[War_ooc] USA 2013

[Patrick B]

Country long-name United States of America
Head of State:Steven Dupree President Of the United States
Head of Government:Steven Dupree President Of the United States
Population:307,212,123
GDP (PPP): Use $18.629 trillion
GDP (PPP) per capita: Use $47,000
Unemployment: In %.6.2
Economic Growth: In %1.9%

Political Landscape: Starting out with big dreams and goals the 
Presidency of Barack Obama sputters along battered from both the right 
and the left, The plea agreement of former financieer Antonin "Tony" 
Rezko pushed the Obama's home right back in to the news, while US 
Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald finds no wrong doing directly related to the 
president, however adding to the situation the trial of Illinois govenor 
Rod Blagjoivich resulted in the dirty details of the "Chicago Machine" 
becoming known to those outside Cook County, while again the president 
was not implicated directly or indirectly the appearance of corruption 
was enough to drop his approval ratings to a paltry 32%, Smelling blood 
in the water progressive challengers began to take pot shots from the 
left. The administration reeled and with the widely considered failure 
of TARP weakened political capital.

On the Republican side Chariman Michael Steele stepped down after one 
year of his term arguing family difficulties, which caused more blood in 
the water, and had several candidates for the term one of which was 
Television Host Glenn Beck, the election finally selected a new media 
expert named Dennis Franzen who was supposed to just be a caretaker 
leader but he also knew if the party didn't change it would collapse. So 
he reached out, to the new media, the internet and to traditionally 
hostile sources.

During one of the conversations this one on the Daily Show he remarked 
that "a party that speaks of family values should practice those values 
themselves." This resulted in a shift of politics from values based to 
economic issues, arguing that in this time when people are worried about 
their jobs, we cannot argue values.

In 2010 the Republicans managed to work new media such as weblogs and 
message boards, which included talking points at such a rapid response 
that when an attack was leveled against a candidate there was a rebuttle 
waiting. After years of getting hit by rapid response the GOP Rapid 
Response improved.  Rather then the disaster that was predicted by many 
a pundit it was in fact a moderate gain, helped by several independant 
congressmen and women.

The Democratic leadership went in to a tailspin and rather then the 
swift primary season expected it was a bloody battle with challengers 
popping out of the woodwork and requiring a massive messy primary fight, 
which culminated in the Chicago 2012 convention, which was supposed to 
reunify the party, but turned in to a floor fight, and a second branch 
of Riots on the streets, which resulted in the Chicago Police Department 
once again clashing with student protestors live on NBC, which resulted 
in the unofficial t shirt slogan 'Chicago Police Department Undefeated....'

The General election turned in to a brawl, with Barack Obama and a 
fractured Democratic base facing a newly energized Republican party with 
it's much smoother convention in Albuquerque New Mexico, It's standard 
bearer was a business executive from Lake Forest Illinois,  Steven 
Dupree, who had built up a Search engine called Webfind.com, the slogan 
picked was New Beginnings. It was still a close race with Dupree pulling 
out a 287 to 251 Electoral vote victory, much closer then the popular 
vote of 55% to 40% with 5% going to Third party candidate Ralph Nader.

Congress on the other hand was closer, the independant revolution still 
not petered out, resulted in  closer margins, 55-40 in the senate with 5 
independant senators, in the house 225 Republicans 200 Democrats and 13 
independants.

Economics: The recession of 2009 lasted untill 2011 with an upswing in 
job creation, GM emerged from Chapter 11 protection in 2010 with the 
creation of new cars, An increase in hybrid/electric cars resulted in an 
attempt to decrease the US oil dependancy, resulted in several companies 
starting to build, in addition a backlash against foreign support 
increased the number of in house call center jobs within the United States.

Economy is still recovering however people are also starting their own 
businesses with new business starts increasing in 2011. The housing 
bubble's collapse had has the positive effect in making homes more 
afforable to people.

Social Issues: The recession brought with it an increase in crime, which 
also increased violence and as a result more Americans purchased 
firearms, Heath insurance was brought to the forefront as more people 
losing jobs and coverage began to overwhelm emergency rooms.

Drugs continue to be a thorn in the US side, with arguments ranging from 
execution on the far right to legalizing everything on the far left, so 
far a more moderate policy has been established with the dealers facing 
prison terms and users being offered treatment on first offenses.

Also several incidents with Mexican cartels has provoked harsh anti 
illegal immigrant sentiments, with recruitment in the Minutemen 
increasing along with reported hate crimes.

Defense:With Iraq and Afghanistan both in the past, the military has 
begun the difficult task of rebuilding and rearming for the next 
generation of warfare.

Special forces have been slowly built up, from the US Army's Green 
Berets, to the US Navy's SEAL teams, While they have been working on 
increasing the number of active teams, they did not want to decrease the 
quality.

There is some talk of replacing the M-16/M-4 weapons platform to more of 
a portable weapons system.


Foreign Relations: Internationally things have mellowed upt somewhat, 
Obama's good will tours helpep and the US tried to be more of a good 
international neighbor. Mexican relations have been shaky in the best of 
times, but have deteriorated with Illegal immigrants continued to flood 
over and more evidence the Mexican government was behind this.  As the 
US launched several immigration crackdowns, reports of Cartel forces 
engaging the San Diego Police department in a gun battle in addition to 
the citizenry of Las Cruces NM. Right now relations are very strained.

Timeline

2009: Antonin "Tony" Rezko enters in to plea agreement with US Attorneys 
office
       CNN coverage of Chicago politcs sparks outrage, US Universal 
healthcare bill fails in congress
2010: Independant revolution Several third party candidates not running 
on any party run for house and senate, Republican resurgance shocks punditry
2011: Mexican drug cartel attack on San Diego and Las Cruces
2012: Chicago Democratic convention results in riot, Chicago Police dept 
2-0 vs hippies
       Albuquerque NM Republican convention nominates Steven Dupree to 
be president
        Dupree wins in close election. Narrow Republican margin in House 
and Senate