back cover of The Unelected President

Mike Medlock is a libertarian book author who suddenly gets appointed by his boyhood friend, the governor, to fill out a dead Senator’s term. Even more suddenly, an assassination results in his becoming President of the United States—on January 26, 2013.

He has virtually no support in Congress, so he’s powerless, right? Think again.

It turns out a President has far more legal power than anyone thinks—if he is willing to use it. The de facto limits on Presidential power are “imposed” more by politician timidity than the wording of the Constitution and other laws.

Mike Medlock is not a politician. So he does not suffer from political timidity. Rather, he calls in the biggest expert on Presidential power and asks, “What can I do? What can I not do? and What do I have to do?”

“You can issue, modify, or delete federal regulations,” says the top legal expert on Presidential power. “All of them?” asks Medlock. “Yes, sir. The Administrative Procedure Act of 1946.” Read how the new, free market, libertarian President reacts to that bit of news.

Then there is foreign policy. The President has enormous latitude in foreign policy. The Constitution says only Congress can declare war. Then perhaps someone should explain why Congress has not declared war on a country that had not already declared war on us since 1917. In fact, the War Power Resolution of 1973 and the various Use-of-Force votes have delegated considerable authority to the President. Also, if Putin or Xi or Kim Jong-un declare war on us, or a military ally of ours, we are at war, whether Congress agrees or not. The President can also start or end diplomatic relations with any or all country(ies). And he can cut foreign aid to any or all of them. The politician Presidents have been afraid. Medlock is not.

Then there is the President’s absolute pardon power. Medlock also uses executive orders, but not like Obama. He uses them mainly to repeal the executive orders of his predecessors.

Medlock spends part of his time trying to get the Constitution amended to create national binding referendums. That would reduce his power and that of his successors. The U.S. is one of only five countries that has never used referendums. And he wants to replace the politician Congress with a citizen Congress whose members would be selected and operated like a grand jury. Read how different 2013 might have been with such a President.

Author John T. Reed, like the protagonist of this book, “Michael Medlock,” is a West Point graduate, paratrooper, ranger, Vietnam vet, Harvard MBA, as well as the author of 34 how-to books on real estate investment, football coaching, baseball coaching, self-publishing, succeeding, and protecting your life savings from hyperinflation & depression. Reed and his wife of 41 years have three grown sons and two grandchildren and live in the San Francisco suburbs.