Once upon a time in a galaxy far far away there was a new federation born out of controversy over the right of a people to determine their own destiny. .
The Britainburg Empire was only one of several large Empires that were close to each other on one side of the Galaxy. The Frankenvile Empire and the Spainentine Empire were only a few light years from Britainburg and each other and it seems that they were almost constantly in conflict. But, the Britainburg Empire basically ruled space. Their fleets were numerous and strong. Their armies were the best in the sector and a had beaten the other two great Empires several times in engagements. They all had colony worlds that they ruled over with Britainburg being the largest and most extensive colonial power.
On the other side of the Galaxy thousands of light years away, there were a cluster of worlds with stars that had very lush and habitable planets that had only been discovered by the core worlds a few hundred years before. This whole group of worlds would be called the Ameers. These worlds were rich in natural resources and were inhabited only with a primitive peoples that offered little serious resistance to the acquisition by the three great empires and their advanced technology. They carved up the newly discovered worlds and proceeded to exploit the natural resources of these worlds for their own benefit, shoving the native peoples aside when it was inconvenient.
Thirteen of these colony worlds were really close to each other, only a few light years apart, and from the beginning were controlled and colonized by people primarily from Empire of Britainburg. They spoke the same language and still believed that they were citizens of their mother world and should enjoy the same privileges that any Britainburg citizen enjoyed.
But, the Empire ruled them from the other side of the galaxy and had little or no sense of the conditions
that faced those who they ruled. They levied restrictions on the people
of the young worlds and exacted taxes on them without any consultation. Britainburg had just fought a war with Frankenville along with some of the natives in that world, involving the control of these thirteen colony worlds and expected the colonies to help pay for the war so the mother empire levied a tax on them. Among other things that had happened, it was another example of taxation imposed on the colony worlds without any say so by the colonists. A growing resentment toward the mother world began to grow and finally escalated into a desire for complete independence. A war for independence broke out as a result.
These people rebelled against the Empire and at a terrific cost in blood from the patriots that fought in that revolt and against all odds, they won their independence.
At the end of the war of independence the thirteen worlds knew that they had a hard time being successful if each continued alone. They needed to form some kind of a stronger alliance with each other in order to survive. After all, they had acted together to gain their independence. They knew that the world was a dangerous place and unless they united somehow they might not survive. They had previously came together and formed a weaker alliance but it was not working. A convention of the thirteen worlds were convened to see if they could hammer out an agreement for a new, stronger, federation of some kind.
Having just been though a terrible experience with a big and powerful empire, they understood quite well the evils that big governments, with it's almost unlimited powers, could exert on the common citizen. They decided that they should form a new federation that would represent the various worlds and their people. They decided on a Republic and they wrote a Constitution that clearly limited the power of that Republic so that it could not arise and become tyrannical. The smaller worlds rightly feared that the big industrial worlds would ending up dominating the new federation, crushing any needs that they had in order to further their own agenda. The interests of the smaller worlds would not even be considered. A compromise was reached. They would form two houses of parliament, one, called Commons, representing the people of the individual districts in the various worlds and with it's numbers apportioned as such, the other, Piers, representing each unique world with two of representatives from each world. It was decided that the leader of the federation, The Chairman, would serve for a period of 6 years and they would be elected by delegates from the various worlds numbering exactly the sum of the number of members of Commons plus the two members of Piers that each state had. Using this method the small, less populated worlds, would not be crushed by the big, populous worlds. The small worlds would have an equal say in the government of the federation in the house of Piers and their voices would have significance in the election of the Chairman of the United Federation of Planets.
In that Constitution they enunciated rights that the citizen would have to deter the new United Federation of Planets from grabbing for power over the common people. So the agreement among them, written into the document, was the provision that any power that was not specifically awarded to the Federation and written into the agreed upon Constitution, would be retained by the individual worlds. It was also agreed that the rights of the people delineated in the Constitution were to be retained over the entire new federation and the independent states could not impinge upon those rights. These rights included the right to speak openly, that the Federation would not impose a state religion, that the press shall be free and that the citizens can gather in assembly and to seek redress from the government. They feared government tyranny and for other reasons made a provision that the citizen's right to own and bear arms should not be infringed.
The new Constitution contained a lot of compromises that would later be changed by a process of amendments. But, each of the worlds had unique sets of positions that they would not compromise on. They felt that that their very existence depended on maintaining certain conditions in their society, as it had been before the war for independence. Either those conditions would be allowed to continue or there would be no new Federation.
They had a Constitution and a model for a working federation. The question arose of where to place the Capitol of this new Republic. The delegates to the convention were well read men and women who knew history and were well aware of what would happen to the population of such a capitol. As the Federation grew, and they were sure it would, the capitol city would become a town almost completely populated by bureaucrats and civil servants feeding at the public trough. They knew that the citizens of that city would demand and be able to influence policy through elected members of commons and two Piers of the congress. They could not allow such a insular society to dominate a particular state and bring it's skewed politics into the main stream. They knew what such a city would become. They decided that the Capitol of the new Federation of Plants would be set up apart from the other worlds and would managed directly by the congress and the Federal government. It would not have a voting representation in the congress. It turned out that the star system of Maryburg had a unique situation. It had two planets in the Goldy Locks zone, one of which was a water planet with only a land mass big enough for a large city. It also had a lot of marshland. Maryburg would cede this planet to the Federation of Planets as it was of little use to them. So the new capitol of the United Federation of Planets was established and was named Washtown, after the great general that led the army that won the revolutionary war.
