I Can't Hear America Singing

Are you with us?”

Indiana Governor Jim Brabar leaned back in his leather chair, arms folded across his chest. Illinois Governor Evan Stairs did not answer as an awkward silence enveloped Brabar’s office. Stairs looked at his hands and then at Brabar’s stone-cold visage that had stretched thinner and paled even more in his apparent anger. A creak of leather caused Stairs to look over his shoulder at Scott Carnes, Brabar’s closest confidant and his No. 1 man. To Barbar’s enemies, Carnes was simply known as the No. 1 Henchman.

Brabar paid no attention to Carnes, his vivid blue eyes fixed on Stairs. Spoken just above a whisper, the mocking tone of Brabar’s voice echoed throughout the room.

“You seem to have plenty to say to anyone who wants to listen. What do you have to say to me? Last month you told me you were in. Now three days before the Summit, you say you are out. I take care of liars.”

Stairs leaned forward and grabbed the edge of Brabar’s desk. His eyes, wild, his voice, exasperated; his slick backed silver hair glistened with sweat; without the glare of television lights and makeup, the deep gouges penetrating his cheeks were even more prominent. He had made promises that he had not intended to keep; he had no choice but to go against Brabar, an unthinkable proposition.

“I see no honor in this. You will lead us to another Civil War. Is that what you want? You will go down in history as a lunatic. Do you think the President, the Supreme Court, Congress, everyone, will say, ‘Go ahead. We don’t care. Take your people and go.’ You will not be another Moses leading your people to the Promised Land. You will be viewed as a traitor.”

“Will I? The average working person is without hope of a better life. There is no such thing as a family vacation. Families don’t have a savings account. Instead, they live from paycheck to paycheck. No future,” Brabar wrung his hands, his voice grim, determined. “We have trimmed the fat from our state; the federal government just asks us to trim more. It has to stop.”

Six months ago Stairs had said he would join an economic union of Midwestern states. He had straddled the fence for months. He had decided he could not follow the path that Brabar was proposing. There were just too many obstacles. He heard Brabar’s cutting words, and he felt a tremor cascading through his body.

“The government has turned its back on the people. Don’t you feel the hatred in the streets? Do you have any idea or are you so out of touch that you can’t see what has happened? The federal government has taxed us into slave states. We will not be victims any longer. The time has come for those with courage and conviction to step forward. The Cowards will reveal themselves. You, a Coward, Stairs?”

“The people from my state will not follow me on this. Hell, Lincoln was from Illinois and he will turn over in his grave when this happens. A divided Democracy cannot stand.”

Brabar’s voice was soft but cut deep. “The others have tried but failed to convince you. We have Chicago and Detroit and Indianapolis. The working class people of those entire regions will revolt if we don’t act now. We don’t need you. Lincoln would not have let his people suffer. He was a man of vision; you are not even a man who stands up behind his own words.”

“The United States is the greatest democracy the world has ever seen.”

“There is no denying that. We hope to be a strength within, not an enemy within.”

“The others who are following you are fools, stupid fools.”

Brabar leaned back in his leather, swivel chair, his hands clasped behind his short cropped black hair.

“Fools. That is not what you told me last month. Remember when we got this ball rolling six months ago. I knew then that you had no backbone, no conviction, but I had hoped you would see this as the only real alternative for our people and their future. You live and die by the public opinion polls; I make public opinion. We must have Illinois; if you are not with us, you are against us and I will not allow that to happen.”

The Hoosier governor nodded to Carnes who left the room only to return followed by Governor Bainbridge Titus, Ohio; Governor Frank Gates, Michigan; Zeek Lastor, Mayor of Chicago, and Barry Conor, lieutenant governor of Illinois.

Stairs wheeled around in his chair, his mouth open.

“Here are the fools now.”

Everyone laughed except Stairs.

“So, you are in on this too, hey Barry.” Stairs looked at his lieutenant governor and just shook his head. “I should have known.”

“You are a dinosaur and a hypocrite,” Conor said flatly. “You should have been the leader of this movement. Instead you have tried to stop it…and failed.”

“The people will stop you.”

The hair on the back of Stairs’ neck stood up and he gripped the chair tightly. He sneered, “Your plan will never make it. You will be destroyed before it gets started. As bad as things are, nobody wants Americans to fight America.”

Brabar stared evenly at Stairs; he closed his eyes and shook his head slowly.

“We don’t see it that way. The government is bankrupt and it has no economic mean