Chapter 80
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Eve thought about what Amy had said. She was well aware that if the state siezed Ravenwood shelters, she'd be much less likely to gain access. At her job people had some bad things to say about the president, but Eve thought they were just bitter and scared. Mason's food rationing could be annoying, the same food of less quality on conseutive days, harder to obtain lipstickor even shampoo at times. But there was always enough food and clean soap. At work Wednesday Eve did some research on president Mason. It turned out that the original George Mason was considered a founding father. This man had been a diplomat during the American revolution. He'd originally refused to sign the constitution because it did not have a formal declaration of individual rights, which was why he was instrumental in helping to create the Bill of rights. Although George Mason was a slaveowner he helped create legislation that would eventually abolish the slave trade. George Mason died in 1792, during the administration of his friend George Washington, America's first president. It might've seemed incomprehensible to him that his descendent would become the last president of the country he helped create. The current president was born in 1980. Although his family was wealthy from iron he enrolled at West Point military academy. Graduating with the class of 2002 he was sent to Afghanistan. Mason served honorably when he was captured and tortured by insurgents. After escaping he was given a medical dis-charge. Involved with veteras groups Mason fell in love with Sharon, a lawyer witht he prosecutor's office. They married and had their first child, Mimi, in a little over a year. In 2010 he was approached by the Democratic party to run for congress. It seemed likely that the Republicans would take control of congress and they wanted to minimize their losses. Mason slowly rose to prominence, eventually running for the presidency. Eve wondered, at what point did Mason learn about ELE? When in congress Mason had been a bigger supporter of the 2nd amendment, less of abortion or euthanasia rights. That changed when he became president. Perhaps he wanted to minimize those who'd be killed by ELE, and prevent people from taking the Arks by force. Congress passed the acts. In 2030 Mason had campaigned for a number of challengers to congress, both republican and democrat. At the time it seemed he was askewing petty party politics to put the best and brightest in congress. Now, it seemed like they owed him big. Those who'd won all seemed to support his agenda. The supreme court upheld the constitutionality of the actions taken by Mason since 2/4. But then Mason appointed five of these nine justices in his first term. Not since George Washington had a president appointed that many supreme court justices in one term. Eve didn't believe all the radical conspiracy theories, but Amy made her wonder.