Of the People

By Ross G. Drago

Of the People brings us to the next stage of Democracy, where people harness the internet to take America back from corporate rule. Ross Drago’s novel is a love story, an archetypal struggle between father and son, and an intense political revolution dedicated to ridding America of graft and corrupt governing forces. When Tony Russo, son of California Governor Frank Russo, helps create the Cooperative-Democratic Party, he and his father go into battle to see who will take over California as the governing power, a powerful individual or a collective identity, made of thousands of Co-Governors.
The radical new Co-Dem Party has no actual person at its head. It is therefore immune to bribery or corporate threats. As a rapidly growing movement in 2035, after the Eco-Atrocities Era trials that supposedly cleansed the country of big money control, the foundation of corruption is threatened by this powerful collective. This novel is packed with new inspirational social ideas and social consciousness. A must-read for anyone who is searching for answers to our problems as a nation and as a species.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Ross G. Drago
• Release date: May 11, 2016
• ISBN: 9781310890208

Ross G. Drago

Ross G. Drago was born in Buffalo, the son of well known Buffalo artist Ross J. Drago, whose painting of the Buffalo skyline is on the cover of Buffalo Boy. Ross G. Drago is a painter, writer and inventor of an energy symbol language which he uses in his paintings. This language describes human relationships in energy terms. Drago received a B.A. Degree in painting and sculpture at S.U.N.Y. at Elmwood in 1964. Drago moved to Berkeley, California in 1967. There he founded and is Director of the Energy Art Studio. Ross G. Drago is the author of several books on human energy consciousness, and editor of on-line Paint Rag Magazine.

Book preview

Of the People

A Love Story and a Revolution

Sworn to

Take Democracy Back

Ross Drago

OF THE PEOPLE. Copyright © 2016 by Ross G. Drago. Printed in the United States of America. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission with the exception of brief quotations for articles, critiques, or promotion of this book by this author.

Table of Contents

Beginning

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End

About Ross Drago

Other Titles by Ross Drago

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Of The People

1

It had become clear to many Californians, in the light of rampant corporate control of our Once-Democratic government, that Cooperative-Democracy was destined to become the new political mode. All we had to do was break free of the corporate death-grip that was still bringing life on Earth down, even two years after the EcoAtrocities Era trials. The problem was that no one knew exactly how or when this revolution could take place.

Tony Russo, son of California Governor Frank Russo, clicked the send button after completing the Co-Governor of California candidate final exam. He went into his e-mail to see if he had passed or failed the exam after a year of hard study. In a moment, an e-mail arrived from CoDem.org. With hands still moist from the exam, taken in real time, he clicked the e-mail open.

"Congratulations, Co-Governor Antonio Russo,

"You have passed the Co-Gubernatorial Candidate exam with a test score of 93 correct answers out of 100 questions. Your Co-Governor password is RdX5nN3. Share this password with no one. This is a secure e-mail. You will receive gubernatorial information and may now participate in full measure in the State of California, 2034 race for candidacy for Co-Governor.

"Thank you for your participation in the Cooperative Democracy Party. You may now open your doors and give audience to local constituents for further development of our platform for the 2034 Gubernatorial election campaign.

Annette Sanchez, Cooperative-Democracy Secretary of the State of California.

Tony grabbed his cell phone and pressed his twin sister Rebecca’s number. In a moment she answered. Café Roma conversations came across on top of Rebecca’s voice and her face appeared on his cell phone screen. She answered the call with Hey!

That would be ‘Hey, Co-Governor candidate for the State of California,’ if you please. Tony came back, grinning at her through his phone.

You made it! You made it! You’re amazing! Congratulations! I’m so proud of you!

Rebecca was behind him from the start. He had studied every evening for nearly a year, and he had passed a very difficult exam with honors.

"I’m taking you out to dinner tonight. Chez Panisse. Upstairs, little bro! The phrase little bro" was playfully meant to remind him, even in his glory, that as his fraternal twin sister, she was twenty-eight seconds older than he was, and that he should never forget it. They laughed.

Oh, no, this one is my treat, for all your encouragement. I’ll come by, say, six thirty? Tony said.

Perfect. I can’t wait to hear about the exam. It sounds like you did great!

Ninety-three. The hard part was understanding the Indian accent of the examiner in the oral exam. She terrified me. Imagine, getting your exam from someone half way around the world for a co-governorship in America. Anyway, I’ll fill you in tonight.

Great, she said.

