It's All Straw

This is a story of a dedicated couple who, while in retirement, are out of touch with the current events of the world. Daniel, a former scholar of political theory, has withdrawn from reality because his tired, old memory has failed. Judith's care for him goes beyond obligation. It is the result of an unfailing love of many decades. The president calls for Daniel visit to New York City to discuss his earlier writings on political theory. While there, Daniel is given an experimental drug called Memrestor. When his mental acuity is restored, he finds that the United States has become a dystopia. He is torn between his desire to return to the shadowy, fanciful world he came from while in retirement or stay in the real world and help restore the American heritage he believed in. In his earlier writings, Daniel had foresaw what he was now experiencing and had proposed constitutional changes to avoid the calamitous results. Although the drug, Memrestor, restored Daniel's memory, it had side effects. The hallucinations he had while retired intensified. His vivid dreams give him insight of how the American political world degenerated. The archangel Raphael shows him allegorical views of the dystopia and finally brings Daniel to a sublime level.