2210January started with a bang. The Populists and the Federation both had approached the TFA with desires of cooperation, and the TFA quickly pounced on this opportunity. The reforms the Populists wanted were nothing major, and the Federation often had reasonable demands for the economy. Harry Thompson saw this three-party block as the stepping stone to a decade of balanced government. Catherine Moore, being the decisive person she was, decided to call for an extraordinary meeting of the Senate, before the Council nominations and Chancellor election. All wondered what she could possibly want, and it was a fine balance between angering the TFA and fulfilling her wishes, but Moore spoke to the Senate demanding their reforms to be voted before the nominations. The reason for this was clear - the Populists had long talked about lowering the requirements for Senators to join the Council of the Senate, and that if this vote was passed, she would likely be nominated for a Council position.
The topic was hotly debated amongst the TFA Senators, but they were willing to stick to their word and support their reforms. Reception was poorer amongst the Federation, in special, for Laura Gould, who thought that competing alone once more against Harry Thompson gave her a better chance of victory. Officially, the party declared their support to the fragile alliance that had blossomed on the Senate, but a significant amount of their Senators went against the party's position, which created tensions with the TFA and the Populists. Still, a majority was achieved, and the Populists reforms would be voted on.
The first reform consisted on a measure to stop poorly performing Chancellors, it introduced the possibility of a vote of no confidence on the Chancellor, which allowed the Senate to choose a new one before their mandate officially ended. This was by far the most polemic of the measures, and the Order of Sol voted unanimously against it, only by the slightest of margins did this measure manage to pass.
The second reform consisted on lowering several of the requirements for a position on the Council, and ensuring every party with sufficient Senate seats could appoint at least one representative on the Council. The previous method relied on the Council coming to an agreement on who to take on, and had often caused tension and instability when one party, even if weak on the Senate, saw itself dominating the Council. The TFA had often suffered from this, and whilst they secured a member on the Council in 2200, past experiences made them quick to support this motion. Like before, the Federation begrudgingly followed the TFA.
The third reform consisted in reducing Senator's mandates from ten to five years. This bill faced widespread rejection, and whilst Catherine Moore attempted to negotiate a reduction to eight years instead of five, her political capital had already been exhausted by the controversy of the two previous votes. She informed the Populist Party that they shouldn't try to pass any more bills at that time, and that the goal of finally having Council representation was achieved.
The most radical sector of the Populists tried to convince Catherine Moore to push her luck and demand for the Council to be elected by popular vote and for military positions on the Council to be abolished, but she knew when to quit whilst ahead. Moore was convinced that the Populists had to deliver a stellar performance throughout the decade and raise Populist credibility, so they could capitalise on the 2220 elections. It was a long-term plan, but she reckoned she might try to pass her reforms again if the situation improved for the Populists before the next election.
The Council appointments and Chancellor elections were next, even if they had been delayed to early February due to the Populists' reforms.
The Council of 2210
The Populist reforms ensured a balanced Council. The Order of Sol still had an advantage due to the military presence, and the FOC also had the backing of Admiral Rachel Humphries, which gave them slight advantage. For the first time the Populists had any Council representation, and Catherine Moore ensured the TFA that they would have the support of the Populists in Council affairs.
Laura Gould – Federation of CommerceLaura Gould's poor performance on the past decade has done a lot to tarnish her reputation amongst the Federation. Once seen as a qualified up and coming politician by Federation circles, her unpopularity meant she was now seen as somewhat of a lost cause. The Federation decided to run for Chancellorship, possibly to improve their bargaining powers with the TFA, and Laura was not chosen as a candidate. For once, she kept her mouth shut, and despite being obviously furious, she did her best to accept and support her colleague's campaign. This, in turn, healed the Federation's perception of her. Some were starting to think the 2200's had taught a lesson to Gould.
Harry Thompson – Terra Foundation AssociationThompson is the most popular he ever was. The Foundation was confident that given the current political climate, his bid for re-election was strong. Thompson was starting to be regarded by many as some sort of statesman, a skilled politician that knew how to achieve the Foundation's best interests. His defence of the sciences gave him credibility - Thompson was the science man, everybody knew by now that that was what he truly stood for, and the fact that he stood true made him popular with many.
