Fred Lance

Ecotopian Governor Jeremy Tree and his backers in the Deep Ecology Party staged a bloodless coup during the 2000 election season to capture the United States Presidency.

Propelled by the motto "Let Tree Have Standing," the victory was achieved by a revaluing of votes to reflect what Vice Presidential Candidate Snack "Food" Chain called "the true will of the planet." With cooperation from certain sympathetic police officers, pollworkers, political operatives, state officials, legislators, and even judges, including the majority of the nation's highest court, Tree's party managed to have many "black" and "brown" votes (those coming from polluting industries) disqualified, and prevented many other "voters of color" (tainted by association with human activity) from casting their votes at all. Certain "Yew"ish voters were tricked by some butterflies into voting for a minor third-party candidate, one who actually favors cutting all Pacific Yews. (Tree first earned the enmity of Yews when, in his bid for the governorship of Ecotopia, he used family connections to remove many Pacific Yews from the Ecotopian voter rolls, thereby assuring his own victory over a prominent elder Yew. Most Yews have never forgiven him.)