District in the California legislature. Gentlemen, may I introduce the president of the United States, William Snow, former governor of Arizona and my dear friend.”
All shook hands, and President Snow introduced Homeland Security Secretary Austin and General Connor.
“Good to see you again, Dan,” Pug said, warmly shaking his hand.
“You two know each other?” the president asked.
“Yes, sir,” Pug replied. “Mr. Rawlings and I worked together on the California secession investigation. He provided the key bit of information that led to the breakthrough.”
Pug smiled as Dan shook his head in disagreement. “Sorry, Mr. President, it was actually Mrs. Rawlings who provided that information. But at that time, she was Nicole Bentley, an active duty FBI agent. She was medically retired after being shot during that investigation and has since married Mr. Rawlings.”
“I’m pleased to meet you, Mr. Rawlings, and welcome, everyone. Please, find a seat and then, Joyce, you can tell me what brings you to Washington.”
The group sat around the small conference area in the Oval Office and Joyce Jefferson opened the discussion.
“Mr. President, we’re grateful for your time this afternoon. We know you’re extremely busy forming a new government and trying to put your team in place.” Jefferson hesitated just slightly, pausing to gather her thoughts. “Sir, the four of us represent a contingent of politicians from the western states. Conservative and moderate politicians,” she emphasized. “We’ve come out of respect for your office…” she paused again, and smiled at the president. “No, Bill, that’s not exactly true. We’ve come out of respect for you, to give you advance notice of our intentions.”
“Joyce, we’ve been friends for a long time, haven’t we? I know that quirky way you have of buttering the bread before you slice up the sandwich.”
Jefferson issued a slight chuckle. “Touche, Mr. President. I’ll get right to the point. Next Monday, the 25 ^th of March, a consortium of states will be holding a press conference in Las Vegas to announce our intention to join California in seceding from the United States of America and to form the Republic of Western America. As brusque as that notion is, that’s our message in a nutshell,” she said in her well-known, no-nonsense manner.
Silence followed, with the president slowly nodding his head. “So it’s true,” he said. “I’ve heard rumors. It’s hard to keep a movement this important quiet for long. I’m surprised the press hasn’t blown it wide open. How many states do you represent?”
“Nearly everything west of the Mississippi has a movement, Mr. President. We’ve been in contact with supportive elected officials in all nineteen states. By no means are they all in agreement, and we’re not even certain that all will pass the various secession referendum in each state, but we’re quite certain of about ten states, roughly eighty million people, about twenty-six percent of the U.S. population. The other nine states would add another thirty million, or thirty-five percent. California and Texas intend to divide into three states each. Once the announcement is made, I fully expect the idea to jump the Mississippi and run across the midwest red state belt.” She paused for a moment while the group considered her remarks.
“Mr. President, we’ve even had inquiry from British Columbia and several northern Mexican states, notably Baja and Sinaloa.”
“Why, Joyce?” the president asked. “Why now?”
“Mr. President, as you know, Mr. Rawlings here was one of the most staunch opponents of the California secession movement when it started nearly two years ago. We were all opposed,” she said, sweeping her arm to include her three associates. “But Congress has continued to press forward with their government intervention, their ‘ government knows best’ philosophy. The legislation they’ve passed, the legal action against Arizona, where the federal government has failed miserably to protect its citizens, I might add, has only served to fuel this rebellion. When you and I served together in Arizona, Bill, we often spoke of the growing federal intervention. It’s been so incremental that most people just take it for granted. The federal government today bears no resemblance to the last generation, much less to the early twentieth century. But this past five to ten years has been a great leap… backward, in our opinion. It’s not progress we oppose, but centralized government control. In short, that’s not American.”
“Vote the bastards out, Joyce,” the president said, his tone clearly exasperated. “Then elect those you think will restore sanity.”
“You know as well as I, Mr. President, that’s not as easy as it seems, even within constitutional grounds. With a media biased against anything traditional and plenty of money to fuel the campaigns of progressives, the public is overwhelmed with competing ideas. When one candidate promises to buy their groceries, and the other candidate tells them they need to ‘tighten their belt,’ they’ll vote for the one who promises the gravy train. It’s inevitable. But we haven’t come prepared to discuss the details of our new government functional operation or the organizational structure. As to the basics, the Republic will be founded around the original intentions of America’s Founding Fathers. States’ rights, extremely limited federal authority, especially judicial activism, and a strong restriction on the length, process, and cost of election campaigns. We want to restore the America of our parents and our grandparents. We’re calling a halt to the incremental march toward socialism. We don’t care if people are sensitive to that word. That’s what America is becoming-a socialist nation-and it’s not what we want. We’re confident it’s not what the majority of Americans want, either. In a decade or two, people will relocate to whichever nation and government structure fulfills their personal beliefs. When that occurs, the liberal nation will have to tell the ‘takers’ that the “givers” have moved away and there’s no more gravy.
“I predict here and now, Mr. President, that within five years, the Republic of Western America will be a larger, more populous nation than the United States. It’s what the people want, despite the liberal media that trumpets a cradle-to-grave, entitlement utopia.”
“Do you see no room for reconciliation?” the president asked.
“Certainly. Congress can join us in our restoration of original principles. They can listen to the majority consensus, not the special interests or favored few. As I said a moment ago, Congress can tell the thirty percent who contribute nothing that the thirty percent who contribute nearly everything have gone. I don’t see that happening, Mr. President. Historically, few men with such power, or women, for that matter, have ever given it up voluntarily. And that brings me to my secondary point and one reason for our advance visit. We do not want bloodshed, Mr. President. We want your word that you will not use the military to force these states to remain loyal. There is no issue of morality, slavery, or insurrection here. You would not be fighting for a just cause like Lincoln. We represent a large percentage of Americans who feel they’ve been betrayed. You’re an Arizonian, Mr. President. I know you understand, and likely sympathize, at least privately.”
“It’s been years since my term of office in Arizona, Joyce. I’ve assumed the office of the presidency with its national perspective. My oath is to the Constitution, to hold this nation together.”
“Yes, sir,” she nodded, “and so is the congressional oath to protect and defend the Constitution, not to reinterpret it every time it stands in the way of some new-found idea. Elected and appointed federal officials have ignored the Constitution for two damn long, repudiating their oath to defend it. They’ve ignored or even destroyed the very principles upon which this nation was founded. Tell me, Mr. President,” she said, her righteous anger beginning to increase, “who in their right mind believes that James Madison thought free speech meant nude dancing? Who thought that freedom of religion meant that religious icons could not be viewed in the public square or that prayer would be outlawed in schools? And who, by the grace of God, thought that saving a baby seal was more important than saving a baby human? My heavens, Bill, we don’t even come close to representing what our founders believed. The legal and semantic distortion of the Constitution and English common law is so impractical as to boggle the mind. We’ll answer any questions we can, Mr. President, but this movement has risen quickly and gained credibility and momentum. Next Monday we will present it to the nation. We expect overwhelming agreement from the people, if not from those who are likely to lose their power base.”
Secretary Austin and General Connor had remained absolutely silent during this exchange, as had the three men with Joyce Jefferson. Now President Snow turned to Austin. “Mr. Secretary, in light of our prior meeting, I guess that old saying is true-when it rains, it pours?”
“That, sir, is an understatement,” Austin replied.
