Representative Government in the North American Combine While the Combine started its existence as a sort of oligarchy-by- bureaucracy, as things settled down a representative government was put back into place. The primary model was the old United States government, with the three branches and the system of checks and balances. But since there were three formerly sovereign nations making up the bulk of the Combine, plus a large number of smaller nations, some allowance had to be made for keeping them all happy. I: States and Sectors The Combine is broken up into six States; three Major States and three Minor States. The Major States are Canada, America and Mexico, and roughly correspond to the old borders of Canada, the United States and Mexico, although some territories have been moved around. For instance, Alaska is part of Canada, and Mexico has absorbed Belize and Guatemala. The Minor States are Pacific, Isthmus and Carribbean. Pacific encompasses most of the United States' territories and dominions in the Pacific, plus Hawaii. Should Japan ever leave the Eurasian Union and join the Combine, it would join the Pacific State and elevate it to a Major State. Most of South America is a protectorate of the Combine, and is non-voting. Each State is broken up into numerous administrative Sectors. In America and Mexico, these correspond very closely to the old states in those nations, although there is talk of merging some of the smaller ones (see Legislative below). Canada has been broken into a few more Sectors, but most of the new Sectors are non-voting, such as Baffin Sector. These Sectors are treated more like the South American protectorates, although the citizens can vote in elections. In the Minor States, each Sector is usually an entire former nation or protectorate. Hispanola is a single Sector, however, merging Haiti and the Dominican Republic. II: Legislative Branch Each Sector has its own Sector Council which acts roughly like the old State Senates used to. Councilmen are elected directly by the citizens of the Sector to staggered three-year terms (a third of the Council is elected each year). The Sector Council elects a Chairman from among its members to act as the executive head of the Sector. Each State has a one-chamber legislature as well, the State House of Representatives. Representatives are directly elected (to 4 year terms, elections every two years) in wards divided up on the basis of population, so some Sectors have several Representatives while a few of the smaller Sectors have to share a single Representative (which is part of the argument for merging smaller Sectors). Each State sets its own limits on the size of this body: Mexico simply has one representative for every 100,000 citizens and a fluctuating House size, while Canada and America divide a set number of seats between the Sectors (100 and 435, respectively). The Combine has a bicameral legislature. The lower house is referred to as the Commons, and it has a fixed membership of 100 seats. These seats are apportioned by population, with districts redrawn every 4 years. The upper house is the Senate, and has 9 seats: two from each of the Major States and one from each of the Minor States. The Senate has much of the power normally associated with the Executive Branch, including the power to declare war and send troops into battle. Since the three Minor States tend to vote as a block, they wield considerable influence in the Senate. Members of the Commons are directly elected every 3 years, and members of the Senate are chosen by the State Houses of Representatives once every 4 years. Commons and State House elections take place in April while Senate selection takes place in November, so new Representatives have time to settle in before casting votes for Senate. III: Executive Each Sector is administered by a Chairman, selected from within the Sector Council. The Chairman has a mainly procedural role, but has the power of veto. A 2/3 vote of the Council is required to override this veto. Each State has a President, who is directly elected. Each serves a 3 year term, and may not be re-elected until after a 3 year hiatus, for reasons which will become clear. The President may veto bills, but has no military power (there are no State Militias, the military is all Combine level). Similarly, a 2/3 majority vote by the House of Representatives is required to override his veto. The Combine is run by a Chancellor and a Vice-Chancellor in tandem with the Senate. The Chancellor's term is one year, as is the Vice-Chancellor's. When each State's President finishes his or her term, they rotate into one of the two top Combine executive positions. Presidents of Major States become Chancellors, Presidents of Minor States become Vice-Chancellors. The roles are primarily diplomatic and public relations, but both may exercise the veto. The Senate must vote unanimously to override the Chancellor's veto (which isn't as hard as you'd think, given the small size of the Senate and their tendency to close ranks), but only needs a 2/3 majority to override the Vice-Chancellor's veto. The Commons is not involved in overriding vetos, even when it is their own bills being vetoed. Should the Chancellor die (there is no Impeachment mechanism, it was decided such proceedings would take longer than the one year term), the Vice-Chancellor takes over the remainder of his term and appoints a new Vice-Chancellor from the Senate, who then appoint a new Senator from the general population. The fact that the Vice-Chancellor is nearly as powerful as the Chancellor helps keep the Minor States satisfied with the system. In all cases, the Executive branch is significantly weaker than was typically seen in the 20th Century, but still more than a figurehead. The main thing they lack is any real control over the military or police, which resides with the Senate. Police forces are nominally run by a local Commissioner, but the Senate must approve all Commissioners appointed by the Sector Chairmen or city Mayors. This is normally a "rubber stamp" procedure, but there have been cases of controversial Commissioners being turned down. IV: Judicial Sector and State Supreme Courts vary, and won't be dealt with here. Many are remnants of the 20th Century versions, sometimes having a few Justices surviving from that era. The Supreme Court of the North American Combine consists of nine members, each serving a nine-year term. The first duty of any new Chancellor is to appoint a new Justice to the Court. Vice-Chancellors who ascend to the Chancellory do not perform this duty, however. In the event of an early death or resignation of a Justice, it is the Vice-Chancellor who appoints a replacement, who serves out the remainder of the nine-year term. The Senate must approve any new appointee, and several Justices come from the Minor States as a result of block-voting by those Senators. The Chief Justice is whichever Justice is about to be replaced in the normal rotation, even if it's someone who was brought in later to replace a dead Justice. The one exception is that if the current Chief Justice dies or resigns, the title passes to the next person down the line, not to his replacement. Thus it is possible to serve as Chief Justice for almost two years. A Justice may be appointed to a second term, but starts again at the bottom of the totem pole, losing status as Chief Justice at the end of his first term. The functioning of the court is otherwise nearly identical to its function in the late 20th Century United States. V: Military Each branch of the military (Army, Navy, Aerospace, Rapid Deployment) is commanded by a 4-star General. The Senate appoints a single 5-star General to coordinate the four branches, and these five Generals together are known as the Military Council. The Chairman of the Military Council (the 5-star General) answers directly to the Senate, and performs a coordinating role, leaving the other four Generals to the details of their commands. It is worth noting that the Chancellor's and Vice-Chancellor's vetoes do apply to appointment of a Chairman of the Military Council. While the Chairman has the same power over the military as was held by the old President of the United States, the Senate can at any time replace him, and this gives them a large implied power over the military. Members of the military vote in whatever Sector their primary base is located, by absentee ballot when necessary. Many military personnel stationed in protectorates or "administrative" sectors are officially stationed elsewhere, to allow them full voting privileges. Regular citizens are somewhat worried that the military will seize control (especially since they only recently gave it up), and the Senate usually responds to these fears by appointing uncharismatic but competent Chairmen. This may backfire if there's ever a major military conflict between the Combine and another world power.