by W. B. Martin
“You don’t expect to need them for the opening moves though, so they’ll have more time to increase their ready status.”
“So far we have no reports of Chinese troops in Portland, Oregon. I assume the long run up the Columbia River dissuaded them from occupying there. So clearing up any remaining gangs east of the mountains and then proceeding into the Willamette Valley can be handled by our Idaho troops,” Ed said. “I don’t expect much resistance from whoever is still alive there. We just have to assure our supply trains are safe to travel and not subject to raids by stragglers.”
“I’ve already worked on security. I’ve got a firm in Missoula and one in Butte working on adapting rail cars to armored rail cars. We’ll place them on our supply trains for extra protection. We’ll still need rapid response teams to shadow the trains ‘til all the bandits are eliminated,” the adjutant said.
“Maybe we can get a couple of helicopter gunships pried out of the Army for support. That will impress the natives,” Ed offered. Yes, we will need to impress the natives, at least any that are left out there alive, he thought.
Chapter 14
Cheyenne, Wyoming (7 months after P-Day)
The spring thaw had come early to eastern Wyoming and the locals were enjoying the unusually warm sunshine. It had been a busy winter in the Mountain West as people struggled to outlast the cold weather.
While the electrical grid was almost fully functional and food and water were widely available, individual needs were still at risk. With only a handful of operational cars and trucks, snowbound roads were impassable at times, hampering distribution of vital supplies.
Horses were still available, so families on scattered ranches had made the effort to stay in their homes. But many had abandoned their remote locations and relocated to family and friends closer to rail lines.
The electrically hardened trains had been the difference in making sure that people received the support needed to survive until spring. Now it appeared that winter had finally broken. March was early to rely on good weather, but people were thoroughly enjoying the warmer, sunny days.
The big news in Cheyenne, however, wasn’t the sunny warm weather. It was the arrival of delegates to the Constitutional Convention by members of the American States Security Compact.
“Governor, we need to resist the Texas grab for power. From the correspondence we’ve received, the Texas delegation is ready to usurp authority over the rest of the member states, and it appears that Louisiana and Oklahoma are carrying their water for them. We didn’t fight Washington D.C. to end up entangled with Austin as our new overseer,” Dr. Paul Kendall said, as the train pulled into Cheyenne station.
The ride had been productive, especially after the Montana governor and his party boarded the train in Pocatello. The two original states that had set their own course five years earlier weren’t about to trade one despotic ruler for another. And that was what appeared to be coming from the Texas crowd.
“Dr. Kendall, I can assure you that Texas and its cronies will not run so quickly into the sunset with our freedom. We were ahead of things when we broke with the Federal government about preparing for what happened. I will not let Montana get roped into any regurgitation of any supposed Federal arrangement again,” the Montana governor said.
“Hear, hear. Well spoken. Idaho concurs with that sentiment. I am confident many other states will feel the same about putting Texas or any other state into a dominant position,” the Idaho governor added.
General Gale joined in, “Well, I just want a finalized command structure in place. We take our Army into combat in a month and we continue to have problems between the regular forces and the various states’ troops. We need a clear chain of command so we are as strong as we can be. When we go up against the Chinese we can’t have any confusion.”
General Gale had been busy over the last couple of months. Ever since the ASSC states had met in January and declared themselves a separate country from Washington, D.C., things had happened fast.
The thirty member states and provinces had agreed that neither the U.S. Federal government, nor the Canadian national government, held their best interests. In fact, both national governments had essentially ceased to exist.
Washington, D.C. had transformed almost immediately after ‘the Pulse’ into a free-fire zone of gangs fighting with other gangs for survival. Like most of the large cities of the Northeast, the lack of an electrical grid, running vehicles and any way of communicating had resulted in those cities becoming death zones.
As the police left with their families for the safety of rural areas, all civil authority broke down. The few armed citizens that attempted to maintain order were quickly overwhelmed by rampaging gangs.
Even before ‘the Pulse’, America had become a land of ‘takers’. When the official supplier stopped providing, the ‘takers’ struck out at everyone in their path. The ‘takers’ would pillage and kill their way to survival.
Virginia delegates at the meetings described the effort that their state had made in keeping the chaos restricted to the north bank of the Potomac River. Virginia had acted quickly to organize an armed citizenry to fight for the state’s survival.
Being one of the late states to begin preparing, the electrical grid was not fully protected. Transportation and commutations in the state were sporadic at best, and the Virginia authorities knew that they would have a difficult time avoiding a high death rate among its own citizens.
If the criminal gangs were allowed to invade the state, the survival rate would plummet. The hardest part for citizens manning the front lines was turning away regular people from up north trying to escape the mayhem. Allowing people into Virginia would only risk more deaths to the people already there.
This same experience was expressed by other border states, as refugees from places like Chicago and Detroit attempted to flee. America was torn apart as civil society transformed into survival mode.
