The structure of the American Government after the Twilight War was established in 2020 at the Conference of Memphis, which united the Civgov and Milgov factions, and created a single front for the long struggle against New America.
When Civgov President Roger Caldwell and Milgov Chairman Harold Hamilton met in Memphis in April of 2020, they had more than New America on their minds. Both leaders were very concerned about the structure of the new national government. Milgov wanted to return to the 1787 Constitution which had been in effect at the time of the Soviet Nuclear Assault in November 1997. Caldwell, who had been a career bureaucrat prior to the war, wanted to administer sweeping changes based on the 210 years of experience before the assault.
As the conference was closing in June, both Caldwell and Hamilton resolved to appoint a committee to study the question, and they departed, to reconvene in Memphis that fall. The chairman of the committee was Thomas Langhorne, who had been a professor of Political Science at the Air Force Academy before the war, and had served as Caldwell's Secretary of Recovery since 2016. The final agreements that the Langhorne Committee came up with, which formed the basis of the re-unification, was called the "Statement of Democratic Principles", and was signed by Caldwell and Hamilton on October 22, 2020.
The government structure was the next topic elaborated on. Sighting the decades of experience before the war, the committee stated that the main role of government was as provider of goods and services for its people, and as such, should be run as a business. "The job of government is too important to be left in the hands of politicians" was another belief that Langhorne was fond of citing, and so the Committee created a fourth branch of government, the Council of Governors.
The Council, which was made up of nine people elected regionally to a single ten year term, had responsibility for all government taxing and spending ( except in time of declared war, when the Pesident assumes control over taxing and spending), and were legally liable for balancing the budget yearly. Any decision on new programs had to be implemented by the Council, and, through its history, there has been endless haggling between the Council and the other branches of government.
The President serves five year terms, and is not limited to only two terms as he was prior to the Twilight War. In practice however, only two presidents have served a third term and only one served a fourth ( and a fifth, and a sixth), since the first elections were held in 2025. The President is directly elected by the citizens of America over the age of 18.
The President's responsibilities, as described in the "Statement of Democratic Principles", are to:
The third branch of government, the Congress, is a single house elected by the citizens of each state, with a single seat awarded per million in the state's population. Congressmen are elected for six year terms. Currently, there are 256 Congressmen, and their responsibilities are to:
The Supreme Court, the head of the final Branch, has seven judges, and is the third and final tier of the Federal Court system, standing atop the Federal and Appeals Courts. The role of these courts is strictly limited to deciding matters of legal interpretation. Unlike the pre-Twilight War courts, they are specifically barred from making law under the practice of Judicial Review.
This was the structure of the post war American Government as described in "The Statement of Democratic Principles" in 2020. The first reconstructed American government met in Memphis in the Spring of 2021. Eleven years later the national capital had been moved to Reston, Virginia, within sight of the original capital of Washington D.C. The official capital remains in Washington, but that historic city has been restored to what it was in the late 20th Century, and is used for state occasions only, such as inaugerations, opening sessions of Congress, state visits by foreign dignitaries, and the like. The real business of government is still done in Reston.
Since the approval of the "Statement of Democratic Principles" in 2020, the major political party has been the Popular Conservative Party. The PC party was originally built around those who endorsed Langhorne's ideas, and they subsequently built up state and local organizations to implement his ideas as the nation was re-unified. As the years went on, the PC's came to stand for stability, prosperity, peace, and financial responsibility, a formula that has been popular among voters for almost three centuries. It has also meant isolationism in international affairs ( leaving the French to dominate this area), a late entry into space, and very powerful corporations.
There have been challenges to the PC's dominance of American politics. Since the 2030's, there has always been an American Socialist Party ( ASP), which is composed of those who claim that Langhorne's reforms did not go far enough. Traditionally, it has enjoyed support from intellectuals, labor and other groups opposed to the large corporations, and from members of the North American Research League ( NARL).
Another challenger, which has been defunct for almost two centuries, was the American Soil Party. The "Soilers" actually controlled the Government from 2095 to 2110, and based there policies on opposing Mexico and recovering the territory lost to Mexico during the Twilight War. They were responsible for the Mexican-American War ( 2096-2099), and for strongly supporting the Anglo side in the Mexican Civil War ( 2103-2106). The failure to recover any of the lost territory lead to the Soilers rapid disappearance from the American political scene soon after 2115.
Currently, the PC's are being very strongly challenged by the American Party. The AP ( or as they are derogatorily called "the Apes") was founded in 2278 in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, by the disenchanted liberal wing of the PC Party, and has set as its policy that America should re- assert itself in world affairs, and claim its rightful place in the world, as the leader of the human race. Typical AP rhetoric will talk about "America's Cosmic Destiny, to lead mankind to the stars". It favors an end to the isolationism, a build up of the American Space Force ( ASF), and America taking a more aggressive stand with exploration and colonization.