Catherine Moore – Populist PartyCatherine Moore was the young, idealistic, charismatic, redheaded leader of the Populist Party. She had a meteoric rise in popularity throughout 2209, mostly with the youth that came of age during the 2200's. Moore's face had been everywhere on the news in 2209, in rallies, speeches, marches; she was painted a "dangerous agitator" by the media, which only made her more popular with the younger voters. But she was not just some megaphone-hogger, Moore had the sense to seek alliances and build bridges, and whilst some of the more radical Populists may see her as an "airheaded moderate," she had already achieved many of the campaign promises of the Populists.
Ben Murray – Order of SolMurray was an interesting figure, to say the least. He became wildly popular in the Republic after winning a series of martial arts tournaments. Martial Arts were the big sport in the Republic, drawing millions of watchers and aficionados. The Order of Sol saw in him an opportunity to charm the sports-lover demographic. A muscled brute, it was hard to tell what Murray was thinking at any given time. His media background made many Senators suspicious of him, and he had yet to prove himself to be more than some mush-brained thug.
Christopher Watson – Federation of CommerceChristopher Watson was another "qualified" name from the Federation. He was a gifted analytical thinker, and was known for being an innate organiser, from his desk to his employees, he kept everything catalogued and well-ordered. He was, perhaps, a bit dry. Too precise, too clinical, not the sort of person to smile a lot. His technical expertise in management made him popular with the Federation, which liked these serious types. His greatest achievement yet was landing the Federation nomination for the Chancellor Election, something cemented by years of building connections in the party and making himself a name as a competent and dependable man.
James Walton – Terra Foundation AssociationWalton is a former scientist and professor at the Foundation. He was wildly popular with his students and post-graduates, who trusted him to offer them qualified assistance in projects and studies. Walter is not a very politically savvy man, instead he relies on his good reputation in the Foundation and his adamant defence of science, something he shares with his colleague Harry Thompson. Walton is a man with a calm, relaxed demeanour, and is considered very approachable. Given some publicity, he could quickly become a popular asset to the TFA.
Madison Wheeler – Order of SolMadison Wheeler is a bit of an oddball. Another civilian member of the Order of Sol, she is well known amongst ufologists and esoterics. Whilst seen with suspicion by some more down-to-earth military types, Madison has been a consistent backer of the Order of Sol. She is especially popular amongst military wives and female personnel, as she is seen as a more humane side of the Order of Sol, preoccupied with the security of the Republic instead of stronghandedly demanding the expansion of the troops, like Sophie Wheeler, to whom she is not immediately related. It is exactly because she is seen as a less-threatening name that she was chosen to be the main representative of the Order of Sol on the Council. A lot is expected of Madison Wheeler, mostly because she is the first OS Councillor after Ellen Stevens, and is often compared unfavourably to her.
Connor Blackburn – Populist PartyConnor Blackburn is a slick man. Many on the media compare him with Ben Murray, given they are both media figures turned politician. Blackburn was until recently a famous actor, playing the role of romantic lead in a number of films. With a sharp sense of style considered cool by many of the younger voters, Blackburn charms the public. Unlike Murray, who is a brute, Blackburn knows how to say what people want to hear. His ascension amongst the Populists is doubted by many, who see Blackburn as just a pretty face, he is yet to prove the contrary.
Admiral of the Fleet Joshua Duncan – Order of SolThe last decade had taken its toll on Joshua Duncan. Always at the centre of every controversy within the Order of Sol had tired Duncan out. During the past decade, he constantly had to be the negotiator; the cool-headed person; the public speaker; the diplomat; and so on. He knew no good deed went unpunished, though, as he knew the 2210's would probably be even harder than the 2200's on the Order of Sol, since they were now politically isolated and incapable of using their weight on the Senate properly. Despite his low morale, Duncan vowed to continue providing the best leadership he could for the Order of Sol, his military background making sure he wasn't about to quit when things got hard.
Admiral Rachel Humphries – Federation of CommerceHumphries had been a key name for the Federation during the 2200's. She had always stayed by Laura Gould's side, providing advice and helping to keep morale up when things went wrong. The Federation saw as a tragedy the fact that her military background excluded her from Chancellorship. As Gould lost her prestige within the party, Humphries was seen more and more as the real voice behind the Federation of Commerce. This invigorated her, and she was faring much better psychologically than the other military figures of the Council. She remained completely open to cooperation, and in fact it was her idea to seek a compromise with the TFA. Humphries is of the opinion that the relations between the TFA and the Federation can be mutually beneficial.
