2007

By John Mallon

(Author's note: What follows mentions real living people, but it is only a fictional speculation of the future. It is not to be regarded as fact. In times that defy parody such disclaimers must be made. This was written before the 2000 American presidential election, and as this disclaimer is being written, seven days after the election, who will be President of the United States is yet to be determined. As we have seen in recent times anything can happen. The future is precious, handle with prayer. — JM)

The year is 2007. Senator Hillary Rodham of New York has just announced her intention to run for the presidency of the United States and President Al Gore has just made a surprise appearance to endorse her candidacy. He takes the microphone amid wild cheers: 'Thank you, Thank you,' (cheering increases as he looks to Sen. Rodham and shares a victory laugh.) 'Thank you, Thank you ... You have to let me speak!' (Laughter joins the cheering and as the applause subsides as the president begins to speak.) 'Thank you ladies and gentlemen, thank you... Now I just want to ask you, who would have believed seven years ago, that we would have accomplished as much as we did?' (Cheers) 'And much of it couldn't have been accomplished with out the help of your Senator, Hillary Rodham!' (More cheers, president motions audience to quiet down.) 'C'mon, let me get through this!' (Audience quiets) 'Who would have believed the teamwork that allowed us to accomplish so much? I tell you, the naysayers of seven years ago are quiet now.' (Cheers) 'But Senator Rodham and I have forged the greatest senatorial/presidential alliance in the history of the United States!' (Wild cheers) 'Let me go through just a few of our accomplishments.

'With the help of Senator Rodham in our first year in office we were able to pass hate crime legislation which led, after a three year fight, to effective hate speech legislation!' (Cheers as camera pulls back and announcer's voice takes over:) 'The accomplishments of the Gore - Rodham alliance certainly have produced much, and much of it controversial. For example the Hate Speech Act of 2004 was a colossal battle with Republican members of Congress especially when a Catholic priest and an Evangelical minister publicly defied the act which made it a federal crime to say the homosexual behavior was in any way wrong. The two set up loudspeakers on a Wichita street corner and began preaching together to a prayerful crowd that homosexual acts were forbidden by the Bible when homosexual activists broke up the meeting chanting 'Hate Speech!' until a bottle was thrown and a riot broke out. Scores of bloodied Christians were arrested and taken in by federal authorities and the priest and minister were held without bail. The Christians were blamed for the bloodshed but eyewitnesses say that when the fighting broke out the Christians didn't resist but merely prayed. In the crowd were many women including elderly women and young mothers with children and even nursing mothers with babies.

'Commenting at the time, President Gore said, 'We regret the violence that took place in Wichita, but the law is the law, and the law is no respecter of persons. It is regrettable that two clergymen would behave in such a way as to incite violence, especially violence against gay people who have fought for their freedom from oppression for far too long in this country, and these clergymen will be punished to the fullest extent of the law especially for putting women and children in harm's way. In fact, I have just formed a committee to look into removing the tax exempt status of any church that sponsors hate, hate speech or any other kind of discrimination. Besides, that's not supposed to be what Christianity's all about. Religion is supposed to be about love, isn't it? Don't you agree? That is why I have taken steps to move forward with the United Nations on creating a new religion based on love, tolerance and inclusion where all the peoples of the earth can get along and be at peace and show tolerance for our differences in peace and love. For that reason I am also taking steps to make the UN Earth Charter the law of this land so that our Mother Earth will finally get the treatment and respect she deserves.' '

After the Wichita incident Senator Hillary Rodham launched the It Takes a Village Child Protection Act which called for periodic inspections by federal social workers of homes throughout the nation to ensure that children were being brought up with the principles of inclusiveness and tolerance. If the families failed to meet the criteria the children would be removed and placed in government run education centers where the child would be educated according to federal guidelines in the ways of inclusiveness and tolerance and age-appropriate sex education on homosexuality, birth control and condom use, using anatomically correct dolls beginning in the pre-school grades and be deprogrammed from any fundamentalist religious propaganda. This retraining would be conducted by the UN NGO, The Wymyns Lesbian Alliance for Tolerance Re-Education, and funded with federal moneys.

