The American Dynasties

The Families Funding the 2016 Presidential Election is exactly the kind of reporting that inspires me to write The American Fathers.

So I will use this opportunity to lay out some of the elements and themes in the serial. I need to update the website anyway.
+Nicholas Confessore and his colleagues at the New York Times reported that half of all the money spent in the presidential campaign this year has been provided by 158 families.

"They are overwhelmingly white, rich, older and male, in a nation that is being remade by the young, by women, and by black and brown voters. Across a sprawling country, they reside in an archipelago of wealth, exclusive neighborhoods dotting a handful of cities and towns. And in an economy that has minted billionaires in a dizzying array of industries, most made their fortunes in just two: finance and energy.

Now they are deploying their vast wealth in the political arena, providing almost half of all the seed money raised to support Democratic and Republican presidential candidates. Just 158 families, along with companies they own or control, contributed $176 million in the first phase of the campaign, a New York Times investigation found. Not since before Watergate have so few people and businesses provided so much early money in a campaign, most of it through channels legalized by the Supreme Court’s Citizens United decision five years ago."

NICHOLAS CONFESSORE, SARAH COHEN and KAREN YOURISH OCT. 10, 2015

That's the relationship between this extremely narrow slice of America and the Presidency right now, in the year 2015. The American Fathers begins in the year 2032. Between now and then, the United States Congress enacts legislation that makes this relationship more explicit. 

The American Fathers Element #1 

The New Rule: corporate governance legislation passed by the 118 US Congress in the year 2024

Based upon the principle corporate sovereignty, or the idea that corporations have the right to operate as sovereign entities in order to compete globally and in order to efficiently manage human and natural resources, The New Rule transforms America's thirteen largest conglomerates into sovereign entities. The families associated with these conglomerates become the country's first royal houses.

The American Fathers Episode 1 - Synopsis 

"Smart & sexy!" Set in a near future America, the world is a bit different. Powerful houses run the politics, and hence, the country, from behind the scenes. Sworn fealty to a powerful house can bring the average person a decent paying job in a world where society is scrambling to hold it together. Sheila, a smart lass from Tennessee, sees through this BS and is trying to open the public’s eyes to this power shift. Meanwhile, the Lebanese congressional correspondent Jasira agrees with Sheila, off the record. Yet, despite Sheila’s unarguable attraction to Jasira, she can’t help but question Jasira’s motives.

(Excerpt from Book Review - DabofDarkness)

What Could Raising Taxes on the 1% Do? Surprising Amounts

In 2032 America House Daco is First among the thirteen royal houses. Daco Industries, one of the conglomerates granted sovereign status through The New Rule, is the world's leader in aeronautics technology.

The American Fathers Episode 2 - Synopsis

Sheila never expected to meet America's first princess, but Irene Daco is hosting a dinner, and Jasira has invited Sheila to attend. That decision would be so much easier if the nature of her relationship with Jasira were clear. 

When Sheila agrees to go, she finds her principled opposition to dynasty rule challenged by the things she discovers in the world of America's royal houses.