The two said a quick good-bye. He spun in his chair and stopped to envision how he would arrange his room to more resemble the office of a Co-Governor. He entertained the idea of buying a State flag, and tired of the idea almost instantly. But he would buy one of Chuck Gibson’s paintings, one with a flag in it and abstracted colors and vague images of people. He would hang it over his desk. That would be his personal State flag.

Tony turned back to shut down his old big-screen computer, a relic that he couldn't give up for that great large image, when a new e-mail popped up. It carried with it the Co-Democracy official insignia, which he would open with his password. It was his first Co-Governor message. He was now officially one of two thousand eight hundred and forty-three Democratic Party Co-Governors candidate of California. They would each vote in whatever way they thought best on every issue that came to their e-mail table, and however the votes went, that is how the collective and in-name-only entity, Governor, would vote. It was the first time since Athens' original Democracy that a democracy was actually and truly of the people, by the people and for the people. But Athenian democracy was limited only to men. This one included as the co-Governor candidates’ men, women, teens, gays, lesbians, religious folk and atheists, rich and poor, and every race, color and belief-set in the State of California, all in one personification. He found his password and opened the e-mail. It read:

As a final step toward making Co-Democracy influential to the fullest degree, and to assert that Co-Democracy is equivalent to official government political activities and powers, Co-Dem member Phillip Jefferson makes a Motion that the Co-Democracy movement become a non-profit organization, and thereby be in a position for all finances relegated to Co-Democracy projects to be entirely tax deductible by those who donate their funds, as would be our legal right as a non-profit organization. This will change Co-Democracy participants from the status of mega-polling information gathering for official government agencies, into actual political leadership. We urge the Co-Governors to vote YES on Motion 38, and make Co-Democracy a non-profit organization.

Below was a radio button. One said Yes. The other said No. A third button said Abstain.

The motion was followed by a thirty-minute discussion. At the end of the discussion on-line, with no objections, it was time to vote. Tony Russo stared at the buttons. Every political position in America had been duplicated by the Co-Democracy on-line game. In every city and every state, and the presidency itself, the Senate, the House, all had been given a proxy name, and those who wanted to participate in being a co-senator or co-president, co-district counselor or co-mayor had studied, taken their tests, and played that role as a way of comparing what the people really wanted to what the people’s so-called representatives brought into law. The differences had become more painful and politically embarrassing in the last three years. This e-mail was that moment of truth. If Co-Democracy forces could pass a law that re-routed actual tax money to the projects that they deemed worth carrying out, the government would, to that extent at least, belong to the Co-Democracy System. Money would be shunted away from the existing government and into the Co-Dem structure. What had started out as an on-line comparison of what people wanted as compared to what people were being handed in the name of their representative government, could become the new political form of Democracy itself.

A coldness went through Russo and a trickle of icy sweat made its way down his side. With a single click of his mouse, and now as a Co-Governor candidate of the State of California, he had the power to try to change a magnificent national way of taunting political leaders into what could easily become a bloodless or even a bloody revolution. More than that, as the son of the actual Governor of California, he would be dropping an emotional hand grenade on his own family table, and on his own father's lifelong political career.

2

Another e-mail appeared on Tony's screen, quickly followed by six more. All of them were official Co-Democracy matters. He was just about to head out for his first lunch as co-governor. It was to be his little celebration with himself, to feel the accomplishment at some restaurant and then have a latté at an outdoor café. That was what he had been envisioning for the year he had been studying for the post. He clicked the first e-mail. It read:

"Dear Co-Governor Russo,

"I am an inventor who has completed work on a device that can greatly help the economic system get back on its feet in a way that gives everyone the power previously held only by the most powerful and exclusive corporate banking conglomerates. This e-mail is to request an audience with you, at your earliest convenience, to discuss your underwriting this new device as a way of promoting its rapid growth and use. I believe this invention is the answer to ending our economic hardship and global economic exploitation as a nation.

"Congratulations on your recent co-governorship. I see by the date that this has taken place less than an hour ago! OMG! Congratulations! I am eager to meet with you.

"With warmest regards,

Cynthia M. Hobstetter.

Tony held his cooling teacup in the air, and realized how innovations were finally possible and communications were now open as never before between people and ‘government officials’. This alone had allowed for creative people to finally connect with the people who allowed new ideas to spread, instead of being bought up and pocketed in a warehouse of ideas that threatened the status quo of industry. Before he left for lunch, Anthony Russo sent an e-mail back, saying that he would see Ms. Hobstetter on Tuesday morning at 10:00 AM. Tony stood and went out to lunch to find some restaurant that made him feel like he had reached the top of the mountain he had been climbing for the past year. He fought the desire to frighten himself by looking down. It was no longer a dream. He was part of an electronic Second American Revolution.

