The Last Election

Part 1

Chapter 1

“The president has ignored the most basic principle of our constitution, which is American citizens are served by the government, not the other way around!”

There were two thousand strong packed into Columbia’s Metropolitan Convention Center cheering, “A.K., A.K., A.K.!” The tightly packed crowd seemed to move like a rolling tide as supporters cheered and waved their banners and flags. The enthusiasm in the air was electrifying.
 

The crowd was a mix of supporters from all walks of life. Successful businessmen stood side by side with blue-collar workers and farmers. Middle class soccer moms cheered together with elderly gentlemen wearing VFW garrison caps. Young men and women who weren’t even old enough to vote were proudly in attendance. They had all come to the convention center with the shared purpose of supporting the man they believed should be the next President of the United States.

       
“He came into office with control of both houses of congress, with a filibuster-proof majority in the Senate, and look where we are now. Unemployment is higher than it’s ever been, our economy is teetering on the brink of collapse, our allies feel alienated and our enemies are laughing at us. When I am elected, Americans will be back to work, our economy will be restored, and America will once again be the unquestioned superpower of the world!”

“A.K., A.K., A.K.!” roared the crowd. Those who had signs with the words ‘No More Years’ plastered over a picture of the president’s face held them high.

Senator Alexander Kirk soaked in the moment. He had won the presidential primaries in Iowa, New Hampshire, and today South Carolina.
Three for three!
Kirk knew that winning the South Carolina primary was a given, but taking his home state still tasted sweet. He had waited patiently his entire career, his entire
life,
for this moment. He had always known in his heart and soul that one day he would be the President of the United States of America. Momentum was on his side.
There is no stopping me now.

Kirk gave a thumbs-up to some cheering supporters who were close to the podium. He laughed as a group of young ladies started chanting, “We love you A.K.!” Even though Kirk was in his early sixties, he still had the handsome looks that turned the heads of women of all ages.
 
He was a tall man with a solid chest and broad shoulders that filled out the country western suits he wore most impressively. His facial features looked like they had been carved out of granite and he had a perpetual tan. His thick brown hair stood high on his head, and his brown, neatly trimmed goatee had a touch of gray around the edges. His frosty gray eyes sat beneath thick, bushy brown eyebrows. His colleagues in congress often teased him about being the best looking guy on Capitol Hill.

Kirk waved to the ladies and went on. “I want to express my deepest appreciation and thanks to you, my fellow South Carolinians, for delivering a decisive victory in our party primary. You have shown the nation, just as Iowa and New Hampshire before you, that the Democratic Party wants and needs a new direction!”

For the last three years the direction of the country had been straight downhill. Senator Kirk and many of his fellow democrats in congress laid the blame squarely at the feet of Emmanuel Bonsam, President of the United States. Once he took office and rammed his ill-conceived policies through congress, the country’s economy became increasingly unstable. Kirk felt that in Bonsam’s own delusional mind, Bonsam believed everything he touched turned to gold. However, when things went badly it was never his fault, oh no. To Kirk, Emmanuel Bonsam gave a whole new meaning to the word megalomania.

“Now, there are some in Washington who would like to see a monument built to honor President Bonsam,” Kirk told the crowd. He was referring to Bonsam himself. He could hardly hold back a grin as the crowd laughed, then booed. “The only time the word ‘monument’ should be mentioned in the same breath as President Bonsam is when you are talking about monumental failure! During his time in office, he has delivered one monumental failure after another!” The crowd was simmering with excitement.

Kirk drove on. “Economic policy, monumental failure! Tax code reform, monumental failure! His handling of the Iran-Israel crisis!” This time the crowd joined in. “Monumental failure!”

Throngs of supporters were cheering so loudly that Kirk paused for a moment and stepped back from the lectern to clap along with them. Bonsam had never recovered from his blundering attempts to take decisive action when Iran and Israel started shooting at each other. Thanks to Bonsam, America’s allies and enemies alike might never again take America seriously in world affairs.
That is, until I’m elected.

Kirk stepped up to the lectern and continued. “The war in Afghanistan…monumental failure!” The roar was deafening.

