New America

A short story by Pepper Bauer

Hi Folks,

I'm extremely happy to welcome Pepper Bauer to the "Minocqua Brewing Company Times," which is my attempt to use our large platform to combat right-wing misinformation by recruiting a team of journalists, activists, and creative writers to get the truth out.

Pepper sent me her short story entitled "New America" out of the blue last week, with this note:

Hi. I'm not sure if you're interested in fiction, but in 2018 , I wrote this piece to submit to DownState Story magazine, a publication that featured fiction by mostly writers from Illinois and Midwest. It seems to be eerily predictive. If you're interested, you can use it.

It's hard for me to read all the mail I get from our 300K person mailing list, but something compelled me to read her story. "New America" brought me to tears in the short 5 minutes it took me to read it, and I thinks its worth sharing to our larger audience.

Pepper has been the director of the food pantry at St. John Lutheran Church in Bartonville, Illinois, for 42 years, and the President of the Peoria Area Anti-Hunger Coalition for over 20. She's also President of the Lutheran Women of Greater Peoria. She writes a weekly column for the Limestone Independent News, and has published 20 short stories. She and husband Don ,as of last week, have been married 50 years.

Pepper's story is sponsored by all of the "makers" who we've recruited to add protest items to the "merch" section of our website. A portion of the proceeds of all the gifts you buy from this site over the next three days will help pay Pepper for her work.

And now, without further ado, here's "New America," from Pepper Bauer.

Kirk Bangstad
Owner, Minocqua Brewing Company
Founder, Minocqua Brewing Company Super PAC

New America

Anna turned up the rheostats on the Tiffany lamps as she paced the floor in the handsome, old-world library on her home's first floor. The dark wood, the subdued colors of the thick plush carpet, and the heavy velvet curtains pulled shut over the windows, gave a nighttime vibe to the room even though it was only midafternoon. Five children, aged 10 to 14, were seated around a mahogany desk, their heads bent as they studied the book before them.

As she walked around the desk, Anna fondly touched each child’s hair and whispered encouragement to them. This work was her passion. Nothing was more important to her than these students, and the material they were absorbing.
Finally, she stopped and sharply clapped her hands. The children raised their heads and looked at their teacher. Anna spoke, “That’s enough reading for today my dears, let’s review.”

Walking to the head of the desk she continued, “What did Christ say in the real Bible about your neighbor? Who is your neighbor?” Everyone’s hand went up at once.
“OK”, she laughed, “In unison”. Five voices shouted, “You should love your neighbor as yourself.”

“Yes, that is the second greatest commandment. Now, who is your neighbor?” Anna scanned the room. A diminutive blonde girl with wispy curls raised her hand. “Angel, do you know?” “Everyone”, Angel answered in a small voice. Anna smiled, “Very good. An example where Christ talks about this subject is the story of the Good Samaritan. You can find that in Luke 10:25-37. Please read the parable and be prepared to discuss it next week.”

A glossy whiteboard between the bookcases looked as out of place in the traditional library as a cell phone in a Western movie. Anna stepped up to the board and started writing.

Leviticus 19:33-34 and 24:22 – “When the alien resides with you in your land, you shall not oppress the alien. The alien who resides with you shall be to you as the citizen among you; you shall love the alien as yourself, for you were aliens in the land of Egypt: I am the Lord your God.”

Jeremiah 7:5-7 – “If you do not oppress the alien…then I will dwell with you in this place…”

Jeremiah 22:3-5 – “Do no wrong or violence to the alien.”

Hebrews 13:1-2 – “Show hospitality to strangers, for by doing that some have entertained angels.”

She turned around and faced the attentive faces. “Please copy these verses down and research them before next week.”

As Anna crushed her well-worn real Bible against her chest, she watched the children as they wrote down the homework assignment. She knew this clandestine Bible class was illegal and could get her arrested. Ever since the “Fake Bible Purge” in 2025, even owning a real Bible was dangerous.

When the United States became New America, and patriotism became a religion, the real Bible was declared fake, and edited, and all the copies the police could find burnt. All the verses about loving people, especially those whose lifestyle, opinions, or politics were not on the same page as the New America religion, were deleted. Others were changed. “For God so loved the World that he gave his only begotten Son” became “For God so loved America”. “My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you," became “Love your fellow New Americans as I have loved you.” The story of the Good Samaritan was discarded completely, as well as Matthew 25:34–46, which is about doing to others as you would Jesus. The Beatitudes were missing too. There was no meek inheriting the Earth or peacemakers being blessed in the New American bible.

