Succession Planning
It’s time boys and girls for a quick civic lesson in Presidential Succession or as I like to think of it, the Republican Party fantasy roster. As Robert Hood is the only Republican in a cabinet seat, 11 people have to kick the bucket in order for Mr. Hood to become President. I borrowed this chart from Wikepedia (the site, not the former lover) at Lao Lao’s suggestion in order to state the obvious: Let’s face it, in a bitch fight between Nancy Pelosi, Robert Byrd and Hillary Rodham Clinton, my money’s on the Big C (that’s Clinton, folks) and screw the ordinals.
So what are the odds that our next President will be Steven Chu through succession? According to my Denver friend, pretty good. When we spoke 2 nights ago, she’d spent the day huddled with her husband in front of the flat screen listening to Fox News and preparing for the end of days. “God is preparing me” she whispered conspiratorially, “and when a dirty bomb hits DC, you’re going to die.”
Yep. That sounds about right. I have no delusions about surviving because some fascist sets off a dirty bomb. I live less than a mile from the Pentagon, smelled the jet fuel that September day. It doesn’t change anything. Doesn’t make me love DC any less, doesn’t make me wish my office weren’t 2 blocks from the White House (I like to take my lunch to the park across the street when the weather’s nice). I don’t do anything different living in DC that people do or don’t do in the rest of the country… and that includes Denver.
I didn’t ask my Denver friend where she and her husband and their bloated RV we’re going to do. Didn’t point out that if things get really bad, her RV will be surrounded by the people she calls “neighbors” its doors crushed, and tires slashed. If things get that bad, it won’t matter if the 16th person in line is called upon to serve, because the country that we know today would be so vastly different that calling such a scenario to mind is unproductive. Especially from the passenger side of an Rv.
All I have to say is ahmen……… Also, I mean, not to say this is ever going to happen to our country, but has anyone seen the short tv series Jericho? Our country will always (usually) unite between a common cause. We might all have our common objections, but with faced with annihilation, we will fight….. unless of course the draft is called of me to fight. In which case, a kindly aunt of mine living close to the Canadian boarder has offered her help as my escape route….. which I can’t say doesn’t sound appealing. I will stay if it means I can file conscientious objector status and can serve in a military office somwhere….. I couldn’t live with myself having killed someone.
BTW, based on my urban planning leaning, I can’t say I won’t be disappointed with 11 or 12 taking over…. though 12 taking over propbably means more subsidies to highways and the suburbs, which is part of the reason we are in the mess we are in to begin with. Bring back the European model.
Ahhh the joys of Faux News. Instilling fear and illogical thoughts on the airwaves. That mixed with mind numbing blind faith in every word organized religion says leads to a dumbed down, fear stricken public that will follow whatever their fearless leaders propose. I’m thankful there are strong minded, strong willed, independent thinkers out there that will still head out to Pennsylvania Ave on a nice day for an hour long picnic.