by Adam Yoshida
“Together, we have accomplished some astonishing things. By itself, Ontario would be the nineteenth richest country in the world. Richer than Switzerland, Sweden, Saudi Arabia, and Iran among others. Our Province is an industrial powerhouse and countless economic advantages that are all its own. And today, all of this is threatened as never before.”
“An aggressive Western Army has crossed the borders of Ontario and engaged in open battle with forces of the Federal Government near the city of Thunder Bay. As you must already know, the results of that battle were a decisive victory by the Western forces. You have also heard the words of the Prime Minister, who has vowed to raise new armies and to fight new battles. And you have heard the words of the leaders of the Western Republic, who have accepted that challenge.”
“What would that mean for us? Battles would be fought across our countryside. Perhaps they would even spill into the streets of our cities. Maybe our cities would be destroyed for military and punitive reasons, as Winnipeg has been. What would it all be for?”
“I will be very plain with you: the Western provinces are determined to win their independence. It will take months of fighting, if the plans laid out by the Prime Minister go perfectly - and when has that happened? - and it will take much longer if they do not. War will devastate our cities and, even then, we have good reason to think that the West will secure its independence.”
“Where would that leave us? The grievances that drove the Western Provinces to take such action as they have are shared by many Ontarians: a hideously expensive Federal Government that takes more than it gives back. A Federal Government dominated by interests over which the people of the Western Provinces - and Ontario as well - have shockingly little control.”
“It is with all of this in mind that I must announce to you that this evening the Cabinet voted unanimously to reach out directly to the government of the Western Republic in order to negotiate an end to the present conflict. Ontario had no part in choosing to begin this war, but it is now being fought on our soil and destroying our cities. We will have no part in that.”
Northern Ontario
From the encampment of the Western Army’s I Corps outside of Thunder Bay, General Jackson stepped in front of the cameras once again, holding a piece of paper in his hands.
“This evening,” he began, “I have received an offer from General Pierce, commander of the Army of Northwestern Ontario, to unconditionally surrender and to place himself and his forces in the hands of the Army of the Western Republic. I am very happy to be able to report to you that, in accordance with the directives of my government, that I have accepted this surrender and offered full parole to all of the officers and men of the Federal Army over whom General Pierce holds command. They will be permitted to return to their homes in peace for the duration of this conflict, on the condition that they never again will take up arms against the Western Republic until they are honorably exchanged and released from their obligations.”
“As for myself, and for this army, I can only say this: we remain in readiness to continue the fight. This army could march tomorrow, if the need exists. We are sworn to uphold the independence of the West and we will do this. Of course, we remain servants of our political masters and the fundamental question of what comes next remains an essentially political matter. But, if the call is to march, we can and we will march.”
Vancouver, British Columbia
From his office in Vancouver, President Eagleton watched General Jackson’s performance for the cameras.
“Who will rid me of this turbulent priest?” he muttered aloud.
Washington, DC
In Washington, the CNN was jumping between events.
“This has been a very busy news day, to say the least,” the anchor vacuously announced over dual feeds running between Ottawa and Washington.
“To say the least,” the network’s political analyst confirmed, “in and of itself, the seeming final birth of a new country in North America - coming after the greatest battle fought on North American soil in a hundred and fifty years - would be a news story. Perhaps two new countries, even, depending on how the final settlement shapes up. Story of the year, perhaps, story of the decade even. It’s hard to get the image of artillery shells falling in a city that’s just across the water from Wisconsin... It’s hard to drive that from one’s mind. And yet, here in Washington, we’re impeaching a President.”
“A historic day, certainly,” the anchor repeated.
“I don’t understand why they had to do that,” said Sarah, shaking her head, as she watched MSNBC’s cameras (Christopher had lost that particular argument for this day) pan over the war damage in Winnipeg, Thunder Bay, and their environs.
“What do you mean?” asked Sorensen.
“I mean that there’s been so much death, violence and destruction throughout all of Canada. What did it all accomplish?”
“I mean,” replied Sorensen, “it looks like it made them free again. That’s worth something. Yes, the war was terrible - it’s hard to imagine cities that look so much like our own being destroyed by tanks, fighters, and artillery... But, at the same time, the choice that the West had was between fighting back or accepting that the’d be forever subordinated to the East.”
“It just seems terrible for so many people to die over what, in the end, amounted to money. They didn’t want to pay and so they killed all of those people,” she shook her head sadly.
“Nothing in this world, Sarah, is about money alone. It’s about what money represents. When the government has the right to come and take from you what it pleases - and to demand from you what it pleases - then we no longer have any rights as citizens. It really does - and I know that you hate this analogy - make us nothing more than slaves.”
“Bah,” replied Sarah, “there’s really no comparison there. Are you being made to work the fields and whipped day in and day out? Are you chained down? Are your children going to be sold away?”