It wasn’t unique to America, as all over the world reports came in of armed struggle for survival. As predicted by the EMP Congressional Commission, a ninety percent death rate seemed to be coming true among the unprpared. The high death rate was especially true in Westernized urban areas where electricity and modern transportation kept the system functioning.
Areas of the Third World could be expected to have more survivors. Subsistence farming would not be greatly affected by a collapse of all electrical systems. But even those areas were heavily dependent on aid coming from the developed world. That aid had stopped on P-Day.
Under such conditions, the delegates to the Union of American States Constitutional Convention opened their first session. The thirty members had each sent a delegation with three members. Six other states and two other provinces had requested standing at the Convention.
“The first order of business will be the eight jurisdictions that have asked to join our Convention. I’m opening the floor to debate,” the moderator from Missouri announced. He had been chosen as a compromise between what developed into two factions. Texas had its allies ready and Idaho had become the default state to lead the second faction.
“Mr. Moderator, I move that the six states from the former United States be admitted,” yelled Horst Petrasek, the chief Texas delegate.
Many of the governors were present but were playing a secondary role at the Convention. Since they each sat on the Governor’s Council, which technically made the day-to-day decisions of the new country, most of the governors had assigned a chief delegate.
Idaho’s governor turned over the state’s leadership when he had appointed Paul as chief delegate for Idaho. Paul stood and was recognized by the Chair. “I nominate the Provinces of British Columbia and the Yukon for admission.” Montana quickly seconded the motion.
The moderator duly noted both nominations and was taken back as Horst Petrasek changed the tone considerably. “Mr. Moderator, the great State of Texas would ask that a question of the legitimacy of all the Canadian Provin
ces being here be polled. This here is an American discussion and I don’t understand how these foreigners ever got admitted in the first place.”
“If the honorable Mr. Petrasek would recall, the thirty member states voted our three neighbors to the north full membership when we declared our independence from all previous governments. That included Ottawa as well as Washington. And the language said as much in our signed Declaration of Independence,” Paul offered. “If Mr. Petrasek wishes me to read our formal declaration to remind him of what Texas agreed to, I certainly can.”
Paul realized that this was Texas’s opening move. The original twenty states had agreed to admit Alberta, Manitoba and Saskatchewan. At the time, all had seen the need for common cause.
With an outside threat to North America, both sides of the border realized their future lie with cooperation. Ottawa had failed almost as completely as Washington in dealing with the after effects of ‘the Pulse’. Toronto and Montreal had succumbed to the same violence that large American cities had experienced.
Much of liberal Canada had prided itself on being more civil than the United States. But with the collapse, Canadians had quickly resorted to an armed struggle for survival. They just had fewer guns than the United States due to their restrictive gun ownership laws. Unfortunately, the criminal gangs had found plenty of other weapons, with the result that urban Canada was overwhelmed.
“It won’t be necessary to read any of our previous agreements,” Petrasek said. “I just think cooler heads have prevailed. We should decide right now if this is going to be an American country or not.”
Paul looked at the delegation from Alberta. They had a cloud of defeat on their faces. Paul was afraid they were ready, along with the other Canadians, to get up and leave. Their three votes couldn’t measure up against the twenty-seven American state votes.
“I would remind the Convention that the term American can be referred to any person from North or South America. That the United States has long used the nomenclature as its exclusive term doesn’t preclude a new definition of the term. And we don’t know yet how the remaining United States will settle themselves,” Paul answered. It wasn’t the best answer, but he knew the real answer to the question was oil.
After the declaration had been signed, the ‘cooler heads’ that Petrasek referred to were the oil interests of Dallas. They controlled the oil industry of Texas, Oklahoma and Louisiana. It was bad enough having the new oil fields of the Dakotas to contend with, but adding Alberta’s massive oil reserves into the national mix would diminish the Dallas money machine.
Paul was frustrated that with the existence of the country at stake, people were maneuvering for a bigger piece of the money pie. He steeled himself that this time the merchant class wouldn’t usurp power from the people of the country.
“Well, Dr. Kendall, you can call them anything you want, but they’re still foreigners to me. I suppose we’ll have to throw the stars off the flag and insert a maple leaf. We can all then sing ‘The Leafs and Stripes Forever’. Doesn’t quite have the same ring as the ‘Stars and Stripes’,” Petrasek said. He was pushing hard and making points with the other delegates.
By allowing the Canadians to join with the Americans, what would the flag look like? What national anthem would be used? Paul wondered. He shook himself and focused on the ultimate goal, a free people with the invaders removed.
“I would remind the Convention of what is at risk here. Our people are threatened with basic survival. Our country is in danger of an invasion from the most populous nation on earth. Western Civilization itself is at risk, as our friends in Australia and New Zealand withstand similar invasions. We can only imagine what is taking place in Europe, where the little news we receive isn’t good,” Paul said. He looked at Amanda sitting off to the side and received her look of encouragement.
He continued. “We should look for all the freedom-seeking friends we can find. Our neighbors to the north have supported our work from the beginning. We should not let certain commercial interests try to profit in our struggle.”
