Second Term - A Novel of America in the Last Days (The End of America Series Book 1) (23 page)

FIFTY
ONE

Letter
from Jail/Journal Entry

Jack, my much loved
son, visited me again today. It was a sweet and sour experience. It was great
to see him. I’m thankful he wanted to take the time to visit his dad in jail.
Our time of fellowship, and prayer, was really memorable. Jack is a strong
believer, and a forceful and effective pastor. I’m proud of him.

As for the non-sweet
part of the visit, we clashed, again, on my opposition to the President, and my
tactics in opposing our nation’s Chief Executive. Jack still doesn’t think that
I should have gotten myself arrested for what I have done to fight to keep our
Constitutional rights. I’ve brought up Dietrich Bonhoeffer before in my
discussions/arguments with Jack. Bonhoeffer was executed by the government he
opposed. Not that I’m planning on a similar end game, just that he was a
principled man who was willing to do what was right to help others, in his
case, to fight for saving the lives of Jewish residents of his nation. I’m
fighting to try and save the rights of Americans to defend ourselves.

Jack, of course,
supports our right to own firearms. He’s owned a gun since he was sixteen. We
would hunt and go to the shooting range together. He told me today that he will
turn in his firearm before the end of the Redemption Period. I didn’t expect
him to violate the law and hold on to his gun, but I thought he should make
some form of protest in connection with doing so. He doesn’t agree. As a
pastor, it’s his position that he should preach the gospel and not be involved
in what he calls ‘current events’. He’s not persuaded when I bring up either
Bonhoeffer, who was a pastor, or Martin Luther King, Jr., who likewise was a
man of the cloth.

I guess I can’t
expect my son to be like his dad in all respects, especially when it comes to
civil disobedience. But, that doesn’t mean that it doesn’t hurt when he gets
that look on his face. You know, the look that kind of says, ‘I respect you as
my dad, but you’re hurting our family by your actions’. Debbie has talked with
him, and spent time with Allison, and expressed nothing but her support for me
and what I’m trying to accomplish. So, Jack can’t have any reason to think that
we’re not together on this. I truly don’t know what I’d do if Debbie was
side-wise with me. She’s paying a huge price for me being in prison, naturally,
but she seems to be handling it well. We have a good extended family,
neighborhood and church support team. One of our small group guys hired her at
his company, which supplements our daily financial needs while I’m a guest of
the government. My room and board here are covered, no need to worry. The
government provides me ‘three hots and a cot’’, as they say here.

I’ve shared with
Debbie and Jack how I’ve been used here. Because it’s widely known that I’m in
the can because of my gun rights activities, I’m a little bit of a hero with
many of my fellow inmates. Probably because of that I’ve not experienced what I
understand a lot of new inmates go through, with various forms of harassment, sexual
and otherwise. They kind of give me a wide berth and a certain level of visible
respect. I’ve had some good spiritual discussions with some guys, who have some
true needs.

Our biggest argument
today was when Jack asked me what I thought about the new ATF television ad,
created and aired to try and scare gun owners into turning in their guns. Maybe
I’m a little sensitive because the ad was staged in a jail cell. Seriously
though, I told Jack that I thought it was not the role of the government in a
free country to tell its citizens, using their money, that if they don’t do
what the government tells them to do, they can spend several years in forced
confinement. What kind of a country does that?

Jack’s response was
that the internal revenue code works like that, and everybody accepts it. I
sort of lost it at that point, and went off on IRS abuses, which led to a tiff
over the Federal Reserve and downhill from there.

So, what should a parent
do when agreement with an adult child is just not happening? I changed the
subject. I brought up my potential future trial. We were both happy to talk
about something else, I think. I know I was, because it makes my stomach hurt
to fight with my son. I don’t mind at all fighting with abusive Senators or
probing District Attorneys, but I don’t handle fighting with Jack very well. Or
Debbie, for that matter, but as I said, that’s not generally been a problem,
thankfully.

As I said, I brought
up my possible criminal charges and trial.