The American Party has been very successful in the last 25 years, and has grown considerably. In the 2280's, the AP's successes at the polls pushed the ruling PC party to expand the Space Fleet with the construction of the Kennedy-class cruisers and other classes of ships, to support the French in the Central Asian War, and to permanently incorporate the American Intelligence Service ( AIS) into government. By 2295, it held 104 out of 256 Congressional seats, and two of the nine positions in the Council of Governors. The year 2295 was also significant for the AP since they elected their first President, Joe Orsaluk, a former Pennsylvania governor.
Orsaluk's first term was very controversial, and was heavily involved with the Kafer War. After two years of fighting with the PC controlled Congress and Council over fleet expansion and colonization, the Kafers attacked the colonies on Aurore at the end of the French Arm. Orsaluk immediately pressed for a declaration of war against the Kafers, citing the destruction of American shipping in the area and American interests in the Auroran colony of Tanstaafl. Immediately, the Popular Conservatives charged that the President was playing politics, using the distant alien "threat" to circumvent the Council and gain control of the national budget for his projects which he could not sell to the Council. After 4 months of haggling with the PC's, Orsaluk was able to get a declaration approved, but only after Aurore had been liberated, and the true degree of destruction to Tanstaafl could be seen.
American involvement in the war soon got Orsaluk in hot water. In January, 2299, the first American combat occurred at Arcturus where the Second American Cruiser Division, commanded by Rear Admiral David F. Parker, engaged a Kafer Alpha-class battleship while on a reconnaissance-in-force mission. The Alpha was destroyed, but at the cost of the cruiser Sanchez. When news of the battle reached the Capitol at Reston, the PC's made an issue that they would hammer the President on for the next two years: Why were American lives lost in a war that had already been won?
In the election of 2300, the PC's made the War the main issue, and accused Orsaluk of subverting the "Statement of Democratic Principles" by the continuing "phony" Kafer War Declaration. The PC's further accused Orsaluk of using the Declaration to hide cost over runs on the construction of the Battleship Columbia, America's first space battleship. Orsaluk survived these political blasts and won re-election in a very tight race, owing mainly to continued concern about the Kafers by the voters, with the help of the news of the opening of the American Arm by the discovery of the brown dwarf ISO 417. However the American Party suffered serious losses at the polls in other races for Congress and the Council.
Soon after being inaugurated for his second term in January, 2301, Orsaluk was forced by the PC's leadership in the Council to agree to cancel the Declaration if there was no Kafer attacks on the French Arm by June 30, 2301. A mere 9 days before this deadline, the news of the savage Kafer attacked on Hochbaden reached Earth. The annihilation of the German colony and the massacre of over 4 million people was enough to maintain the war declaration.
The War was on again, and over the next two years, American space and ground forces fought side-by-side with other human forces to stem the Kafer onslaught. At the decisive Battle of Beowulf, on July 3, 2302, the Battleship Columbia, which had been the target of the PC's political attacks two years earlier, played a central role in the victory by engaging the Kafer command ship in a titanic slugfest while the remainder of the fleet decimated the remaining Kafer forces.
Orsaluk and the American Party were vindicated, and the PC's have quietly supported the President in the war effort. American Marines have liberated the worlds of Beta Canum 4, Nous Voila, and Dunkleheim, and with each successive victory, Orsaluk's stature at home and abroad has grown. As if the war has not been enough to buoy Orsaluk's standing, America eagerly awaited the results of the Beta Aquilae exploration program, which was begun independently in March of 2301. As new information came to light of the worlds beyond ISO 417 in the extension of the American Arm, the American Party been quick to claim this as a victory for their policies.
As of this writing ( in June of 2303), Orsaluk is riding high in the polls. The Congressional elections this fall may give the American Party a majority for the first time ever, and with three Council seats to be voted on, the AP may increase its membership there from its current two seats. Presidential elections are only two years away, and Joe Orsaluk is said to be considering an unusual third term. Regardless of the current success of the American Party, it remains to be seen if America will continue its flirtation with liberalism on a permanent basis. Meanwhile the Popular Conservatives quietly wait for their return to power.
For players with a political bent, the conflict between the Popular Conservatives and the American Party offers many possible adventures. American history is loaded with instances of political skulduggery. Player characters can serve as body guards, escorts, or advance men for politicians touring the outlying colonies, or as journalists covering the political beat. As enterprising journalists or investigators player characters can uncover future "Watergates" or "Iran-Contra Affairs". Another possible adventure line is to actually do the skulduggery. Netrunning into a computer used at a political headquarters could reveal much interesting, and potentially embarrassing information, and "Deep Throat" type leaks to the press could set the stage for further adventuring, both on Earth and on the colonies.