Reply #7: Nuke in DC, then the shadow government takes over

[jobycom]

Remember the secret government in the hills of Virginia? If a catastrophic attack takes out the government, then this shadow government has enough bureacrats left over to run things. So let's have a would-be Caesar, and call him Cheney. Cheney gets someone to set off a nuke in DC when the president and Congress are there. In aftermath, he runs the government from his undisclosed location. Meanwhile, the states, who are not touched, quickly appoint a new Congress (as they are supposed to), which is supposed to choose a new president. Cheney, however, refuses to recognize the new Congress. Since he will have a Pentagon leader with him, he orders the army to squelch the new Congress. Several possibilities-- the army splits, the army follows Cheney but the states send in the National Guards, the states acquiesce and let Cheney run the country, the states split and we have civil war. Many of these choices led to war and fragmentation of the states, which leads to economic ruin, and the end of the current style of government. Take your pick after that.