In the universe of Alternate Earth and the Local Solar System, the planet Earth is dominated by two main nations, one of which is the Pan-American Collective. It is a rival of the other Earth nation, the Eurasian Dominate. Sometimes, there are brief shooting wars between the two nations, but the influence of the Orthodox Church of the Divine Truth keep these wars brief. About 80 percent of the citizens of the Pan-American Collective are members of the Orthodox Church, though there is official separation of church and state. The wars between the two nations are usually over control of certain regions of the planet: the Arctic, Antarctica, the Pacific islands, the British Islands, and Africa. The Collective evolved from an ancient Earth nation that existed thousands of years ago, the United States of America.
The politics and government of the Collective are more democratic than in the Eurasian Dominate. The three branches of the government, the Council of Presidents, the two houses of the Legislative Congress, and the judges are all elected by popular vote. The Collective has a multi-party system. The Pan-American Party of Republicans and Conservatives is nationalistic (read as anti-Eurasian Dominate), pro-military, pro-free enterprise and pro-business in economics; and pro-law-and-order (favoring harsh treatment of criminals, including the death penalty). The Orthodox Party represents the official views of the Orthodox Church in politics, and it tends to be less nationalistic and pro-military than the Pan-American Party of Republicans and Conservatives. It also favors laws that ban cloning of humans, genetic engineering involving human DNA, and artificial intelligence for robots and computers. The Orthodox Party also wants to limit or ban the death penalty. The Social Democratic Party is divided into two factions: a moderate wing that accepts private ownership of business and industry, and a doctrinaire socialist faction that wants state ownership of large sectors of the economy. Both factions in the Social Democratic ranks favor welfare-state programs and labor unions. Social Democrats of all stripes also tend to be less nationalist and more pacifistic than the Pan-American Party of Republicans and Conservatives. The Green Party is the political wing of environmentalists, favoring keeping large areas of land in their natural state, and side with the Orthodox Party regarding genetic engineering.