Downtown, on her way to work, Francine is still a bit crabby, wondering if she did the right thing by breaking it off with Jake. To cheer herself up, she stops by a political rally for The Reformed Reform Party being held near the convention center. Most of the crowd of people are older white people dressed in red, white, and blue, but there is also a sizable contingent of "patriot bikers" wearing black leather with silver to match their motorcycles. On stage, an old white male politician who was once in Congress pounds the podium and talks about the need for a new American Revolution.
In the grass, Francine picks up a flyer listing the party's platform, most of which (health care reform, paying off the national debt, balancing the budget, ending the wars, energy independence, protecting the environment, ending wasteful government programs, and so forth) she roughly agrees with. In fact, though the party is more or less conservative politically, their concerns and priorities are about the same as the progressive parties who also occasionally gather downtown for rallies. As far as Francine can tell, the only difference really between most of the conservative and progressive minor parties nowadays is a disagreement over how to pay for all these things. The progressives own up that taxes will have to pay for all these wonderful promises to come true, whereas the conservatives always claim the magic of the marketplace will make things happen.
After listening to a couple of speakers, Francine realizes that mainly The Reformed Reform Party exists to complain about taxes. Now Francine hates taxes too, but she knows that roads and libraries and defense and all the other little things government does to keep society running don't come for free. She likes to keep taxes to a minimum, but they seem to be the best way to pay for society. Despite her libertarian bent, she still can't envision privitizing every road and street and then having to stop and pay a toll every block to whomever maintains it.
An older white woman with the face of a retarded cherub approaches Francine and asks her to sign a petition to get the party's presidential candidate on the ballot in Ohio. Francine gladly agrees in the spirit of offering more choices to voters in the fall, but can't resist asking the woman a question, "So, maam, assuming your man gets in and after the revolution and all that, who picks up the garbage?" Francine gestures at some of the trash scattered on the grass.
"Excuse me?" the woman says.
"You know, after the revolution, when we're all free and equal and all, who picks up the garbage? You know, like the trash. If there are no taxes paying for it, then does a private company do it, and if so, how do we know they aren't just trying to make a higher profit by dumping it in the lake or something instead of disposing of it properly? And, if we're all free in this new democracy and economics no longer dictates our lives' boundaries, then are there really that many people into picking up garbage that they'll volunteer to do it, or do we have to draw straws to see who does what?"
"Uh, I don't know. I don't understand what you mean. Maybe check the party website," the woman says, and heads onto the next person, who is a homeless guy Francine often sees in the alley behind Yaws, for a petition signature.
Francine isn't sure herself what she means exactly, but she's pretty sure that if she ever leads a revolution, she's going to figure out what to do with the garbage before it piles up, and not after.
Blog Love Omega Glee is a novel by Wred Fright about two bloggers who fall in love while the world falls apart, which is being serialized on his blog. To start reading from the beginning or read another installment, please visit Blog Love Omega Glee Central on WredFright.Com. If you like what you've read, or you've read all of Blog Love Omega Glee and want more Fright, then please read his first novel, which is available in print and as an ebook.
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