The new Federation prospered, folding in more worlds until it encompassed vast a region of space of over 48 worlds. It had its economic ups and downs but it always recovered stronger than before. One administration after another respected the written constitution and did not infringe on the rights of the people to conduct their affairs as they saw fit, within limits. This spawned a new breed of independent thinkers who proceeded to revolutionize the world with new thoughts and new inventions. Because the central government did not interfere, whole new industries were founded that were the envy of the galaxy. New forms of manufacturing were developed that brought the cost of products down so much that every average citizen could afford to obtain them. The freedom to develop, to build and to market their products, spawned a growth in wealth like the world had never seen.
Time brought great leaps in technology. The discovery of new portals and the ability to create new ones caused the time to travel among the Federation worlds, and even the whole galaxy, from a matter of days or even weeks and months, to just a few hours. Communications improved to such an extent that on one side of galaxy could talk to another in real time.
Because each citizen could speak his mind without retribution, new ideas flourished in politics. Some these ideas that resulted in changes to the Constitution to address problems due to the compromises that were necessary in the beginning. This new Federation fought some major and minor wars, some justified and some not so much, but assumed to be in the Federations best interest. It emerged as the dominate power in the galaxy. And, it never lost it's core beliefs, that individual initiative and the rights of each person was important to the whole. We were not a collective, we were a federation of free peoples.
Due to happenstance of geography and space peculiarities a few of the star systems were blessed with portals through space connecting to a large number of other systems, not enjoyed by most of the worlds who had only limited portals to each other. That let them become the hub of trading activity and as a result they bathed in vast wealth and attracted large numbers of people to work in those fields. Another side effect is that they would become the centers of finance for the whole Federation. Commerce and money flowed through their hands. Their interests became more and more at odds with those in the middle of Ameer cluster. This would cause great friction later.
Then, along the way, because of some events, the Federation decided that it had to step in and "help" the people because the economy had taken a down turn and things weren't going to well at the moment. The Federation had been in these kinds of troubles before and the basic system of free enterprise pulled it right out. But, the die was cast. Every glitch in the road would trigger a Federal response. The people started looking for a safety net to cushion almost any bad event that happened in the economy . The people began to ask the Federation for more and more help for everything. The idea of "Free" began to permeate the thinking of many citizens. Free medical care, free education all the way through university, free food for any one under a certain level of income, free help with mortgages if the burden became too great and on it went. The idea of individual initiative was dying on the vine, as the central Federation supplied the citizens with circus, games and bread. Some citizens were starting to spend their entire lives living off the Federation with no incentive to provide for themselves or to contribute to society. Vast bureaucracies grew to regulate everything. Political parties began to fight more and more. The Federal central government continued to grow as more and more demands were made.
One political party, The Blues, heavily financed by the huge mega corporations, the entertainment industry and backed by academia, promised more bread and games for the people and slowly rose to power. The other major party, The Reds, were trying to maintain the hold on individual initiative and freedom of actions at it's core. The Reds were heavily supported by the population outside the big cities. As a consequence they held sway in all the worlds except the few where the big populations were centered. The emerging party began to use tactics to silence any dissent. They branded any one who disagreed with them as traitors and treasonous. They shouted down any voice that tried to speak in opposition to their ideas. No one of the Red party were invited to speak at a public university and they were shouted down if they tried to speak if a private college invited them. The Blues began to dominate the education system which was run by idealists with almost a total lack of knowledge or experience in the real world. They turned out a bunch of young people indoctrinated into the idea that working as a collective was the right way to go and that society had an obligation to not only take care of everyone with more bread and games, but to invite more immigrants into the Federation to enjoy the bread and games that were provided.
They then made moves, such as admitting Washtown and it's biased votes as states, which put them firmly in control of the government and began to slowly but surely to outlaw any other political party or idea except theirs and to squash any dissenting ideas. They formed a working alliance with big media conglomerates so they were able to censor any idea from getting widespread distribution that might upset the work they were about. They began to shut down any news media that didn't agree with their point of view. The colleges and universities began to turn out more and more graduates who thought as they do and who would become the future bureaucrats and politicians that would run the country.
At the same time the taxpaying labor force was drying up. The Federation was so successful economically that the demand for higher wages among the workers resulted in increased cost for products. Then the owners and managers found that they could export the manufacturing of their products to systems outside of the Federation and even with transportation costs, offer their product cheaper to the consumer at a lower cost. The Federations work force was consequently reduced. In addition, the manufacturing of products still made within the Federation was being more and more automated causing an even greater reduction in the work force and it's corresponding tax base. This resulted in a government with huge expenses trying to make everything free and a shrinking work force to pay the taxes. Taxes had to raised to pay for all of this. But there was not enough money to pay for all the perks that were being handed out by the Federation.
In order to placate their supporters they borrowed more and more money from the public treasury until the debt became the biggest drain on the taxpayers of the federation. All the games and bread for the masses, which was now a large part of the total population, had to be reduced in order to service the public debt. Printing money in vast amounts let to unsustainable inflation.
They reduced the military to a skeleton crew despite of the rise of two other dictatorial empires that were a direct threat to the Federation, The Chen and The Russes. The Chen especially had a huge military force and was dedicated to spreading their brand over the entire galaxy.
Riots in the streets became common as the masses objected to cutbacks on their free stuff as they considered it their right. In order to control the riots the federation became more and more a police state. The politicians decided that the experienced people who were now in office should be retained to deal with the unrest and instability that was rocking the Federation. Individual initiative was squashed to make sure no one excelled in a superior way and that everyone was equal.
The Federation finally became a one party system with all opposition declared illegal and subject to arrest. All the freedoms promised in the Constitution were washed aside. Assembly to address the government for redress were illegal, all weapons were confiscated and owning one was forbidden, all media had to toe the party line and speaking openly in opposition to government policy was a criminal act. The United Federations of Planets was now a total dictatorship.
Reminder; this is a fairy tale and any resemblance to any persons or events, past or present, is purely coincidental.
