America's Road to Wealth

January 26, 2002.

Austin, Texas.

To be honest, this is Abel's first time coming to the Capitol, the political center of Texas.

Even if the previous Abel and his experiences and memories were taken into account, it would be the same.

Because of the original Abel, he, like most Texans, rarely comes to Austin if he has nothing to do.

In fact, most of the tourists who come to the Texas State Capitol are outsiders from outside Texas.

Except for Austinites, locals generally don’t like Austin very much.

As for the Capitol itself, it is not only one of the most famous tourist attractions in Texas, it is also the office space of the Texas Government.

Above the 2nd floor of the Capitol Building, there are offices for the Governor's Office, the Texas National Guard Staff Department, various other Texas departments, etc.

The largest room on the first floor of the building is the conference hall that can accommodate 150 Texas legislators.

The Texas State Legislature, like Congress, is divided into two chambers: the Senate and the House of Representatives.

There are 50 members in the Senate and 100 members in the House of Representatives.

Unlike the deputy commander of the Federation who can only be used as a mascot.

The lieutenant governor of Texas also has a lot of power. He is the governor's right-hand man and the true second-in-command in the state government.

Already having many real rights, it is natural that the lieutenant governor of Texas cannot serve as the speaker of the Senate like the deputy commander of the federal government.

In other words, in the Texas State Legislature, each chamber has a real speaker.

This is different from the federal government.

The large conference hall in the Parliament Building is also the place where most tourists check in.

Under normal circumstances, many places in the Texas State Capitol are open to foreign visitors free of charge, regardless of whether they are Texans or not.

As long as you can pass the security check and have legal travel documents, you can freely enter and exit this famous political center and tourist attraction in Texas.

But in recent days, the Texas State Capitol has announced that it will be closed for 15 days.

The reason is that a big event happened in the Texas House of Representatives in the past few days.

State legislators in the Texas House of Representatives, they initiated an impeachment campaign.

Impeach the speaker of the state House of Representatives, Mark Jellen, and demand that the speaker step down.

Around 10am.

Abel's mighty motorcade arrived outside the Texas State Capitol.

The motorcade passed security inspections by the Texas National Guard and local police officers and successfully entered the Capitol.

At the entrance of the beautiful and majestic building built of red granite.

When Abel got out of his Cadillac Monster.

He had already seen several people looking at him with smiles at the door of the Parliament Building.

Abel's face also showed the usual hypocritical smile, and he walked towards them.

Oh...good morning, dear Mr. Smith. Welcome.

Among the people at the door, the first to speak and come over to greet Abel with a smile was Rick Perry, the current governor of Texas and former deputy to George Bush, who jumped from the Donkey Party to the Elephant Party. .

Abel and Rick Perry met several times, always at Bush family banquets.

Abel smiled and walked over, shook hands with Rick Perry and hugged him.

Good morning, Mr. Governor. And of course, Mr. Speaker, Mr. Lieutenant Governor, hello.

After shaking hands and hugging Rick Perry, Abel greeted the other two.

The other two people, one is Texas Senate Speaker Page, and the other is Lieutenant Governor Johnson.

There is only one speaker left in the House of Representatives, Mark Jerlin, and the four giants in the Texas state government are all there.

Page, Jonson, and Rick Perry all had known Abel for a long time, both at banquets hosted by the Bush family.

Today's shrub family has deep roots in Texas.

To say they are the largest family in Texas may not be a stretch.

You may want to do something big in Texas, or you may want to make a difference in Texas.

No matter who comes, it can be said that it will be difficult to avoid the Shrub family.

Among the four giants in the Texas government, Rick Perry is simply George's successor and a close confidant of the Bush family.

Jonson and Page were also very close to the Bush family.

There is only one Mark Jerlin, who is considered an important figure in another faction in Texas.

And now, Mark Jellen is being impeached.

If he is successfully impeached, he will have to resign as speaker, and he may not even be able to keep his position as state representative.

By that time, at least in the state government.

In terms of influence on Texas, the Bush family can be said to be unparalleled.

After shaking hands and hugging Rick Perry and others.

Rick Perry began to lead Abel into the Texas State Capitol.

As one of the largest and most beautiful capitol buildings in the United States.

The entire Texas State Capitol is built entirely of red granite, giving people a majestic feeling.

On the top of the building, there is a 14-foot-tall Statue of Liberty.

It was not originally there and was not added until 1987.

Entering the gate of the Parliament Building, there is a beautiful courtyard behind it.

