Matthew Quinn Martin
I’m ‘ma show you what they dysfunction is
They need some nickel-plated acupuncturists
Vile and vulturous
Let’s get tumultuous
And bring a multitude
To where their luncheon is
“Somewhere in the World it’s Midnight” – Street Sweeper Social Club
Lately, I’ve noticed a real rage for Dystopian fiction (especially in the YA market)…heck, at my agency alone they recently placed novels from two different writers––both for massive advances. Now, Dystopian fiction is nothing new; its been a fairly constant fixture on the literary landscape since even before St. John penned the Book of Revelation. Even so, I’ve never been a big fan…that said, however, I recently read a story that absolutely terrified me.
...something like this?
It talked of an America where it somehow became possible for the governor of a state to order the dissolution of whatever town he deemed in dire enough financial trouble, and to appoint a crony of his choosing with unilateral powers to fire local elected officials, break town contracts, seize and sell assets belonging to that town, eliminate any or all services–even to go so far as to dissolve entire cities, towns or school districts without opposition from the citizens of that area. Imagine that…an America where with the stroke of a gubernatorial pen, all the assets of your town could be taken, the schools ordered shut, the hospitals boarded up, the mayor and city council fired, the parkland seized and given to corporations…just imagine…
Scary, huh? And where did I read this? In one of those YA books practically flying off the shelf?
No…I read it in the news.
Where is this America? If you live in Michigan…then you already know the answer to that. There, Gov. Snyder (the new “Tricky Dick”) has not only enacted this legislation but is using it. There is a small city there called Benton Harbor. True the financial situation there is quite dire (the average annual income is about 10K)…and if these “emergency powers” were being used to help the population there, then one could argue that these terribly undemocratic means would be justified by humanitarian ends.
They aren’t.
Instead, they will be used to help push through a massive, taxpayer-subsidized project that would provide housing and amusements for the wealthy. This isn’t just a hunk of land––Jean Klock Park is a very special place, a gift from John Nellis Klock and his wife Carrie who bought the land fronting Lake Michigan and gave it to City of BentonHarbor in 1917 . In a 1932 memoir, Mr. Klock described the reason for the gift.
“There is little joy in piling up money that you do not need, and so the majority of my earnings have been spent in providing beaches, parks, churches and schools. Our first major gift was Jean Klock Park, a half mile of Lake Michigan frontage, which was given to the city of Benton Harbor. I say “our” for my wife was very anxious to give this park to the city in memory of our little child. Her untimely death made possible the giving to other children the share of our earnings which belonged to her, but which she could not use.”
This is the America you live in (if you live in America)…one that can seize your rights because it deems it “fiscally” necessary (you can almost hear it…” Two pounds of wheat for a penny, and thrice two pounds of barley for a penny, and see thou hurt not the wine and the oil”)….so here’s my challenge: Write something “dsytopian”…but use this as the launch pad––and when you are done, send it in…I know I can’t wait to read it.
You didn’t see this coming? It’s only been winding up for decades. How many years did it take to train a population that Big Brother HAS to bail them out? How many years of demanding government ‘do something’ had to take place before people finally rolled over and said, “Yup, government is doing something, that’s good.” How many jokes had to be told about the constitution before dissing it became the ‘classy’ speech of our ruling elite?
So now we’re out of money…and the government is doing something. Are you saying NOW we should point fingers at the Republicans or Democrats about what awful things they’re doing? Too little, too late. Elections have consequences. We voted freedom out from under ourselves years ago.
You think this sounds bad? In a couple of years we’ll ALL be in the same boat as Michigan, except it will be because our biggest debt holder, China, is going to start calling in their chips.
Dystopian fiction based on this incident? Maybe you should encourage people towards something more basic, like storing food.