Political Parties in Carolina

Political Parties in Carolina, are mostly dominated by a two party system, however in recent years, Carolina is tending to move toward several more possibly major political parties, with the decline of the Progressive Party. Political parties in Carolina date back to the 1860's when Carolina first became a Federation under the British Empire. The Labor Party and Federal Party quickly became the largest parties, along with the Christian Democrat Party and Democratic Party. The Labor Party collapsed under poor leadership in the 1890's, which Carolina as a near one-party state. The Democratic Party became party from 1890-1910, however the Christian Democratic Party remained small and localized due to their far-right nature. During the Progressive Movement, the Progressive Party was born, and when the Democratic Party collapsed in the 1930's, the Progressive Party took over the role of the center-left political party. The Progressive Party has been in decline since the late 2000's with most of the fall being accredited to poor leadership and a bad reputation among voters. This has left the Federal Party in charge of the Carolinian Government as of 2017. Currently the largest third-party in Carolina is the Libertarian Party, however analysts believe that the newly formed New Democratic Party, will take over as the third or possibly second largest party in Carolina.

Modern Political Parties
The modern political parties in Carolina are dominated by the Federal and Progressive Parties, which have dominated politics since 1960.

Federal Party
The Federal Party, is one of the two major political parties in Carolina and generally the dominant center-right party in Carolina. Founded in 1863 in support of a new federalized union under the British Empire, the Federal Party began as more of a movement called the Federal Movement, and thereafter became a political party in the new federation. The Federal Party has remained the dominant political party throughout the 19th, 20th, and 21st centuries, with center-left parties traditionally failing because of poor leadership and increasing centerism.

The Federal Party has and continues to be the party which argues for more market friendly policies. The party also firmly supports the military of Carolina, seeing is as vital to protecting the country from threats, namely Cuba during the Cold War. The Federal Party now supports Carolina's main conservative platform, with other minor interests in economic liberalization, and social conservatism. The base of the party tends to come from Evangelical Christians, along with rural areas of Carolina.

President Nikki Haley is the current leader of the Federal Party. Since the 2010 midterm elections, Federal's have held an continuously growing majority over the Progressive Party.

Progressive Party
The Progressive Party was formed in 1912, however did not rise to a national level in Carolina until 1923 with the virtual dissolution of the Democratic Party. The Progressive Party was initially formed to help fight for the beliefs of the Progressive Era in Carolinian History which aimed to fix the negative affects of industrialization in the country. It was placed on a national stage faster than most of it's leader's expected it to. However this allowed for the party to achieve their goals, after they won a majority in the Parliament in 1924. Major issues that they were able to pass was woman suffrage, and workers laws. During the 1930's and 1940's the party began to assume the role of a center-right party, in the absence of another party to fulfil this goal. Prime Minister Adde is seen as a major policy setter for the Progressive Party, and set it on a stable track to achieve it's major goals without alienating potential voters. The Progressive Party was at the forefront of trying to repeal segregation in Carolina. However they generally were against the move to become a republic, which assumingly would have led segregation to be up to the Parliament or a new Congress to act upon. Progressive's seemingly wanted to let the British crown legislate the end of segregation for them, so they still could gain voters from the conservative side of Carolina. Today, the Progressive Party is in major decline, the reasons for which are debated. While President Heinemann was considered a good President, he easily bowed into the demands of the Federal's who dominated Congress for much of his tenure. Progressive's have also failed to find a common voice to unite voters, and individual candidate platforms are becoming more and more like their own political parties.

The Progressive Party generally have generally been in the center-left and currently support social justice, social liberalism, a mixed economy, and the welfare state, although Jackson Heinemann and other Progressive's have pushed for free trade and neoliberalism, which is seen to have shifted the party rightwards. The Progressive Party tends to be strongest in North Carolina, Georgia, and East Florida and in major urban centers.

Libertarian Party
The Libertarian Party was founded on October 17, 1983. They currently have about 32 elected officials, more than any of the other minor parties, including 4 state legislators.

The Libertarian Party's core mission is to reduce the size, influence and expenditures of all levels of government. To this effect, the party supports minimally regulated markets, a less powerful federal government, strong civil liberties, drug liberalization, separation of church and state, open immigration, non-interventionism and neutrality in diplomatic relations, free trade and free movement to all foreign countries, and a more representative republic.

New Democratic Party
The New Democratic Party is the newest political party, and has yet to run it's first election in Carolina. The party was filed with the Carolina Election Commission on September 2, 2017. It will be led by Kevin van Velsen, a senator from Tusquelois. 34 other local and national officials from Carolina have pledged support for the new party. Van Velsen was a former member of the Progressive Party, however left because he believed the party was shifting to far to the right. The New Democratic Party will operate on a social-democracy platform, which will be further to the left than the Progressive Party. Van Velsen hopes to gain support from millennials to help promote his party in a similar fashion to the movement Bernie Sanders created in the United States.