Second Term - A Novel of America in the Last Days (The End of America Series Book 1)

by John Price

  FORTY EIGHT

  GWU Hospital – Washington, DC

  Vice President Hilde Calhoun knew instinctively that no good thing could come out of the President’s invitation to meet him in his office in the West Wing. It had been, after all some time since she had been sworn into office and then promptly tried to arrange a coup d’etat to remove the President from office under the Twenty-Fifth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. The President had refused to meet with her in the intervening time since her conspiracy was leaked with the President replacing the entire Cabinet, except, of course, the leaker. So, what, she pondered, does he plan to say to me? Why invite me to the Oval, after all these weeks? She knew she needed to discuss it with Wilbur, who was frequently not lucid. When he was thinking straight, Hilde thought, Wilbur was the best political mind in DC, but when he was out of it, his ideas were just unusable and potentially quite harmful. Still, it’s time to talk to Wilbur, and hope he’s in his right mind.

  “Honey bunch, how ya’ll doin’? Ya look just terrific. Prettiest Veep in the nation’s history, by far.”

  Good sign, Hilde thought, he’s using that same old dumb line that he thinks is so funny. Better pick his brain quick before he lapses into goofiness, again.

  “Wilbur, we need to talk. The President’s invited me to the Oval at three tomorrow afternoon. Put on your political hat. What do you think he’s up to? He hasn’t met once with me, as we knew he wouldn’t, since I tried to organize the Cabinet to throw him out.”

  “Hilde….it’s….sure….obvious….at least to me. Ya’re too close to it to see his next move. The leaks and rumors of what happened at the Cabinet meeting, which y’all both denied, of course, have all died down. Most people have forgotten it. That NBC poll I saw on TV said most folks didn’t believe the rumors, anyway. So, I can figure out what he’ll do next, it’s what I’d do if I were in his position.”

  “That’s nice, Wilbur, but would you mind cluing me in as to what you two Presidential geniuses would both do to punish ol’ Hilde. I’m more than a little interested, you know.”

  “Sure. Sure….Here’s the deal. He moved ya out of the White House West Wing, which was only a big deal to ya and y’all’s staff….and to me, of course, but it was a smart move, though, I’ll say that. What he will do at tomorrow’s meeting is tell ya that he’s moving ya out of the Old Executive, I know, I know….it’s now called the Eisenhower Executive Office Building….But….think from his viewpoint…. Ya and y’alls staff are still too close to the President’s White House. Ya can look out y’all’s window and watch the West Wing, and who’s coming and going. He’s gonna’ have to move ya out. Y’all still have ya office in the Capitol, but he needs to send ya a message….a big message.”

  “Wilbur, dear, I’ve gotten the message. I know that he hates me and he….”

  “No, that’s where ya’re wrong. He doesn’t hate ya, he wants to destroy ya. Ya represent a continuing daily threat to his power, to his position, to his very future as President. Y’all have to be marginalized, suffocated into nothingness. He’ll cut ya Secret Service contingent to just one agent at any given time, then he’ll leak that out, hoping it will encourage a nutcase to take ya out.”

  “No….He wouldn’t.”

  “Yes….he will, and worse. He will tighten the screws so tight ya’ll gonna’ wanna’ quit. He’s gotta try to destroy ol’ Hilde Calhoun. So… ya gonna’ have to see the Commandant.”

  “What? Have you totally lost it? What kind of drugs are they giving you in here, Wilbur? The Commandant of the United States Marine Corps?”

  “There are only two Commandants I know of, of the Coast Guard and the Corps. I don’t think ya wanna try and float a couple of Coast Guard cutters up Pennsylvania Avenue to bombard the West Wing. Of course, I mean the Marine Corps. Wes is not only the Commandant, he’s also one of ol’ Wilbur’s closest friends….and ya’s too, of, course, honey bunch. He was our Adjutant General back home for how many years? Most of both of my terms? Seven years? Hilde, Wes is our bud.”

