The Smiths and Joneses (13 page)

The president of NBX replies, “We lose nothing by trying, its only money. He did agree to consultant and even be a part of the Wolf/CNN program. CNN blasted him worse than we did, so why won’t he work with us? We’ll make him an offer he wouldn’t be able to turn down.”

“Doesn’t he earn $400K a year for life?”

“Yes he does, but everyone can always use more. He must be paying a fortune for the paramilitary security force he has protecting his property.”

The president of CBZ says, “I heard a rumor that the paramilitary group isn’t so ‘para,' they’re all old friends of his. Don’t say anything negative about them when talking to him. Also assume anything said to him is being listened to.”

The president of ABX suggests, “Why don’t we all ask, maybe we can do a combined three-network show which will outdo the existing production.”

“We’ll have to find another angle; the ‘man on the street’ angle is being done.”

“We agree, I suggest we get our program people to work jointly on it ASAP.”

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Wednesday morning the media in the USA jumped on the bandwagon from the previous night’s program. Almost every news program led their programs with the equality issue. ABX kicked off their morning news program with a discussion concerning the word ‘equal.’ Their anchor looks into the camera saying, “What’s wrong with everyone being equal? Why shouldn’t we all start and end up being equal? We learned last evening that the LSA government has fully embedded itself in every aspect of their people’s lives. Look how they turned out. The people we met last night are happy, well educated and happy. The LSA has no military that absorbs so much of the USA’s budget. Can you imagine where the USA would be if we didn’t have to spend hundreds of billions on the military every year? The LSA educates their people to recognize they’re the same. They don’t dwell on the differences of their people; they stress how everyone is equal and as such, how and why they should all get along. They have very little homelessness; they have reduced pollution levels, and their people are healthier than ours. I for one am pleasantly surprised. I think there’s a great deal we, as a nation, can learn from the LSA.”

People wake finding thousands of posts on their favorite social network sites talking about the merits why people should be treated as equals. FB soon announces a major policy change which is they will begin blocking all posts that attack others or preaches one group of people is better than any other. Social media is alive with pro and con concerning the initial broadcast from the LSA. For many, this is the first time in years they’ve had an in-depth view behind the divide. Any who try to comment that equal means communism find themselves being trash-talked. Many try to get them banned from the various sites. FB agrees to a ban, only to find a wave of protest builds against them, within an hour they reverse their decision.

Talk radio is overwhelmed with callers discussing the program; just under a half of the callers say they don’t believe a word of the program. It had to be a set up, a phony family of actors setup by the LSA government. Many callers couldn’t understand why so many happily exchanged rights that had been hard fought for, rights that many died for, in exchange for what many said were a handful of silver coins. Many callers said President Bloomberg was Lenin reincarnated.

One group that was very quiet after the first program was the US Congress. Most members refused to answer any of the media’s questions. Many members and their staffs were also surprised by the program.

US President Paul was asked if he had watched the program, “Yes I did. I found it very interesting. I, too, was surprised by the Smith family’s acceptance of the LSA central government in every aspect of their lives.”

“Mr. President, James Wilcox,
AP,
do you think the LSA brainwashed their people?”

“No, I don’t think the entire country can be brainwashed that easily.”

“Sir, what about Germany in the 1930’s?”

“Germany wasn’t brainwashed; they wanted many of the things Hitler offered them. They wanted their pride back. Hitler played his people perfectly. He gave them what they wanted; he delivered on his promises. He made Germany one of the strongest countries in the world.”

“Mr. President, Hitler also ended up destroying Germany.”

“If you’re asking if I think President Bloomberg is going to follow Hitler, my answer is no. I don’t think so. He always stated what he wanted. Once he got the power to enforce the policies he wanted and thought were the best for everyone to live under, he quickly pushed his policies across the LSA. I don’t think it’s about President Bloomberg taking personal power. The office of President in the LSA is different than in the USA. He has more personal power than I do. I like the separation of powers, he doesn’t. He thinks he knows what was best for everyone. He now has the power to reshape the country. He was able to transform the LSA in a very short period of time.”

“Mr. President, Roger Wilson,
AOL News Channel
, were you surprised about the definition of marriage in the LSA?”

“Frankly, yes I was. I assumed they would have removed the definition of marriage being between a man and a woman; I didn’t expect them to have moved to a position where marriage is simply a civil contract that can be entered into between any numbers of people and even set for a period of time. I think when marriage is nothing more than an agreement between people of how they will share obligations and assets; it loses what I’ll call ‘the magic.' A key aspect of marriage is an obligation, marriage is two people working to stay together, to raise a family to bring stability to society. The LSA has changed the basic core values behind marriage which spreads through their entire country.”

Chapter 7

Preparing for the second night’s broadcast, hundreds of restaurants offered home delivery. Restaurateurs figured if their customers wouldn’t leave their homes to come to them, they would deliver to their customers. Home delivery food orders broke every Super Bowel record. As the hour of 8:00PM drew closer, the streets in both countries emptied. The only people on the streets were delivery people who didn’t have a choice in the matter. Many hotel lobbies and bars added additional televisions all set to broadcast the program. Many companies that were required to have evening staffs installed large monitors so their workers could watch the program. In the LSA, all central government offices and factories are given the night off with pay. President Bloomberg makes sure his announcement is broadcast over the LSA and world-wide-web so he can take the credit for leading a government that puts his people’s interests first.

