Second Term - A Novel of America in the Last Days (The End of America Series Book 1) (19 page)

“Madam Speaker, my
second argument is also a fundamental truth about governing. An elemental truth
of governing a free people is that when a nation is divided, when as many
people favor a change in the law as are opposed to changing the law, nothing
should be done, until or unless there is a consensus of the governed. We should
have learned from the healthcare debacle that forcing through massive changes
in the laws of a nation, when half of all Americans are opposed to the change,
only invites trouble, and an increasing suspicion and disdain for their
government by the governed.

“Lastly, Madam
Speaker, I hesitate to raise this argument, because it will undoubtedly be
misinterpreted. But, the truth is that this country was founded by men with
muskets, to whom we owe our freedom. If this free nation passes this anti-gun
legislation, we should not be at all surprised if men with today’s form of
muskets try to regain their freedom. I’m not threatening anyone. I have no
inside information as to any armed overthrow of the federal government that may
occur. But we’ve all heard rumors that if this Congress takes away our right to
be armed, and to speak our mind freely, there are rampant rumors that there
will be persons who will not abide such a decision, who will not turn in their
firearms and who may even use those firearms against this government. Would
they use them in this way? I don’t know, but I am suggesting to this body of
legislators that before it crosses the line of public opposition to banning
guns, that it first look to see what’s on the other side of that line. The
killing of innocent pro-gun protestors in Omaha should be a wake-up call to all
Americans This government is willing to even kill its own people to get its own
way. Be warned, my colleagues, you are warned. I yield back the balance of my
time.”

As the Tea Party
Caucus leader concluded his remarks, the Speaker’s facial expression could only
be described as hateful.

Spluttering, she
said, “I have never….in all my years in this….I can’t recall ever hearing a
Member threaten violence against our government, before. Never. I just can’t
believe….Why, I should ask the House Ethics Committee to investigate the
gentlemen’s threatening remarks….I….The Justice Department should….Sir, you
should be very….”

“Madam Speaker, I
didn’t threaten anybody, let alone our government…”

“Yes, you did, you
very clearly said that….”

“If the Speaker would
let me finish, I only suggested what everybody has already heard, and probably
already discussed, and that is, that if this bill becomes the law of the land,
that the new law will
not
be universally obeyed, and it may lead to
violence against the government itself, which has itself become violent against
the people. That’s not a threat. That’s reality, Madam Speaker, and we had
better be aware of reality before we…”

The reality was that the
Speaker had what she needed.

“The gentlemen will
desist. Your time is expired. I am exercising my prerogative to terminate
debate in this House when it appears that decorum has been disturbed, under
Rule XVII. There is no right of a Member to engage in seditious comments in
this House. There will be no more floor debate. The last two Members who were
scheduled to speak can submit their remarks for the Record. We will vote
tomorrow, Tuesday, at 5 PM. This House is adjourned.” With that the Speaker
slammed down her Speaker’s Gavel, and walked off the Speaker’s platform.

“Madam Speaker, I
challenge the…you can’t…”

“I appeal the Chair’s
ruling and ask for a division.”

The motions were to
no avail, as the Speaker had adjourned the House. No further business could be
transacted. The floor debate on the Lawrence McAlister Hate Speech and Hate
Weapons Elimination Bill was over. What remained was the vote.

FORTY TWO

Dallas, Texas

Pastor Jack Madison
had a free evening, due to a cancelled counseling session, which allowed him to
look more extensively into the 223 prophetic verses that his Dad had asked him
to study during his last visit. After a very long night of study, prayer and
research, he wished he hadn’t done so. He didn’t sleep well in the remaining
hours of the night.

The next morning he
decided to expand his study of the prophecies by asking his senior
accountability group to also look into the verses. The six men in the group
were all involved in leadership in Jack’s church in the Park Cities suburb of
Dallas. Four had seminary training. All were students of the Bible. None were
prepared for what their Pastor was about to ask them to do.

“Men, I didn’t sleep
well last night….”

“Worried about
Congress may do, or just unconfessed sins, Pastor?”, asked Scott Banks, the
comic member of the group.

Always ready for a
laugh, Pastor Jack joined in the general mirth, “No, Scott, but if I think of
some to confess, you’ll be the second one I call, after the Lord, of
course….OK, seriously though, my sleep deprivation was caused by a late night Bible
study. My dad, you’ve met him and you all know why he’s in prison, gave me
several prophecy verses to study. I finally had a free evening and I did so,
though I frankly wished I hadn’t.”

