What If... USA Fell?

What If... USA Fell?

This brings up some good questions worthy of discussion:

Leroy Sievers and the Nightline Staff
ABCNEWS Washington D.C. bureau

What if the worst happened? If Washington, and much of the government, was destroyed? Who would govern? And from where? There is a plan, and we've learned that part of that plan was actually implemented on 9/11. It's the Armageddon Plan.

Now there is an order of succession, set out in the 25th amendment to the Constitution. But in the event of a catastrophic event of some sort, it's safe to assume that many of those in the line of succession would be killed or incapacitated. Then what? And it takes much more than a President to run the country. What about the myriad of Federal agencies that actually run things? So a plan was developed that would set up several centers around the country where the government could be reconstituted. In the event of a crisis, certain officials would be sent to those locations to ensure their safety and the continuity of government. But there are all sorts of problems. What about communication? How do you convince the country that a lower-level cabinet member is now the President? How do you convince the rest of the world? And it's certain that some form of martial law would be instituted, at least for a short time.

What are your thoughts?

Fell USA If What

I don't think we would have too much difficulty. There are clear lines of succession. The confusion at best would last until the next election. The max would be 4 years since we elect our President every 4 years. Most likely much less time than that. If there was a major disagreement over who was in charge, the Supreme Court would interpret the law and tell us based upon the Constitution who is in charge. Once that ruling had been made, I believe the citizens would accept it. Especially since we can always elect whomever we want at the next election cycle anyway.

I also don't think there is any problem convincing the rest of the world. As long as we have a recognized leader in power in our country and not in civil war, I think the rest of the world would accept that person.

Fell USA If What

What If... USA Fell?

What If... USA Fell Politics Business Civil & History

This is actually a very difficult question, and gets extremely complicated to resolve.

If, for example, a nuclear weapon was detonated in Washington, D.C., at a time when the entire Congress was in town, as well as the President, how would things fall out?

Under current rules, members of the House of Representatives can ONLY be elected to the office. Constitutionally, there is no other way. Therefore, the House would be gone until special elections could be held.

The Senate has other rules. Most states, as I understand it, have provisions for the Governor of that state to appoint Senators to office until election time.

The Congress has been addressing this very question during the last couple of weeks. There was a bill before the House to provide for governors to appoint members of the House in such a case. However, I think it was voted down. It may have required a Constitutional Amendment.

IMO, as tenaheff and xtrasweetgirl pointed out, although many would rejoice at such an event, there aren't very many people in the world that this wouldn't hurt - badly. That includes, especially, those who think they would have the most to gain from such an event.

Edited: Nighthawk on 3rd May, 2004 - 12:33pm