Social Democratic Party (NASC)
Social Democratic Party | |
|---|---|
| File:SDP Rose.jpg | |
| English name | Social Democratic Party |
| Spanish name | Partido Socialdemócrata |
| Verde/ name | Partido Socialdemócrata |
| Keld Neterlingua name | Partidad Sozial Demócratìca |
| Leader | Alejandro Cristobal |
| President | Maria Teresa Colòn |
| Chairperson | Alejandro Cristobal |
| Secretary-General | Maria Teresa Colòn |
| Spokesperson | Maria Teresa Colòn |
| Founder | Joseph Pierce |
| Founded | 12. October. 2032 |
| Headquarters | New York City, New England |
| Newspaper | The Voice of Progress |
| Youth wing | Young Social Democrats |
| Membership (2066) | 45,697,955,  29,954,476 (Since 2064) |
| Ideology | Social Democracy
Internal Factions |
| Political position | Left-wing |
| National affiliation | Democratic Socialist Alliance |
| Colors | Teal |
| Slogan | "Humanity and Progress" |
| Ministries | Natalya Valinova (Foreign Minister) |
| Parliament | 200 / 1,500
|
| Congress of Soviets | 35 / 250
|
| The Supreme Court | 1 / 13
|
| Election symbol | |
| The Red Rose | |
| Website | |
| www.socialdemocrats.nasc | |
Politics in the North American Socialist Commonwealth, Political Parties in the North American Socialist Commonwealth | |
The Social Democratic Party is a Social Democratic Commonwealther Political Party. The Party was founded in 2032 in preparation for the first national elections in Commonwealther history.
Currently the chair of the Party is Alejandro Cristobal who has been serving as Party Chair since his inauguration as General Secretary of the Parliament. Currently, the Social Democratic Party is the largest single party in the Commonwealth's National Government holding 355 of 1,800 Parliamentary seats and 51 of 250 seats in the Congress of Soviets, as well as the Presidency, and the Prime Ministry. It is currently part of the largest Alliance in the Commonwealther politics, the Democratic Socialist Alliance.
The Social Democratic Party is the most centrist party of its Alliance, which is part of the left most part of the Commonwealth's core body politic (A trifecta known as Soc-Lib-Con). The Social Democrat's party color is a light blue or teal in sharp contrast to the reds normally found amongst Left Wing Parties.
Currently there are roughly 76,000,000 registered members (according to Party records from the 2062 and 2064), making the largest political party. The Social Democrats are in a minority government as the Senior Party in the Democratic Socialist Alliance, and are in governments in most of the Commonwealth's Administrative Districts.
History
Foundation and Early History
The Social Democratic Party was formed shortly after ratification of the Commonwealth's constitution was completed. Though much of the process behind the ratification has been shrouded in a fair bit of secrecy, it was apparent that while most of the people of the young Commonwealth were mostly supportive of the core ideals of the Revolution (Life, Liberty, and Equality), they were hesitant to take the hard line stances of the Young Socialists (recently reformed as the Socialist Worker's Party). As a result a more moderate group of revolutionaries who had participated in the revolution formed the Social Democratic Party, which pushed for a more moderate reformist stance.
While ideologically similar to the Socialist Worker's Party, the Social Democratic Party managed to be moderate enough to win large amounts of votes throughout the country, in light of the lack of any meaningful opposition other than the SWP (as more rightist parties were still trying to recover from the Revolution and its after effects). As a result, the Social Democrats managed to take nearly 750 seats in Parliament by itself (as well as 87 in the Congress of Soviets, the largest percentile it would ever win, and formed a clear majority government with the Socialist Worker's Party.
During the first term of the Commonwealth Parliament, the Social Democrats and the Socialists managed to push through several key elements of Commonwealther law and society, such as the codification of Three Squares and a Roof, and the establishment of State Higher Education and Trust for research. The Social Democrats in this term managed to build up the Commonwealth during its early foundational period, speeding up recovery from multiple major recessions and a major war.
The Early Decline of the Social Democratic Party
After the first elections serious opposition to the Left Wing government of the Commonwealth began to emerge, particularly in the form of the predominantly Center-Right Alliance of the Liberal Democratic Party and the Progressive Party which had been pooling their resources and building up a potent propaganda machine for the next election cycle. Sure enough the Social Democrats lost significant ground in Parliament and the Congress of Soviets, barely managing to hold onto a Majority Government with the Socialists.
The Socialists and Social Democrats did however manage to come to an agreement of sorts and formed their own Semi-Permanent Alliance, pooling their resources. This Alliance managed to gain some ground in the following Parliamentary Cycle and demonstrated to most political parties that Alliances where very valuable, thus founding the Alliance system which has come to dominate the Commonwealth's body politic to this day.
