—As promised, another excerpt from my book If Only…
0600 hrs.
Cassandra Prince was a nervous wreck on her first day on the job. The new Indira Gandhi University whiz-kid that landed the lucrative position as law clerk for Justice Jodi Foster, had the weight of a whole lot of people on her back. As her Mom had always stressed “It’s never enough. Give more. And when you are tapped out, GIVE MORE!”
With her mother, it was all about success and achievement.
At all costs.
Dad was way more laid-back, encouraging me to look “outside the box” and to try everything.
Weird.
Her sheer panic was interrupted by two lines of the phone lighting up.
“Good morning, Justice Foster’s office. Can you hold please?”
After the phone balancing act which would continue all day long, she returned to the original caller.
“How may I help you today?”
“This is the President. I need to speak to Justice Foster immediately.”
Cassie frantically scribbled down the message.
Her panic returned.
The President.
She had just spoken with one of the most powerful women on the planet.
On her first day.
The President sat in the Blue Room of the Presidential Palace. In front of her sat all three of the High Court Justices.
“Thank you females for showing up for this meeting on such short notice. I wanted to discuss the upcoming cases you have and see where everything stands.”
Justice Sotomayor spoke right up.
“Justice Dudikoski and I are both in agreement on the case about the initiative to start a defense budget. Two thumbs down.”
“Justice Foster,?” the president raised an eyebrow.
“It is unanimous. I see no reason to waste funds on recruiting, training, and arming a force.”
Who are they going to fight? Each other?”
Everyone chuckled, even the President.
“Alright, let’s discuss the plans for developing a program to explore the universe. As a planet, we are now at the point where each nation is sovereign, and there is literally no unemployment. Anyone who can work has a job. Everyone has food and shelter. With every nation working together, we can pool our scientific talent and resources and provide even more jobs and economic opportunities that come with successful space exploration.”
Justice Dudikoski spoke again.
“So we are thumbs up on space exploration, but down on the defense budget?”
Everyone nodded.
“The last item, and I really resent having to review this issue on an annual basis, is the silly initiative to give men the ability to vote.
This time, the room was filled with outright laughter, not chuckles.
“Men, the right to vote,” President Oprah Winfrey smiled as she rose from her desk.
The President addressed the conference room and the attendees all stood.
“Be seated,” she instructed.
This was the thirteenth year of her presidency and under her leadership, the country’s Gross Domestic Productivity climbed from fourteen trillion to the current twenty-five and climbing.
How’d she do it?
All policies/laws made were voted on democratically, with input from any affected by the legislature. She also started a new World Council whereby members could express their concerns on how any political moves she made could adversely affect them. Every political party offered candidates and popular vote elected them to office
She eliminated the pre-existing structure of large pharmaceutical companies operating for huge profits at patients’ expense. No government subsidies available for anything other than cures, not treatment of symptoms. Price structure would provide a profit, but not an exorbitant one.
What else?
With the support of the largest presidential landslide victory since Hillary Clinton ousted Madeline Albright, President Winfrey won 95% of the popular vote. What was really amazing is that 89% of the eligible voters filed ballots. This was the highest voter turnout in election history, and President Albright was none too pleased to leave her residence in the Red Manse in Lebanon, Kansas. She had been there for a decade; however her undoing was her insistence on starting a national defense strategy. She even had the audacity to suggest that we actually assemble and weaponize an army! If this were not enough, her final futile act was to attempt to segment the country into smaller sections, or states. This was voted down 17-3 in the Forum of Truth by representatives from each of the twenty National Communities. But in a final insult-to-injury move, President Albright attempted to change the name of the country from Loveland to Northland to reflect more accurately the geographic position of the continent in relation to the entire landmass. In another day, this one continuous continent might have been segmented into Northland and Southland (read North and South America).
***
Stay well.
