WCG: Difference between revisions

:It's 2032 and the world ain't what it used to be.  

:We have one government where there used to be hundreds. Big brother is alive and well.  

:Things are pretty good in the big cities if you don't mind the fact that World Coalition Government tracks your every move. They claim they do it in the interest of the common good but it can make you feel insignificant and pretty damned helpless. No matter where you go "they" are watching you.  

:In the cities most people have enough money to live quite well by the standards of the old world. An average family can afford a nice place to live, timeshare on a vehicle and a terminal that links them to the WorldNet. For most it's an acceptable payoff for a near total loss of privacy and systematic violations of our personal freedoms.  

:It's best not to think about life outside the cities. The powers that be would never admit it, but the air has gone bad. The forbidden zones they euphemistically call "Wilderness Preserves" are actually massive tracts of quarantined land.  

:The poor wretches who can't afford to live in the cities get as close to the atmosphere processors as they can and eke out a miserable (and dangerous) existence working on the reclamation teams who beat back the corrosive stain of the wilderness.  

:From time to time someone tries to improve public awareness of the ecological nightmare but World Coalition Government controls the media and silences them before any outcry can gain momentum. There is a growing awareness that something has gone horribly wrong and that something has to be done.  

:Something has to give. It's only a matter of time

:On January 12th, 2032 the newborn World Coalition Government annexed 80% of the countries of the world. The holdouts either reconsidered and signed treaties or were "dissolved" in a matter of months.

:The leaders of the new regime gave us all kinds of rationalizations for their actions, ranging from endless border skirmishes between impoverished nations to environmental problems that they claimed could only be solved if all of the "citizens of earth" worked together.

:Years of boom markets and reckless spending finally took their toll, leaving small countries bankrupt and superpowers teetering on the brink of collapse. By uniting the economies of the world all of the old debt was erased and everyone got a clean slate. It was a real mess but at the time it seemed like the only way out.

:At first World Coalition Government gave a lot of lip service to representing the annexed governments. There was even an advisory council modeled on the United Nations. As the representatives began to enjoy the benefits of a global marketplace they fell silent. In a matter of years all traces of the old governments faded away. It was an economic coup on an unprecedented scale.

:World Coalition Government accomplished most of what they promised. They created "peacekeeping forces" capable of putting down any infighting and they turned around the economy.

:What they don't tell you is that the poor stayed poor and there are more of them than ever before. Sure, we have bright and beautiful cities but we pay for them by sacrificing our freedom and the well being of most of our population to the so-called "greater good".

:It is a golden age for the privileged. Their ivory towers are everything we hoped the future would be.

:World Coalition Government uses the TCTF to control the evolution and distribution of new technologies. They suppress anything that could be used to undermine their authority. Their investigations are also used to violate the rights of anyone deemed "dangerous" by World Coalition Government.  

:The real abuse of technology begins and ends with the government and its TCTF enforcers.

===WCG Today... East and West===