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Do as the Romans Do
By Michael Logan
“Okay, please have a seat so we can begin,” an aging man with a gray beard and worn tweed jacket ordered as the students filed into the Martin Campbell Lecture Hall on the university campus. The hall held 300 students, though the current class only filled it to approximately half capacity. It was an abnormally warm day in September, and the temperature-controlled room was a comfortable respite from the humidity outdoors.
“I am going to pass out a handheld notebook with the roll,” he said, handing a small 8x11x2 inch screen to a student in the front row. It is a new toy the school wants us to try using. Simply place your finger on your name, and the computer is supposed to recognize your fingerprint and record you as present. If you are not on the list, and are a drop/add addition to the class, type your name in the keypad on the side and it will send a note to the registrar to add you to my roll file. I posted a syllabus online; I assume many of you have already read it as instructed in the first class last week. If you haven’t, then you should. Welcome to American History: The Final Years. This is a higher-level class, mainly for history majors. If you cannot write well, you do not belong here. There will be no tests, but several long papers on personalities and events leading to the demise of the American Empire. If you do not feel you can handle it, please leave now.”
The students sat quietly in their seats. The class was mainly comprised of juniors and seniors who knew from experience that The Final Years was an easy “A”, so they smirked at Professor Johansson’s comments. They knew full well he was simply trying to weed out the slackers, as is customary for him to do. His forte was teaching discussion-based courses, and many of the students came to every class because he had a knack for making learning easy and entertaining. His grading was based on the few writing assignments, as well as class participation. Those who sleep in class tend to do poorly, but if you are alert and responsive, it is an easy “A” grade.
“Alrighty then, let’s begin,” said the professor. “Today, I was going to give you an overview of the situation, and try to get a feel for how much you guys know. As you probably can figure out from the wonderfully creative title of this class, we will be discussing the fall of the American empire. I use the term empire loosely, though it is often referred to as such. In 2034, the United States of America was a collection of developing colonies in Iran, Iraq, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, and much of Asia, to go along with the 52 states, including the 48 ‘continental’ states, and the 4 ‘satellite’ states. Can anyone name these ‘satellite’ states?
A few students called out in response:
“Hawaii.”
“Puerto Rico.”
“Alaska?”
“Panama.”
Professor Johansson typed these onto the projection screen that replaced the aging ‘white boards’ 5 years previous. “Right, good job. Panama, of course, being the last of the four. Who can tell me how the US acquired Panama? And how they became the 52nd state?”
“Didn’t President Ridge send troops in to capture the canal?” a student called from the room.
“Right, and the troops brutally massacred a majority of the Panamanian citizens and eventually the whole country was taken over to be used to replace the growing NASA base in Florida.” Johansson remarked. “Space had become a pivotal military platform in reconnaissance and missiles. The United States and certain new powers were among the few who had suck technology. Who has an example of another country using space-oriented warfare?”
“Brazil?” A student guessed from the back row.
“Actually no. Brazil didn’t really come along until after the fall of the Americas. Their natural resources aided much of the Middle East and the ANU - or Asian Nationalist Union - as they declared freedom from a dying American empire. Anyone else have an answer? Think about it. Without such power it would have been impossible to threaten the strong American military.”
“Wasn’t there some joint effort between Europe and Australia or something?” A student mused out loud.
“Precisely. When the United States removed themselves from the UN, the remaining countries held an alliance, led mostly by France, Australia and later England. England was an ally of the United States until the American Government attacked some of the major Asian industrial areas, which caused the Japanese and Chinese governments to enforce a trade embargo on the US and it’s allies. England receives much of its economy from trade with these nations, and could no longer afford to befriend the Americans. When the American government successfully invaded and took over the both Japan and China in the Asian-American war that began during President Ridge’s second term in 2015, the British lost their trade privileges. The American government now controlled the majority of the world’s industry and resources, with controlling interest in the Middle Eastern oil, the industry of Asia, and their own continental commercial economy. The UN turned to South America and Australia for new found oil and other natural resources, but it simply was not enough.”
A student in the back of the class raised his hand, and Professor Johansson nodded in his direction. “What led the United States to do all of this? Was it just a power trip?”
“To be honest, we don’t know for sure. There was a lot of speculation that they overused their resources and needed the smaller countries’ oil, coal, and natural gas. Other reports claim they were attempting to create a worldwide democracy based on the ideas of Christianity and capitalism. It’s funny because those seeking religious freedom from the then-great British Empire originally founded the United States. The ‘founding fathers’ of the country had a violent revolution and eventually won their freedom. Gradually as they became more and more powerful, they became more and more hypocritical to their original foundation. The leaders began to move military forced into more and more third world countries, claiming that they were helping a repressed people. On the contrary, however, they simply took over the countries they tried to “save,” and bled them of their natural resources. There are many accounts of countries in Africa with problems similar to those in the Middle East, yet the US decided to ignore them because the resources in the Middle East were much more readily available. Other countries that they invaded had communist political structures, similar to that of the quasi-socialist government that is in place in many of the individual nation-states that now exist on the land that was once the United States of America. The American government felt that democracy and capitalism was far superior to communism and fascism, but also was worried that these ideals would spread to the weaker countries if they allowed successful communist or fascist nations to exist.”