3

Tuesday morning came slowly for Tony. Ten AM after rising came slower still. After four cups of tea, at exactly ten o’clock, his front doorbell rang. He took a quick look at himself in the hallway mirror. In that instant he was shocked to see that he looked like his father. He had never seen that before. Others told him repeatedly how much he resembled his Dad, but now even he could see that it was so. Tony then saw himself again. He was a light-skinned man with Mars- black hair, long Italian eyelashes and heavy eyelids. He had inherited those great Italian genes that made the men as handsome as the women were beautiful, and allowed them to age, when the time came, like Greeks, into interesting faces molded by every emotion they had ever felt with all of their hearts. Now he was thirty-three. But he could always slide up and down the temporal kazoo and see himself as an old man or a young teenaged boy. He focused back on today, straightened a soft tan sweater over a pale blue shirt and gray slacks, and continued to the front door of his Berkeley home. His study would serve as the Co-Governor’s office. The almost lacy curtains on the front door glass allowed the figure of a woman to show through, but not much else. He had rehearsed his hello a thousand times. A new identity is a scary thing. Who exactly was answering the damn door? And would she actually believe that he was now a Co-Governor? He inhaled deeply and opened the door.

Good morning, and congratulations again, Cynthia Hobstetter said, with as much rehearsal behind it as his Good morning, Cynthia, thank you. Come in, come in.

Inside his own mind, however, Tony fainted. She was the color of bronze and gorgeous, an admixture of at least three dark-skinned cultures and a little Irish tossed in that punctuated her beauty with green eyes and auburn hair. She held a valise of black material that resembled leather but was not leather. She smiled again and Tony nearly fell apart as he motioned for her to enter his office. He was petrified by her presence and her dismantling beauty.

She sat at the chair across from his with a formal desk between them. He had purchased the desk from IKEA only two weeks earlier, trying to work some magic to set his co-governorship stage and make it really happen.

Your invention sounds fabulous. I'm completely intrigued, he managed. He took his seat and folded his fingers, then unfolded them, and then folded them again and smiled, nodding to her.

Thank you. I’m new at this. How should I address you? she asked, sincerely.

"Tony, please. And may I call you Cynthia?’ he asked.

Please, she assured him.

So, exactly what does an invention look like that will help bring the economy back from the dead or at least out of its being held hostage by a few giant thugs? he asked, smiling, knowing that she agreed to his comparison.

Cynthia Hobstetter reached into her purse and pulled out a small silver colored object that resembled a cell phone. It had a pale purple cast to it that made it look feminine and even beautiful.

Then she took out a second one that was silver with a blue cast and slid this one across the desk to him. This one is for you. It’s a gift, so that you can try it yourself and see how it works. It’s your bank, she added.

He looked down at it. My bank, he repeated.

Exactly. It’s difficult to grasp the full meaning of that. That’s why I asked to see you in person. Once activated, it has every capability of any full-scale bank on Earth, she said and smiled that smile again. The only difference is, you own it, and it serves your interests, not big banks' interests. As of now, you're a bank owner with the same financial abilities as Wells Fargo, First Republic, Bank of America, or any bank on Earth! she added.

Tony poured her a cup of hot tea to buy a second to think about what his response should be. He had refilled his own cup as well.

Please, continue, he said.

"Thanks. This is how it works. You make your first deposit. That deposit is made by going on-line and withdrawing from your current bank account and transferring funds to the address of your personal bank. It’s the same as making any on-line payment to any company, only this one is a payment to your new bank account. You’re actually switching banks.

"Now the money is transferred to your new account. The bank costs one hundred and eighty dollars. Eighty dollars pays for the equipment itself. One hundred dollars is for the purchase of one share in a co-op supermarket that will be created soon in the future. The money from all of the banks' collective account balances reach a point where only twenty percent of it will finance the creation of the co-op supermarket in your city.

"A co-op, as you know, has amazing power. But what people don’t understand yet is that when you start putting two co-ops together, you get an exponential result. When you splice a co-op bank with a co-op supermarket, you free yourself from all outside banking powers and extreme food prices. Each one makes the other possible, whereas before neither was possible without selling out somewhere to big money powers who own you for decades.

To give an incentive to the people who join the banking co-op before there is a supermarket, they receive a Founder’s discount card that they can use to purchase food in their own supermarket at an extra-substantial discount, she said.

I’m sorry, where does the money come from to finance such a supermarket, again please? Tony asked politely, still amazed by the woman’s light bronze skin and electric green eyes.

