Guns in the Kingdom

 I think the impression was that when the Kingdom was established and took full control, everyone everywhere would have all the guns and advanced weaponry they wanted.

Surprise!

All guns and ammo were sold by one source - Kingdom Defense (originally Daniel Defense). They had many locations throughout the South - pretty much any town with more than 1,000 people had a store. You could arrange a gun purchase online, but you had to go to the store and clear a current background check.

Background checks? Some of you familiar with the early 21s century USA may be stunned to hear that the most conservative breakaway federation installed background checks.

You had to have your Church Card, the same card that allowed you to vote and participate in many of society's activities. The saying goes, "Guns are not for atheists, communists, socialists, and the sexually deviant."

Committing any offense against the Kingdom, no matter how minor, would deny you the right to a gun. Even publicly challenging any law or edict of the Kingdom would be enough. Speaking out against any authority figure could deem you a radical.

Once the Christian Dominionists took control, they completely flipped on private citizens holding weaponry to stand against tyranny. Once in power, they were determined to stay in power.

I tried to get a gun last month. Things are getting nasty here, and I wanted to have it as a self-defense option. My application was rejected. Even with a clean Church Card, I couldn't pass the background check - my politics from before The Kingdom came were quite clear, and I had slipped up enough times to keep controversy about me alive.

I would try to get a gun through the black market, but it did not seem worth the risk of getting caught.

Crime, of a sort, had declined. Robberies and burglaries were way down. Profiling and arresting/killing innocents were way up. Despite the gun restrictions for some, many loyal Kingdomers had plenty of weaponry, and gun violence continued. Statistics were not kept (or not made public), but gun suicides and domestic violence were not unknown. Everybody knew somebody who had been involved in those kinds of incidences.

The news was filled with incidents of failed domestic terrorism. Yes, there were bad guys we had to be on guard against, but the Kingdom Knights always stopped them.

At least, that's what we were told.

This story is part of The Kingdom series, imaginary stories set in a near-future America that has been divided into several different countries.

Tracy Holland for the National Assembly

 It's Primary Day in the Kingdom!

All the excitement and fun of watching grass grow.

Most local races are non-partisan. You don't have to declare a party to run - you just have to have an up-to-date Church Card that states what church you attend. And that church is required by law to inform the Election Board what your Sunday attendance percentage is. If it's below 60%, then your candidacy is voided, and you are not allowed to run. The Election Board will keep whatever fees you were charged. It's not their fault you couldn't follow the rules.

There are only two parties on the ballot for partisan races. You have to vote in one or the other; you can't split your ticket in primary voting. That frustrates some people because they think the primary should be it - one and done. But the Kingdom wants to suggest at least the facade of democratic choice, at least at this point.

One of the two parties is the Republican Party. But, like the persistence of the Dixiecrats decades ago, it is mostly a choice made out of habit by some elderly people. Once a Republican, always a Republican. Still, they only get about 10 to 15% of the vote in Pierce County.  

The main party, really the only viable party, is the Christain Kingdom Party, the CKP. It receives 85 to 90% of the vote. So if you win their primary, you've got a lock on winning your office. In the National Assembly, a body of  333, typically there are two or three dozen Republicans, mainly from Florida (old people - what are you gonna do?).

This is our third National Election. Even within the CKP, the number of contested primary races is getting fewer and fewer. Most people don't even want to argue anymore. What's the point?

We don't vote for President anymore. Instead, candidates are vetted through the National Council of Churches (NCC). Theoretically, they can qualify multiple candidates, but so far, they have only recommended one, and then that candidate is affirmed by the National Assembly. The most the public participates is on National Blessing Day, showing up for special services to offer their prayers and support for the new Father.

The one issue that seems to be motivating people this year is whether or not women should be included in the National Assembly. They are already excluded from the Presidency (not officially, but everyone understands that the NCC will not qualify a female candidate).  There is a woman in the Vice Presidency, but her term ends soon, and the position may be eliminated, at least according to contemplated constitutional revisions.

Hardliners want to exclude women from elected political positions, citing biblical text encouraging the subjugation of women. Please understand. This is not my interpretation of the Bible - this is theirs. Every day that I wake up, I find it hard to believe what I live in. I tell Alison we should have gotten out when we could have. I'm just grateful that my three boys aren't in the Kingdom - Doug in what's left of the USA, and Greg and Benjamin in Pacifica.

