on the beach patrol. If you’d like to volunteer, see me after the meeting. Remember, no boating experience is necessary for the beach walkers.”
Rich asked the Chief, “How you doin’ on gas?”
“Oh, pretty good for now,” the Chief said. “We’re taking the gas out of our cars and trucks. We have nowhere to drive now. That will last us for quite a while. We’ll keep an eye on it and let you know.” More for Drew’s record keeping. Grant thought that Drew would need a helper or two and that gave him a political idea.
Grant said, “You saw the Chief motioning to Drew about keeping a list of who’s contributing what. There will be a flood of that. I bet Drew could use some help. I also think it’s important for there to be transparency on this. I want everyone to know the records are being kept fairly. So anyone and everyone can help Drew keep records or inspect them at any time. We don’t have any secrets out here.”
Drew gave the thumbs up. Grant asked, “Drew, could you use some help?”
“Oh, yes,” he said.
“If you’d like to help with recordkeeping, go see Drew after the meeting,” Grant said. Some people nodded and smiled at this. It was important that people didn’t think Grant and his relatives were running everything. Grant tried to always think about how the former government did things—secrecy, favoritism, stealing, thuggery—and do the exact opposite.
Rich could tell that the people, especially those standing, were getting a little tired. They’d been at this a long time.
“How about we take a little break and start up in ten minutes,” he suggested. Everyone seemed to appreciate that. Besides, the socializing that people were doing at these meetings was as important as the “business” at hand. People were meeting up and sharing resources voluntarily. No government needed. The more people did on their own, the less Rich and Grant had to worry about.
Chapter 112
The Ayes Have It
(May 11)
During the break, people were talking about having their neighbors over for dinner, having beach parties, which were excuses to share food, and talking about siphoning gas from their own cars for someone else to use. They were volunteering for the beach patrol and to help Drew with the recordkeeping. They didn’t need government telling them what to do; they were just doing what made sense.
Not everyone was sharing, though. Some of the residents stood off by themselves and didn’t want to talk to people. They looked like they were taking everything in, but not willing to share any information. They were probably figuring out who had what and weren’t going to tell anyone about their stuff. Grant was trying to memorize the faces of all the people who were abstaining from the sharing. He had a hunch they’d be trouble in the future. Political trouble and, possibly, security trouble. He needed help keeping track of them. He motioned for Pow to come over and told him what was going on. Pow agreed to help memorize the “selfish” as he called them.
Since this wasn’t socialism out there, people were free to be “selfish”—but only if they kept that selfishness to themselves. That is, if people wanted to be self-sufficient and not share, but didn’t ask for anything from others, that was fine. But Grant just knew they wouldn’t be that way. The people not sharing now would run out of whatever they had and then would demand that the community take care of them. That was the danger: the selfish demanding that someone else take care of them.
The problems from the selfish would get even worse as supplies got thin. Grant had to manage this now by setting up a good framework, like the Constitution as the guide, and giving public praise to those who shared, like with Drew’s records. He would also manage it by showing the residents that the leaders, he and Rich and any others that emerged, were fair and decent—and had the practical solutions to their problems.
Rich asked the Chief, “How you doin’ on gas?”
“Oh, pretty good for now,” the Chief said. “We’re taking the gas out of our cars and trucks. We have nowhere to drive now. That will last us for quite a while. We’ll keep an eye on it and let you know.” More for Drew’s record keeping. Grant thought that Drew would need a helper or two and that gave him a political idea.
Grant said, “You saw the Chief motioning to Drew about keeping a list of who’s contributing what. There will be a flood of that. I bet Drew could use some help. I also think it’s important for there to be transparency on this. I want everyone to know the records are being kept fairly. So anyone and everyone can help Drew keep records or inspect them at any time. We don’t have any secrets out here.”
Drew gave the thumbs up. Grant asked, “Drew, could you use some help?”
“Oh, yes,” he said.
“If you’d like to help with recordkeeping, go see Drew after the meeting,” Grant said. Some people nodded and smiled at this. It was important that people didn’t think Grant and his relatives were running everything. Grant tried to always think about how the former government did things—secrecy, favoritism, stealing, thuggery—and do the exact opposite.
Rich could tell that the people, especially those standing, were getting a little tired. They’d been at this a long time.
“How about we take a little break and start up in ten minutes,” he suggested. Everyone seemed to appreciate that. Besides, the socializing that people were doing at these meetings was as important as the “business” at hand. People were meeting up and sharing resources voluntarily. No government needed. The more people did on their own, the less Rich and Grant had to worry about.
Chapter 112
The Ayes Have It
(May 11)
During the break, people were talking about having their neighbors over for dinner, having beach parties, which were excuses to share food, and talking about siphoning gas from their own cars for someone else to use. They were volunteering for the beach patrol and to help Drew with the recordkeeping. They didn’t need government telling them what to do; they were just doing what made sense.
Not everyone was sharing, though. Some of the residents stood off by themselves and didn’t want to talk to people. They looked like they were taking everything in, but not willing to share any information. They were probably figuring out who had what and weren’t going to tell anyone about their stuff. Grant was trying to memorize the faces of all the people who were abstaining from the sharing. He had a hunch they’d be trouble in the future. Political trouble and, possibly, security trouble. He needed help keeping track of them. He motioned for Pow to come over and told him what was going on. Pow agreed to help memorize the “selfish” as he called them.
Since this wasn’t socialism out there, people were free to be “selfish”—but only if they kept that selfishness to themselves. That is, if people wanted to be self-sufficient and not share, but didn’t ask for anything from others, that was fine. But Grant just knew they wouldn’t be that way. The people not sharing now would run out of whatever they had and then would demand that the community take care of them. That was the danger: the selfish demanding that someone else take care of them.
The problems from the selfish would get even worse as supplies got thin. Grant had to manage this now by setting up a good framework, like the Constitution as the guide, and giving public praise to those who shared, like with Drew’s records. He would also manage it by showing the residents that the leaders, he and Rich and any others that emerged, were fair and decent—and had the practical solutions to their problems.
Similar Books
