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((I'm not sure the Federals are all that interventionist in peacetime, while it favours wealth redistribution and welfare it aims to not be a part of the actual economy apart from enforcing anti-trust law, indeed part of the TRA was the sale of government owned factories. (Though compared to the Republicans, yeah they're interventionist.)

I don't think there's an obvious third party at this moment, what I'd like to see more is a healthy batch of independents, that way we avoid the problem of continuous government for one party/constant readjustments to the system.

Though perhaps as it's probably better suited to the 3-party system we so commonly use we could introduce a run-off system, it was part of Terrance's manifesto to introduce direct voting anyway?))
 
I agree, I don't think there's any one party that sticks out right now that will be able to gain enough support to do much on their own. I personally wanted a party that espouses jingoism, American exceptionalism, spread of democracy worldwide, small government, and sensible, slightly regulated capitalism - just don't think the support is there.
 
(Perhaps story wise an implosion of the two party system could occur after WWI, and then left open for player petitions of new parties? Given one election, we will see which parties get the votes, and thus which will last in the new two party/ three party system. I believe the passing of the Federal Reserve Act, and how it was by a margin too narrow for a super majority, could be the catalyst for the implosion.)
 
((...And TTL means True To Life))
((I believe in this case it's meant to stand for "This Timeline" (as opposed to OTL, "Our Timeline" - real world history).

Having a slot open for Independents/minor parties (allowing stuff like the Progressive Party, Socialist Party, and specific interest parties [like pro-Silver, pro-Gold Standard, Pacifist Party, Farmer's Rights Party, etc.] without having to always sway one of the big two toward this new cause) could work nicely - with the "primary" for this slot being more of a gauge of their national name awareness and electability (storywise it would be their own primaries for their minor parties, or just their campaigning and fundraising efforts if they were completely party independent).

There would be three slots for Republicans, three for Federals, and three other open slots in the primaries. Everything would go as normal, except that the independents wouldn't be directly trying to win over the same voter base (usually, at least) - looking more to sway people with their own interests away from the big parties. The elections would then be between the two parties' candidates and the most supported independent/minor party candidate. It wouldn't involve having to always balance in a centrist party or manage coalitions, and would probably be closer to what would happen in America in this timeline (a lot of three party systems, so the two party system isn't as strong as in OTL, but there's some pretty dominant big tent parties nonetheless). It would also allow us to "test the waters" with minor parties - either letting us push the big parties toward actually electable trends or letting us bring up the new parties smoothly if one of the main parties loses steam.
))

I would support bringing up the topic of war aims and a rough draft of a charter for this often mentioned League of Nations again. As strange as it may sound, we cannot let peace catch us unprepared to bring about a proper fair and respectable treaty to deal with the issues of the war. A declaration of our intentions will help calm doubts about a peace settlement and keep negotiations from becoming petty with unnecessary demands.
 
((I believe in this case it's meant to stand for "This Timeline" (as opposed to OTL, "Our Timeline" - real world history).

((Eh, close enough

And Progressive Party, how could I forget! And that idea could work; at least it sounds interesting.))
 
((Does that mean I can still push the charter etc though, or will it be story-driven?

Also, I think Gloa's suggestion is entirely reasonable; it would allow the politics to fluctuate but with much more stability))
 
((You could always write it up, and then PM it to BBB and see if he thinks it's OK))
 
The Great War
1916: The Year of Exhaustion


1916 began on a triumphant note for Allied armies. At Saint-Flour, the 5,000 remaining men of the German II Corps surrendered on January 7th, having lost 4,592 men in fighting since the American offensive to liberate Southern France began on January 1st. The surrender of the II Corps reflected the general direction the war was going on all fronts. In the north, Austro-German troops were beaten back at Lisieux-Bernay, devastating the Tripartite forces there with the 7,455 dead inflicted upon them, and forcing the Germans to abandon the area.
In Chile, US forces continued their steady push for Santiago by steamrolling Chilean defenses at Vina Del Mar, though at the unusually high cost of 8,060 American lives to only 3,648 Chilean defenders, a trend of higher casualties incurred than inflicted that endured throughout the final year of the war in Chile. January ended on the battlefield with another victory at St. Etienne, although one that was costly for the French forces involved, who suffered 3,782 dead, compared to 1,576 Americans and 2,061 Germans. With these victories seeming to signal that Tripartite power was broken, the Allied powers began to feel compelled to discuss the post-war world.
A conference was agreed upon for April 1916 in Washington [1]. Meanwhile, the Americans began to shape the nature of their post-war nation in congress. In the Transition to Peace Act, Fallen Soldiers and Veterans Support Act, and the Statistics Publication Act, the seeds were sown for the return to a civilian economy and remembrance of the war. The most consequential bill introduced in the February Session of 1916 though, was the Federal Reserve Act.
Central banking had been a smashed dream for its proponents since Andrew Jackson’s destruction of the Second Bank of the United States. The Federal Reserve System, proposed by Secretary of the Treasury Fitz Harrison, intended to make that dream a reality. Originally devised as having a strong connection to the Department of the Treasury, the Federal Reserve eventually became a group of banks and economists tasked with the stability of the economy.