Jack asked me if I
thought there was any chance that any charges against me would be just
dismissed, thrown out? I explained that the Attorney General had been appointed
by this President, that he worked for this President and that he would do what
this President asked him to do. Jack then asked if the Judge might grant some
kind of a dismissal pleading. I explained that my attorney told me yesterday
that my case was being venued out of Texas next week to Oregon, and that I
would be transferred soon thereafter to the Pacific coast, to the federal
prison at Sheridan, Oregon.

Jack immediately
realized that the change of location was motivated by at least two goals, to
harass me by separating me from my family and support network by several
hundreds of miles and also to pick up a federal judge and jury who would not be
friendly, shall we say, to a Texas gun rights leader. My attorney’s
conclusions, exactly. Maybe Jack should have been an attorney. I told him that
his hunch was correct, as I learned right before he arrived today that my new
federal judge in Oregon will be Hiram ‘Hanging Judge’ McDermott, a Carter
appointee, who has a record of imprisoning for maximum terms persons convicted
in his court of gun law violations. One blog I read said that the Judge had
told an attorney in a private conversation that the payer name on his twice a
month check was ‘U.S. Government’, and he never forgot who his employer was.
So, we are not counting on any favors from my new Judge, let alone a dismissal
of any sort. Debbie is looking into moving to Oregon, if she can find a decent
job. It won’t be easy on her, which, of course, makes it tough for me, which is
the government’s purpose, pretty clearly.

Well, dear
journal/readers of my jailhouse letters, how am I doing, you may ask? Besides
that, Mrs. Lincoln, how did you enjoy the play? Sorry, jailhouse humor, I
guess. I’m human, so it’s not easy. But, I know Who has control of all this, so
I’m OK. Pretty much, that is. Can’t mislead your own journal, right?

As Jack was here
today, seeing his youthfulness and energy, I couldn’t help but recall when I
was that young, a long time before my eye-opening education in how things
really work in government and politics. As a young businessman and new father,
I didn’t have a lot of time to pay attention to current affairs, what was
happening in DC, or Austin or even at City Hall in Tyler. Like most people, I
sort of just took it for granted that people in public office were all doing a
good job, for the most part. I paid my taxes, voted and hoped for the best.

Then, my life changed.
Somebody invited me, as a new insurance company employee to Rotary. The first
time I attended, I met two guys who both became important in my life. One guy I
met was named Ralph Snyder. Ralph took me to a meeting that led me down my
political activism path that I’ll cover later in this journal in greater depth,
but I’ll need some time to get all that collected in my memory and written
down, maybe next week. I’ve got nothing but time here.

The other guy I met
at Rotary on my first visit, Fred Rose, is a Tyler businessman, a house
contractor, as I recall. He invited me to a luncheon Bible Study. As an
American and a Texan, I always pretty much thought of myself as a Christian. If
anyone had asked me, I would have said, ‘sure, I’m a Christian, I’m not a Buddhist’.
Well, at the Bible Study, which was attended by about thirty some guys, some of
whom I knew, somebody did ask me. But not the way I expected. Fred Rose asked
me “
when
did I come to know the Lord?” I put his question in quotes here
because that’s how he asked me. I, of course, had no answer. I kind of spluttered
out something like, “well, I’ve always been a Christian”, which didn’t answer
his question. A slightly raised eyebrow, and then a quick smile told me that I
might hear some more about this from Fred.

Sure enough, he
stopped by the insurance company the afternoon of the next day and asked if I
had any time to talk. Turned out I did. I expected 15-20 minutes, max. We were
still talking when Sally asked if I needed anything else before she left work
for the day. I couldn’t believe it was quitting time. Fred told me about his
messed up, booze-heavy, womanizing life that had nearly destroyed his family.
He told me that a carpenter had saved him. Well, I knew he was a contractor, so
I asked him if one of his workers had helped him out with some good advice. He
smiled.