This victory was short lived however, as more and more opposition parties sprung up eating away at the total voting pool, and the Social Democrats saw a steady decline throughout the late 2030s and into the 2040s. With the Green Party joining up with the Liberal Democrats and Progressives in the 2042 election cycle the Social Democrats were finally pushed into the opposition's position.
2040s
Throughout the 2040s, the Social Democrats were locked into competition with the Liberal Democrats over who would run the country. The Liberal Democrats managed to hold onto a Majority government in the early 2040s through coalition building at first attracting and keeping the Greens in the Alliance, and once that was largely secured forming a coalition government with the Market Conservative Alliance. However, in the latter half of the 2040s the Social Democrats managed to do some alliance building of their own scoring a tenuous alliance with the ascendant Communist People's Party, managing to form a majority coalition when teaming up with the Authoritarian Revolutionary Left Alliance in an "unholy" alliance.
As the 2040s came to a close however, the Social Democrats found themselves in a weaker position. After the 2048 elections the Coalition with the Revolutionary Left broke up (as the Communist Revolutionary Party pulled the Alliance out of the coalition in spite of protest from the then small Militarist Party), damaging the prospects of the Democratic Socialist Alliance as a whole. In the 2050 elections the DSA managed to form a minority government, but prospects looked quite grim.
The Rise of the Militarist Party and the Coup
During the early and mid 2050s the Militarist Party managed to perform quite well, gaining votes through a powerful platform that combined nationalism with a highly effective propaganda machine that resulted in huge growth as many of the more hawkish Social Democrats and Socialists defected away from those parties. This factor combined with the Communist People's Party breaking away from the DSA resulted in a crushing defeat, with the Social Democrats themselves being displaced from the largest party to the third in one election cycle.
Much of the early and middle 2050s saw the Social Democrats and the DSA as a whole as the chief or secondary opposition, and the Liberal Democrats the dominant party thanks to a major spoiler effect from the Militarists. However, looming before the 2056 Parliamentary elections, the Liberal Democratic Party's Leader, Joseph Gordon, was found out to have used illegal bugging to manufacture a scandal in forcing out the prior party leader. This scandal, paired with a highly effective campaigning effort spearheaded by the young Valinova (who was at that time Foreign Minister) saw the Social Democrats back in power, with a highly charismatic and energetic new President.
Roughly halfway into that Parliamentary Cycle, an element of the government, spearheaded by the Militarist Party began to maneuver key elements of the Military away from critical parts of the Commonwealth. President Valinova staged protests, but the Militarist Party War Minister managed to use his own power to safeguard these movements. All of this was a lead up to the Phonencian Conflict, which was a convenient excuse for the War Minister to move suspected Loyal units of the Commonwealth Defense Force away from the Commonwealth in a prelude to a coup de tât. During the coup the Social Democrats were targeted as the main opposition to Militarist aims, and were the primary targets during the assassination of Parliament and the Congress of Soviets, and the attempted assassination of President Valinova. However, with Phonencian aid the coup was crushed (thanks in no part to the Phonencian Emperor realizing that the conflict was used merely as a convenient fuel for the coup). During the interregnum the Valinova emergency government managed to restore pre-coup law and reduce the powers of the War Minister significantly.
The "Valinova Golden Age"
Despite what many feared of the brief interregnum period Valinova stepped down from her near complete control of the government and initiated emergency elections. Her handling of the situation saw the Social Democrats and the DSA to the largest majority government they had since 2034 and kicked off what many call the "Valinova Golden Age". This was a time of relative peace between the end of the coup and the closing shots of the Arthuristan Civil War.
During this time period the Social Democrats saw a healthy government, and encountered few large problems, allowing them to maintain control of the government. Through Valinova's abilities they managed to keep, for an extended period the three party (Social Democratic, Socialist Worker's, and Communist People's) Democratic Socialist Party alive and as a solid block. Party policy and alliance policy was maintained and championed throughout this time period, allowing for relatively smooth governance. The Golden Age proper was ended with the Arthuristan Civil War which saw renewed fear of another governmental takeover and the reopening of old issues.
The first elections after the war saw the Social Democrats being pushed from a majority government to a minority government, and saw the old frictions between the various parties of the DSA begin to reemerge, particularly between the Leftist and Moderate elements of the Alliance. The Social Democrat's support of a number of privatization measures (allowing cooperatives into the military arms markets, as well as support for a change in Article VIII of the constitution to raise the "personnel cap"), has stressed these fault lines further. With the announcement that Valinova would no longer be President, the SocDems lost a major source of the binding that kept the Democratic Socialist Alliance together.