  “Wilbur, I’m as tight with Wes as you are, but that’s not the real question. If I understand your proposal, you want to remove the President….by force of arms? Using the Marine Corps? Good grief, Wilbur, we’re not Venezuela, we’re not a banana republic. We’ve never had anything even close that kind of turnover of power?”

  “Really, Hilde, really? Ya may not have used the military, but what do ya call how y’all on the Hill ganged up on ol’ Tricky Dicky Nixon and bounced him out of office. Forced him right out of the White House. Let’s be honest, they had a lot more on me than they did on….”

  “Wilbur. Stay on the topic. I could never be part of encouraging the use of the military to remove the President. Never gonna’ happen. Come up with a better idea. Think.”

  “Honey bunch, what do ya think I do around here, besides talk to the cute nurses and watch the news? I’ve been doing nothing but thinking since ya first told me about ya aborted little effort to bounce the man at the Cabinet meeting. Here’s the deal, Hilde, ya made ya move and the President blocked you with his threat to bring two trucks of soldiers into the White. He then had to remove the Cabinet, just he did, except for the weasel, of course. So, ya can’t take him out under the Twenty-Fifth Amendment and you certainly can’t impeach him. The House of Representatives under Nadia Pelham would never, never vote to impeach this President. Under different leaders with different Members they didn’t have any problem impeaching me, but I….”

  “Wilbur….again….stay on topic. Finish your analysis.”

  “Sure, sure. OK, so here’s the bottom line. Ya got no choice. None. The Cabinet’s out. The Congress is out. It’s three plus years before his second term ends. So, I’ll just ask ya….Ya know more about what’s really happening out there in America than almost anybody….Do ya really think this country will survive three more years of violence in the streets, and martial law, and shootings, and shredding the Constitution, and….”

  “I don’t think we’ll survive three more months, Wilbur. You watch the news, you know what’s happening. I fear for my country. We’re imploding.”

  “Exactly. Hilde, you’re simply the only person in the country who’s in a position to get us out of this mess. All ya gotta do is just act dumb. Ya know nothing. I’ll talk to Wes. Ya’ve got nuthin’ to do with it. It’ll just be ol’ Wilbur talkin’ to ol’ Wes.”

  FORTY NINE

  ATF Redemption Centers

  The next day after the appointment of ATF Director Humless, who would serve in an acting capacity until the Senate confirmed him, the ATF issued a list of ‘ATF Hate Weapon Redemption Centers’. It had been previously determined by bureaucrats at the ATF that establishing a sufficient number of new locations for turning in guns would not be cost effective. Therefore, the ATF list included virtually every existing federal facility in the nation, in order to obtain the widest compliance with the new law. On the list were all post offices, military bases and installations, federal courthouses, FBI offices, Social Security centers, EEOC offices, Department of Agriculture facilities and other offices operated by the federal government. Left off of the list were any offices related to Medicare, as it was felt that the turning in of guns at such facilities could be seen as inconsistent with their medical purposes.

  ATF planners devised a system for collection of guns that they hoped would avoid the highly likely possibility of some federal employees at the Redemption Centers pilfering guns as they were redeemed by their owners. Each gun was tagged with a digital read bar code specific only to that gun, with a copy of the same bar code imprinted on a receipt given to the owner and also on the federal check reimbursing the owner for the owner’s redeemed weapon. Guns were deposited in a locked metal box for later disposal. As the checks were cashed or deposited, they made their way back to the issuing agency, the ATF, who would then check the bar code numbers with guns that were redeemed. Any discrepancy at a redemption center would soon show up and alert ATF headquarters
in DC that it had a problem at that Redemption Center. The system was supposed to be fool-proof, but like many fool-proof systems it didn’t turn out exactly as planned. Many guns turned in by their owners seemed to just disappear before they could be smelted down, with police departments in many cases finding the missing guns in the hands of criminals who then admitted they had purchased them from federal employees.