No, he said, this
carpenter is Jewish, and he died a couple thousand years ago. I’m a little
dense sometimes, so I asked how that could be and he told me that the carpenter
was Jesus of Nazareth. Honestly, my first reaction when he said that was to
glance at my phone to see if maybe Sally might buzz me and I could terminate
this meeting. But, I’m really glad now I didn’t try such a stunt. Fred shared
with me the gospel. That Jesus was crucified and resurrected and through Him I
can have a new, abundant life. I’d heard some of that kind of talk before. I’m
a Texan, remember, but it hadn’t really sunk in. My parents weren’t
particularly religious. The only time I went to a church when I was kid was
when a neighbor or friend invited to something special.

But, this time I
guess I was just ready. Once I understood what Christ had done for me, and what
He expected from me, that’s all it took. I still don’t know how I’d been so
blissfully ignorant all those years, but I was. So Fred led me in a prayer. I
prayed. I repented of my (many) sins. Then I told Jesus that I believed in Him
as my savior and Lord, and I asked Him to come into my life, to take over the
throne of my life. No fireworks, just a totally changed life. Jesus didn’t
waste any time shaping me up. I don’t know who all may read this someday, so
I’ll leave out all the lurid, racy stuff that I gave up, but I know, and my
best friends know, how thoroughly, and rapidly, He changed my lifestyle. Whew!

Naturally, I told
Debbie that night what I had done. She looked at me like, “yeah, sure you did”,
but she said nothing, except “that’s nice, John”. But, within about a month or
so, she had seen enough of her new husband (‘where is my old husband and what
have you done with him?’) to want to know more about what happened to me. I
count it a real blessing that I could share my new Best Friend with my wife at
the kitchen table, and she came to know Him, also.

OK, dear journal/readers
of my jailhouse letters, how did I get on this memory lane? Oh, yeah. Jack was
here today. He has such potential. He loves the Lord. He’s a great preacher, at
least a lot of people in Dallas must think so. He draws from all over the Park
Cities area. Great family man. I just wish he would agree with his ol’ dad on
the issues that are dividing our country. You know, the issues that landed me
in prison. Oh, yeah, well, maybe
that
has something to do with why Jack
isn’t in agreement with me. But, there’s always hope. More later on Ralph
Snyder and what he did to me, make that
for
me.

FIFTY
TWO

Concord,
Massachusetts – Old North Bridge

The ATF claimed that
its advertisements were so successful that 94% of the estimated number of guns
in America had been turned in at Redemption Centers by the deadline. Of course,
like many statistics, this one could not possibly be proven to be accurate, and
was by many estimates excessively high. But it sounded good, and the estimated
percentage of compliance became commonly acknowledged by the mainstream media
as proof of success of the new law. The seemingly impressive statistic was cited
by the President when he and Director Humless officially commemorated the
concluding day of the Redemption Period. They did so with a joint news conference
at the historic re-built Old North Bridge, spanning the Concord River, in
Concord, Massachusetts, the site of the first battle of the Revolutionary War.
The President and Director Humless gave their remarks in front of the Daniel
Chester French sculpture of the Minuteman.

“Director Humless, I
have asked you to join me here today at this historic location to honor you for
your agency’s hard work over these last six months to make America free from gun
violence. I couldn’t think of a more appropriate spot to formally end the era
of gun violence than to commemorate its end where it began. It was here that
guns were used for what we now know was the historic purpose of freeing our people
from their domination by the British Empire. That Empire oppressed people on
many continents.          

“There are some who
have objected to the McAlister Hate Speech and Hate Weapons Elimination Act
based on what I think are misguided Constitutional law arguments. I know a
little bit about Constitutional Law, having taught the subject. I want to
assure the American public that if I thought the McAlister Bill was
unconstitutional, I would not have signed it into law. The fact that it appears
to conflict with some protestors’ interpretations of the Second Amendment
doesn’t mean that it actually does. We used to have slavery and people argued
that it was Constitutional. The U.S. Supreme Court, as we all know, will hear
arguments next week, in an emergency hearing, in a case challenging the
constitutionality of the McAlister Act. I am sure that our nation’s highest
Court will carefully consider the arguments both for and against the new law. I
am just as confident that the Supreme Court will render a Constitutionally
correct decision, and hand it down expeditiously. My own view, of course, is
that old words from two centuries ago must be carefully weighed in light of
today’s public demand to rid our nation of gun violence, which has been caused
in large part by hateful speech, which we have also outlawed in the
history-making McAlister Act.

