Time: Modern Day
Location: Washington DC

Layla and Mal slept in Friday morning. They missed the early news that the Ukraine had asked the USA for military and financial assistance to repel the Russian invasion.

  The other big story in America that morning was the release of financial data by fhe Federal Reserve. The economy had suffered two major setbacks that may require Fed intervention.

  The Labor Participation Rate had dropped to a five year low while simultaneously Inflation had risen to a five year high while real wage growth was virtually non-existent. The USA was not alone as the last factor was consistently present in most Western economies and had been for most of the last decade.

  When they did finally surface for breakfast Layla had to get out her list of questions and add a few more hard hitting financial ones over breakfast so she could text them to PJL's personal assistant. This was by way of courtesy rather than a requirement so that the target of the interview at least had time to research the topic before being fronted with a question on the topic.

  Layla had changed the focus of After Dark to make it less confrontational by effectively outlawing Carter's propensiity to use questions without notice to ambush and clickbait, especially politicians. Carter had made no secret of his disdain for politicians of all persuasions.

  He could not stand politicians who promised the world in order to get elected but had no intention of even going through the motions let alone implementing any of it. His disdain came through on his TV broadcasts leading to a number of politicians refusing to come on After Dark . . . even to do puff pieces . . . let alone when something to do with the government was considered Breaking News by the Weekday News Crews.

  As soon as Layla and Mal had taken over and briefed Carrie about the change in approach there was a noticeable upswing in political segments including face-to-face interviews.

  This change in tactics and policy had sparked a remarkable upturn in the ratings. It appeared that their audience, despite deriding and whinging about the state of politics in Australia, and the World, was actually very interested in watching political segments.

  Market research had shown an increased interest in American politics among ordinary Australians. Interest was especially high in this election as Australians were renowned for barracking for the underdog. Add to that the historical significance of having three main contenders from the two major parties.

  It was with this background in mind that Layla and Mal prepared to meet PJL for the first time. They arrived on time at seven pm at The Hamilton restaurant. Once inside it wasn't long before they realised where they were supposed to go.

  There was a hubbub in the restaurant as PJL was surrounded by well wishers and people wanting selfies with the candidate. PJL seemed happy to oblige and was smiling broadly and shaking hands like any other politician was want to do in the circumstances.

  When he spied Layla he moved the people in front aside,

  "Sorry folks, looks like my guests have arrived. You'll have to excuse me for the time being . . . Layla?" PJL proffered his hand palm up. Layla placed her right hand on his and was taken aback when he bowed over and lightly touched his lips on the top of her hand.

  "Mademoiselle . . ." he said as he pulled the chair opposite where he had been seated when they first arrived.

  "Ooow," was all Layla could manage. He was as devastatingly handsome in person as his promo pictures had painted him. A shock of greying side burns set off a full head of black hair framing green-grey mesmerising eyes.

  "And you must be Mal?" He asked as he gestured that Mal should take the seat next to Layla.

  PJL resumed his seat to the limited applause of the restaurant crowd. He was obviously a regular customer.

  "Tamara is late as usual." He laughed. "No, she rang just before you two arrived. Her plane was late but she should be here in ten minutes or so."

  "We may as well start without her," PJL suggested.

  "Well Mr. Lush, I would like . . ."

  "I would like a Marguerita! How about you two? And please call me PJ, like all my friends do."

  "Oh, I thought you meant the interview." Layla said, flushing a little.

  Mal to the rescue, "I'll have one since Layla said these are the best in town, don't know where she heard that," Mal winked across at PJ.

  "That's what I'm told!" PJ said with a smile. My daughter is the expert taster in the family. Speak of the devil, here she is."

  Mal and Layla spun around in unison to spy a very attractive young woman with dark auburn to black hair, shoulder length coming through the glass doors. The owner of the premises, as they found out later, often greeted important guests at the door. Rory Calhoun rushed to the door and took over holding it open for Tamara.

  "Good evening Ms Lush, hope you enjoy your visit this evening."

  "My, my, aren't we all formal tonight Rory, trying to impress my father by any chance?"

