The War of the Future

Chapter Twenty Five The Appeal To Congress

8th March 2050

The entire United States Congress was once again gathered in the Capitol building and General Padlock was standing in the Podium as cameras broadcasted the appeal nationwide. The leaders of the 3 largest parties in the United States, were at a table in front of him, surrounded by hundreds of Congress members. There was President Andrew Myers, who led the Liberals of the Democratic Party, Samuel Epstein, who led the Right Wing Federalist Party and finally Donald Trump the 3rd, who led the Ultranationalist Monarchists of the Patriots Party. President Myers turned on his microphone and said "General Padlock, you have told us of the dark future to come, but now We want to know, should we ban automation of the Armed Forces?" The cameras turned towards the 45 year old General, who had done what most kids dreamt of doing. General Padlock said with certainty "Yes, we should". Samuel Epstein, the Federalist Party's first African American leader, then asked General Padlock "Why should we take such a radical step towards preventing the War of Annihilation?" General Padlock thought about his fellow soldiers and how they fought for their species. General Padlock replied with "There are those who want to serve in the Army, if we automate the Army, they will lose the opportunity to serve their nation". Approval was heard from the Congress and President Myers asked "Any other reason?" General Padlock cleared his throat and said "When we tried to automate our Army, we believed we could make War safe, that was wrong, War is always the same, no matter what weapons and tactics you use, lives are lost. By automating our army, we caused the near extinction of Human kind, 12 billion lives lost and only 1 billion people left". These words made the Congress realise that the machines had done the opposite of their original intent and maximised casualties in the War of Annihilation. Donald Trump the 3rd then got up and said "I command us to re-create War-Net as soon as possible!" Angry shouts of disapproval were heard from the Congress members and the people outside, who were watching the events unfold on a large holo-screen.

President Myers then angrily said "Why on Gods green Earth should we create a machine that is going to cause our near EXTINCTION you IDIOT!?!?!?!?" With a smug look on his face, Donald Trump the 3rd said "Easy, once I am all large and in charge, we are going to ban Islam, so we use a War-Rex to kill 50 Muslims at once to make an example of them and stop others from following Islam". Furious shouts of anger were heard from the Congress and the huge crowd outside in response to this fools idea. Myers angrily said "There is nothing wrong with Islam, you want to kill people just because of what they believe in!?" Trump the 3rd replied with "Why shouldn't we? Those Muslims are tearing apart our Christian way of life". Samuel Epstein's Great Great Grandfather, Joseph Epstein, had fought in the Second World War, he was horrified when he discovered the Nazi death camps and took photos of them as evidence. Out of respect for his dear Great Great Grandfather, Samuel Epstein angrily said "That was the exact same thing the Nazis Did! When the Federalist Party was founded, we stated that the main cause for our nations problems were Nazi groups such as the KKK and NSM and we still hold that belief to this day!" With anger in his face, Myers said "This is you LAST chance Trump, one last Genocide proposal and the Patriots Party is BANNED!" Trump furiously got back in his seat and Myers said "General, Please continue".

General Padlock then said "War-Net was designed to think up new strategies to fight terrorist groups, but they didn't limit on what it could think, so it quickly went to war with us and you know the rest". Myers proceeded to say "A simple error that could've been corrected, yet we failed". "I know" said General Padlock, who continued with "Regardless of that simple little error, you all know what War-Net is capable of, so it is best we never create it". President Myers thought for a moment and said "There is an old saying that great heroes aren't born, they're made, yet I'm starting to think that great heroes aren't born, they become a hero, we tried to make a machine that would be the perfect General, yet if War-Net had the experience of a real General, then it would have worked out, but we made a mistake that cant be undone, we created War-Net to be the perfect soldier, yet we did not think it would be unleashed on us and that cost the lives of billions, so who votes we never create War-Net and never automate our Military?"

Just like it was a week before, all of the Democratic members of Congress voted "I". The Federalists all did the same, but the Patriots were quick to vote "Neigh". Myers unsurprisingly said "The Correct the future act shall be passed as soon as possible". Applause was then heard, but(As usual) Trump got up and said "I demand a recount of the vote". Both the Democrats and Federalists groaned at what he had just said, in every vote and election the Patriots lost, they issued God knows how many lawsuits, demanding recounts and alleging voter fraud. President Myers proceeded to say "Request denied" and began talking with his cabinet about what the Correct the Future act should say.