Margaret began crying. She hadn’t cried in 40 years, and the tears stung her eyes as she softly mumbled, “Dear God, what have we done?"
Soldiers directed Margaret to the pit’s edge.
Margaret glanced at the hilltop and saw the end of the line.
Then the soldiers lined up all the corrupt politicians along the pit’s edge.
Margaret mumbled again, “God, forgive me for my sins.”
A soldier shouted on a bullhorn, “Aim! Ready! Fire!” The soldiers filled the quiet countryside with machine gun fire.
Margaret felt something hot hit her in the stomach. She looked down and saw a large gaping hole in her suit, that quickly reddened. Then she felt dizzy and fell into the pit dead.
An era of American corruption came to an explosive grisly close.
***
President Charles Gibson attended a conference in Geneva, Switzerland to appease the European Union. After the American hyperinflation, the value of the U.S. dollar collapsed. International trade halted while international investors were furious that they held worthless American debt and worthless U.S. dollars.
It was 3:09 in the afternoon, six hours ahead of Washington, D.C.
The President sat in a large room at a long table, shaped like an elongated U. The U.S. President sat at the middle of the U while the less important people filled the legs’ end.
Door opened, and the President’s aid scurried in and approached the President. Aid bent downward, cupping his hands over the President’s ears and whispered, “Mr. President, we just got word that the east coast lost power at this moment. National guard was put on standby. Furthermore, the army was called to Fort Knox, Washington, D.C., and New York where riots are erupting.”
The President nodded his head in understanding.
The President sat next to the Prime Minister of England, who inquired, “President Gibson, is there any problems?”
“No, my aid was informing me on current events,” the President said coolly and calmly. He didn’t want to worry the delegates today. Every passing day, the United States looked more and more like a third-world country. Why worry them about electricity going out on the east coast, and several riots erupting in the cities?
At 5:00, the meeting adjourned for dinner as servants wheeled in carts filled with food. Conference wasted no expense on food.
All the delegates ate filet mignon with lightly fried rice with saffron, the President’s favorite. Although saffron was worth more than gold by weight, it added a wonderful reddish tint to the rice, imbuing it with a flowery flavor.
Around 5:16, a commotion erupted as aids began pouring into the room.
The President’s aid quickly approached and whispered into the President’s ear, “Sir; we think a huge riot has erupted in Washington, D.C. , but we cannot get through to anyone.”
One of the staff members wheeled a large, 52-inch flat-screen TV into the room. He plugged it in and switched it on.
A news reporter filmed large tanks and truckloads of soldiers heading into Washington, D.C.
The President started to think. This was really bad. Here I am negotiating with these Europeans, and riots are breaking out in the capitol. Don’t those lousy, no-good Americans know that I am helping them? America’s problems are the world’s problems. I cannot solve any problems if people will make trouble.
The President slammed his fist against the table in frustration.
Meeting adjourned for tomorrow, and the President’s cavalcade headed to the Hotel at seven.
The President reached his room and relaxed on a recliner while his angry subsided as sleepiness invaded his thoughts.
The President thought about those riots in Fort Knox and New York City. Why Fort Knox? He picked up his cell phone and tried to call several Congressmen, but he couldn’t get through.
The President felt a deep, sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach, a growing feeling of imminent danger. Something was not right. Everything felt dead wrong.
At around 3 o’clock in the morning, the President stirred and came out of a bad dream. His perspiration dampened the pillow and sheets.
Sound of his cell-phone ring tone, Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony, woke him up. He also heard the cell phone vibrating on the wooden surface of the bed stand.
He groggily reached for his cell phone and flipped it open.
“Hello,” the President said, shaking off his sleepiness.
“Mr. President; thank god, I got a hold of you.”
The President immediately recognized the voice, Sandy Witakker, the only honest politician to step within the halls of Congress.
Sandy began sobbing, “Mr. President, there was a coup.” Her sobs and tears strengthened, but she persisted, “Jerrick Davis staged a coup. It was awful! Soldiers and tanks were everywhere.” Then Sandy cried harder.
“Sandy, please calm down. Tell me everything you know.”
“Mr. President, I don’t know anything. Soldiers rounded up all the Congressmen in cargo trucks and took us to the country in Virginia. Jerrick Davis commanded the troops there, and he wore a general’s uniform. He let some of us go.”
Sandy paused a minute to collect herself and then continued, “I ran and ran, getting out of there. Then I heard machine guns. Then I... I... I ran faster. I ran to the nearest town and waited for the electricity to come on. Then I called you.”
The President sprawled himself across the bed; feeling as if someone sucker punched him in the gut with all his wind knocked out of him. He didn’t believe Jerrick Ray Davis took over, like he said he would. Jerrick had just demoted President Gibson.