Horst Petrasek almost exploded with rage as he jumped to his feet. “That’s a filthy lie and you know it. Texas has always supported a free society. Any statement to the contrary would be libelous down in our neck of the woods. Men get shot for less.”
“Gentlemen, settle down. I’ll have order or I will remove any delegation that disrupts this Convention,” the moderator demanded.
“To my compatriot from Texas, I want to point out Dr. Kendall mentioned no state in his reference to ‘commercial interests’. Any member that puts financial gain ahead of our collective future would be guilty of a treasonable offense, in my opinion,” the governor of Nebraska said.
Horst sat down, red-faced. The governor of Texas, sitting behind his chief delegate, looked resigned. Paul hoped that his adversary had been put in his place long enough to seat the other Canadian provinces.
When the vote was called, the first question of the states admittance passed, thirty to nothing. Six additional states were now members. The second question on British Columbia and the Yukon admission would be the test vote. How states voted would show if they were in the Texas camp or not, Paul thought.
The moderator called for a vote of the original members. The new members wouldn’t be allowed to vote yet. As the states announced their votes, Paul kept track. The tally grew as each state answered in alphabetical order.
The final vote showed the Idaho faction winning, 18-12. British Columbia and the Yukon were admitted. Texas had cornered much of the old Confederacy along with a couple of other states. Paul was amused at how old allegiances would still effect current decisions. He made a mental note that he needed to work on those states to better explain his position.
He knew Nevada had sided with Texas for its own benefit. Many of the states were talking about outlawing gambling in the new constitution. Casinos had contributed to the change in American values, as people gambled their Social Security checks in the hope of striking it rich.
The more religious states wanted an end to gambling in the new country and they didn’t mind announcing their intention to close down all the ‘Indian casinos’ in the deal. Paul could understand such an attitude as the country looked at many years of hard work. The future had little time for distractions like gambling.
But Nevada had obviously cut a deal with Texas to keep gambling legal, at least in Nevada. Paul thought that such a compromise might be his opening with the old Confederate States. They tended to be the most conservative, and might be persuaded to switch sides. As any constitution needed a two-thirds vote, he needed to recruit more votes to his side.
“Now that we have the issue of who is a member of this Convention settled, I wonder if we can get to the important issues at hand.” Everyone looked up to see a woman in her thirties, standing and addressing the Convention. With short hair and wire-rimmed glasses, Rebecca Richards was determined to be heard, “You gentlemen can spend all day seeing who can spit furthest, but while you do, fellow Americans are dying. I would ask the question that our next order of business be the extending of aid to the starving areas of our country.”
Paul looked in his Convention guide under the Colorado delegation. He found a Rebecca Richards listed. Her credentials showed that she had attended Reed College outside Portland, Oregon, and then got a Masters Degree in Women’s Studies from Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island.
“A Colorado delegate warned me about this one. Seems she’s a close friend of the governor’s wife and he was obligated to appoint her. The governor said that she should liven up the discussions,” the Idaho governor whispered to Paul. “Good luck.”
Yeah, thanks a lot. With those credentials, she might as well put a neon sign on her forehead flashing ‘flaming liberal’, he thought.
“Mr. Moderator, I would make a motion that all our members be instructed to allow any refugee to enter and seek sanctuary immediately. And further, that all comfort should be prov
ided to such refugees,” Rebecca said. A woman from the Wisconsin delegation seconded the motion.
“We have a measure on the floor. It is open to discussion,” the moderator said.
Paul raised his hand and was recognized. “Ms. Richards, I would point out that this meeting is to determine the future government of our new nation. It is not the governing body for day-to-day functions of domestic affairs. That role still resides with each state governor or provincial minister meeting in the Governor’s Council. Your question has no standing here. The moderator was out of order to even take the question under discussion.”
Several delegates mumbled agreement. Rebecca stared at Paul with a look that would kill. Paul returned the stare and chuckled inside over how liberals were the most agreeable people in the world until you disagreed with them. Then they turned to venom and attacked, which Rebecca proceeded to do.
“Mr. Moderator, obviously rich white men like Dr. Kendall don’t understand the suffering of millions of women and children in our distressed areas. These people need our help immediately and can’t wait for a bunch of state governors to act. I would call for my question.”
“And provincial ministers, Ms. Richards. Don’t forget our friends to the north. If it would move this along, then let’s call the vote. But I would enjoin the Convention to stay on topic. We have a duty to present a new constitution to our states and provinces as soon as possible,” Paul said.
“And what’s with that deal, presenting the constitution to the states? When do the people vote for it?” Rebecca asked.
The governor of Virginia raised his hand in recognition. “Maybe I can help with that question. As a direct descendant of one of the original signatories of the U.S. Constitution, I would offer a personal perspective. Obviously it’s a more accurate account than our honorable Colorado delegate has learned. I don’t want to besmirch her ill-educated opinion, but the original Constitution was an agreement between the states. As such, the state legislatures voted on approving the document.”
