Alternate History Fragment: On The Mall

This was crazy, thought Jeremy Schwartz as he was pushed with the crowd on the Washington Mall. It had only been two weeks since June 19th 2011, and the protests had continued to swell with people, mostly unemployed youth. Jeremy looked behind him. His little sister Anne and her boyfriend, Robb, were trotting along, looking as clams in water. They had dragged him all the way here from Wachung, New Jersey. The Washington Monument rose behind them, piercing the skyline like a pin in the fabric of the capital. The Capitol building towered on the other side, with what seemed like an army of police in riot gear, plus National Guard behind sandbags. The air was tense, with shouts coming from both sides. A woman with a megaphone yelled out to the crowd. She said, "What do we want?"

"FREEDOM!"

"When do we want it?"

"NOW!"

The call-and-response echoed across the grassy Mall, like the ring of a certain famous bell. The cops seemed to be moving, forming up into a block. Shouts could be faintly heard from them as they organized into a column, aimed right at the heart of the protest’s crowd. He yelled out, “Anne? Where are you?”

He looked behind him. Anne and Robb seemed a little busy at the moment making out. Jeremy pushed back through the crowd, fighting its momentum. He walked over to them and pulled them apart. “Let’s get the hell out of here.”

“Ahh, fuck off, Jerm. We can’t miss this. This is what we came for. We gotta get rid of these oppressive Unionist motherfuckers, starting with Mr. President George H.W Bush and his whole Cabinet of assholes, from VP Cheney on down,” said Anne.

Tension had ben growing for days with the government forces. Suddenly, canisters of tear gas were fired into the crowd. Police charged, on foot and on horseback. The National Guard opened fire with rubber bullets; Jeremy grabbed Anne and Robb and pulled them hard towards the back of the crowd. “Let’s go NOW!” he yelled.

A shadow whirled over Jeremy’s head. The protesters were throwing rocks at the police, who were beating anyone they could reach with their clubs. A rock sailed over Jeremy’s head, missing by an inch. He turned to say something to Anne, but then the lights went out.

Jeremy opened his eyes. He was in a tent of some sort. A young woman, in a white coat, hovered near him, handling an IV. His head hurt, really badly. He tried to sit up, and then decided it wasn’t such a good idea. The woman seemed to notice him. She walked over. Jeremy noticed there was a huge grin on her face. She said, “Good morning sunshine. It’s nice to see you awake.”

“How…How long was I out?” asked Jeremy blearily.

“All day. Your sister brought you in, after the cops attacked the crowd. She’ll be glad to hear from you; you were pretty bad when she brought you in, blood all down your face, and a concussion. Remember anything?”

Jeremy’s eyes had started to clear up. He saw the woman in full now. She was very pretty, with blonde hair and glasses. Just his type. He struggled to upright himself. His head swam badly, but after a couple of seconds it stopped. His head still hurt though. He struggled to speak, but got out, “Who are you?”

The woman laughed. He liked the sound of that laugh. She said. “Oh, my apologies, I should have introduced myself. Claire Beaufort. I’m a med student at U Penn, which means I’m a doctor here. Nice to meet you.”
She stuck out her hand, ‘You’re Jeremy, right?”

Jeremy tentatively reached out and shook her hand. “Jeremy, Jeremy Schwartz,” He said.

Claire laughed again, that delightful little tinkle. She said, “Nice to meet you, Jeremy. Can you get up? You’ll miss everything. It’s the 4th of July after all, and since General Petraeus and the Army stepped in on our side, big things are happening. There's a big announcement tonight, Bush is making a statement. Come one, get up.”

Jeremy swung his feet to the side of the bed. He tried to stand, but it was too hard. He put his feet on the ground again, and tried a second time. This time, with some help from Claire, he managed to get to his feet, if unsteadily. Claire pointed to a chair and said, “Go sit there. I’ll call your sister.”

Anne arrived a few minutes later, with Robb in tow. She gave Jeremy a big hug, and pulled him with her, towards the tent door. Jeremy, feeling a lot better, resisted. He walked up to Claire, and said, “Uh, can I get your number? Just in case, you know, if I’m feeling sick still, and-”

Claire laughed a third time, and took a pad of paper off the shelf. She wrote down a Philadelphia area phone number, and handed it to him. She then said, “Here you go. Now go with your sister, and be part of history.”

The crowds were even bigger than before. A huge TV screen had been put up, and the elderly President, flanked by his playboy businessman son George, sat in the Oval Office. The President’s hands shook as he began to read a speech. He said, “Fellow Americans, in these difficult circumstances that our great country is experiencing, I have found it to be self-evident that I lack the confidence of the American people. Like Presidents Nixon and Reagan before me, I can only say that I have served the American people and their interests in the best way I know how. These troubled times call for new leadership, to face the ever growing dangers of Communism and terrorism, both domestic and foreign. To falter in the face of these threats would be folly. However, things must change. Therefore, I shall resign the Presidency effective at noon tomorrow. General David Petraeus, Chief of the Joint Staffs, will be sworn in as acting President tomorrow, as head of a new Transitional Council. I shall-"

Jeremy wanted to hear the rest of the outgoing president’s speech, but the crowd had drowned it out with their cheering. Fireworks went off. It was beautiful. Freedom was beautiful
 
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Interesting, but we could use some explations as to who the President is, and what's been going on to lead up to this.
 
Interesting, but we could use some explations as to who the President is, and what's been going on to lead up to this.

Well, as it says, it's President George H.W Bush

I got the idea for this story while watching the protests in Tahrir Square in the Egyptian Revolution, and I thought, "Could it happen here?"

The POD is that Watergate isn't discovered. After the end of Nixon's second term, Reagan, the Republican nominee, rides to an easy victory. The Iranian hostage situation therefore, goes very differently. Reagan, instead of attempting negotiation or a rescue mission, issues an ultimatum, to release the hostages or "suffer the consequences". After an Iranian refusal and a series of bombings in the United States (linked to Iran), Reagan orders a aerial bombing campaign, followed by an invasion.

The Iranian government is deposed, and the Shah is reinstated once again. However, a Soviet-backed Iranian insurgency, as well as continued terrorist attacks in the USA, cause Reagan to push through the Homeland Security Act, which severely restricts civil liberties and federalizes National Guard units. In 1985, Reagan, after re-election, is visiting Canada when he is assassinated. His VP, George H.W Bush, takes control of the country, and pushes through the Republican-controlled Congress (made permanently Republican through gerrymandering and increasing amounts of election fraud) the Defence of the Nation Act, which declares a state of emergency and suspends most civil liberties.

A short war and military coup topples the Canadian government, which soon is under the domination of the US military. Bush stays in power, a la Mubarak, until today.
 
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