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From: Paul S Person <psperson@old.netcom.invalid>
Newsgroups: rec.arts.sf.written
Subject: Re: (ReacTor) Five SF Scenarios Involving the US Presidential Line of Succession
Date: Sat, 12 Oct 2024 09:56:21 -0700
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On Thu, 10 Oct 2024 18:44:41 -0700, Dimensional Traveler
<dtravel@sonic.net> 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)=20
>>>>>>> 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-=20
>>>>>>>> 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,=
=20
>>>>>>> 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=20
>>>>>>> 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-=20
>>>> election-day/
>>>>
>>>> The new Congress is sworn in Jan 3, and counts the electoral
>>>> votes Jan 6.
>>>
>>=20
>>>
>>> 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.
>>=20
>> Without, one hopes, disenfranchising a million Americans.
>>=20
>You can't be disenfranchised if you don't have the ability to vote in=20
>the first place.  ;)
>
>If you are going to take out every elected official at the Federal level=
=20
>and all the SC Justices then you have to hit a LOT more places than just=
=20
>DC.  Someone from the Cabinet or Congress is ALWAYS away from DC.=20
>Taking them all out would require basically glassing every major city in=
=20
>the country.  Anything that's left after that is going to be little=20
>fiefdoms scattered across the continent.

Alternately, if the /chain of succession/ has been eliminated, a stray
undersecretary, Senator, or Representative here or there doesn't
change things much.

Except to highlight a point I glossed over by blithely saying (in
effect if not in actuality) "when the Senate and/or House is
restored"): how much of it must be restored before it can act. IOW,
how may Senators would constitute a Quorum able to elect a
President-Pro-Tempore who might become President if the House hasn't
elected a Speaker? And how many Representatives would be needed to
constitute a Quorum able to elect a Speaker?

My understanding, which may be wrong, is that most Governor's can
appoint Senators to serve at least until the next general election
(this is how Georgia ended up voting for two Senators in 2000: one was
for a six-year-term and the other was for the remainder of a term)
while most Representatives can only be replaced by an election. Which
would seem rather likely to get the Senate up and running first.=20

Which is not so great, since spending bills can only originate in the
House -- that is, it the House that has, as it's primary function, to
fund the government.

Of course, if we passed a law (or, if necessary, an Amendment) which
causes the Budget to roll over (incorporating all pending changes)
each year, this problem would not exist. We might be stuck with a
budget not suited to the new situation, but it would at least be a
budget.
--=20
"Here lies the Tuscan poet Aretino,
Who evil spoke of everyone but God,
Giving as his excuse, 'I never knew him.'"