THE AMERICAN GOVERNMENT, INC.
A Work of Fiction and Political Satire
Copyright 2016 by George Abraham Lyndon
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License Notes
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FORWARD
This short story is a work of pure fiction and political satire. Names, characters, places, and incidents are the products of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
It is about a potential, fictional history of the reign of a future President of the United States. It is inspired by the televised speeches, interviews, tweets, and comments by the current presidential campaign, plus the nine policy position papers and several announcements on the presidential campaign websites as of September 26, 2032, plus information on United States governmental processes and procedures.
So why did I write this story? The 2016 presidential campaign has become a terrible reality show – yes, I watched the show Survivor for the first three or four seasons, but reality television is just mindless entertainment. One day, I started thinking about what if? What if one followed what one candidate was saying, how would it play out? What happens when people follow the words of the person in charge, blindly or intentionally? Remember, it has happened before, it could happen again.
Remember, this is only a work of fiction. Actual reality is sometimes worse.
PURPOSE
The Powers Administration, Volume 1: Key Events of the Powers Presidency: 2033-2038, published by the United States Government Printing Office, June 2178
This volume contains a chronology of the events of the administration of Thayer A. Powers as the 51st President of the United States. Volume 1 is part of a 28 volume set documenting the history of the Powers Administration. This work was directed by an Act of Congress in 2167 due to the passing of time and relative secrecy of the time period directed by subsequent presidential administrations, starting with Powers’ successor, Peter Lincoln.
The Act directed the formation of a Commission to review all records at the National Archives concerning the Powers Administration and to prepare a comprehensive, factual history of the period. Changes in law from the Peter Lincoln Administration forward restricted the public’s freedom of information and access to almost all presidential papers concerning the Powers Administration. The Commission was partly delayed in full research by the need to declassify almost 90% of the existing records first. After a thorough declassification review, approximately 1,500 Commission members researched the federal and presidential papers over the last ten years.
This volume provides an overall but brief executive summary of the events of the Powers Administration, with subsequent volumes providing more details, footnotes to presidential papers, federal records, and other sources. This volume is now in its 16th edition, due to the continued efforts of the Commission members plus recent discovery of other documents at the former Powers residences or in the possession of his great-great-grandchildren. It attempts to best reflect what actually happened during this presidency.
PREFACE
Dear Reader,
It has been almost 140 years since the administration of Thayer A. Powers as the 51st President of the United States ended suddenly in 2038. As per the law of the land at that time, all federal records and presidential papers were consolidated and transferred to the National Archives and Records Administration. These records were essentially sealed from the public for five to twelve years, with classified information protected for twenty-five years. Subsequent Congressional legislative actions recommended by the Peter Lincoln and subsequent presidential administrations led to the non-disclosure of these records for over a century, to “protect the public” and “avoid causing undue stress and anxiety among the living and the children and grandchildren of the dead.”
I have had the honor to lead the Commission created by the Congressional Act of 2167 to write the history of the Powers Administration. In retrospect, it has taken too long to assess the records and make sense of them. It was initially agreed to put together this volume to help guide our research into the presidential papers and place appropriate meaning to them in context with the events of its time. My administrative assistant tells me that this chronology has been updated over twelve thousand times over the last ten years. It is now in its 16th edition, and I do not expect this to be the last, as a reduced Commission staff will continue for the next five years, per the direction of Congress.
My grandfather was in his late twenties when Thayer A. Powers became president. Prior to that, he was an Army Officer who served two combat tours in Mongolia and one in Estonia, earning two Bronze Stars and one Purple Heart. He was retired, partly disabled from his wounds, and went to North Carolina to pursue his Masters and then a Doctorate from Duke University. During the 2032 presidential campaign, he supported the late Senator Amy Andrews in her primary campaign. He was aghast by the general election campaign, and wrote an anonymous book about a potential Powers Administration. He was outed in late October 2033, and he and his family faced much criticism. He suspected that he would be blackballed in his future career, so he changed directions, and decided to quietly fade away into academic life.
After completing his doctorate in 2033, he accepted a position at Liberty University and contributed time to the Powers-created Veterans Support and Advocacy Groups that provided assistance, training, connections, and jobs to our veterans. He told me that he heard the rumors of illegal activities during the Powers presidency, but could not believe that they were happening in our country. He was appalled by the declaration of Martial Law in 2036, but was part of the silent majority that said nothing. In his later years, he expressed much regret for his lack of involvement. But he was busy in his career and life, and raising my mother and uncles. He saw people disappear, but was afraid to ask why.
After the Second Civil War ended in 2038, he was called into a routine hearing about his activities during the Powers Administration. Apparently, writing a fictional book about the Powers Administration, and then benignly supporting it, made him suspect. He spent two years in a re-education camp, and my grandma divorced me, partly to protect herself. Upon his release, he then decided to advocate for the freedom of information for the American public of all government activities, in order to not repeat the failings of the Powers Administration. He re-married my grandmother in 2045, and spent his career in researching government records and advocating for public disclosure of almost everything. His work inspired me to enter this career.
I must have done well, because I was honored to receive the call from President Diane Anthony IV and asked to head the Commission. I gladly accepted this task, though I will admit that I expected a tour of duty of about five years, not twelve. Some have been critical of our efforts in taking too long, but one must realize we first had to find and declassify almost all the presidential papers and realized that the Powers Administration only kept a small fraction of its records. Thank goodness for the first two versions of the internet, others did keep some records – though looking at electronic records from 150 years in the past requires using computer devices with a keyboard and mouse (look that up if you do not know what those are).
We were tasked by Congress to create a detailed and factual history of the Powers Administrat
ion. Our Commission members decided to follow that in all the subsequent volumes, and indicate clearly where and when we were not really certain what actually happened, and offer some educated guesses. In this volume, the chronology of the events of the Powers Administration, we realized that this was likely the only work that the public would likely read, so we made it short and interesting, unlike much of our academic work. I will admit, it was the former President’s idea to put some “interesting” titles on the chapters to make it more readable, and I fully agreed, so as not to make this volume so stuffy.
We are of the consensus that decisions in the Powers Administration occurred in two basic ways. The first method was when President Powers would hear or read something, assess it like a business transaction, and rapidly make a decision, without consulting his advisors. The second method was where Powers’ officials developed a proposal, presented it without much detail to the President, who would again assess it like a business transaction and make a rapid decision. Because of his dependence to consider almost all recommendations through the experience as a very successful