"John Dalmas - The Second Coming" - читать интересную книгу автора (Dalmas John)

Her husband, she thought, was sounding like a Millennium flack. "What's that got to
do with hippies flocking to him?" she asked.


"I suspect they're like a lot of other people; they've lost faith in a system that screws
over certain groups and then punishes them for not fitting in. But the hippies' main
interest isn't therapy. They're looking for a spiritual fix, and they like what he says in
his columns and talks."


For a minute she didn't say anything. She was thinking of $10,000 a month. Finally
she gazed thoughtfully at her husband. "Is that why you're attracted to him? Because
you're looking for a spiritual fix?"


"I'm attracted to Ngunda because he's been effective. And because to me he makes
sense." He paused. "Let me ask a question now. It's my turn."


She nodded.


"How much faith do you have in the system?"


She examined the question. "It's never worked terribly well. Socioeconomic systems
are composed of human beings, and we know what they're like."


"What are they like?"


"Let's say we'reтАФimperfect. Irrational and perverse, not to mention greedy and
dishonest." She paused. "Not everyone, but enough. What was your original question
again?"


"Have you lost faith in the system? Do you think it will get us out of the current
depression? Heal the pessimism? Reverse the fifteen percent unemployment?
Workers getting by on twenty-hour workweeks so executives and stockholders can
make bigger profits by avoiding worker benefits? Professionals working twelve-hour
days to keep their jobs, like you did? The anger and cynicism? The violence and
vandalism? Mortar shells dropping on gated enclaves for the wealthy?"


Lee had wilted at his listing, especially the mortar attacks. "I'mтАФnot sure," she
answered softly. "I really hope it can. Times have been bad before and the country's
come out of it."