A Damning Light!

Part II


“The new democratic president had his hands full trying to salvage what he could from a government that had been fleeced and then dismantled piecemeal by a cadre of self-interested thieves who believed in their pernicious mean-spirited hearts that government existed for only one reason, to be plundered. In four years, the corruptible had been corrupted; the borderline cases pushed over the edge, and what passed for law and order had been submerged in the endless quest of self-aggrandisement. It was ego uber alles in the rule of the feckless monarch who believed that everything he touched was blessed instead of being truly damned. It was the rule of the reverse Robin Hood that allowed the poor to be stolen from to enhance the unlimited wealth of the rich.

“But there were few surprises. This band of hedonists had no trouble running backfield over the mostly invisible opposition. The irony of it was that none of it had to happen if two things hadn't occured. And these events will be discussed at campfires when the last electric bulb has burned out.”

Ah, he was glad he had set these words down on paper. They seemed to capture the true feeling of the time and it made him angry to think about. And then a tear made its way down his check and he punched the magnesium wall over and over again until he could no longer feel his fist.

He couldn’t do it all at once. Milo will have to wait. After all, he was human, too. But before the end of the day, and four drinks later, Glotus had made up his mind that he would finish this damned thing before he would lose his mind over it. Perhaps he was too sensitive to be a historian after all. He had to learn to control his emotions without becoming subject to them…

The questions began to pour out. And Glotus put them down as fast as they came.

“Why did Gore shoot himself in the foot so many times; and why did the Ohio brothers who owned the voting machine company use the machines to buy their way in....The machines had truly taken over the world. And when that happened, hope had dried up and simply floated away.

“The machines had simply preempted common sense, logic, integrity and worst of all, the truth. And the Supreme Court, not so supreme then, became the facilitator of last resort settling the score and assuring Americans that their country would be salvaged over eight years. Oh, the rest was easy; just get out of the way of the terrorists and let them scare the living Hell out of the average mid-west farmer and the rest would be easy. Once that die was cast, it would be easy to fear to stay in power indefinitely. It did not take science to realize the latent power of fear and uncertainty. Was the entire event manufactured in a Goebbel’s like vision of the ultimate solution? Were the twin towers the quintessential Reichstag?.

“In any event, the people did eventually tire of a government that talked compassion and then proceeded to wave the bomb around; they got tired of a government that did nothing but steal from the poor to feed the rich; it got frustrated with a government who couldn't straighten out an American city that was begging for help after a flood that didn't have to happen. They tired of being the penultimate super-power that couldn't provide armor for its soldiers; a super-power that told its people lies about how many died and how many were wounded in a war that was instigated and unnecessary; while China proceeded to take all of our jobs and gather in our debt. There was nothing subtle about it; we were just blind-sided by our own hubris…

“But the end came rather unglamorously when the Chief of State collapsed into speaking in tongues during the last State of the Union and was taken off the stage babbling something about that bloody SOB bin Laden still thumbing his nose at him from some haven near Kabul never to be seen again…

“And before they could extract Cheney from his underground lair to assume his duties, the Richter scale topped 8 and he, too, vanished in a torrent of mud—a somewhat befitting finale to something that had emerged from earthly scum to begin with; it was as if Nature tired of the abuse had pre-selected her targets of opportunity and took them down. One after the other, the hopeful aspirants to the throne were cast aside by bizarre circumstances. Wind, floods, Tsunamis . Clearly, the gods were angry!
Eventually, after several indictments of those next in line to inherit the throne, Ted Stevens’ name came up. Now the most ancient of the ancient, he looked at the picture, flipped a coin and said, "screw it; let me out of here!" and skedaddled back to Fairbanks to maintain his toll franchise on his bridges to nowhere….”

Good. Glotus was proud of what he had done and he would return to the task tomorrow. So what if they were a few light days short…He would pick it up later. It was more important that he find the right tone; that he emulate the feeling and the pressures brought to bear. He had to be especially careful at this stage realizing that most of the pain had become intertwined with psychobabble where separating truth from fiction might involve various degrees of trauma as well. In any event, it was going well. Tara was at the bar. He decided to go for one final night cap.

“How’s it going, Glotus?”

“Not bad, Tara. We are making headway. “

“Good, you know we are running late.”

“Yes, I am aware of that…But we can make it up.”

Tara smiled back and ran her fingers over the soft bottles that lined the bottom lit
Backdrop.

“I know. We all trust in your judgment.”

Glotus picked up his drink, smiled and headed deeper into the interior.

He was tired. He knew that. And there was more research to do. Yet, he felt so close.
Oh well, he thought, perhaps a visual search might be what the doctor ordered…
And he flipped on the switch but fell almost immediately into a deep and troubled sleep.


The next day, after his caffeine cure, he stared at the words that he was assembling into some kind of coherent form that he hoped reflected the reality of his research to date. He started again…always conscious of his obligation to the truth…