| Rating: | ★★★ |
| Category: | Books |
| Genre: | Science Fiction & Fantasy |
| Author: | John Ringo |
I finished reading “Live Free or Die” from John Ringo. I have avoided some of his work in the past but this seemed promising. It is based on an online comic so the ideas aren’t original to him. However, he is filling in the gaps to the comic. The basis of the book is that the earth is invaded by a group of people called the Horvath. They don’t have a lot of power, but they can drop rocks on Earth and essentially have us beat. The thing is, a man, Tyler, has figured out that maple syrup works like a drug on another group of aliens and Tyler has become rich and powerful from that trade. The Horvath have threatened the Earth to take over the trade and have told the President that Tyler must die and all syrup must be delivered to them. The following is a broadcast on Tyler’s reaction.
-----------------------------------------------------------
“Now, as a people, we have been called upon to make great and momentous decisions. Decisions reflecting both liberty and security. Liberty is an odd word. And for a long time it has been, in truth, degraded. Many who used the term liberty in truth mean libertine. And even those who fought in our courts and legislature over questions of liberty, in truth meant things that are minor at best and puerile at worst. As we have now found out, liberty is not about where you can put your sexual organs but about the essential question of whether we, as a people, can make our own decisions. And security is not about whether the government should be able to tap our phone but about whether we are going to be allowed to take the next breath. Will our cities be ashes? Will we live? Will our children live?
“Yet…to battle over maple syrup? The inherent humor of the situation sometimes clouds the truly vast nature of the struggle. For it is not, in the end, what we give up, maple syrup or gold or platinum. It is of a piece. It is about whether we, as a people, as nations that were both conceived in liberty, will continue to cherish that concept.
“Benjamin Franklin once said: “Those who would give up essential liberty to purchase a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety.” And in this current condition there is, in fact, neither. I understand, as few but the most specialized experts understand, the strategic situation. The Horvath control our orbitals. We can fight but there is simply no way to win. Fighting would appear to be a pointless exercise.
“But collecting this maple syrup requires the willing cooperation of thousands of people. Men and women, Canadian and American, who have been born in the concept, instilled in the idea, of liberty. These people of the fields, woods, and mountains, pour from these regions to fill our military. Not, as many city folk think, because they’re poor or desperate but because this is their essential nature. No person is happy to give their life, but the people of this region believe that there is something larger than their selves. Not just God, although many are believers in God, but a vision, a philosophy, a shared belief in freedom and justice and the battle against tyranny. From their very mother’s milk they are filled with this belief, that to die in the cause of freedom brings not heaven but a better place here on Earth for succeeding generations.
“I have taken the tenor of these people and they are determined against yielding. As stubborn as the granite of their mountains, they, almost in unanimity, refuse to yield. They may, perhaps will, be destroyed. But they, and, yes, their children, will die free.
“They, however, are not under threat. The Horvath threaten to destroy our cities, not these woods, mountains and fields. Let me touch upon that.
“The Horvath are a very monolithic and communal culture. The very concept of liberty is foreign to them. So I’m going to have to explain something to the Horvath. You may be looking upon our cities as sort of communal groups for which the people of this region are gatherers. This is not, in fact, the case. The people of this region are their own communal grouping, connected to but not of the cities. They are, in fact, almost invariably at odds with the groups of the cities. The cities, you dumb squids, are our enemies. You’re threatening our enemies, you morons! We hate the people of the cities. I hate the people of the cities! Liberal, whining, socialist pussies! They’ve never given us anything but trouble! Please, please, please nuke Washington! What has Washington ever done for us? They just take and take and take! The bastards! Kill them all!
“As for me, I’ll tell you what I think!” Tyler said shouting. He jumped up to his feet and flipped a bird at the ceiling, looking straight up. “Give me liberty, or give me death, you bastards! Live free or …”
“Lost signal from the cabin,“ Ryan said. “switching to…secondary remote.”
“Hah!” Tyler said, still flipping the bird at the ceiling. “Missed me, you egg-sucking ignoramuses! Never heard of a laser relay or a green-screen, have you? Go ahead and try to take our maple syrup! Dumb-asses!”
“And secondary remote is gone.” Ryan said.
“I think that’s good enough,” Tyler said.
--------------------------------------
The book has some interesting points, mostly a growing outrage with the people against the government. I was kind of shocked by the bluntness of the author but if this is getting into SF, that shows there are a lot of ticked off people out there. It is an interesting read but isn’t really believable. You can tell he’s trying to mesh into an existing story and the end kind of fizzles. Oh well, it was worth it for the above exerpt.
No comments:
Post a Comment