A version of Unintended Consequences or EFAD?

I liked it, but it started well and then went downhill. IMHO anyway.

Chris

 

Ambitious project - how to sell the notion of Patriotic Treason?

Going against an elected government, no matter how corrupt or out of control, will still rankle the bulk of Americans.

The lead up, maybe the entire first chapter will need to show how the 'folks in power' got there thru massive fraud, then go on to 'document' a growing abuse of power. You will remember the American Revolution took years to get started, and finally a regressive tax was the one thing that set it off.

The other lesson is the Battle for Athens TN (The Battle of Athens) was the end result of years of corruption and abuse.

A trigger event, like the ATF raid may work - but don't forget the lesson of the Raid at the Branch Dividian compound - women and children were killed and very little fallout - so you will have to account for a MSM / broadcast media so utter corrupt that they will do all they can to cover up the truth and demonize anyone fighting the status quo.


Playground East vs West, Young vs Old, Rural vs Urban. Several vairiations have been used in past novels, may I suggest that abuse of power coupled with a very badly handled large scale disaster - far worse than Katrina, might be needed as a realistic trigger. It would also have to be against a backdrop of very high unemployment, labor strikes and on-going riots - kinda like you see in some parts of Europe today....

Logistics could be had from the drug cartels operating pretty much in the open now, with weapons and ammo supplied by the Chinese, Russians ro another group - perhaps a shadowy group of oil profiteers, or even a fringe religious group..

Good luck!

 

Well, my thought was that the first mistake would lead to a counterstrike...which would lead to a ill thought out plan to round up possible suspects...and more outrage.

The MSM would buy the orginal version hook, line and stinker. But the people who died had a farm with plenty of video equiptment, so the truith got out and the MSM looked like idiots.

Chris

 

Early draft of the timeline. Thoughts?


Disunited States Timeline

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Day 1 – Near midnight, a team of ATF agents conducts a raidon a property suspected of housing members of an illegal militia group. Warned to expect violent resistance, the teamgoes in hard – and panics, accidentally killing everyone in the house, but thefather. The deaths include four childrenand their mother.



Day 2 – As the sun rises, some in the ATF team realise thatthey ****ed up badly. None of theirpre-op intelligence suggested the presence of children – and there was noactual resistance from the family. Oneof the team suggests admitting that they screwed up – he didn't join to killinnocent people – but the ATF Director refuses to admit to anything. The election is coming up soon and the disastercould shatter the President’s chances for re-election, to say nothing of theATF’s budget in a time of austerity. Heorders the captured father to be held for trial on charges of supportingterrorist activity and using his own children as human shields.



Unluckily for him, the family had an advanced security systemthat automatically shared its feed with the other members in the scheme. The footage is swiftly uploaded onto theinternet, revealing panicking ATF agents gunning down children. The MSM attempts to ignore the evidence, orto dismiss it as fake - but bloggers pick up the footage and verify it, piece bypiece. It actually looks worse (ifpossible) than reality – it looks almost as if the ATF blew children apart forfun.



Day 3-11 – The ATF agent who expressed doubts leaks a copyof the pre-op briefing to the MSM – which tries to ignore it – and thebloggers. The briefing makes damningreading at first glance, but careful analysis by respected bloggers manages todisprove most of it easily. The ATF’s captive,the only prize they have, was clearly innocent – and there are enough flaws inthe briefing to suggest that it was a hack job for political motives. The bloggers eventually deduce that thefather was one of the people who spoke out against federal intervention and gun control laws – and was targeted inthe hopes of teaching him a lesson. Instead,he has become a symbol of federal oppression and his family dead symbols of a governmentthat went too far.



The news spreads through the country very quickly. Local police forces start refusing to cooperatewith the ATF, as do parts of the FBI. The relatives of the murdered family start organising protest marchesagainst the ATF, demanding that the Director be tried on counts of deliberatemurder, including that of children. Local state governments start feeling the heat from their own people,who are demanding that the ATF be banned from operating in their states.



POTUS is caught in a blind. He is just as shocked by the carnage as everyone else, but he appointedthe Director personally and knows that throwing him to the lions might causehis plan to get re-elected to sink like a stone. Keeping the Director might also destroy hisplans, but dumping him certainly would.



