Friday, September 10, 2010

Obama Shrugged

The line seems to be moving a little faster today,” Jane said to her friend.

Margo smiled and said, “I think so. We have been here only an hour and
we are almost to the door. Doesn’t the fresh bread smell so wonderful
today?”

She replied, “It smells delicious. I’m glad the government decided the
lactose and gluten free bread was suitable for us to eat. That will go
well with the beans.”

After Barack Obama’s forth term he was appointed the lifetime position
as President of the United States. Obama had promised to fundamentally
change America. He had passed universal health-care and to limit cost he
had, along with congress, taken over the farms so that all people ate
equally. All foods found to be unhealthy were banned. The medical board
decided which foods were the healthiest and would lower health-care cost.
Once the two women had purchased their bread and other supplies, they
headed home. It wasn’t long before they were walking into the
fifty-story apartment building. They smiled at the armed soldier
standing just inside. Margo asked her friend, “Can you believe that
people used to live in single family dwellings? That was so wasteful of
resources.”

“I know,” replied Jane with a sigh, “I can’t imagine such selfishness.
Since the ban on single family homes and the passing of Climate
legislation, we have diverted disaster.”

During Obama’s second term congress passed the Fair Housing Act. That
law put an annual 90% tax on homes with less than twenty families. That
created a boom of apartment style buildings. Each apartment had to be
furnished and sized to strict standards so that no family could live
better than another. There was a complicated standard based on number of
children and their ages as to the size of the apartments.

Jane and Margo lived across the hall from each other. Jane opened her
door and was greeted by her daughter. “I love you mommy,” said the
three-year-old girl. Jane called Melissa her miracle child. It had taken
two years to get permission from the EPA to have a child. Since humans
emit carbon dioxide, the EPA had decided to limit the number of children
couples could have. They had finally set a limit of two children per
couple, but only after the couple had passed a battery of psychological
exams to make sure they would be fitting parents. Thanks to such
testing, crime had dropped to near zero, as well as the armed military
that patrolled the streets in search of potential environmental
terrorist.

Melissa ran over to turn on the television as Jane was putting away the
groceries. The child flipped though the five channels, MSNBC, PBS1,
PBS2, PBS3 and PBS4. The little girl settled down as some cartoon
character spelled out environmentally friendly words.

Jane heard the television go silent and then her daughter cried, “Mommyyyyyy, the tv is off again.”

The mother looked out the window and saw that clouds had covered the sun
and the wind was not blowing nearly enough to turn the windmills that
dotted the rooftops. When the solar panels and windmills could no
longer meet demand, all non essential lights and appliances were turned
off as the building switched to the community generating facilities that
were most often natural gas or nuclear.

Later when the sun was shining again Jane began loading the washing
machine with the brown and tan clothing. Designer clothing had been
banned after Obama’s second term. All of the clothing was functional
with looks an afterthought. All but organic dyes had been banned so that
limited the choice of colors. With everyone forced to wear the same
clothing; that ended envy over who had the prettiest, or the most
expensive dress.

Through stringent laws, social justice had been achieved. There was no
longer a need for sharing the wealth since the government provided
everything. Little Melissa had a stomach pain, but since someone on the
phone thinks it’s not serious, she is put on a month long waiting list
before seeing the doctor. Jane doesn’t complain since there is no charge
and everyone is treated the same. If the voice on the phone was wrong
and little Melissa dies, then she is just another statistic.

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