  They both laughed as Tamara glided past him to join her Dad.

  Mal jumped to attention, and by the time PJ could stand and kiss and embrace his daughter, Mal had moved to the opposite space and held a chair out for her.

  "Well, well it seems we are in the company of gentlemen this evening," Tamara said looking directly at Layla, "one at least by the look of it," she added cheekily.

  "Now Tamara, I warned you about being on your best behaviour. We don't want to give Australians the wrong impression, now do we?" PJ laughed.

  "Sorry Dad, but you nearly broke a couple of ribs with your bear hug."

  They all settled in their seats and did the round of introductions.

  "Have you ordered drinks yet Dad? No?" Tamara guessed raising her hand. Rory was there in an instant.

  "Four Margies? please, Rory." She looked around the table quizzically. They all automatically nodded.

  "Yes, Tara. Coming right up." Rory said, putting away the redundant drinks menu.

  "Tara?" Mal looked puzzled.

  It's my nickname, actually, it's my author's name. Tara Lush if you are looking for my books.

  The drinks arrived as Mal continued, "What genre do you write?"

  "Mainly quirky romance novels and a fair bit of mystery thrown in."

  "Who is your publisher? Have you had any of them published?"

  "Yes, a few. I use Wattpad Books. I got my start on Wattpad so I think I'll remain loyal to them. You'll find a sense of loyalty is something our father drummed into us at an early age."

  "I don't know them. Are they in Australia?"

  "They are global now being on the internet. It's sort of like Facebook for authors and readers. They now have their own publishing wing and movie studios. I'll show you how to get the app on your phone and you can read my books for free."

  "Okay, you two, let's order and then maybe start the interview with me rather than my daughter, after all, that's why we are here, is it not?" PJ interjected feigning insult.

  "Err, yes sorry, PJ, my fault." Mal ventured not wishing to come between a father and his daughter.

  "That's okay, Mal, I want Tara to be passionate about everything she does so I don't mind if she is also passionate about her writing. Be it journalism or fiction, and there seems to be very little between the two these days, without trying to insult you two." PJ said, sounding genuinely concerned that he may have.

  "I fear you are right PJ in many cases. We are trying to uncover real truths at After Dark. It is not always easy especially if politicians have a cosy relationship with our competition. Even losing Carter, our lead anchor a few years ago in baffling circumstances, the media were a bit too quick to accept the initial explanation, and also seemed not at all interested in exploring alternative theories even though it involved the brutal murder of one of their own. That has always made it curious indeed to me." Layla explained.

  "And Carter was more than a work colleague I'm guessing?"
PJ was fishing.

  "Yes, it wasn't a secret, we were in a relationship. You've done your due diligence I see." Layla sounded surprised. She would be floored by his next statement.

  "And now Mal here is the lucky recipient of your affections?" PJ smiled broadly.

  "Dad! You'll have to excuse my father. He calls a spade a shovel and sometimes steps on a rake. Don't you Dad?"

  They all laughed good naturedly.

  Their meals came and the official interview proceeded
in ernest.

  "Do you mind if Mal takes a few photos as we go. He finds it helpful for setting up any follow-up video sessions as the story unfolds or in this case as your campaign proceeds?" Layla asked pointing to Mal.

  'That's interesting, I am interested in seeing how you guys in Australia operate. I'm doing a course at the moment hoping to become an investigative journalist. God knows we could use a few at the moment I feel. Although it may not be conducive to Dad's political career haha." Tamara's laugh was infectious. "Sorry Dad. I'll shut up now, for a while anyway "

  "PJ, since world events are interesting with what's developing with Putin and the Ukraine. Perhaps we can start with your views on Foreign Policy, currently in the USA and how it might change should you be elected President?" Layla posed.

  "Yes. Well, essentially I'm a pacifist. I see any war as a last resort. I do not agree with our current policy of nation building under the guise of being the world's leading policeman on democracy. By that I mean, I see an awful lot wrong with our own brand of democracy. We really need to fix ours before we tell other countries how to organize theirs," PJ responded.

  "With that in mind, how would you deal with Putin's aggressive stance?"