“No,” said Sorensen firmly, “but that’s not the only basis of comparison here. The question here is whether, when we accept that the state has the right to come in and decide to reallocate our property and our labor for the sake of ‘the greater good’ - without giving us any individual say in it, whether we are in any real sense of the word, free anymore.”
“But you did get to vote. And so did I. My guy won the last time and maybe your guy will win the next and we ought to respect that.”
“But that’s not liberty, Sarah. That’s just rule by one mob over the other. And, when that becomes the rule - like it did in Canada - then why ought anyone accept the arbitrary authority of one mob over the other? Because one of them happens to have a temporary fifty percent plus one majority? That’s a path to either totalitarianism or anarchy because it has no grounding in fundamental moral principles. ‘Well, if everyone says so’ isn’t a moral creed.”
“Well,” responded Sarah, “that’s the way it works and I don’t see it changing anytime soon.”
The White House, Washington, DC
“I understand that Prime Minister,” President Warren explained calmly, “and I certainly extend my deepest sympathies to both you and the Canadian people. Certainly, I condemn the extreme acts of violence and the terrible threats that the Western Republic has made against you. Yet, at the same time, I find it hard to see how we could possibly override the established facts on the ground.”
He listened as the new Canadian Prime Minister pleaded for aid to restore his authority in the wake of Ontario’s move. As he listened, he waved his hand in the air, indicating that he was growing tired of listening to the Prime Minister natter on.
“All I can say is how truly sorry I am that it has come to this. God go with you as well, Prime Minister,” he added with evident insincerity as he hung up the phone and turned his head up to face his staff.
“I hope that’s never me,” he said, before going on to ask, “what’s the latest vote count?”
“It looks
very good, Mr. President,” Alexis Jensen jumped in to explain, cutting off the Legislative Director.
“We count fifty-seven votes for conviction and time is running out,” the Legislative Director added by way of clarification, “I don’t see your removal from office as a possibility at this point in time.”
“Well, that’s good,” replied the President, “but we still have a country to run. And, when this mess is over with, we’ll have time and ground to make up. Are those executive orders ready?”
“Yes, Mr. President,” replied Jensen.
New York, NY
Augustus King was weary, but he remained alert as he stepped into the room. Praetorian’s Board of Directors and the rest of its private investors were, thanks to their heavy betting on the Western Republic’s Victory Bonds and other associated investments, wealthier than ever before. Indeed, if the libertarian spirit of the Western Republic was to be preserved in subsequent years, they might make still billions and billions more thanks to the potential of an energy superpower with such superior geographic positioning.
“I know that you’ll point to the success that you’ve had in Canada - and I’ll grant you that,” the former Secretary of State began as soon as he had concluded his presentation, “but this is really just too damned much.”
“Just having this discussion could land all of us in a Federal Prison,” another interjected. But none of them left the room. King continued.
“Gentlemen, I would remind you that in this, as in all other things, fortune favors the bold.”
“Nevertheless,” said the former Secretary, “this is an incredibly dangerous game that you are now playing. It was dangerous before, but this is... Fuck.”
“I have made you tens of billions of dollars and, more than that, together we have let the world turn towards liberty. We cannot turn away now. I will not,” said King.
The Capitol, Washington, DC
“It just doesn’t add up,” the Chief Counsel to the House Judiciary Committee, who had become the de facto legal advisor to the House impeachment managers, explained, “there’s no math that’s going to result in a conviction so long as this remains, as the President has portrayed it, as primarily a partisan issue.”
“Thank you,” Terrance Rickover said before asking, “can we have the room?”
The Counsel nodded, buttoned his jacket, and exited the room along with most of the rest of the assembled aides.
“Well,” said Rickover, tapping his fingers on the desk, “I think that about says it all. Even with every card played, we’re not going to make it, are we?”
“We could consider going to Senator Jorgensen with some of the male escorts and drug stuff out oppo folks dug up and see if we can swing the vote,” suggested his Deputy Chief of Staff.
“No. Fuck that. That gets us to fifty-eight votes, maybe. And it gives him notice and might let him prepare a solid defense. The Governor of Minnesota is a Democrat anyways and he’s up next time around. We’ll hold that for a week before the next election.”
That drew chuckles and smiles from around the table.
Arlington, Virginia
Major Mark Varro kept hitting “refresh” on his browser, waiting for the latest news from the Capitol. He’d read every report on every site. He’d read every article that the Drudge Report linked. He simply refused to believe that, after everything - after every crime against the Constitution that the President was undoubtedly guilty of - that it could simply end here. Somewhere there had to be a miracle brewing. He had tried his best in order to turn the tide. Perhaps the Lord would deliver instead. Perhaps that had been his mistake, placing his trust in himself rather than in God.
For hour after hour, the Major read not only every article, but dug through every comment thread. He was chasing rumors and desperate wisps of hope, but it was all that remained to him.
