FIFTH AMERICAN REVOLUTION

Agent Harding quickly surmised the crowd closest to the gate was primarily reporters and cameramen, but then he spotted six civilians right at the gate and he froze for just a fraction of a second before rushing on, past the officer at the gate and exclaimed:
“Mr. President; it is so good to see you. We’ve been expecting you……” Jonathan could see the smile of recognition and as a whisper the completion of his sentence:”….. But not in this dramatic fashion.”
Then he turned to the guard: “Please admit the President and his party; my men and I will escort him from here.”
Seconds later they stood in the front lobby as personnel rushed to greet them.
*

Waldo waited for Hanna in his Bank Office.
Now Hanna sat on the side of his desk and was unpacking the files she had broad with her.
“Waldo, I came on a sudden impulse to settle matters in my mind once and for all.”
“I realize your trip arose not on a regular schedule, but what pushed this rush on you now? It happened only about a week after your last, a more leisurely trip.” He interrupted her.
“Waldo, let me be blunt. I suddenly feel so damn old and fear drowning in all that was dumped on me by my friends. Waldo forgive me, but I want to dump it all on you.”
“Hanna; dump what?”
“Damn it; Waldo! You know I was knee deep in both Tikov’s and Stienert’s Spy and terror net works. When both died, they dumped it all in my lap and let me sink or swim with it. I am damned if I walk away from it now and will be equally doomed by carrying it forward. While I could turn it all over to the ‘proper Authorities’, this would be an even worse betrayal of my friends than doing nothing.” She was almost in tears and this time Waldo decided not to interrupt.
“All the way flying across the Atlantic I rationalized, since you like numbers and like ‘playing’ with money while you can’t do anything else anymore, greater responsibility would be acceptable to you. So dumping it on you should make you happy. Then I almost had them turn the plane around thinking me crazy to put a capitalist like you in charge of organizations dedicated to destroy your way of life; something which these organizations also almost succeeded: destroying you. Then I realized the plane was beyond the point of return and had to fly on to its destination. Here I am now; still conflicted. What should we do, Waldo?”
“Hanna; be realistic, you did not inherit Spy and Terror networks. Your friends were involved in these activities at some time. There is nothing left of Tikov’s network and what survived him are his friends who want to overthrow the current Russian regime. He could have given them the ‘money’, but instead gave it to you with no strings attached to it. All Tikov could have hoped for was for you to apply these resources as he would have applied them.
With Stienert it is even simpler. His stash was not East German money, but it is what he earned in not too noble a way. It most certainly was not ethically earned, but it was legally earned. None the less, he earned it and then gave it to you to manage on behalf of his Prussian Corps – a legally acceptable if not corny of an organization. You can put any money manager in charge of this pool of assets and tell him to canvass the membership on how to spend the money. You are then free and washed your hands. The same holds true for your In-Law’s fortune or you own. You can’t take them with you when you leave this earth.
As to me; I have two choices. One you gave me already and I accepted. This choice is to manage your financial affairs as you want them managed and help you to establish a succession plan covering a few more years than an age difference between you and me.”
“What is your second alternative?” Hanna inquired rather seriously.
“Retire in some hole in a wall, read books or listening to music, maybe paint, but not go back to the life that ended with that shot. Hanna; all my life I breathed politics and wanted to save civilization, but this drive is all gone. I never give it a thought. It is like a tennis match – back and forth without emotion. I see American Politics on TV and see Jonathan. He is just another person I can judge on merit – good/ bad; right/wrong – in the context of the times, but not relative to me. So what do you want from me?” Now Waldo looked direct at Hanna.
“I can’t explain it.” Hanna whispered.
“You have to tell me.”
“Waldo, you know what I stand for!”
“What do you stand for? Even for you it boils down to what binds us together now. Is it the ’before the shot’ Hanna or the ‘after the shot’ Hanna? In the one case you are still emotionally bound by Tikov and Stienert, in the other you alone must decide in what direction you want to move.”
“Waldo, I hate you!”
“Get in line Hanna, there are many ahead of you.”
“You know I did not mean it?” Hanna was near tears.
“Hanna; where is your heart?”
“I--; I; I loved you, loved you from when I first saw you as a little boy.”
“Get off it, Hanna. That’s not what I asked; everybody loved their first puppy dog.”
Now Hanna was actually crying.
“Hanna; do you realize both Tikov and Stienert are dead and you are free from your Father in Law? Do you know right from wrong in the traditional sense; Good and Evil?”
“You did not give me an answer if you are willing to take over from me.”
“Hanna, we have not gotten closure on whether or not we believe equally. You see, asking me to perform financial operations is no conflict for me, as I evaluate and provide opinions. At that point it is out of my hands and I can walk away, never to give it another thought.
You see, I believe in Freedom of Choice and in Individual Opportunity. Sometimes favorable outcomes can be accelerated with an external nudge or financial push, but such an interaction should not be organized collaboration or paternalism that targets outcome or results. You see, we now talk of the exceptionalism envisioned in the original concept of America. This is what made me an American by Choice and this is what drove Jonathan and me in his quest to do good.
If I were to administer your Tikov / Stienert fortunes, maybe it would all go to someone who would pick up the ball when Jonathan drops it and carry it further, or it could go to someone like Kozlov truly bent on bring ‘Jeffersonian’ Democracy to his Nation of Russia, or it could simply just get bigger until its size smothers the World. It is Yours to decide.”
They both sat quietly, looking at each other for long time. Finally Hanna broke: “I want you to have all my powers now, but I want to reserve the right to change my mind.”
“You don’t trust me; that’s good. Or you want to have your cake and eat it. I am just your advisor and I suggest the following: You set up Trusts of everything you control and make me only your successor Trustee, but current manager. As long as you live, you can change your successor and / or fire me as your manager. We should have safeguards in the agreement so you could not be coerced into making changes against you will. Once you are dead, and eventually you will die, it would all fall into my hands and then in the hands of whom I make my successor.”