Day 347 - Rabble Story

Rabble Story

Matthew Ryan Fischer

There was nowhere to escape to, so instead they gathered and marched. There was no way to change the system, so they gathered and protested. They were angry, they were scared, and they didn’t know what else to do. No one listened to them. No one cared. The world has left them behind with little recourse or opportunity. The future had already been bought and sold and they had been left out. Without strength, without representation or a voice, they gathered. They didn’t know what they could do to change things, but for lack of a better option, they assembled as a show of force.

There had been a post-war economic depression. There had been financial collapse. The people were scared. But there were still banks and there was still debt and there were still the rich that seemed immune. Currency had been devalued and the state seemed to only side with the traders and lenders. People were becoming squatters, living in their own homes they had lost to debt. Their money became valueless through inflation, and their lives were ruined because of lack of industry.

They were the nobodies. They were the common. They were everyone.

The protests began with the many veterans who were simply trying desperately to receive their benefits. The protests grew and grew as word spread and more and more people were left destitute. It suddenly seemed that everyone was in need of something. The government had no money; all they had now was debt. Promises were broken. Votes were cast and speeches were given, but no help came.

They wanted reform. They called for new laws to be passed and new protections for all people. There was a major push to dissolve the current financial system and start over. Petitions were cast and petitions were ignored.

They all knew their demands would be seen as ridiculous and would never be met. It didn’t matter. These were hard times and the people were desperate. They were willing to try anything... anything including violence.

Daniel had no desire to be a rabble-rouser. He had been a loyal solider. He had returned home to work on his family farm, but found nothing but debt. He found himself in deep trouble and quickly realized he was not the only one. He wasn’t the sort to speak out, to protest, but he saw injustice and he was the sort of man to do something about it. He organized his friends and his neighbors. He organized former soldiers. He had never set out to be leader or a hero, but he was inadvertently becoming a champion of something far greater than himself. People recognized this and people responded.

There was no consensus on what course of action to take and so they took no single course of action. They marched. They marched on the banks. They marched on the courts. They marched anywhere they could think of to march that would be disruptive and prove a point.

They proved a point all right. They proved they could be a nuisance.

The National Guard was called in. Warrants were issued. Proclamations were decreed. Arrests were made.

The government had had enough of this nonsense. Daniel and his protestors were told to disperse and go home.

There had been a moment of peace and a moment of protest. Then there was fierce tension and escalation of the threat of violence. And then came the chaos. It was unclear who fired the first shot. Daniel and his Regulators would fall, and their names would be ridiculed and scorned, but the issues they fought for would long be remembered.