  After Australia banned most private gun ownership following the ‘Port Arthur Massacre’, many thousands of guns were turned in to their government by Aussies, who were then paid from the levy imposed on Australian Medicare. By all reports, compliance was steady and effective during the time period allowed to turn in weapons. On the other hand, no one could know how American gun owners would respond to the new law. ATF records eventually would show that compliance looked like a ski slope upward shaped curve with increasing numbers each week. In the first two months of the six month period redemption was modestly low in numbers. It apparently took owners some time to decide to comply with the new law. There was a drum beat for redemption which increased in intensity from the mainstream media and from all government agencies, steadily increasing the number of firearms turned in by their owners. Public service messages conveyed by the Administration to American gun owners varied, but they had three common themes – safety, patriotism and fear of prison:

  TURN IN YOUR GUN - IT’S THE LAW!

  TODAY’S PATRIOTS OBEY THE LAW

  SAVE A LIFE – TURN IN A GUN

  IS IT WORTH TEN YEARS IN PRISON?

  JOHN WAYNE WOULD HAVE REDEEMED HIS GUNS

  MAKE AMERICA GUN VIOLENCE FREE!

  Television spots claiming that John Wayne would have redeemed his guns were pulled when his heirs filed suit, claiming that the Duke “would have gone down shooting before he would have turned in his guns”. The other public service announcements appeared to have an increasing effect, though, as more guns were turned in each week than the preceding week. The ATF was faced with a difficult accounting problem, of course, because no one knew, with any reasonable specificity, how many firearms were owned by Americans, or by persons illegally in America. Estimates had always varied widely, and there was literally no way of determining the actual count, as gun registration had never become the national law that some had tried to impose. Because of this fact, widely known to be true, many gun owners thought they would be safe in holding on to their firearms. After all, many thought, ‘who knows if I own a gun?’ It was this ‘nobody will know’ reluctance that led Senator Blevins to include Section 4.4 in his bill, to reward tipsters who turned in non-compliant gun owners, with generous monetary payments.

  With two months to go in the Redemption Period, ATF officials were concerned. Almost one hundred million guns had been redeemed, as far as they could calculate, but they estimated that left almost the same number still not turned in, or more. So the agency began to air public service announcements in all areas of the country, promoting compliance by stepping up the ‘fear factor’. A typical thirty second spot asked how sure gun owners were that they wouldn’t be turned in, by friends, by neighbors, by shooting buddies, by their own family?

  SCRIPT FOR TV AD – GUN REDEMPTION

  Setting – Jail Cell – Low Lighting – Inmate Speaks – Cellmate in background of shot – heavy beard – cellmate frowns through most of shot – wicked grin at end as he puts his hand on shoulder of speaking cellmate. Both in orange jail attire.

  “I know, I know. I didn’t think I would get caught. I thought that I was the only one who knew that I owned guns. I only had two guns. But, I forgot that I went shooting at the range a few times. I didn’t remember that I had shown my newest gun to my brother-in-law, my former brother-in-law. Yes, I had talked about guns and ammo with some work buddies. So, who turned me in? Who knows? The tipster stays anonymous, but he gets the big bucks. I’ve got a lot of time to think about it now. Ten years….You’d better think about it while you still have time. Turn in your guns, for cash money, while you still can. Don’t end up like me, ‘cause you will get caught....Count on it, ol’ buddy.”

  The purchase of the television ads was a saturation buy in all mass markets. Within forty-eight hours of its airing, more Americans had turned in more guns than in the prior two months, combined. Many Redemption Center officials reported that most turn-ins were either directly by wives, or by husbands who appeared to have been hauled into the centers by their wives, not wanting to lose their spouses to prison. Petitions for dissolution of marriage shot up following the ads, as spouses couldn’t agree on redemption versus possible jail time.

