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| shared_worlds:american_commonwealth [2013/03/19 06:31] – Turquoise Blue | shared_worlds:american_commonwealth [2019/03/29 15:13] (current) – external edit 127.0.0.1 |
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| ===== American Commonwealth ===== | ==== American Commonwealth ===== |
| //Look [[http://wiki.alternatehistory.com/doku.php/shared_worlds/american_commonwealth_infoboxes|here]] for the Wikiboxes// | //Look [[shared_worlds:american_commonwealth_infoboxes|here]] for the Wikiboxes// |
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| Originally created as a simple "who-would-you-vote-for" poll in the Shared Worlds forum by [[offtopic:lord caedus]], resulting in a huge - and only surprising in universe - victory for the Bernie Sanders-led Progressive Democrats over Hillary Clinton's Liberals, Mitt Romney's Conservatives, Ron Paul's Libertarians, Elizabeth May's Greens and Pat Buchanan's American Heritagers, the thread soon evolved into a universe of its own based on the poll and the posts in the poll thread, focused on a massive USA+Canada+Bahamas called the American Commonwealth and its politics, considerably more aligned with today's Canada than today's United States. A few contributors update the universe with political developments more or less based off the real world's events as well as information about the universe told through Wikipedia-style infoboxes or infodumps. | Originally created as a simple "who-would-you-vote-for" poll in the Shared Worlds forum by [[offtopic:lord caedus]], resulting in a huge - and only surprising in universe - victory for the Bernie Sanders-led Progressive Democrats over Hillary Clinton's Liberals, Mitt Romney's Conservatives, Ron Paul's Libertarians, Elizabeth May's Greens and Pat Buchanan's American Heritagers, the thread soon evolved into a universe of its own based on the poll and the posts in the poll thread, focused on a massive USA+Canada+Bahamas called the American Commonwealth and its politics, considerably more aligned with today's Canada than today's United States. A few contributors update the universe with political developments more or less based off the real world's events as well as information about the universe told through Wikipedia-style infoboxes or infodumps. |
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| Admittedly, the world is a Type III on the [[alternate_history:the_sliding_scale_of_alternate_history_plausibility|Sliding Scale of Alternate History Plausibility]], with very few fictional characters playing anything close to a major role over 250 years after the POD, as well as a somewhat diminished [[alternate_history:butterfly_effect|Butterfly Effect]] causing TTL's history to run similar to OTL history. | Admittedly, the world is a Type III on the [[alternate_history:the_sliding_scale_of_alternate_history_plausibility|Sliding Scale of Alternate History Plausibility]], with very few fictional characters playing anything close to a major role over 250 years after the POD, as well as a somewhat diminished [[alternate_history:butterfly_effect|Butterfly Effect]] causing TTL's history to run similar to OTL history. |
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| | A second general election was held in November 2013 and resulted in a virtual three-way tie between the Progressive Democrats, Liberals and Conservatives, although this poll was "skewed" to provide a plausible outcome given the trends previously established in the thread by the contributors. The Liberals and Progressive Democrats formed a coalition government with the Liberals as senior partner, and the inevitable predictions for a third election in 2014 were quashed by [[offtopic:lord caedus]] because he did not want to do so much election work again so soon. |
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| ==== History of the American Commonwealth ==== | ==== History of the American Commonwealth ==== |
| *Ronald Reagan retires in disgrace rather than be forced out of office once the Iran-Contra scandal comes to light. Despite the fact that his successor, George H.W. Bush largely wraps up the Cold War and his disgrace in Iran-Contra, Reagan is still seen by the right-wing of the Conservative Party as a great prime minister. | *Ronald Reagan retires in disgrace rather than be forced out of office once the Iran-Contra scandal comes to light. Despite the fact that his successor, George H.W. Bush largely wraps up the Cold War and his disgrace in Iran-Contra, Reagan is still seen by the right-wing of the Conservative Party as a great prime minister. |
