PER ASPERA AD ASTRA PART I:
THE AMERICAN NIGHTMARE
The beginning of the USA’s collapse came with the twenty sixteen general election now just under one hundred years ago. The result was always going to be divisive and the ultimate victor, a now forgotten President (only known as one amongst many weak pre-split Executives) presided over the beginning of the end for their country. The divisions within the USA were exacerbated by the ultimate results, especially when calls for reform were, ultimately, not met; things came to a head in twenty twenty-one, just three months into the President’s second term, when a group from Texas, boldly, declared the state’s secession and, for once, the people were with them.
What followed was a short internal civil war, followed by the humiliating Texan-American war, the United States defeat at the Battle of Oklahoma City, and the end of the Pax Americana and the country’s short reign as undisputed global hegemon. The USA never really recovered, and the election, by a ridiculously slim margin, of a Firebrand Conservative southern senator to the President saw the country on the verge of civil war between his supporters and everyone else in the country. He promised to restore past glory and retake Texas by the end of his second term.
It was the establishment which brought him down, with the Republicans and Democrats colluding at the 2028 election to make sure that, despite his victory in the Republican primaries, he did not win. The Republicans split between their moderate and ultra-Conservative factions, with the Moderates and Democrats forming “The Coalition” (officially the Democratic-Republican Special Electoral Coalition) the all-encompassing political behemoth which has fielded all but one of the Second-American Republic’s Presidents, and constantly controls its legislature. The President and his supporters, in turn, formed “The National Republican Party”, a far-right organisation with remnants in both the south and the UDS.
It was the defeat of the firebrand, only when the vote was put to congress that set off the civil war – by 2029 the USA had collapsed into all out fighting. His southern core seceded to form “The Second Southern Republic” and quickly struck north in a merciless counter-offensive against the central government. Once again the USA was humiliated, and Washington D.C. briefly captured by Southern forces. Only the deployment of a tactical nuclear weapon at the Battle of Charleston stopped West Virginia (and thus Maryland and DC, or so the thinking went) from falling. It also marked the USA’s retreat to isolation as the north and south came to terms in 2031, and parted for the last time. The old USA would never again make it to the end of a war.
A number of new pieces of legislation by the Coalition to present another disastrously radical Presidency, as well as the removal of primaries for Coalition candidates and, instead, selection by members of the local party at immediate ballots at the end of (supervised) hustings. This was, of course, recognised for being undemocratic and, to contest coalition dominance, the “Democratic Action Group” promoting open primaries in every state and E-democracy was around for the 2032 election, securing around 4% of the vote, and getting a much better 15% two years later at the mid-terms, and a number of congresspersons (particularly in the south east).
In 2036 the DAG was close to being a legitimate opposition party, gaining around 24% of the vote whilst the Coalition secured and overwhelming victory with just under 75% of the vote – a remarkable landslide. In the aftermath, as a grey, bland, party-line toeing technocrat took office, it became obvious to the DAG and others that a new order needed to be instituted. Some commentators dubbed the ensuing “Platform for Democratic Dissent” to a be “A coalition of the dissatisfied” – formed at the Boston Convention, the party included the DAG, remnants of the old National Republican Party, and various other minor political factions and parties.
In the high echelons of Capitol Hill politics the moderates were elated – the USA was toeing an undefeatable, broadly centrist, course with little chance of disruption by any radicals or lunatics. Their international power had waned, and China, the EU, Russia, and India were quickly coming to dominate the brave new world, but things were hopeful. They were, of course, walking blindly into the drone-strike wielding, constant surveillance, arrests without cause, and illegal torture based police state that the late USA would be remembered as, but for now all was fine.
2052 saw the old political orthodoxies shattered – the PDD was able to win a majority of the votes in the southwestern states, whilst at the same time a poll in California showed majority support for leaving the USA. When the pro-secession, anti-coalition, governor carried the state in a protest-based Presidential run a unilateral declaration of independence was made. The USA, by now worn out, hashed out a deal with California and the two bitterly parted ways at the end of 2053.
It would take another eight bland coalition years for the PDD to really strike though, with the 2060 election only being won with a margin of 56%-43% by the candidate run by the coalition. The success of a series of “Liberal Party” candidates (backed in part by Canadians across the border) in New England was also a worrying trend, and yet another that would come back to haunt the establishment when they realised their mistakes.
