Founding Father of the Twenty-First Century: The Presidential Memoir of Henderson West, Forty-Fifth President of the United States of America

By Kenneth Jackson

How does a highly successful business man who doesnt like anything about the American political system become president of the United States against his better judgement? In this alternate future history, Henderson Francis West, the forty-fifth president of the United States, looks back upon this significant time in his life.
For the first time, now after thirty years since taking the oath of office on January 20th, 2017, West recounts how he came to be president and reflects upon his accomplishments during his two terms (2017-2025). West credits his success in guiding America to retaking its leadership position in the modern world to his groundbreaking and unifying thinking, his nonpartisan approach, and his ability to modernize the institutions of the United States, most notably the now obsolete representative democratic system. Some of his accomplishments include the refocusing of the legal system, the purchase of Eastern Canada, the 7-1/2 year marriage license, and his now celebrated New Freedom Initiative.
West shares how his inspiration, imagination, ideology, and tenacity led to a new and superlative attitude and perspective for Americans - one that ultimately gave birth to our modern era of Engaged Democracy as the guiding principle for effective government and American freedom. West, who is commonly known as the founding father of the twenty-first century, narrates the story of how his insight and vision changed America forever and has inspired the spirit and enthusiasm we now embrace at the mid-point of the century.

• Language: English
• Publisher: iUniverse
• Release date: Jul 8, 2016
• ISBN: 9781532000621

Kenneth Jackson

Kenneth Jackson is a leader in the digital democracy space and is an associate with Ethelo Democracy, a digital democratic platform. He earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in political science and a MBA in international marketing management, both from SMU. He is a twenty-year veteran of the advertising and marketing world and has worked with several of the world’s top advertising agencies and brands. Jackson has lived and worked on three continents and travels extensively. An avid hockey goaltender and reader, Jackson lives in Nova Scotia.

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Copyright © 2016 Kenneth Jackson.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or by any information storage retrieval system without the written permission of the author except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

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ISBN: 978-1-5320-0061-4 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-5320-0062-1 (e)

iUniverse rev. date: 08/05/2016

CONTENTS

Foreword:   It’s 2050. Why Now?

Chapter 1:   April 15, 2016…I Could Have Died, Instead I Became President

Chapter 2:   The New Freedom Initiative…A Modern Definition Of Freedom

Chapter 3:   The Birth Of The New Model Of Government Engaged Democracy

Chapter 4:   The 3Poi-P Approach…Abortion And Immigration Examples

Chapter 5:   Constructive Capitalism…There’s Money To Be Made In Doing Good

Chapter 6:   The Legal System…Getting To The Truth And Minimizing Lawyer Impact

Chapter 7:   July 4, 2022…Kennedy And Newfoundland Join The Union

Chapter 8:   Us Foreign Intervention… Protect, Free, Enforce

Chapter 9:   International Neighbors And Opposites…Czech Republic And Hungary

Chapter 10:   A Religious Reformation?…Islam And Christianity

Chapter 11:   Thoughts For My Critics

Author’s Note

FOREWORD

IT’S 2050. WHY NOW?

Remembering back these 30-plus years to inauguration day on Friday, January 20, 2017, I will state, for the first time ever, that I was not only disturbed but genuinely unhappy with my situation. There I was, Henderson West, publicly-recognized poster-child for disillusionment with institutional America, yet now the head of it all.

I had grown up at the end of the twentieth century, willing to challenge any formal organization, public institution, existing modern mindset or ism. I was hardly an anarchist, however, and I was a huge supporter of individual freedom, but there is no way I would have seen myself as part of the process at the time. I had prided my personal successes on the ability to work-around bureaucratic processes, rather than by immersing myself in them.

I was a successful businessman who had accumulated billions. I wouldn’t say I was disillusioned at all regarding that part of America. My financial success had been simply a matter of hard work, open-mindedness, good vision and, of course, a bit of good luck. My company, NutrisHouse, had become a globally recognized business leader.

