Time Travel Adventures Of Future Anarchists - Episode 4

Voluntarists from the future travel back in time to witness the horrid history of statism.

Year:  2600

The people of earth live in a voluntary society.

Scene – At a history tourism center, people go in a time machine to witness history first hand.  The historical guide for the next tour is meeting a small group of tourists and prepping them for the journey.  They are in a large, vaulted atrium.    

Guide:  Welcome to the tour, everyone.  My name is Miles.  You’ve all chosen to witness what is known as the American Revolutionary War of the late 18th century.  Any questions or comments before we begin?

Curious Cal:  Yeah man, I heard about some kind of tea party that went on back then.  Are we gonna go to that party?   
Vivid Val (excited):  Oh, a party without electricity! How deliciously rustic!

Miles:  Um, no, we won’t be attending what I think you’re referring to, which is the Boston Tea Party.    
Artistic Alice:  Can we at least have some tea?

Miles:  If you wish, I’m sure we can make that happen somehow, yes.    
Curious Cal:  Will we get to wear those cool looking old clothes they had during that time period?   

Vivid Val:  Speak for yourself.  Their attire I find quite unattractive. I’ve done VR tours, which are quite realistic.    

Miles:  If you wish, we can certainly furnish some clothing that fits the style of the day, yes.  Now, I don’t like to be hasty, but I’m afraid we must get going if we’re to keep on schedule.    

Artistic Alice:  If we’re traveling through time, what difference does it make?
Miles (sighs):  I’ll be happy to explain later.    

Miles gives voice command and control panel appears.  He punches some snazzy buttons.  Titanic double doors slide open.  The time machine, in the shape of a 39 foot tall shoe, is revealed.   

Curious Cal:  What’s with the shoe?
Miles:  That’s the time machine.    

Artistic Alice:  Quite the original design, now isn’t it?
Vivid Val:  If it smells like an old shoe, I want a full refund.    

Miles facepalms and walks into the heel of the shoe as others follow with varying degrees of skepticism painted on their faces.    

Miles:  Ok, before we go, just a bit on the ground rules for our tour.  The ship will be cloaked the entire time, as will our bodies when we leave the ship.  Feel free to speak as much as you like among the locals as well, because our voices will be inaudible to them.  However, please refrain from touching anyone.  Any interference could cause irreparable damage to the fabric of space time.    

Curious Cal:  What would happen if the fabric of space time got ripped?
Miles:  Please sir, your curiosity is appreciated, but we really must be going.    

Miles punches in some commands on the holo-controls.  A kaleidoscope envelops them as they spin through the helix of time. They end up in a field just a few hundred yards from a battle scene in rural Virginia.  Miles leads them out of the shoe so they can watch from a safe distance.  The scene is quite brutal and impossibly noisy, with cannons and muskets firing, and unfathomable shrieks of suffering.    

Vivid Val (cringing, half-shielding eyes):  Oh, it’s so much worse than I imagined!
Curious Cal (covering ears, yelling):  So why are all these people running around like crazy and killing each other?

Miles:  Well, there were, of course, complex circumstances involved.  However, to get down to the crux of the matter, it was due to moral relativism and ignorance of Natural Law, especially for the fellows wearing those bright red coats.    

Artistic Alice:  Yes, correct me if I’m wrong, but wouldn’t such blazing colors be quite a tactical disadvantage?

Miles:  Quite astute observation, yes.  And speaking of the people wearing red coats, many of them crossed the Atlantic Ocean to attack the people living here.  Not only that, but they did so because some people told them to do it.    

Curious Cal:  That’s it? Somebody told them to go across an ocean and murder, and they did it?   
Miles:  Stunning, no? Yes, the belief in external human authority was quite strong throughout most of human history.    

Artistic Alice:  So what about the ones not wearing red coats? They were defending themselves and their property?

Miles:  For the most part, yes, that was the motivation for many of them.  They were trying to gain a greater degree of freedom.    

Vivid Val (pointing):  Hey, do you see that guy on a horse, wearing a fancy uniform way off in the distance? He’s one of the only people not fighting.  He’s just watching with some kind of long, shiny device.

Miles:  Just a moment. (zooms in with nano-contacts) Ah, yes, he is Charles Cornwallis, someone who was positioned in the authoritarian hierarchy so that he didn’t have to physically fight.   

Vivid Val:  And why is he looking straight at us?
Miles (cringes):  Hmmm, excellent question.  It does appear that he’s staring at us with great interest.  Odd…..I’ll take a look at the cloaking controls.       

Miles gives voice command and holo-panel appears.  He punches madly on the suspended symbols of light.  Then his jaw drops.    

Miles:  Oh, dear.    
Curious Cal:  What is it, pal? Is space time ripping?