What really damaged the Coalition’s dominance was its weak stance during the Second Russian Civil War (2067) – rather than entering into a coalition with the three other major powers (in order to launch various cyber-attacks, covert drone strikes and other destabilising actions) the government sat back, confident Russia would be able to fend them off. When the Putinist dictatorship collapsed and the state was split between The Russian Union (a militant fascist oligarchy) and the pro-Chinese Socialist Republic of Siberia the world was thrown into shock, and the more pro-war PDD was able to win 47% of the vote at the 2068 Presidential Election.
In 2072 the impossible was (exceedingly narrowly) achieved – the Coalition’s plan to use a nationwide AV system backfired, and the PDD won the Presidency. Their candidate quickly came up against entrenched ideals within Washington, however, and the weakness of the candidate prevented any real change being made before the Presidency was lost back to the Coalition in 2076.
A year later saw another electoral break-through south of the border – the “Know it alls” won control of South Carolina. They were an alliance of white-supremacists, nationalists and Neo-Confederates, and their success led to the attempted secession by the first of the “New Afrikan Republics”. This was quickly crushed, but paved the way for many more to spring up over the next four decades.
2084 saw the Coalition lose power over another diplomatic gaffe, when the new Caribbean unity government they supported decided to condemn US actions in the former Guantanamo base region, and align with Canada and Mexico rather than the USA. The PDD came back in, and started to effect real change – which benefited the Liberals in New England (some of whom were now openly suggesting their states join Canada).
In ’88 the Coalition managed to prevent the PDD gaining an overall majority by declaring the vote counts from several Southwestern cities invalid due to technicalities – when it turned out these would have tipped the election in the PDD’s favour there were violent riots and uprisings. This periodic low-level insurgency would continue for another four years, and would swell after the coalition victory in 2092, becoming an open revolt. The USA collapsed under the strain.
The Coalition quickly implemented emergency protocols, disrupting meetings of PDD affiliated organisations everywhere but their southwestern homeland, and arresting the party’s representatives and leaders. They had not, however, banked on an attack on their troops by the Texan National Guard, which dragged the conflict into 2093, and saw the USA, Texas and the new Union of Democratic States at war with one another. Fighting ended in March 2094 with the dissolution of the USA, and the secession of the UDS. The Second American Republic (Sec-Am) was formed in the aftermath.
The whole continent had exploded into violence, with Northern Mexico breaking away in a similar fashion, and ultimately joining the UDS. The south of Mexico, after losing Yucatan, came to form The Central American Union, an authoritarian military state. The South also saw renewed insurgency by its minority groups, and the takeover of Louisiana by Neo-Confederates after an uprising by blacks and the formation of the Republic of New Orleans. Alaska became a free state, albeit under heavy Sec-Am influence, and California finally joined the Austro-Japanese led Pacific Treaty Organisation. Parts of New England joined an increasingly decentralised Canadian Federation as a collection of full member states under Liberal control. In the aftermath of the war a bankrupt and damaged Texas joined as an autonomous province of the UDS, opting out of the e-democracy and constant referenda, whilst accepting the state militaries and independent state Presidents.
Just over twenty years later the biggest threat to the various states is not racist southerners, corporatist bureaucrats in Sec-Am’s New York halls of power, creeping Japanese influence or an increasingly militaristic Central America – it is the Technocratic International. Ten years after Europe saw a frenzied, bio-technological revolution and the terraforming of the west of the continent (to the disgust of the Intermarium in the East) into a vast biological machine run on technocratic principles, it is now making footholds in North America. Using old UK (now Union of British Technocratic Communes) Atlantic possessions landings have been made in the Southern Republic, and irreversible terraforming completed in one region. The same has occurred in rebellious Mexico.
The International seems preparing for a big push as well, spores to terraform vast areas are being produced and troops massed for what looks like an invasion of this war-torn, aggressive continent. Operation Whirlwind is murmured of in London, Paris, and Hamburg by genetically engineered ubermensch technocrats – the future is theirs for the taking.
(This is something I originally intended to post in the Oneshot scenarios thread, but I made a map so...)
