Here's my Valentine's Day special, ironically a scenario that will probably get me a lot of hate.

I wanted to do something less fantastical and more political sciency with the Valentine's Day idea, so I thought: a dystopia revolving around the use of love and warm fuzzies, not the overtness of hatred and jackboots. So, I decided to blend Brave New World with an ideology I haven't tackled much: modern social justice. I also decided to use this to help round out my

Meerkat92 . I was inspired a bit by's

. I also decided to use MetalSlimeHunt's 1993 PoD idea with the Militia Movement to kick things off.

---

Welcome to the future, where everyone is lovely and kind and gets along with everyone else. Or else. At least, that's how it is in the United Earth Government. And if you don't like it, well, you're obviously some sort of evil oppressor who should move to the counter-UEG states or, better yet, kill yourself.

After the fall of the Soviet Union, the West believed it had reached the end of history. Then, in 1993, a series of events began which culminated in the end of the first United States of America. The Branch Davidian compound in Waco, Texas was besieged by federal authorities, and they (as Branch Davidians today insist, miraculously) escaped from the flames that engulfed their compound. This attack, followed by the bombings of federal buildings in Oklahoma City and Atlanta, led to a major crackdown on the "Militia Movement." The paranoia only became worse after the attack on the World Trade Center in 2002, pulling the United States into a series of wars against Afghanistan, Iraq and Iran. The Second Depression in 2011 led to the fall of the Chinese Communist Party and the further destruction of economic security in the world. Crackdowns and riots became commonplace across the country. With extremists on both sides gaining the limelight, the United States practically collapsed as none of the four presidential candidates[1] won the 2016 election, and the Congress handed victory to the two establishment candidates (the Republican gained the presidency, and the Democrat the vice presidency). Neither candidate was popular with the people, and as the situation degraded, civil unrest became even worse. By 2017, the country was in full-blown civil war.

In the meanwhile, the Russian Federation - already a weakened husk of its former Soviet self - attempted to take advantage of this weakness by reclaiming Belarus and Ukraine by force. In what is now known as the Eurasian War, they were defeated by what remained of NATO in Europe, but only after a long conflict which led to the rise of the European Federation. The Second American Civil War ended with the country divided between a conservative South and two liberal states: Cascadia and the North American Republic. The Middle East was left in shambles, with the Islamic State dominating former Syria, Iraq and Turkey, before the European Federation invaded and cleared the place up.

The European Federation was the big winner. By 2030, the Chinese and Americans were still repairing, while the Russians were under their boot. The EF knew what had caused the problems of the past few decades: nationalism, capitalism and hate. Of course, the Soviet model was not to be followed - communism had failed in the USSR and China, after all - so a new path should be taken. A path of peace, tolerance, social justice, and equality. Gradually, although with growing rapidity, society would be remolded so that everyone in Europe - and then, the entire world - was a nice, docile, progressive. Around the world, nations followed the EF model. Not only did the world's last functioning economy condition its aid on adopting its principles, the EF also became used to flexing its military muscles. "Humanitarian" regime changes became the norm throughout the 21st century, and became the catalyst for the formation of the other global federations. One notable exception to the model is the NAR and Cascadia; both states were enamored by the "progress" the EF was making, and thus adopted their policies with zeal.

The UEG is a contradiction. It's not really united, it doesn't encompass the whole Earth, and its structure is so ill-defined that it may not even be a government. The UEG is a product of the political integration that began as early as the 1950s, with the formation of the European Coal and Steel Community. The UEG federation of federations, with the ultimate goal of erasing all social, cultural, and economic divisions. Civilian weapon ownership is restricted; gun control was taken for granted, of course, but why stop there? Baseball bats and arrows can kill, too, and who uses those for sport outside of the American South? And isn't it totally reasonable to also have background checks on steak knife owners?

A progressive tax was instituted, with the top ten percent paying 90% and the lowest tax bracket at 40%; can't have those rich fat cats not distributing their "fair share" now, can we? That a lot of this money was squandered by corrupt EF politicians was no matter. Also ignore the fact that the poorer members of the UEG do not have cradle to grave benefits, so their workers can toil from cradle to grave so that the EF's people can live large.

Democracy, of course, is important and a guaranteed human right…but anyone who opposes the ruling Progressive/Labour/Social Democratic Party or any parties in their coalition was obviously a bigot of some description, so those parties can be safely banned. Anti-government speech is also deemed "problematic," and the EF is gradually instituting a new, sanitized version of English for everyone to speak. This "new speech" is extremely simplistic, so that everyone could learn it, and so that it is difficult to express certain ideas without using "problematic" language. Even religion is not exempt, and is attacked as being a tool of oppression; recently, Islam has joined Christianity in this group.

To ensure that all peoples are equally represented in government and business, quotas were passed to ensure that at least half of every corporate Board of Directors and every legislature on Earth was composed of women, with the appropriate percentages of ethnic minorities as well. And just because of the historical oppression visited upon them, ethnic minorities and non-heterosexuals get preferential quotas and treatment everywhere. Of course, ignore all of the rich, old, white men who claim to be black transgender lesbians to take advantage of these laws; you don't know how they identify! And ignore the fact that it's still rich white people in charge of the UEG; they

what's best for everyone else, and they have

best interest at heart.

Drug use and vapid entertainment is commonplace. Rather than addressing personal problems, why not take some antidepressants and keep up with the newest social media trends. Better than paying attention to what's actually going on. Anybody who speaks out about this state of affairs is clearly a bigot, and bigotry is anti-social and illegal, so they are thrown in jail. Or, more likely, they are socially ostracized and forced to live in the streets as a beggar because nobody could hire such a person. Who could oppose this utopian vision?

The counter-UEG states do. These "regressives" are despised by the UEG, and are frequently the subject of demonization. In the UEG, everyone is supposed to be happy…until counter-UEG powers are brought up, and then the hatred is allowed to flow. The UEG frequently launches invasions of counter-UEG insurgents around the world, but given that the counter-UEG states are armed with nuclear weapons and orbital railguns, they are off-limits. The counter-UEG states are an electic mix of not-so-nice states. China, the unofficial leader of the bloc, is an outright dictatorship, one that has become strongly Christian. The fall of the Communist Party and the chaos that followed opened the door for Christianity in China, although the form it takes is very syncretic. The Second American Federation, the conservative remnant of the first United States, is still a democracy, albeit it is as democratic as the EF. There is a constant scare for "globalists," and anybody who criticizes the government is quickly blacklisted. The Levantine Federation - a union of Israel and Palestine - has become a surprisingly successful Jewish-Muslim mix, one that despises the radical secularism of the UEG. The others are bog-standard dictatorships.

In Oceania, the Republic of Oceania forms a third bloc. The product of the Indonesian Revolution, Oceania is a horrific, highly militarized Orwellian state. During its early years, Oceania destroyed all vestiges of Indonesian, Malaysian, Australian and Kiwi culture, replacing it with its strange neo-Maoism. Other rogue states include the Empire of Zaire, which models itself off the Roman Empire, and the fundamentalist Christian Republic of West Africa, which is currently waging a "crusade" against "infidels" in its borders.

[1] The GOP and Dems were divided, and the two anti-establishment candidates ran as independents.