America from 2033

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After years of political turmoil and economic instability, President David Dulapokis of the Freedom Party was elected to the presidency in 2033 with a narrow majority of 295 electoral votes out of 540. The Freedom Party took over both houses of Congress, with 240 of 435 seats in the House and 55 of 102 seats in the Senate. Immediately, the Freedom Party set to work on their agenda, which included reinstitutionalization of the mentally ill, to include those with developmental disorders. To ensure that Supreme Court precedent would not interfere with their ability to govern as they liked, they appointed 18 extra seats to the Supreme Court, to include the new Chief Justice, whose predecessor was previously assassinated. Congress then enacted a law empowering the new Supreme Court to issue interpretations of the law and the Constitution, without requiring a case in which a law was in question and both parties had standing to be present before them. Using that opportunity, the new justices issued several majority opinions on matters of the law and the Constitution, discussing only hypothetical cases, which were meant to set new precedent. Many precedents protecting civil rights were overturned by these opinions. The Freedom Party then moved to restore many laws on what they considered to be traditional morals that were "overthrown" in the 20th and early 21st centuries.

With preferential trade agreements signed by countries like Brazil, Venezuela, Mexico, and Canada with China, Russia, India, and the European Union, the United States' position on the world stage was being eroded. Internal conflict, such as the West Virginia Rebellion which lasted from 2028 until 2030 and was very difficult for the federal government to crush, embarassed the United States; it also brought about a surge of hyperinflation from 2029 until 2031. There was a crisis of confidence among many Americans about the direction in which their country was heading, and they began to look for a leader to light the way, to bring America back to the simpler days when it was at the top of the world. In Dulapokis was that leader. In 2030, the Freedom Party first started making major inroads into Congress and began to demand that its policies be fulfilled.

One concern of the Freedom Party was the burgeoning gap in ideology between the United States and its traditional allies; its traditional allies were all secular democracies which deemphasized what the Freedom Party considered to be traditional morals that had made America strong and were believed to be weakening the traditional allies of the United States. The Freedom Party saw the Islamic nations as being strong at heart and at will, ready to take the Old World from the aging old Europeans, and endeavored to help them. Once in power, the Dulapokis began to take measures to strengthen relations with the Islamic nations and began sending them technology and large amounts of war materiel. The Freedom Party began sponsoring similar movements in Canada and the U.K., hoping to save them from "decadence," but as the domestic and foreign policies of the U.S. began to become more extreme, many of America's traditional allies became more alienated; many other countries within the Western Hemisphere continued to build stronger relations outside of the Americas, isolating the United States still further.

In response to this, policy in the United States became more extreme, and so did important segments of the populace. With support from those segments and a rubberstamp Supreme Court, in 2035, Congress banned all political parties other than the Freedom Party; members of other parties were required to either join the Freedom Party or resign. In 2036, all electors were required to cast their votes for the presidential and vice-presidential candidates chosen by the Freedom Party; in the aftermath of that election, the government boasted of Dulapokis as being the first president since George Washington to win the electoral college unanimously. Also, in 2036, citing the increased tyranny of certain other world powers, Congress brought back the draft, and a large portion of the budget by 2036 went to building up the military. The United States, the U.K. (where the Freedom Party had also come to power), and several Islamic states signed a military pact. In December 2039, the United States was expelled from NATO and ANZUS in response to this action. In early 2037, the United States cut off all diplomatic relations with Canada, Mexico, Panama, and Brazil and began mobilizing its forces. Dulapokis began speaking of plots and treachery among the world powers, saying America was in danger from enemies foreign and domestic.

(to be continued)

In 2033 will we have Fast & Furious 16 or Star Wars Episode 15?