Sandy’s sobs ebbed while her voice strengthened, “Mr. President; I must go. Jerrick Davis said we could leave the country. I need to return to Arizona, to get my family. Then we’ll flee America.”
“Thank you Sandy,” the President said, flipping his cell phone closed.
Then his cell phone began ringing again.
Part 3 – Building the American Empire
Restructuring the U.S. Economy
Historians recorded this day in infamy. Jerrick Ray Davis staged a successful coup against the United States government and executed over half of the corrupt Congressmen and the top management of the U.S. government.
Jerrick Ray Davis’ hands became drenched in blood, which he can never wash off. No matter, how much good Jerrick Ray Davis did; this day will follow with him as a dead weight shackled to his ankle. History would never forget this day.
Jerrick Ray Davis must address the nation quickly and woo the citizens over. He must hold the nation together and prevent the outbreak of a bloody civil war. He will lay out his plans and inform the people, how he will restructure the economy.
Jerrick will create jobs again and put everyone back to work. If he does not succeed, then the citizens would thwart him, rising and fighting back. He hoped the citizens would remain on the sidelines as he captured the state and local governments, consolidating them securely under his control.
Jerrick Ray Davis and General Edwards flew together in a helicopter to Albany, New York to a TV station.
Electric power companies restored power to the east coast at 8 o’clock that night, and the troops captured the state capitol.
Jerrick Ray Davis delivered his presidential address to the nation for the first time as the new President by default of course. His speech started at 8:15 PM on July 27, 2017:
As you have suspected, I staged a coup in Washington, D.C.
I succeeded.
I rounded up the corrupt Congressmen and top management of the U.S. federal government and let the army execute them.
I had to do this.
I had to save our country.
I sat on the sidelines my whole life and watched those bastards in Washington, D.C. ran our beautiful country into the ground.
I could not take it any longer and took over.
Now, I have all the power.
I h
ereby declare that I am the new President of the United States.
However, I cannot do this alone.
I ask you to help me.
Together we can make a change.
I plan to take over all the state capitals and then the major cities.
I appointed members of the National Workers’ Party to all the political offices in the United States.
Then we will chop our government in half.
First order of business is I am ending the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.
I am shocked the three previous presidents refused to admit defeat.
Instead, they continuously dumped soldiers and resources into wars that we could not win.
They wanted to win those wars at any cost.
They did not care about how many soldiers would die.
Now I declare the Afghan and Iraqi wars are officially over.
We will not sacrifice more soldiers’ lives in that region of the world.
Further, I end President Gibson’s national draft.
I will not force military service upon our young people anymore.
Second order of business is I will deregulate many industries.
I will decimate the Environmental Protection Agency and the state’s equivalent.
Other government agencies like the U.S. Postal Service will remain the same size.
I am getting government out of the education business.
You as parents, know what is best for your children, not the government.
I privatize all schools, universities, and colleges.
Parents can decide which school or university to send your children.
If you want to send your child to a religious school, then so be it.
All public money, earmarked for the schools will be put in a voucher fund.
Parents can use these vouchers to pay for their children’s education.
Further, poor university and college students will have access to these vouchers to pay for their education.
I will enslave poor college students with a mountain of debt and college loans.
Further, I know the United States has the largest prison systems in the world.
We lock up almost 3% of our population and that does not include the internment camps.
As of today, I close the internment camps.
Those camps must release detained persons, allowing them to rejoin society.
I also will execute all murderers and child molesters.
I do not see the need to feed and house this scum of the earth.
I realize some courts railroaded innocent people to prison.
For court cases with shoddy evidence or overly zealous prosecutors, those defendants will get a second trial, a second chance at freedom.
For the court cases with overwhelming evidence, the prisoners’ days are numbered; make your amends with the Almighty above.
You will be talking to him about your future housing accommodations for the next eternity.
I am also de-criminalizing marijuana and low-level barbiturates and amphetamines.
You are also free to smoke cigarettes and drink alcohol.
However, just do not drink and drive.
I will allow the police to arrest suspected drivers under the influence.
Hard-core drugs like cocaine and heroin will still be illegal.
I also re-introduce the gold and silver standards again.
I seized the nation’s gold from Fort Knox and the New York City Federal Reserve Bank.
We will use this gold to mint our new coins.
In the beginning, my government will issue one-ounce gold and silver coins, but we will expand to other denominations.
One-ounce gold coin will have a value of $2,000 and the silver will be $400.
If my government issues paper money, then the Federal Reserve must hold the appropriate amount of gold or silver in the vault.
Any citizen can convert their paper money into gold or silver on demand.
By putting our nation on sound financial ground, we can get our banks and financial markets up and running again.
I will take our manufacturing jobs from China.
American made products will fill the U.S. stores’ shelves once again.
