Aohell

The Dusty Stranger

An old man walked into the Oval Office. President Bush sat ready to receive a visitor, but hadn't expected this guy. This guy wore a cheap suit, a scraggly beard and leaned hard on his cane.

Well, if he got in here, he must be an important guy. Maybe this old timer owned a huge oil company and just cultivated an eccentric image. Howard Hughes stuff. Yeah, like that Howard Hughes guy. He had zillions. Cool.

Bush stood up to greet the dusty old man. "What can I do for you...ah, what's your name, again?"

"Nathan. Call me Nathan."

"Call me George."

"Nice to meet you, George."

"Won't you have a seat?" The two men sat down on comfy Oval Office chairs.

"What can I do for you, now, Nathan?"

"Well, George, I've got a concern and I want your opinion on what should be done."

"Sure."

"Well, George, it's like this. There are these two nations. One is very rich and powerful, the other small."

Great. Geography. I hope I can pronounce the names of these places. "Go on."

"The small nation is very poor, but it does have one possible hope for the future. It is rich in oil resources."

An oil guy! I knew it! Bush leaned forward. Oil was very, very important. "I hear ya."

"This small nation tried to grow its oil industry. Granted, it had a terrible government. Massive injustices there. But nothing like what was about to happen. Remember that rich and powerful nation? It had been consuming oil at a massive rate in the past, but now consumed oil even more so."

Must be talking about China. Dirty Commies. Still, gotta be careful about China. "Hmmmm."

"This larger nation invaded the smaller one and took over its oil industry. Worse, the government of the larger nation became even harsher on the smaller nation's people than its previous nasty government. As the larger nation looted the smaller nation of its treasures, it also participated in, allowed, or precipitated wholesale acts of violence. This larger nation massacred civilians and whitewashed the whole affair, treating it as nothing. The larger nation even began to withdraw from the Geneva Conventions on Human Rights."

"One question, Nathan."

"Sure."

"Is this larger nation China?"

"No."

"Awesome."

"Excuse me?"

"Sorry, go on."

"Sure, George. There's not much left to say except this larger nation isn't letting go. It's committed to occupying the smaller nation with no end in sight. The murders, robbery, and destruction continue. The people of this nation cry out against their oppressors. The leader of the larger nation insists, however, on keeping things the way they are. He refuses to budge. He refuses to consider negotiations. He seems beyond the reach of words."

Bush's anger took over. He wanted action. "Can the United States do something about this situation?"

"Absolutely."

We will move decisively. Oil is one thing, but murdering the people of a conquered nation? That's just wrong! That's evil! I'm against evil! "Well, Nathan. Let me be frank with you. I don't like what's going on in wherever it is you're talking about. As God lives, the leader of that bigger nation shall surely die. His nation shall restore the damages to that smaller nation plus triple the cost in punitive damages, because he had so little pity to invade that nation in the first place."

But Bush, in spite of his fear of big, fancy names, just had to know who his new sworn adversary was. This man deserved to be part of the Axis of Evil. "Who exactly are we talking about, Nathan? Who is the leader of this other nation?"

Nathan said to George, "You are that man."

"I'm sorry?"

"You are that man."

George looked on in shock.

Nathan continued. "You are the president of the United States, the most powerful nation in the world. You beat two other challengers to the presidency by appealing to conservative Christians and using religion to your advantage. You had all the resources of the United States at your disposal. That was not enough, so you allowed massive deficits in your budgets financed in large part by overseas investors, and even then that was not yet enough.

"Why, then, have you despised the commandment of God, to do evil in his sight? You have ordered aggressive wars against other nations and taken their resources to be your resources. You have allowed them to kill each other with their own weapons more and more as the years passed.

"You lied to the American people so that they would send both sons and daughters, husbands and wives, into the wars fought for gain. You have murdered to get gain, and the Lord has discovered this."

Get this nut out of here. "I think your time is up, Nathan."

Nathan stood up. "I understand. I've said what I had to say. Except one thing: Now therefore the sword shall never depart from your house. Because you have despised God and have sinned in his sight."

George W. Bush, President of the Entire United States of God-Fearin' America, did not let that challenge pass. He stood up and jabbed a finger into Nathan's face. "Where do you get off telling me I have sinned? Nobody's perfect! He who is without sin, let him cast the first stone, right?"

"Hey, this is standard stuff. Ever read about King David?"

"Who?"

"Guy in the book of Samuel, King of Israel, killed off Uriah so he could take his wife. That King David? Well, this is pretty much what God decreed against him back in the day. God is the same today, yesterday and forever, so I came to you with this message."