The ATF launches a counter-propaganda campaign, using thepower of the federal government to endlessly repeat ‘their’ side of thestory. People who are dependent onfederal handouts are encouraged to stand up against the ‘right-wing terroristswho use children as human shields.’ Anumber of NGOs use their contacts to ensure that pro-government forces attackthe anti-government protesters. Somecity police forces are urged not to intervene, or to intervene on thepro-government side. A number ofprotesters are arrested for carrying guns and using them to defend themselves whenthey were attacked. The charges arelargely nonsense, but the feds try to make them stick.



Day 11 – Realising that the government will not give in topublic pressure – and is praying that the whole affair will go away comeelection day – the patriots (as they call themselves) prepare to strike. Using a junk mail producer, they mail a warningletter to every active member of the ATF...and their families. The letter states that enough is enough; theyhave committed crimes against the American people. Those who refuse to retire will be consideredlegitimate targets and executed. To addto the pressure, a ‘Fed list’ is distributed on the internet, naming andshaming all of the ATF agents.



The FBI is called in to locate the patriots. A quick check reveals that the junk mailproducer was given codes from the government NGOs. Someone has a wicked sense of humour.



Day 12-20 – A number of ATF agents report threats andviolence directed against themselves and their families, seemingly fromindependent people. Several have beenattacked, particularly in the home state of the father, and others have beendriven out of the state and told never to return. There is no success at tracking down thepatriots as the deadline counts down to zero (day 21).



Day 21 – A private sports plane is stolen from a privateairfield and flown to a city holding a major ATF base. Packed with explosives and using an autopilotand GPS for navigation, the plane makes its way to the city and comes down intothe ATF building. The date was pickedwith malice aforethought as the building was housing the ATF regionalcommanders at the time, earnestly trying to decide what to do about the low moraleof their personnel. Even ATF people havefeelings.



If that wasn't enough, a number of ATF agents have beentargeted by assassins. Each hit isprofessional and carefully targeted. Nochildren or wives are killed.



Day 22 – The editor of a large part of the MSM receives apacket in the mail. The packet containsphotos of his ‘vacation’ in Bangkok and a warning if he doesn't splash theenclosed letter over the newspapers and television broadcasts, the next peopleto look at the photos will be his wife, his board of directors, his friends andthe FBI. If his wife doesn't kill himfirst, the letter notes, the FBI will lock him up for the rest of hislife. Reluctantly, he complies.



The letter from the patriots is clear and to the point. The government has gone too far and it needsto be stopped. There are a set of termsthe government can accept if it wants to surrender, which include a guarantee ofsafety for the ex-government provided that it stays out of politics (givingthem a way to retreat with their lives.) If the government refuses to surrender, the patriots bluntly warn thatthey will take the war to the government and the federal agencies that supportit.

 

Any comments?

And what state might be the first to jump ship from the Feds?

Chris

 

Well i would love to say that my home state is the first one to do it (again) but we are full of a bunch of sally no balls, just like kali. I would say New hampshire, live free or die.

 

Texas was done by Tom Kratman. Not sure about Alaska. Whyoming?

Chris

 

Yeah but southern states and alaska are pretty obvious. How about a northern swing state like PA?

 

Might be a good place to start the story.

Chris

 

Day 23 – The Federal Government officially ignores the note,while asking hard questions of the editor (who everyone had thought to be aleftist). He doesn't want to give themany answers, for obvious reasons. Internally,the government is very concerned. Moralein the ATF has fallen sharply and a number of agents have handed in theirresignations. Even those who are stillworking have faced hard questions from their wives and children, all of whomfeel targeted by the nation. There is asteady stream of incidents that suggest that the patriots are not waiting forthe deadline to run out before they strike. POTUS orders the formation of a Joint Task Force with people from FBI,CIA. DIA, DHS and a whole alphabet soup of other agencies. The JTF is to shut down the patriot networkbefore the patriots can score another success.

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Day 24 – The ATF formally brings charges against the fatherof the murdered family during his bond hearing. Whatever the Prosecutor may have thought, his orders from the ATF aresimple; bring everything they can to bear on him in the hopes that some of themud will stick. It doesn't; the defencelawyer, a known anti-federal campaigner, systematically crunches through all ofthe charges and knocks them down, one by one. The judge orders him released and strongly suggests that the ATF bringcharges against its agents for, at the very least, murder and grossmisconduct. Bail is set at $1.