Before implementing this, though, Sen. Rodham was careful to sponsor the Federal Handgun Collection Act, saying, 'It's time we caught up with the rest of the world and showed them at long last that we are a peaceful nation. The time for guns is through! It is time that our beautiful and living Constitutional Bill of Rights got into the 21st century. We do not live in a wilderness anymore but in a land of law and civility and peace. Only the government should have guns to protect her people in those rare instances where it is necessary. Our people have nothing to fear because we are here, your government, to protect you and provide for your needs.'

In his second term President Gore, by executive order, instituted the handover of United States sovereignty to the United Nations saying, 'The time for nationalism and national sovereignty is through. We live in a global village in a time of globalization and I want the United States to lead the way as we always have in turning over the sovereignty of our great country to the care of the United Nations, complete with authority over of our military to serve the function of UN peacekeeping missions. It's time for the United States to lead the way into the 21st century. I would like to take this opportunity to thank UN Secretary General Bill Clinton and US Ambassador to the UN, Gloria Feldt and special good-will ambassador Ted Turner for all their assistance.' Under this system, the US would retain it's current form of government complete with democratic elections with the exception that the UN would have the power to intervene if someone unsuitable were elected.

Senator Rodham also finally put through a federal health care system which was to be run on tax dollars. However, in the transition it became clear that much streamlining would need to be done. It was also mandated that all physicians be adequately trained in abortion procedures in order to maintain safety standards in federal facilities. Care for the terminally ill and the elderly had to be put on a triage and rationing system. Soon it became necessary for incurables and those requiring constant care to be compassionately terminated. Special training in termination care was also mandated for all care-givers. At this point Catholic hospitals refused to go along with the federal guidelines and could not keep up with the demand of patients flocking to them, until the government stepped in and confiscated the hospitals after removing their tax exempt status claiming non-payment of retroactive taxes. Doctors were ordered to submit to retraining to meet government guidelines. Many doctors fled and now practice in the Christian underground, or the neo-catacomb movement, as it has come to be called.

Senator Rodham also introduced a bill creating a 'bubble zone' around all pregnant women which would make it a federal crime to speak to a pregnant woman about any alternatives to abortion on the grounds that it interferes with a woman's right to choose. All couples considering marriage are also now required to attend federal family planning education with a strong emphasis on limiting family size. While the suggested family size is two children per family, having more is not illegal, yet after the second child the family become ineligible for all federal assistance programs and tax deductions. All families are now evenly placed in a 75 percent tax bracket. President Gore said, 'We don't believe it's right to favor the rich.'

Another controversial act of President Gore, backed by Sen. Rodham, was the formation of a Presidential Commission for Ethics and his appointment of Professor Peter Singer of Princeton University to head the commission. Additionally he formed a Presidential Advisory Committee on Religion headed by Frances Kissling of Religion Counts and Catholics for a Free Choice.

Pope John Paul II continues to persist as the Roman Pontiff to the amazement of his critics. At 87 he has outlived many of his critics on the Catholic left and secular press who once spoke casually with knowing self-assurance about the next pontificate. His health has not appreciably worsened since the turn of the millennium when some speculated on his retirement. Some observers even hint that his energy has even seemed to improve as he continues his world-wide travels.

After meetings with the Patriarch of the Russian Orthodox Church, during a triumphant papal visit to Moscow in 2003, after which the Pope made an emotional visit to St. Petersburg, great strides have been made towards fully restored communion, ending centuries of suspicion and rivalry, including an agreement on the shared use of Church buildings and properties where facilities are few and far between. There has also been a groundswell of popular reconciliation among the faithful which the Pope attributes to the Immaculate Heart of Mary. The Catholic Church continues to experience an extraordinary revival in Eastern Europe which continues to spread east throughout the Ukraine, Russia, Siberia, and is making inroads into China with extraordinary events occurring in the region of the Altaj Mountains where Mongolia, Russia, India and China meet.

