Broken Star
The Empress dances. 1977.
The Elizabethan Era of American politics saw a near-total domination of the federal government by the centre-right Liberal Democrats, who initially, following World War II, were the stewards of a rapidly growing economy, contributing greatly to their popularity. The scandal-tainted 1970s – peppered by episodes such as Watergate, Deputy Prime Minister Agnew’s tax fraud, and Milkmoney – shattered the public’s trust in government institutions, but the Liberal Democrats managed to hold onto power, partially by the parliamentary party closing ranks against the oppositions and partially by the Empress Elizabeth (and her proxy, the Governor-General, George Aiken) being reluctant to dissolve the Parliament following the crisis that had ensued in Australia in 1975 after Governor-General Kerr dismissed Parliament.
Having survived the tumultuous seventies, the Liberal Democrats took a more conservative turn in the 1980s under the leadership of Prime Minister Reagan. The booming economy of the eighties greatly benefited the Liberal Democrats – some have said that the American populace suffered from amnesia in the way that it returned to the arms of the Liberal Democrats – and the opposition could offer little other than token disapproval of the Liberal party line.
Tsongas defeats Bentsen. 1994.
The Coalition, as it had come to be called, was unworkable in government – as alliances of parties from across the political spectrum tend to – and unable to bring the reforms promised during the campaign season. While Tsongas remained personally popular, his ineffectiveness as Prime Minister and the rising unemployment meant he was out of a job by 1997, when the Christian People’s Party left the government followed shortly by the Social Democrats, which had left the government far short of a majority and several party leaders itching for an election.
Forbes fails to win a majority. 1996.
The Liberal Democrats, taking note from the successful campaign strategy of Tsongas, had chosen a young, reform-minded outsider to lead their party into the election. Steve Forbes – the 49-year old conservative firebrand – initially proved promising in polls, with the Liberal Democrats expected to easily retake Parliament, awkward moments-turned-gaffes on the campaign trail caused by Forbes’ idiosyncrasies resulted in the Liberal Democrats throwing away an easy shot at a majority. The Liberal Democrats – having sacked Forbes as leader on election night – crawled their way into becoming the largest party, albeit short of a majority. The resulting minority government restored the tradition of the Liberal Democrats being the governing party.
The new millennium saw a shift toward nationalism in both the nation and the Liberal Democratic Party. The interventions in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Somalia, while initially unpopular, soured as years passed with little results and thousands of American soldiers dead. While the economic woes of the 90s lessened, the economy was, by no means, in good shape. Prime Minister Thompson’s agenda of privatization and debt reduction was pushed through after the party gained large majorities following the terrorist attacks on the 11th of September 2001, in New York City and in the nation’s capital of Philadelphia.
Thompson’s loyal defense of his cabinet earned him few friends abroad – perceived slights alienated traditional allies like France and Germany and stoked tensions with the Russian Federation. At home, however, Thompson’s affable personality and frequent appearances on Law & Order resulted in his approval ratings far outpacing his party’s – at some points, as high as 75%.
Voters want change; Kennedy wins a majority. 2008
However, not even sky-high approvals could have saved the Liberal Democrats in 2008. Global economic meltdown had even caught the opposition flat-footed and unready to lead; the United Democratic Party, in a shock on election night 2008, gained a majority in the lower house of Parliament – the first time the political left (or more accurately, the left-and-centre) controlled that chamber since before World War II. Following the results, the UDP saw a revolving door of Prime Ministers, each serving barely over a year: Kathleen Kennedy, Ken Salazar, and Brian Higgins. The four years of UDP control saw continual economic troubles, misguided and haphazard efforts at healthcare and economic reform, and a consistently unpopular government. One bright spot of reform, however: following the Deepwater Horizon oil spill and ecological disaster, the UDP pushed through reforms promoting renewable sources of energy, kicking the country’s green tech sector into fifth gear and making America the world’s foremost energy innovator.
Sessions' power plays pay dividends. 2012.
After four years in the political wilderness, the Liberal Democrats roared back into power in 2012, reducing the UDP to a quarter of its former size and once again regaining control of the government. While on the surface, the leader of the Liberal Democrats appeared to be a backbencher thrust into power, Prime Minister Pete Sessions was a skilled manipulator of backroom deals who had waited until the perfect moment to play all of his cards; his hand landed him the leadership of his party despite being on the right wing of his party and far to the right of the nation as a whole.
Sessions not only used the new nationalism of the early 21st century to his advantage, he manipulated it into a new tool for expanding the Liberal Democrats’ power. Snap elections called in 2014 saw his party grow in parliament and the voluntary entrance of the Christian People’s Party into the government; no doubt a highly calculated move by who some newspapers have begun calling “America’s Political Grandmaster.” The opposition parties have been left scrambled, disunited, and with no strategy for the future.
It seems as if the Liberal Democrats are poised for recreating the decades of control they had in the latter half of the 20th century – but in politics, nothing can be taken for granted, and no conclusion is truly forgone.