New Washington
New Washington is an American colony settled on Mars.
History
The colony was established in the early 2900's and developed fairly quickly into one of Mars major cities. However, since it is a fairly young colony compared to Mars older colonies, it is quite often referred to as "The Toddler Colony". The first settlers were mainly NASA workers who established a research base. However, in time the base got its own economy which lead to the base expanding in societal structures. As more emigrants arrived, what was once purely a research base, became more and more a society.
As the colony grew more power structures were needed. In time an electoral system was introduced to elect New Washington's mayor. The first mayor to be elected was Ariana Theodor, who now has their own statue outside of the NASA base. In time more institutions such as courts, schools, fire departments, healthcare systems and even police was introduced due to the increasing population.
A major event in the history of New Washington was the "Road to infinity", which was the nickname of the infrastructure program introduced by Ariana Theodor in her last year in elected office. The program aimed to link New Washington with Chaoyang, the Chinese settlement on Mars, and was co-founded by both settlements. The program got its nickname due to the long distance between the settlements.
Electoral system
The elections is taking place every eight year. In the election the voters do not vote for one party but individual candidates for different ministerial posts. The system has become highly criticized in the USA since it does not follow the democratic process established in the American constitution. Some politicians have even gone so far as to consider it an act of revolution and therefor have prompted the senate to send troops to establish a just system. However, due to already ongoing wars this has not yet been seen as a realistic option and therefor New Washington's electoral system has yet remained untouched.
Sights
Perhaps the most famous sight in New Washington is the NASA base which is the center of the whole colony. Outside the base is the 15 meter high statue of New Washington's first mayor Ariana Theodor. In the south there is a viewpoint over Red Canyon and a few kilometers northwest of New Washington is the famous carving on the mountain wall in the shape of a bald eagle.
Defenses
It might come as a surprise to many that Mars colonies rarely have any military equipment. This can be explained by a few different factors. First of all, Mars colonies have only recently grown in size to the point where even police is needed, let alone military. Secondly, therefor for the same reason there has been no major transportation of weaponry to Mars, and as long as no colonial power has transported weaponry there, there is really no need for any other to do so neither. Thirdly, most of the valuable research is being directly transferred to earth and stored there. And as for resources there is yet no real competition for it since the planet is big and the colonies are small. Therefor there has been no need for a military conflict of yet. Lastly, due to the ongoing wars on earth colonial warfare has not been in the interest of the colonial powers, on the contrary they have shared the desire to not move the conflict to another arena. Because of all these factors, weapons are few and scarce in New Washington.
Culture
Initially New Washington gladly accepted emigrants, although over time more residents have been more skeptical of allowing emigrants in to New Washington. The reason is that the established residents believe that the American emigrants bring violence with them due to their exposure to war. This attitude has also aggravated many politicians in the American senate who do not believe it is up to the population of New Washington to dictate emigration policies of USA:s own colony, especially when the policy is based on prejudice alone. All the same more politicians in New Washington have come out as supporters of stricter emigrant control and reduced intake of new emigrants. This is another reason why several politicians in the senate proposes to send troops to the colony to establish governmental control. Which in turn makes other colonial powers nervous since they would have to do the same if America decided to send troops there.
