Much more significantly, the FCC regulation that had prevented corporations from controlling multiple outlets in the same region had been lifted, allowing administration-friendly mergers and purchases to further erode free speech.

As a result, the news from Washington was unfailingly upbeat. The war against terrorism was going extremely well; McCord’s Defense Department reported that American troops, finally let loose to fight the enemy, were rooting them out and killing them in increasingly fantastic numbers. The president had awarded the newly created American Freedom Medal to seven patriots who had informed local law enforcement about their neighbor’s suspicious activities.

According to the administration, the economy was booming; it was growing so rapidly, according to Labor secretary Sean Kelly, that the numbers were “unbelievable!” Naturally I quoted him on that, suggesting we take him at his word. In reality, people were continuing to struggle. Automation continued to devour jobs; rising manufacturing and agricultural costs had resulted in higher retail prices; loosened institutional lending regulations combined with increased interest rates had sent millions more Americans into debt; and changed behavior had devastated the travel and energy sectors. Through all this, the Treasury Department continued to issue upbeat reports.

The good news for us was that the Pro was too inconsequential to be considered an immediate problem. I continued to post my stories, getting in subversive digs whenever possible, even if on occasion I was the only person who knew the dig was subversive. For example, when citing those rosy job creation numbers, I referred to them as “a novel approach to economic statistics.” We knew the rules: We were permitted to criticize the administration whenever we wanted to; first the administration informed us when we wanted to, and then we did it.

I had to give Wrightman credit: not everything he did was suppressive. Or, as I referred to it, the Santa Claus factor. For example, over the following few months being able to impose wartime policy without having to bother negotiating with Congress allowed the administration to reinforce the shaky foundation the Democrats had laid down for an affordable healthcare system. The administration also imposed gun control regulations that limited certain types of gun ownership to militia members. The immigration problem was solved by informing the media it was not permitted to write about the immigration problem (and to be fair, employing cutting-edge technology on the borders). Crime too was reduced measurably when Wrightman issued an executive order authorizing pre-facto search warrants, giving law enforcement and militias the ability to prevent potential terrorist acts at the earliest possible time—thus allowing them to detain suspected criminals before they had even planned any crimes.

International relations were a bit more dicey. European governments, watching the increasingly repressive steps taken by the Wrightman administration, were wary of strengthening treaty and trade relationships. Far more alarming, State Department officials supposedly were in discussion with China, Russia, and the Saudis to forge a joint self-defense pact, a commitment that if any of the signatories were attacked by terrorists we would act jointly in response.