"William W Johnstone - Ashes 16 - Vengance in the Ashes (txt)" - читать интересную книгу автора (Johnstone William W)

The politicians and lawyers and professional bureaucrats shook their
heads at that. That just wouldn't do at all; they couldn't have that.
The lawyers especially were unhappy about it. If laws were spelled out
so simply and plainly that anyone could understand them, there would not
be much need for attorneys. Why, that was practically un-American!

It was pointed out to Ben that only about one in five could live under
the laws of the Tri-States. Ben said, "Fine. The other four can keep
their asses out or get them shot off."

Actually, it wasn't true that only one in five could live under the laws
of the Rebels. The truth was, the other four wouldn't live under those laws.

It was a common-sense sort of society. A spokesman for the old
Tri-States explained it to a member of the press in this way: "A person
who is respectful of another's rights will rake his or her lawn and bag
the leaves for proper disposal or turn them into mulch. A person who has
no regard for a neighbor's rights will burn the leaves and let the smoke
drift into the neighbor's house. Do you understand a common-sense society?"

The press didn't.

But as Ben knew it would, the Tri-States fell under a massive government
assault. Only a handful of

10 Rebels escaped the killing fields. But a handful was enough,
especially since Ben Raines was one of them. The Rebels re-grouped and
re-formed and began their march against the central government of the
United States. Then the rat-borne sickness struck the land and quickly
spread worldwide. The Rebels kept their heads down and their wits about
them and survived.

The world was plunged backward into medieval thinking. Chaos ruled.
Outlaws and warlords took control. Slowly the ranks of the Rebels grew,
and ever so slowly they began the job of clearing the United States of
crap and crud. It would take them years to accomplish it, but accomplish
it they did. The Rebels became the strongest, best-equipped, most highly
motivated, disciplined, and most-feared army in all the world. They took
back the land from thugs and gangs and returned it to law-abiding citizens.

Then came the day that the nation once known as America was declared a
clean zone. It had taken the Rebels, under the leadership of Ben Raines,
years to do it, but they did it. The Rebels had established outposts all
around the nation. Each state had anywhere from a dozen to several dozen
of them. These outposts were towns that had running water that was safe
to drink, they had sewerage systems that worked, streetlights and
schools and hospitals and churches and libraries. These towns were also
places where crime did not exist. Contrary to what lawyers and liberals
and sobbing hanky-stompers had maintained over decades of lawlessness,
it was very easy to accomplish. Crime was not tolerated. When everyone