2066 Elections
In the general election of 2066, the Social Democratic Party suffered a dramatic defeat, declining from first party in the national election to third, and suffered similar losses in Districts that did hold elections. This is attributed to the actions of the party in the run up to the elections. They supported a move to raise the personnel cap for business privatization, passing the 5th Amendment to the Constitution through the legislature. The announcement that President Valinova was stepping down from the office of President, and as a result vanguardship of the party proved a significant blow, as her charisma and force of presence was largely responsible for keeping the Democratic Socialist Alliance together. Her acceptance of a Ministerial office helped assauge this blow somewhat, but could not eliminate it completely. Lastly, the defection of the Orteguistas from many parties, including the Social Democrats to the Socialist Popular Front, headed by the former Socialist Worker's Party, as well as the increasing polarization of the Commonwealth's body politic saw the space for the Social Democrats decline. The collapse of the Coalition system made official the loss of the Social Democrats' prominence.
Ideology and Platform
The Social Democratic Party is a Social Democratic party oriented around an Interventionist state that promotes the general welfare of all Commonwealthers. The Social Democrats, in an effort to appeal to a broad base, has many internal factions, resulting in a plethora of economic and political viewpoints spanning from the very moderate center-left "Social Capitalists" to Mixed Economists and Market Socialists. The Social Democrats are generally socially libertarian, in clear support of the existing political structure and most of the existing social law. In the recent 2066 election, the Social Democrats lost a significant amount of support from their more leftist factions, seeing their withdrawal from the SocDems to join the Socialist Popular Front.
Domestic Policy Platform
The establishment of the Social Democratic party is in favor of maintaining the economic status quo mostly as is. They approve of the current system wherein the economy is mostly controlled by market forces. They do support The Keynesian System in the form of state guidance to help maintain economic balance and reduce the impact of market excesses and market failures. As the original champions of the Three Squares and a Roof policy, they wish to see it maintained as the primary means by which the common worker can survive and thrive in spite of the economic situation. In recent years, and in a bid to attract more voters and pull them away from their primary rivals, the Liberal Democrats, much of the party leadership has expressed support for raising the constitutional cap on "Small" business to a higher number and allow for greater privatization of the marketplace. The 2066 Election saw a reversal on this position, as both the Liberal Democrats (now the Democratic Liberty Party and the Social Democrats suffered major defeats.
They are completely in favor of the democratic order as it stands believing firmly in a Democratic Constitutional Republic as the best form of governance. They are in this respect the most moderate of their Alliance, as there are at least factions in the Socialist Party which support a change in the system, and the Communist People's Party has as an element of its platform the gradual replacement of the existing system with a more direct system. The Social Democratic Party is against the existing policy of capital punishment and is in favor phasing it out in favor of a system of lifetime government service.
On the topic of the Transhumanist vs Bioconservative debate, the Social Democrats are generally middling. While they favor limited Transhumanist efforts to improve humanity (genetic screening, and limited modifications to mitigate the effects of climate change), they generally wish to avoid the topic. The Social Democratic party until recently, was against the allowance of Artificial Intelligences into the Commonwealth but has recently aborted this position "in light of evidence presented to Parliament during a closed session", and supported the bill that would allow the Gracie units into service with the Commonwealth Navy. They supported expansion of the Gracie program, something which seemed to not have an impact on the election.
Foreign Policy Platform
The Social Democratic Party is generally in favor of the existing Commonwealther policy of multilateralism. The Social Democrats are in favor of creating and supporting alliances with other like minded nations throughout the Multiverse. The Social Democrats are against unilateral major military action without a valid cassus belli, and as such have avoided major confrontations with slaver states in favor of limited anti-slavery and anti-piracy operations. The Social Democrats are in favor of greater integration with Mystria and Meridon, in particular the Meridonian currency union.
Controversy
The Social Democratic Party is currently struggling with a growing rift between itself and its partners in the Democratic Socialist Alliance. Its reversal of economic position and general confrontation with its alliance mates is beginning to result in the fracturing of the alliance. It is highly suspected that President Valinova is retiring from politics specifically as a result of the stress of maintaining this alliance. It is suspected that once she does the junior partners in the DSA will break off and form their own alliance or even integrate into a unified party.
Several Social Democratic MPs have been accused of corruption in recent years, having seen a marked increase in their standards of living when they backed certain measures favoring the major biotech cooperatives of the Commonwealth. Most of these cases were resolved with the MPs being declared innocent, many in the Commonwealther general public still believe there to be misdeeds done. To this day three cases remain open on the floor of the Congress of Soviets, with the accused under threat of impeachment and possible further prosecution.
Valinova herself is not free from controversy. Many believe that her lack of evident aging, in spite of her somewhat stressful tenure as President is the result of her use of experimental anti-aging nanoviruses. While not technically illegal the use of such technology is considered a major social faux pas, especially when used by an incumbent member of high office. Valinova has of course denied these claims.
