Fahrenheit 451

The temperature at which democracy burns

The great city lay in smoldering ruins beyond the scorched trees. They followed the railroad tracks into the silent blackened woods until they became the lush chirping and cooing green that defined the deep dark wilderness.

Let me explain where we are heading and what we are doing, Miss. And what your assignment will be.

Where are we? Do you have food?

I’d say we’re roughly 20 miles outside of DC. We’ll eat when we get there.

Are we safe from them?

Yes. Did you ever read Fahrenheit 451? Maybe when you were a kid in school?

I think so. I really don’t remember it. How far do we have to go?

A little ways. An hour or so. 451 was about this dystopian future where firemen burned any books they found. The government said they contained “insanity”. It was written by a sci-fi writer named Ray Bradbury in the 50s.

Okay, yeah. I think I saw the movie when I was a kid. Get to the point. Why are we here in the middle of nowhere in these woods?

You’ll see soon enough.

Leaves of three-let it be. Poison ivy, right?

Uh huh.

We’ve been walking forever and I’m starving.

At the end of Bradbury’s story, the protagonist, a book burning fireman named Montag risks it all by reading books. He is caught. At the end he loses everything and flees. To a place like where we’re headed.

Like what? I don’t see anything. How far do we have to go? The sun’s going down. What’s that sound?

Owls.

Oh.

It’s just ahead, Miss. Anyway Montag escapes to a place where people called the “book lovers” have created a safe refuge in the woods. They’re all former intellectuals. And they have taken it upon themselves to memorize books should the day come when the sick world they are living in is ready to embrace the literature of the past.

I remember.

Each one of these so-called book lovers has memorized only one book. Maybe two.

What does that have to do with where we are going?

How long have you been homeless?

Since the “Purge” and the reprisals.

Ah. “The Retribution”.

I hid.

I was sent to find you and others like you.

Why?

You, Miss, are what the zealots called the “Enemy Within”, an agent of the “Deep State.

I was no such thing. I was just a civil servant! In an obscure federal agency that served the children.

Here we are, Miss. Watch your head. Down the steps. Careful.

How far does this go?

Stay with me. See the light ahead?

My God! What is it?

Watch your step.

This is a huge camp. There are hundreds of people down here. This is insane.

And there are more scattered across the country. No, this is sane. Where you were? That was insanity.

Who are they? Why are they pacing in circles and muttering to themselves?

These are your fellow citizens. They were purged when Trump burned America’s government to the ground. Follow me. And we’ll get you something to eat. Each one here has taken it upon him or herself to memorize an important document or an agency and its function. Or simply a part of American history that has been scrubbed from the American consciousness by Trump and his zealots.

I never thought it would get this bad.

Neither did I. But he is a narcissist. Corner one and they snap. You knew protests would lead to Martial law which would lead to shots fired which would lead to where we are today.

And what exactly is this place?

Hallowed ground, miss. Here you see before you our entire democracy carried forward in thousands of human vessels. The workings of the entire federal government memorized and preserved by the people who used to be a part of it.

What did you memorize, sir?

I was a historian. They are quite a few of us down here among the journalists, librarians, and civil servants. I memorized the 1620 project, the history of the civil rights movement from 1948 to 1962 and the Gettysburg address. Parts of the American story that have been scrubbed from our common history. Took me weeks to memorize them but I can recite them all.

How did you-

We’ll teach you, Miss.

Mister-

Revere. Mr. Revere.

Mr. Revere. I know the Gettysburg address, the Pledge of Allegiance and parts of the Constitution. The Preamble. By heart. I was there at the National Archives when they smashed the glass, hauled the Constitution out of the archives and burned it in front of the building on the Mall in 2028. I was hiding in the mob when Musk and his Hacker Hooligans burned everything in the National Archives. He stood on the steps, gave his weird Nazi salute and said, “This is the digital age. Paper is the past! if it’s not digital it’s not real. If it’s not digital, it I didn’t really happen.”

We won’ be asking you to memorize anything as sexy as the Constitution but what we will ask you to memorize is equally important. What did you oversee at your agency?

Anything related to Children and Youth with Special Health Care Needs.

Do you remember the structure of the agency, your mandates and regulations?

Some. Most. Many. There were thousands.

Start working on it today. Someday you will play an important part in the reconstruction.

What?

The reconstruction? Democracy will return. And we’ll have to be ready to rebuild it. Stronger.

Sorry. My stomach is growling. I’ve been days without food.

Food will be down at that grove to your left. Shelter is straight ahead. On the way I’ll introduce you around. This is the BHA with USAID. Say hello to our newest member: Children and Youth with Special Health Care Needs.

Hi. I’m the Bureau for Humanitarian Assistance. I managed relief efforts after wars and natural disasters.

Hi, I’m Children and Youth with Special Health Care Needs..We’re part of the Health Resources and Services Administration. Under the Maternal and Child Health Bureau.

Hi and welcome aboard. This is my friend, FBI.

Hi. FBI. Domestic Terror Division. Cyber Investigations. And miss, you are?

Proud to be a part of the rebirth of our nation.

References

Fahrenheit 451 Google Books

Fahrenheit 451 Amazon