History Main / OppressiveStatesOfAmerica

* ''The Gray State'' is a controversial film about an America in the grip of martial law.

[[folder:Real Life ]]

In a political work that is left-leaning, expect to see this trope overlap with The Boorish version of {{Eagleland}}, an America where [[TheTheocracy separation of church and state no longer exists]] and in which the [[EveryManHasHisPrice government is in the pockets]] of [[CorruptCorporateExecutive crooked businessmen]] and [[GeneralRipper warmongers]] - or a [[WarForFunAndProfit combination of both]], all sponsored by the [[PresidentEvil brutal and crooked president]]. Right-leaning works will favor a CommieLand America, with shades of either old-style Stalinism or '60s radicalism depending on the period the work came from; or since the end of the UsefulNotes/ColdWar, [[UsefulNotes/TheWarOnTerror radical Islamists imposing Sharia law]], in which the [[NotSoDifferent separation of church and state no longer exists]]. Libertarian and centrist works will often take elements of both of these portrayals.

* The [=US=] is well into this trope in ''TabletopGame/{{GURPS}} Cyberworld'' ... '''before''' the government gets around to formally suspending the Constitution. The Provisional President makes regular speeches about the upcoming end to the Permanent Emergency and a return to democracy, but no one with a working brain believes those speeches.

* The game ''TabletopGame/{{SIGMATA}}'' is set in an alternate [=80s=] era America that has been taken over by homegrown fascism, but is meant to draw parallels to America under ''UsefulNotes/DonaldTrump'', who was President when the game was released. The police and the military have been consolidated into one body called the "Freedom Fist" that enforces a nationalistic and oppressive rule across America. Immigrants are hauled into internment camps for daring to outstay their welcome. The media are controlled, and all forms of communication are used to try to catch would-be resisters; the only hope the five groups that make up the resistance have is The Signal, which gives those that have been attuned to it the power to fight back against the Freedom Fist and the Regime.

* The game ''TabletopGame/{{SIGMATA}}'' is set in an alternate [=80s=] era America that has been taken over by homegrown fascism, but is meant to draw parallels to what is happening in America now. The police and the military have been consolidated into one body called the "Freedom Fist" that enforces a nationalistic and oppressive rule across America. Immigrants are hauled into internment camps for daring to outstay their welcome. The media are controlled, and all forms of communication are used to try to catch would-be resisters; the only hope the five groups that make up the resistance have is The Signal, which gives those that have been attuned to it the power to fight back against the Freedom Fist and the Regime.

TwentyMinutesIntoTheFuture, or perhaps an AlternateHistory gone wrong, the United States is [[BrokenPedestal no longer the shining beacon of democracy that it once was]]. Perhaps [[CivilWar civil]] [[DividedStatesOfAmerica war]] and/or an [[InvadedStatesOfAmerica invasion]] has turned the country into TheDictatorship, [[MegaCorp corporate influence has undermined]] the democratic ideals the nation once held, a [[CorruptChurch theocratic religious movement]] has taken control of the government, or democracy has been [[EmergencyAuthority suspended in order to fight off]] external or internal threats, real and/or imagined. Whatever the reason, [[BlatantLies the nation is only a]] [[DemocracyIsBad democracy in name]], or sometimes, not even that if the [[AtLeastIAdmitIt regime is painfully honest.]]

In a political work that is left-leaning, expect to see this trope overlap with The Boorish version of {{Eagleland}}, an America where [[TheTheocracy separation of church and state no longer exists]] and in which the [[EveryManHasHisPrice government is in the pockets]] of [[CorruptCorporateExecutive crooked businessmen]] and [[GeneralRipper warmongers]] - or a [[WarForFunAndProfit combination of both]], all sponsored by the [[PresidentEvil brutal and crooked president]]. Right-leaning works will favor a CommieLand America, with shades of either old-style Stalinism or '60s radicalism depending on the period the work came from; or since the end of the UsefulNotes/ColdWar, [[UsefulNotes/TheWarOnTerror radical Islamists imposing Sharia law]], in which the [[NotSoDifferent separation of church and state no longer exists]]. Libertarian works will often take elements of both of these portrayals.

'''No Real Life Examples past the UsefulNotes/CivilRightsMovement of the 1960s.''' Needless to say, many ideologues and {{conspiracy theorist}}s on all extremes of the political spectrum believe this trope to be TruthInTelevision, some tropers and readers could probably write an essay complete with citations about how it is truthful, let's just leave it at that.

* ''ComicBook/SupermanRedSon'' involves virtually the whole world becoming Communist thanks to Superman solving various economic problems. The US in an exception: its economy is on the verge of collapse and there is a mention of tanks in the streets of New York to suppress food riots. There's also a mention of a [[TakeThat President Friedman]].