Personal success aside, I will just be blunt: I was anti-government in most of its forms at the start of the 21st century. In fact, the hallmark of my success had been the ability to manage governmental process and obstacles. I earned a reputation as someone who did not listen to governmental authority and on many occasions outright ignored regulation if a greater good was impeded. Government, I believed, was equally inept everywhere. In 2017, the USA’s government was the worst in the developed world, involving itself primarily in the pursuit of self-interest and party politics. The Republican and Democratic parties postured and opposed each other in order to undermine the authority of whichever party, at the time, happened to have won the previous election. Government was an elitist system that fostered the interests of the party, select business interests and the wealthy. As my own public record at the time shows, I had no interest in politics and contributed nothing of my personal energy or corporate finances to it.

If you had told me, on my 46th birthday, March 2nd, 2016, that I, Henderson West, was going to be the next president and that, 35 years later my name would be synonymous with George Washington, Abraham Lincoln or Thomas Jefferson, I would have thought you to be the dumbest person I had ever met. Further, to be referred to across America as the founding father of the twenty-first century or ff21st for short, would have been beyond even the realm of my imagination. In fact, becoming president would likely have been the worst thing I could imagine.

This is why I was genuinely confused and irritated on Friday, January 20th of 2017, as I was being sworn in as the 45th President of the United States of America. I sincerely did not want the role and was wondering why I had just ruined my life.

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Most former presidents write their memoirs shortly after their term is over. You might wonder why I chose to wait so long. Well, I put it like this: was I more comfortable trying to write about my time as president or was I going to write a more complete memoir that incorporated a long-term view and took into consideration others people’s thoughts? Not to disparage any of my presidential predecessors, but evaluating one’s actions too soon is an arrogant undertaking. Even now, in 2050, I still feel uncomfortable trying to write about my time as president.

But, here goes.

CHAPTER 1

APRIL 15, 2016…I COULD HAVE DIED, INSTEAD I BECAME PRESIDENT

So, how did a 46-year-old business man who didn’t like anything about our political system become president? The day that changed my life was Friday, April 15th, 2016. The day that I was shot. As per normal when getting shot, there was no foreshadowing that this day would be any different than any other.

I was scheduled to give a speech at the New York Metropolitan Museum as part of a fund-raiser for a local charity group. At the time I was deeply involved with my own benevolent foundations that had gained some notoriety due to my direct on-the-ground approach to solving humanitarian issues. While today it might appear hypocritical that I was a keynote speaker at a traditional fund-raiser at the Met, in 2016 it was ground-breaking. My attendance was designed to convince other charitable organizations that their efforts would be more effective if they focused on implementation programs rather than simply providing a monetary contribution or fund-raising.

The gala started at six in the evening. I was scheduled to arrive at six-thirty and I was to leave by nine.

My day had been routine when I got to the museum. Millie Scotts, my assistant, had coordinated the day perfectly. The weather had stayed true to form and had reached 72 degrees by mid-afternoon and the city was in one of those consummate New York moods when everyone felt on top of the world and happy to be alive. People were out riding bikes, walking their dogs, lounging in the patio bars, and tourists were walking in droves along 5th Avenue. But on that day, pedestrian traffic did seem to be moving at a more relaxed pace than usual. I had only been bumped into three or four times when it should have been into the hundreds after covering as much ground as I had.

I was feeling joyful the entire day and one of my colleagues had even commented on my smile several times. It got to the point where I had to ask if he thought I was never happy. I guess I had a bit of a reputation for being a jerk on occasion. Perhaps cheerfulness was just not one of my primary characteristics in 2016. Anyway, appearing to be happy all the time, as many people aspire too, is a bit unrealistic.

Happiness is more about purpose and accomplishment than a simple smile.

I was a product of the more, more, more culture as much as anyone else, and perhaps more than most. I of course am aware that accumulating as much wealth as I had made me appear as if I were striving to just have more. I readily admit that the accumulation of wealth is sometimes simply about getting more. It is addictive.

In the late 20th century, the pursuit of happiness was linked directly to increased consumption, one of the biggest schisms between reality and fantasy in the history of American culture. There was an inherent paradox that an individual was always striving to be happy but could never attain it as you forever needed more goods for fulfillment. This is why hardly anyone was genuinely happy, except of course for the companies that made anti-depressant pharmaceuticals.