Finally, he shut the laptop.
“I am the master of my fate, I am the captain of my soul,” he repeated to himself, not knowing that he was quoting FDR’s favorite poem. Steadying himself with these words, he turned away from the sleeping computer and resumed his very private science project in progress on his kitchen counter. After all, he realized, God helps those who help themselves.
The Capitol, Washington, DC
“The vote has been called for and properly seconded. There being no further evidence to be presented by either side and closing statements having been presented, the Clerk will call the roll,” the Chief Justice of the United States, presiding over the impeachment of the President as the Constitution required, announced to the Senate.
In the end, even the impeachment vote fell just a little bit short of expectations. Fifty-five Senators voted to convict the President and remove him from office. A few nervous Republicans, seeing the way things were playing out in the country, had decided that they would rather risk an angry primary challenge than a backlash from the whole electorate and a few Democrats had made the opposite decision, to avoid a primary challenge and risk the anger of the electorate in their red states.
Now, at last, the moment had come for Henry Warren to take his victory lap. From the beaming smile on his face, you would never have guessed that fifty-five members of the United States Senate had just voted to remove him from his office. He waved to the crowd gathered in the hotel as though he’d just won re-election again.
“Well,” he began, “it’s great to have that over with.”
Arlington, Virginia
Mark Varro carefully packed the bags into his briefcase, stuffing them in one at a time before methodically running together the wires into a single bundle that connected, in turn, to a cheap cell phone that he’d purchased at a Wal-Mart. One at a time, he examined the wires to make certain that they were tightly wound together and then slowly, lovingly, he slammed the twin pieces of aircraft-grade aluminum shut.
Washington, DC
“Now,” the President continued, “we can get on with the business of building a better, kindler, and fairer America for all of our citizens. Together, we can undo the damage done to this nation by decades of reckless deregulation and tax cuts. We can end the damaging and pointless competition and suppress the dog-eat-dog mentality that has ruined the lives of so many of our citizens.”
“The vote of the Congress has confirmed one thing: our system works. The Congress has voted and, its vote having been so concluded, my actions may now stand as confirmed. That being so, I shall tell you that I will continue to exercise all of the powers vested in me, as the head of the executive branch of the government, to the betterment of the people.”
“I tell you now, that the time has come for a fair settlement of our affairs here in America. The work will be long and there will be opposition, but I swear to you today, as I have on every day of my Presidency, that the work will continue no matter what and we will win.”
The Capitol, Washington, DC
Terrance Rickover had already switched off the President’s speech in disgust.
“Fifty-five votes to remove him from office and he’s talking like it’s a fucking victory rally.” he said.
“Well,” responded Speaker Halverson, his voice laced with bitterness, “you empowered him to do it. His basic argument, it would seem, is that anything that the Congress can’t muster a two-thirds majority to impeach a President over must be basically Constitutional. And I can’t say that, watching these proceedings, I disagree with the practicality of that theory at this particular point in time.”
“We had to take the shot when we had it,” replied Rickover, tapping his hands on the table.
“Anyways, this isn’t Clinton redux. The President wants to think that it is - but we’ve had a majority of the United States Congress vote to remove the man from office based upon his willingness to violate the Constitution of the United States and we have no reason to think that he won’t continue to do just that. We’ll have more chances yet.”
U.S. Central Command Forward Headquarters, Jerusalem
General Dylan Mackenzie sat in his office, stopping periodically to check his watch. He was not a man used to being kept waiting. Finally, the phone on his desk buzzed. He picked it up.
“General,” his personal aide spoke, “your guest is here to see you.”
“Thank you, Captain. Send him in.”
Augustus King walked through the door.
“Good afternoon, General,” he began.
“Mr. King,” he replied, “I know of you, but by reputation only. I don’t usually take unsolicited meetings - what man in my position could afford to do so - but I have been counseled by other men, men who I am very inclined to trust, to listen to what you have to say. I hope that they have not led me astray. But I still don’t know why I should trust you.”
“General, you don’t know this - but I’m the one who provided you with the information about the location of Majid Shahidi.”
“Well then, take a seat,” said Mackenzie. King sat.
“General,” he began, “together we are going to save the world.”
Washington, DC
President Warren stepped off the stage to the applause of the crowd and was greeted immediately by his staff.
“That’s the stuff, Mr. President!” shouted the exhilarated Chief of Staff. Alexis Jensen walked up to the President and hugged him, with both ignoring all of the looks that this drew from the rest of the Presidential party.
“Now,” said the President to the people huddled around him, “we’ll really have the chance to stick it to the bastards. Starting with those unpatriotic corporations that have stashed hundreds of billions of dollars overseas. Money that could be being put to the better use of the American people, but which is only sitting around because some people don’t want to pay their taxes. Well, we’re going to take care of that.”