"The funding comes from collectivization of the bank owner’s accounts, pooled into one massive account, as the banks themselves do with our money, but for their own interests and investments. But this bank is a co-op. It is on the side of the co-op members, no one else.

And how does the supermarket fit in, again? Tony asked.

"Okay, before the supermarket is created by the twenty percent of the collective account balance, the bank owners can use the bank for checking accounts, savings accounts and debit card activity. But once the supermarket is created, the bank has an income that allows for it to make very low-interest loans to those who are bank co-op members. It can even have the funding to issue low-interest credit cards to its co-op members.

"Now, these are the benefits of such a super-market-bank co-op merger. With our bank, it offers very low credit interest, very low default payment fees. We’re talking about five to seven percent guaranteed loan interests, and token default fees like a flat fee, so it’s not punishing low-income people by getting still more money out of them, which is just plain mean. It also as a co-op bank offers collective buying power; for example, if someone wants to buy a certain brand of electric car, the software finds those co-op members who want the same thing, and if, say, fifty people want such a car, it requests a volume price from manufacturers or retailers for fifty such cars. You get volume prices. You also receive either a Founder’s Discount card or a Bank Owner’s discount card that gives you substantial discounts on all groceries purchased at the co-op that you own a share of. The supermarket gives profits to sustaining the bank, so loans can feasibly be made at such low interest rates, but to a limited degree, so that the supermarket can also give back an annual refund to the co-op market shareholders, the people of the co-op.

Cynthia lifted her bank and pressed a button on the side of it. A flat credit-card shaped metal flat popped out. "Or, you may slide this along any debit card slot, or use it in an ATM machine or over- the-counter payment, exactly as if you had a debit card from a major bank or of course, wireless, no contact purchase power. We also issue separate debit cards that you may use, as well, that lead to your private bank. Shall I go on with my schpeel?

Please., Tony assured her that he was intrigued.

"I thought so, but I wanted to be sure. So, the supermarket is used by any people who want to buy groceries, and that’s one income, but it’s also used by the founding co-op members as well as the general co-op members. Its profit belongs to the shareholders, who each have one vote only as co-op shareholders. You buy in to the bank-supermarket co-op complex by purchasing your own bank, and thereby free yourself from big banks' hold over you and the high costs of feeding yourself and your family.

Amazing, and this system is being put into practice as a test somewhere? Tony asked.

Four major cities so far, and we have two supermarkets, one in Michigan and one in Buffalo. Two cities that aren’t afraid of new ideas, she added.

Cynthia and Tony talked about the concept for another full hour. When all was said, they stared at one another. Finally, Tony said, Now I’m starving. Would you let me treat you to lunch? This is a lot to absorb. If you’re free, we can let it all float around and relax. Oh, by the way, what does a Bank cost? he asked, standing.

Nineteen-ninety-five, she said.

Nineteen hundred? he asked.

Nineteen dollars and ninety-five cents, plus tax, she smiled.

Tony stopped and looked down at his Bank. For twenty bucks we can own our own bank, give ourselves no-interest loans, scan the market and make money in our sleep, buy at volume prices, and never get overextended. Is this alien technology? You’re not some alien. are you? Some angelic life form? he joked.

That wouldn’t be as much fun as this. she came back.

He stared at her, charmed again. Bacheeso’s! You’ll love it. My treat. Is it a yes?"

It is a yes. she said.

4

Cynthia Hobstetter and Tony Russo went to Bacheeso’s, took plates and began adding to their plates from the line of gourmet Middle Eastern and Italian wedding type food. It was eleven-thirty and the place had not begun to fill with customers. They took a seat at a table and the waitress came to their table to see if they wanted anything to drink. They each ordered tea. The waitress herself appeared to be both Italian and Middle Eastern and she wore her keen awareness in her eyes.

So, Mister Co-Governor, how does it feel? Cynthia asked.

Tony lifted his eyebrows. So far, it’s great. For the last two hours, I’ve had more fun than I've had in the year of preparing for it. After lunch, I’m meeting with three people who are starting a new kind of restaurant-school. So many teachers have been canned in California that the teachers and the restaurant owners have come up with a plan to create a kind of floating, café-oriented adult school and for some high school people who can show that they can get something out of it as well. The restaurant decides whose behavior they'll tolerate, so it keeps the students well-behaved. Besides, they apparently love to study at a restaurant instead of in a classroom.

Cynthia took off her jacket and placed it on the chair next to her. She wore a green blouse that made her eyes look like electric signs. Tony blinked, the impact of her gaze was so penetrating.