With hindsight firmly in play, I do acknowledge that there is a big difference between positivity and happiness. Positivity is more about a forward-looking optimism, which I always embraced, while happiness strikes me as a more in-the-moment enthusiasm. Today I try to focus on the moment and revel in the enthusiasm while continuing to sustain my on-going positivity and optimism for the future.

I still, however, do not smile very much.

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But back to the day I was shot.

When we arrived at the Met, the sun was bright on the horizon. As usual, Millie and I were in the limo and we were directed to the vehicle queue in front of the Met. In front of my car was another vehicle carrying my security detail. I had never gotten used to having security. I certainly never felt myself as a target for any reason. As a billionaire it was just expected that I would have security, but deep down I always wondered who would try to hurt me?

This feeling was born out of two separate, but equally misguided attitudes.

The first was simply my own arrogance that I was just too important or too rich to have someone take a shot at me. Who, I thought, could penetrate my world and get into my personal space? I used to move about quite freely, and without security, no matter where I was. I rarely stayed in my hotel room when I was overseas. I considered myself much less recognizable while traveling and I would on occasion just wander off by myself and explore the cities or museums.

When I was in the USA, I was home. At home is where you are supposed to feel the most safe and secure. When I look back at the gun-related violence of the times, I cannot for the life of me understand what was in my mind.

The second attitude I possessed, which strikes me as very counter-intuitive to the first, was my own perceived sense of unimportance. I was just an unassuming guy who was trying to get along with everyone and make the world a better place. Why would anyone want to hurt me? Yet I always knew there were people out there who neither liked me personally nor appreciated what I represented.

For example, I had done a profile in Forbes magazine and had been vilified for my personal style, and my willingness to forgo regulations. The article high-lighted a litany of my business mistakes in a very embarrassing manner and portrayed me as a blundering fool. I was shocked that someone would write an article that had nothing good to say about my business practices. Another example was the health care business community who felt I was a demon incarnate for my ability to shift people’s thinking towards preventive medicine rather than diagnosis and treatment. As a result, I must have cost that sector billions over the years. I could understand why I had no enthusiastic supporters in some business realms, but on a personal level, I never felt I had an enemies.

Finally, and I still really hate to acknowledge this, but there are people in the world who dislike you just for existing. In 2016, there were many folks that were members of disenfranchised parts of America, factions of society that were anti-capitalism and anti-wealth. Whether these views stemmed from religion, ideology or insanity, is irrelevant. The bottom-line was that there were indeed American citizens who viewed me as their enemy and to them, it was very personal. Even today in 2050, there are many people out there who dislike me, but fortunately not as many as there used to be.

By 6:15 my security personnel were on the sidewalk. My security detail that April was very different from what I received when I became president. The secret service were fanatics compared to my people. My people were in no way incompetent, just not as well-trained or as zealous. And I would have never paid for all the pre-inspections, crowd monitoring and protective positioning that would have thwarted the attack. I do not hold them accountable and never have.

Before Millie had gotten out of the car, she instructed me as to where the photo and TV cameras were set-up. Doing the red carpet was of course part of the drill. Getting your picture on TV and in the newspaper was often the whole point of having the fund-raiser in the first place.

I waited in the car for another thirty seconds, which was when Millie tossed her handbag over her shoulder – our established cue that everything is wide-open and the cameras ready to go. It didn’t take very long for the photographers and the crowd to get focused on my car.

I remember the next six minutes vividly.

I stepped onto the red carpet, leaned out of the car and stood up straight. Millie had moved slightly to the left behind the car to be out of camera-view. She hated having her picture taken with me in these environments for it made her feel inconsequential. She preferred to step aside. I also noticed over her shoulder, to the left, a throng of people who were cordoned off. There were maybe four hundred people, fans trying to do some celebrity gazing and maybe get an autograph. To the right was the red carpet area where the cameras were.

I waved to the crowd and they gave me a rather large and respectful round of applause. At this time I was more of a notable type of celebrity rather than a real star. Your average reaction would have been: Look, that’s Henderson West over there. You know the super rich guy. Or, something to that effect. Your friend would then go, Oh, so it is. That was usually it. Unless you were a business person who would like to try to get involved with my company, there really wasn’t much interest beyond that. I was perfectly fine with this arrangement. All I ever wanted from notoriety was to be able to cut the line at a restaurant on occasion.