  "Firstly I have studied Putin's reign quite closely. I don't think he is that far removed from my ideals really. People are shocked to hear me say that. The American public has been brainwashed into believing that Putin must be bad because he is ex-KGB. Yet they were fine with George H.W. Bush being ex-Director of the CIA before he became President," PJ explained.

  "Interesting, can you elaborate on where you might agree with Putin ?"

  "I am a builder and a fixer. If I see something needs fixing I'm all in, I think we are all here as creators to build a better world in our own small way, I think Putin saw something wrong in his mind, in the Ukraine and decided enough was enough. The push by some members of NATO to have the Ukraine join was the last straw. Things haven't been kosher in the Ukraine since the U.S.-backed coup in 2014. It has become the epitome of a failed state, very corrupt."

  "If you are elected will you be sending troops or military aide to the Ukraine?"

  "No. I would not be in favour of that. Oh, of course it depends on our commitment to NATO and the advice I would get from my Generals at the time. But I would be loathe to involve us in another foreign conflict which I only see finishing in one way. That would be despite lobbying from the Military Industrial Complex to the contrary."

  "What about Australia, our viewers would be interested in your attitude towards Australian relations. Would they change under your leadership?" Mal contributed.

  "Only for the better. Australia is one of our most important allies and always will be. Anything we can do to be of assistance to Australia I am for. I even hope to visit in my first term if elected."

  "You have been called a Socialist even a Communist by some extreme right-wing groups. What do you say to people who fear communism perhaps they had a parent that escaped a Communistic country by fleeing to safety in America?" Layla said, purposefully injecting immigration into the mix.

  "Migration is and always will be an important element in the changing fabric of American culture. Socialism is not and does not necessarily lead to Communism. There are good and bad aspects of both Capitalism and Socialism. The trick is to get the right mix. I think we, in the US, could learn a bit from countries such as yours. Currently I think we are a bit too Capitalistic and a bit down on social aspects. I studied a bit about your politics and system in Australia in preparation for this interview. I must say I was impressed with your Public Health system with Private options. Always a tricky one to get right. I was particularly impressed with your helping of the disabled and less fortunate with your NDIS scheme to support people living with a disability and their carers. Some very important social reforms that are sadly lacking here I fear."

  "How would you change things then should you become President?" Layla pressed.

  PJ thought for a long time about his answer. He knew that the Corporate world, the intelligence agencies and the DNC would carefully re-construct his answers and try to sabotage him with the electorate. The DNC had bowed to intense pressure to let PJ gain endorsement of the party. They were none too happy about it though.

  "Firstly I would write an executive order prohibiting the propagandising of the American public. I would then undertake to reduce the American involvement in foreign conflicts by aiming at halving the number of wars the US is involved in starting with a complete and unilateral withdrawals from Afghanistan, Iraq and Syria. A further commitment to not get involved in any Middle East conflict unless asked by an ally and backed by two thirds majority of both houses.

  There would be no more regime-changing wars or conflicts over resources such as oil. This would include a hands off approach to the Ukraine conflict save in a peace settlement liaison capacity.
While supporting both Taiwan and South Korea it would be up to their people to solve internal conflicts with their neighbors including China, North Korea and Japan. The USA would no longer be the World's policeman. Furthermore I would vote to veto any attempt by the UN or NATO to build a standing army to take on that role. My priority would always be peaceful resolution of conflicts through negotiation and diplomacy. If that failed then the makers of that failure should have to live with the consequences of their actions.

  Now I'd like to hear a bit about your political environment. I am interested in what seems like contradictions to Americans in your political parties and their ideals. I've read that you basically have a largely two major party system with many minor parties. Please correct me if I'm wrong but it seems strange to many Americans that your conservative party is called the Liberal party and has blue as it's colour; while the left leaning more socialist party has red as it's colour. This seems to cause them some grief I'm told as they are painted as communist sympathisers especially towards China."

  Layla deferred to Mal for comment saying, "Mal is more the political animal of our group. I am interested in politics bit more from the political scandal viewpoint as an investigative journalist. We leave general politics to the many shows on the national broadcaster, the ABC to cover.'

