8. Extention of Capitol Power

After the final fortification of the thirteen districts, regular government duties continued. President Morris began, though not intentionally, to increase Capitol power over the districts. He was very protective of the Thirteen District Act because of how much work was put into it in the Senate, and he didn't want to see it fail. Any demonstration that talked down on the Act was shut down by police. Arrests were made on anyone that spoke in a demonstration, though the strictest verdict a judge decided would only lead to community service as a punishment. But, outside of the Act, there were other things that the Capitol would extend its power on.

Economic Power

At the time, this was not exactly a bad thing. The government, as you know, already had a low regard for private companies. They did not allow companies to have a large amount of control on job security and prices of products. The Capitol prevented any uncalled for layoffs, and firings had to be filed by the employer to an office of the company overseen by the government. For prices, if they didn't listen to the Capitol, the company could have different forms of punishment inflicted. Some included fines, removal and replacement of executive staff, and in extreme cases, dissolution of the whole company. For companies connected to district indutries, they had only a namesake on the products. The Capitol was in full control of the industry. This was mainly toward the offices.

The trade with Colombia and Canada prevailed during this time in Panem's history. The thirteen districts cleared out exactly what was necessary in trade. Certain foods and materials needed were not suppliable due to the climate of North America at the time, so this was a perfect alternative. The ports, which closed down after the 74th Hunger Games and just reopened recently, are located in District One (Canada) and Four (Colombia).

The Police Setup

Something that was a red flag to many people was the alteration of the policing force. As protests against the Thirteen District Act were violent for quite some time, President Morris felt it was a good idea to prepare the police officers for rioting. The uniforms created were armored well, kind of a prototype of what Peacekeeper uniforms would end up being, and had specialized helmets with the Capitol seal on it. Sound familiar? This was only step one in creating the Peacekeeper Corps., but that wouldn't be codified until the next President. A basic police officer would now hold a riot shield in his car, be armed with two guns, a tazer, a pair of electronic handcuffs as well as a traditional pair, and a computer in the car with access to the Capitol's criminal records. This lead to many conspiracy theories, as usual, but there wasn't any other signs that could support anything. The US Second Amendment, the right to bear arms, which was upheld by the Constitution of the Capitol, was never affected by this.

Also, protesting was severely watched, for anything including boycotting prices or school/government decisions, to anything against the Capitol itself. Anything that could cause a peaceful protest to transform into something more violently associated was shutdown, whether it be an angry mob forming or even the egging or flogging of anything. Punishments, depending on the crime, would vary from various degrees of community service to jail/prison time of longer than normal sentences to possible execution. All executions at that time were private, nothing public.

Foreign Relations

As you know, trade relations with Canada and Colombia flourished during this time. The rest of Panem's foreign relations were different. President Morris saw that the result of World War III was terrible. The whole world was in shambles. Panem was nearly the only stable nation out there, next to its trade partners. The People's Republic of China was torn apart in rebellion; Italy fell to the power of the Roman Catholic Church; Brazil took over most of South America, with exception to Colombia, who had protection from Panem; the old state of Alaska suffered from a red scare, leading to a Soviet-like government forming, etc. The European Union, which was still a monetary collaboration, reformed itself into a national federation to prevent these troubles from reaching their land. The entire planet was going through a massive governmental change.

So, Morris felt it was a lost cause to attempt to please the international community, as he wanted to do at first. But, he felt that as WWIII did haunt Panem in its beginning stages, he took an action secret outside of the nation. As revenge for the nuclear attacks, Morris sent a secret military group, called the Panem Secret Conquerors (PSC) to the People's Republic of China to help with the rebellion effort. He told them to not stop until a government that was not a nuclear powerhouse was formed. That still has yet to happen, so contact with the PSC has been almost non-existent. The current nation in the area, the Republic of Asian Provinces, ended up forming from that rebellion in China. The government has hated Panem, especially because they caught the PSC and forced them into hiding. Morris refused to accept allegations from the international community that the PSC existed.

Other than that, he stayed out of the affairs in the world. With the world becoming catostrophic, Morris said these words on a CNTV exclusive of the PSC launching (he did not keep it secret within our borders), "Panem is not a globalized nation. There is no confidence that I or the Senate have with the people outside of Panem. After the third World War, the planet fell into disarray. The fears of many have come forth as I see a distopian future coming towards our planet. Luckily, everyone in the government, including myself, will make sure to go opposite the path that the rest of the world is going on. We will attempt to achieve the utopian idea that President Romulus Peace had began creating. Panem is the future for us. We will bring forth a calm era in North America. An era that will lead into eternity. We shall never fall as a nation!"

Obviously, because of some of the moves he has made with the police and the enforcement of the Thirteen District Act, CNN and Fox slammed him after he said that statement. Of course, his actions would only make a distopic nation easier to come forth, but he wasn't making one himself. These actions were made out of his own fears.

This speech that he made led to the idea of a new national anthem, our current national anthem, The Horn of Plenty. Artie Floures took President Morris's feelings to music and wrote an anthem to fit the new Panem, a new anthem written for the country. The song was very patriotic. At the time, it was felt as a national symbol, but as of the Dark Days, it was a propaganda theme song. President Morris adopted it on February 1, 2067 as the official song of the Capitol.

Final Abdication

As the middle of the year 2068 approached, Morris began to slack up on his uptight attitude about the Thirteen District Act. He revoked the suspension of the Capitol Supreme Court, so long they accepted the Act as legal in the Constitution. The Senate nearly passed all of his legislation because of fears of being attacked like the Court was with their power, but when the Court was re-opened in the government, the Senate began to go back to their regular routine. Everything was starting to look up. The districts were running smoothly, and most crimes against the Act disappeared due to the lack of support anymore. There was still a mess that was in need of being cleaned up, though. Morris felt that he would not be able to fix somethings he saw that he accidently created, so he steeped down. On July 9th, 2068, President Morris officially stepped down and named the very "loyal" Ariann Fuler as his successor of the presidency.

With Fuler, things began to seem better, at first. The nation was recovering from Morris's problematic reign. But, everything was very shortlived. A new era, not of peace, was about to enter the Capitol in full force.

Note: One, this WWIII makes sense still because I, personally, don't see a war forming from the Russia/Ukraine issue. I highly doubt it right now. But if it does happen, I'll come back and edit this to be WWIV instead. And the name of the anthem and such is owned by Lionsgate and James Newton Howard. But regardless, it is time for the Capitol's power to increase. Now that the next President is up, our favorite part of Panem is coming. Exciting is the Dark Days, which we will see soon.