A good friend of mine from Twitter, @brendajos, turned me on to a CBS show called “Jericho.” Frankly, I hadn’t really heard of it. The plot is described really well on the Internet Movie Database (www.imdb.com):
“When Jake Green returns to his Kansas small-town home Jericho, where his dad Johnston is mayor, everyone is preoccupied with petty private business and family matters, but that changes drastically after a completely unexpected explosion. It soon becomes clear there has been a nuclear attack, but neither by whom nor on which scale. Suddenly life in Jericho, and as the inhabitants gradually discover all over the disintegrating USA, becomes a more primordial struggle for survival, where unexperienced dangers, primitive as well as technological, have to be weighed against pressing primal needs, such as food, fuel and self-defense against plunderers, invaders and even each-other.”
I reluctantly started to watch the new season, but it only took a few minutes to know I was hopelessly lost. I let the DVR record and watched something else. Fortunately, iTunes carries “Jericho” and I downloaded the first episode (http://phobos.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewTVSeason?i=193811852&id=192599257&s=143441). That’s all it took - I was hooked.
At first I really was captivated by the story of survival, the human interactions, some of them good, some of them completely outrageous in their inhumane treatment of each other, and the multiple strings of intrigue woven throughout each episode. I quickly finished up Season 1 and caught up to Season 2.
In Season 2, Episode 4 “Jennings & Rall,” a lot of the story and intrigue is brought to light. But what got me really upset, not at “Jericho,” was the idea that a successor government was ever allowed to exist.
In a discusison with @brendajos (the “@” is an internet method of replying to others online) she asked me if I would serve the government based in Cheyenne, Wyoming, which was one of 6 “US” governments. I had to think about it. I did a quick search on Presidential Succession and arrived at the conclusion: NO!!!
Why No? I mean after all, I’m a serving reserve officer in the United States Air Force right? Well, the day I was commissioned I was given a copy of the United States Constitution by Captain Al Zaccor, United States Army. I keep it handy and cherish it.
Above: Taking the oath of Office, 2007 on the occassion of my promotion to Lieutenant Colonel
My guide has to be the Oath of Office I took that day in front of Al Zaccor and my family. It is based on a law written on 1 June 1789 by the 1st Congress., 1st session, in statute 1, chap. 1 in part reading “I, A.B., do solemnly swear or affirm (as the case may be) that I will support the Constitution of the United States.” It doesn’t mention the President, the Congress, the Flag, but the Constitution. Lt Col Kenneth Keskel, USAF writes in his article “The Oath of Office: A Historical Guide to Moral Leadership” that “the very first law of the United States identified the requirement for government officials to take an oath or affirmation according to Article 6 of the Constitution.” He goes on to say “The current oath is more than a mere formality that adds to the pageantry of a commissioning or promotion ceremony - it provides a foundation for leadership decisions.” The very decisions the military officers and even civilians in “Jericho” would have hopefully made correctly with the Constitution serving as their compass vs the argument by the 5 of the 6 “Presidents” who attempt to take over the nation after the tragic events in the show’s storyline.
The fictional Secretary of Health and Human Services is the only surviving Cabinet Member and becomes President of the United States, but the "five other guys believe that the attacks have changed the rules." The good people of Jericho fall under a fictional Wyoming Senator who claims the Presidency, but in doing so he and his administration form an essentially new nation, the “Allied States of America.” Civil rights seem to be thrown aside, and an essentially “friendly” fascist regime rises up with more power than the President of the US (at least East of the Mississippi river), and it is working towards “uniting” the entire nation.
So what’s the problem? Let’s finish up the oath of office I took:
“I, Daniel Chay Mosqueda, do solemnly swear that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that I take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion; and that I will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office on which I am about to enter. So help me God.”
So, I agreed to support and defend the Constitution, but I also agreed to do this “ against all enemies, foreign and domestic . . . and that I will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office.”
Back to Jericho. There are men and women in uniform. There are elected officials local, state and federal. It is a fact the federal officials take the same or very similar oaths, and many local officials take similar oaths. Fundamentally, the Constitution itself is designed in such a way as to protect the nation from those who would do it harm.
The “Cheyenne” government attempts to handle this by organizing a “Constitutional Convention” to setup a new Constitution. It replaces the flag with a new flag. By the way, @brendajos and I agree the flag is creepy at best and infuriating beyond measure. The flag is described in Wikipedia as being “a heavily altered version of the Stars and Stripes flying over the base. These alterations include vertical strips, thirteen in total, seven red and six white, as well as a total of only 21 stars.” The so-called President of the Allied States says the Flag vertical stripes represent a “change in direction” for the nation. To that end, the Mayor of Jericho is asked to attend the Constitutional Convention, to which he feigns being honored, but later confides he wanted to keep his thoughts, namely the questionable authority of the “Cheyenne” government, to himself so he has a chance to express them.
So, the United States Constitution requires, and I quote from the source document, that “The Congress, whenever two thirds of both Houses shall deem it necessary, shall propose Amendments to this Constitution, or, on the Application of the Legislatures of two thirds of the several States, shall call a Convention for proposing Amendments, which, in either Case, shall be valid to all Intents and Purposes, as part of this Constitution, when ratified by the Legislatures of three fourths of the several States, or by Conventions in three fourths thereof, as the one or the other Mode of Ratification may be proposed by the Congress; Provided that no Amendment which may be made prior to the Year One thousand eight hundred and eight shall in any Manner affect the first and fourth Clauses in the Ninth Section of the first Article; and that no State, without its Consent, shall be deprived of its equal Suffrage in the Senate.”
The fictional situation in Jericho does not come even close to meeting any of these requirements. All 50 states still exist. A rightful successor to the presidency exists in accordance with “The Presidential Succession Act of 1947 (3 U.S.C. § 19),” which establishes the line of succession to the office of President of the United States in the event neither a President or Vice President is able to "discharge the powers and duties of the office. The authority for the Congress to enact such a law is twofold: Article II, section 1, clause 6 of the United States Constitution and Section 3 of the Twentieth Amendment to the Constitution.” So, the thought of just throwing out the Constitutional requirements and “The Presidential Succession Act” is inconceivable in that, per the Constitution, “The Senators and Representatives before mentioned, and the Members of the several State Legislatures, and all executive and judicial Officers, both of the United States and of the several States, shall be bound by Oath or Affirmation, to support this Constitution,” as outlined in Article 6.
At that point, an elected official or officer of the executive branch must ask the question “is this a case of a domestic enemy?” I would, without reservation or hesitation, answer that question with a loud and clear “YES!” The next question would be “what does one do about it?” That’s a question best answered later in the season based on where the writers takes the plot.