Even the MSM is split on the issue. The videos from the raid have gone all overthe world and people are shocked. Therehave even been a couple of nasty incidents when tame reporters have beenconfronted in public. Politicians arefeeling the heat from their own people and that makes them uncomfortable.



Day 25 – The Governor of Pennsylvania – where the shootingtook place – brings emergency legislation to the Pennsylvania General Assembly,formally banning the ATF (and many other Federal Agencies) from operatingwithin the state. Furthermore, allgovernment officials within Pennsylvania are ordered not to cooperate with theATF without direct permission from the Governor’s office. The ATF announces that it will take the issueto the supreme court, citing federal law that permit it – and other agencies –to operate anywhere within American territory.



State troopers from Pennsylvania go to the farm and recoverit from the ATF team (which was largely waiting for someone to tell them togo). They intend to conduct an officialreview of just what happened and, if necessary, press charges against the ATFagents.



Day 29 – With one day left before the Patriot ultimatum runsout, the JFT officially presents its report to the Cabinet. Their conclusions make grim reading:



1) Thereis no solid lead on any of the Patriots. The steps they used to conceal themselves have been very effective.

2) Noneof the known militia groups or other right-wing groups (mostly infiltrated bythe FBI) appear to be directly involved with the Patriots.

3) However,the Patriots appear to be winning sympathy from the militias – and from largeparts of the countryside. The range ofpossible sympathisers is vast, ranging from gun owners to even left-wingpolitical reform groups.

4) Thenumber of people who must be considered potential suspects – means, motive and opportunity– is vast. Even under the best casescenario, they are dealing with at least 500’000 possible suspects – and more,as news from Pennsylvania continues to dominate the media. The worst case would have them facing half thecountry.

5) Thatthere is no hope of isolating the Patriots quickly enough to neutralise thegroup – and even trying could turn them into martyrs. Opinion is divided on exactly how thegovernment should respond, but the JTF recommends accepting most of thedemands. It is very difficult to explainwhy the government should NOT accept the demands.



The Cabinet meeting (including representatives from bothpolitical parties) is thoroughly unpleasant. Some of the demands presented by the Patriotshave been accepted by the public (single terms only for elected politicians,juries to hold the EPA and other federal services in line) and politicalleaders are trying to find a rational for rejecting them that won’t make themlook stupid and greedy. The bottom lineis that politics will change sharply and a great many powerful people will beout of office. Privately, they all wantsomething unpleasant to happen to the Patriots. As domestic terrorists, they can be handled under antiterrorist laws.



The ATF Director, cherry-picking from the report, statesbaldly that psychologists have concluded that the Patriots are a small group,probably nowhere near as numerous as they think they are. “Angry fat men in basements” is the term heuses. A series of coordinated strikesagainst known suspects would hopefully fragment the movement, giving them achance to break it down – and, if the psychologists are right, scare the truepatriots into going underground. Hisclaims are accepted with more enthusiasm than he expected, painting the Presidentinto a corner. They cannot bow down toterrorist demands.



Accordingly, the President will address the nation and saythat the government cannot surrender. (It would be illegal.) If voterswish the terms accepted, they should address the issue through democraticchannels. Furthermore, the governmentwill take action against the suspects as soon as possible. The actions of the Pennsylvania StateGovernment are illegal, but the President hopes that they can solve the issuediplomatically. He refuses, however, tocomment on the fate of the ATF agents responsible for the death of innocentchildren.

 

It may be worthwhile to research the depth of power that elected sherifs(SP?) have in a situation like this, I have read that they actually have more authority than the feds when it come to local action, and it would add a grassroots twist to the fight

 

In NC it used to be, and may still be, that federal agents could not work in any county without approval from the Sheriff!

 

In 2010 there was just a bit over 5K employees of all classes in the ATF dept.

I just don't see the loss of 5K folks (keep in mind the US has 43K+ die evey year in auto accidents) being enough of a push to throw out the constitution.

As much as folks dislike the ATF and many other US FedGov employees, they are not Satan.

