By Ted Leonhardt
The fantasy continues….
“Ooooooh,” the crowd reacts in unison, upon entering the station deep underground. It was the first chance to see GM’s magic train in action.
“Whoosh,” came the sound again, as the Vactrain left the station on another demo run full of happy GM workers and their families.
Celebration
GM chair Bill Smith’s smile seemingly overwhelmed his face as he pushed through the crowd of GM employees toward Brie and the Overture co-op team.
“I knew you’d love it.”
“We love seeing you so happy, Bill.” Brie couldn’t contain her joy either. She gave Bill a big hug and a sloppy kiss on the cheek.
“Whoa, Brie,” Bill said, as he disengaged. “It’s so wonderful to have this day, this success, after so much bad news. And more to come, I’m afraid.”
From seeming engineering impossibilities and years of testing, here it was—GM’s high-speed, pneumatic maglev railway, scooting around its 100-mile underground test loop at well over 300 mph. The promise was four times that speed on coast-to-coast runs.
War
“More to come. What’d he mean,” thought Brie. And a quick check of the news showed what the chairman was referring to.
“I’ll unleash a fire and fury…”
“No. No, no, no,” thought Brie, “Not again.”
“…like the world has never seen,” Trump went on.
He looked really old now. Old and tired. Here he was, mid-80s, running for president for the fourth time. With term limits gone, redistricting run amuck and thousands of activists in jail, president for life appeared possible.
The country had never been more divided.
“Shit” thought Brie, “what’s he thinking? That we need another war?”
But of course we need a war. Trump is up for election for the fourth time. The right-wing media, the widespread unrest, billions spent on military contracts and the electoral college had made it possible for Trump to win three terms. “The fourth could be a slam dunk,” thought Brie.
And who would run against him? Who could run with all the changes, redistricting and most of the prominent progressives in jail? But public opinion was shifting.
Overture
They launched the co-op during Trump’s first term. The founders weren’t focused on politics. They saw Overture as a way to make a place in the world for creatives and began with some fairly modest challenges and concerns about the status quo. Things like…
“It’s not fair that we do all the work and they get all the money.”
“It’s not fair that they pass me over because I’m no longer desirable.”
“It’s not fair that I’m not treated like the rest of the team because I’m on contract.”
“It’s not fair that they bill the client $300 for each of my hours, but only pay me $50.”
“It’s not fair that…”
These were the voiced feelings that drove the creation of Overture.
Feelings of loneliness, being left out. Feeling less than, when we knew that we’re just as worthy as those who are included. Wondering why the only source of income for creatives was in creating desire for things no one needs, or entertainment designed to maintain the status quo.
Time passed and things began to get bad. Worse than bad.
Ugly
The great global warming, created by greed and the never-ending quest for wealth, is in full swing now. Mass migrations are causing civil wars. The US, UK and EU govern with fortress mentalities. China and Russia are in continuous border skirmishes. Southeast Asia is under water. The world burns, and thousands sleep in the streets. Kept from shelter with fences topped by razor wire.
Good
City infrastructure projects to deal with rising seas, and putting thousands of new employees to work and in training for demanding technical jobs on the new Vactrain project, were good for General Motors. Very good.
The Overture team helped GM in its transition to a worker-friendly place and had won multiple contract extensions. Not only had GM become worker friendly, the company was moving to becoming worker self-directed.
But things were not good for those on the margins.
Fences
“These people don’t know how to work for a living. By giving them everything, we’re taking away their incentive to work.”
This from the boss man as the city’s Public Reclamation Team arrived to cordon off the site.
Privilege
Sadly, we know that the days of shooting buffalo just to see them fall aren’t over. That safaris for the rich to shoot the last of the elephants continue. And visits to the jungle to see the gorillas starving in their ever-smaller habitat still are popular.
Thousands are leaving their homes near the equator, their farms no longer able to sustain them.
The life we’ve created in the so-called “first world” never was sustainable.
Reclamation
The boss goes on…
“Fence off these spaces under the bridge. Keep those dirty squatters from using it as shelter.”
“But, boss, they’ll just climb over the fences…”
“Put the razor wire on top. That’ll slow them down. Filthy bastards.”
Contrast, contradictions
The Overture team members filed onto the Vactrain. They were thrilled.
Many of them had worked on the design of the train itself, the station, communications for the project and the massive social component. With 100,000 employees engaged online, conversing with the world about the Vactrain project and everything else GM was doing, the social team was more than busy.
Here we are with thousands on the streets. Another war in the offing and this wonderful train that we’ve helped bring to life. Hope is still alive amidst all the ugliness and angst.