Save America

Chapter 1

My administrative assistant buzzed me and said Senator Jones was on line one. She had called him earlier to set up a time for a call.

I said, “Hello Senator Jones. How are you today?”

There was a short silence and then the Senator spoke, “Hello Jeremy. What did you need to talk to me about?” The pause was probably to see the name on his phone message. The Senator had a gravelly voice with a New York accent. He enunciated his words as if he was making a speech and the press was listening. I expected there was someone listening and the call was recorded.

I allowed a short silence to elapse and then spoke, “I believe you need to talk to me.” My voice wasn’t gravelly and it had a southern twang. I didn’t enunciate as well as the Senator since I didn’t make speeches and didn’t have the press quoting my words. The press had called the call center many times lately but I didn’t return the calls.

“Why do I need to talk to you?”

“Because you’re on our website today and you need my help.”

He asked although I was sure he knew the answer, “What website?”

“I guess you don’t need my help if you don’t know about the website. Goodbye Senator Jones.” I hung up the phone without waiting for his reply. I knew my administrative assistant had included the fact in the message to the Senator that I was with Save America.com. Senator Jones had been on Capitol Hill for five terms and was a fixture in the Senate. I’m sure there were very few people that ever hung up on him.

In about fifteen minutes, my administrative assistant told me Senator Jones was on the phone again. I answered and repeated my earlier greeting, “Hello Senator Jones. How are you today?” I’m sure someone checked our website, saw the Senator’s picture prominently displayed as the most fiscally irresponsible representative, and told the Senator.

This time there wasn’t a short silence and the Senator spoke, “We must have been cutoff. I suppose I may need your counsel.” His voice wasn’t as gravelly this time and he sounded more sincere.

I paused before I answered, “My advice is that you should demonstrate that you’re truly interested in a fiscally responsible federal government.”

The Senator attempted to be coy again, “I’m just one Senator and am limited on what I can do.”

I took the same tact as before and said, “I guess you don’t need my help. Goodbye Senator.” I hung up the phone.

My administrative assistant told me with a snicker this time that Senator Jones was on line one.I guess he didn’t need to consult with the listeners this time before making the call.

I answered again, “Hello Senator Jones. How are you today?”

The Senator didn’t say how he was but said, “Let’s cut through the crap. What do I need to do to get off the website? My office is getting lots of calls from the press and my wife is getting calls. There’s several news trucks parked outside my home.”

I wanted to remind him that he didn’t know about the website a little while ago but didn’t think it was productive.I answered in my sincerest voice, “There are three things I would suggest you should do. The first one is to cut your staff by one half in the next week.Can you do that?”

The Senator responded after a pause, “I can do that but it may take more than a week.”The pause was probably to get concurrence from the listeners.

“If you don’t think you can cut your staff in half within a week,I don’t need to tell you the other two things. Goodbye Senator.”

Before I could say Jones, the Senator interrupted, “I can do it in a week. What are the other items?”

I added, “I’ll need verification that the staff is cut in half. You’ll need to send me the positions you have now and the positions that you cut. I’ll need to approve the positions being cut. It’s expected the cuts will be across the board and not just interns.”

I’m sure the Senator’s face was quite red and he probably had his fists clinched.I heard a fist hit the desk before he spoke so I was right, “Wait just a minute, Jeremy. I’m not going to let you approve the staff cuts.You’re not going to tell me how to run my office.”

“If that’s your position, I suppose we have nothing more to discuss.”

“Wait just a cotton picking minute, Jeremy. I’ve been in the Senate for thirty years and don’t need help running my office. I’ll call you back in an hour and let you know what’s possible.” He threw in a little southern saying to endear me. I figured he needed the time to cool down so I didn’t object. Talking to Senators in this manner was quite new to me. In fact, talking to Senators at all was new.

I also had folks listening on the call and we huddled in my office to talk. I said to the group, “Well, that didn’t go too bad. I thought I would be cussed out at some point.”

Thomas Wingate spoke, “I’m sure he was mindful of his listeners and didn’t want to act too ornery.” Thomas had joined the group at the beginning when the idea became a reality. His computer skills were essential to get started. He was in his middle sixties with all of his hair although it was gray. He was trim for someone who was addicted to computer technology.

Charlie Yates spoke next, “The Senator isn’t used to having anyone dictate what he does. It’ll be hard for him to swallow his pride.”

Charlie had joined the group about two weeks ago when our efforts had taken off. He was a CPA and was now retired. His efforts were needed to manage the gads of donations being received. Charlie was about five feet eight, bald on the top of his head, slightly overweight, clean shaven and wore horn rimmed glasses. I could picture him as a CPA.

I said, “His advisors will straighten him out and he’ll be more amenable when he calls back.Who else should we call today? Who’s next on the candidate for the website after Senator Jones?”

Thomas answered, “I think the next one will be next is Congressman Randolph. If you agree, it wouldn’t hurt to let him know he’ll be on the website next.”

From the beginning,we had only showed one Senator or Congressman on our website as the most fiscally irresponsible representative. We figured it was best for the remaining to guess whether they would be next. Senator Jones had been the fourth one who was shown on our Save America website. Two of the three previous ones had agreed to our demands and were taken off the website. The first one, Congressman Williams, wasn’t as lucky. He was involved in a serious auto accident within a week of being shown on our website as the most fiscally irresponsible representative. The auto accident was ruled an accident although there continues to be implications that our group was involved. I’m sure the website’s posting for a one million dollar reward to the individual or individuals who help replace Congressman Williams resulted in the accusations against our group. No one had asked for the one million dollars yet so that made our denial plausible.The publicity did help foster a lot of donations and supporters. All of the networks and news channels included our website and information about our efforts This led to an overwhelming response from the public to contribute to our efforts.