Without some other major background stressors, I just don't see this, as laid out, happening - the debacle at Waco proves this in fact if nothing else...

 

Day 30 – ‘Patriots Day’ starts with a bang, as a series ofattacks are made on feds and federal organisations all over the country. The ATF takes the worst of the blows, butother targets include the EPA and other meddling federal agencies. A number of social workers and child supportworkers are murdered by various people, as are government lawyers and even ahandful of state politicians more interested in coddling up to big businessthan doing what their constituents want. Local police are generally left untargeted unless they have a history ofcooperating with the feds.

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The government finds itself struggling to respond to aseries of attacks that seem too extensive to be stopped. Several federal buildings are evacuated asbiological warfare detectors start sounding false positives, spreading panicamong the federal office drones. It iseventually realised that most of the attacks are not carried out directly bythe Patriots, but by individuals intent on extracting private revenge againstthe feds, encouraged by the Patriots. Anumber of people caught and arrested are interrogated, only to reveal that theyhave no direct connection to the government’s main enemy.



Day 31-37 – The attacks continue. Some states try to bring in the NationalGuard to secure various federal buildings, only to discover that plenty ofguardsmen are privately sympathetic to the Patriots and reluctant to stand intheir way. Someone has been using theinternet for propaganda, providing background information on everyone arrestedor killed by the feds and explaining why they chose to take up arms againsttheir own government. The feds attemptto shut down parts of the internet in response, only to discover that theentire online community is willing to turn on them.



Complicating matters is the release of another Fed List,this one covering undercover officers within various militia groups. Many of those officers are killed before theycan escape by the people they were supposed to be watching.



Day 38 – Looking for suspects, the ATF concentrates onthirty individuals who are believed to have connections to the Patriots. Most of them are loudmouths; people who haveprotested the ATF’s actions in the past. Others have friends or relatives inside bars because of minor violationsof badly-written gun laws. A couple wereresponsible for publishing and reprinting copies of Patriot literature, bookshighly critical of the federal government.



The results are mixed; several people are taken into custodyand interrogated, only to reveal that they have no obvious links to thePatriots. Several suspects appear tohave vanished – it later transpires that one was killed on Patriot Day, onlyfor the government to lose this datum somewhere in the buuaecracy – and must bepresumed armed and dangerous. And twoput up fights that take the lives of several ATF agents when they attack.



Worst of all is the refusal of most state police officers tohave anything to do with the ATF. One ATFarrest team is wiped out to the last man because state police officers refusedto provide any support, leaving them isolated against angry citizens. To add insult to injury, none of the ones whofought back seemed linked to the Patriots. They just didn't want to go quietly.



Day 39 – A bomb is detonated inside a meeting room for ‘EducationalBeaucrats.’ Fifty-seven are killed and afurther forty-five are wounded. Theculprit is eventually traced and found to be a teacher who wanted to teach,only to be forced to follow guidelines laid down by people who know nothingabout teaching. What is more surprising(to the feds) is that almost every teacher in the United States goes on strikeafter his arrest, demanding an end to the rule of educational beaucrats.



Day 40 – In Washington, the President is forced to make achoice between surrender or trying to fight back. The ATF director points out that if theysurrender, the government will be weakened and reshaped by the Patriots. They will lose all of their power – and probablytheir lives as well. (This case is madeby several empty seats, once held by people who were either killed or startedto flee to Canada.) They cannot affordto give up if they value everything they stand for. Luckily, he has a proposal of his own – an expandedFederal Security Agency.



The MSM has been having problems coping with thecrisis. Some media commenters are simplyparroting the government line and claiming that the Patriots are terrorists,plain and simple. Others are feeling theresponse from a public sick of the feds and horrified by the deaths – and thecomplete lack of apparent remorse from the Federal Government. The internet, on the other hand, is doing amuch better job at putting the news into the heads or ordinary people, evenbloggers who normally supported the government. Many junior reporters want to switch positions, only to discover thattheir editors have been ordered to toe the government line.

 

Return home to a bankrupt nation no pay lost their homes and family's due to constant deployment on "peace keeping missions" High crime with no response most police laid off to save money. Politicians have not taken any hits still living like kings off of tax payers. Gov will not pay their pensions so they decide to "acquire" their back pay and correct the currant situation.