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“Good morning, productive cabinet members,” announced President Barber with a refreshed smile on his face.
“Good morning, Mr. President,” replied the cabinet members in unison.
“Are we prepared to begin The Movement’s strides to perfection?” he asked, still with a wide grin, raising his arms to waist-level.
Troy stood up in his seat, nearest the president, towards the front of the room.
“Yes, President Barber, we are prepared to begin The Movement’s strides to perfection,” he said confidently.
“Dr. Cole? Are you prepared?” asked President Barber.
“Yes, sir. I am prepared, Mr. President,” he responded with a straight face.
“Perfect!” shouted a smiling President Barber, raising his arms above his head in jubilation. “Now, let’s get some goals laid out for us within a reasonable and obtainable timeframe. Remember, we’re working fast here. Very fast.”
Troy raised his hand.
“Yes, Mr. Duckworth?” asked President Barber, returning his raised arms flush against his waist.
“Sir, what do you consider fast? One year? Two years? Less? More?” asked Troy.
“I want all of these reforms to be fully implemented and enforced within the next six months. Not a day later,” he replied sternly. “Is there anyone in this room that believes that is unobtainable?”
Dr. Cole stood up.
“Mr. President, I am unsure of the level of radicalness you have in mind, but I am wholly confident in this cabinet’s ability to produce efficient work. I do not believe there is a task we cannot complete in due time,” he assured.
“Perfect!” shouted President Barber once more. “So,” he began, lowering his voice, “who wants to start? Any ideas for reforms that come to mind immediately?”
“Sir, I have one question that I believe is critical to my understanding of these radical reforms,” asked Dr. Erasmus Brand from the back of the room. “Right now, The Movement’s current population on the continent is two-hundred forty-eight million, seven-hundred thousand and eighty-nine. This number is down over one hundred million in the last twenty years. If these reforms are to be fully implemented within the next six months, what kind of population control am I devising here? What number are we striving to reach?”
“That is an excellent beginning point, Dr. Brand,” replied President Barber. “Mr. Duckworth, to meet the level of maximum productive capacity, what was your estimate for the continent’s total population?”
“Ninety million?” responded Troy with uncertainty.
Dr. Brand sank his eyes.
“Ninety million? How on earth are going to get down to ninety million people in six months? That seems nearly impossible!” he laughed.
“Dr. Brand, you and I will figure out a way. We will try to be pacific; but, what must be done must get done,” said President Barber, determined.
“Yes, sir,” replied Dr. Brand after a long pause.
“So, are there any suggestions to reach this first goal of ours?” asked President Barber.
The cabinet members looked down, scratching their heads and thinking hard. After several minutes of silence, Sergeant Holt raised his hand.
“Yes, Sergeant Holt?” asked President Barber.
“Well, Mr. President. If there is a way to assess each citizen’s level of loyalty to The Movement’s cause, we could exile those with the least interest in The Movement’s success,” he suggested.
President Barber nodded his head, rubbing his chin.
“That is an interesting idea, Sergeant Holt. Dr. Hill, is there any current technology to determine somebody’s level of loyalty?” he responded.
“A few months ago I invented a near fool-proof measure of assessing honesty. The process includes swallowing a small pill. But rather than medicinal contents, it has a scale mechanism, much similar to the Richter Scale we use to measure the force of earthquakes. This pill measures very small earthquakes, actually, the level of the patient’s calmness, and thus, honesty. The more calm the person remains, the more truth is being shared. The more quivering, the more lies,” he explained.
President Barber nodded his head in understanding.
“There are a few extraneous factors, of course,” continued Dr. Hill. “Some people know they are being tested, which makes them quiver in itself, regardless of their level of honesty. Others quiver at the thought of swallowing a pill, obscuring the pill’s effectiveness for a number of outliers. Yet, still others just simply have heart murmurs, which also obscures the data.”
“What is this pill’s reliability level? How valid is it?” asked the president.
