located in authoritarian-run countries. By 2025, the price of oil is expected to quadruple. By 2040, it will become prohibitive, precipitating a worldwide economic crisis. At the same time, third world industrialization is driving energy demands even higher, with needs escalating from our current usage of 15 trillion watts to over 40 trillion within only two decades. Meanwhile, we infect our environment with more acid rain, more air pollution, and an even bigger rise in greenhouse gases to melt what little’s left of the Arctic and Antarctic ice.’
Chaney’s deeply set eyes stare into the lens of the nearest camera. ‘In 2017 and beyond, our vision is clear: We’re Clean and Goin’ Green.’
Democrats stand and applaud, most members of Chaney’s Republican Party remaining seated.
‘The most promising solution to our energy crisis has and always will be solar. It’s unlimited and clean, but the cost has remained high because we’ve never committed our full resources to the technology. Decades ago, the federal government invested over $100 billion in nuclear research to jump-start that industry, not to mention the money used to subsidize businesses involved in the uranium fuel cycles. Nowwe’re going to commit the same kind of resources to solar and wind power, as well as hydrogen fuel cells. To help pay for these changes, my new budget will eliminate the Strategic Defense Initiative, a failed and costly program that drove a wedge between the United States, China, and Russia and led to the nuclear assaults of 2012.’
Wild applause.
‘Real change requires real commitment, not just double-talk. The Clinton and Bush administrations budgeted funds to produce hydrogen fuel cars, only they gave the money to the automakers. President Bush’s promise of a new energy future required hydrogen to be extracted from fossil fuels and nuclear power, effectively maintaining Big Oil’s agenda, a policy my predecessor also adhered to. This year, our new energy plan will commit $50 billion to developing hydrogen automobiles using renewable sources like wind and sun and biomass. Furthermore, within the next thirty days, the White House will introduce legislation aimed at outlawing gasoline-powered vehicles by 2023.’
The president pauses, allowing his last statement to sink in amid the applause.
‘Fuel cells will, by law, replace gasoline. New jobs will be created as we retool our automobile plants and fueling stations. The economy will prosper, our air quality will improve, and the United States will rejoin the global effort to reduce greenhouse gases!’
The room erupts in applause.
‘Change is never easy, but it is necessary. The war on terrorism led to great changes, changes that affected our civil rightsand the freedoms this country was founded upon. Within the next ninety days, I will ask Congress to dismantle the monolithic Department of Homeland Security and restore the pre 9-11 restrictions on domestic surveillance.’
Chaney pauses again as members of both parties rise to cheer.
Belle Glade, Florida
Three-and-a-half year old Lilith Eve Robinson is in the backseat of Quenton Morehead’s 2003 Buick, strapped in a child protection device. The reverend has cracked the windows and left the radio on for her while he visits the recently widowed Sherry Ann Williams.
Lilith squirms, her bladder full, her stomach rumbling as the State of the Union speech plays on the radio. The toddler has not eaten since lunch seven hours earlier, and knows she will not eat again until her grandfather emerges from the widow’s home sometime around eleven-thirty.
And then the child stops squirming as her mind suddenly focuses on the president’s words, her subconscious absorbing them like a sponge.
‘My fellow Americans, humanity has a future, and it is a bright one, as bright as the stars in the night sky. And this is where our future lies, for it is space exploration
Chaney’s deeply set eyes stare into the lens of the nearest camera. ‘In 2017 and beyond, our vision is clear: We’re Clean and Goin’ Green.’
Democrats stand and applaud, most members of Chaney’s Republican Party remaining seated.
‘The most promising solution to our energy crisis has and always will be solar. It’s unlimited and clean, but the cost has remained high because we’ve never committed our full resources to the technology. Decades ago, the federal government invested over $100 billion in nuclear research to jump-start that industry, not to mention the money used to subsidize businesses involved in the uranium fuel cycles. Nowwe’re going to commit the same kind of resources to solar and wind power, as well as hydrogen fuel cells. To help pay for these changes, my new budget will eliminate the Strategic Defense Initiative, a failed and costly program that drove a wedge between the United States, China, and Russia and led to the nuclear assaults of 2012.’
Wild applause.
‘Real change requires real commitment, not just double-talk. The Clinton and Bush administrations budgeted funds to produce hydrogen fuel cars, only they gave the money to the automakers. President Bush’s promise of a new energy future required hydrogen to be extracted from fossil fuels and nuclear power, effectively maintaining Big Oil’s agenda, a policy my predecessor also adhered to. This year, our new energy plan will commit $50 billion to developing hydrogen automobiles using renewable sources like wind and sun and biomass. Furthermore, within the next thirty days, the White House will introduce legislation aimed at outlawing gasoline-powered vehicles by 2023.’
The president pauses, allowing his last statement to sink in amid the applause.
‘Fuel cells will, by law, replace gasoline. New jobs will be created as we retool our automobile plants and fueling stations. The economy will prosper, our air quality will improve, and the United States will rejoin the global effort to reduce greenhouse gases!’
The room erupts in applause.
‘Change is never easy, but it is necessary. The war on terrorism led to great changes, changes that affected our civil rightsand the freedoms this country was founded upon. Within the next ninety days, I will ask Congress to dismantle the monolithic Department of Homeland Security and restore the pre 9-11 restrictions on domestic surveillance.’
Chaney pauses again as members of both parties rise to cheer.
Belle Glade, Florida
Three-and-a-half year old Lilith Eve Robinson is in the backseat of Quenton Morehead’s 2003 Buick, strapped in a child protection device. The reverend has cracked the windows and left the radio on for her while he visits the recently widowed Sherry Ann Williams.
Lilith squirms, her bladder full, her stomach rumbling as the State of the Union speech plays on the radio. The toddler has not eaten since lunch seven hours earlier, and knows she will not eat again until her grandfather emerges from the widow’s home sometime around eleven-thirty.
And then the child stops squirming as her mind suddenly focuses on the president’s words, her subconscious absorbing them like a sponge.
‘My fellow Americans, humanity has a future, and it is a bright one, as bright as the stars in the night sky. And this is where our future lies, for it is space exploration
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