- Pronouns
- He/Him
Written by Sopo
Opinion Editor
In February of 2014, Mousebumples announced the creation of a new political party: the Loaded Baked Potato Party. Though seemingly unserious in nature, Mouse described the party's goals at the time as "to improve the communication, functioning, and integration of Europeians through socialization and sharing of common interests." This simple outlook would make the LBPP the most resilient and even most powerful political party of the modern era, though it would undergo many changes between its foundation in 2014 and today.
At the time, the only other political party in Europeia was the Europeian Reform Coalition, and it was largely inactive. The ERC dissolved not long after the LBPP was created. Other political parties would rise and fall throughout the duration of the LBPP's reign, including The Conservative Party, The National Reformist Party, Europeians for a Bold Foreign Policy, The Europeian Imperialist Party, and the Empowered Citizens' Party. For a region devoid of powerful political parties, we yet manage to spawn many attempts.
One notable exception to the oft short-lived Europeian political party--aside from the LBPP--is the Democratic Action Front, founded by Zenny Winter. Like its founder, the DAF was a lightning rod for controversy. Many new members of Europeia were mentored personally by Zenny, and out of a great sense of loyalty, supported her publicly even through her most questionable choices. She ran a controversial newspaper with scandalous photos and a secret backroom for (presumably) even raunchier offerings. She challenged perceived censorship from every angle. Ultimately brought to court by Attorney General Notolecta for obscenity, opinion on Zenny created a bitter divide in the region, largely embodied by her party. Eventually, Zenny would leave the region to head The Communist Bloc, and the party fell apart shortly after.
During the period of Zenny's prominence, the LBPP rose in opposition to the DAF. Not because of ideological opposition, but because the members of the LBPP perceived a threat to Europeia's status quo. The fun-times potato people motivated their political capital to protect mainstream Europeia from Zenny's cult of personality. It was this energetic opposition that politicized the LBPP for the first time and laid the foundation for its later political rebirth. The LBPP would go on to become the Action Coalition of Europeia (ACE), which would rise to political prominence again in 2015, nearly enabling the victory of a Ninja Kittens/Sopo ticket over the more established Kraketopia/Trinnien ticket. It was largely the masterful electioneering of Aexnidaral Seymour that led to the region's highest presidential turnout and a nail-biting, one-vote win for Kraken/Trinn.
Despite that, ACE has fallen apart. What happened? ACE so quickly transformed from a social club to a political powerhouse that its members barely knew what hit them. Powerful ambition combined with a lack of policy proposals left the party a powerful motor with no rudder to guide it. ACE was (and is) fundamentally a social club. This conflict of identities, political or social, led to a crisis that slowly played out but concluded with a mass exodus of members.
If ACE were to succeed as a true political party, it would need a large effort toward developing a meaningful platform, which seems unlikely at this point given the mass exodus of its most politically-inclined members. ACE, then, will likely revert back to its previous form as a social and mentorship club, steering away from political activism. ACE worked best as a group of the region's bright potato-munching guardians, enjoying quiet fellowship unless called into action for the good of the region.
The political collapse of ACE, however, has led to the formation of two new political parties: the Federalist-Reform Party of Europeia (FRPE) and the Europeian Progressive Party (EPP). Taylor and gingeriamscat, two newcomers to Europeia, joined with Cool Spring to create the former, proposing a radical shift in Europeian policy toward defenderism, a rigid separation of powers, and a somewhat enigmatic justice reform proposal. Kaboom, GraVandius, and prometheus, three members with a bit of experience under their belts, created the EPP, ostensibly to replace ACE and provide a more mainstream alternative to the FRPE. The EPP emphasizes a more moderate separation of powers, a reformed mentor program, and Europeia's existing foreign policy.
These two new political parties will face the same problems their predecessors faced: Can a party of newcomers sell the region on radical change? Can a party that favors the status quo justify its existence? Does Europeia even have a place for active political parties? Their members, none truly established in Europeia's political class, will need to combat the region's admitted bias against partisan politics, and prove that their ideas are both relevant and well thought out. An uphill battle certainly awaits them in the coming elections, and only time will tell if these parties will avoid the fate of their briefly relevant predecessors and reinvigorate true political parties in Europeia.
