Free When the Gods Aren't Gods: Book Two of The Theogony by Chris Kennedy Page B

Her tone of voice suggested that this point was not up for discussion.
    “The next questions that you are probably going to ask,” President Nehru guessed, “are how is this government going to work, and how do I know that it has my best interests at heart? As I have already stated, the Republic of Terra government will function similarly to the largest republics on the planet, with the current nations of Earth becoming states in the new republic. Although there will be some growing pains, I expect the transition to go fairly smoothly, as most people live under similar systems. For example, most of the participating nations have three branches of government to ensure the separation of power. The Republic of Terra also has three branches of government, the executive, the legislative and the judicial branches, so this should be very familiar to most of the people of Earth.”
    “Like India and the United States, the executive branch of the Republic of Terra will be led by a president, who will be elected indirectly by an electoral college of representatives from the current nations. The president will serve a five-year term and can be re-elected once. The legislative branch will have a bicameral, or two-house, parliament. The upper house, or ‘Council of States,’ will be made up of two representatives from each of the previously independent nations, who will serve in staggered, six-year terms. How each of these will be elected is up to the individual states. Seats in the lower house, or ‘House of the People,’ will be proportional to the individual state’s populations, with a seat given for every 50 million people or fraction thereof. That way, each nation will have at least one seat in the House of the People, regardless of its actual size. These representatives will also serve in staggered, six-year terms.”
    “ The judicial branch will be made up of a Supreme Court, which will oversee the efforts of the High Courts in each of the current member nations. Its function is not to impose new laws over the member states; instead, it is the ultimate interpreter of the constitution and will be empowered to strike down state laws which are in contravention to it. It will also have original jurisdiction over cases involving fundamental rights and disputes between the nation-states and the republic’s government.”
    “We intend for this nation to be built around order and the rule of law, led by an open and transparent government. No individual will be above the rules,” she said as she walked around to the front of the podium. “Delegates from all of the participating nations have developed this, our new seal, as a symbol of the government and people of the Republic of Terra.” She pointed to the golden eagle. “Our new nation is a nation born of war. The eagle, or garuda for many of our Asian population, is a strong, brave bird that symbolizes our nation’s strength through war, while the gold color symbolizes greatness and glory. Like the Seal of Indonesia, the feathers on the bird are symbolic. There are 22 feathers on each wing, five feathers on the tail, 20 feathers below the shield on its legs and the base of its tail and 20 feathers on its neck. If you put all of these together, you have today’s date, 22/5/2020, the date that our new republic was born.”
    “ The shield on the eagle’s chest is a martial symbol, standing for defense not only of the countries, but of the two planets in our republic. It has a background divided into quarters, colored black and white in a checkerboard pattern. The black quadrant bearing the golden star at the upper right corresponds to the belief in One Supreme God. The color black represents space and the star for the one God that exists no matter where we go. The star is a common symbol not only for Islam, Christianity, Hinduism and Buddhism, but also for the secular ideology of socialism as well. While this symbol may be disconcerting for some, there will not be any