Marshal Sophie Wheeler – Order of SolWheeler is still recovering from the shock of the poor performance that the Order had in 2210. Frankly in denial, she still hopes to secure large funds for military research. A fierce critic of the Populists and their reforms, Wheeler is seen as more of a hardliner than Joshua Duncan. However, like him, she is also shaken and demoralised. She still believes the Order of Sol can salvage this situation somehow, and constantly tries to communicate with the public to restore some trust in the Order. Given her lack of charisma, this has not worked out well with many. Most of the people she draws are those who gravitate around the Army, ex-soldiers, family members, new recruits and such. Her uncompromising defence of the Army earns her credibility amongst that demographic.
Chancellor Elections of 2210
As a gesture of goodwill, the Populists decided not to run for Chancellorship. Catherine Moore convinced them that after managing to score Council representation and passing their reforms, they needed to appease the TFA in order to avoid wearing out their agreement. Thus the Populist Party declared their support for Harry Thompson, the TFA candidate. This gave Thompson a marked advantage, as the other two parties decided to run their own campaigns. The Federation believed they still had a chance to earn the powerful bargaining chip that was the Chancellorship, and the OS kept their campaign as a way to reinforce they weren't about to back down and let themselves be rolled over. The Federation candidate was Christopher Watson, a new name amongst Federation politicians, who campaigned as a skilled administrator who could set the Republic right. The Order of Sol candidate was Madison Wheeler, a friendlier name amongst the Order, which was trying to heal the public's perception of them.
Harry Thompson: 253 votes
Thompson's re-election was seen as inevitable. With the support of both the Populists and the Association, Thompson easily placed much higher than his competitors. He began his term by thanking Catherine Moore for ensuring the support of the Populists, and reinforced his defence of the sciences and his willingness to cooperate. The following five years would make or break Thompson's reputation as a good politician, as people expected him to consolidate more during his second term.
Madison Wheeler: 143 votes
Madison had just recently established herself as a famous figure on the Order. Her strange beliefs and ways however, displeased the older members of the Order of Sol. Joshua Duncan, again spending his energy on party efforts, managed to convince a large share of the Order to vote for her, and Wheeler's campaign amongst the party was instrumental in raising the Order's opinion on her. Still, not all of the OS Senators could be dissuaded, and she didn't secure the voter of the entire Order. She still placed second overall, which showed to many that the Order of Sol still had a fighting chance.
Christopher Watson: 126 votes
The Federation was very determined to win the Chancellorship, and Watson knew this. He had spent years building contacts on the Federation, and by now he was seen as the man of the hour. It didn't take much for him to be wholly endorsed by the Federation of Commerce. However, despite his commendable attempts to win over Order of Sol and Terra Foundation Association votes, he could not cause any outside Senator to bulge. His performance was as a result, not the best, but he did well enough on his campaign to win him further confidence amongst the Federation of Commerce.
74 Abstentions
There was, again, a surprising number of abstentions, coming mostly from Populists who refused to vote for Thompson or members of the Order of Sol who refused to vote for Madison Wheeler. However, surprisingly, a number of TFA Senators did not state their support for Thompson, especially those of more conservative background, who were displeased with the reforms done by the Populists.
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As March finally came and all the thunder of the election passed, things settled for a bit. Amongst the public, debate about the elections seemed to die down. The Populist reforms proved to have a wide appeal, with voters becoming surer that their votes would reach the Council. This increased the popular support for the Republic, and created the precedent, seen as dangerous by some, that the Republic was living an age of furthering of democratic rights. Many hoped that the stories about the great democracies of pre-collapse Europe could be matched by the Republic. After all, they had come this far in technology, why shouldn't they go equally far in politics? The talk of the moment was debate about human rights, and even amongst the backers of the Order of Sol there was a slight murmur about banning corporal punishment in the Army and Navy. Joshua Duncan had never been a stark defender of corporal punishment, so he let this slide without making any promises. Sophie Wheeler's clique, however, did everything they could to supress such talks amongst the soldiers. The old guard of the Order of Sol was starting to feel that the military was losing grip of the Republic, which put many of them in a furious mood.
As a result of the elections, most members of the Order of Sol were expecting military research to be slashed, and construction of the new military shipyard to be entirely defunded. Throughout early March, one could hear the grumble in most Order of Sol spaces.
