Liberty's Last Stand by Stephen Coonts

back. “All you white people can worry about your own damned selves. We black people are going to stick together.”
    â€œYou speak for yourself, woman,” interjected Charlie Swim. “You don’t represent me, and when the fires finally go out, don’t come begging the legislature for money to rebuild the projects. You won’t get it. You helped them burn.”
    That caused another frenzy of shouting.
    â€œShut up,” Jack Hays roared. “The question is, How are we going to stop the riot? If the feds interfere, what are we going to do?”
    â€œYou’re goin’ to Houston and shoot a bunch of black people,” Luwanda Harris said. “I know it, they know it, and the White House knows it.”
    â€œWe’re going to arrest rioters and hold them responsible for their crimes,” the governor said in a normal voice. “Murder, rape, looting—nobody gets a free pass. Nobody. I have sworn to uphold the law and I will, whether you are white, black, brown, yellow, or green. If you want to do your community a service, Ms. Harris, you will get yourself to Houston and help stop the riot.”
    â€œWho do you think I am?” Luwanda Harris demanded. “You think I own them?”
    â€œAnybody else?” the governor said.
    A delegate from the Dallas suburbs wanted to discuss threats. Her name was Melissa McKinley. She didn’t know whether Soetoro was right about a right-wing conspiracy, but her constituents were worried about security. Terrorist threats, insane people, drug violence, the list went on. “My constituents want to be free from fear, free to raise their children in a safe environment. Guns scare them, enraged homicidal maniacs that shoot kids in schools and theaters scare them, terrorists and assassins scare them. The specter of a civil war would horrify them. They don’t want to live in Baghdad or Beirut or Syria. They want their children to have a chance to reach adulthood free from fear.”
    â€œHow much freedom are they willing to trade for their security?” Ben Steiner asked.
    â€œThey don’t want to bury their kids, Ben.”
    â€œSo they would be happy in Hitler’s Germany or Stalin’s Russia in a comfortable little cell, just as long as their blood didn’t flow?”
    â€œI doubt it, but freedom doesn’t do you a lot of good if you’re dead.”
    â€œAmen to that,” several of the legislators muttered.
    They wanted to mention the grievances of their constituents, introduce them into the discussion, things such as EPA regulations designed to save the climate at the expense of the working men and women of Texas, even though there was no scientific evidence that the changes demanded would have any impact on the problem as defined by the EPA. And the EPA’s demands to shut down coal-fired power plants, which would raise electric bills dramatically. Several wanted to talk about the financial and social burden of illegal aliens on the school districts and the education of American children, whose parents were paying the taxes to fund the schools. Others wanted to talk about federally mandated school curriculums and school lunches. Many were sick and tired of being dictated to by Washington bureaucrats who thought they knew more than the people ruled by their edicts.
    Another just wanted to talk about a federal government many of her constituents perceived as an out-of-control, fire-belching, meat-eatingmonster that could not be tamed, controlled, or killed, a monster that increasingly stuck its nose into every facet of American life and propagandized their children every minute of the school day. A minister denounced a government that he believed was not just neutral on religion, but actively antireligious.
    Charlie Swim broke in. “The bottom line is we need to stop these riots. You want to help black people?” He scowled at Luwanda Harris. “The people getting crippled and