Greenies

he would begin his latest trip through the Martian criminal justice system, joke that it was.

Usually the booking area was an extremely loud place to be as the criminals talked and sometimes engaged in verbal fights with each other and as the officers talked among themselves about their jobs and their lives — the latter group's conversation often being considerably more profane than the former's. At this moment however, the room was eerily silent, as quiet as it had ever been, probably since the day before the police station was opened nearly seventy years before. All eyes in the room were riveted to the Internet screens mounted high on two of the walls, all mouths hanging open in sheer surprise as they heard the first two minutes of the new governor's speech. Cops and criminals alike simply could not believe what they were hearing come from the middle-age, though strangely handsome woman's mouth.

Brian Haggerty and Lisa Wong, who were near the center of the room, awaiting their two prisoners' names to be called so they could be booked for second degree murder (which might get them as much as six months in jail if they had priors), were among the cops watching. Both were just as flabbergasted as their colleagues. Had she really just said independence from WestHem? Had she really just called the corporations criminal? Granted, Governor Whiting was a favorite among the rank and file of just about every Martian law enforcement agency. Her tough talk on crime and criminals and her cries for increased funding and increased prison sentences almost guaranteed that. She had been the first politician in the history of Mars to actually gain the support of all of the planet's police departments, both at the administrative level and the street level. But what was this madness she was spouting now? Was it a joke?

'Is she out of her damn mind?' Brian whispered to his partner just as she declared her goal for her term. 'Independence?'

'This is unbelievable,' Lisa said. 'She's insane. They'll crucify her for even saying that!'

There were some other murmurs, both from the cops and the criminals that were much to the same effect. Nor were they alone. As Whiting paused in her speech for a moment to let her words sink in, the babble of hundreds of onlookers in the audience chamber could clearly be heard being transmitted live from the capital. The idea of an independent Mars, in which the Martians followed and controlled their own destinies, was certainly not a new one. On the contrary, Martians from all walks of life had expressed that thought many times before. But usually such words were spoken in bars or at parties when alcohol and marijuana was being consumed. Such words were usually the pipe dreams of intoxicated philosophers, striving to save the world with their wisdom but never actually doing anything to forward it or thinking that anyone else ever would. Never had such words been spoken or even hinted at by a politician on live Internet. Never had such a thing even been conceived of before.

But Whiting was not finished with her speech. Not by a long shot. As they watched in growing disbelief, she continued to stare into the camera — the effect being that she was looking directly at each one of them — and she continued.

'Independence,' she said, obviously savoring the word. 'That is the only way that this planet and the people on it will ever be truly free. And I am not talking about just token independence either, where WestHem declares us free but where we are still their puppet, their plaything, influenced by their monetary system and their corporations. I am talking about complete freedom — total freedom from the tyranny of that greedy, corrupt society. That means that all Martian industries, particularly the steel and agricultural industries, will be nationalized and run for the benefit of the Martian people, not for the stockholders of Agricorp and Standard Steel. I am talking about an entirely new constitution and way of life, a government for the people that is run by the people and that benefits the people — all people, not just those with money, not just those with jobs. I am talking about removing the corporate mentality and element completely from our society. And the only way to do this is to be free and to completely restructure our society so that it no longer revolves around the acquisition of wealth.'

'Holy Jesus,' Brian said, hearing this. 'She really has gone insane.'

'She really has,' Lisa agreed, wondering how long it would be before someone actually removed her from the stage.

Whiting, completely ignoring the gasps and shocked words that were rising up from her audience of fellow politicians and corporate lobbyists, simply kept talking as if she were giving a normal speech.

'This may seem a strange concept for me to bring up,' she admitted with a slight smile. 'A government that does not revolve around wealth? Absurd, you might say. Impossible, you might say. But is such a thing really all that different than what many of you — the Martian people — have talked about over beers or buds among yourselves? Isn't it generally agreed upon at such bullshitting sessions that money and greed are the curse of the solar system, that the way of life we now find ourselves in the midst of is for the benefit of the elite few at the top of the corporate ladder while it is to the detriment of the rest? Isn't it generally noted at such times that Mars does not really need WestHem, that the only resource that we are not self-sufficient in is fuel? I have been to the bars, people, I have listened to the conversations of others all of my life. I know that what I am suggesting is not something new. I am just the first politician in a political setting to bring this up in a serious manner. That is why it sounds like such a bizarre concept to you all at them moment.'

'That's true,' Lisa allowed. She and Brian had discussed that very thing with other cops many times in the past during drunken and stoned after-hours gatherings with other cops. Mars really could produce everything that a society needed to sustain itself without the assistance of WestHem. Food, steel, machinery, clothing, space vehicles, military equipment, electronics and their components, all of that was produced on Mars or in orbit above it on Triad. Hydrogen fuel was the only thing that Mars really needed to import — that and a few luxury items like coffee and alcohol.

'Yep,' Brian was forced to agree. 'But...'

He was cut short in his argument by the impatient hushes of those around him. They were becoming extremely interested in this speech.

'Now, in order to remove the factor of money from our new government,' Whiting continued, 'we will have to replace it with something else that we can worship. We will have to base our new constitution and our new society upon another principal. What should that principal be? What should we revere most of all in this life if not money and the acquisition of wealth? This is just my humble opinion, but I'm sure that all of you out there who are not corporate management or rich stockholders would agree that society should be based upon common sense and fairness for everyone. Common sense and fairness, the two things that our current system of government pays lip service to but that our new government will actually embrace. Common sense in all decisions, in all dealings, in all laws. Fairness towards all people, unemployed and employed alike. I'm talking about a system of government that has enough checks and balances in it to guarantee that the atrocity that we have with us today is not able to repeat itself. I'm talking about a system where the abuses of power that we have now are not allowed to occur. I'm talking about a system in which the people themselves really chose their representatives and those representatives are incapable of being corrupted by the money from huge corporations because there will not be any huge corporations. I'm talking about a system where working is rewarded with the credit to buy nice things but that even those who do not or cannot work are provided with the basic necessities of life. I'm talking about a system where everyone has the right to a superior primary education and the right to a superior college education and that this is provided free of charge. I'm talking about a system where those who commit crimes against us are locked away for an appropriate number of years, where criminals are no longer allowed to walk among us.

'How will we pay for these things? I can hear you asking that right now. You are telling yourself that my talk sounds rather nice but that it sounds like I am describing an ideal world, a utopian society, and that things such as this do not and cannot exist. Someone has to pay for all of that great education, for all of those prisons, for all of those police officers. Who will it be?

'The answer is no one and the answer is also everyone. You see, in a system where money and acquisition of wealth is not the primary focus, where betterment of our society and fairness are the goals, there is no reason to pay for any of that. It is just done. We produce food here on Mars and we produce steel and we produce everything else that is needed to run this society. We have skilled workers and the ability to train others in those skills. Once we are off of the WestHem system of government, once we separate ourselves from their economic system, we can do things any way we like. The new Martian government can build a new school or a new college whenever there is a need for such a thing. Since the steel industry is nationalized, we do not have to pay anyone for that steel since we already own it. Since the construction company that builds the school is nationalized, we do not have to hold a bidding process or pay a corporation to build our school. We just build it.

'As for the workers who put on the biosuits and put the steel together to form the building, they are paid in