As I got out of the car, I executed my one and only move that I felt was a kind of celebrity-oriented. I took two steps forward so that the car door could be closed, then I quickly reached up and grabbed my jacket lapels and gave them a solid downward shrug. It kind of looked like an unorthodox adjustment but to me it was just an amusing way to get the tiniest reaction. It had become my trademark move. However, after I became president, almost everyone in the world had seen this move and there probably was a period during the height of my popularity when most folks did it over and over themselves. There were, in fact, many memes and videos at the time of people replicating my jacket adjustment technique. The influence of pop culture can be over-whelming and befuddling.

I smiled and waved for a few more seconds then I turned to the right and was greeted by the chairperson for the evening’s events. I shook her hand, bowed formally to her then gave her a light kiss on the cheek.

I was introduced to several dignitaries and members of the organizing committee and we exchanged cordial greetings. I remember just how informal the whole process seemed to be. Despite the formality of the clothing and the red carpet, it struck me that the organizers and guests were in a very relaxed mood. The crowd itself was appreciative and jovial. I couldn’t help thinking just how much better life was when the sun was out and how great it would be to capture that feeling and make it available to everyone, all the time. Ironic that I would have this thought just moments before someone tries to kill me.

When I got to the photographers’ area, my security were in front of me facing the cameras. I smiled and waved until Millie grabbed me by the elbow and directed me toward the first of three TV interviews.

When I finished my first interview, I noticed a slight disturbance in the crowd, like a fight had broken out and that the crowd was simply separating a bit to let the combatants go at it. Now being someone who had been around the world a few times, someone who had seen photographers grappling for position which occasionally turned hostile, I didn’t think too much of it. I did think that there really was no reason for anyone to get pushed around while jostling to get a picture of me. I do recall Millie’s grip ever so slightly tightening on my arm while tugging me to the next interview.

The movement in the crowd however was just enough for me to linger longer than I normally would have, and that is when I saw the man, who I would later find out was named Nicholas Zahan, staring at me. He had a furrowed brow and a vacant look in his eyes. His hair was catching the sun and falling and flitting so uniformly. It struck me as a perfect hairstyle, something I should try out. Then the gun barrel cut through the path of sunlight. It really did not register that I might be in danger, though upon seeing the gun, I looked into his eyes to see what was going through his mind and what he was might be trying to do. His eyes were definitely locked on mine.

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When the gun barrel settled on me, the barrel was all I saw. Everything else faded into the background. I remember that heightened sense of awareness, and it provided me a sense of purpose and may have even been a spirit of providence that allowed the actions that followed. I have never had that feeling again.

As dumb as it sounds, I was still not aware that I was the target, but having seen the gun I obviously knew that something bad was about to happen. My only instinct was to jump into the situation. It never occurred to me that I could die nor was there any sense of heroism in order to try and save the day. It was just the way I reacted.

By this time, Mr. Zahan was only three feet from the barricade so rather than move directly towards the gun, I went for his left shoulder. I had noticed a drawstring on his hoodie and this was what I reached for.

I dove over the barricade and lunged toward him. There was no thought of let’s simply wrestle the gun away; the best way to end the situation was to render the attacker incapacitated.

As I rammed into him, I was bringing my left arm up to force his arm into the air so, at a minimum, if any shots went off they would go up rather than at me or anyone else. I was also trying to immobilize his arms and I figured that I might be able to strip the gun from his outstretched hand.

I definitely heard all three shots. Many people ask how I didn’t know that I had taken a bullet to the left shoulder. I don’t really know how to explain this, as I didn’t realize that I had been hit until after the man had been wrestled to the ground and detained by NYC police. I did feel a bit of soreness in my shoulder area, but it was more like a tender muscle than a gunshot wound.

Adrenalin has the tremendous ability to help your mind decide what you need to focus on. I saw a gun and instantly realized my life or maybe someone else’s was in danger so I simply sprang into action. I feel that being aware of a bullet in my shoulder would have proven to be a distraction from the task at hand, which was survival for me and the protection of others. I guess I have been gifted with a calm, rational mind that allows me to stay in