* Quite a few of the ''ComicBook/ChickTracts'' are set in these sorts of futures.

* In ''Literature/WeAreLegionWeAreBob'', when Bob is re-awakened 117 years after being hit by a car, he learns that the US was taken over by the religious right and transformed into the Free American Independent Theocratic Hegemony (FAITH for short). Incorrect thought is remedied by brainwashing straight out of ''Film/AClockworkOrange'', numerous theocratic factions are too busy fighting with one another to actually run the country, the internet is gone (the information there is hard to control), and history has undergone many revisions by the government.

** The suppression of dissidents that occurred during our World War I is slightly worse, resulting in the arrest of socialist politicians, and even respected statesmen like ''Robert La Follette.''

* A somewhat lighter example in ''Literature/NewDealCoalitionRetained''. Under the administration of President [[spoiler: Ted Bundy]], the US passes heavily draconian anti-drug laws, and the National Guard is repeatedly used in large-scale roundups of drug users. Simultaneously, hate groups (many of which have started peddling drugs) are banned and similarly rounded up. Critics repeatedly bring up how these actions violate civil liberties and free speech.

TwentyMinutesIntoTheFuture, or perhaps an AlternateHistory gone wrong, the United States is [[BrokenPedestal no longer the shining beacon of democracy that it once was]]. Perhaps [[CivilWar civil]] [[DividedStatesOfAmerica war]] and/or an [[InvadedStatesOfAmerica invasion]] has put the country into TheDictatorship out of necessity, [[MegaCorp corporate influence has undermined]] the democratic ideals the nation once held, a [[CorruptChurch theocratic religious movement]] has taken control of the government, or democracy has been [[EmergencyAuthority suspended in order to fight off]] external or internal threats, real and/or imagined. Whatever the reason, [[BlatantLies the nation is only a]] [[DemocracyIsBad democracy in name]], or sometimes, not even that if the [[AtLeastIAdmitIt regime is painfully honest.]]

TwentyMinutesIntoTheFuture, or perhaps an AlternateHistory gone wrong, the United States is [[BrokenPedestal no longer the shining beacon of democracy that it once was]]. Perhaps [[CivilWar civil]] [[DividedStatesOfAmerica war]] and/or an [[InvadedStatesOfAmerica invasion]] has put the country into a dictatorship out of necessity, [[MegaCorp corporate influence has undermined]] the democratic ideals the nation once held, a [[CorruptChurch theocratic religious movement]] has taken control of the government, or democracy has been [[EmergencyAuthority suspended in order to fight off]] external or internal threats, real and/or imagined. Whatever the reason, [[BlatantLies the nation is only a]] [[DemocracyIsBad democracy in name]], or sometimes, not even that if the [[AtLeastIAdmitIt regime is painfully honest.]]

* It was not great for American women before they got the right to vote (after the Nineteenth Amendment, ratified in 1920).
** Married women usually weren't allowed to own property, and if they were, they couldn't control it.
** All of their wages, provided they weren't {{housewi|fe}}ves, went to their husbands.
** American women lost their citizenship if they married a foreigner.
** If they divorced their husbands, it would cost them custody of their children.

** If UsefulNotes/DouglasMacArthur becomes president in the events that lead to the Second American Civil War, then he can either become {{Cincinatus}} and step down after the war has ended, or more likely he'll decide to keep his "emergency powers" and become PresidentForLife, maintaining his military junta indefinitely. Even the former outcome has a horrible precedent for American human rights and democracy.

[[folder:Webcomics]]
* In ''Webcomic/{{Sinfest}}'', Uncle Sam often appears in strips depicting this. Men In Black also show up.
* This is the entire premise of ''Webcomic/{{Remus}}''.
[[/folder]]

Can overlap with FallenStatesOfAmerica, if the nation has become a dictatorship as a result of the fallen status, or is one of the reasons behind it, although it is possible for the US to still be a superpower, or at least still be a "first-world nation". DividedStatesOfAmerica or a SecondAmericanCivilWar is also a possible trope as well, as the remaining US government may be trying to keep what is left of the nation together by any means possible, if the oppressive was not the cause of the CivilWar to begin with, (Oh course [[TheRevolutionWillNotBeCivilized The revolution may not be civilized as well.]])

