Chapter 1

Congressman Philip Sundermann, a Republican from Pennsylvania, had just finished moving into his office and apartment in Washington, DC. This was his freshman year in the U.S. House of Representatives, having easily beaten a social conservative in the primary and trounced a left-wing Democrat in the general election who had proved too radical for traditional blue-collar workers. Sundermann was 30 years old, a former Army veteran of the Afghan War, and a moderate on social issues, all of which appealed to key swing voters. He had taken an impressive 58% of the district's vote: not a landslide, but a sizable victory nonetheless.

He was not looking forward to dealing with his party's leadership on his most important committee assignment: the House Commerce Committee. The amount of pork and pet projects involved in this particular committee on both sides of the aisle would have surprised him, had he not researched and made a point of it during his election campaign. This was another reason that he dreaded facing the Chairman: James D. Fuller of Michigan, a man extremely comfortable with the very religious right that Sundermann blamed for costing the GOP its commitment to personal freedom and the Constitution.

Fuller was a little too fond of bragging about his concern over "family values" and "public morality". To Sundermann, these were euphemisms for imposing religious teachings on the people through legislation, thus abusing the democratic process. The Chairman was 56 years old and lived up to his name, being "fuller" of bullshit and rhetoric than even most of his colleagues on Capitol Hill. He made a major point of being happily married, with children and grandchildren. This didn't mean squat to Sundermann. He was more concerned with the man's career in public office, after 12 years of wasting taxpayer dollars. The man was no more interested in "smaller government" than the liberal Democrat he had replaced.

Sundermann also knew that he would have to meet with the Ranking Minority Member, a sanctimonious lefty named Rep. Hamilton Bryce of Maine. Bryce was a true "limousine liberal", down to his Dartmouth degree, suffix, and trust fund. He had never done anything in his life but work for campaigns and hold office, sailing into the House after just 4 years in the state legislature. Of course, Bryce was not QUITE as corrupt as Fuller, due to his lack of interest in money (after all, he had his own). However, he was very much an "insider".

As the Congressman walked out of his personal office for the day, he saw another member of his committee, of whom he was aware despite not having met her in person yet. It was Congresswoman Angelica Vasquez, a member of the same class of the House and a typical New Mexico Democrat: liberal, passionate, and independent. New Mexicans were not given to blindly following party discipline if they saw a need for bipartisanship and reform. Conservative, moderate, or liberal, they were perfectly capable of breaking ranks for the common good.

Vasquez, 38, was a single mother of two who ran for Congress out of anger at some of the bankruptcy and banking laws that had been passed under the previous Republican administration. She had no doubt strongly backed the new President and the return of the Democrats to the White House. She had been lucky enough to run against an incumbent with a history of kickbacks and the wrong voting record to refute her charges of corruption and callousness toward the common people. She had also benefited from the few coattails that the President had in his slim victory.

Sundermann had mixed feelings: he wanted a Republican President, but one of the fiscally conservative/socially progressive wing of the party, not a friend of the Christian Coalition. There had not been a true member of that element in the Oval Office since the elder President Bush. He was glad to be rid of the extremist influence on the Presidency, but he didn't like seeing the radical liberals try to pressure the new Chief Executive to move to the far left. He also knew that there would be some infighting in his own party, as many centrists like himself would blame the religious right for defeat and semi-fascists like Fuller would respond with outrage at the notion.

"Representative Vasquez, I presume?" he greeted her.

"That's right. You are?" she inquired, not having done as much research as Sundermann.

"Representative Philip Sundermann of Pennsylvania. I'm a freshman too. I think we were too far apart at the swearing-in ceremony to meet each other. We're both on the Commerce Committee," the Congressman introduced himself.

"Angelica Vasquez from Las Cruces, New Mexico, but I guess you already did your homework there. What part of Pennsylvania do you call home?" she asked her colleague, somewhat fascinated and curious about him now.

"Harrisburg, the state capital. That's in Central Pennsylvania. I went to Penn State, where I took ROTC and majored in economics. So, tell me, are you ready to handle the leadership? They're probably going to try to 'put you in your place', as they see it," Philip responded.

"Well, they have misread this Latina if they think I will be intimidated. I don't care about committee assignments, campaign donors, or re-election. I am here to do some good for the people of my district for 2 years and let them judge my performance at that point. If the leadership has good ideas, I will support them. If not, that's their problem, not mine," the Congresswoman declared.

"What about Caucus? Will you vote for a new Whip, for instance? I hear there is a challenger to Representative Murphy. What is his name? Lance Panitski, the former high school coach from Springfield, Illinois, I believe," Sundermann wondered.

"I AM planning to back Panitski, yes, whatever the consequences to my political career. He's dedicated to good education reform, which would be great for my kids. Unlike you, I never went to college. I barely got a diploma. I want my son and daughter to have more hope than I had as a teenage girl. I don't regret having them, but I aim to make their lives better than mine," Angelica stated.

