Could it possibly happen? After a polarizing and scandal-plagued presidency, an American election sweeps a new president into office by a large majority. M. Spencer Howell, a popular governor of impeccable character and credentials, assumes the presidency with party majorities in Congress, and proceeds to transform America back to his vision of the founders’ ideal. Howell’s vision drives Congress and his administration to dramatic changes in law and policy, addressing crime, immigration, education, and other issues in a forthright assault on his predecessor’s record. With enormous popularity among the American people, supermajorities in both houses of Congress, and his own new appointees to the Supreme Court, President Howell has a free hand to repair a broken American culture and society.
Voices inside and outside the government have vague misgivings about the speed and direction of Howell’s policies, and the creation of a new Militia answerable to the President’s team. Created as a support to police, this large, well-trained force appears benign and quickly wins over the American public with courtesy and aplomb. But who can argue with a president who is so obviously sincere? Howell is a military veteran, a married man about whom his election opponents could not find the slightest flaw in judgment or character. If anyone can be trusted with the near absolute power created by his presidency, it’s M. Spencer Howell.
About his administration, however, some questions arise and, stubbornly, refuse to go away, at least in the minds of some of Howell’s most loyal staffers. His vice president appears to head a cadre of ex-military men and spies, and there are whispers that not everything he does is being communicated to the President. There is the enigmatic man named Horatio Tremane, who sets off alarm bells with everyone who meets him, yet appears at the vice president’s side at every turn. And then there is the new and terrifying weapon, developed during previous administrations and perfected at the beginning of Howell’s term. The new president sees it as the ultimate deterrent, a force for good in the world, but others see the potential for the most devastating first strike weapon the world has ever seen. Howell’s chief of staff, Jeremy Holt, and Jeremy’s circle of ex-campaign staffers and White House officials, try to minimize their own apprehension about the sea changes occurring in Washington, reassuring themselves that the man they admire most is incapable of exercising his power in any way detrimental to the American people.
American Dictator – Changing of the Guard, shows the rise to power of a man beyond reproach, and serves as a cautionary tale to those who might forget that great power given to one president can and will certainly be used by subsequent presidents, with unpredictable results.