Are the President and Vice president elected separately?
Yes, they are elected and nominated on completely separate which means there have been several party splits between the two positions, but there has only been one time when a president resigned or died and was replaced with a VP of a different party: when Democrat John Davis was assassinated in 1925 and replaced with National Henry Hatfield.
What kinds of policies does the Unionist party support? I assume it'd have to be a really big tent to win consecutively for 30 years. And does the VP have any special powers?
The Unionists are a broad Center-Right to Left party, and has a high emphasis on rural issues traditionally (though in recent years have become more popular with urban areas as well). They tend to be big on economic populism and are much more protectionist and (while not completely anti-immigration) tend to be less pro-immigration than the Nationals. On social issues the party pretty much runs the gamut between religious social conservatives and open social liberals.
Yes the VP is the President of the Senate and unlike the US's VP, wields considerable power in the body. Similar to the Lt. Governors of states like TX, MS, and AL. The senators vote for a President Pro Tempore among them who is generally the leader of the biggest party and takes the VP's role when they are absent. The Senate can also with a 2/3's vote declare the VP absent from the chamber even if they are not and the President PT takes on the VP's role until the Senate votes to recognize the VP. (This rarely happens though)
What challenges African-Dixies face in their daily life? How’s healthcare and are there difference of access between white Dixies (southerner? southron?) and black Dixies? How expensive is education and is it subsidised for poorer people, are African dixies effectively residentially segregated within cities to a large extent?
I have to admit that the picture you paint where civil rights didn’t happen until the 70s-80s sounds quite grim, and the country looks quite unequal.
Also was there significant migration of African-dixies to the rest of North America? Because if there wasn’t there would be about 35 millions or so of them in dixie, which would likely represent a large minority of the population
Anyeay, i’m Glad you started a thread because these infobox seemed interesting, good luck in your timeline, it looks good
African-Dixians tend to be much much poorer than White-Dixians, although those that live in rural areas usually more well-off and live much closer lives to their white counterparts than black people that live in cities where black poverty, income-racial disparity, and unofficial segregation is through the roof. Migration did occur in Dixie though at a lesser extent than in OTL with most black migrants moving to the Commonwealth to the north. Today African-Dixians make up just under 30% of the total population of Dixie and Mississippi is currently the only majority black state.
Most healthcare in Dixie is handled by the Dixie Health and Medical Service or the DHMS which is run by the Department of Health and Human Services and was implemented by President Pepper in 1973. ~80% of Dixians rely on the DHMS as their primary means of healthcare, although quality of service can be very inconsistent within the DHMS.
Upper education is generally handled by the states and this has led to wide disparities of quality and price between states. The Department of Education has tried to close these differences they still exist and does provide relief to lower-income students. Virginia is usually considered the cheapest state to get a good education in while Florida is the most expensive.