Although it is winter, due to the warm climate in Austin, the lawn in the courtyard is still green, and the leaves are red and green.

Abel was not a tourist. If he were a tourist, he would have been attracted by the many statues scattered in the courtyard.

They are quite symbolic and commemorative.

Among them, war elements can be seen everywhere, which shows the weight of Texas history.

The local folk customs in Texas are fierce, which is also inseparable from these wars.

Along the way, several people kept chatting.

Mark is unlikely to survive this time.

While walking, the governor said bluntly: He made a big mistake this time.

In Texas, which was impeached today, the speaker of the state House of Representatives, Mark Jerlinn.

The grounds for his impeachment were abuse of power and obstruction of parliamentary investigations.

The former refers to Mark Jerlin, who, as speaker, accepted the support of many Mexicans and opened the door for Mexicans to sneak into Texas.

The latter refers to Mark Jerlin, who was accused by members of Parliament of calling for the investigation to be launched.

Mark Jerlin violently blocked the inquiry from passing parliament.

For these two reasons, the congressman united with many members of the House of Representatives to launch an impeachment against Speaker Mark Jerlin.

According to Texas regulations, if the speaker is impeached by more than 10 members while in office, the speaker's powers cannot be used during the impeachment period.

To be honest, Abel still doesn't understand what Rick Perry meant when he said Mark made a big mistake.

The reason why he's here today is at the Texas State Capitol.

It was because a few days ago, when the outside world learned that his body was fine, there was nothing serious.

Here in Texas, Davis Brown and his people asked him to come to the Texas State Capitol today.

Abel only knew that this was related to his cooperation with Davis Brown and the others, that is, with the Texas consortium.

The same goes for his father, Alexander Smith.

But he didn't know what the specific method was before today.

These guys seemed to want to surprise him.

Now listen to the opening lines from guys like Rick Perry.

In Abel's mind, he finally guessed something.

He thought, if it was really what he thought.

These guys are really willing to spend their money.

Oh, he really shouldn't have done that. Texans, don't allow that to happen.

Abel responded with a smile and a snake oil reply.

Senate Speaker Page smiled and said softly:

Actually, it's more than that. Many of Mark's actions before this have made many people dissatisfied. The impeachment this time has been accumulated for a long time.

You're right. Lieutenant Governor Jonson also said with a smile.

While chatting, everyone passed through the courtyard and entered the central rotunda.

The terrazzo floor on the first floor of the rotunda was built in 1936 to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the founding of Texas.

A large seal is painted in the center of the floor, surrounded by the seals of the Six Nations.

The six countries are France, Spain, Mexico, the Republic of Texas, the Confederate States of America, and the United States of America.

Why are there these flags?

That's because these flags have all flown on Texas soil.

Around the conference hall, there are portraits of the successive leaders of the Republic of Texas and the successive governors of Texas, hanging on each floor of the four-story circular hall open to the public.

In other words, there are so many portraits, but there is no portrait of the Commander-in-Chief of the United States of America...

It can only be said that the Lone Star State was not shown as the number one traitor in the United States by the federal government.

Because Texas is within itself, it really flaunts itself as an independent country at all times.

The United States will be divided one day.

The first person to stand up and raise the flag is definitely not California who just likes to shout.

And it has to be Texas.

Arriving at the rotunda, Jonsson and Page left Abel and Rick Perry.

Abel was led by the governor through a corridor, and the two came to a high platform suspended above the Texas Congress chamber.

Below the high platform, 150 members of the Texas Legislature were gathered together.

Looking at the scene below, Abel, who had already guessed a lot, smiled and said, This is our Texas dish!

Who says it's not? Rick Perry responded with a smile: The people elect representatives, and the representatives represent the people. This is our destiny!

The impeachment process in Parliament has begun below.

Abel has now basically guessed the reason why these people asked him to come here today.

He guessed in his mind.

The people from the Texas consortium most likely want to push Alexander into the Texas Congress.

A bolder guess.

These guys may even want to replace Mark Jerlin with his father.

Otherwise, how could Davis Brown and the others call themselves to come to the Texas State Capitol on a day like today?

To amuse Abel, or to demonstrate against him?

This might have been possible before.

But that's unlikely now.

The world's richest man, with huge wealth in his hands, is also an energy giant, a media giant, and a financial giant.

At the same time, he is also married to Abel Smith, who is currently the most troublesome and hot-blooded Zhengzhi family in the United States.

