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From: William Hyde <wthyde1953@gmail.com>
Newsgroups: rec.arts.sf.written
Subject: Re: (ReacTor) Five SF Scenarios Involving the US Presidential Line of
 Succession
Date: Fri, 11 Oct 2024 11:23:18 -0400
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Dimensional Traveler wrote:
> On 10/10/2024 9:28 AM, William Hyde wrote:
>> Paul S Person wrote:
>>> On Wed, 9 Oct 2024 13:51:44 -0400, Cryptoengineer
>>> <petertrei@gmail.com> wrote:
>>>
>>>> On 10/9/2024 11:42 AM, Paul S Person wrote:
>>>>> On Tue, 8 Oct 2024 22:18:12 -0400, Cryptoengineer
>>>>> <petertrei@gmail.com> wrote:
>>>>>
>>>>>> On 10/8/2024 11:55 AM, Paul S Person wrote:
>>>>>>> On 8 Oct 2024 14:16:07 -0000, jdnicoll@panix.com (James Nicoll) 
>>>>>>> wrote:
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> Five SF Scenarios Involving the US Presidential Line of Succession
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> The American Presidential Line of Succession determines who 
>>>>>>>> replaces
>>>>>>>> a suddenly absent President. More importantly, it is an invaluable
>>>>>>>> narrative tool.
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> https://reactormag.com/five-sf-scenarios-involving-the- 
>>>>>>>> presidential-line-of-succession/
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> I've occasionally wondered: in the event of a complete wipeout not
>>>>>>> actually destroying the entire USA, so that most States could 
>>>>>>> replace
>>>>>>> their Senators and Representatives, would whichever of the Senate 
>>>>>>> (by
>>>>>>> electing a President Pro Tempore) or the House (by electing a
>>>>>>> Speaker), depending on which is faster, actually be electing a
>>>>>>> President of the USA?
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> As to maintaining order, I suspect the highest ranking military
>>>>>>> officer would temporarily assume de facto control. As opposed to, 
>>>>>>> say,
>>>>>>> one of the Federal Attorneys scattered around the country. The
>>>>>>> military does have one advantage: there is /always/ someone who
>>>>>>> outranks everybody else, so "who takes charge?" is clear.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> Once a President exists, of course, the rest of the gummint (with 
>>>>>>> the
>>>>>>> advice and consent of the Senate, of course) would follow, and 
>>>>>>> the DoD
>>>>>>> could be put back under civilian control.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> IIRC, Congress is installed first, and they approve the
>>>>>> slate of electoral votes to declare the President. So Congress comes
>>>>>> first. That's what Trump was treasonously trying to disrupt on Jan 6.
>>>>>
>>>>> Which is corrrect, but has nothing to do with my very wild
>>>>> speculations.
>>>>>
>>>>> Or are you contemplating an off-year/out of season Presidential
>>>>> election before a new President can be installed?
>>>>
>>>> No, the regular Congress.
>>>>
>>>> Here's the timeline:
>>>> https://bipartisanpolicy.org/blog/2024-election-key-dates-beyond- 
>>>> election-day/
>>>>
>>>> The new Congress is sworn in Jan 3, and counts the electoral
>>>> votes Jan 6.
>>>
>>
>>>
>>> I also suspect a new District of Columbia will be established,
>>> probably in the middle of the country. Nothing like high mountains and
>>> a thousand miles or two of land to make a government feel secure.
>>
>> Without, one hopes, disenfranchising a million Americans.
>>
> You can't be disenfranchised if you don't have the ability to vote in 
> the first place.  ;)

As I understand it a number of people in Georgetown and other 
settlements in what became DC were rather unhappy with their loss of 
voting rights.


When I lived in DC someone published a few letters from the time as part 
of the movement to enfranchise the residents of DC.

William Hyde