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INBMA


Welcome to the new Stream of Consciousness fiction blog.

A serial adventure in fiction by Brad Sondahl

Click on the day of the week for the current selection, or an earlier day if you missed an installment for the week.  Previous weeks are listed at the bottom of the page
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Chapter 25
Building a platform, plank by plank
    Being that I am running for president as the common person's choice  by default, since I am the poorest candidate running, I suppose I should capitalize on this position by making a few modest proposals, such as to reverse the rich/poor gap trend of the last many years and rob from the rich to give to the poor.  Unfortunately this strategy doesn't lead to large donations to the campaign chest, which is no doubt why no one else is suggesting this as a part of their platform.  However, since I'm committed to running a low cost campaign, this will not deter me from speaking my mind to the American people, and my foreign supporters.

    The concept is really very simple.  If larceny of the rich is legalized, the poor will be able to help themselves by stealing from the rich. This will match a lot of people's natural inclinations anyway, but since it will be legalized they won't end up clogging the prison system. If Bill Gates were to keep a swimming pool filled with cash, people could fill wheel barrows with it for a very long time before he would have to get worried about his foundation foundering.   The effects would be self limiting, in that if a burglar were too greedy, he would jump to the next bracket, so to speak, and become eligible for larceny as well.  The best thing about this is that taxes would not need to be raised to pay for the program, so it should be supported by the Republicans as well as the Democrats (who've traditionally gone in for this sort of thing).   And it represents private enterprise taking over government bureaucracy, much like the defense contractors have taken over the federal treasury.  It's fortunate that Robin Hood has already given this whole idea some credence and good press...  Besides, they threw great parties out in Sherwood Forest.


    The war in Iraq is, of course, a very complicated situation, requiring a very complicated solution.  However, the fact is that our money has been wasted on trying to buy bureaucrats and military supplies and whatnot.   I still wish we'd found the Lost Treasure back in Chapter 19.  It should never have been in bales of currency, which was just too tempting.  If it were only in $1000 wads with those nice little paper loops around them,  we would have done better just letting the Iraqis line up for individual bribes, or hiring them to go shopping in the US with free trips included. That would have supplied 8.8 million (or about 1/3 of the population) of them with $1000 apiece in good will.  This would have had a good effect on the US economy too, as they would be spending the money right here.  It is possible that we've already hired one half of the Iraqis to shoot at the other half, in one of those little bureaucratic snafus that happen in a war (Catch-22).  As it is, if we can't beat a little country like Iraq without  building massive debt, it's looking like we're going to have to get out of the military business.



Use this chart to find the next of the cartoons (first 47  entries) or the stories (starting with  1 A River Too Far 5 rows below week 8)
Cartoon:
Week 1
Week 2
Week 3
Week 4
Week5 
Week 6
Week 7
Week 8
Week 9
Week 10
Week 11
Week 12
Week 13
Week 14
Week 15
Week 16
Week 17
Week 18
Week 19
Week 20
Week 21
 Week 22
Week 23
Week 24
Week 25
Week 26
Week 27
Week 28
Week 29
Week 30
Week 31
Week 32
Week 33
Week 34
Week 35
Week 36
Week 37
Week 38
Week 39
Week 40
Week 41
Week 42
Week 43
Week 44
Week 45
Week 46
Week 47
(cartoon ends)
1. A River Too Far
2.The Reunion
3.The Daily Grind
4 The New Car and Treasure
5. The Big 
Bambootees
6. The old
Switcheroo
7. The Ravine Runner 8. The Fabulous
Folk Festival
9. Druid
Fluid
10. Goats of
Christmas Past
11. The Secret Six 12. The Great
White Hunters
13. The Old School
14
Lost in the City
15
Schlemiel
Possession

16
What's in
a name?
17
The Curse of
Bently Manor
18
Shortbottom Possessed
19
The Lost
Treasure
of Iraq
20
Phil Steen
for President!
21
Phil Steen
for Rehab
22
The Adventures
of Handiman
and Fiberwoman
23
Quantum
Uncertainty
revealed
24
Pirates of the Puget Sound
 25
Building a platform, plank by plank
26
The Quest
for meaning
27
Larry and
Phil to
The Rescue
28
Hurrah for
the Reds,
Whites, and
Blues
29
Phil
loses
his
mind
30
Earth
Strikes
Back
31
Harry
the
Potter
32
How I spent
my summer
vacation
33
Help
I am
trapped in
the Present
!
34
Help I am trapped
in the future
35
The
Nose of Death
36
Infectious
Laughter
37
Election
Update