Design Monologue 29: Let's Talk Politics
Okay...if I were going to model Homeworlds governments after those of modern Earth, how would I proceed?
First of all, some points.
- Clearly inferior governments are off-limits.
Everybody knows China's system sucks. The pessimists think they'll just collapse and revolt again, and even the optimists think that they'll evolve into a better government as they become a better country. Either way, the current one is shit.
If everyone knows it sucks, there's nothing to explore, no questions to be asked. So fuck that.
This means certain government types are off-limits, such as those of the Klingon Empire, the Cardassian Union, the Cylons, the Galactic Empire, etc. Most of the defeated bad guys in sci-fi had shitty governments, and giving such a government to any faction in the Homeworlds will immediately doom them to be beaten by the good guys.
- The audience is American and European
Africans, Middle Easterners, and Asians might see things very differently, but I can't possibly write to them. I don't know them. I can't do them justice.
The governments will be designed to present interesting political issues, for which the solutions are not readily apparent. However, that's a cultural thing; the solution to America's timeless liberty-vs-security argument may be obvious to a Chinese or Russian, but his answer probably wouldn't satisfy us. Similarly, the difficulties experienced by the Japanese Diet are beyond the comprehension of most of us Westerners.
So I'll write what I know. America has some interesting political issues, as does Europe.
Implementation
In short:
- The Union represents America's struggle between right and left
- Abel represents the role of religion in government
- Koruun represents the indefatigable nature of tribalism in government
The Union
The Union is comprised of the Karman Federation, the Neo-Terran Consortium, and the Zion Imperium. In other words, the extreme left, the extreme right, and the religious foundation.
The Karmans live in a direct democracy with extreme socialist tendencies. There is not much individual responsibility; the jobless, destitute, and challenged are taken care of. There is a great amount of collective responsibility; this is a world where no one can own land--everyone just leases it for a fee that's used to ensure a zero net impact on the ecosystem.
The Consortium is different in every way. They are a true capitalist dream. They are not the cliche fascism; they were smart enough to avoid that. Rather, they treat the government like a corporation, with a Board of Directors (executive/legislative branch) and a separate Board of Governors (judicial branch), in which membership is determined by stock ownership.
They have a minimal constitution, forbidding the most extremely unethical business practices (such as slavery, theft, fraud, etc), but are otherwise very much laissez faire in their governance. Economic concerns outweigh all others; decisions usually go in the direction of greatest economic gain for the nation.
The Imperium is as much different from the other two as they are from each other. They began as a pilgrimmage, and were the first extrasolar colony founded in the Homeworlds (by a longshot). They were seeking a new meaning of life, a new understanding of God, and a greater destiny for mankind.
However, the mental stability of their breeding populace took its toll over the years. Statistically speaking, those most likely to believe in the Zionist dream, and most willing to depart a perfectly good world in a shaky old colony ship for a system that might not even have a habitable star...well, those folk are a little bit neurotic.
Within a generation, they fractured into numerous sects, each vying for ideological dominance. They regressed into extreme fundamentalism, and devolved into the kind of society the Homeworlds colonists left Earth to escape.
As a member of the Union, they don't have much going for them--they are inferior to their partners in almost every way--but they do have the market on mysticism cornered.