In the recent attack, he temporarily gained the commanding heights of American public opinion.

At this time, whoever Abel wanted to target, even if it was Rockefeller or Morgan, would be confused by him.

Davis Brown and the others have no reason to mess around.

And they just let Abel come to this special place on a special day like today.

In addition to wanting to push Alexander to the top, it was one of the great gifts to Abel during this merger between the two parties.

Abel couldn't think of any other possibilities for the time being.

Because after a few days, the share exchange will be completed and all the contracts that need to be signed will be finalized.

From now on, everyone will be our own people in a sense.

At that time, Alexander was also one of their own.

Putting Alexander in charge at this time will also be beneficial to the Texas consortium.

With a lot of thoughts in his mind, Abel kept chatting with Rick Perry.

While chatting, the two parties even talked about Abel's father-in-law, Neil Bush.

Neal has a very good talent. He can easily connect with the middle class.

Rick Perry said sincerely: If he becomes a businessman, the Americans will lose a good governor or even a good general.

Look at Rick Perry looking so sincere.

Abel didn't believe that the other party didn't know that if Neil Bush changed his ways in Texas, he would be the one who suffered the most serious damage.

Abel thought to himself, that means my father-in-law has gone to California, and there is no longer any possibility of any major conflict with you.

Only this guy would say something like this.

Everyone has their own talent. Abel smiled and said: Mr. Perry, your talent is the most suitable for leading the people of Texas.

Hearing Abel say this, Rick Perry's eyes visibly lit up.

Mr. Governor looked at Abel seriously and said softly: Mr. Smith, are you telling the truth?

Yes. Abel responded with a smile.

Rick Perry laughed obviously happily, but because there was a meeting below, the governor did not dare to laugh too loudly.

In Rick Perry's view, Neil Bush, the biggest internal threat to him, is not actually supported by the Bush family.

It was the guy in front of him who was very young, but already so terrifying that Davis Brown and his gang should treat him with such caution and even please him.

Now I see hints of this guy.

Rick Perry is naturally happy to know that he is stable in Texas this year.

Call me Rick. Rick Perry said happily, his words were much more sincere than before:

I hope we are friends. I hope we always have been.

Of course. Rick, you should also change your words. Abel also smiled and said, You just call me Abel, that will make me happier.

Oh, today is such a happy day!

Rick Perry hugged Abel again, this time much more cordially than at the door of the Capitol.

That annoying Mark Jerlin is going out. I've found a good friend again!! I'm so... so happy.

Rick Perry said happily.

At this time, in the Texas House of Representatives below, it was time to start voting on the impeachment process.

There are 100 state representatives, excluding Speaker Mark Jerlin, there are still 99 left.

According to regulations, in each vote, each member of the House of Representatives has only one vote, and the Speaker has two votes for the purpose of ruling when the votes are tied.

Now Mark Jellen is being impeached.

During the period of impeachment, all corresponding parliamentary rights are automatically lost.

In other words, only the votes of these 99 members of the House of Representatives count today.

Voting begins.

Because the number is much less than the 435 members of the Federal House of Representatives.

There were only 99 people voting, and even if an older mechanical voting process was used, the results were still out quickly.

The voting process to impeach Mark Jerlin to step down resulted in 52 votes in favor, 35 votes against, and 12 abstentions.

The impeachment was successful and the process started.

Effective today, Mark Jerlin automatically loses his power and office as Representative and Speaker of the State of Texas.

As per the rules, before the elections start again.

The missing state legislators are elected from among the county commissioners in Texas' 254 counties.

The state Senate is responsible for the election, and the county commissioner who receives more than 1/3 of the votes will automatically obtain the status of state representative.

The identity of the speaker is automatically selected by the 100 members of the state House of Representatives through internal elections.

The moment the impeachment took effect, a distraught Mark Jerlin had not even left the conference hall.

Page, Speaker of the Texas Senate, has already announced the start of the election of representatives.

Among the 254 county commissioners, 6 were elected.

Among them is the name of Alexander Smith, the county commissioner of Tarrant County who just took office last year.

Voting begins.

After the voting ends.

Among the six candidates, Alexander Smith received 35 of the total 51 votes.

With an unquestionable advantage, he became one of the new members of the Texas House of Representatives.

As for the election of the Speaker of the House of Representatives, it will be postponed to three days later, that is, January 29.

Before that, after the meeting.

Abel had happily gone to the governor's office to drink coffee with Rick Perry and two other Texas government tycoons.