“So, my fellow
Americans, we are gathered here today at Old North Bridge at Concord. What
started here with guns, can now end here, as we honor the successful conclusion
of the Redemption Period under the Lawrence McAlister Hate Speech and Hate Weapons
Elimination Act. From this day forward, any American caught owning or
possessing a firearm, with very limited exceptions, will be charged with a
felony, will be convicted and will serve the maximum statutory time at a
federal prison. The same penalty will apply to any person who violates the law
prohibiting hate speech. There have been rumors that I will allow an amnesty
period for those who did not comply with the 180 day Redemption Period. I want
to clear that up. That is false. I will not excuse those who, after today’s
midnight deadline, violate the McAlister Act. That will not happen. So, for
those still hesitating, you’ve only got until twelve midnight tonight, as I did
extend the regular office closing hours for today at the Redemption Centers.
Thanks, again, Director Humless. Any plans ahead for you or your agency?”

ATF Director Humless,
visibly preening himself as nicely as any peacock, assumed the podium. This was
the day he had sought for years as America’s leading anti-gun lobbyist. His
time had come to take credit, and also to send a message. “Mr. President,
together with you, your staff and all the fine officials in your
Administration, the ATF has managed to handle the redemption of millions of
what some call firearms, but I call hate weapons, as does the McAlister Act.
The final accounting isn’t done, naturally, but when it is, America should be
overjoyed with the results. Our nation will be safer, and America will be gun
violence free, which has been my dream for the last several years at the
Bradford Center Against Gun Violence by Gun Abolition.

“Phase two now
begins. Our agency has been authorized by Congress to hire over fifty-four
thousand new ATF agents, which greatly helps the employment situation in this
country, of course. That’s approximately one new ATF agent for every 5,000
Americans. This fact should make most Americans feel very secure, knowing that
our agents will be out there in the various states. They will be hunting
down….maybe a better word would be locating….sorry….the few remaining gun
owners, those whose continued ownership of hate weapons threatens all of us.
This will fulfill the dreams of many former Presidents, particularly Presidents
Carter, Clinton and Obama.”

Two men were watching
with great interest the televised coverage of the President’s news conference
at Old North Bridge. The first was the President’s Chief of Staff, watching the
news conference from his West Wing corner office, who groaned, again. Can this
guy ever get his ‘government speak’ correct, he wondered? Humless may have been
effective in the ‘gun round up’ for ‘meltin and smeltin’, as the President’s
top aide liked to describe the disposal process. But, is Humless up to the task
of phase two. Enforcement? Getting scared gun owners to turn in their guns for
money was one thing, but actually going after the hold outs, the tea party
folks, the militia groups, the angry hunters, he knew that was another issue
entirely. The easy part, the
‘I’ll give you money, you give me your gun,
and, oh yeah, you don’t go to prison’
part, that was finally over. Now, it
was time for enforcement of the criminal provisions of McAlister, which
promised to be a bit more difficult.

The other man greatly
interested in the Old North Bridge Presidential media event was watching from
his home in Billings, Montana. As he watched the President discuss the anti-gun
law at the site of the first shots fired in the American Revolution, in front
of the Minuteman statue, he made a life-changing decision. His President, he
concluded, was desecrating what the founding fathers did at Concord, as they
fired the shots heard around the world. How dare he celebrate his anti-gun
victory on this holy site? He then decided, though reluctantly, and after much
prayer, that he would honor what they did, and he would do it in a way that the
world would understand that freedom and freedom’s friends were not yet dead and
gone in America. It was time to assemble the posse. They had work to do.