2030_ The Real Story of What Happens to America - Albert Brooks [69]
“Baby, nothing is going to change without this. In every important revolution, shit happens and that’s the way it is. The olds have to be shaken out of their stupor and realize that they share this planet with everyone else.” Max then used the money she owed for her medical loan as part of his argument, and each time he brought it up, it worked. “Do you know how long you’re going to be paying off that money? Forever. And the only reason you had to take out that loan is that there isn’t enough to go around. The olds are getting it all. Do you think that’s fair?”
“No,” Kathy said. And she meant it.
“Goddamn right, no. They have the votes and they have the power and they’re not going to give up a fucking penny without something being done. Everything important in human history needs a push, and sometimes the push is hard and people get hurt.” Max wasn’t sure that was completely true, but it sounded right and Kathy certainly bought it.
“You’re a genius,” she said. “You’re like a true revolutionary.”
“I wish. The guy who blew up that building is the revolutionary. Right now, I’m all talk.”
“That’s not true. You’re just figuring it out. You’ll figure out what the best idea is. Are you going to have another meeting?”
“I don’t know. I was starting to think the meetings were a waste of time. But maybe now, with this news all over the place, we should try again. See if people are more committed.”
* * *
President Bernstein was not surprised when he was informed of the bombing. He knew the hostility was out there. It was always just under the surface, and in the last decade it had been getting worse. A new generation was finding its voice.
In the late 1960s, the government acted upset when young people took drugs, but acid was a bureaucrat’s dream. No one blew things up on acid or pot or Ecstasy. The officials had to act outraged, but they were grateful for any substance that kept the youth stoned and passive and with any kind of luck kept the older folks in their jobs longer because the young people were too loaded to take over. And once the military draft was ended, no politician ever wanted it back. It took away the main reason that caused kids to take to the streets. They didn’t want to die in wars they disagreed with.
But the President never understood why the newer generations had waited this long to get angry about their issue. Debt. It’s why he brought up the subject of living too long in his campaign, and it’s why he was not happy that his mother was a vegetable, kept alive now at government expense.
Bernstein tried not to mention his mother’s lingering condition, but occasionally, in a press conference, he was asked how she was doing. He would turn sad and say, “Not well. We hope for the best, but it looks very bad.” He was always worried that the next question would be, “How can you spend so much of the taxpayers’ money when she has no chance of recovery? Aren’t there better uses for those funds?” But that question never came. Still, he wished his mother had left instructions on when to pull the plug. He thought it was so selfish that she hadn’t.
And that was one more reason why he was drawn to Susanna Colbert. As rich as Colbert was, she wasn’t selfish, not like his mother. As a matter of fact, Susanna was one of the least selfish people he’d ever met. Most ultra-rich were intolerable, spending all of their energy on their business, with little time for anything else. Susanna was nothing like that. At her swearing in, when Bernstein met her children, he was beyond impressed. Right from central casting, he thought. Smart, humble, a good sense of humor, an obvious great love for their mother. How did this woman do that and still make so much money? He was glad she was secretary of the Treasury. Maybe, just maybe, some of that magic would rub off on America.
CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
Sam Mueller was just about to give up the dream of one more great discovery