GTA:World's IC position in US Politics - We are not a ''State''

[ThatDutchPerson]

Hey there!

 

I was wondering what actually is GTA World's position within the US system?

I know we have been told we are roleplaying the 51st State of San Andreas, as island state in the Pacific Ocean.

 

But that makes me wonder; are we really?

States have legitimate primairy's and can vote in presidential elections, yet we did not have such events in the past.

Legit states also have representatives in the House and 2 senators per state in the Senate. Obviously; we can't have that.

 

This leaves us with numerous options;

• Organised, Unincorporated Territory
  Like Puerto Rico, Guam and Mariana Islands. We are self-governing with a State and City government (organised), but that all of the US Constitution does not automaticly apply to the island (unincorporated). These territories are pretty much treated as a state. The main difference is that people in OUT's can not vote in Presidential elections and that the Congress members can only observe, not participate.
• Unorganised, Unincorporated Territory
  Like Howland Island, Navassa Island, Jarvis Island, Wake Island and Kingman Reef. These places have no local government and the US Constitution does not automaticly apply here. Given we do have a local government and the US Constitution applies with us, the least likely option. Citizens can not vote in presidential elections.
• Unorganised, Incorporated Territory
  Only one; Palmyra Atoll. It is an uninhabited nature reserve, but the US Constitution does apply here. We are clearly inhabitated, so this automaticly rules out this option. Citizens, if people live there one time, can not vote in presidential elections.
• Organised, Incorporated Territory
  No current territory has reached this spot, and it is a ''transition place''; right before becoming a state, the territory is moved to this category.
  It has a self governing body (organised) and and the US Constitution fully applies to the territory. This spot was last occupied IRL by Hawaii and Alaska.
  Citizens can not vote in presidential elections.

 

The two most likely options are either the Organised, Unincorporated Territory, or the Organised, Incorporated Territory.

What are your takes on this? Where in the below graph is ''San Andreas''?

 

Edited November 12, 2020 by ThatDutchPerson

[Jorgensen]

I believe we are a State because it's literally 'The State Of San Andreas'. I've never seen anyone use San Andreas in terminology in game cause the city is Los Santos (Los Santos County) and Blaine County. But, other than that I'm not too sure.

 

I don't usually get involved in politics even on roleplay servers cause I don't really understand political systems.

[ThatDutchPerson]

Just now, KoishiKomeiji said:

I believe we are a State because it's literally 'The State Of San Andreas'. I've never seen anyone use San Andreas in terminology in game cause the city is Los Santos (Los Santos County) and Blaine County. But, other than that I'm not too sure.

 

I don't usually get involved in politics even on roleplay servers cause I don't really understand political systems.

I get your point, but given we dont have ingame events that revolve around the Presidential elections (you can think of a lot of ideas without involving a player named Joe Biden ingame), we can only assume that we can not participate; which disqualifies us as an official State.

[Jorgensen]

Just now, ThatDutchPerson said:

I get your point, but given we dont have ingame events that revolve around the Presidential elections (you can think of a lot of ideas without involving a player named Joe Biden ingame), we can only assume that we can not participate; which disqualifies us as an official State.

That's true. But, I think it's also assumed people would vote. I'm not sure cause again it's all down to admins and LFM I guess.

[Parker]

I've seen people roleplay references to Biden and Trump.

 

I mean - I haven't had it clarified but my understanding is we are just another state and it makes sense to probably RP that you've voted or not voted, it doesn't make sense for us to "participate" in those events since the RP around it would be difficult given it isn't the real world. What we can and have done on the server is roleplay local government which I'm sure you're aware of.

 

It doesn't make sense to have us vote in a real-life presidential election and I can't even fathom how that would work in the slightest.

[lambchops]

San Andreas is a state, not even the 51st one, just a state. Los Santos (County) lies within that state. This isn't a topic for discussion but rather a fact. If anything, you can see San Andreas as a replacement for California.

 

Just because you haven't seen the US presidential elections in game doesn't mean you are unable to roleplay having voted, it's just a major pain in the ass and waste of time to set up actual 'voting' for such a thing, and from an IC perspective the area we play in isn't the wole state.

[HaveADream]

Yeah, we could've set up voting for the presidential election but there was zero tangible reason to consume a LOT of staff resources for a slight bit of immersion, people were free to have events for the Presidential Election, watching parties and the like, it's not on the staff team if nobody did.

 

The State of San Andreas replaces the State of California for continuity purposes.