Politics

## Global Politics

The entire world had to come together to combat the U-2025 virus. As a result, globalization is now a reality. Political officials are elected by popular vote in this global democracy. The new world is divided into a few larger countries, which are further divided into states and provinces.

### The Triumvirate

Made up of 3 elected officials, the triumvirate is charged with enforcing global peace and settling disputes between countries. Triumvirate members are elected by popular vote from members of The Panel. Each position lasts for 15 years, with the election for each position taking place once every 5 years. Triumvirate members cannot serve multiple consecutive terms.

If a member of the triumvirate were to pass away, the current panel member from their home country would temporarily take their place until a new triumvirate member could be elected. The election would take place within 6 months of their death, and the elected official would be in place until the end of that official’s current term in office. This is called a “short-term triumvirate member.”

### The Panel

The panel is composed of the president of each country in the world. In addition to their duties as president of their country, they are charged with preventing conflicts from escalating to the triumvirate, proposing ideas for global peace, and discussing trade routes/etc.

## Country Politics

Each country has a similar country political set-up. Popular votes (rather than electoral college votes) are what matters. Each country has…

### President

Elected by popular vote. Presidents have to have at least been senators or congressmen before to ensure they have political experience. Presidential positions last 4 years, and then the president can go up for re-election. There is no term limit. Presidents cannot propose country-level laws; they can only sign them into action or choose not to sign them into action. However, the president is also a member of The Panel, and if the Panel decides on something at the global level, the president can enforce that at the country level.

### Advisors

Advisors to the president (everything currently on our cabinet) is assigned by the current senatorial cabinet, not by the current president. Each position is evaluated at the end of each year based on merit. There is no term limit; rather, senators are supposed to evaluate progress/whether the advisors are doing their job.

### Senators

Each state has 1 elected senator. Senators propose edicts/laws that then go up to the president, who can choose to sign them into action or not. Senatorial positions last 4 years, and then senators can go up for re-election. There is no term limit.

### Congress

Each state has 2 elected congressmen. Congress has the ability to veto a country-level decision made by the president. This is to ensure the president doesn’t have unlimited control over the country. Congress cannot propose laws. They can only veto decisions based on 2/3 majority. They’re also the department that has the ability to impeach the current president, which is also based on 2/3 majority. Congress positions last 2 years, and then congressmen can go up for re-election. There is no term limit.

## State Politics

Congressmen and Senators, elected by popular vote at the state level, are meant to represent the state at the country level. Below congressmen, the following political positions exist:

**Governor**: The head of the state. Elected by popular vote from existing mayors.

**Mayor**: The head of a city or town.

Other political positions could include campaign managers, volunteers, low-level government officials, members of school boards of directors, etc.

## Political Parties

Currently, there is a tri-partisan political system. Most people do not fall sharply into one side or another and may believe in some of the beliefs of one party and some of another. Thus, just because one of your characters aligns with one of these parties does not mean that they agree with everything the party believes in—it just means they may associate MORE with that party than with the other 2 parties. The tri-partisan system is a BASIC understanding of current political positions, and government officials would typically do well to align themselves with one of the 3 parties.

Though major differences may seem to be how the parties view the Home system, those are not the only disagreements in the world of politics, and not the only things the parties align themselves with.

### Naturalists

Naturalists believe that nature and the natural world should be at the basis of everything we do. Extreme naturalists may believe that Virus U-2025 was the universe’s way of evening out the playing field/cutting down on overpopulation. General naturalist beliefs include:

* Belief in biological children rather than “The System.” Tend to be anti-adoption.
* Does not believe in birth control.
* Extremely eco-conscious.
* However, tends to be meat-eaters and believe that the strong should conquer the weak. Believe in hunting, though, not in creating meat plants.
* Thinks families should sustain themselves. Anti-consumerism.
* Believes in growing things locally. Does not believe that countries should be trading goods with each other; rather, believes each country should be self-sustaining.
* Tends to be more stereotypical in their understanding of gender.
* May be anti-vaccine
* Takes a hard stance against cloning or genetic experimentation.
* Does not believe in stem cell research
* Wants to put less money into science and technology and more money into farming and agriculture.

### Equalists

Equalists believe that everyone should be treated the same / held to the same standards regardless of race/sex/religious affiliation/etc. Extreme levels of the equalist party would include communists.

* Believes that children in Homes should all be treated equally, and that parents who want to adopt a child should simply have the child that’s been there the longest in the age group they’re looking for, regardless of personality or other traits.
* Believes all parents should have to go through the same training to achieve children and should have to pass at the same standard
* Believes homes should be standardized, as should food/clothing/etc.
* Anti-corporations. Believes everyone should have the same stuff.
* Belief in the greater good rather than the individual.
* Believes that people should emphasize similarities rather than differences when interacting with each other.

### Technologists

Technologists hold to the basic belief that technology is our future. Extreme technologists would prefer to create a system in which human minds are plugged into a sort of virtual Matrix to save on waste.

* Think the current system for assigning points to children in homes based on what technology predicts for their future makes sense
* Want to put more resources towards space exploration/etc.
* Very big on cloning and genetic modification
* Extreme technologists may be in favor of testing unborn children in the womb and determining their "viability" before they're born.