  That's right," Mal ventured. "You are essentially right in your observations PJ. We are, as a nation, split 50/50 politically as you are in the US. The winning party seldom has a win bigger then two to five points."

  "Have you ever had a Liberal underdog win?" PJ enquired.

  "Probably Gough Whitlam in 1972 would fit that bill. He won after the Conservatives had been in power for 23 years."

  "Tell me how he won."

  "Well, funnily enough, he campaigned on similar issues to what you've espoused. He wanted us to withdraw from the Vietnam War, he wanted a universal health care system, he wanted free education. He even pardoned over 300 imprisoned conscientious objectors. That was pretty controversial at the time."

  "How did he pull it off then?"

  "My personal opinion was it was his advertising campaign. It's Time. He used the media and a catchy campaign song to capture the idea that a Labor party win was overdue and Australian people ought to give them a go. If I would advise your campaign you could do worse than copy that strategy."

  "For instance, Layla and I are Gen Y. You could do worse than to use the same 'It's Time' theme especially since what happened twice to Bernie Sanders. You could even use Imagine Dragons song 'It's Time'. That would appeal to many Gen Y and Gen Z constituents and new voters Imagine Dragons also have a following with older Generations as they are compared to the Beatles and Rolling Stones."

  "They are also seen as supporters of Charity causes especially cancer. At least listen to the lyrics and maybe seek leave to change them for a political campaign song. That's my advice for what it's worth. It's Time - for a change.,'

  "That sounds brilliant to me Dad. Maybe you should sack your campaign manager and hire these two!" Tamara chipped in half jokingly. Mal caught PJ in an exaggerated eye roll and gave him a knowing nod and a wink.

  Once Tamara had the floor she quizzed Layla and Mal for twenty minutes about the state of the media in Australia, censorship and how the TV and Print Media worked, or didn't together.

  Mal smiled as he saw PJ roll.his eyes again a few times as he bantered with Tamara and smiled across at him. It was clear that PJ and his daughter had a great relationship but PJ finally took back the floor with,
"Actually I'll give your suggestions, Mal, some serious thought and talk it over with the Campaign Manager."

  "As far as your country is concerned though, I would like to review the Five Eyes agreements and ensure they are not being abused and used as a go-around to enable spying on domestic citizens no matter the perceived justification. Any justification through threats of terror having been somewhat mitigated by the resultant US change of policy towards the Middle East."

  "In summary, on the Domestic Front, I would see to it that the Constitution would once again be the sole guiding factor in policies and policing of free speech and gun control. No more censorship as a control mechanism for social change. Major changes would not be able to be voted on until after a period of vigorous public and social media debate. This would especially be true in matters and proposals affecting Health and Immigration."

  "As far as other policies go I side with the people with the notion that 'it's the economy stupid'. I will support low inflation, fiscally responsible spending and high wage and jobs growth."

  "I'd much rather invest in the American People than foreign wars and the Military Industrial Complex and if the Intelligence Agencies are not on board with that then maybe they have to change the nature of their business and focus on serving the people not the powerful."

  "In the event of any conflict, the result should always favour the views of the people rather than unelected bureaucrats purporting to be working for the very people they serve. If the people happen to be wrong then so be it. The alternative is always a headlong race towards fascism, whether that be Capitalistically or Socialistically driven."

  As the desserts came PJ announced, "I think I'll step down from my soapbox now, here endeth the lesson."
He smiled as he saw the look on everyone's faces as the pavlova was delivered to the table.

  "The last thing I'll say before we enjoy this delicious dessert from your country is this. The American Constitutional Republic has been forged with the same care and expertise as this magnificent dessert. Yet is just as fragile when messed
about by someone who doesn't know what they are doing. On that note, I would ask Layla if she would be so kind as to serve the dessert in your traditional fashion."

  "My pleasure PJ," said Layla as she picked up the very expensive-looking, restaurant-owned, gilded cake shovel reserved for special occasions, and began comically to wield it like a katana. They all laughed.

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