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| Following the Cold War, TTL's America largely follows in the path of the OTL United States with regards to foreign adventures, with the main exception being engagement in the Balkans in 1998 under Dick Gephardt that sees Kosovo become independent much earlier. With regards to domestic politics, the country runs through seven prime ministers (G.W. Bush, Paul Tsongas, Joe Clark, Gephardt, George W. Bush, John McCain & Hillary Clinton) before Sanders is elected in 2010. | Following the Cold War, TTL's America largely follows in the path of the OTL United States with regards to foreign adventures, with the main exception being engagement in the Balkans in 1998 under Dick Gephardt that sees Kosovo become independent much earlier. With regards to domestic politics, the country runs through seven prime ministers (G.W. Bush, Paul Tsongas, Joe Clark, Gephardt, George W. Bush, John McCain & Hillary Clinton) before Bernie Sanders is elected in 2010, and then Jeanne Shaheen in 2013. |
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| ==== State of the World ==== | ==== State of the World ==== |
| As mentioned, the TL is very convergent with OTL, so it's much easier to mention what's //not// similar to OTL during the present*: | As mentioned, the TL is very convergent with OTL, so it's much easier to mention what's //not// similar to OTL during the present*: |
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| *The **American Commonwealth** is currently led by Prime Minister Bernie Sanders in a Progressive Democrat-Conservative coalition from the capital of Philadelphia. The government system is similar to OTL Canada's, with some exceptions: the aforementioned mixed-member proportional system, the existence of a very small number of American peers (the Kennedy family being a notable member), the somewhat confusing terminology for state premiers (they are referred to as "governors" in provinces that were the first to join the new commonwealth in 1785 and premiers elsewhere) and the recently-reformed senate (now elected by state assemblies for 8 year-terms, but with the vast majority of senators grandfathered in to serve until they are 75) that has two seats reserved for Native Americans (called "aboriginals" in-universe) and a fixed-term parliament (although the *current* parliament is exempt). The Commonwealth's provinces and territories differ from OTL Canada & the US' in the following ways: | *The **American Commonwealth** is currently led by Prime Minister Jeanne Shaheen in a Liberal-Progressive Democratic coalition from the capital of Philadelphia. The government system is similar to OTL Canada's, with some exceptions: the aforementioned mixed-member proportional system, the existence of a very small number of American peers (the Kennedy family being a notable member), the somewhat confusing terminology for state premiers (they are referred to as "governors" in provinces that were the first to join the new commonwealth in 1785 and premiers elsewhere) and the recently-reformed senate (now elected by state assemblies for 8 year-terms, but with the vast majority of senators grandfathered in to serve until they are 75) that has two seats reserved for Native Americans (called "aboriginals" in-universe) and a fixed-term parliament (although the *current* parliament is exempt). The Commonwealth's provinces and territories differ from OTL Canada & the US' in the following ways: |
| * Alabama and Mississippi are landlocked, with their coast line and the part of Louisiana west of the Mississippi River making up the province of West Florida (OTL Florida is called East Florida). | * Alabama and Mississippi are landlocked, with their coast line and the part of Louisiana west of the Mississippi River making up the province of West Florida (OTL Florida is called East Florida). |
| * Arizona and New Mexico are combined into the province of Arizuma. | * Arizona and New Mexico are combined into the province of Arizuma. |
| ====American Party System=== | ====American Party System=== |
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| The **Progressive Democrats** are currently the leading members of the governing coalition, led by Bernie Sanders. They are left-wing similar to Canada's NDP and the progressive members of the Democratic Party. The junior partners in the coalition are the **Conservatives** who are split between the Rockefeller Republican-esque "Red Tories" and the more conservative (in this case meaning Reagan-era Republicans without an emphasis on social issues) "Blue Tories". The Conservatives are led by the beleaguered Mitt Romney, who is facing tons of backlash from the right of his party for agreeing to the coalition. The other members of the coalition include the environmentalist **Greens** (led by Elizabeth May), the left-wing **Republican** party (led by Russ Feingold) and the **United Left** (led by Brian Moore), a catch-all non-communist far left group. | The party system is somewhat influx in-universe, as the **Progressive Democrats**, a left-wing party similar to Canada's NDP and the progressive members of the Democratic Party, emerged as a major party in 2010. They are currently led by Amy Klobuchar, who narrowly defeated Thomas Mulcair to take over from Bernie Sanders in May 2014. |
