DDSCB 2020: An Orange Clockwork
Year 33: My name is Michael (Win) Winters. Before I get to hoops let's talk about the world I live in.
Before the Year 1 there was a civil war. It was long and bloody. The population was just about 330 million going in. When the war ended it was a little less than half of that.
A would-be fascist dictator lost an election, badly, and his millions of supporters took to the streets with their high powered weapons. Since significant numbers of police officers supported them it got ugly quickly, and it looked like there would be no "would-be" about it. It looked like they would win, and the man would be installed as dictator.
Then the military intervened. The heads of all branches of the military were slow to act, but when they saw that the country was very near to leaving its constitutional base, they activated, and joined the fight, despite the fact that their involvement went counter to U. S. laws.
Their late entry into the fray meant that they were at a disadvantage. The fascista had control of the streets in most cities, and even stronger control in many rural areas.
The people on the side of freedom and democracy were in serious difficulty. The vocal members of this group had been placed in detention centers (concentration camps), as had many members of such minority groups as people of color, Latinos, many foreigners, members of the LGBTQ community, people identified as radical, people with physical and/or mental disabilities, and late in the game, Jews.
Guerilla warfare is always difficult for an organized military and this war defined guerilla. The fascist side, early in the war, was not centrally organized, and never got involved in a staged battle. They attacked seemingly at random, with quick hits and quick departures. Once they gained a foothold in an area they came out of hiding, installed a brutal dictatorial government in the area, and ruled by terror. Opposition was killed or incarcerated viciously and immediately. If there was any doubt about whether someone was guilty, they were guilty.
When the U. S. military entered the fray things changed, but it took a while. There was great confusion regarding who was in charge. The winner of the election held legal power, but not de facto power. Still, he ordered almost all troops stationed abroad to return home and join the fight, which the domestic troops were waging with very limited success.
The tide began to turn but the troops needed to liberate area by area.
In the 4th year of the conflict both the President, and the man he had defeated, died.
The new President turned out to be a strong leader, and she seemed to unite the forces on her side even more than her predecessor had.
On the other side there was no clear leader to replace the fallen would-be dictator, and a battle for leadership of the movement weakened that side considerably.
Finally, by the end of Year 7 of the conflict, the legitimate government was firmly in control of most areas of the country and working rapidly to regain control of the rest of the country.
By the end of Year 8 there were only pockets of resistance remaining.
So it was time to rebuild. An election was held, and a new POTUS, Adrianna Coronado, was elected. She was young, vibrant, energetic, and forward looking.
But she was not in complete control of the population of 162 million. Guerilla attacks, crime of all kinds, and general lawlessness and vigilante-ism were rampant, in the old Confederacy, in parts of the Midwest, in the Plains states, and in the Northwest. Only the West Coast, the Northeast, and parts of the Midwest, were relatively free of all of that.
"Addie," as the 39 year old POTUS was called, declared "Year One."