Read Online The General's President by John Dalmas - Free Book Online Page B
Authors: John Dalmas
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use part of our time together to let you know something about me.
"I won't cover everything you might like me to tonight, but I promise to speak to you frequently as things develop. More frequently than has been usual for presidents.
"To begin with, let me point out that the emergency is not an emergency of violence. We were in a crashing emergency, in serious danger as a country, before the recent violence broke out. The violence was simply an offshoot of what came before, a sign of how bad things had gotten. And of course, as is commonly the case, violence made them worse.
"The violence is over now, at least for the present, but the country remains in serious, perhaps even critical, condition. We have a lot to do to get it running decently, and to reform certain institutions so that it doesn't go off the tracks again. The financial system is in collapse. The production and distribution of goods, including the orderly distribution of food and fuel, has been seriously disrupted, as most of you know all too well.
"Things have continued as well as they have, only because many people have been willing to keep working with no assurance that they'd see a paycheck. Those people are part of the solution. Some others have been part of the problem.
"Many businesses have closed, folded, due to the unwise practices of government, banks, corporations, speculators, and the businessmen themselves. Apparently few of these practices were criminal in a legal sense, but many were irresponsible. More commonly they were the actions of people following more or less established ways, which we now see were destructive."
Haugen paused to scan the audience in the chamber.
"Obviously we need to change some things," he went on. "And we will.
"It is appropriate to be critical, and to start criminal proceedings where called for. But almost all of us share responsibility for the catastrophe. We all saw the direction in which things were going, have been going for years. Yet political parties, candidates, office holders, weren't willing to bite the bullet and make the changes necessary. And why not? Because we the people of the United States of America didn't tell them to. We didn't insist on it. Many of us didn't even want them to.
"We gimme'd our way into this mess. Now we need to create and work our way out of it. And my job is skipper, captain, the person at the wheel."
It occurred to Morrows that the president didn't seem to be reading, only glancing down now and then as if at notes. He'd heard of people like that, who could look at a page, then look up and recite a paragraph or two verbatim. It made them seem to be delivering extemporaneously. And when Haugen looked up from his speech, it was at someone, apparently a different someone each time. Morrows wondered how much of that was deliberate and how much unconscious.
"To begin with," the president was saying, "I'll continue to take stopgap emergency steps, as President Donnelly did, while putting together a broad rebuilding program, using the best data I can get. Meanwhile I'll update you from time to time, telling you what we're doing, what we plan to do, and what we need you to do if we're going to salvage and rebuild this country.
"I'll talk about specifics later, as we work them out. I'll be discussing economics, health care, the legal system, the environment, and anything else that seems necessary."
He paused as if to emphasize what came next, scanning the audience again. "This isn't going to be your standard democratic process, you know. When a ship is in danger of foundering, of sinking with all hands, that's no time to sit around and play tug-of-war, or argue, or protect cherished prerogatives. The government, with me at the wheel, will continue to operate under emergency powers and martial law.
"Incidentally, President Donnelly first offered the vice presidency to General Cromwell, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. He felt that strongly that a firm hand was needed.
"I won't cover everything you might like me to tonight, but I promise to speak to you frequently as things develop. More frequently than has been usual for presidents.
"To begin with, let me point out that the emergency is not an emergency of violence. We were in a crashing emergency, in serious danger as a country, before the recent violence broke out. The violence was simply an offshoot of what came before, a sign of how bad things had gotten. And of course, as is commonly the case, violence made them worse.
"The violence is over now, at least for the present, but the country remains in serious, perhaps even critical, condition. We have a lot to do to get it running decently, and to reform certain institutions so that it doesn't go off the tracks again. The financial system is in collapse. The production and distribution of goods, including the orderly distribution of food and fuel, has been seriously disrupted, as most of you know all too well.
"Things have continued as well as they have, only because many people have been willing to keep working with no assurance that they'd see a paycheck. Those people are part of the solution. Some others have been part of the problem.
"Many businesses have closed, folded, due to the unwise practices of government, banks, corporations, speculators, and the businessmen themselves. Apparently few of these practices were criminal in a legal sense, but many were irresponsible. More commonly they were the actions of people following more or less established ways, which we now see were destructive."
Haugen paused to scan the audience in the chamber.
"Obviously we need to change some things," he went on. "And we will.
"It is appropriate to be critical, and to start criminal proceedings where called for. But almost all of us share responsibility for the catastrophe. We all saw the direction in which things were going, have been going for years. Yet political parties, candidates, office holders, weren't willing to bite the bullet and make the changes necessary. And why not? Because we the people of the United States of America didn't tell them to. We didn't insist on it. Many of us didn't even want them to.
"We gimme'd our way into this mess. Now we need to create and work our way out of it. And my job is skipper, captain, the person at the wheel."
It occurred to Morrows that the president didn't seem to be reading, only glancing down now and then as if at notes. He'd heard of people like that, who could look at a page, then look up and recite a paragraph or two verbatim. It made them seem to be delivering extemporaneously. And when Haugen looked up from his speech, it was at someone, apparently a different someone each time. Morrows wondered how much of that was deliberate and how much unconscious.
"To begin with," the president was saying, "I'll continue to take stopgap emergency steps, as President Donnelly did, while putting together a broad rebuilding program, using the best data I can get. Meanwhile I'll update you from time to time, telling you what we're doing, what we plan to do, and what we need you to do if we're going to salvage and rebuild this country.
"I'll talk about specifics later, as we work them out. I'll be discussing economics, health care, the legal system, the environment, and anything else that seems necessary."
He paused as if to emphasize what came next, scanning the audience again. "This isn't going to be your standard democratic process, you know. When a ship is in danger of foundering, of sinking with all hands, that's no time to sit around and play tug-of-war, or argue, or protect cherished prerogatives. The government, with me at the wheel, will continue to operate under emergency powers and martial law.
"Incidentally, President Donnelly first offered the vice presidency to General Cromwell, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. He felt that strongly that a firm hand was needed.
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