States of Atlas (Playing 2014/Sign up & create state here)

[Leinad]

Great, we already have a Democrat, a Republican and an Independent!

Ick, too mainstream, needs a third partier!

In other words, I'm in!

[Leinad]

I'll do a non-Pacific non-Border Western state. It'll include the Grand Canyon and the lower part of the Rockies, but not much of Utah.

You'll never guess what that region's prominent ideology will be!

[Leinad]

I'll have my western state, comprising parts of the Four Corners states, hopefully tomorrow night.

[Leinad]

I'll try to finish it before bed (I had a busy day where my two of my three largest interests--soccer and politics--converged) but if not I'll get it done tomorrow barring injury/death. Hopefully the amount of time I'm putting into this will result in something that the politics/history/data enthusiasts on this site can tip their hat towards.

I'll confirm my borders: it will include Arizona, Colorado, most of New Mexico, and Utah southeast of the Colorado River. Slightly stingier than my previous indications, but some of you guys are claiming basically a third of the country

Any conflict there? Speak now or forever hold your peace, as the vows are forthcoming...

[Leinad]

Cielona

Most vexillologists agree that the Cielonan flag is "fairly crap," but they forget that most state flags are just the state seal on a tacky navy blue background.

 Location

Cielona is located in real life Arizona, Colorado, most of New Mexico, and Utah southeast of the Colorado River.

 Etymology

The name "Cielona" comes from "Cielo," which is apparently the Spanish word for "sky."

 History

Early Years
In 1809, a group of settlers led by Aaron Burr [yes, it's loosely based on the Burr conspiracy] founded an independent nation in formerly Spanish territory --the land was bought by a group of wealthy investors wanting a steak in the new country. (Yeah, Burr basically crowdfunded it.)

Many Spanish settlers were already there, plus more came, which led to both it's name and the prominence of Catholicism in the new nation. Not to mention a steady stream of American settlers--seeking adventure, wealth, independence, or evasion of the law. The twin cities of Lewis and Clark (of which the etymologies are obvious) became the dual capitals: Lewis [real life Denver] the legislative capital and Clark [real life Colorado Springs] the executive capital.

Burr made himself President, but after losing popularity due to repeated abuse of power many congressional leaders helped push through amendments limiting the President's power and terms--four years, starting in 1818, when Burr was soundly defeated.

The new nation was at odds with the United States during these early years, which culminated with the Cielonan War from 1821-1823. The Gadsden Flag became an important symbol, and was the flag of Cielona until it's current one (incorporating it) was adopted at the 1909 centenary. The Cielonan forces successfully fended off those of the US, effectively securing their independence.

1800s
The Cielonan congress narrowly voted to side with the United States in the Mexican-American War. This was a controversial and much-protested decision, although it led to increased territory by the Cielonans. Shortly thereafter they founded the city of Burr [real life Phoenix], named after their still controversial founder. It also marked the start of the US as an ally instead of an enemy.

Much of the opposition to joining the Mexican-American War was due to opposition of slavery, just as in the US. Thus, the abolitionist movement in Cielona grew more vocal, with slavery being outlawed in 1852--the bill signed into law by staunch abolitionist President Benjamin Mitchell [fictional person], who was elected in 1850 due to a wave of anti-slavery support using the slogan "Liberty for All Men!" This proved to be a success which helped his party--the Liberty Party--become the largest party in the nation.

Cielona had friendly relations with the Utah Territory, and Brigham Young visited multiple times. While many Cielonans were skeptical of Mormonism, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints spread to the country over time, to where nowadays it has over a million adherents.

President Mitchell and was quick to side with the Union against the Confederacy in the Civil War, and Congress voted in favor of the measure as well, although with some opposition from pacifist and isolationist minorities. This partnership also brought the two countries closer together. Both Mitchell and then-President Thomas Halter [fictional person] attended Abraham Lincoln's funeral.

In the 1882 elections, the main issue was women's suffrage. The Liberty Party supported it, using the slogan "Liberty for All People!" and women were granted the right to vote in 1883.

1900s and Statehood
Cielona became closer and closer to the US, especially during the Presidency of Calvin Coolidge, and popular opinion grew in favor of a union by the 1920s, but by the Great Depression they hadn't yet negotiated a deal that would give Cielona appropriate representation without taking away all of their independence, and talks didn't fully resume until the late 1940s, after Cielona supported the US during World War II (they stayed out of World War I and the Korean War).

Finally, in 1957, Cielonan President (soon-to-be Governor) Barry Goldwater and US President Dwight D. Eisenhower signed a deal that put Cielona into a special class of "part-state"--they pay less taxes and have more powers devolved to them, but get only half the representation of what their population would otherwise give them in both Congress and, likewise, the Electoral College.

Since then, they have remained a part-state. The Liberty Party has continued to dominate, with prominent Governors including Goldwater (1950-1958, 1972-1984) and Gary Johnson (1998-2014). Goldwater was also the state's first US Senator, from 1959-1971, while Johnson has held that post since 2015.

 Demographics

Race

Non-Hispanic White	45.2%
Hispanic	42.6%
Black	4.2%
American Indian	4.1%
Asian/Pacific Islander	2.9%
Mixed Race	3.5%

Religion

Total Protestant	18.6%
Evangelical Protestant	12.3%
Mainline Protestant	6.3%
Roman Catholic	30.3%
Mormon/LDS	8.9%
Other Christian	2.1%
Jewish	1.6%
Muslim	0.7%
Buddhist	0.9%
Hindu	0.6%
Total Unaffiliated	34.1%
Agnostic	7.8%
Atheist	5.5%
Nothing in particular	20.8%
Other	0.8%
Don't know/refused to answer	1.4%

Party Affiliation (see below for details)

Liberty	28%
Progressive	17%
Conservative	13%
National Party	10%
People's Party	5%
Independent	27%

Issue Positions

	Support	Oppose
Same-sex marriage	69%	21%
Abortion	41%	42%
Rec. marijuana legalization	62%	30%
Assisted suicide	51%	38%
Death penalty	40%	48%
Gun control	27%	66%
Obamacare	36%	54%
Invest in renewable energy	43%	44%
Right to work	54%	41%
Raise minimum wage	32%	60%
Raise corporate taxes	34%	52%
Lower taxes	68%	21%
Increase domestic spending	31%	57%
Increase defense spending	41%	46%
Iraq War	21%	72%
Full amnesty for illegals	40%	47%
Path to citizenship	45%	43%
Build a wall with Mexico	37%	51%
NSA metadata collection	22%	59%
Cielonan Independence	25%	67%

 
I hit the character limit, monkey-fluffers! Seriously. To be continued...

[Leinad]

And now, for the exciting conclusion!


Political Parties

Due to its independent nature, Cielona retains their own political party system, with five major parties:

Liberty Party
The oldest and largest party in Cielona, the Liberty Party defines individual liberty and limited government as its core principles. It's commonly referred to as "libertarian," although some of the party's more moderate members (along with more conservative and liberal members) reject that term. They led the charge on several civil rights issues, such as the abolition of slavery, women's suffrage, and same-sex marriage. The party does well with voters across all demographic categories, although it has a large advantage with less religious and nonreligious voters--one that is mellowing out over time.

The Liberty Party generally sides with the Libertarian Party nationally.

Conservative Party
The second-oldest and third-largest party in Cielona, the Conservative Party defines traditional values as its core principle, and most of its members also adhere to some level of limited government principles. It is generally right-wing or center-right across the board--although there are large conservatarian and moderate wings of the party. They were founded as a response to the Liberty Party, although were rarely able to successfully challenge it due to internal struggles between Protestant and Catholic party leaders. The party does well with very religious voters, especially white males, but struggles elsewhere.

The Conservative Party generally sides with the Republican Party nationally.

Progressive Party
The Progressive Party was founded in 1911 as a party for social liberals in between the Liberty Party and the Socialist Party on fiscal issues. This has remained their ideology, and as the main center-left party they boast the second-largest number of members. The party does well with voters across most demographic categories, although struggles with whites and the very religious.

The Progressive Party generally sides with the Democratic Party nationally.

Cielonan National Party
The CNP was founded in 1947 in opposition to ongoing statehood negotiations. The party generally sides with the Liberty Party on most issues--although members come from across the political spectrum--but is staunchly in favor of devolution and eventually peaceful independence from the United States. It is the only major party that supports independence--the other four all explicitly support the union in their platform, while having varying positions on devolution.

The CNP generally sides with the Libertarian Party, although whenever they get elected to national seats they melodramatically refuse to take them. Due to this reason alone they do far better in statewide elections than federal ones.

People's Party
The People's Party is the third-oldest party in Cielona, related to the old Utah Territory party of the same name. They are often allies with the Conservative Party, although are to their right on social issues and considerably to their left on fiscal issues. Around half of their supporters are Mormons, which amounts for nearly two-thirds of the party's total vote. All of their current delegation in the state Congress are members of the LDS Church--15 of the 22 total congressional Mormons. In FPTP elections they coordinate with the Conservatives to not run candidates in Catholic and Protestant districts, instead focusing on the Mormon-friendly ones, which the Conservatives likewise abstain from.

The People's Party generally sides with the Republican Party nationally, although congressman Wesley Brian [fictional person] controversially caucused with the Democrats in his first term from 1997-1999, before caucusing with the Republicans in his second term.

 Political Landscape

House of Commons
The House of Commons is the main house of congress. Originally it was unicameral and first-past-the-post, but as the Liberty Party kept winning majorities of representatives without a majority of the votes the minority parties (Conservative and Progressives) along with less partisan member of the Liberty Party worked together to reform the house, making it a mixed-member proportional representation system in the Compromise of 1917. In 1964 it was reformed to a hybrid single-transferable vote/mixed member system fixed at 216 representatives.

Liberty	761
Progressive	562
Conservative	393
National Party	31
People's Party	14

¹Including one independent who caucuses with the Liberty Party.
²Including two members of the Green Party and one of the Socialist Party who caucus with the Progressive Party.
³Including one member of the Constitution Party who caucuses with the Conservative Party.

Council of Representatives
As part of the Compromise of 1917, a smaller, weaker, first-past-the-post house was created. The Council has always had a plurality of members in the Liberty Party, although many times it's dipped below a majority.

Liberty	19
Progressive	6
Conservative	7
National Party	0
People's Party	1

Congressional Delegation
Cielona sends ten representatives to the US House of Representatives, two each from five districts in a STV system. Since the Liberty Party almost always wins a seat in all five--especially due to the National Party's poor showings in federal elections--their primary is considered a congressional election itself. John McCain of the Conservative Party is currently the dean of the Cielonan delegation, having served since 1987. The delegation is expanding to 6 districts and 12 seats in 2014.

Liberty	5
Progressive	2
Conservative	2
National Party	0
People's Party	1

Recent Presidential Election History
Cielona's 11 Electoral Votes (soon to be increased to 13) are split in a unique way: one is purely WTA, five are split proportionally, and five are given to the winners of each Congressional District. This was done as a compromise of people who advocated a purely proportional system, a purely district-based system, and a purely WTA system, and it leads to a form of "winner-take-most" EV allocation. Gary Johnson won nine EVs--the record--when he ran for President as sitting Governor in 2012.

2012	PV	EVs
Gary Johnson	61%	9
Mitt Romney	20%	1
Barack Obama	17%	1

2008	PV	EVs
Bob Barr	42%	6
John McCain	32%	3
Barack Obama	24%	2

2004	PV	EVs
Michael Badnarik	46%	6
John Kerry	27%	3
George W. Bush	25%	2

Ralph Nader got 4% of the vote in 2000, while Ross Perot got his only delegate in both 1996 and 1992.

 Miscellaneous

- Population: 14,206,331
- Congressional Districts: 6 (each electing two representatives)
- EVs: 13 (1 WTA, 6 PR, 6 Districts)
- Nickname: The Liberty State, The Big Sky State, The Independent State, The Country-Within-A-Country
- State Motto: Libertas Omnibus (Freedom for All)
- Sports teams:
    -NFL: Lewis Mountain Lions, Burr Rattlers
    -MLB: Lewis Frontiersmen, Burr Roadrunners
    -NBA: Cielona Pioneers (in Lewis), Burr Sun
    -NHL: Lewis Icecaps
    -MLS: Cielona Freedom FC (in Clark), Burr Diablos


Did I forget anything?

[Leinad]

You guys know you can resize images, right?

It's so fuzzy I wouldn't be surprised to see bigfoot in one of the states, but hey, it's semi-readable!


Hey, JoMCaR, could some of us make additional states if we could do it in time? Because I have a nifty idea for one in real-life Georgia.

(Also, here's a suggestion, someone could take the blank area including Utah and make some Mormon-based state--perhaps called "Deseret." Or one in Oklahoma based on the Indian Territory. There are lots of cool possibilities taking into account history and such.)

[Leinad]

If more players want to sign up, it might be fair if some of the larger states were divided.

True, true. A few of us took enormous slices of land--Cielona is maybe the 3rd-biggest, but around average by number of real-life states. (States are, as we all know, bigger out west because people got really tired of drawing all those damn borders on every single freaking map by the time they started settling out there. )

Also, I'd like to clarify that all of Nevada is open. I have no idea why Kingpoleon think I claimed Southern Nevada.

[Leinad]

Hmmm...I already declared Gary Johnson the Senator in 2014, although I suppose I could retcon that for the greater good.