A Fictional Speculation
Sam Aurelius Milam III
In
various places around the country, protestors objected to black people
being killed by the police. Since their objections were specifically
to the deaths of black people, and not to the deaths of white people, they
were seen by some white people as biased, maybe even racist, and possibly
as surreptitious supporters of an anti-white agenda. Some of the
protestors demanded punishment of police who killed black people, or defunding
of the police forces generally. Such demands caused resentment among
the police. Supporters of the police responded by using alarmist
propaganda in advertisements, frightening people with grim scenarios of
the brutality that would result from defunding of the police. Abusive
interventions by frustrated police converted some peaceful protests into
riots, adding to the controversy. It all tended to have a destabilizing
influence.
Meanwhile,
the number of people who were dying from the virus continued to grow.
Many political events and social activities were cancelled or disrupted.
Businesses, churches, and schools closed, or became more difficult to use.
Increasing numbers of people lost jobs, homes, and insurance.
At
the appointed time, elections were held, but there were difficulties.
Fear of the virus, and the associated precautions, sometimes caused staffing
problems. Some polling places were closed. Polling places that
were open were sometimes understaffed, or were staffed with inexperienced
people. At other polling places, social distancing requirements limited
the number of people who could be inside. Even where larger, alternate
facilities ware used, lines were long. At some polling places, people
were simply turned away. Electronic alternatives to voting
in person were sometimes unreliable. Many absentee and mail-in ballots
were lost in the mail. Some were found later, too late to be counted.
One Post Office employee was caught destroying ballots that were in favor
of candidates that he disliked.
Some
protestors anticipated that news coverage of the voting problems would
be an opportunity for publicity and scheduled protests in the vicinities
of polling places. That complicated the voting situation. Police
tried to clear the protestors away but, often, the protestors arranged
themselves in lines, pretending to be voters. The police couldn't
always tell the difference. A lot of confusion resulted. Many
voters were caught in the roundups, and weren't released until after the
elections were over. Everybody who'd been confined, protestors and
voters alike, all had to be retested for the virus, because of the crowded
conditions under which they were detained, the lack of masks during periods
of detention, or the paucity of sanitary facilities.
Because
of the large number of election irregularities, it was widely suggested
that the elections were invalid. In response, the president issued
an executive order proclaiming that he would remain in office until new
elections could be organized. Many people condemned that as a violation
of the U.S. constitution. The situation was so complicated, and the
problems were so widespread, that nobody could decide which court, if any,
had jurisdiction. The Supreme Court was unavailable because five
of its justices were down with the virus.
The
epidemic continued to grow, accelerated even more than would have otherwise
been the case by undisciplined behavior during protests and riots, and
by poor conditions under which detainees were kept. Businesses continued
to fail. Riots, homelessness, hunger, and shortages of medical facilities
continued to spread. The worst hit regions were declared to be disaster
areas. In many such locations, federal troops were sent in to quell
the violence. State and local authorities objected to the presence
of federal troops and, in some cases, openly opposed them.
Because
of the increasing levels of confusion and disorder, and the resistance
to federal troops, the president declared the entire nation to be under
a state of martial law. That was widely condemned as a coup d'état.
Critics claimed that the president had orchestrated the whole thing, had
used the epidemic as a political tool, and was conducting a military takeover
to perpetuate his hold on the presidency. Such critics were derided
by the authorities as conspiracy theorists. Many were arrested, and
were never seen again. Tensions increased.
| September 2020 | Frontiersman,0c/o
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