“Why’s that, Pastor?”

“You’ll soon see.
Here’s a list for each of you of 223 verses. All of them are about a single end
times nation. Very powerful, called the hammer of the whole earth. Extremely
rich, living in luxury. Influential, referred to as the great voice. The
nations of the world stream there to meet. Has a large Jewish population. A
supporter of Israel. There are thirty clues in those verses to what the Bible
calls the mystery of the identity of this end times nation. Mystery Babylon.”

“Very interesting,
Pastor. Sounds like you may have solved the mystery already?”

“It might sound that
way, but I haven’t come to any final conclusions. Yet, that is. I want you each
to take the list, look up and read the verses, do whatever research you have
time to do, then let’s discuss it next week. I’m very interested in hearing
what you come up with. This subject is obviously important, otherwise God
wouldn’t have devoted so many verses to it, and they may answer the question
that many American Christians have asked.”

“What question is
that, Pastor?”

“Is America in the
Bible? If it is, what happens to it in the last days?”

Thus the members of
Jack’s most trusted church leaders were given what would prove to be a very
challenging assignment. None would ever forget how they started down this path
pursuing the contemporary application of prophecy.

FORTY
THREE

Washington,
DC – Chambers of U.S. House of Representatives

Speaker Pelham wasted
no time in scheduling the final vote on the McAlister Bill. The pending vote
drew several tens of thousands of protestors and supporters to Capitol Hill,
all of whom had to pass through metal detectors. The signs being carried in the
plaza in front of the U.S. Capitol were many, varied and, in some cases,
hateful and vitriolic, and those were the signs in
support
of the gun
bill. Not to be outdone, opponents of the McAlister bill showed their
entrenched positions against the bill, with signs such as:

ONLY
WHEN YOU PEEL AWAY

MY
COLD, DEAD FINGERS

AN
ARMED MAN IS A CITIZEN

AN
UNARMED MAN IS A SUBJECT

DEFEAT
GUN ABOLITION

DEFEAT
SPEECH CENSORSHIP

GOD,
GUNS AND GUTS          MADE AMERICA GREAT!

KEEP
YOUR LAWS OFF MY GUN!

KEEP
YOUR LAWS OFF MY SPEECH!

ONLY
CROOKED POLITICIANS FEAR ARMED CITIZENS

THE
ORIGINAL HOMELAND SECURITY

THE
RIGHT TO KEEP AND BEAR ARMS

Gun bill
supporters’ signs generally ignored the philosophical issues involved in the
gun debate and, instead, reviled the opponents of the gun bill:

DON’T LET THE
PEOPLE HATERS & GUN LOVERS WIN

SAY NO TO
SLOPEHEADS

BAN GUNS AND
HATE SPEECH NOW

ENOUGH IS
ENOUGH – PASS THE BILL – STOP THE KILLERS

NO
OLD DOCUMENT

CAN
GRANT THE RIGHT TO KILL OR HATE

GOD MUST HATE
GUN OWNERS

“The House will be in
order.”

“The House will be in
order!”

“The House
will
be in order!! All Members please take their seats. All Members
please
be
seated, so that we can begin the vote tally. This is a
truly
momentous
vote for our nation, so I would like to start…”

The only persons who
were actually listening to Speaker Pelham try to call the House to order, were
not those excitedly milling in the chamber, but were instead those watching her
on the three networks, and on C-Span, MSCNB, CNN or Fox, all of which were
covering live the historic vote on the McAlister Bill. The House session had
originally been noticed for 1 PM, but it was abruptly moved to 5 PM, when the
Speaker realized that she might be as many as three votes shy of the votes
necessary to pass the hard-fought, and heatedly debated, bill.

The Members of the
House, particularly the undecided, had been lobbied, and lobbied hard, but of
course, that’s the price they paid in personal stress to be in public service,
as they could be expected to argue in their own defense. Some might respond
that the money, perks, staff, vehicles, fame and health and retirement benefits
provided to Congressmen and Congresswomen more than justified the pressure and
stress associated with having tens of thousands of people tell them what to do and
how to vote.