Catherine Moore did indeed speak to the Senate about cutting funds to the military, which could have been well received had she not followed this with a proposal of cutting space exploration funding. Moore was booed out of the Senate podium, which, although somewhat souring her popularity amongst the other parties, reinforced her previous position on backing down from requesting every Populist reform. The Populists saw that their position was more fragile than it looked, and decided not to raise any more proposals for the month.
The most surprising moment of March came when Harry Thompson made his proposal for a new Republic budget. Instead of radically slashing military research and development, Harry brought the two shipyard projects to the same level of funding. This would delay the military shipyard in about a year, and shorten the delivery date of the survey shipyard to December 2210. This still displeased the Order of Sol, but it was seen as a welcome surprise that the buts on their budget were not extreme. The excess budget left over by diminishing funds to the orbital shipyard would, of course, sent to a project for a new research facility.
Likewise, when reallocating research budget, Thompson merely proposed a rough equalisation of all ongoing government-funded projects. Military research was not cancelled or forgotten, and still made up most of the research budget. This did a lot to raise the opinion of Thompson amongst the Order of Sol, as they were certain he would crush them.
These proposals were seen as reasonable by most, and whilst still resisted by the Order of Sol, he easily managed to pass his budget.
The rest of the year was surprisingly calm, with life quickly returning to normal. There were no big questions for the Senate for most of the year, and this progressed as normal.
Things only seemed to warm up by December, when the conversion of a good amount of civilian industry and business to trans-newtonian had been achieved. Not only this resulted in faster computation, it markedly improved the Republic's economy, which approached December with a surplus of three trillion Republic Dollars. The Populists made sure to endlessly campaign for the application of this surplus money to social causes and public infrastructure, and were largely successful, given money was plentiful. This was backed by Federation politicians who feared excess of currency not circulating could cause unwelcome effects for the economy. As a result, a large list of product subsidies were declared, which raised the popularity of the Populist-Association-Federation block on the Senate. This money was also use to fund private research of spacefaring technology, aiming to one day make space travel an economically sound investment, many contractors feasted on these research grants, whilst a slight controversy arose because many of these grant dollars found themselves back in the pocket of Terra Foundation figures. The Order of Sol demanded probes into this matter, but nothing came up. This put the TFA under some suspicion, but Henry Thompson was quick to make all Foundation financial data public, which eased most of their detractors.
What had also been completed was the expansion of the trans-newtonian Sorium industry, which now fuelled most of the energy generation of the Republic. The new Sorium power plants were so powerful that the old conventional fission reactors that the Republic had favoured had one by one been deactivated throughout the first decade of the 23rd century. The government maintained the control over most of Sorium mining and refining, which ensured they had always a powerful bargaining chip with the civilian sector. As Sorium production largely exceeded demand, prices dropped dramatically, and humanity had at last achieved an almost free energy source. The first Sorium-powered automobile had also made its debut in 2210, and it quickly became popular due to the cheap price of Sorium and the fact that it consumed less than ten millilitres per kilometre. The Senate came to the conclusion that no further increase of Sorium production was immediately needed.
A couple of days after the debates around the surplus budget had ended, the Navy and the TFA finally announced the completion of their joint project: a new orbital shipyard that would build yet unprecedented space craft to survey Sol for minerals. There was widespread celebration throughout the Republic, and the eyes of the media focused on exploring every little detail on the new orbital shipyard. Immediately, the joint Navy-TSA program moved on to designing a new class of ship to be built in that shipyard, however, further news would have to wait for better development of the project.
The construction capacity that had been freed up by the conversion of these industries was hotly disputed amongst the parties. The Federation wanted more investments to the civilian economy, the TFA wanted more research facilities and the OS wanted more military installations. Surprisingly, the OS and the TFA came to an agreement: a part of the budget would be destined to the expansion of both the educational facilities of the Terra Foundation and the Academies of the Army and Navy. Whilst this displeased the Populists and was seen with indifference by the Federation, it surely helped to improve the mood in the Order of Sol once more, who felt they weren't being isolated by the Association. The TFA called in their favours with the Populists once more to secure support for the construction of a new research facility, and whilst reception was mixed, Catherine Moore knew the TFA had supported them with the surplus budget investments and that she needed to repay the TFA with something. Lastly, the TFA contacted the Federation and said they would support minor funding for the civilian economy, which helped raise spirits amongst the Federation and fostered confidence on the TFA.
This ended the discussions of 2210, guaranteeing a somewhat peaceful New Year on the Republic.
