"William W Johnstone - Ashes 26 - Triumph in the Ashes (txt)" - читать интересную книгу автора (Johnstone William W)

As the country began to slowly pull itself out of the greatest economic
and social collapse in world history, Ben Raines found himself to be the
most hated man in all of America. That really didn't come as any
surprise to Ben, for right after the collapse Ben had gathered together
a small group called the Rebels-a mixture of
political/militia/survivalist oriented men and women- and told them,
"We're going to rebuild. Against all odds, we're going to carve out our
own nation. And we're going to be hated for our success."

As it turned out, hate was not nearly a strong enough word.

Ben and his Rebels first went to the northwest and settled in what would
forever be known as the Tri-States and the Tri-States form of
government. The philosophy was based on personal responsibility and
common sense. It soon became a hated form of government for those living
outside the Tri-States, for liberals and other left-wingers didn't want
to be responsible for anything they did, and they didn't appear to
possess any common sense.
"Of course, that isn't entirely true," Ben once said in one of his
rarely granted interviews with the press. "But that's the way it seems
to those of us who believe

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William W. Johnstone

that government should stay out of the lives of its citizens as much as
possible."

In the Tri-States, if you got careless and stuck yourself in the face
with the business end of a screwdriver, you didn't sue the manufacturer
of the screwdriver for damages . . . you learned to be more careful in
handling tools.

Common sense.

Ben Raines realized that not everyone could, or would, live under a
system of law that leaned heavily on common sense and personal
responsibility. From the outset he estimated, correctly as it turned
out, that no more than two or three out of every ten Americans could
live under a Tri-States form of government. People who came to live in
the old Tri-States did not expect something for nothing . . . and that
was wise on their part, for they damn sure weren't going to get
something for nothing.

In the Tri-States, everybody who was able worked at something. No
able-bodied person sat on his ass and expected free handouts from the
taxpayers .. . that just wasn't going to happen. You might not like the
job that would be found for you-and it would be found very quickly-but
you worked it or you got out.