299 Days: The Stronghold

Chapter 115 The Four Categories (May 11)

With his mind racing during the moped ride home, Grant thought about Ken and the newspaper. He thought about how Ken had watched the government destroy his livelihood and how he had thought he couldn’t say anything—let alone do anything—about it. About how Ken wanted a “reset.” Ken was like a lot of Americans.

The population, Grant realized, was divided into four groups: Patriots, Loyalists, the Undecideds, and the Oblivious.

It varied by region. The more rural the area, the more Patriots; the more urban, the more Loyalists. The more Southern and Western (except the cities on the West Coast), the more Patriots. The more Northeast, the more Loyalist.

As Grant had seen with his own eyes, the Patriots were furious at what was happening. They weren’t revolutionaries—at least not this early into the Collapse—but, instead saw withdrawing from the former government as self-defense. They were taking actions to protect themselves from a government that had gone from serving them to abusing them.

Pierce Point was a perfect example. They were setting up their own little system to take care of themselves and having armed guards and a gate. They weren’t trying to take on the United States military. They were just doing what they had to do, which happened to mean not recognizing the authority of the federal government. This wasn’t some grand political philosophy; people didn’t sit around talking about revolution, Thomas Jefferson, or any of that. They didn’t sign a document saying they were declaring their independence from the United States. They didn’t care and didn’t have the time for luxuries like heavy political thoughts; they had to do guard duty and get their kids some food. They still called themselves “Americans” and would say the country they lived in was the United States. They just didn’t have any use for the United States government, or what little of it was left.

From years of being one of the only people who thought like he did, Grant realized that the Patriots were the minority; only a few percentage points of the population. Grant estimated that the Patriots he knew in Olympia were only a few percent of the population. But, then again, in the Revolutionary War, only about five percent of the population were Patriots at first and look at how that turned out.

The Loyalists, who made up ten to fifteen percent of the population, were the ones who depended on government and knew that if it fell, they would be out of a job—or worse. Being dependent on government didn’t guarantee that a person would be a Loyalist. The majority of the population was dependent on the government in one way or another, but some of the dependent ones were on the fence or didn’t care. Some of the dependent ones were even Patriots. There were no neat and clean lines.

Most Loyalists did not spend their time thinking about politics. Indeed, as products of the public school system, most had no political knowledge; just feelings about how things should be.

The essence of being a Loyalist was a belief that if the current government fell, then America would end. Loyalists were fighting to preserve what they had been taught that America was all about: fifty states and big federal government. A lot of what fueled Loyalists was fear of the Patriots. Patriots had become pegged as racist, Southern, gun-loving haters. A “Bubba.” The Loyalists were actually afraid that if the Patriots took over that slavery would return and women would be barefoot and pregnant. The cartoon image of the Patriots got more and more exaggerated—but, repeated often enough, as it had been in the schools and media for decades, it became more and more powerful.

Grant was thinking of the reactions he’d seen from many people in the Grange that night. They were on the fence. They were the third group, the Undecideds. They were probably sixty percent of the population, just like during the first Revolutionary War.

The Undecideds were generally angry at what had happened, but were too weak to do anything about it. Weakness wasn’t necessarily cowardice. Some were just not in a position to fight effectively. They might quietly resist, or they might not resist at all. They would complain about the government, but either thought they couldn’t do anything or were terrified to think about opposing the government. All their lives, they had seen what happened to people who opposed the status quo: ridicule, job loss, sometimes even jail. They didn’t want to rock the boat. They didn’t respond to things like passionate speeches about liberty or the Constitution. They had no idea about those things because they were never taught them in the public schools.

More importantly, most of the Undecideds didn’t care for politics and thought it was basically a game played with the people’s money. They were right about that, but thought they were powerless. They were muddling through.

Most of the Undecideds were just plain weak. Timid. Pathetic. Deserving of what they got, Grant hated to say. They didn’t really deserve to be treated like the government was treating them, but it was so completely understandable why the government was doing it—because the government could. This was because the Undecideds were so afraid of their own shadow that they would just take what the government gave them, mutter under their breaths, and hope they got through the day.

The Undecideds were the ones the Patriots needed to win over. Grant knew that this was how the first Patriots—the ones in the Revolutionary War—won. And it was how they would win the second one.

George Washington had it right: feed and protect the Undecideds, gain their confidence because you are taking care of them and showing them you are fair and just and, most importantly, effective at making their lives better. Eventually they will be on your side. Maybe even if they don’t really want to be—they will just acknowledge that the Patriot way works better than the old way.

The last of the four categories was the Oblivious. They made up about twenty to twenty-five percent of the population. They were so ignorant and dependent that all they cared about was what was on TV or when they’d get their next bag of Doritos. The younger ones were completely preoccupied with technological distractions, like cell phones and video games. Constant sex also kept their minds elsewhere. The middle-aged Oblivious were usually just working too hard to pay their taxes or were dependent leaches on the system. The older Oblivious just wanted to live out their golden years and have the government pay for it, just like they’d been promised.

