Cancellation of Power

One of the most educational places my family visited this summer was the Minutemen National Park. The free guided tours were presented by park rangers, who were often dressed in period clothing of the American Revolution. The rangers could all spout off their historical facts, but what they did even better, was get their audience to relate. Each informative speech inspired the audience to imagine what it was really like to be there when the first shots were fired, and all the anxiety, doubt and trepidation that came with it.

Back then, USA was Britain. Imagine firing on your own army. Or to see your community member struck down. Attempt to fire back when your weapon requires a twenty-second process to load. Then one round of mildly accurate ammunition fires, which is very loud, extremely smokey, and releases a thick white haze that clouds all visibility. It's true chaos.

Even more interesting, is the history that led up to those first shots. How did we get to that point? Taxation without representation, of course, and The Boston Tea Party was the act of rebellion to combat such politics. But then, the kicker is, Britain did not appreciate that Tea Party, and they brought in a babysitter to make sure the colonists behaved. The King hired General Thomas Gage, to rule the colonies, which totally abolished the local government. Yes! That's the big deal I'm getting at. Before Gage showed up, the colonists had their own government. Britain trained us to govern ourselves. We had local heads that were elected by their peers. Suddenly that established local leadership was cancelled, and the colonists were not happy. And they were already trained to be very organized.

Just think how many times in history this cancellation of power has occurred, and the fall-out that followed. Being a Privateer was legal for a while, then it became illegal. But you still had all these crafty sailors hanging around, and they became known as Pirates. This happens over and over. Defeat the Confederacy and the KKK rises. Or think of the men trained to kill in World War II, and Vietnam, then they come home and assassinations spike. How about the most recent bouts with modern terrorists, who were once trained by our own armed forces...

Sorry, I'm not trying to get too political here. I'm just a writer looking for a novel idea, and this power-struggle concept may have potential... Maybe change the setting, to the future. Maybe make it sci-fi? Like an alien government took over, and the one skill they taught us is what we use to defeat them...hmm... not bad... keep going...