- Schlichter, Kurt.
People's Republic.
Seattle: CreateSpace, 2016.
ISBN 978-1-5390-1895-7.
-
As the third decade of the twenty-first century progressed,
the Cold Civil War which had been escalating in the United
States since before the turn of the century turned hot when
a Democrat administration decided to impose their full
agenda—gun confiscation, amnesty for all illegal
aliens, restrictions on fossil fuels—all at
once by executive order. The heartland defied the power
grab and militias of the left and right began to clash
openly. Although the senior officer corps were largely
converged to the leftist agenda, the military rank and file
which hailed largely from the heartland defied them, and
could not be trusted to act against their fellow
citizens. Much the same was the case with police in the
big cities: they began to ignore the orders of their
political bosses and migrate to jobs in more congenial
jurisdictions.
With a low-level shooting war breaking out, the opposing sides
decided that the only way to avert general conflict was,
if not the
“amicable
divorce” advocated by Jesse Kelly, then a more bitter
and contentious end to a union which was not working. The
Treaty of Saint Louis split the country in two, with the east
and west coasts and upper midwest calling itself the
“People's Republic of North America” (PRNA) and the
remaining territory (including portions of some states like
Washington, Oregon, and Indiana with a strong regional
divide) continuing to call itself the United States, but with
some changes: the capital was now Dallas, and the constitution
had been amended to require any person not resident on its
territory at the time of the Split (including children born
thereafter) who wished full citizenship and voting rights to
serve two years in the military with no “alternative
service” for the privileged or connected.
The PRNA quickly implemented the complete progressive agenda
wherever its rainbow flag (frequently revised as different
victim groups clawed their way to the top of the grievance
pyramid) flew. As police forces collapsed with good cops
quitting and moving out, they were replaced by a national
police force initially called the “People's Internal
Security Squads” (later the “People's
Security Force” when the acronym for the original
name was deemed infelicitous), staffed with thugs and
diversity hires attracted by the shakedown potential of
carrying weapons among a disarmed population.
Life in the PRNA was pretty good for the coastal élites
in their walled communities, but as with collectivism whenever
and wherever it is tried, for most of the population life was a
grey existence of collapsing services, food shortages, ration
cards, abuse by the powerful, and constant fear of being
denounced for violating the latest intellectual fad or using an
incorrect pronoun. And, inevitably, it wasn't long before the
PRNA slammed the door shut to keep the remaining competent
people from fleeing to where they were free to use their skills
and keep what they'd earned. Mexico built a “big,
beautiful wall” to keep hordes of PRNA subjects from
fleeing to freedom
and opportunity south of the border.
Several years after the Split, Kelly Turnbull, retired military
and veteran of the border conflicts around the Split paid the
upkeep of his 500 acre non-working ranch by spiriting people out
of the PRNA to liberty in the middle of the continent. After
completing a harrowing mission which almost ended in disaster,
he is approached by a wealthy and politically-connected Dallas
businessman who offers him enough money to retire if he'll
rescue his daughter who, indoctrinated by the leftist
infestation still remaining at the university in Austin,
defected to the PRNA and is being used in propaganda campaigns
there at the behest of the regional boss of the secret police.
In addition, a spymaster tasks him with bringing out evidence
which will allow rolling up the PRNAs informer and spy
networks. Against his self-preservation instinct which counsels
laying low until the dust settles from the last mission, he opts
for the money and prospect of early retirement and undertakes
the mission.
As Turnbull covertly enters the People's Republic,
makes his way to Los Angeles, and seeks his target,
there is a superbly-sketched view of an America in
which the progressive agenda has come to fruition,
and one which people there may well be living
at the end of the next two Democrat-dominated
administrations. It is often funny, as the
author skewers the hypocrisy of the slavers mouthing
platitudes they don't believe for a femtosecond. (If
you think it improper to make fun of human misery,
recall the mordant humour in the Soviet Union as
workers mocked the reality of the “workers'
paradise”.) There's plenty of tension and
action, and sometimes following Turnbull on his
mission seems like looking over the shoulder of a
first-person-shooter. He's big on countdowns
and tends to view “blues” obstructing him as
NPCs
to be dealt with quickly and permanently: “I don't
much like blues. You kill them or they kill you.”
This is a satisfying thriller which is probably a more realistic
view of the situation in a former United States than an
amicable divorce with both sides going their separate ways. The
blue model is doomed to collapse, as it already has begun to in
the big cites and states where it is in power, and with that
inevitable collapse will come chaos and desperation which
spreads beyond its borders. With Democrat politicians
such as Occasional-Cortex who, a few years ago, hid behind such
soothing labels as “liberal” or “progressive”
now openly calling themselves “democratic socialists”,
this is not just a page-turning adventure but a cautionary tale
of the future should they win (or steal) power.
A prequel, Indian Country,
which chronicles insurgency on the border immediately after
the Split as guerrilla bands of the sane rise to resist the
slavers, is now available.
November 2018 