Deleted member 139407
Exitus acta probat: A Washingtonian Party system
When the new republic of the United States was formed under the Constitution of 1787, soon-to-be-elected-President George Washington was startled to find American society forming into two distinct cliques. We know them, historically, as the Federalists, and the anti-Federalists (or the Anti-Administration and Republican parties). What Washington feared was that over time, the Constitution, and American society, would fall victim to partisan bickering and factionalization. So, with that and the evidently nonpartisan manner of the Constitution, President Washington went to the people with an idea: banning political parties. Many figureheads and politicians were quick to denounce this idea, in private, with the President as outwardly tyrannical and as an attack on both the Federalist Party and the Anti-Administration Party. So, through working with these same critiques, what would become colloquially known as the Washington Amendment was introduced for ratification. The Amendment would officially "ban" political parties at the Federal level allowing for state level apparati to function fully. While some republics to the modern day would only ban political parties in name by refusing to acknowledge them, this amendment effectively banned "parties" at the Federal Government. In the 1898 Supreme Court Case Debs v. United States, however, the amendment did not ban "Conferences" or "Political Action Committees" as rallying groups. While nonpartisan independents are still the majority force in Congress with the Senate being the only nonpartisan body (full-stop), since the 1898 ruling, "Conferences" of statewide parties have become a growing and prominent force. Below, you will see a representation of the House of Representatives as of the 2026 Midterm elections listed from most seats to least:
When the new republic of the United States was formed under the Constitution of 1787, soon-to-be-elected-President George Washington was startled to find American society forming into two distinct cliques. We know them, historically, as the Federalists, and the anti-Federalists (or the Anti-Administration and Republican parties). What Washington feared was that over time, the Constitution, and American society, would fall victim to partisan bickering and factionalization. So, with that and the evidently nonpartisan manner of the Constitution, President Washington went to the people with an idea: banning political parties. Many figureheads and politicians were quick to denounce this idea, in private, with the President as outwardly tyrannical and as an attack on both the Federalist Party and the Anti-Administration Party. So, through working with these same critiques, what would become colloquially known as the Washington Amendment was introduced for ratification. The Amendment would officially "ban" political parties at the Federal level allowing for state level apparati to function fully. While some republics to the modern day would only ban political parties in name by refusing to acknowledge them, this amendment effectively banned "parties" at the Federal Government. In the 1898 Supreme Court Case Debs v. United States, however, the amendment did not ban "Conferences" or "Political Action Committees" as rallying groups. While nonpartisan independents are still the majority force in Congress with the Senate being the only nonpartisan body (full-stop), since the 1898 ruling, "Conferences" of statewide parties have become a growing and prominent force. Below, you will see a representation of the House of Representatives as of the 2026 Midterm elections listed from most seats to least:
- Nonpartisan League - The Nonpartisan League is the second oldest conference in the United States. The League was founded in 4 March, 1919 with the election of the 66th Congress of the United States. It effectively serves as the officiation of the centuries long history of nonpartisanship. The official ideology of the League is "Big-Tent" ranging from Centrist Liberal to staunch Conservative. It currently holds 315 seats in the House, and the Presidency.
- Conference of Progressive and Labor Parties - Formed on 1 May, 1920 by Progressive and Laborites in the Nonpartisan League dissatisfied by the Presidential nominee that year, the CPLP has been the primary opposition to the Nonpartisan League. It has had the most amount of Presidencies outside of the League at four. The ideology of the committee, while originating in the Progressive Labor movement of the time, it has drifted slowly, but surely, to the right towards neoliberalism, though laborism is still a strong force. At the statewide level, its affiliates holds majorities in Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Missouri, Montana, New Hampshire, Virginia, and Wisconsin. It holds 50 seats federally.
- America First Committee - Formed in 1936 by disaffected populists and anti-war conservatives, the AFC was formed as a direct response to murmurings that the United States would potentially join the Second Great War. While support for the Triple Alliance never evolved past a lend-lease program, and the political alignments of these Congressmen and the Kaiserreich have been continuously debated, the AFC has maintained a right-wing ideological hold since its founding. Statewide affiliates hold majorities in Dakota, Mississippi, South Carolina, and West Florida. It holds 41 seats.
- Christian Democratic Committee - The CDC, formed in June of 1973, is the second youngest conference in the union. Formed from the alliance of liberal conservative Billy Graham and Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. during the Civil Rights movement, the Committee represents a Distributist economic position and a socially big-tent ideology. It holds majority power solely in Georgia. It holds 17 seats.
- Greens Political Action Committee - The GPAC is the youngest conference as it was only formed on 19 September, 1992. The Committee, despite its fresh status, has numerous factions committed to its environmentalist message; the Centrists, the Eco-Socialists, and the Agriculturalists (attributed name to environmentally-centered populists) are its most prominent factions throughout the conference and state-level parties. It holds eight seats.
- Communist League of America - The CLA is the oldest conference in the United States, as well as being the most controversial. It holds an orthodox Marxist doctrine while tying itself to the political writings of Frederick Douglass, William Z. Foster, Charlotta Bass, and its current President, Chris Smalls. Distinct from other Communist Parties, its colour is purple due to the nationwide, but scarcely enforced, ban of the iconography of the red star and red banner. It holds three seats.
- Home Rule Committee - The HRC, formed in 1963, is the only conference to represent an ethnic group; indigenous Americans. The HRC is also the only conference to not have any party privy to its founding and, instead, formed statewide parties afterwards. Home Rule parties have elected representatives from the Lakota Confederacy, Cheyenne, Cherokee, Haudenosaunee Confederacy, and the Lower Sioux. Its sole ideological pillar is the representation of this group in the federal government. It holds a single seat federally and its representative is from the Lakota Confederacy.
Last edited by a moderator: