United States of Ibica

The United States of Ibica
Flag
Motto: "Egregiam Fidem, Caritatem, Patria"
The United States of Ibica
Capital	Willmington
Recognised national languages	English, French
Demonym(s)	Ibican
Government	Presidential Constitutional Republic
• President	Evaline Buckley
• Vice President	Rodney Parsons
• Speaker of the House	Tyson Wescott
Legislature	Congress
• Upper house	Senate
• Lower house	House of Representatives
Establishment
• Confederation	April 23, 1549
• Federation	January 1, 1701
Area
• Total	1,497,182 km2 (578,065 sq mi)
Population
• 2019 estimate	123,983,726
• 2015 census	122,750,342
GDP (PPP)	2015 estimate
• Total	$53,396
GDP (nominal)	estimate
• Total	$6,620,300,000,000
Gini (2015)	32 medium
HDI (2015)	.924 very high
Currency	Ibican Dollar (ID)
Date format	mm-dd-yyyy
Driving side	right
Calling code	+2
Internet TLD	.ib, .usi

The United States of Ibica (USI), commonly referred to as Ibica, is a federal republic consisting of 10 states and 4 Territories. The 10 Contiguous states and Romane Territory occupy the Eastern 2/3rd of the Continent of Ibica. The territory of Haviland is a group of Islands in the Bay of Albion, and the territories of James Island and Edward Island are in the Bosphorus Ocean.

Local tribes making up the area of Modern Day West Monroe and East Monroe were unified into the Monroe Empire in 1231, under the rule of the Carter Dynasty. The eastern area of Monroe revolted under the heavy hand of King Mason the third and sparked the Monroe Civil War in 1430. The Kingdom of Angola helped to negotiate peace in 1435, insuring East Monroe had a strip of land connecting it to the Bosphurus Ocean, more to ease their own concerns about the aggressive Carter Dynasty. East Monroe entered into a loose confederation with West Monroe and Angola after the ousting of the Carter Dynasty in 1549. The Ibican Confederation entered into a Federation with the Kingdom of Albion in 1700, creating one of the world's first republics under the same constitution used to this day.

Ibica embarked on a vigorous expansion across Eastern Ibican Continent throughout the 18th, 19th, and 20th centuries, displacing Native tribes, acquiring new territories, and gradually admitting new states until it encompassed the majority of the continent. Ibica is a developed country and has one of the world's largest economy by nominal and real GDP, benefiting from an abundance of natural resources and high worker productivity. While the USI economy is considered post-industrial, the country continues to be one of the world's largest manufacturers. It is an economic and military power, a prominent political and cultural force, and a leader in scientific research and technological innovations.

Geography

The land area of Ibica is 930,306 square miles (2.4 Mm2). The coastal plain of the Bosphurus seaboard gives way further inland to deciduous forests and the rolling hills of the Estacado. The Madisonian Mountains divide the Southern seaboard from the grasslands of the North. The Madison River, the nation's longest river, runs mainly north–south through the heart of the country. The flat, fertile prairie of the Central Plains stretches to the West. The Georgia Range, at the Eastern edge of the nation, extend north to south across the country, reaching altitudes higher than 14,000 feet (4.3 km). Ibica, with its large size and geographic variety, includes most climate types. In the east, the climate ranges from humid continental in the north to humid subtropical in the south. The southern tip of Angola is tropical. The Central Plains are semi-arid. Much of the Western mountains have an alpine climate. Extreme weather is not uncommon—the states bordering the Bosphurus are prone to hurricanes.

Politics

Ibica has operated under a two-party system for most of its history. For elective offices at most levels, state-administered primary elections choose the major party nominees for subsequent general elections. Since the general election of 1924, the major parties have been the Conservative Party, and the Progressive Party. The third-largest political party is the Sovereignty Party, which advocates for the statehood of Territories. The President and Vice-president are elected through direct election. The winner of the 2016 presidential election, Conservative Evaline Buckley, is the 39th, and current, Ibican president.

In the Current Congress, both the House of Representatives and the Senate are controlled by the Conservative Party. The Senate currently consists of 15 Conservatives, and 5 Progressives with two independents who caucus with the Progressives; the House consists of 111 Conservatives and 49 Conservatives, with three Sovereigns. In state governorships, there are 7 Conservatives and 3 Progressives. All territorial governorships are held by the Sovereignty Party.

Government

Ibica is one of the world's oldest federations. It is a constitutional republic and representative democracy, in which majority rule is tempered by minority rights protected by law. The government is regulated by a system of checks and balances defined by the Constitution, which serves as the country's supreme legal document.

In the Ibican federalist system, citizens are usually subject to three levels of government: federal, state, and local. The local government's duties are commonly split between county and municipal governments. In almost all cases, executive and legislative officials are elected by a plurality vote of citizens by district. There is no proportional representation at the federal level, and it is rare at lower levels.

The federal government is composed of three branches:

Legislative: The bicameral Congress, made up of the Senate and the House of Representatives, makes federal law, declares war, approves treaties, has the power of the purse, and has the power of impeachment, by which it can remove sitting members of the government.

Executive: The President is the commander-in-chief of the military, can veto legislative bills before they become law (subject to Congressional override), and appoints the members of the Cabinet (subject to Senate approval) and other officers, who administer and enforce federal laws and policies.

Judicial: The Supreme Court and lower federal courts, whose judges are appointed by the President with Senate approval, interpret laws and overturn those they find unconstitutional. The House of Representatives has 128 voting members, each representing a congressional district for a two-year term. House seats are apportioned among the states by population every tenth year, with 1 Representative from each territory, Except James Island.

The Senate has 20 members with each state having two senators, elected at-large to six-year terms; one third of Senate seats are up for election every other year. The President serves a four-year term and may be elected to the office no more than twice. The President is elected by direct vote. The Supreme Court, led by the Chief Justice has seven members, who serve for life.

The state governments are structured in roughly similar fashion. The governor (chief executive) of each state is directly elected. Some state judges and cabinet officers are appointed by the governors of the respective states, while others are elected by popular vote.

The original text of the Constitution establishes the structure and responsibilities of the federal government and its relationship with the individual states. Article One protects the right to the "great writ" of habeas corpus.

Government Finance

Taxes are levied in Ibica at the federal, state and local government level. These include taxes on income, payroll, property, sales, imports, estates and gifts, as well as various fees. In 2010 taxes collected by federal, state and municipal governments amounted to 24.8% of GDP.

Ibican taxation is generally progressive, especially the federal income taxes, and is among the most progressive in the developed world. Payroll taxes for Social Security are a flat regressive tax, with no tax charged on income above $113,700 and no tax at all paid on unearned income from things such as stocks and capital gains. The historic reasoning for the regressive nature of the payroll tax is that entitlement programs have not been viewed as welfare transfers. The top 10% paid 51.8% of total federal taxes in 2009, and the top 1%, with 13.4% of pre-tax national income, paid 22.3% of federal taxes In 2013 the Tax Policy Center projected total federal effective tax rates of 35.5% for the top 1%, 27.2% for the top quintile, 13.8% for the middle quintile, and −2.7% for the bottom quintile. The incidence of corporate income tax has been a matter of considerable ongoing controversy for decades. State and local taxes vary widely, but are generally less progressive than federal taxes as they rely heavily on broadly borne regressive sales and property taxes that yield less volatile revenue streams, though their consideration does not eliminate the progressive nature of overall taxation.

Law and criminal justice

Law enforcement in Ibica is primarily the responsibility of local police and sheriff's departments, with state police providing broader services. Federal agencies such as the Ibican Investigations Agency (IIA) and the Ibican Marshal Service (IMS) have specialized duties, including protecting civil rights, national security and enforcing federal courts' rulings and federal laws. At the federal level and in every state, a legal system operates on common law. State courts conduct most criminal trials; federal courts handle certain designated crimes as well as certain appeals from the state criminal courts. Plea bargaining is very common; the vast majority of criminal cases in the country are settled by plea bargain rather than jury trial. In 2012 there were 3.7 murders per 100,000 persons in Ibica. Among developed nations, Ibica has average levels of violent crime. Gun ownership rights continue to be the subject of contentious political debate. The IIA's Uniform Crime Reports estimates that there were 2,246 violent and property crimes per 100,000 residents in 2012, for a total of over 6 million total crimes.

Capital punishment is sanctioned in Ibica for certain federal and military crimes, and used in 7 states. Meanwhile, several states have either abolished or struck down death penalty laws.

Military

Main article: Ibican Armed Forces

The President holds the title of commander-in-chief of the nation's armed forces and appoints its leaders, the Secretary of Defense and the Joint Chiefs of Staff. The Ibican Department of Defense administers the armed forces, including the Army, Navy, Marine Corps, Air Force, and the Coast Guard. Military service is voluntary. Ibican forces can be rapidly deployed by the Air Force's large fleet of transport aircraft, the Navy's 5 active aircraft carriers, and Marine expeditionary units at sea with the Navy's Bosphurus and Carpathian fleets.

Education

Ibican public education is operated by state and local governments, regulated by the Ibican Department of Education through restrictions on federal grants. In most states, children are required to attend school from the age of six or seven (generally, kindergarten or first grade) until they turn 18 (generally bringing them through twelfth grade, the end of high school); some states allow students to leave school at 16 or 17. About 12% of children are enrolled in parochial or nonsectarian private schools. Just over 2% of children are homeschooled. Some 80% of Ibican college students attend public universities. Ibica has many competitive private and public institutions of higher education. There are also local community colleges with generally more open admission policies, shorter academic programs, and lower tuition. Of Ibicans 25 and older, 84.6% graduated from high school, 52.6% attended some college, 27.2% earned a bachelor's degree, and 9.6% earned graduate degrees. The basic literacy rate is approximately 99%. The World Assembly assigns Ibica an Education Index of 0.97.

Health

Ibica has a life expectancy of 81.8 years at birth. The infant mortality rate is 6.17 per thousand in Ibica. In 2010, coronary artery disease, lung cancer, stroke, chronic obstructive pulmonary diseases, and traffic accidents caused the most years of life lost in Ibica. Low back pain, depression, musculoskeletal disorders, neck pain, and anxiety caused the most years lost to disability. The most deleterious risk factors were poor diet, tobacco smoking, obesity, high blood pressure, high blood sugar, physical inactivity, and alcohol use. Alzheimer's disease, drug abuse, kidney disease and cancer, and falls caused the most additional years of life lost over their age-adjusted per-capita rates. Ibican underage drinking among teenagers is among the highest in industrialized nations. Rape is at a record high, with 107.3 rapes committed per 100,000 persons.

Ibica is a global leader in medical innovation. Ibica solely developed or contributed significantly to 9 of the top 10 most important medical innovations since 2010 as ranked by a 2011 poll of physicians. Health-care coverage in Ibica is a Variation of a multi-payer system. All citizens and Legal Residents may enroll in either the public state or territory run public health care option, subsidized by the federal government, or a private provider, or may choose to be uninsured and pay out of pocket