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April 30th?

Editorial by Ravi Singh, Posted on April 30, 2009; Updated May 18, 2009

"That's right. George Washington took office as the first president of the United States of America 200 years ago today. And it happened right here. We were going to declare another independence — the dawn of a new nation — here. The end of the Patriots' secret rule, liberation of this country — this was where it was supposed to begin, this is where freedom could have been born."
– Solidus Snake; April 30, 2009

Dave Forrest from Policenauts enjoying a burger, as per usual.

WHO IS DAVE FORREST?

Just some guy who lives in New York City, works for the infamous Tokugawa Heavy Industries and, like his counterpart from Policenauts, likes burgers. Worried about increased government intervention in private lives as well as the markets, Forrest is even more flabbergasted by the events that have unfolded–Ex-President George Sears portrayed himself as dead eco-terrorist Solid Snake and, along with the US Navy Seals anti-terrorist group he founded, took down The Big Shell, which by the way was definitely not cleaning up oil as there was none to be found, and current President James Johnson is dead too. A "vessel" of sorts which is labeled by the U.S. Army then crashed into lower Manhattan, where Sears somehow ended up on the roof of Federal Hall on Wall Street and falls off with deep blade wounds.

"Nanos got me where I am today!"

The government's reaction to this will be a joke. "Terrorists did it, we need more power." People weary of war will find themselves apathetic to the government using privatized military for the same ends even though the system will still be run by them. Let's not forget the endless injections which in actuality are just nanomachines being implemented without consent, although later on people will happily take in nanomachines for things like weight loss manufactured by bailed out pharmaceuticals. Who's going to keep these idiotic solutions in check? The media? Not when their interests are at stake. Congress? HAHAHAHA. The people? What if they beLIEve that a babysitting government is best fit?

Unknown to Forrest is the events that occur from now up to sometime in 2014. Eventually the digital iron fist that's squeezing everyone into control loses it's grip and everything that was once held in grasp slips out through the crack of it's fingers. Everything that has been set into motion since practically the end of WWII will finally be gone, leaving behind true liberty and individual freedoms. Of course, that's until some assholes decide to fill in the open hole The Patriots leave behind.

However while we are analyzing Dave Forrest's world, we have to wonder, was Sons of Liberty really that far-off to the real world? The United States government has gained so much power since the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001. Imagine what would have happened if Ronald Reagan tried to pull something like the US PATRIOT Act to "protect" us from the Soviets–it would have been considered very un-American. About twenty years later, it's acceptable as long as the government takes care of those terrorists–in effect, the terrorists have succeeded in shaping the United States into a completely different country. If they truly hate America for its freedom, they should be appreciative of the push towards a more centralized statist nation. Great Britain, too, has given increased power to it's government which uses CCTV to protect it's citizens from women undressing to take a bath.

Dave Forrest is more aware of the dramatic changes his world will face than people in the real world are.

Now we see a crisis unfold everyday. The war on terrorism. The economy. The swine flu epidemic. These problems are most certainly major issues we face, but are the solutions the government has really all that much better? Stripping away the very civil liberties that have influenced the development of what is now known as the western world? Not being able to pay for our adventures overseas outside of increased taxation and inflating our currency by printing money in addition to the usual heavy debt? Then further increasing inflation in order to lower said debt by printing money for banks and businesses that are "too big to fail"?

What's next, mandatory vaccinations that are rushed and may cause more harm than good? Who really knows what the future holds for us? Even the very people who may or may not be essentially controlling this nation or even the world probably don't know. Fuck, even I don't know what I want. Big Boss didn't know until his (final) death:

"Know this… Zero and I… Liquid and Solidus… we all fought a long, bloody war for our liberty. We fought to free ourselves from nations… and systems… and norms, and ages. But no matter how hard we tried, the only liberty we found… was on the inside… trapped within those limits."

So who is Dave Forrest? We all are.

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