Voting was why the
Members assembled together tonight on Capitol Hill, in the historic shadow of
the Members who had come before them, who also cast votes through which America
was changed. With some votes the nation changed for the better, with other
votes, the results were not so good. The true believers on both sides of the speech
and gun bill who were assembled in the Chamber knew that it was their votes
that would ensure that America would be free of guns, though America would lose
rights guaranteed by its Constitution. They knew those rights could vanish with
a simple bill, should it become a law, and be upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court.
Such were the stakes facing the Members, as the Senate had the day before voted
in favor of 113-S.-1 in sufficient numbers. The President had let it be known
that he had several honorary pass-out signature pens lined up on his desk,
prepared for signing the McAlister Hate Speech and Hate Weapons Elimination
Act. What was needed was 218 Americans, Members of the U.S. House of
Representatives, willing and able to vote yes on the pending bill to change
Americans’ rights to speak freely and to keep and bear arms. An historic vote
indeed.

Speaker Pelham
earlier in the afternoon informed her House majority leadership team that she
intended to use the “Hastert Hat Trick”, if necessary, to get the votes needed
to pass the McAlister Bill. She was referring to controversial legislative
actions taken by Speaker Dennis Hastert in 2003 to pass the Bush Medicare
Prescription Drug Act. On the first vote in the House in June, 2003 the bill
failed by 218 to 214. After some arm-twisting, three Republicans changed their vote,
passing the bill by 216-215. After several months of debate and eventual
passage by the Senate, a revised version of the bill came back to the House for
consideration. Voting on the bill started at 3 AM on November 22nd, but the
initial vote tally showed the bill losing by 219-215.

Contrary to the
traditional House voting limit of fifteen minutes, the vote was held open for
several hours while Speaker Hastert and Majority Leader Delay sought two more
affirmative votes. During the vote delay one Congressman alleged that he was
offered campaign funding for his son, who wanted to run to replace the
Congressman in the next election. At 5:50 AM the Speaker found two more votes
and the bill passed. Democrats called foul, but the precedent had been established,
allowing the Speaker of the US House to hold open a vote on pending
legislation, as long as necessary, and to do whatever was necessary, to get the
votes necessary, to pass the bill and thus make a new law. Now, if the vote
promised to be close, the Chair could instruct the House Clerk to suspend the
clock countdown at one minute yet to go, to ensure that the Speaker had
sufficient votes to either pass or defeat a bill, as the case may be.

Within a half hour,
the Speaker had gaveled the Members into their seats and into enough order and
decorum for the Clerk to read the title and synopsis of the bill upon which the
Members would soon vote.

 “The question is
upon the passage of 113-S.-1, A Bill for an Act to Eliminate Hate Speech and
Hate Weapons. Be it enacted by the Congress of the…. “

“Thank you Madam
Clerk, the Bill is upon the table, the Committee of the Whole having considered
and acted upon all amendments submitted by Members, the question is on
consideration of the Bill. All those in favor, say aye, all opposed say Nay. In
the opinion of the Chair, the ayes have it, and the bill…”

“Madam Speaker,” the
Minority Leader made the obligatory motion for a recorded vote by individual
Members, “I request a recorded vote.”

“The Gentleman’s request
is granted. The Clerk will open the voting system for voting by Members.”

The time was 6:05 PM.
As Members began to vote, they didn’t do so in a vacuum. Not only were the eyes
and ears of the world focused on their vote through electronic media, the
multiple thousands of Bill protestors and supporters outside the U.S. Capitol
insured that the Members of the House heard their respective messages.

The House of
Representatives vote tally device posted votes as they were entered by Members,
each using the encoded card given to them upon being sworn in as Members.
Television screens carried the ongoing totals, as votes were added. Those who
were strongly in favor and those who were adamantly opposed to the Bill cast
their votes quickly, each side showing their voting numbers strength, as an
early indicator.

With just five
minutes to go on the countdown, almost all Members had voted, showing a count
of 205 in favor and 207 opposed, leaving 23 not yet voting. At one minute and
fifteen seconds yet to go, the count had risen to 212 in favor and 215 opposed,
with 8 not yet voting. At almost one minute, 3 of the 8 had voted, but all had
voted no, bringing the tally to 212 in favor and 218 opposed, a margin of 6
against, but with only 5 not yet voting. Alarm bells sounded behind the
Speaker’s Rostrum, as the Speaker alerted the Clerk to stop the countdown,
until further order by the Chair. The backers of the McAlister Bill had a
problem, a big problem. They didn’t have the votes needed for passage.