Jesus as the Prince of Peace all but disappeared. The separation of church and state vanished entirely as the lines became more blurred every year between what was government doctrine and what was “religious” doctrine.

The Department of True Religion amended passages of the real Bible to mold to the New American ideology. Words were strategically changed to make Jesus less of a pacifist and more in keeping with popular values. For example, a verse such as John 16:33, “I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world”, changed to “I have told you these things, so that in me you may have power. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! You will overcome the world.”

They changed the word “peace” to power in many verses. It was a little tweak, but effective.

The peace-loving, conscientious objecting, denominations, such as Mennonites and the Amish, who would never have a flag in their church, or pledge allegiance to anything except their God, were deemed “non-American”, and banned.

The New America bible had a picture of Jesus with a gun in his hand on the cover. The second amendment to the constitution became the 11^th commandment.

At first, some of the churches balked and criticized the movement. There were lots of protests and resolutions. Church leaders made thundering speeches in condemnation. But as the New America movement gained momentum, the dissenting voices became weaker and the government replaced, jailed, or killed all the church leaders who didn’t fall in line. Every church became a beacon of patriotism filled with flags, patriotic songs, and America First rallies. The Department of True Religion distributed the New America bibles to every man, woman, and child.

This is just what happened with Christians. Anna hated to think about the horrors perpetuated on the other religions. Anything other than New American Christianity was outlawed under penalty of death. Horrible purges in the name of the new incarnation of Christ decimated the other religions quickly. Remembering the atrocities made her sick to her stomach.

If anyone disagreed with the new policies, they kept their mouth shut to preserve their lives. People poured over the borders to Canada and Mexico in droves until those countries couldn’t handle any more refugees and had to close their borders. The rich could still flee to Europe or other places in the world, but new travel rules soon put a stop to “Affluent Flight”.

As the rhetoric ramped up, Anna could see the writing on the wall. She started collecting all the real Bibles she could find and hiding them away in a safe place. In every true “Old World“ library, there is a secret room behind the bookcase, and hers was no exception. As she gathered the real Bibles, she tucked them away securely behind the walls. She gave each child in her classes a real Bible, and urged them, and their families, to keep it a secret. Eventually, she’d run out and have to figure out other ways to get the real “Word of God” to her students, but as long as she was alive her mission would continue.

The children finished their task and gathered up their belongings to leave. Anna kissed each one and led them to the back door of her large home. A trusted friend waited outside to escort each student home. The associate walked a couple of them to their houses and then took the other three in her car across town. They changed times and routes every week to alleviate suspicion.

Anna walked back to the library to straighten up. The shadowy, cool room was relaxing, and as she mindlessly worked her thoughts wandered back to the vision that spurred her to action. It was actually a dream, but one of those dreams that are so realistic that the dreamer feels like it really happened. She was in a crowded room, a large sword in her hand. It seemed she was leading the people. Suddenly a monster reared up behind her, roaring. Its huge head was veined and ugly. In the dream Anna turned, put her hand on the monster and said, “God loves you” over and over again. As she talked the veins disappeared, and the face became more peaceful. She finally shouted, “For God so loved the world he gave his only begotten Son to suffer and die to save you.” The monster disappeared and became human.

After that, Anna saw a room full of people in the dark and they were shouting to her to turn on the lights. She could see a flight of stairs and knew the light switch was at the bottom of the steps. She also knew somehow that at the bottom of the steps, something dark and ugly awaited her, but was convinced she could prevail by the power of love.

At that point, she woke up but was certain of her mission. It was as if God had spoken to her. She had no choice but to spread the word of the power of the real God’s love to as many people as possible. This she accomplished as best she could by educating the children about the real Bible. They were the future. She found them through clandestine contacts and other underground groups. There were still real Christians fighting for truth as best they could.

As Anna moved about the room, she heard the evening siren calling the faithful New Americans out of their homes. It wasn’t a law that people had to participate, but the practice was becoming widespread. She stepped to the window, pulled back a curtain, and peered through the blinds. One by one her neighbors stepped outside, some of them clutching little flags, and turned their faces towards Washington D.C. while placing their hands over their hearts. As Anna pulled the curtain back over the window and backed away, she could hear the New American Evening Call to Prayer blaring from giant speakers placed on every Emergency Siren pole in the city; “I Pledge Allegiance to the flag….”