The Oblivious weren’t at the Grange meetings. They were too lazy to show up. They just figured that someone would take care of them. People had been doing that for their whole lives, so what would be different now? The Oblivious were largely hidden, but still made up a sizable portion of the population. They were the most dangerous. They would get hungry and desperate and lash out. Almost all of the criminals were the Oblivious. They caused big problems.

Grant actually didn’t want the Oblivious on his side. All they did was consume. They were a drain on resources. (The disabled and elderly weren’t worthless Oblivious; the Oblivious were able-bodied, but worthless.) In fact, Grant planned on using the Oblivious as a weapon: make them move to the Loyalist areas and eat up the Loyalists’ food. Of course, a humanitarian would take them in if they were in danger but make them work for their meals. If they didn’t work or were stealing, and that would be most of the Oblivious, then Grant would want to send them off to the Loyalist areas. Good riddance. They would have had their chance in Pierce Point and blown it.

Grant didn’t hate the Oblivious. He was furious at them for being a big reason why the country slid into what it had become. Grant resented the Oblivious for sitting around playing video games or using their FCards to get free stuff while guys like him had to sling an AR-15 and fight for the liberty and safety of everyone, including the Oblivious. He also didn’t relish the thought of having to feed them at Pierce Point. He viewed them as a problem he had to manage.

But, they were human beings. Grant didn’t want them rounded up and killed. As worthless as they were, they were still Americans and therefore, they were people he was trying to protect. They just made it unnecessarily hard. And he wouldn’t endanger others just to save the Oblivious from the predictable hardship and danger they put themselves in.

Grant thought about the events leading up to the Collapse and how they led people into the various four camps. Most people were furious at the government for being so inept like with the power outages and fuel shortages. They were furious at the government for being so greedy like all the spending that just went to cronies, but the debt went to them and their children. How could the government they had trusted let this happen?

The furor only increased the determination and passion of the Patriots. It weakened the resolve of the Loyalists; they were loyal, but loyal to a crappy joke of a government. It was hard to root for a team that sucked so badly.

The furor impacted the Undecideds the most. They muttered even more under their breaths at all the things that didn’t work. Every time food cost too much or wasn’t available, or when gas wasn’t available, or the power was out, another person in the middle started to think about being a Patriot. They wanted change. They wanted stuff to work. They weren’t quite angry enough to actually risk anything to get it, but they were angry. At some point, they would probably do something to change things. At some point.

The Oblivious were furious, just not at the government. They weren’t furious at any particular group, they were just furious at the world. What do you mean the power is off? I want to watch TV. Right now. I want some Doritos! Why aren’t there any? I’m pissed. Once the TV came back on or the convenience store had some more Doritos, everything was fine again.

Furor at the government manifested itself in various ways other than people being more receptive to the Patriots. People labeled by the government as bad—tax protestors, homeowners who had to shoot criminals but who themselves were prosecuted for owning an unregistered gun—became heroes. Even outlaws were viewed more favorably. Gangs, non-violent ones that were independently supplying much wanted items on the black market, like gasoline and luxury items were viewed with sympathy. They became “small businesses” sticking it to “The Man.”

All this created a jumbled mess, but a mess with four rough categories. Recognizing these categories was critical to having a successful community versus just a group of people barely making it through the Collapse. The way to come out of the Collapse with a strong community was recognizing what motivated Patriots, what demoralized and defeated Loyalists, how to win over Undecideds, and how to pass off as many Oblivious as possible to the Loyalists to deal with. Most of all, having a strong community meant recognizing that the key was practical solutions to make people’s lives better, not political speeches.

The “masses” weren’t really that important, Grant was realizing. People thought they needed to persuade the masses to get them to do big things. That might have been true when America was a functioning republic and the people’s opinions actually mattered. That was no longer true. Grant realized the Patriots didn’t need to persuade the masses in the beginning. In particular, Grant didn’t need to persuade the majority of the residents of Pierce Point. The support of the masses would be needed down the road to survive the shortages, fight any war that might develop, and, especially, to rebuild. But, at the beginning stages, a small group of leaders was all that was needed. Leaders to run things well and demonstrate to the masses that the Patriot way was the best way. The way to feed them, secure them, and to be fair. The masses would follow the way that works.

Grant couldn’t shake the distinct feeling that he was one of those leaders. The path of his life, like the deer path that is hard to see but is definitely there, had been pointing toward this. He could see it for a long time. The events that shaped his life, his personality, his skills. The incredible people he met who were now helping him and helping the others. The experiences he had in his job as an attorney fighting corruption and navigating the old political system. His drive to physically prepare for this by, among other things, training to become a pretty decent gunfighter. Most of all, the outside thoughts. All these things made him into the leader who had exactly the right plan at exactly the right time in exactly the right place to show the masses what works and to then say, “Follow me.” People would follow a person like that and do incredible things they never thought they could do. A true leader brought this out in people.