“The pill proves correct over ninety-nine percent of the time, but there are certain exceptions which would take further assessment and analysis,” answered Dr. Hill.
President Barber thought in silence for a short moment.
“Is this method a timely process, or is it relatively expedient?” he finally spoke up.
“It depends. We can analyze a person’s health issues before the assessment to categorize and separate each citizen apart from the aggregate. Afterwards, the honesty assessment could be assessed with a more accurate measure than before. But if we’re talking about over two-hundred million assessments, before the actual assessment, we would need to begin that assessment as soon as possible; today, even, in order to try to make the six month goal,” said Dr. Hill.
“That certainly is an option,” said President Barber.
“I find that method imperfect,” opined Troy. “Although I respect Dr. Hill’s research and analysis, to determine somebody’s eligibility for citizenship based off of a simple assessment of level of loyalty via honesty, well, what kind of assessment acts as the catalyst? Are we conducting two hundred million interviews and then analyzing each interviewee’s responses, then matching those responses to the pill’s scale reading? There are certainly some questions that make each of us uneasy, thus honesty could mean honest embarrassment rather than being a liar, further complicating the results. Even more important, there are plenty of loyal citizens who fully support The Movement in and out and in every way; but their critical efficiency to The Movement’s purpose could be obscured by their lack of knowledge or work ethic. Many people, in fact most people, want to be wealthy, but they lack the intellect or the wherewithal to become that. Just because somebody wants something or is honest in a response does not make that person critical to the success of The Movement.”
“I see your concern, Mr. Duckworth,” replied President Barber, impressed with Troy’s rationale but not admitting it. “Mr. Duckworth, are you totally dismantling the idea of this honesty pill?”
“I admire Dr. Hill’s work and advanced technological inventions, but if we are trying to separate the meaningful from the meaningless, we need to devise another way to collect citizenship,” he answered.
“I agree,” interjected Dr. Hill. “Mr. Duckworth’s insight is vital. I never even considered his outlook until he mentioned it.”
“What do you recommend then, Mr. Duckworth?” asked the president.
“I think we need to create a system-or a kind of invisible test-which accurately measures the most important contributors to The Movement rather than an assessment that measures somebody’s loyalty. Loyalty is great, yes, but a meaningful contribution is better,” recommended Troy.
“I like the contribution factor, Mr. Duckworth. But what about traitors? Are you not paranoid about potential traitors who could reverse any progress just as they are capable of contributing?” asked Sergeant Holt.
“That is something you would need to have a keen eye for, Sergeant Holt. Is it not your responsibility to pinpoint and eliminate those types of cliques?” asked Troy with supreme confidence.
“I understand my responsibilities perfectly. Thank you, Mr. Duckworth. But I do find your proposal quite counterintuitive, even precarious, in design. If The Movement consisted of two million meaningful contributors, I would need a team capable of tracking the behavior of each of those contributors on a daily basis to recognize and detect any unusual behavior that could be espionage, insubordination, sedition, or simply rebellion of any form. I realize your ambition to have a society of production, but omitting loyalty from the equation is a hugely miscalculation!” explained Sergeant Holt, his anger growing with every syllable.
Troy took a deep breath, peered over at the president, and snapped back at Sergeant Holt.
“Sergeant, you must be misunderstanding a critical component to my druthers. The Movement needs, as a vital necessity, productive citizens to recover world supremacy. Loyalty alone will result in an idle state of stale nationalism in the form of allegiance. There is no safe route for The Movement to succeed. There are risks involved. And more so than ever before we need intelligent, productive citizens who can contribute together, with us. Contribution breeds loyalty, Sergeant,” responded Troy with fire in his lungs.
“Contribution breeds loyalty?” screamed Sergeant Holt. “What kind of mitigation is that, Mr. Duckworth? Your nonsensical jive does not work with me, you immigrant! I deal with excuses like you on a daily basis. You can’t-”
“Sergeant Holt!” shouted President Barber. “Calm yourself!”
