The United States of America in Jack’s time is not the one we live in now. One important difference is that they have lived through the Second Great Depression. My background has it happening when the Federal Government proved incapable of making payments on the debt. I have a detailed timeline, but don’t tend to put those dates in my stories. I’d prefer the march of time not wipe my stories out too soon, you know. 😉 One of the primary effects of the Second Great Depression in America was that it basically erased any lingering trust in the Feds for most Americans, which is why the various State governments became the powers they are in Jack’s time. The States stepped up, the States brought order back, and the States resurrected the Federal Government in a far more manageable form. One that wouldn’t get out of their control again. Or so they hoped.