United States of America (The 21st Century)

The United States is a very diverse country. At 450,385,000, the US is the 4th most populated country in the world. It has 50 states and is the 3rd largest country in the world.

Pre-21st Century:
The US got its independence in 1983. It had a rough start but 200 years later, it became the most powerful country in the world by GDP and military might.

21st Century
In January 2001, Bill Clinton (D) left office and was succeeded by George W. Bush (R). On September 11 2001, the twin towers were brought down by Al Queda. In the december of that year, Bush sent troops to oust the Taliban from Afghanistan. In March 2003, US troops were sent to topple Saddam's regime in Iraq under the allegation that he was distributing WMDs to terrorists (the UK and Poland also participated in the invasion but the US got all the blame for the mess in Iraq).

In 2016, thanks to heavy division in the Republican Party and the rise of 3rd parties, Hillary Clinton became the first female president in US history. Under her administration, Guantanamo Bay was finally shut down. This was a very controversial decision, causing an uproar among the Republican-controlled congress over concerns of terrorism. Airstrikes against Isis continued and she placed restrictions on Russian airstrikes which lead to even more tensions between the 2 countries. Very little changed under Hillary Clinton and she was elected again in 2020. In 2022, the FBI uncovered very shady deals being made with governments accused of human rights abuses, some were even under sanctions. This eventually led her to be the first president to be removed from office though Tim Kaine pardoned her.

In 2022, the 2nd Cold War began; 3 decades after the end of the first one. Both Nato and the Eurasian Union built up their nuclear arsenal and militarized the Russian border.

In 2031, cannabis was reclassified as a schedule 2 drug, leading to more states legalizing it. Around that same time, more and more states were banning tobacco.

In 2034, a referendum was held in Puerto Rico on whether to obtain statehood. The "no" vote won a 65% majority.

In 2030, the first ITER fusion reactor was built in the US; this would lead to more fusion reactors over time.

On September 11 2051, the president gave a speech at the world trade center, stating that the new complex was proof that the New York spirit cannot be undermined by terrorists.

In 2045 as a result of the increase in self driving cars, DMVs became less commonplace and in 2053, the National Minimum Drinking Age Act of 1983 was repealed. Said act was put in place to reduce drunk driving deaths.

In the 50s, movements calling for incest rights began popping up. In 2063, the supreme court ruled that cousin marriage was constitutional. They did the same with sibling marriage, 2 decades later.

As a result of the great arab war, Nato and Russia eased tensions and agreed to reduce their nuclear stockpiles.

By 2100, many blue collar jobs were being done by machines.

Economy:
America's economy is very diverse. It only holds 5% of the world's GDP compared to 15% in 2015. China's GDP was higher until the chinese civil war when America jumped into 2nd place. India's GDP is way higher, taking up about a third.

Infrastructure:
Airports and traditional railways have largely phased out, being replaced by hypersonic vactrains. It only takes 90 minutes to get from LA to NYC. Many airports were converted into spaceports which required much less space (no pun intended). Runways were nonexistent and buildings were build much closer to the spaceports.

Malls have also largely phased out. Some were rented by large corporations, others were converted into hotels or residential space, while many of the older malls were demolished. This was in favor of making purchases online.

Fossil fuels began to fall out of favor back in the 30s when nuclear fusion was achieved alongside with the increase in wind and solar power. By the 70s, nuclear fusion became the most ubiquitous power source.

Water shortages are largely a thing of the past, at least for coastline states thanks to desalination. Due to rising water levels, the US embarked on a $1 trillion (2016 value) wall, shielding Florida's coastline. A smaller one was also built, covering new orleans.

Culture:
The USA is still the melting pot of diversity that it had always been. Whites are a plurality.

Government
America is a Presidential republic. The legislative branch is split into 2 houses: the House of Representatives and the Senate. The executive branch is headed by the President. Every 4 years, a president is elected; presidents can serve up to 2 terms. A president can be removed from office if the house wins a majority vote, convicting him of a crime, breaking the constitution, or treason, impeaching him. After impeachment, the Senate votes on whether or not to remove him; a 2/3 majority is required to remove him/her from office.

Representatives serve 2 year terms while senators serve 6 year terms. The 29th Amendment limits the former to 4 terms and the latter to 2 terms.

Elections:
All 50 states have ratified national popular vote which is an agreement to hand all of the electoral votes to whoever wins the popular vote. This began partially to prevent another election like 2000 when Al Gore won the popular vote but George W Bush won because he won a plurality in florida (there was a 3rd party which stole votes from Al Gore, costing him the election). By 2016, the states ratifying the bill held 165 electors (270 are needed to win). By 2050, enough states ratified it to get a majority of the electors; this was a big game changer in the elections. Previously, candidates would spend almost all of their efforts in swing states such as Ohio and Florida but now every vote matters.

There has been some criticism of the new system because they believe that it would cause presidential nominees to only campaign in big cities. However only 20% of America's population lives in the top 100 biggest cities and winning all of their votes is impossible. The NPV drowns out third parties since it's a first-past-the-post system. Because of this, there are talks of an alternate transferable vote