J.D. Tew asked Scott Spotson:

If you were President Scott Spotson of the United States and presented with the invention of time travel, what three bills would you put before congress?

Scott Spotson What a hard question, Justin! Obviously so much could go wrong, for example, a British citizen could go back to 1776 and reverse the outcome of the American Revolution! Or some wealthy opportunist, hoping to be the next Bill Gates, could transport himself back to 1975 and start up a computer and software company! (Come to think of it, maybe Bill Gates did exactly that!)

So--the first reaction might be to ban time travel completely. It could be punished by ten years in prison and be subject to lifetime surveillance by our intelligence agencies to make sure he doesn't try again. Like the alien landing that occurred in Roswell in 1947 in New Mexico, I would probably have a "cover-up" but in the interests of safety of the entire world, since so much could go wrong.

It depends if the invention occurred inside or outside of the United States. If it was within our borders, I would ensure that no other countries learn of this. If it was outside our borders, I would perhaps call upon the United Nations to agree to a protocol banning the invention and use of time travel.

As for the three bills before Congress, as you can see above, I would try to prevent it from going that far. But in the event that time travel exists outside the United States, and the United Nations is unable to act, I would present an amendment to the Criminal Code making time travel and ownership of a time travel machine crimes punishable by prison. Another bill would allow the U.S. Government to seize and expropriate any time travel machine found. And, finally, another bill to always restore Scott Spotson automatically to the U.S. Presidency should some clever bloke go back into time to prevent my election as U.S. President!

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