such tyranny and oppression with the blood, sweat, and tears of our sons and daughters, our mothers and fathers.
'Today, as the great power of the United States Navy was forcing its way into the periphery of the so-called Separatist Reservation near the Elysium fields to slaughter yet more innocent mothers, fathers, sons, daughters, brothers, and sisters in the name of the once great country,
'Today was obviously not the first time that American tanks, fighter planes, and mecha have rolled and marched over gallant men and women fighting to redeem the independence of their homeland. Nor is it by any means the final episode in the eternal struggle of liberty against tyranny, anywhere in this system, including Earth itself! It will happen again!' She pounded her right fist into her armored left hand. 'But I say not from the people you would know as the Separatists!
'My entire life I have dreamt of a truly socially just and free society and exactly for this reason I have always led the Free People of the United States of America to speak out against tyranny and to strike it down with all of the might that can be mustered only by a Free People. I believe America, the Great America of our revered forefathers is lost to history. Then, in those great days of the Great America and only then, when justice and freedom existed, could human problems be solved in a peaceful and fruitful way. I have always felt in my heart of hearts that only through the solution of these problems could human values be realized and mankind reach its full and amazing potential. Mankind is meant to live in freedom! True freedom! Freedom from taxation without true representation! Freedom from being forced to accept the stagnation and quagmire of a species because political gain is all that drives the will of those of what is left of the Great America. A truly free individual, a true American citizen who lives justly, is beaten down by American law and can no longer offer all that he or she has to offer, all of the citizen's greatness and all of the citizen's human dignity is lost to the corruption and self-serving darkness that has become America!
'If the Great America still exists, then why do the average citizens of Earth read and perform math skills at levels that were far exceeded a century ago? If the Great America still exists, then why does the average citizen not understand the nature of government and the concept of law? If the Great America still exists, then why does only one in a thousand understand how even the simplest of technologies operate with no hopes of understanding the sciences that drive them? If this is the Great America, then why has humanity had the means for interstellar flight more than a century but there are only four extra-solar colonies and why have there been only a handful of expeditionary missions? If this is the Great America, why is it not safe to walk down the streets at night only a few blocks away from the White House and the Houses of Congress? If this is the Great America, why are the prisons overcrowded with animals who only desire personal gain from evil purposes? And why will those evil men and women never see the executioner for the deeds they have done? If this is the Great America, then why must the federal government be involved in the approval of most all aspects of free citizens' lives? It is this final aspect of what has happened to the Great America that triggered the American Civil War and indeed what originally drove our forefathers to revolt against England! Why have we let this happen again to the Great America?' Ahmi paused briefly and nodded to someone off camera.
'I will tell you why. This is not the Great America of our forefathers and of history. America died centuries ago with the taking and grabbing and giving away of the Great Freedoms given to Americans by the Great Constitution, simply because of a culture ridden with fear of offense to special interest groups and the destruction of the moral base from which the country's laws were governed. Splinter factions of idiots and charlatans with nonsense ideologies and lust for power for power's sake discovered that it was easy to usurp power from the American citizens as they had grown docile and ignorant. The forefathers were quite correct in their fear that once the lowest common denominator of the American society learned how to vote themselves into money and power the checks and balances of the Great Nation would fall into an abyss of devolving culture of greed and stagnation, of welfare and false racism. By the time General Madira was elected as president of the United States of America our nation had already folded into something far far inferior to the Great Nation it once was.
'But the Free People of the United States of America understand this, and when it was clear to us that the oppressive socialists of the Sol System government would no longer listen to reason, would no longer understand why we lash out in violent opposition, would no longer even consider us worthy of sending a true ambassador to the peace summit, we decided it was time for something new. Something that would change mankind for the better. Indeed something that has been evolving for centuries. That something is freedom. The Free People of the United States of America are leaving Sol's System today! In the greatest Exodus known to the history of mankind and in order for American law to prevail and the freedom of mankind to flourish, we are leaving.
'But finally, I warn you people of Sol's System. Do not try to stop us! We would have left in peace but you would not have allowed such an Exodus. Your decomposed government and economic system would lose its middle class workers and lose its economic tax base. So instead, like our true Great American brothers that died so bravely in the pursuit and the defense of liberty, many of us will stay behind and fight you to the very last breath of the very last one of us so that others may escape this system's tyranny and the ideal of America shall live elsewhere in the universe! Why should fear, killing, destruction, displacement, orphaning, and widowing continue to be the fate of the Separatist People, of the Free People, while security, stability, and happiness at the expense of the hard working Free People remains the fate of the corrupt and dark government of this system? This is indeed unfair and the balance of nature must sway back in our favor. It is time that we help tilt that balance; it is time
'As one last conundrum I give you this. Do you make attempts to stop humans who only wish to be free from this system or do you try to stop the last of the Separatist Military from destroying the millions of your people in the Tharsis regions and great Mons City of Mars? You have only moments to decide.'
Chapter 19
1:59 PM Mars Tharsis Standard Time
'I am so glad that bitch finally shut the fuck up!' President Alberts pounded his fist against the Situation Room table. Wind from his fist flung papers scattering across the long mahogany table. The Joint Chiefs of Staff traded looks back and forth at each other in amusement.
'Sir, what are your orders? Mr. President?' The chairman asked.