"How did you get in here, you dusty old bum?"

"Never mind about that. Let's just say your security can't stop everything coming for you. Only God can deliver you from your enemies."

"Well, I pray every day that He does."

"Right, that's why I'm here. To warn you about your greatest foe. You must not allow him to do as he pleases, but must instead remind him of his religion and what that religion requires of him."

This was something Bush could wrap his brain around, telling someone to straighten up and fly right. "And who is my greatest foe?"

"You are that man."

"Not again."

"Afraid so. Now, David was told his son by Bath-Sheba would die, but you're done having kids, so that can't happen to you. The sword never departing from your house, that can stick. And you mentioned about casting the first stone..."

"Yes?"

"You know you cast the first stones in your wars. People who had nothing to do with those who warred upon you have been killed, injured, and left to starve slowly because you chose to cast the first stones. George, I'd advise you not to judge any more, lest you be judged by the same measure."

"But I've tried to serve God!"

"Yeah, and by your deeds, you've given great occasion to the enemies of the Lord to blaspheme. That's not serving God."

Bush felt a burden fall on his shoulders and mind. He looked down at the carpet.

After an interval, Nathan asked, "Well, are you going to change?"

"What do you mean?"

"Well, David at least admitted he'd sinned."

"Oh, I've sinned."

"Well, he admitted in the specific instance."

George remained silent.

"Oh come on, George. Admitting you were wrong is the first step toward making things better again. I mean, take David. Later on, he said things like, 'He that rules over men must be just, ruling in the fear of God.' It's possible to let go of your pride and make changes for the better." Nathan paused to give George a chance to speak. George didn't take advantage of that opportunity, so Nathan continued. "Well, you don't have to decide right now. You don't have to decide at all. You are free to choose."

"Who sent you?"

"I beg your pardon?"

"Who sent you, Nathan?"

"You know, George. You know. You prayed and asked for help with the mess you've got. This is your help. My name being Nathan and all, I went with the motif from Second Samuel in the Old Testament. And-"

"So you're a Christian?"

"Does it matter? If you were Jewish, I'd have quoted from the Law. Were you a Muslim, the Koran. And so on. It wouldn't make a difference what your religion was, the message would be the same, just with a different basis."

"What if I was agnostic or an atheist?"

"If you were an atheist, you wouldn't have prayed, so that's a moot point. And for agnostic, there are plenty of philosophers to work with. The point I'm making, George, is that you are that man. You are now seen as the vile oppressor whose men murder in the night and escape justice. Your administration's policies have taken away the freedoms of your nation. Your administration has allowed rich men to become richer still by robbing the poor of both their money and their children. Your administration has constructed lies in order to attack other nations, bringing wars that could have been avoided to those lands. War is a great evil, George. War ends when it has rolled through cities and villages, everywhere sowing death and destruction."

George looked up. "I don't remember reading that in the Bible."

Nathan nodded. "That last one was Nikita Krushchev to John Kennedy about the Cuban Missile Crisis. It's still pertinent to our discussion. Now, speaking of wars, in order to pay for these wars, you have allowed your Congress to run riot with the money of America, and your nation owes great sums of money to foreign hands. You have sold the future birthright of your nation's children for the most massive deficits in your nation's history. You have created a financial situation so dire, there are serious economists talking about the United States defaulting on its debt. You are that man."

Still no word from George.

"Well, I've said my piece, George. I'm not here to heap troubles on you. You should admit you were wrong, though, if you want people to start believing you. You've got some cheerleader nutjobs out there who will support you, no matter what, so you don't need to worry about them. The rest of your nation, though, does not believe anything about you except you may wind up as the worst president so far for the reasons I've discussed. Sort of a combination Herbert Hoover, Richard Nixon, and Ulysses Grant. If you start telling the truth, you can start solving the problems that beset you and the people of your nation will work with you. You'll have to accept compromises on all of your administration's policies and give back much of the power you've gathered for the executive branch over the years... and reduce a great deal of the secrecy the executive branch surrounds itself with."

"But we need national security and-"

"And, yes, there have to be secrets kept in such cases. But I'm referring to secrecy, which exists to cover up mistakes and failings of the administration. Cover-ups serve no good to your people. Besides, God already knows about them. If the people who have done wrong don't face justice here, they face justice in His court. That's what you believe, right?"

George didn't know if he should agree with Nathan or not. Was this some sort of Democrat plot?

Nathan walked to the door. "I'll see myself out. Just remember, you became enraged at the man I first described."

George opened his mouth to reply, but Nathan cut him off with a wave of his hand. As he left, he said, "You are that man."