** When a Worker's Party wins the 1932 election in a landslide, First Secretary Nicholas Longworth and General UsefulNotes/DouglasMacArthur successfully pressures outgoing President UsefulNotes/HerbertHoover to suspend the Constitution, parving the way for the assassination of the Socialist President-Elect Norman Thomas and a mass arrest of the Worker's Party leading members. The so-called [[NonIndicativename Freedom Corps]] attempt to put down any opposition, notably massacring Huey Long and disloyal members of the Louisiana State Legislature when they openly protest against this bold-faced subversion of the Constitution. This is the final straw sets the stage for the Civil War from which the UASR will be birthed.

** When a Worker's Party wins the 1932 election in a landslide, First Secretary Nicholas Longworth and General Douglas [=MacArthur=] successfully pressures outgoing President Herbert Hoover to suspend the Constitution, parving the way for the assassination of the Socialist President-Elect Norman Thomas and a mass arrest of the Worker's Party leading members. The so-called [[NonIndicativename Freedom Corps]] attempt to put down any opposition, notably massacring Huey Long and disloyal members of the Louisiana State Legislature when they openly protest against this bold-faced subversion of the Constitution. This is the final straw sets the stage for the Civil War from which the UASR will be birthed.

* In ''Literature/{{Reds}}'', due to UsefulNotes/WilliamMckinley not being assassinated by Leon Czolgosz (the rewrite re-imagines the point of divergence being a more unified Socialist movement by the end of the 1890s) a socialist regime takes control of America by revolution in 1933, and becomes the Union of American Socialist Republics (UASR). Not surprisingly, it was the attempt of previous administrations to suppress radical socialism [[SelfFulfillingProphecy that caused this revolution]]. This trope varies in its severity throughout this timeline:

** When a Worker's Party wins the 1932 election in a landslide, First Secretary Nicholas Longworth and General Douglas [=MacArthur=] successfully pressures outgoing President Herbert Hoover to suspend the Constitution, parving the way for the assassination of the Socialist President-Elect Norman Thomas and a mass arrest of the Worker's Party leading members. The so-called [[NonIndicativename Freedom Corps]] attempt to put down any opposition, notably massacring Huey Long and disloyal members of the Louisiana State Legislature. This is the final straw sets the stage for the UASR.
** The remnants of the US government and their supporters flee to Cuba and establish a new government, with [=Douglas MacArthur=] as PresidentEvil. He proceeds to oppress the Cuban population. It's implied that this will be subverted in the later years of the Cuban-US nation.

* It was not great for American women before they got the right to vote.

* LGBT people at various points.
** Same-sex marriage wasn't legal federally until 2015, meaning that couples who were [[CommonLawMarriage for all intents and purposes a married couple]] lacked the rights of their heterosexual/different-sex counterparts. One of the most notable is the right to their spouse's property after they die and visitation rights should one of them become infirmed.
** Until 2003, several states banned sex between men (the laws usually didn't cover any sexual acts by two women), before being overturned in the case of ''Lawrence vs. Texas''. Prior to this, most states had already repealed such laws beginning in the 1960s.

* In Philip K Dick’s novel “Flow My Tears, The Policeman Said”, the police and the National Guard (often refered to as “pols” and “nats” in the story) have come to restore order and install a dictatorship in the United States following a Second Civil War. They enforce checkpoints throughout the country, and those who don’t provide identification are shipped off to labor camps.

* Strongly implied in ''Literature/{{Illuminatus}}'', and would naturally come up in any work of fiction where TheIlluminati (or a similar AncientConspiracy) are the ones REALLY running the country.
** The country isn't actually depicted as any more oppressive than the real life United States during the Vietnam war, but it ''is'' depicted as incompetent and monomaniac, and easily manipulated by TheIlluminati towards the total loss of personal privacy and permanent state of martial law. [[spoiler:Supposedly. But even that is just another case of misdirection, since the conspiracy's true goal is the near-extinction of all humanity.]]

* In ''Literature/TheHungerGames'', after an unspecified collapse of civilization (possibly involving some major geographic changes) the U.S. has become a tyrannical autocracy renamed "Panem" and is split into twelve districts. This name is derived from [[GratuitousLatin the Latin phrase "panem et cicenses"]] or "BreadAndCircuses," hence Peeta being the son of a baker and the eponymous "Games" serving as circuses to entertain the masses and keep them in check.

** The Literature/Timeline191 series by the same author features a US that, having lost two wars to a Confederate/Britain/France alliance, has allied closely with Imperial Germany. The nation is increasingly regimented and militarized, everything is strictly rationed, and conscription is universal. A series of Mormon uprisings causes the government to simply ban the Mormon church, and the administration of occupied Canada, Texas, and Kentucky is extremely brutal, with suspected criminals executed without trial, hostages taken in retaliation for guerilla activity, and (oddly given that the main political divide in the setting is the Democrats and the Socialist Party) virtually no safety or labor rights laws. The Confederacy isn't as strife-ridden, at least for most of the series, but much more racist, and becomes genocidally paranoid when engaged in its last war with the oppressive Union.

