Chapter 44 (ver. 2.0)

The president raised his head again, but the man was gone. Standing in the doorway was a shorter, smaller person. He had a military uniform on and was patiently waiting with his arms crossed.

“Sir?”

Is that Manning? the President thought. They must have me heavily sedated. “Hello soldier. How are you faring?”

“Better than you sir,” Manning replied. “I only got thirty more years or so. You look pretty thrashed. I didn’t know they could do presidents like this.”

“They’ve done worse,” said the President, “all in the name of national security.”

“I was gonna ask you about that sir,” began Manning, “if you have time to talk.”

“Cute. What’s up?”

“If the official narrative is written by those in control of the media and the media is owned by the uber-rich, and the uber-rich all work together to keep their fortunes from failing by pimping the government into giving them more and more tax dollars, even though they don’t actually pay any taxes, how are they serving the interests of ‘national security’?”

“They aren’t,” responded the President. “They’re serving themselves.”

“That’s what I thought,” said Manning. He popped his knuckles and looked hesitant. “Just out of curiosity, if you catch Snowden, are you gonna do the same thing to him that you did to me?”

“I didn’t do anything to you son,” answered the President. “You got yourself in that position, but I’m glad you’re still alive. Snowden’s in Russia, so he’s safe for now. We can’t touch him.”

“Would you have done the same as us?” asked Manning.

The President dropped his head, “I’m a constitutional lawyer man, I do things by the book. I would’ve done it differently, but yes, I would’ve attempted to make change.”

“So how’s that hopey-changey stuff working out for you Mr. President?”

The theme song from Psycho went through the President’s head as he heard Sarah Palin’s words come back to him. Her voice seemed to match the screech of the violins. He was scared to look up.

“It’s still me sir,” said Manning. “Are you having issues?”

Issues? No, I’m just the President of the most powerful nation in the world, bound and gagged in some room debating the ethics of our country with a hallucination…what issues could I be having? “I’ll be fine son.”

“I’m not so sure sir. I don’t think you’re in touch with the People anymore. If you’re telling me that 1% of 1% of the population actually own the government now, and you’re working with them, how are you helping the rest of us? And for that matter, how are you gonna be fine? And just so you know,” Manning continued, “I’m no longer a son.”

“They changed the laws son, er…soldier. They changed the laws to enable them to grab all this power. They did it during the last administration. I can’t just change them back. It’s the laws that hold this nation together. If we don’t respect our own laws, what can we respect?”

“If the law can be bought and sold, is that law based on human rights or the privileged?” asked Manning. “If those laws aren’t just or fair to the rest of us, are those laws worth abiding by?”

“Of course not, but you can’t buck the system until you have enough of the People behind you, and YOU DON’T!”

Manning looked hurt. The President’s temper surprised both of them. “I’m sorry. You know what I’m doing, and I don’t know what to do otherwise until the People wake up.”

“You couldn’t pardon me?” asked Manning as sweetly as possible. She had her blonde wig on now. She gave him the duck face.

The President dropped his head in frustration. “They would just get rid of me and put you back in prison, man. You know this…you know the plan…” The President stopped and held his breath. Oh shit. He looked up. Manning was gone.