President Barber leapt up from his seat and paced over to Sergeant Holt. He stood in front of him and leaned over the table, nearly nose to nose. Both men were red in the face, breathing as if they had just ran a mile and were now trying to contain their breathing.
“Mr. President. Sergeant Holt. This is not the way we handle our differences. Sergeant, let’s dialect this concept out. I think we are getting somewhere if we can put aside our indifferences,” said Troy, trying to separate the two men.
Troy grabbed the president’s wrist and pulled lightly, tugging him away from the table and back to the front of the room.
“Let’s not implode. We’re much better than that. We are sophisticated intellectuals, not badgering souls,” said Troy.
The President acquiesced to Troy’s pull, repositioning himself back to the front of the room. Sergeant Holt still sat at the conference table and remained red in the face. He could not contain his anger and frustration, even several minutes after the confrontation. The President moved on, forgetting the short-lived clash and returning to the task at hand. He stood in the front of the room, explaining a review of the past few hours of dialect.
“So,” President Barber continued, “Mr. Duckworth’s proposal to assess and analyze a citizen’s meaningful contributions to The Movement is intriguing. It is essentially a productivity test. Sergeant Holt wishes to assess a citizen’s loyalty to The Movement despite productivity.”
He remained wide-eyed and held his hands on top of each other in front of his chest, gathering his thoughts as to not say the wrong thing. The rest of the cabinet awaited his every word.
“Because there are pros and cons to each of these theories of assessments- after all, all they are is simple theories because we do not know as a fact how they will result - why don’t we combine the two and collaborate?” continued the President.
The cabinet members adjusted their seats and took deep breaths.
“What is the matter?” asked the president. “Each idea is a fantastic one; but each also has its flaws. I order we combine the two concepts together. This way we can have the most efficient and productive citizens who can contribute their intellect to The Movement’s cause; yet, we still assess those productive citizens’ loyalty to ensure trust and limit treasonous actions.”
“And how will we actually assess all those citizens’ productivity?” asked Sergeant Holt in a confident and sarcastic tone.
“That is for you to figure out as the one in charge of such duties, is it not Sergeant Holt?” replied President Barber in a straightforward manner. “I suggest we first assess and analyze the most productive citizens. We can devise an algorithm for ranking the most productive to least productive. Dr. Hill, I think you could discover such an algorithm. As for you, Mr. Duckworth and Sergeant Holt, we can decipher between the most productive citizens. Only afterwards will we begin from the top and assess those productive citizens’ loyalty. If they pass the assessment, we welcome them to The Movement’s official vanguard with a badge of honor. If they do not pass-and depending on their assessment scores on the loyalty test-we can either keep a keen eye on them with minute-by-minute tracking of their behavior or exile them altogether from The Movement’s progress.”
The room stood silent as each cabinet member mulled over the President’s lengthy proposal in front of them.
“I love the idea. It only makes the most sense, and it will no doubt be the best approach to not only lower the population, but to eliminate those citizens who are the least valuable; burdensome, even. I highly recommend and stand behind this proposal entirely,” exclaimed Dr. Brand from the back of the room.
“Sergeant Holt? Mr. Duckworth?” asked President Barber in urgent. “Are you on board or is there any further considerations?”
“I approve,” said Sergeant Holt from the front of the table, his arms crossed and head down.
“Well then, I knew we could get along and work something out,” said President Barber with a wide smile. “And you, Mr. Duckworth?”
Troy thought for a minute longer, scratching his chin in search of a flaw with the proposal.
“I can’t find anything wrong with it, Mr. President. I approve,” he said.
“Great!” shouted President Barber in jubilation. “Do the rest of you agree with these fine intellectuals?”
The room erupted in the applauding hands of the entire cabinet, marking the official adoption of the first reformed policy of The Movement.