  FIFTY

  Washington, DC – Department of Justice

  Throughout the history of the world, government leaders have chosen to imprison persons who opposed their rule. That bears repeating. Throughout the history of the world, government leaders have chosen to imprison persons who opposed their rule.

  John Madison was one of those persons.

  Early in his incarceration, the official word issued by John Madison’s captors was that Madison was an enemy of the State, a danger to national security and he had possible ‘ties with terrorists’. Very few people come to the aid of a person accused of such serious crimes. Over time, however, as John Madison was not officially charged with committing any federal crime, many began to change their mind, and instead saw him as a political prisoner. A political prisoner is generally regarded as someone who is in prison because they have opposed or criticized the government of their own country, and not because they have committed a crime, as such. No one was more surprised than John Madison when Amnesty Universal labeled him as “America’s best-known political prisoner, who should be released forthwith.” Madison didn’t know much about this foreign human rights group calling for his release, but he had heard of it and vaguely thought of it as a liberal group. Now, however, he was appreciative of any help he could get.

  The White House, apparently stung by criticism from abroad, issued a media release denouncing Amnesty Universal for “interfering with American domestic criminal cases”. John Madison was once again in the headlines.

  New York Times

  ATTORNEY GENERAL DENIES

  MADISON IS POLITICAL PRISONER

  White House Suggests Madison is

  Linked to Right Wing Terrorists

  CBS

  AMNESTY UNIVERSAL

  INTERFERES IN AMERICA

  MSCNB

  JOHN MADISON - TIES TO AL QUEDA?

  FOX

  AMERICA’S #1 POLITICAL PRISONER

  Friends of John Madison in Tyler contacted other friends around the nation and formed a FREE JOHN MADISON Committee. Though the mainstream media largely ignored the Committee’s efforts to draw public attention to John Madison’s extended incarceration, by e-mail and social networking millions of Americans were reminded that John Madison was still in federal prison, and was still not charged with any crimes. As more people learned that Madison’s writ for habeas corpus had been denied, the drumbeat increased to either charge Madison and try him, or alternatively, to release him. Even totalitarian governments are sensitive to criticism, especially from abroad.

  The heat from Amnesty Universal, along with increasing pressure at home, led the Attorney General of the United States to convene a strategy meeting in his office at the Department of Justice on Pennsylvania Avenue in DC, seven blocks from the White House. To say that the AG was not in a good mood would be a clear under-statement. He had not been an early proponent of arresting and imprisoning Madison, but had taken his orders to do so from the White House, which was quite insistent on the issue. As an attorney, the AG knew that he was on shaky legal ground, but his loyalty to his old friend, the President, forced him to do what he would not have otherwise even considered. The AG had given serious thought to resigning and going to work for a DC law firm, with a large income. Of all of the President’s friends, cronies and buddies serving in his Administration, the AG was the least enamored with what he saw his old friend doing.
He was caught between a rock and….and he didn’t like it, not a bit.

  “Let’s get on it, folks. Madison has been in prison too long without charges. Our end run on avoiding habeas corpus worked, but it made us look bad with people who were paying attention. We’re starting to look like Guantanamo, but here onshore. I don’t like it. Amnesty Universal has butted in, as you know. The President’s getting heat from some of his European diplomatic buddies. The White House even had a call from the New York Times yesterday. They’re considering doing a story on why we are holding a prisoner without charges. When the President gets heat, we get heat, so I’m looking here for some creative ideas. Come on, people. What do we charge this troublemaker with? Something that passes the snicker test.”

  The Deputy AG tasked with supervising the prosecution of Madison briefly reviewed the contents of John Madison’s October speech in Austin. After he did so, he looked up at his boss, the AG, who was holding his head in his right hand.

  The exasperated AG said, “Yeah, that’s what I recalled. Some nasty words, but how can they possibly be crimes ?”

  “Mr. Attorney General, I’ve been working on it. We have five possible options….treason, misprision of treason, rebellion/insurrection, seditious conspiracy and advocating the overthrow of the government.”