Wednesday evening at the stroke of 8:00 PM, people in both the LSA and the USA come to a pause for three hours. Restaurants without televisions are empty, pizza and other food delivery shops do a record business. No one wants to move away from their televisions. Families sit together watching the first actual program that lifted the veil over the LSA. What people in the USA had seen the first night surprised them, some were shocked, and everyone who watched the first episode became quickly hooked. Everyone is waiting for the second episode. The show was the only thing discussed in millions of coffee shops that Wednesday morning. People debated and discussed the program all day.

Everyone in the USA now saw and heard the LSA had moved far to the left, many people in the USA realize the LSA had turned away from the path the founders planned for America. Very few in the LSA had any idea that direction the USA had gone. Some thought the country turned sharply right; gun ownership would be mandatory, some thought the country reverted to the racist 1950s where minorities lived in their own communities. Some thought that religion would be the dominating aspect in people’s lives. Some even thought the USA cities would be covered in thick smog and the water supply polluted with toxic chemicals. There were discussions on LSA talk radio that the USA was most likely suffering under serious global warming because the USA relied on fossil fuels versus converting to green energy like the LSA had done.

One unforeseen and highly appreciated impact of the broadcast is the lowest crime rates in both countries. Crime set new levels for the lowest number of reported crimes for a weekday night since records were kept. This will be discussed for months on both sides of the divide. Local police are hoping tonight’s broadcast results in the same low number of 911 calls.

              The dual network broadcast opens with Sean, Wolf and President Brownstone sitting in front of the cameras. Sean starts off the program. “Ladies and gentlemen, the three of us, our production crews, the staff of our networks and, of course, the selected advertisers who run the limited number of commercials would like to say thank you. We’re frankly overwhelmed with the ratings. We knew people would be curious about how each side lives and works. However, we didn’t in our wildest imagination expect over two hundred million people to tune in. We promise to do our best to bring you the information and answers you’ve tuned in to see. Speaking for the Wolf News Network, thank you. Wolf?”

              “Sean, I couldn’t have said it better myself, so I’ll only add, speaking for all of the employees of the Continuous News Network, we thank you for the trust you’ve shown in us. Mr. President, would you like to start tonight’s program off?”

              “Wolf, Sean, people in both the USA and LSA, welcome to the second of four interviews with the Smiths and the Joneses. We hope that our program brings a better understanding to both sides of the divide. The better we understand each other, the better we learn to live together with each other as good neighbors.  Tonight we’re going to meet the Jones family who lives in Burlington, North Carolina, a small town near Greensboro. The Jones family is comprised of Robert and his lovely wife Carol. They have two children, Leon, 15 years old and Elizabeth who, as you’ll see, wants to be called Beth, 6 years old. I’m sure that last night’s episode was an eye opener for those watching in the USA. Tonight we think will be the same for those watching in the LSA. A surprise we’ve been holding off announcing is, on Friday night’s show, the two families are going to interview each other live. Neither of the two families or us will have advance access to the questions. The individual families will compose their own questions for each other. So make sure you tune in for our special on Friday evening. I’m getting this television announcer job down pretty good. I may have found a new career.  Without further delay, I wish I could have said that when I was President, it’s our pleasure to introduce to you the Jones family.”

              The image on the large screen behind the hosts changes to show an overhead view of a small community, a street with homes lining both sides of the street. One of the first differences people notice from the similar street in Oregon is there are cars parked on the street, there are children riding bikes and skateboards up and down driveways. The cars are mostly two to three year old SUVs and four-door sedans. There are a few BMWs and Mercedes sprinkled in with the SUVs. The homes are painted in shades of white or blue with a few yellow homes sprinkled in. All have different landscaping. All of the lawns are neatly trimmed. Many of the homes have unfenced play sets. Two homes on the street have swimming pools, one pool is above ground, and one is an in-ground. The camera zooms in to show a front walk lined with multicolored flowers and solar powered lights. There’s a large weeping willow tree in the center of the front yard. Another noticeable change is there’s a mailbox in front of the house. The screen image moves up the walk to the front door; the image on the screen zooms in to show a nicely varnished front door with a bright green ‘WELCOME’ mat in front of the door. They knock on the front door; a young man in his early thirties opens the door. A large smile lights up his face. “Hi, we’ve been waiting for you. Welcome to our home. Welcome to our lives. Come in.”

              Sean and Wolf enter the camera’s view, “Hi Robert; it’s very nice to meet you face to face.”

              “You can call me Bob, almost everyone does,” a pretty woman in her early thirties enters the picture, Bob says, “This is my wife Carol.”

              “Welcome to our home, would you like something to drink? I made some fresh lemonade. We also have coffee, tea, water and some diet sodas. And yes, we have the large 44-ounce bottles just for you Wolf.” Carol said, winking and smiling.

              Sean and Wolf laugh over the little joke. “Fresh lemonade sounds perfect.”

              Carol carries in a tray with a pitcher of lemonade and fresh baked cookies. Just as she places the tray down on the living room coffee table, almost like magic, a little girl walks into the living room saying, “I smell the cookies, Mommy, is it time to have the cookies now?”

              “Yes, come in Elizabeth and meet the nice people we talked about who are here to learn about us. Do you remember us talking about them visiting with us for a while?”

              A small dark haired girl with bright smiling blue eyes grabs a cookie off the plate saying, “I like to be called Beth, not Elizabeth. Call me Beth.” She jumps on the loveseat across from her parents. “Hi everyone, can you see me?” She waves up and down.  “Do you know I have a dog? Her name is Holly she’s is a Chinese Shar-Pei, I think that’s how you say it. She’s not really from China; she doesn’t have slanted eyes. She’s all wrinkled like my Papa used to be. She’s hiding right now; she’s a little shy around new people. She’s watching you right now. Want to see her?”