Bonsam had allowed Afghanistan to slip into a political quagmire of nightmare proportions, and it was the American troops in the region who suffered the most. Kirk was by far the biggest critic in the Democratic Party of the president’s decisions when it came to the military. Kirk made his decisions based on the intelligence reports from the commanders on the ground, whereas Bonsam, Kirk thought, made his decisions based on poll numbers, world opinion, political pressure from within his own party, and perhaps even an Ouija board.

Of all of the president’s national defense disasters, Kirk thought that his handling of the war in Afghanistan was, without compare, his greatest disaster. Kirk had fought hard in the Senate to give more support to the troops, but was blocked at every turn by Bonsam loyalists who, in Kirk’s mind, were just as spineless as Bonsam himself. Every time Kirk saw Bonsam waffling on military strategy, the bile would rise to the top of his throat until he almost choked.
More troops, less troops, Girl Scout troops. Make a damned command decision and stick with it, Commander-in-Chief.

The Kirk family went all the way back to the founding of the United States. Kirk’s ancestors had fought in the Revolutionary War, the Civil War, and both World Wars. He himself had served with distinction in Vietnam as a member of the Special Forces, and he had seen combat at its worst. He had taken two bullets in the leg from a North Vietnamese Regular soldier, who shortly thereafter received a .40 caliber round between the eyes.

What bothered Kirk most about Vietnam was that he had seen his comrades killed on senseless missions in a prolonged war that was never about national security. Vietnam was about politics. Politicians turned their backs on the suffering in the region and the needless spread of violence into Cambodia, and as a result thousands of American lives had been cut short because war pigs in Washington were more concerned with their legacy than victory. The U.S. could have left Vietnam, taken the loss, saved lives, and not threatened American security. The North Vietnamese weren’t terrorists capable of flying large commercial airliners into American skyscrapers.

       
Afghanistan was completely different, but the painful feeling of
déjà vu
that
the president and his administration were unleashing regarding Afghanistan was just as reprehensible. Kirk knew it would be disastrous to pull out of Afghanistan before the military eliminated the Taliban and Al Qaeda. To leave before the job was done would surely lead to another 9/11. Yet Bonsam politicized the war in any way he could, and his decisions on when and when not to use military force were based solely on pleasing the voters who would support him. For Bonsam, it was all about being reelected.

       
“And we all remember what happened in the mid-term elections of 2010.”

“Boo!” The crowd shouted in unison.

“The Republicans pounded us and they now control both houses of congress! Never before has there been voter backlash of this scale against a president in the mid-term elections. How could this happen?” Kirk asked.

“Bonsam, Bonsam, Bonsam…” chanted the crowd disapprovingly. Kirk was on fire now.

“And all the so-called political experts from the 24-hour news networks now say that there will be a Republican victory in this year’s presidential election. Do we want that?”

“Hell no, hell no, hell no…” the crowd chanted.

“We all remember what a splendid job the last Republican president did,” Kirk exclaimed, and the crowd erupted in laughter.

“Unless we take a stand, here and now, to take back the Democratic Party, President Bonsam
will
be defeated by the Republicans in the November election. During the last presidential campaign President Bonsam spoke of hope and promises, but those promises were nothing more than castles in the air. The American people, as well as the majority of his own political party, are tired of the broken promises.
My
promise to you is to bring back the dignity and respect on which our party was founded!”

Loud cheers rang throughout the center. Kirk looked directly into the cameras that were broadcasting his message across the nation. “I speak now to the rest of America. When your presidential primary rolls around and you find yourself in that voting booth, ask yourself this, ‘Who do you want to go toe-to-toe with the Republicans this November, a man who has repeatedly shown a complete and total lack of leadership in the executive office, or someone with over 30 years of proven success in the U.S. Senate?’” His voice rose to a fever pitch. “Vote Alexander Kirk, for the Democratic presidential candidate in 2012!” Kirk raised his hands high and waved to the pumped-up crowd as he walked off the podium, while hundreds of balloons fell from the rafters and red, white and blue confetti filled the air.