* The Series/{{Sliders}} visited several examples of this, such as an alternate-history America in which [[RichardNixonTheUsedCarSalesman J Edgar Hoover had become president]], leading within a few decades to a totalitarian US in which the government was woefully underfunded, organised criminals ran the economy, and [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking the police wore kilts]].

* ''Series/TheHandmaidsTale'', like the novel before it. It keeps the same setting as the book (Boston and Cambridge, MA), but ''seeing'' those liberal bastions transformed under an oppressive theocracy gives the series extra shock value.
** In the flashbacks of the time leading up to the "official" founding of Gilead, things were not much better. Riot police respond to a march of people protesting the law stripping women of their property rights by firing on them with heavy machine guns.

** President UsefulNotes/WoodrowWilson would later pass similar laws as justification for the imprisonment of anti-war activists, socialists and other dissidents during WWI. This continued after the war with the First Red Scare, 1919-20.

** In California, the only reason the education department did not adopt draconian policies similar to those in [[TheDeepSouth Southern states]] was because beginning with the the ruling of the [[http://www.sandiegohistory.org/journal/1986/april/lemongrove/ ''Lemon Grove'' case]] and culminating with [[https://www.npr.org/sections/codeswitch/2014/05/16/312555636/before-brown-v-board-mendez-fought-californias-segregated-schools "Mendez vs. Westminster",]] the California supreme court stated that racially segregating schools was illegal under state law.

** Until

** On the Union side, Maryland was put under martial law to prevent it from seceding, and suspected sympathizers to the Confederacy could be arrested without warrant or trial. In spite of the historically famous stance against slavery, even freed black people ran the risk of being mistaken for escaped slaves before the war and could very easily be sold back into on nothing more than the word of a single white man.
** In the Confederacy, meanwhile, Union sympathizers (especially in Appalachia) found themselves terrorized by the secessionist governments, to the point where northwestern Virginia (a solidly pro-Union area in a Confederate state) [[RebelliousRebel counter-seceded]] and formed the pro-Union state of West Virginia. The Confederate central government also put down any attempts to increase local autonomy and of course, continued practicing slavery.

** All their wages went to their husbands.

** American women lose their citizenship if they married a foreigner.
** If they divorce their husbands, they will lose custody of their children.

* The game ''TabletopGame/{{SIGMATA}}'' is set in an alternate world where homegrown fascism has taken over America, but is meant to draw parallels to what is happening in America now. The police and the military have been consolidated into one body called the "Freedom Fist" that enforces a nationalistic and oppressive rule across America. Immigrants are hauled into internment camps for daring to outstay their welcome. The media are controlled, and all forms of communication are used to try to catch would-be resisters; the only hope the five groups that make up the resistance have is The Signal, which gives those that have been attuned to it the power to fight back against the Freedom Fist and the Regime.

[[caption-width-right:349:Land of the free.]]

[[caption-width-right:349:[[BlatantLies The land of the free and the home of the brave, ladies and gentlemen]].]]

'''Sergeant Malloy:''' The United States is a no-smoking nation. No smoking, no drinking, no drugs. No women -- unless of course you're married. No guns, no foul language... no red meat.\\

* In ''Literature/{{Reds}}'', due to UsefulNotes/WilliamMckinley not being assassinated by Leon Czolgosz (the rewrite re-imagines the point of divergence being a more unified Socialist movement by the end of the 1890s) a socialist regime takes control of America by revolution in 1933, and becomes the Union of American Socialist Republics (UASR). Not surprisingly, it was the attempt of previous administrations to suppress radical socialism [[SelfFulfillingProphecy that caused this revolution.]] This trope varies in its severity throughout this timeline:

** When a Worker's Party wins the 1932 election in a landslide, Douglas [=MacArthur=] successfully pressures Herbert Hoover to suspend the Constitution, and to arrest the Worker's Party members. The so-called [[NonIndicativename Freedom Corps]] attempt to put down any opposition, notably massacring Huey Long and disloyal members of the Louisiana State Legislature. This is the final straw sets the stage for the UASR.

** The early years of the UASR are a downplayed version of this trope. Many people are dealt with by KangarooCourt and firing squads, but it is nowhere near the scale of the Soviet Union, and many of the sentenced were responsible for suppressing American democracy. These actions are still seen in-universe as a black spot on the history of the UASR, but none of the UASR leaders are portrayed as evil for them.