Re: Yanks...

At 11:23 AM 11/8/96 -0600, Mark wrote:

>	I was thinking of doing something like that a while back.  I was

>thinking of splitting America four ways (Radical, liberal, 
>Conservative, Reactionary) with a lot of little "kook" groups thrown 
>in (Liberatrians, Radical Environmentalists, the Conspiracy-nuts, 
>etc.).  Basically the whole thing would be a free for all, every power 
>hates the other powers and accuses them of collaberating together.  The

>Radicals and Reactionaries would be totalitarian societies (repectively

>controling the West Coast and the South) while the libs 
>and cons would still be democratic but each hating the others from of 
>democracy.

Assuming that this happened, it wouldn't take long for your political
"divisions" to blur, especially with the "liberals" and "conservatives"
(maybe less likely with the extremists). A conservative nation would
soon
invent liberals, and vice versa. How do you divide social liberalism
from
the political left, or social conservatism from the political right, in
your
world? 

For instance, American conservatives seem to want less government
interference in their lives and the freedom to do whatever they want
(such
as freely purchase firearms, or less government restriction on
companies).
However, many want MORE government interference in certain areas by, for
instance, outlawing abortion. Liberals want more government control in
the
form of social "safety nets" and control on corporate pollution. At the
same
time, their programmes usually require more spending, which increases
taxes,
and irks people who already think their taxes are too high. 

I think what would happen is that the various left/right distinctions
will
even out as both factions realize that the PEOPLE are a mix of
conservative
and liberal. For instance, it's a generalization (but a fairly accurate
one)
that the majority of Canadians are socially liberal but fiscally
conservative (i.e. we want a government run health care system with
universal access, but we don't want any more taxes as we consider
ourselves
already overtaxed). Eventually, the liberals and the conservatives will
start to look similar as they try to balance social liberalism and
conservatism with fiscal liberalism and conservatism. You're already
seeing
this in the US (why else did Clinton steal from part of the Republican
"play
book?").

Okay, after the above bumpf, here is the on-topic, GZG discussion part.
I
don't think your world will work for an FT universe, unless instead of
SF
you call it Space Fantasy. I think the political systems in the world's
democracies will have evolved (and HAVE to have evolved) before humans
go
into space in any big way. As it stands right now, there is no way that
any
of the big democracies could fund interstellar colonization that would
place
colonies on the moon or Mars within a century. It would simply cost too
much
money. A conservative government would call for tax cuts before a
liberal
government could put a colony on Mars. A liberal government would demand
a
universal health care system (or more spending on health care, welfare,
etc.) before a mining colony could be put on the moon. Since 8 to 10
years
is one HELL of a long time for any political party in any of the big
democracies, the project would barely get off the ground before the
other
party got back into power and gutted it. In other words, before humans
can
make the switch from Earthbound to Interstellar, we'll have to get our
own
Earthbound house in order.

Having said that, I think that your background could make for an
excellent
Stargrunt II campaign. Your background is essentially a dynamic
equilibrium,
where conflict is almost inevitable. It's at least theoretically
possible
that your background could happen within the next 100 years. Run with
it.
The Liberal army could be a bit worse equiped than the conservative
army,
but perhaps more numerous. You could have poorly armed religious nuts in
mountain retreats defending against a "posse" of survivalists in the
neighbourhood. You could have raids by White Supremacists against Lib or
Conserv weapon depots. How about an old fashioned civilian riot
scenario?
Throw in a war between one faction or another (or multi faction ala the
former Yugoslavia) and you've got any number of military scenarios.
You'd
probably want to leave out Grav vehicles and some of the more gonzo SF
weapons, and keep it conventional, or near future.

Figure availability might be a bit of a problem, though. Most SF figures
are
in 25mm, but most modern figs are in 20mm (i.e. Dixon, Peter Pig). The
SF
figures are easy. Simply use non-power armoured figures from the
Stargrunt
II, Kryomek, Aliens, or (dare I say it) GW's Imperial Guard lines. The
civilians might be difficult, as most civilian lines are done in 20mm.
You
may have to shop around, though there are enough Cyberpunk and Shadowrun
figures out there that civilians or the less well armed factions may not
be
a problem. A mix and match approach might be best. 

This could be an interesting SG2 universe. I just wish I had the time to
develop it myself.

Allan Goodall:	agoodall@sympatico.ca 
"You'll want to hear about my new obsession.
 I'm riding high upon a deep depression. 
 I'm only happy when it rains."    - Garbage