The task was easy
enough to understand – the Speaker needed all five Members not yet voting to
vote yes, and one Member of the 218 voting no would have to switch their vote,
a maneuver that was allowed under the House Rules as long as voting had not yet
been closed by the Chair. The Speaker was not about to close the voting until
she had 218 votes cast in favor of the Bill. How to accomplish that task was
now her immediate task.

The five Members who
had not yet voted were invited to leave the floor of the House and meet with
the Speaker, “Congressman Scott, the Speaker would like to see you in her
Chamber Office, if you have the time.” The Members not yet voting found that
they indeed did have the time.

The five Members of
the House who had not yet cast their votes were assembled in the Speaker’s
private office just off the House floor. Congressman Scott later told his
colleagues that it was almost like school children being chastised in the
Principal’s Office for their behavior on the school grounds.

The Speaker even used
language to that effect. “Alright, now children, what have I possibly done to
you to lead you to disappoint me so greatly? This Bill is the most important
since healthcare reform, and here we are, with your Speaker six votes shy, and
you are five of those six votes. What am I to do? Could I conceivably be more
embarrassed than to have five Members from my own Party who won’t vote for this
bill?”

Speaker Pelham had
developed through the years a reputation for personalizing every vote, whenever
and however possible. She had been told that former Speaker Sam Rayburn had
used the technique to great effect in his seventeen successful years leading
the House in the 40’s and 50’s. Since amending the Bill was out of the question
procedurally at this point in time, the only thing the Speaker could offer to
pick up votes now was in the ‘sausage making category’. Otto von Bismarck,
Chancellor of German, had once famously said that if one ever wanted to respect
the law or eat sausage again, one shouldn’t watch either one being made. It was
sausage making time for the Speaker.

“I don’t have all
night, so let’s just do this. Write down what it will take on the back of your
Member business card, drop it on the desk, and I’ll call you back in
individually. But, don’t get greedy and don’t be stupid, there is actually a
limit on my powers, there’s even a limit on the President’s ability to get what
you want. He’s on standby at the other end of Pennsylvania Avenue, so we’re
prepared to deal. But, before you leave, I still need a switcher, so also put
on your card the most likely Member to switch, and I’ll call them in. Now get
out of here, you guys have caused enough trouble tonight.”

Between the Speaker,
and her ability to substantially advance a Member’s career and standing in the
House, and the President, and his almost unlimited ability to bring federal
benefits, grants, contracts, campaign contributions and Presidential visits to
a favored Member of Congress, the five visitors to the Speaker’s Office eventually
saw the light, and voted yes on the McAlister Bill. U.S. Senator Everett
Dirksen, former majority leader of the Senate, had frequently observed that
“when they feel the heat, they see the light”. His commentary on lining up
votes was from a by-gone era, one in which political pressure to conform was
more prevalent, times before an era in which monetary and power enticements,
not threats, were the norm. The vote on the screens was now 218 opposed and 217
in favor. The Speaker needed one no vote to switch to yes. Now, finally, she
knew she would win.

The Speaker’s words
to her caucus leadership team and the bill’s floor leaders were certainly
succinct, “This is the word. Circulate it. The first one to switch, the first
one to change from no to yes,
the very first one
, gets a choice: a.) their
spouse or significant other gets appointed to the Board of Directors of
America’s third largest multi-national corporation, guaranteed 400 K per year
for four years, plus perks, or b.) appointment by the President to the empty
Ambassadorship to Italy, upon resignation from the House, all done within sixty
days, with a guarantee of confirmation by the Senate. After the Court of St.
James, our Ambassador to Great Britain, Rome is the best Embassy post in the
world. After that, whoever switches, I don’t care. They get nothing special.
Let’s get this done.”

Within minutes, three
things had changed in America:

a.) A Congressman
from New Jersey switched his no vote to yes, immediately after which the
Speaker declared the vote closed at 6:18 AM, with 218 in favor and 217 opposed;

b.) America’s
Congress had adopted a new law allowing the federal government to decide what
constituted free speech, prohibiting private ownership of firearms and making
it a felony to own a firearm, in spite of the Constitutional Amendments
granting speech and gun ownership rights; and