Chapter Eight - part seven

   Finally the President once more stepped in to stop the meeting from turning into an all out brawl. He didn't just table the topic though. This time he let his own opinions be known. James listened as the Commander and Chief spoke out for the first time about what he believed the nation needed. The President was choosing his words carefully as he spoke. His first words had been a sharp command to get control of the room. "That will be enough!!!" Everyone had immediately looked at the source of that shouted command. Only after everyone had remained silent for a moment did he continue. "Thank you! I wasn't sure you would even hear me over all the screaming and yelling that has been going on. I have heard all I want to hear and I think all I need to hear on this matter. It is very clear to me that we have two distinct opinions about this and that neither side is going to be swayed. I have heard all of the concerns and I have heard all of the reasons from both sides. I have also spent a good deal of my own time looking into this and considering the risks of either choice." He paused for a long moment before he continued.

   "At this time I think it would be too great a risk to lift martial law. Now before you object General Cooper I want to explain my reasons. I agree that we need to get things back to normal as quickly as possible, but I fear moving too quickly could be worse than not moving at all. The people of this nation have proven themselves to be capable of irrational and violent actions when they don't get their way. In the past this country was blessed with a majority of the population who might protest long and loud, but peacefully. I fear that has been changed and perhaps for a long time to come. I do understand the need of the people to regain control of their lives, but in all honesty we barely have control of things with the full efforts of a majority of our military forces. Never before in our history have we had armed jets patrolling the sky over almost every major city for so long a time. We have had them before, but they were protecting us from possible outside threats then... not from ourselves!"

   Shaking his head he looked down and continued with only a slight pause. "General Cooper, as President I simply cannot take the risk of returning control to people who have so recently shown no control at all. This meeting was barely under control a moment ago and we are supposed to be the leaders of those people. The risk is just too great. I do however agree with you that we must be concerned with matters outside our borders as well as inside. I don't see that threat in the same way that you do though. You have done a remarkable job of restoring order to this nation. You deserve far more credit for what has been accomplished than you are willing to take. But you seem to be unable to grasp the effects of those very accomplishments on our relationships in the world. We must not appear too weak, but we also must not appear to be a strong and growing threat in a world full of threats. If the world sees us suddenly sending massive military forces outside our borders that will be seen as a threat regardless of the reason we give them. You admit that yourself. We simply cannot be threatening the very people we need if we are to restore our nation completely."

   Now the President turned his attention to others in the room; the men and women who had been the loudest opponents to lifting martial law across the nation. "This nation was indeed built upon a foundation of freedom, but that doesn't free us from the rest of the world. We must be a part of the world. We currently are doing a great deal without a lot of outside assistance, but the day will soon come when we must have outside help to continue our progress. At the moment we can barely meet the basic requirements of the people. It will soon be turning cold and it will become even more difficult to meet the demands of the people. I seriously doubt that the people could or would be able to meet those demands on their own even today. Even with strict control and sometimes rationing of basic supplies by the military we are finding it difficult to keep up with the growing demands from the people. Those demands will continue to grow and eventually we won't be able to meet them. That may push the people to revolt once more. That is what I fear! I fear that we could quickly lose control again! We must maintain our strict controls or I fear that loss of control will happen sooner rather than later."

    The President turned back to James and smiled. "What you have done is nothing short of a miracle to many, but miracle or not you still have more to do. I know that this has been a tremendous burden on you and everyone around you, but you must continue to carry this burden a little longer. Perhaps after we get past this winter we can reconsider lifting martial law. By then I hope that we will have reached an agreement with other world governments that will stabilize the world markets. That will do a great deal towards helping to stabilize everything else too. Once the markets are back up and running, so that people have a chance to invest; things will start to return to normal. Please understand that I would like nothing better than to lift martial law, but I just can't do that yet. The risk is too great that all you have accomplished could be lost. The people are satisfied right now. They may not be happy, but they are satisfied and in time they will become content. Then perhaps we can slowly begin returning a little control to them."

   That short talk had been the end of the meeting for all practical purposes. James had listened and even contributed a few things to the short discussion that followed, but his heart wasn't in it. After the meeting James spent the remainder of that day going over things with his planning staff. They weren't as disappointed or upset as he was, but they were disappointed. James had heard some things in the President's words that had troubled him greatly. He wasn't sure that the President had any faith in the people of his nation; at least not in a positive way. It almost sounded like he was more concerned with money and power than with the people and freedom. It was the way he talked about the people at the very end that kept eating away at James. He talked about them being satisfied and eventually becoming content. Satisfied and content with what? Did the President think the people could become or worse should become content with being under martial law?

    Those thoughts worked at James. He couldn't shake the feeling that something was very wrong. James didn't talk much about it with anyone except Sarah. He had to be careful what he said even with her, because she was no longer cleared. She was as concerned as he was about what he could share. James did do a lot of thinking and a lot of praying about things. No matter how he looked at things James could see nothing good coming from maintaining martial law. Granted there were risks involved, but he faced risks every single day! Those risks would still be there with or without the military and James believed they could be handled with or without the military being involved. They were often handled without the military now. James wasn't asking to remove the military completely. He just wanted to turn control over to the civilian government and move the military out of immediate direct involvement. They would be there ready if they were needed. But that decision would be left for the people to make for themselves.

   At the next meeting, held a little early due to the approaching holiday season, James first order of business after his monthly status report was to bring up lifting martial law for the third time. This time the effect was even worse. The President reacted before James had even finished making the request. Once more the President raised his voice to demand attention; only this time it was directed solely at James. There was no doubt of his anger when the President started speaking. "General Cooper! That is enough! I thought I made myself very clear about this last month! I will NOT take the risk of lifting martial law at this time! I will let you know when I am ready to consider the idea, but this isn't the time!" The President sat there glaring at James for a moment before he lowered his voice and went on. "I understand your concern, but you need to understand mine. Now please, let this drop and let's move on with the rest of the meeting."

    James stood there looking at the President for a long moment and then he spoke. "Sir, I can't do that. This is too important to be dropped. I don't believe I can move on until this issue has been resolved...Sir." The President sat there staring at James. A lot of the people in the room were staring at him. Only one man wasn't looking at either James or the President. That man was General Hodges. He alone had known that James was going to do this. He had tried to convince James not to do it, but in the end it had been James who had convinced him. James had made him see the need for this stand. Now he sat there with his head bowed; listening to what he knew might be the end of a good man's career. That wasn't his main concern though. What had his gut tied in knots was thinking about what this might mean for his nation. He had thought this young man was a hotshot hero and a fool. He had learned over the months spent working with him that James wasn't any of those things except maybe a hero. General Hodges was convinced that James had saved the nation. He was now afraid that it might still be lost, if it lost him. Major General James Andrew Cooper might be just a man, but he was no ordinary man. He was the man this nation needed right now. General Michael Patrick Hodges had never been a religious man. He had never truly wanted to believe all that nonsense. But he had started to wonder and question what he did believe while working with James. Now he made a decision of his own as he waited for the President to react. General Michael Patrick Hodges began to pray! He began to pray for his friend and for his nation. He began to pray for God's help.