Political parties of Lower Columbia

This article describes the history and role of political parties in Lower Columbian politics, and briefly outlines the major national political parties. More detailed descriptions of each party, as well as of the minor political parties with representation in the Lower Columbian Parliament, are available in separate articles.

Political parties have dominated Lower Columbian politics for most of the kingdom's history, but the current three-party system is relatively young; the youngest of the three parties, the Libertarian Party, is only about 80 years old, while the other two major parties are each over 120 years old. While early national politics lacked formal political parties, the loose alliances of various political interests that did exist in the early 18th century later gave rise to the first of Lower Columbia's true political parties. For much of the kingdom's history, there was no legislation dealing with political parties whatsoever; it was not until the 20th century that the Constitution of Lower Columbia was amended to take the reality of political parties into account.

Modern political party system
Current politics in Lower Columbia is dominated by a three-party system; the dominant parties are the Conservative Party, the Libertarian Party, and the Progressive Party. These three parties have shared control of Parliament since 1935, whether by themselves or in coalitions with one another, and two of their leaders have been the Lords of Parliament since 1887.

Conservative Party
The Conservative Party, associated with light blue, has held parliamentary power the most in Lower Columbia's history. They have had nine constitutional mandates and been part of 13 coalition governments, mostly with the Libertarians. Their stronghold and common affiliations are with the national heartland and Puget Sound.

The Conservatives are most often identified as war-hawks, since they have historically supported territorial expansion and increased defense spending. They are also the most pro-business of the major parties, favoring free-market economic policies and as few regulations as possible. In addition, the Conservatives favor small government and fiscal responsibility, which together have resulted in Lower Columbia having a very small national debt. True to their name, their social policies are very conservative, with a heavy focus on patriotism as the motivating factor for continuing the compulsory military service program, tough restrictions on immigration and encouraging new immigrants to both acculturate quickly to the nation and seek to become citizens. The Conservatives also strongly support freedom of speech and gun ownership rights while opposing the establishment of a welfare state, legalization of abortion and recreational drugs, and disestablishment of Christianity as the government religion. Nationwide, about 28% of voters support the Conservative Party.

Libertarian Party
After the Conservatives, the Libertarians have had a mandate to govern most often, having had four mandates and been in 11 coalition governments. They are frequently identified with the interior and the south. They are known as the Yellow Party. Like the Conservatives, the Libertarians favor minimal government control over the economy and maintaining a strong military. Where they are most different, however, is in their social policies; their support for lower restrictions on immigration has made them more popular over the past 20 years. Furthermore, they support most of the social policies that the Conservatives oppose, in addition to maintaining the lack of government control over marriage and broader freedom of expression. Approximately 41% of the electorate supports the Libertarian Party.

Progressive Party
The red Progressives are the least popular party in Lower Columbia, as the few times they have been in power have generally resulted in economic downturns. They have only had three mandates since organizing over 120 years ago, and they have been part of eight ruling coalitions. They are most popular in the eastern regions and Vancouver. Much of their unpopularity is due to their support for stronger government controls over the economy and other anti-business policies, which together have been attributed with many of the country's financial slumps and recessions. While their support for the continued recognition of Christianity as the federal government's religion and for most of the same social policies as the Libertarians has at times helped and hurt their popularity, their calls for stricter environmental regulations and reduced military spending have generated the most controversy. The Progressive Party enjoys the support of roughly 19% of voters nationwide.

Minor parties
The remaining 12% of voters are split between independents (who make up three percent of the electorate) and four parties that, collectively, have only rarely held more than 50 seats in Parliament. Those parties are: the Green Party, whose environmental radicalism is widely scorned; the Workers' Party, made up mostly of democratic socialists; the Republican Party, which demands an end to the monarchy; and the Columbia First Party, which is highly isolationistic and seeks to establish a state church with compulsory membership for all citizens. Those parties' colors are green, pink, orange and dark blue, respectively.

Early non-partisan alliances
The original text of the Lower Columbian Constitution does not contain any mention of political parties, since none existed anywhere in the world at the time, and the founders neither expected nor approved of partisan politics developing in their new kingdom. King Edward himself was strongly opposed to the principle of partisan politics, out of concern that excessive factionalism would polarize the populace and lead to political stagnation. Nevertheless, it did not take long for national politicians to form loose alliances among themselves for the purpose of advancing their desired political agendas.

Evolution of party systems
Once partisan politics took hold nationwide, a series of four distinct party systems followed. The modern party system described above is the Fourth Party System; the three systems that preceded it are summarized below.

First Party System, 1751-1803
The First Party System emerged in 1751, shortly after the first official political parties were organized; it lasted until 1803. The two dominant parties during this era were the Tories and the Democrats. The Tories advocated the primacy of the King and a strong federal government, while the Democrats sought to strengthen Parliament and give the states more power. Due to the Tories' support for the unpopular King Michael I in the late 1790s, they suffered a devastating loss in the parliamentary election of 1799, from which they never recovered. Although they continued to form a minority in the Democrat-controlled Parliament elected in 1799, their support base eroded quickly, and they disbanded after winning no seats in the 1803 general election.

Second Party System, 1803-1855
In the months before the 1803 elections, the Democratic Party, which no longer had any significant opposition, split into two new parties, the Whigs and the Liberals. These two parties formed the Second Party System and exchanged control of Parliament between 1803 and 1855. The Whigs favored economic protectionism and agrarianism, along with an isolationist foreign policy and pacifism; their periods of dominance typically resulted in significant cuts to the military. The Liberal Party, on the other hand, promoted modernization programs, free trade, territorial expansion, and strengthening the military.

The Whig-dominated Parliament elected in 1851 was largely blamed for Lower Columbia's unpreparedness after Upper Columbia invaded in 1852; they lost their mandate to govern in 1853 and collapsed shortly thereafter. The Liberals took this opportunity to rebuild the military, although they suffered from their own internal problems.

Third Party System, 1855-1887
With no unified opposition, the Liberal Party began to fracture, as many of its members began chafing at the demands that King David II made on them to improve the kingdom's war effort. These politicians split from the Liberal Party ahead of the 1855 general election to form the Republican Party, which sought to strengthen Parliament against the King. Most of the remaining Liberals reorganized to become the Royalist Party, which would be the Republicans' dominant opponents for the duration of the Third Party System. The other Liberals maintained their old party's name, although they were relegated to being a minor party, and they never again won more than 20% of the seats in any parliamentary election.

As their names imply, the Royalists and Republicans mainly fought over the status of the monarchy in Lower Columbia. The Royalists wanted to maintain the monarchy, while the Republicans attempted to eliminate it and reform the country into a presidential republic. The Republicans also supported many populist causes, including unionization, economic protectionism, and the expansion of social programs to benefit the poor. By contrast, the Royalists mainly supported industrialists and religious institutions. These two parties' hold over national politics came to an end with the formation of the Progressive Party and its first electoral victory in 1887. Many supporters of the Republicans' populist policies moved to this new party, as did most the of remaining Liberals. Defeated, the Royalists formed a new political strategy and reogranized as the Conservative Party ahead of the general elections of 1891.