God's Country

Part Fifty-Three

Absolute Power

January 2020

'Ah Lord God! Behold, thou hast made the heaven and the earth by thy great power and stretched out arm, and there is nothing too hard for thee.'

Jeremiah 32:17

"This New Year is the dawn of our modern renaissance." Charles Fitzgerald told his rapt audience. "Six months ago people tended to just laugh at us, and just dismiss us as freaks or extremists, but the truth is we are committed to our cause. This country...like so many other so-called first world nations...has been rotting from the inside out for decades. In the name of progress, we have allowed our children to run amok...every generation has allowed the next to run headlong into a new crisis, all in the name of progress...obesity, promiscuity and substance abuse to name but three. Before we asked the questions of everyone, people used to say what can you do? It's just the way it is these days...it is our modern life. But that is so wrong...that is a dereliction of our duty to future generations...our own children. It is up to us to draw a line in the sand right here. It is up to us say enough...this has to stop right here, right now, for the good of everyone. Gentlemen, if you don't like the way your daughter dresses, it is up to you to make her change. If you don't like where she goes, or who she goes out of your house with, don't let her go. You can say no to your children, my friends. I know that is a radical notion in the twenty first century but you can set new boundaries. There really is an alternative."

"My party has a number of policies which we will need your help to turn into law after the election, but you need to vote for change, and as masters in your own house, you need to encourage change." Buckingham paused for effect, deliberately looking into the television camera covering his Guildford election rally. The parties were off and running after Philip Henderson resigned just before the New Year. By the end of January there would be a new government and suddenly Charles Buckingham was the favourite. Just thinking about it sent shivers down his spine: he was favourite to become the next prime minister. "I do believe in modesty and my dear wife and daughter are modest, pious women who respect themselves and others, but I am not saying our way is for everyone. However, I am saying that it is just wrong for anyone to be out in public half-dressed, behaviour which demeans them, which even puts them at risk of attack and abuse, and tempts others into sin or the contemplation of sin...this is not right and it is not acceptable. It was not acceptable when I was a child, so why is it acceptable now? Is that progress? My friends, the devil is in the detail, as always. It is the little things we let slip that tempt us into the bigger problems. Many public parks are almost no go areas after dark, full of teenagers drinking beer, maybe taking drugs and generally terrorising the good people of our towns. But they are there because individuals allow them to be there. They have money in their pockets that their parents put there. They get served in shops because the law is not respected and as it is 'ok' to have a boyfriend, and 'make out' it all just gets worse and worse. My daughter does not 'make out' because I do not allow her the opportunity my friends. My critics say that we are against personal freedoms, but I prefer to call it protecting our children and the moral fibre of this country. Our manifesto is not Draconian, I do not demand that you believe what I believe, but I do expect all adults to take responsibility for what happens at home."

"Every father should know where all his children are, and that they are safe." Buckingham insisted, using his right hand to emphasise his point, as if he was stabbing someone in the chest with his forefinger. "Parental negligence, or perhaps parental apathy, gives our children the opportunity to sin...to ruin their lives before they even have a chance. Nowadays, far too many women want a career...but only after a hedonistic few years of travelling and partying at university. But they have a career mapped out for them from the moment they are born, my friends. They are born to be wives and mothers, to spread God's seed and earn God's love as Daughter's of Eve. Everything else in our lives is the work of the devil, and we must resist it and purge ourselves of the permissive society once and for all. I want a world where families stay together and raise children in God's love. I want to eradicate our drugs culture. I want to eradicate teenage pregnancies out of wedlock...damn it I want to eradicate all pregnancies out of wedlock. I want to improve our education system so that the morals and standards of our country are passed onto all our children, and I want laws that support all of this built around us, so that we can help the few that stray from the path of righteousness. I want a Christian country that embraces all cultures, as long as they embrace ours. I want a safe place for everyone. My own religious views are an irrelevance of course. I will not be making the laws here, the House of Commons will...so you are not voting for a church...you are voting to reclaim the society we lost to rampant progress in the sixties. You are voting to draw a line in the sand and say enough is enough...things have gone much too far much too fast...it is time for an alternative. Happy New Year my friends...in three weeks time you will get your chance to vote for change. You get a chance to reclaim this country for the majority of people who care about how we live."