I have three strategies to accomplish this.
First, my government will impose escalating tariffs.
Government assesses a 10% tariff rate on raw materials and agricultural products.
This is purely for government revenue.
Government imposes a 15% tariff on intermediate goods.
Finally, finished goods and products are subject to a 25% tariff rate.
This higher rate protects the manufacturing industry.
More processing a product has, the more value it is, and of course, the workers earn greater wages.
Second strategy is to protect the manufacturing industries from local government.
All manufacturing buildings, land, machines, and equipment are exempt from local property taxes.
Manufacturing is exempt from many environmental laws and regulations.
This was one of the fatal mistakes of the American Republic.
They destroyed U.S. manufacturing through excessive property taxes and regulations.
Their policies caused an exodus of our good-paying manufacturing jobs.
As of today, I end this foolishness.
Third strategy is our new government will finance the opening of new factories.
Thus, I welcome the rich capitalists to our country again.
Please do not resent or hate them.
We need their talents and hard work to get our factories operating again.
I am not the kind of person who holds resentment.
My goal is to put all American back to work with the quickest means possible.
Returning the expertise will speed up our recovery.
Finally, I arrive to the last piece of my economic policies: taxes.
It is universal; everyone hates taxes.
This was another fatal flaw of the American Republic.
They destroyed the economy with a large, confusing tax code perpetuated by the federal, state, and local governments.
Further, they stacked taxes upon taxes until our economy had snapped from the dead weight.
As of today, the tax code became simpler.
The U.S. federal government imposes a 15% flat tax on all incomes; each state government collects a 6% sales tax on all final goods and services sold, and finally, the property tax is set into stone at $200 per residency per year, and $400 per non-manufacturing business per year.
For a government to increase taxes, two-thirds of the people in the appropriate jurisdiction must approve the tax change.
I believe in this fair tax code so much, it now becomes your 11th Bill of Rights.
Citizens of the United States are protected from unfair and unjust tax systems.
I know we already have an 11th amendment to the Constitution, but I am imposing a new legal code on all levels of government.
I am adopting the Field’s Code of Law.
This new code has a fair balance between the government and her citizens.
And this new code is much simpler.
Whole legal code is written into one thick book.
We are jettisoning the old, Republic code of law that occupied a whole floor in a large library.
I am introducing dramatic changes.
Thus, I declare this a new beginning for the United States.
We will create good-paying jobs again.
A simple, streamlined government works with its citizens.
A government helps its citizens prosper and builds a better, stronger future.
I call this change in government a new era, a new beginning.
To distinguish this new government from the old, I hereby call the United States the new American Empire.
; After the speech, President David spoke to General Edwards in a small conference room at the TV station alone.
On the conference table at the edge was a silver tray with a decanter of water, pot of coffee, cream, and sugar.
The President poured the general a cup of coffee and placed the coffee in front of the general. Then he poured himself a cup of coffee and added a drizzle of cream.
General sipped his coffee, pitch black of course and stated in a worried tone, “Mr. President; you know we don’t own that gold. Soldiers only surrounded the buildings. It’ll be hell breaking inside.”
“I know, general. I wanted my speech to be positive and give the people hope. Besides, I have faith. We will succeed. Get the word to your soldiers and tell the employees inside Fort Knox and the New York Federal Reserve that we will not harm them. After I mint the gold coins, I will personally hand them $50,000 in new coins each as long as they do not resists us.”
“Mr. President; what about the troops?”
“Tell your troops that I will pay them five gold coins each immediately after they are minted. Then another five gold coins when I have the state and local governments under my control. Furthermore, extend this offer to the Navy and Air Force, and the other soldiers who are not under your command. As long as they do not resist me, I will compensate them.”
“You know Mr. President; you may not have any gold left after you pay the troops.”
“I know, general. That is the price; I am willing to pay for a revolution. Besides, I never owned that gold to begin with. I stole it from the American Republic.”
The General squinted a little about ready to laugh.
Then the President started laughing, and then the General joined him.
Once the laughter died down, the President continued, “I believe the U.S. economy will stabilize within a year and then start growing again. Once the people and businesses believe in me, and my intent to make the U.S. business friendly again, they will work hard and invest in the U.S. economy. Now, I want you to start reducing the troops and cut our armed forces in half.”
“In half? Why Mr. President?”
“I am not punishing the troops. I want to ensure their loyalty to me. You are to fire any commanders and soldiers, who are not dedicated to our cause. Do not worry. Once the tax revenue starts filling the coffers again, then we will build the armed forces up. I give the military the highest priority in the budget. Besides, I have some important missions for the troops. I plan to rebuild our military so it will be the best in the world and dedicated to the new Empire.”
“So, you still want to invade Mexico?”