The rumble of the thunder echoed through the room

”Boy, that was a close one”

“Sounded like it hit the building.”

The rain continued to pelt the building as George and Paul continued staring through the heavy tempered glass to the storm outside.

“Will it ever end?”

“It has to end sometime, George”

It had been storming in the area for a couple of weeks now. The forecast was for continuing stormy weather for at least another two weeks. The rain was needed. It had not rained like this in years.

“We needed rain, that’s for sure”

“Yeah, George, but not all this rain at one time.”

“Did you hear who he is appointing to Secretary of State?”

“Yeah, and I’m not surprised, Paul. He is going to try to run this country just like it’s a business. It is all he knows. It is what has worked for him.”

“But is it going to work for us...the common people? More like us working for them.”

“We are born into a world that is under such heavy corporate influence. We are not as free as we like to think we are, as we say we are, like we like to tell each other we are.

We confuse ourselves with our personal freedoms, Paul. We chant like a herd of sheep for smaller government, and every time the government backs up, the corporations step in and fill the void. I may not want the government running my life, telling me what to do, but I would prefer the government over a corporation. At least with the government, there is some accountability, we have a voice, we can detect some sense of fair play, but with corporate control, we lose all of our influence. It is no longer government of “We the people”. It’s more like corporations running our lives and we either like it or starve. It’s a corporotocracy more than a democracy.”

“But the American government isn’t chartered as a corporation.

We the people are not a corporation.

We the people charter corporations.

Why do we charter corporations that ultimately enslave us? “

“Good Question, Paul. I think the corporations should be working to enrich the population and the community rather than enrich themselves and their shareholders.

The government is a buffer between the people and the corporations. With strong government, we are able to regulate these corporations.”

“We the people haven’t done a very good job sustaining a strong government. Now, the corporations are becoming or have even become the government.

George, if we run the country like a business, we become more like a business and less like a country. Everything is a business decision. The general welfare of the people is no longer the primary consideration.

“Same with the Union, dude! I’ve heard so many times that we need to run the Local like a business. The trouble with that is the more that we operate like a business, the less we look like a union.

“Talk about deregulation, Paul, if only workers were free and unregulated to form unions.

“Workers should be free and even encouraged to organize, not just for the sake of organization, but because they need the power of numbers to demand accountability. Wages and working conditions should be free and unregulated to seek their own natural level through the use of good faith collective bargaining.

After all, George, history reminds us that capitalism never thrives without a healthy and well paid working class.

It was now raining harder than ever.

“The best way I think to sustain our unions in these times is the same thing that sustained them through the early days, and that is our willingness to show “kindness generosity, consideration, affection, honesty, hospitality, compassion and charity” toward each other, regardless of what the world thinks of us.”

The sheets of rain battered the plate glass, seeming to drown out everything except for the rising voices down the hallway. They couldn’t help but listen. As the storm thundered outside the unknown just around the corner loudly expressed his point of view.

“Newt is an arrogant self-righteous intolerant ex everything that still doesn’t get the message that he is nothing more than a court jester looking for attention. Well paid, court jester no doubt which is due to the fact that the brain dead, red eyed, GOPers who elected junk like Trump don’t understand that in a perfect GOP world, the rich get richer and the poor, well they just stay poor, dumb and robopathically hate Obama and always vote Republican even if it means starving to death for another four years. These Nascar, NFL, tattooed tea drinkers don’t even understand that Trump did not win a democratic election. He lost! Arithmetic! Hilary got 3 million more votes than the yellow hair piece. But they don’t know or don’t care. If they don’t care, it’s because they can’t stand democracy and hate freedom. Democracy means the guy who gets the most votes that would be Hilary, They can’t stand freedom because they don’t want anybody to be free free to vote who hasn’t been brainwashed with red paint like them.”

He drew a breath and continued

“When these tattooed tea drinkers get their way, they don’t know when to quit, celebrating victory about winning the electoral college, when it’s like winning a pool game when somebody else scratches. It’s a win by default. The iron heads don't understand that we all lose, not just poor ripped off democrats who were force fed Hairy Hilary. Keep on playing your silly two party games and pretending like you understand”

Another breath, he sucked in.

“This time next year, we will still have Obama Care. There will be no wall. Immigrants, legal or illegal will still be the primary benefit free work force still stealing the jobs from the US citizens who want to work for US wages. We will still have the Iran Deal and Putin will still be playing Trump like a violin with broken strings as the pseudo President still continues to lead from behind. “

“Jesus Christ and Merry Christmas, Paul, I’m booking. I hope we don’t have to listen to those rants for the next four years! He needs to know that everybody, including democrats have tattoos and they watch NFL games, too.