A few questions for our candidate.
Year: 2036 November
It took a few days to take down and clean up after the Festival. But the next time school met the teacher continued his story.
Flashback: August 2010
Charles was having a meeting in Spokane, Washington at a Holiday Inn. The room was full with people standing around the walls. He was dressed well but casually in a dark blue turtle-neck and jeans. He finished his introductory remarks then grabbed the mike and stepped into the crowd to take questions. The first came from an older man sitting near the back.
"Are you going to take away my Social Security?"
"Well! I can see you're not going to allow me any warm up questions!" (laughter)
Charles' voice grew soft. "I do not intend to take anybody's Social Security away. But we would be foolish to admit that there are no problems with it as it stands right now. If we take a look at the history of the program we would see that it has never lived up to the promises made about it. Ever. Today most people will not get the money out of the system they've put in. Yet at the same time the financial demands made on our country are increasing. This system could very well bankrupt the United States unless something is done soon."
"But what can be done?" A voice asked.
"I guess that's the million dollar question. Or, since we're talking about the government - the trillion dollar question. If the system is going to remain solvent three things must happen. If only one or two are done it will not work.
First, there must be an overhaul of the current tax code. We must exchange the IRS for something better. (cheers) We have the second highest corporate tax system in the world. It is unfair and stifling to business and people. Now, I really do not care a lot about which tax system we enact, that would be something to talk to your representatives about. Many have proposed some kind of flat tax. I'm personally in favor of what the call the Fair Tax. It doesn't quite matter too much as long as the rates are loooow. He drew out the last work to the smiles of the audience.
That is a moot point if the second requirement does not happen. We're talking about spending. Let me give an example for you. If took the previous administration some 6 years to increase spending by a trillion dollars. The present administration's first act was to increase spending by some 800 Billion! By now they have spend over a trillion and a half. (That's new spending, mind you.) As a nation we are in more debt in terms of dollar amount and as a percentage of our gross national product than at any time in our history, even World War II.
Now, I believe that if progress is made on the first two they will go a long way toward solving the problems we are in and help Social Security. We are also in need of taking a sober practial look at that program and make changes. And do you know what? Several good ideas have been put forward which merit consideration. I've got a couple of web sites here on the screen for you to check out.
What I am not going to do is blow smoke at you, like some are doing or ignore the problem like most are doing. It will be addressed."
"Can you tell us something about your life sir?"
"Certainly. I was born and raised in far off Virginia and pursued my higher education at the College of William and Mary. I started grad school at the University of Virginia but never finished. The reason for that was a death in the family, a very close uncle of mine. He had recently started a delivery company with one truck and three customers. I dropped out of school to take over the company. Sixteen years later we had 15 trucks; I had added about a truck a year and by then the company was a medium-sized regional distributor with over a hundred clients. At that point I sold the company and basically, retired. By the way, the company existed for another eight years before it was absorbed into another, larger company.
After I retired I moved to the Midwest and spend the first ten years or so travelling around this great nation of ours. I've never been much for world travel, not that we didn't do a bit of that too. About 5 years ago I started another company selling truck accessories online. I guess I can't really get around my love for trucks! Two years ago I became part owner of a local gym."
"What do you think is the most important quality in a candidate?"
"First and formost is character. I would place that even higher than some sort of educational requirement. We've all seen Presidents that were supposed to be very smart and highly educated and yet they didn't do so well. Others, less educated did more. But every President has had situations in which he had a choice between doing the politically expedient thing or the right thing."
Afterward, Charles stayed to meet people, shake hand and talk. One guy came up and said, "I run a gym too, do you have time for a quick workout?" He did have time and agreed. It was a refreshing change since his schedule had been so tight recently. Before long he had to start refusing offers, or work out several times a day.
At about the same time a politcal operative in Washington discovered his web site and scanned the contents. He was immediately dismissed as a hack, but someone to watch.
Flashforward: 2036
The class was so engrossed in listening it took a few moments to acknowledge the ringing bell. The days were getting shorter and colder now. The students filed out quickly, shouting and talking to each other as they went while the teacher stood, trembling at the front of the class. A moment later the coughing began.
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