Another issue that may be debated by the National Assembly is whether certain denominations should be certified in the Kingdom. These include Mormons, Jehovah's Witnesses, and my own denomination, Episcopalians. This concerns me quite a bit. Without that certification, my life would be even more restricted than it is, including no longer having the right to vote.

So, that is why I'm voting for Tracy Holland for our National Assemblyperson (boy, I can't use that phrase out loud). She is slightly moderate, at least by CKP standards. She is in favor of women in the General Assembly and, as a Methodist, may be inclined not to reduce the number of sanctified denominations. At least, that's what I would hope.

I've got my church card, which has my photo ID and verification of church participation. That's all you need to vote. Forging a card to vote could result in a ten-year prison sentence. I'm not sure who's desperate enough to vote for the choices we have to think it is worth that kind of risk, so there is very little voter fraud. Just as there was little voter fraud BEFORE the Kingdom came.

When I hand the poll worker my card, she says, "You might want to consider changing churches if you want to keep voting."

Oh, yes. Things just keep getting better and better.

The Kingdom Always Strikes Back

 We thought we were on our way out of it.  That, with the election of Biden, we would return to a restoration of democracy and decency.

We thought wrong.

Except for William Jenning Bryan (who ran for President three times and lost by a bigger margin each time), they generally fade from history when our politicians lose the Presidential race.  Nixon came back after eight years and won a deeply divided election in '68.  But most are permanently sidelined.

So, Trump's persistence as a central political figure was a bit of a surprise. His only accomplishment as President was tax code revisions that primarily benefitted the rich and increased the income gap.  America's response to COVID under his watch was, by far, the worst reaction in the world.  He spent four years dividing us and demonizing so many people. He sided with and emboldened dictators while dissing democracies and NATO. With a strong hat's tip to Mitch McConnell, he packed our courts with far-right radicals, who will not only gut women's reproductive rights but also stymie civil rights and worker's rights and side overwhelmingly with the powerful. I could go on and on, but it's senseless.  It doesn't change anyone's mind, and the horrors have gone so far beyond Trump.

Trump was just the face of a movement, and as his baggage became too much for all but his most ardent supporters, it was inevitable that someone else would rise to represent those people.

And that is where we are at now, dear sister.  I pray that you get this smuggled letter.  I know that the Great Lakes Union has its problems too,  but it is not like us here in The Kingdom. Openly speaking against President DeSantis and Vice President Haley is considered an act of sedition and could result in being sent to a re-education camp.

I know.  We should have moved when we could have.  We could have accepted your offer to move in with you in your Grand Rapids home and apply for asylum in the Great Lakes Union.  Or we could have moved to the Catskills with Doug, Paige, and my granddaughter, living in the remnant that still is the United States of America. Or to Pacifica, either with Greg in Los Angeles or Benjamin in Seattle.

No.  We hesitated too long.  We thought this was a fluke and that things would soon return to normal. Alison had her job here.  We had family and church. And Alison was not going to leave her mother here, knowing her health would prohibit her from being moved.

Then when the walls went up and the Kingdom Guard numbered in the hundreds of thousands, we knew we were doomed.  We stripped our house of anything that showed support for any Democrats or liberal causes.  We kept completely silent about any issue.  It was hard to talk to anybody about anything besides the weather, sports, and the most inane TV shows.

We thought our church would be a safe haven, but when the Diocese was seized by the Government, we could continue to exist, but only with the leadership of the most conservative elements of our church.  We lost our long-time Reverand, only to have her replaced by a Christian Right male priest who immediately reversed all our progress with the LGBTQ+ community.

We feel so lonely and cut off.  When our former country finished its Great Sort, we were left on the wrong side of the divide.

I love you, Carol.  I miss all of you.

Maybe, someday, I have faith that we will see this through.  Maybe Anne Frank was right.  Maybe, in spite of everything, people are really good at heart.

It's one thing to read it.

It's another thing to live it.

God bless you.  I pray we will see you and my children and grandchild again.

Love,

Tom & Alison