The World Our Children Will Inherit

By Richard W. Stevens

My teenage son just finished reading George Orwell’s future-hell novel, 1984. His reaction: “That ending made me angry!”

Excellent. That’s exactly the reaction that a pro-freedom dad would want to hear. The “hero” in 1984 – de-masculinized, demoralized, disarmed – ends up groveling and praising Big Brother. To the American free spirit, it is a sickening fate.

Back in the days before the calendar year 1984, people could summarize an all-powerful police state with a shorthand phrase: “That’s just like 1984.” Writers and commentators still talk about “Orwellian” scenarios and “Orwellian Newspeak.” Many of us used to work at “preventing 1984 from happening here.”

Problem is – if you are under 35, then the year 1984 has come and gone. It doesn’t make much sense for Gen-X people (and younger) to talk about 1984 as the future.

How do we paint the picture of a frighteningly likely world of tomorrow? A tomorrow that is possible as trends push us toward a globally-directed, federally-secured, gun-free, fat-free, thought-free existence?

The Gray Zone

In 1984, the Party of Big Brother came to power by a world war. Today’s events prove otherwise: world war isn’t the way the all-controlling state will come in America. It won’t be a matter of black and white.

America may simply become The Gray Zone. Every law, regulation, tax, license, scan, ID-check, search, restriction and ban promising to protect us from everything and everyone, including ourselves. That’s the America we may be giving to our kids.

The future world is no longer lurking in 1984. The future world is The Gray Zone. To best understand that world is to see and feel it in a fictional story that moves from today’s news into tomorrow’s reality. For young readers, for post-1984 readers, RebelFire: Out of the Gray Zone tells that story in 21st Century terms.

The Gun-Free Zone

Recall the reviewer’s words: “Those little sacrifices you are asked to endure.” That’s like the creeping invasion of “gun controls.” Any single one of the firearms regulations might not seem onerous, but they always add on. Travel across America and you see: waiting periods, purchase limits, restrictions on ownership, possession, storage, carrying, shooting, and on and on. (Only Alaska has done anything to reverse this trend.) The same thing happened with anti-smoking regulations and seat belt laws; the next target is “high fat” food.

As gun owners, we endure one regulation and indignity after another. As the years pass, the regulations bleed us with a thousand cuts. Another ten years – will the laws relax? Not likely!

RebelFire: Out of the Gray Zone fast-forwards today’s trends to show young readers the future we are creating. (Can you guess what happens to firearms ownership in The Gray Zone?)

As the reviewer went on to say: “this is an important book. Its themes are …the power of believing in yourself and your dreams. The importance of bravery in the face of adversity. The supreme need for loyalty to and from those we love. There is no lack of adventure, but it's adventure of an oddly personal, realistic type. There are no shining heroes or last ditch rescues. The people and events of RebelFire are conflicted and fallible; the events are … momentous.”

Going Underground

You can sneak behind the lines and secretly warn a young reader about The Gray Zone that looms in his or her future. Send a copy of the short novel RebelFire: Out of the Gray Zone anonymously to your son, daughter, niece, nephew, grandchild, or any young person 12 or older. JPFO will mail the book with an intriguing note: "From a Secret Rebel." The package includes a music CD with two rock songs from the book. Then stand back and watch what happens.

Call (800) 869-1884 or click on www.rebelfire.com. The whole package is just $17.95 postage paid. For the price of a large pizza and cola, you just might create an American freedom fighter.