After a Papal visit to China in 2006 a 'velvet revolution' has been sweeping the most populous nation on earth. In a series of leadership changes through a succession of deaths among the Chinese leadership, eerily reminiscent of the pre-Gorbachov Soviet Union, negotiations between Chinese and Vatican officials finally paved the way for the Papal visit. The Papal Mass in Beijing took place in Tiananmen Square on the 20th Anniversary of the Tiananmen Square massacre. Leaders stood silent as students and youth in attendance began cheering at the Pope's mention of democracy. The Pope was unable to continue as the crowd cheered seemingly endlessly until soldiers on guard began laying down their guns and joining the cheering worshippers who embraced them as they joined in the cheering and singing. Government leaders were stunned and seemed even moved as the youths began chanting 'We forgive you! We love you! Join us!' to their leaders in Chinese.

Defenseless, once their guards had joined the crowds, the Chinese Chairman of the Communist Party walked out onto the platform at the Pope's beckoning and as the Pope greeted him and gestured towards the cheering youth, opened his arms to them as the youth specially selected as readers and liturgical participants on the stage began to come out and embrace him until the other government leaders joined the throng on the stage. Time seemed suspended as the youth on the platform embraced the Communist leaders, some of whom were said to be wiping away tears, as the throngs in the square cheered and gave praise to God. Finally a natural quieting began to set in and the Pope finally said, in Chinese, 'In the Name of the Father and if the Son and of the Holy Spirit' to begin the Mass. A camera from the media pool turned on two American network anchors reporting from the scene to find them holding their arms as if shivering, and near speechless. Finally the male anchor said, 'Certainly we are witnessing an extraordinary scene here in Tiananmen Square. It appears that the youth in this crowed, somehow inspired by the Pope's presence have simply overwhelmed the Chinese leaders with love. Soldiers, including the guards in place to protect the leaders and prevent riots have dropped their guns and joined the worshippers, who are after all, about the same age. I think we are seeing history being made before our eyes.' The woman anchor, attempting to regain composure, said, 'Yes, Brian, I've never seen anything like it. I've got goose bumps.' she said rubbing her arms across her chest. Brian, said, 'I don't want to be premature but we may have just witnessed the death of Communism.'

In fact, Brian was right. Some newspapers the next day blared the headline, 'Nazarene, You Have Conquered.' Some speculated that Chinese leaders knew the system was failing and were secretly looking for a face-saving way out. And hoped the Pope's visit would provide some diplomatic grounds to give in to student demands. In fact there was no one left to save face in front of. Fidel Castro quietly retired in 2005 and said nothing as sanctions were dropped and diplomatic relations with the United States were normalized and democracy returned to the island.

At the close of World Youth Day in Moscow later in 2006, the Pope announced the Next World Youth Day would take place in Beijing in 2009.

So China was free, and free to be free. Freedom of speech, the press, and religion were restored. Some speculated that as the 'Patriotic' Catholic Church and the underground Catholic Church began to reunite that a kind of 'neo-Donatism' might breakout, among the two groups, but fears proved groundless in the aftermath of the 'Tiananmen Miracle.' As the Chinese one child policy was dropped, the new democratically elected President of China, a woman whose husband was killed in the 1986 uprising and who had been forcibly aborted twice, and a member of the underground Catholic Church demanded an immediate halt to all international population control efforts in China and ordered the International Planned Parenthood Federation and the United Nations Population Fund to leave the country. She immediately set up a commission to study and implement development programs which, in her words, would 'create a climate of welcome to God's children on God's earth.' She invited experts, including the American Steven Mosher, whom she had met 30 years earlier when he was a doctoral student in China. Mosher is rumored to be picked as Ambassador to China should a Republican administration be elected in 2008. In 2007, Mosher was awarded an honorary doctorate by the University of Beijing.

More to follow....

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