies led by Ben, Ike, and West, are traveling south, leaving a burning wake of destruction behind as they make their way through all of the northern Californian cities and towns that are inhabited by Creepies and outlaws. Intelligence received from a Judge who was taken prisoner, and the information provided by Tina Raines’s Scouts and Buddy Raines’s Rat Team confirm that the cities of San Francisco and Los Angeles are not hot as was once assumed, but instead have been major centers of operations for the Believers.

  Dr. Chase, who has been with the Rebels from the beginning, is especially concerned about this campaign into Southern California. After surviving post-nuclear mutants and the plague, the Rebels have faced many biological perils. This time it seems an AIDS-like virus is being carried by the unwashed outlaw gangs in the city. He encourages Ben to take no prisoners and thoroughly burn the entire area.

  The Rebels assemble their air force, which includes several vintage World War II bombers, and plan their chemical assault on San Francisco. Dr. Chase has provided the troops with a short-term inoculation that will prevent the Rebels from being harmed by the otherwise deadly gas. Demolition teams cut the city off, by blowing all of the surrounding bridges, before the canisters are released onto thousands of Believers below.

  After their victory in San Francisco, the Rebels head farther south to Los Angeles, where large groups of outlaw gangs have managed to coexist with the Believers in the city. Ike, Thermopolis, Cecil, West, and their forces hammer at the street punks and Creepies, gaining territory block by block. Ben and his Rebels stay outside of the city gathering survivors and reclaiming smaller territories from warlords to be made into Rebel outposts. The artillery battle in the city goes on for months before the last of the punks finally surrender. The Rebels comb the city ruins for anything of value and the demolition teams are brought in to raze it to the ground.

  FOURTEEN

  The morning turned rainy and unusually cool for this time of the year, so we sat in the living room of General Raines’s house, drinking coffee and talking. General Raines never objected to the tape recorder being on, even when we were chatting informally. I had been warned by many outside the SUSA that the general was a difficult man to interview. I had not found that at all.

  Ben Raines: My plan had been quietly to organize small groups of citizens all over America to stand firm on the subject of taxes. I had already learned that millions of Americans would agree on a flat income tax rate of ten percent of their gross income, the only exemptions being healthcare premiums and home mortgage interest. I certainly would have agreed with that. It had become very obvious to me that Congress was not going to act on a flat income tax rate. Unless they were forced to.

  WWJ: Nonviolently?

  Ben Raines: Oh, yes. All the way. We planned to send the IRS ten percent of our gross income, minus those deductions I mentioned. And by gross income, we meant everything: income on interest, earned and unearned, stocks, bonds, annuities, everything. But before we did, we would send letters or e-mail to members of the House and Senate telling them, in nice terms, that was it. Like it or lump it, but live on it.

  WWJ: And their reaction?

  Ben Raines: A few members of the House and Senate—a very few—were sympathetic and in agreement with us. Most were not. Many warned us in no uncertain terms that should we act on our plan, we would be in violation of federal law. That they had not yet had time to study all aspects of a flat income tax rate. Of course, that last bit was pure politician’s bullshit. Some had the arrogance to tell us bluntly that they would decide when and if a flat income tax rate would go into effect and that we had better obey the law. Thousands of us wrote right back and told those arrogant bastards to get off their asses and do it and stop fucking around.

  WWJ: Which, of course, didn’t sit too well with those members of Congress.

  Ben Raines: That’s putting it mildly. I had warned members of the group that anytime an American taxpayer tried to buck the system, those in power would immediately turn our names over to the various federal enforcement agencies and from then on we would be in for a rough and rocky ride. And of course that is exactly what happened. Congress unleashed its power on decent law-abiding American citizens who were only trying to get some relief from high taxes. After all, it was our money the government was taking from us; we should have some input in how much was extorted from us and how it was to be spent. If it hadn’t been so tragic, it would have been amusing; from the reaction of Congress you would have thought we were asking for an audience with God.

  The general paused for a time, his eyes clouded in brief anger. Then he took a deep breath and said; “We wrote back and pointed out, very politely, that there were a number of federal agencies and departments that were nonessential and could be gotten rid of without jeopardizing the health or safety of the American people. We pointed them out and said we intended to stick to our plans.”

  He laughed softly, and continued, “It was all leaked to the press, and they immediately began referring to us as dangerous hate groups. It was pointed out that I wrote very violent action/adventure books, had been a member of a spec ops group in the military and many of those in the tax protest movement were ex-military personnel who had served in elite units. The next thing we knew we were getting notices from the IRS about taxes and penalties going back years. Some members were forced into bankruptcy, others dropped out of the group, still others went underground and joined ultra-right-wing groups. Others were just never heard from again. I don’t know what happened to them. But a lot of good citizens were broken by the governmen
t. I had enough money saved to pay the back taxes and interest and penalties levied against me, but it just about broke me. That’s when I knew that if I lived long enough, I would see my philosophy of government come to be.

  WWJ: And then the germ warfare attacks came?

  Ben Raines: That’s right. And that opened the door for what became known as the Tri-States philosophy of government. Which is really just common sense. At first I resisted the leadership role. Then, finally, I acquiesced and accepted it. The rest, as is said, is history.

  WWJ: You mentioned something about non-people? What is a non-person?

  Ben Raines: Before the breakdown of government, there were thousands of people who just dropped out of the system. Many of them changed their names, dropped their social security numbers, and refused to work for anything other than cash or barter. They left no paper trail for the government to follow. They became non-people. If they did have a check to cash, someone else did it and gave them the money.

  WWJ: Were there many of these . . . non-people?

  Ben Raines: Thousands of them scattered over the United States. No one will ever know for sure.

  WWJ: They hated the government that much?

  Ben Raines: Millions of people hated the direction the government was taking. I, for one. But I didn’t hate the government. I disliked mealy-mouthed politicians. I disliked the system and what it had become. I disliked the ever-growing power big government had over the citizens. But I didn’t hate the government.

  WWJ: But there were people who did.

  Ben Raines: Oh, sure. But they were people who hadn’t thought things through. Without government there would be no laws, without laws, we would be a nation of lawlessness and anarchy. I tried to stay away from those kinds of people.