Miles:  No, nothing so perilous for the entire universe.    
Vivid Val:  Just perilous for us.

Miles:  No, but we need to leave.
Artistic Alice:  Why?

Miles:  The imaging regeneration units are malfunctioning.    
Curious Cal:  In English.

Miles:  They can see us.

All gasp.

Miles:  Well, not completely.  To them, it looks as though we’re flickering.  Back to the shoe, please, and I’ll have it fixed in a jiffy! 

They rush back into the shoe.  Miles madly punches on the controls and they’re whisked through the helix of time once again.  The shoe drops safely just outside of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on September 17, 1787.

They step out into the crisp air and gawk around for a moment.

Miles:  Ok, the cloaking functions should be fine now.    
Curious Cal:  So about that space-time thing……

Miles:  Not to worry, I’m sure that Cornwallis seeing us will end up nothing more than just another ghost story or legend.  And anyway, if anything did go screwy, we would have ceased to exist by now.

Vivid Val (eyes rolling):  How comforting….
Artistic Alice:  Your tact could use some work, Miles.    

Miles:  Yes, well, anyway, we’d better get moving.    

Their nano-suits gently lift them in the air and fly them into Philly, proper.  They land softly just outside of a handsome building called Independence Hall.    

Artistic Alice (fascinated):  The architecture’s a dream!
Miles:  Yes, certain things from this period are delightful, to be sure.   

Vivid Val:  So what are we here to see again?   

Miles:  A strange and archaic custom of the day, one very famous from the sordid history of man’s fallacious belief in external human authority.  We’re about to see what is euphemistically called “the signing of the U.S. Constitution.”   

Curious Cal:  Which means what, in reality?
Miles:  A group of men signing a piece of paper.    

Vivid Val (scoffs, hands on hips):  Oh, I declare! I paid to see a piece of paper get signed?

Miles:  Well, yes, in a sense.  However, it has great historical significance.  You see, as was normal throughout nearly all of human history, people believed that certain people had authority over others.  They formed bizarre collections of coercive institutions called governments.  What is interesting in this particular case is that, as we witnessed in the violent battle a moment ago, the people here in this local area were attempting to free themselves from the violent tyranny of others; others who lived across an ocean.    

Artistic Alice:  You mean the people in the red coats?

Miles:  Not that simple, but in a nutshell, yes.  And they succeeded in defeated that particular order-following, tyrannical cult.  However, just four years after that war ended, which is the time we’re visiting now, a small group got together, signed a piece of paper, and organized a new violent, tyrannical cult.

Vivid Val:  How unbearably uncouth!

Curious Cal: I don’t get it.  Why did people obey something, just because it was written on a piece of paper? Why didn’t each individual rule themselves, like we do in our day?

Miles:  They lacked knowledge because of mind-control, and fear-based emotional manipulation.  Anyway, you see, the formation of this government was highly significant because some of the people who created it, at least had some knowledge of Natural Rights.  And some of the people of this time period and in this geographical location did experience a greater degree of liberty than had previously occurred.  Unfortunately, they didn’t go all the way to voluntaryism.  They held a most illogical idea called “limited government”, and the immoral belief that ruling over others in any fashion was legitimate.    

All chuckle heartily at that ludicrous concept.    

Artistic Alice:  Didn't that so-called "limited government" eventually lead to one of the most murderous, plunderous empires in history? 

Miles:  Yes, Alice, that's right.

Vivid Val:  And I heard some of those guys that signed that piece of paper actually participated in some disgusting behavior called “slave ownership”.  They actually thought they could buy and sell people? Boss them around? Steal their stuff? And that it was legitimate?

Miles:  Yes, amazing as it seems, that was the case.  Quite the contradiction, wouldn’t you say? Now, the moment has come.  We need to step through the entrance in five seconds.

Curious Cal:  Why five seconds?

Miles sighs.  They step into the charming structure just as Benjamin Franklin is about to sign.  Franklin peers towards the group of time travelers and gives a shocked look.    

Alexander Hamilton (impatient):  What is it now, Ben? You’ve been waffling all day.    

Franklin:  You didn’t see that? Nobody saw that?
James Madison (annoyed):  The old man is seeing things again.    

The time travelers flicker again.  Franklin clutches chest.

Franklin:  Apparitions!   
Miles:  Oh, dear! Run!

The tour group runs out.  The suits activate flight mode and get them back to the shoe.    

Vivid Val:  I believe a refund will be in order.
Artistic Alice:  I hope we didn’t give that poor old man a heart attack.

Miles:  Yes, the feeling is mutual.  I’m afraid we’ll have to return to our own time and cut the tour short so our tech crew can fix these dastardly glitches.    

Curious Cal:  What about that tea party? 

Thanks for your time and attention1

Just say "NO" to slavery!

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