"William W Johnstone - Ashes 28 - Standoff in the Ashes (txt)" - читать интересную книгу автора (Johnstone William W)

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First Printing: October, 1999

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6

I have nothing to offer but blood, toil, sweat, and tears.

Winston Churchill

7 Prologue
If a war had not engulfed the entire world, plunging every nation into
bloody chaos, the government of the United States would probably have
collapsed, anyway. Personal income taxes had been going up for years,
and the hardworking, law-abiding citizens were paying well over half
their incomes to the government. The left wing of the Democratic party
had taken over and passed massive gun-grab legislation, effectively
disarming American citizens- except for die criminals, of course, and
about three quarters of a million tough-minded Americans who didn't give
a rat's ass what liberals said, thought, or did. Those Americans
carefully sealed up their guns and buried diem, along with cases of
ammunition. When the collapse came, those Americans were able to defend
themselves against the hundreds of roaming gangs of punks and thugs that
popped up all over what had once been called the United States of
America. The great nation would never again be accurately referred to by
that name.

8

Slowly, a growing group of people began calling for a man named Ben
Raines to lead them, but Ben didn't want any part of leadership. For
months he disregarded the ever-increasing calls from people all over the
nation. Finally, he could no longer ignore the pleas.

Months later, thousands of people made the journey to the northwest part
of the country and formed their own nation of three states. It was
called the Tri-States, and those who chose to live there based many of
their laws on the Constitution of the United States, on die original
interpretation of that most revered document. Basically, it was a
commonsense approach to government, something that had been sadly
lacking during the years when the liberals were in control of the old
United States of America. After only a few months in their new nation,
Ben knew that only about two out of every ten Americans could (or would,