The Army of Sanity

It’s 2040. Global warming is a reality. The Los Angeles coastline is breeched, making it necessary to build levees and canals to protect the rest of the city from flooding.

Political and economic developments have changed the face of America and the Western World, now totally polarized into two groups, the fabulously wealthy 1% and the modest 99%, or working class. There is no middle class at all.

A economic system prevails in which the 99% use PIGS, (Personal Income Government Scrip) as their currency, while only the rich 1% can use actual dollars. Ownership of real estate and all highly valuable things is restricted to the 1%. The masses are paid in PIGS, which they use for everyday expenses such as rent, transportation, food, clothing-the basic necessities of life. In this brave new world there are no indigents because everyone receives a basic stipend of PIGS from the government, whether they work or not-welfare on a scale more vast than anyone had previously imagined. Mobility between classes is non-existent.

The 1%, better known as the “Milincomps,” own all of the assets of the Western World-large businesses, media, institutions, governments and all elected officials, the financial system, the mineral reserves, all national infrastructures. Meanwhile, the masses’ ownership is restricted to very small businesses and farms, and light, low-tech manufacturing facilities.

Arnold Gillespie, a maverick millionaire and a believer in the now nearly defunct traditions of democracy and freedom, lives with his wife, Lena Majesty, in a mansion in Beverly Hills. In defiance of his own apparent self-interest, Gillespie is bucking the system to bring about reform by establishing the “Army of Sanity,” a tiny group of malcontents and bumblers whom he hopes to forge into a cadre of revolutionaries. Lena, a professional speaker who earns big bucks giving inspirational seminars for the wealthy, thinks he’s a little bit nuts.

The Army sets out to learn all they can about their “enemies,” the wealthy ruling class. But the Milincomps are well prepared to deal with them by means quite the opposite of what you’d expect. The polarization of the world economy has led the Milincomps to a more sophisticated outlook. They realize that by giving the opposition exactly what they want-and they can do so because they ultimately own and control everything-that co-optation is the best way to forestall potential rebellion and maintain control.

Conn, a writer who’s just been fired, and whose apartment has been flooded out by the rising Pacific, is drawn into Gillespie’s world where he meets Scarlett, who strongly dislikes him. Her boyfriend, Ranger, an aspiring actor, suddenly gets called away to make a movie, which leaves Scarlett open to Conn’s advances.

Jolly and his monosyllabic sidekick, Moon join the group, but are skeptical about Gillespie’s intentions and affiliations (is he really a Milincomp?), and are unconvinced that the Army’s goals are worth pursuing. Hermon, a hulking Mafia type, has attached himself to Gillespie as his self-appointed bodyguard.

Will the Army be divided and conquered by the Milincomps, or be threatened by the Gonanes, alleged terrorists and tools of the Milincomps, to whom all manner of evil is ascribed, but who are so elusive no one is sure they really exist? Can the Army of Sanity get their act together and accomplish anything? Can Conn convince Scarlett he’s not such a bad guy? Can Gillespie and his wife stay together despite their deep philosophical differences? Will Jolly and Moon succumb to the lures of the enemy and defect? In other words, is there any hope for the world? Maybe. Maybe not.