IS GOVERNMENT NOW THE ENEMY?
by OPOVV, ©2014
(Apr. 5, 2014) — ACT I
Curtain rises on an empty stage with the backdrop of Washington, DC, from five miles. A snare drum cadences softly to the tune of “When Johnny Comes Marching Home.” A 60-something male enters from stage left and walks to a treadmill (that is hidden from the audience) center stage, giving the illusion that the actor is continuing walking as he recites his lines, which he is. The actor is wearing an 1812 Navy Captain’s uniform and waving a white flag.
Captain: “Hello, anybody home? Hold your fire, if you don’t mind. Just visiting my nation’s capital to find somebody who’ll answer a few questions that most Americans have. Hello?”
A woman dressed as a park ranger enters from stage left, catches up with the captain and keeps pace with him (on a separate treadmill). She wears the distinctive hat and carries a 12-gauge shotgun at port-arms.
Park Ranger: “Hey, Old Man, what’s with all of the yelling and that waving that white flag? What’s it all mean?”
Captain: “Oh, hello. Are you the one with the answers? I’ve read about how many of the Federal Government are armed these days. What the heck for? Who will you be fighting?”
Park Ranger: “Where you been, Old Man? We’re armed to keep the peace, that’s what. It’s the Diehards that we’re worried about, that we have to be protected from.”
Captain: “You can’t be that stupid. Why would you worry about people who believe in the Constitution, the Rule of Law, their country, patriots, for goodness sake? We haven’t done anything.”
Park Ranger: “Well, maybe you haven’t done anything, but we have, We’ve taken over and we fear the American people more than we fear the Chinese and the Muslims.”
Captain: “But how can that be? You’re one of us. You’re not a Muslim or Chinese: you’re American.”
Park Ranger: “Look, Old Man, you’re nothing but an old dinosaur. Get with the program: it’s a ‘Brave New World.’ It’s a ‘New Beginning’. And it’s the end of the ‘Sovereign Citizen’ who refuses to bow to ‘The New World Order’. Aldous Huxley has replaced the Bible.”
Captain: “But Huxley was describing an utopia if everyone had a brain; if everyone acted responsibly and could reason. Sure, Communism/Socialism looks good on paper, but it doesn’t factor in the monumental capacity for human greed, and that’s its undoing. Why do you suppose Obama and the Congress exempted themselves from Obamacare? Because it was so wonderful or just maybe it wasn’t so wonderful at all? That it had some really serious pitfalls, ever think of that? So why don’t the rulers share the same burdens as the ruled?”
Park Ranger: “I was told you might be a danger to my country, and they’re right.”
Captain: “No, they’re wrong and you’re wrong to believe in such nonsense. Look, if everything was so good and hunky-dory, then why all the secrecy? Lies, taking the 5th, letting men die and taking extraordinary pains to hide the truth, falsehoods and outright lies. Why, just look at the fake Birth Certificate that the White House released, if you don’t believe me. Why don’t you search for the truth yourself? Afraid what you might find, is that it? Afraid your whole belief system will come crumbling down? Afraid of real ‘transparency’? Afraid of the truth about the Birth Certificate and Benghazi?”
Park Ranger: “Hold it. Stop right here.”
The treadmill stops. The Park Ranger holds the weapon facing the Captain.
Park Ranger: “Don’t move. You’re ‘One of Those’. I bet you believe in the Second Amendment, probably in all ten amendments of the Bill of Rights. And I bet you’re a Veteran, to top it off, which makes you a legitimate threat and therefore a legitimate target. I’ll have to kill you, you know.”
The Park Ranger fires a barrel at the Captain. The Captain falls to the ground, but not before saying: “Well, at least I got my answers.”
As the Captain hits the ground, the phone that he was concealing in his hand falls out. We hear a hiss and some squelching noise, and then a voice from the phone: “Read you 5 by 5. Thank you, Captain, we got it all.”
Curtain starts to lower as the Park Ranger walks up to the phone and fires the other barrel, silencing it. The snare drum is quiet as the curtain is lowered.
FINI