Johansson was interrupted as a door opened, and a red-faced Caucasian student with stringy blond hair and a slim build walked into the room. He had a bag slung over his shoulder, and appeared to be sweating a bit due to the weather outside. “Well hello there. I’m glad you value my class enough to come on time, son,” the professor sarcastically remarked.
“I’m sorry, sir. I just picked it up a few minutes ago. I didn’t know this class was offered here, but I wanted to get a seat before it was too late.” The embarrassed lad replied.
“Can I have your name?” Johansson asked.
“Howie Dean, sir,” he replied.
“Ah, Mr. Dean. Quite the interesting name with relevance to this course; have you any knowledge of former American President Howard Dean?”
“Yes, sir. He is my great-grandfather’s brother,” Howie replied sheepishly. “That is one reason why I am interested in your class. My grandfather refuses to speak of any events leading to the family’s exodus here to Sweden, only that it was a traumatic time. He professes great hatred for the American flag, though.”
“We will talk in great detail about your great-great-uncle later in the semester, Mr. Dean, and it is an honor to have you in my class. I apologize for my rudeness, but a pet peeve of mine is tardiness. That goes for the rest of the class as well. If you cannot come on time to my class, do not come at all. For the purposes of curiosity, does anyone in class know briefly what happened to Mr. Dean?”
A female student in the middle of the room raised their hand. “Uh, didn’t he attempt to run for president once or twice?”
“That he did, young lady. He was nominated by the Democrats in 2012 and 2116, but lost to McCain and Ridge. Does anyone know what happened after that?”
The room was still as the class stared intently at the professor. “Well he spoke out against the Republican party very publicly. By this time the Republican and Green Party controlled 80% of the positions in Congress, and along with a conservative Supreme Court, the right side pretty much ruled the government. The Democratic Party split between liberals and centralists, with the centralists eventually becoming Republican, and the few remaining liberals were silenced; the most well known of these being Howard Dean. He pushed too many buttons in the ruling party, however, and they effectively ran him out of the country with threats of treason charges and imprisonment. The Patriot Act - which was put in place during the Bush Administration in the beginning of the century - had evolved into a monster as the vague terms of the Act allowed for the courts to send people to jail for speaking out against the government, calling it an act of terrorism. This country that was founded on freedom and liberty had turned into an oppressive faux-democracy.”
“Well if Howard Dean was such a public figure, how come nobody reacted or did anything about it?” Howie asked.
“Because the government had control over the media. The local news programs were all linked to four major government owned networks, and they scoffed at anyone who tried to dispute their ‘news.’ The few people who did know about any of these incidents were laughed at and made to look insane so nobody took them seriously. It s a citizens right and duty to revolt against oppression, but this government did a great job of masking everything that they did. Everyone who was content in their own quest for the “American Dream” believed everything they were told. Anyone who began to think outside the box was blacklisted and either jailed or ran out of the country.”
“We are beginning to run out of time, we will go through all of these points in greater detail over the course of the semester, but quickly: can anyone tell me how the American force was eventually defeated?” Johansson inquired.
A young woman along the left side of the hall raised her hand. “Yes mam?” Johansson pointed in her direction.
“I learned last year in civics that the UN amassed a large military in the underdeveloped areas of Australia without the US’s knowledge, and outnumbered the Americans who were too far spread out,” she replied.
“Very good, hon. The armies from England, Canada, Australia, France, and most of South America basically joined forces. They pooled funding and soldiers together to form the most powerful army ever seen. This was the only way to match the US’s technology and personnel. They trained for months, and when they felt like they were strong enough, they attacked. The US was so cocky that they didn’t even see it coming. At exactly 4:25pm (United States Eastern Standard time) on July 11, 2027, the UN’s army attacked major US bases in Pennsylvania, Texas, Florida, Puerto Rico, Japan, China, and California. This began a multi-front war between the Americans and the UN forces. After the first month, the UN had severely weakened the American forces. The UN army was too powerful for the US to contend with on multiple fronts, so the American army retreated to the mainland from Asia and the Middle East. The UN took a controlling interest in these areas, and considered it a huge victory. The war was not over, however. The two forces battled for almost 5 years, mainly around the Mexican and Canadian borders. With tactical strikes from space stations, and grueling warfare on the ground, millions of people died on either side. The end result was a government destroyed, and a severely depleted world population. Now, almost 30 years later, we are still rebuilding. Almost a complete generation was destroyed, but with great effort from the countries of the UN, things have settled quite nicely.”
The clock on the wall switched to the end of the hour, signifying the end of class, as a bell rang through the lecture hall. “Ok, well that is our time for today students. If nothing we just went over interested you in the least bit, I suggest dropping my class because we will be going into great depth in the following months, discussing every aspect of this time in world history. I will see you all on Wednesday.”