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| | The largest major party (seats-wise) are the **Liberals**, led by Jeanne Shaheen (who defeated Barack Obama and Tim Kaine for the party leadership in early 2011) and make up mostly members of the OTL Democratic Party and Liberal Party of Canada. They currently are the slightly senior partners in a coalition with the Progressive Democrats. |
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| | Rounding out the major parties are the **Conservatives** who are split between the Rockefeller Republican-esque "Red Tories" and the more conservative (in this case meaning Reagan-era Republicans without an emphasis on social issues) "Blue Tories". The Conservatives are led by Bobby Jindal, who has revitalized the Blue Tory wing in his party and dismantled the former Progressive Democratic-Conservative coalition that ruled from 2010 until early 2013. |
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| The main opposition is the **Liberal**-**Libertarian** coalition. The Liberals are led by Jeanne Shaheen (who defeated Barack Obama and Tim Kaine for the party leadership in early 2011) and make up mostly members of the OTL Democratic Party and Liberal Party of Canada. The Libertarian's leader is Bob Barr (who followed a retiring Ron Paul). | "Second-tier" parties, (parties that do not have the support to make their leader prime minister but can be kingmakers in coalition politics) include: the **Libertarians**, led by Bob Barr (who took over for a retiring Ron Paul), the environmentalist **Greens** (led by Elizabeth May and who supported the minority Progressive Democratic government from early 2013 until the general election later that year), and the right-wing **American Heritage** Party (led by Tom Tancredo), which is made up of a combination of nativists, the religious right and hardcore social conservatives |
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| The remaining parties are not grouped into a coalition and exert minimal influence (at the moment) over national politics. The right-wing **American Heritage** party is currently led by Tom Tancredo and is made up of a combination of nativists, the religious right and hardcore social conservatives. It formerly exerted a great influence on the George W. Bush government, but numerous instances of corruption and its extremist policies have relegated it from one of the "second-tier" parties (like the Libertarians and Greens) to minor-party status. The **Progressive Conservatives** are a splinter group of moderate conservatives with a strong social-liberal bent, and are led by George Pataki. The **Alaska Independent**, **Communist** and **Pirate** parties are similar to the OTL American parties of the same name (OTL Congressman Don Young is the sole Alaska Independent MP). Former Progressive Democrat MP Rocky Anderson broke with the Progressive Democrats over their refusal (thus far) to prosecute members of the Bush II cabinet over its role in the Iraq War and sits as an **Independent Progressive Democrat**. The sole **independent** is former American Heritage MP Sarah Palin, who bolted after (according to her) being denied a chance for promotion within the party. | The only other parties in the current federal parliament include: the **Progressive Conservatives** (led by John Tory), the remnant of a group of Conservatives who split off when Reagan became their party leader, now mostly relegated to New England. **Alaskan Independence** (led by Don Young) are a right-wing party exclusive to Alaska who generally take that province's riding seat. The **Republican** Party, led by Russ Feingold, is a left-wing party that posits the unpopular (IU) idea of abolishing the monarchy. |
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| There are currently two vacant seats in the 718-member House of Commons (one formerly a Progressive Democrat seat, the other a Conservative seat). | Like Canada, the party system is different for each province compared to the national one (although Ungava, Nunavut and the Northwest Territories use consensus government instead of a party-based system). Many provinces' politics somewhat mirror the federal scene, but many provinces have their own unique parties or their own dynamics which are very odd by federal standards, with the most unique being Columbia and Rhode Island. |
