I wrote the first draft of the short story “Stasis” back in September 2013. Since that time, news reports about certain trends and comments from government officials have been sending chills down my spine.
On 2/4/2014 the White House’s response to the Congressional Budget Office’s (CBO) report concerning the impact of ObamaCare on full time employment gave rise to new chills.
The CBO reported that ObamaCare will cost 2.3 million jobs. The White House Press Secretary Jay Carney responded to the report by stating, “…Americans would no longer be trapped in a job…and would have the opportunity to pursue their dreams.”
One report summed up the White House’s other responses, such as: employers are not laying off workers. Rather, Americans are choosing to leave the workforce and ObamaCare is empowering them to make that choice.
See the spin? The more government intrudes and takes over your life, the more freedom you gain. Notice the feel-good phrases like “pursuing your dreams” and “empowering,” contrasting with negative phrases, like equating a job with “being trapped”.
Don’t worry about the government taking over a third of the economy, and allowing them to make all of your personal health decisions, because now you’re empowered to pursue your dreams.
What does all this have to do with “Stasis”? The story depicts a society where citizens are denied the freedom to choose even their clothing and food, because the government has decided what was best for them and made all other choices illegal. Yet, the people believe they are free. A small speech from the character of Mr. Fetor (a low-level-petty-bureaucrat who ruthlessly commands his neighborhood) demonstrates that sentiment. It surfaces during an exchange with Kurt Williams, the Libertarian hero of the story.
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Kurt looked around the room. “And all of you put up with this? You’re nothing but a bunch of pathetic little drones.”
No one would meet his eyes, except Fetor.
“No, you’re the one who’s pathetic,” Fetor snarled through clenched teeth. “You relish human suffering. We’re free, I tell you! Free from toil and labor, free from want, free from sudden death, free from economic oppression. Free from all of the ills of history. The Government knows what’s best for us.” He folded his hands as if praying and intoned, “From cradle to grave we are saved.”
“Don’t forget about free from being free.”
Fetor pointed at Kurt. “Stop poisoning everyone with your subversive ideas.”
Kurt and Fetor’s eyes locked on each other.
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Don’t be fooled! Although we’re still far from the society depicted in “Stasis”, we’re well on the way. Later in the story…
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Kurt’s voice lost its raspy tone as a rush of adrenaline revitalized him. “How did it ever get this bad?” he asked Cheryl.
“Gradually. Like your eyes adjusting to darkness.”
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The sentiment currently being pushed by Big Government as empowerment and liberty represents another candle being snuffed out. How’s your eyesight? Are your eyes adjusting to the darkness?
San Giacomo's Corner 
Ernesto you need to look at the government from a different perspective. What makes our country so great is that we take care of each other through our taxes. This keeps people off the streets begging for alms with a tin cup. Our health care operated under the premise that you have to be well off to get decent coverage if you can call it that. Somebody help me to understand how you can justify the status quo which was all about making a profits off your misery. I don’t get why people have a problem with finding a way to fix our broken health care system. The fact that this president was able to succeed in doing something about it (although not perfect) is what is driving the “committee of they” absolutely crazy. At least now we can have some kind of decent coverage and it’s all paid for not only by the taxpayers collectively but also individually. I don’t see how that is government taking over. This is America. This is what we have done for decades. This is what makes us stand out. We the People help each other. The government is the people! Don’t listen to the scare tactics. Follow the money. Take a good look at the farm bill that used to be about helping people, now it’s about helping corporations. Why are we paying taxes to subsidize farmers? Start checking out why its ok for corporations to get government welfare but poor people (who pay some form of taxes) can’t get food stamps. Why would anyone begrudge finding a solution to the out-of-control health care costs? I don’t get it.
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I never said it was ok for corporations to get welfare or subsidies, nor will I ever say something like that. I’m a Libertarian, not a Republican or a Democrat.
I never said that our healthcare system before ObamaCare was perfect. Nor would I want a return to it. The current government meddling is only making things worse. The cost of healthcare started to spiral out of control when the gov’t started meddling by creating Medicare / Medicaid.
I would suggest reading up on Libertarianism and History. Your comment attributes ideas and sentiments to me and my post that are simply not present.
My original post was about a prediction in a short story, which is taking root in today’s headlines.
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I was just expressing my opinion on how I feel about all of it. And that included my take on the government role in our lives. I don’t believe govt is the problem. I do believe that it can use some improvements and that is where we need to be. If we didn’t have a government what kind of country would we have?. I just get tired of people railing about how bad the govt is. What we need to look at is the corruption that is going on in government from career politicians. The concept of a government is not the problem. I guess its a sore spot for me. Sorry if I came on too strong. I am opinionated at times. You are touching on a hot topic.
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1) You are perfectly free to express your opinion. As a Libertarian, I do not believe in silencing anyone.
2) I don’t believe that gov’t is a problem. I believe that Big Gov’t is a problem.
3) Corruption is everywhere because gov’t and business have a very cozy relationship.
4) I’m glad to have you contribute to my blog. As you can see, you made a second post w/o pending approval. 🙂
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Thanks for letting me rant. I do have to learn a lot about libertarianism (hope I spelled it right).
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