"Well, that's a good sign. I may not agree with Panitski on every issue, but he is interested in more than power and fundraising. He'd make a better whip than Murphy, who is probably one bad check away from another House Bank scandal. The current Whip owes too much to the Minority Leader and special interests who have bailed him out so frequently. Of course, those interests want to keep Murphy right there so they can exert influence on the Democratic leadership," Philip pointed out.

"You have clearly researched the political establishment, haven't you? I see that I can ask you for necessary information in the future. I should have done more study, but it's hard to do while raising a pair of teens. I gather that you're not a dad," Vasquez reacted.

"I'm a widower. My marriage was falling apart at the time she overdosed on speed. She was a junkie and I am a lecher. It made for a bad combination, since she neglected me to pop her pills and I constantly slept around on her. We both ruined it, but her lifestyle ended up killing her before we could admit that it was over. Things were so bad that there was no danger of idealizing the dead, as some bereaved spouses do with their deceased mates. We were both very flawed people at that point in our lives," Sundermann admitted.

"Damn, that IS a sad story! Not many men would be honest about what kind of husbands they were during their marriages. A lot of them would have ended that statement with the mention of their marital status. Others would stop with the overdose. I suppose that you were young and rash at the time?" she replied.

"I was 21 when we wed and 23 when she died, so yes. That would be a fair description of both of us. What about you? I take it that you broke up with your boyfriend long ago," he probed.

"Yes, we went together for 15 years, but he decided to dump me for an 18 year old who had just graduated from his Math class. How typical is that? A 35 year old high school teacher falling for one of his students! I wouldn't be surprised if they started screwing earlier than he told me. He was probably more afraid of losing his job, pension, and tenure than of angering me with the truth," Angelica explained.

"How long was that?" Philip asked.

"3 years ago. We were the same age and I thought that was fine with him. Apparently, it wasn't once he found a girl young enough to be his daughter," she snorted.

"It looks like he made a mistake, didn't he? Sad for him, but we have other things to consider. We were both about to head home, weren't we? There's no reason to stick around in the Capitol chewing the flab when we could do that elsewhere. Would you be interested in an early dinner or a late lunch? If you have other plans, I'll understand," Sundermann proposed.

"Who says that those plans have to conflict? Why don't you eat dinner with me and the kids, then wait until they go to bed for us to do the same? That IS what you were after, right? A skirt-chaser doesn't usually change his ways, not that I mind in this case," Vasquez winked at him.

"So you prefer the direct approach?" he commented.

"Sure. At my age, I don't have time to beat around the bush. If I did, I might never get anything done," she noted.

"I don't always go about my desires the right way, but I don't apologize for my interest in women. I suppose that I'm just not cut out for monogamy. If others have a problem with that, that's their business, not mine. I found you attractive, so I flirted with you. I don't deny that. Call it whatever you wish," Philip answered her.

"Sundermann, is that German?" Angelica asked him as they arrived at her place.

"Yes, it is. I'm descended from German immigrants, as are quite a few Pennsylvanians. It may have been founded by Quakers, but my family was among many that were Lutheran. The Revolution turned brother against brother, as several believed that any resistance to a king was sinful. Others went Deist or simply disagreed with Martin Luther on that point, joining the Patriots and sometimes the Continental Army itself. What about you? It's pretty clear that you're Hispanic, but how many generations has your family been in New Mexico?" Sundermann wondered.

"Just a couple of them. I'll admit that my grandparents were illegal, but times in OLD Mexico were pretty bad in those days. The PRI was still in charge and they were corrupt and unconcerned with the fate of the people. All of their vaunted principles were ignored. Alvaro Obregon must have turned over in his grave. When my mother was born in Las Cruces, they got a virtual guarantee of staying, since she was automatically an American. I can remember her telling me not to put this country down, as it was what kept my grandparents and herself from starvation. So I'm proud of my Mexican origins, but I'm also very patriotic about the USA. I just want to keep the Federal Government from becoming the 'government of SOME people, by SOME people, and for SOME people'," Vasquez explained.

"You mean a government controlled by a wealthy, moralistic elite? That's EXACTLY what I'm fighting too, in my own way. Despite our politics, we have the same basic goals. The Founders intended a republic, which would have both aristocratic and democratic parts, not a sanctimonious oligarchy run by bureaucrats, clergymen, and CEOs. If they WANTED a theocracy or police state, they would have created one.

"I just hope that we get some judges soon with a respect for civil liberties, not ones that think politicians have an automatic right to pass any law that might improve their chances of re-election. The Constitution is the SUPREME law, which means that it supersedes any federal, state, or local statutes that contradict it. ANY bills that conflict with it are invalid, hence they are not laws at all. Even treaties are subject to the Constitution, contrary to what some diplomats think.