1stfederalreserve.jpg

1. The 1st Board of the Federal Reserve, c. 1917.​

The Federal Reserve was unanimously opposed by the Republican Party, and the more strictly laissez-faire Federals, but the President and Fitz managed to push it through with 232-203 in the House, and 54-46 in the Senate. The Federal Reserve would achieve little in the first decade of its existence, as its Board proved unwilling to loan money to banks in a post-war boom. The Republicans however, would relentlessly campaign for its demise.
As the seemingly victorious powers gathered to discuss the post-war world at Washington in April, the Tripartite launched one final general offensive, which would become a fearsome show of the determination and exhaustion of both combatants. The Kaiser Offensive began at Dijon, where American and German troops had in 1914 first experienced the kind of bloodbath German-American combat could turn into. For three weeks in April, the city was shelled and streets became combat zones for the last time. On April 27th, after 18,588 Germans and 8,711 Americans had lost their lives, German High Command called an end to the 3rd and last battle of Dijon.
At Lons, 6,554 Russians and 5,055 Americans died in a similarly futile assault on fortified US positions. If April was bad for the Kaiser Offensive, May was even worse. The German 3rd Army, which had so far been the only successful spear of the offensive, found it had gone too deep, too fast into Franco-American lines, and was in an extremely elongated salient. The 3rd Corps called for an offensive on its weak flanks, but the Allies struck first, trapping 30,000 German soldiers in the Saint-Aubin Pocket.

saintaubin.jpg

2. The Saint-Aubin Pocket, May 1916.​

The 3rd Corps surrendered on May 21st, having suffered 18,978 dead since the Kaiser Offensive began. In Chile, May 8th marked another American victory at Valparaiso, although only 2,710 defenders died, while 7,223 Americans lost their lives. Two weeks later, US troops occupied the Chilean Capitol in Santiago. Chilean President Martin Serrano was held in custody until August 23rd, when he finally signed the Instrument of Unconditional Chilean Surrender [2]. Coupled with the failures to advance elsewhere, May 1916 dealt a blow to Tripartite morale matched throughout the entire war only by the following month.
June was the month that the Tripartite broke completely on the battlefield and home front. The shattering of their morale began on June 9th, with the end of destructive battles at Besancon and Aumilly, east of Orleans. In the former, Russian armies in France were decimated by 40,785 dead, to only 14,576 American losses. After Besancon, a chain reaction also began in Russia itself that would lead to one of the defining moments of the 20th Century.
In the latter, Austria-Hungary’s last battle-capable divisions were shattered by an American offensive that cost the lives of 26,200 US and 15,231 Austro-Hungarian troops. On June 18th, after the final blow of the “Long July”, Austria-Hungary entered into peace talks with the Allied Powers, hoping to achieve a more dignified end to its war than Chile’s unconditional surrender. That hope would largely prove to be in vain as, by the November Armistice, Kaiser Franz Joseph would be instead begging the Allies for support for his crumbling regime.

franzjosef.jpg

3. Emperor Franz Joseph I of Austria-Hungary.​

The biggest blow of June 1916, which forced Franz Joseph’s hand, was that of the end of the Battle of Laon. The second-deadliest battle of the Great War ended on June 17th, with the surrender of the German 1st Corps and retreat of the rest of the German force from an American counter-offensive. Since July of the previous year, the battle had been responsible for the deaths of 82,808 Germans, 15,345 Frenchmen and 49,223 Americans.
After Laon, the Tripartite had no offensive capability whatsoever, and the Allied Powers began to push their advantage mercilessly. July-November 1916 became a slow but sure push by American and French forces through Tripartite-Occupied France. In St. Petersburg and Vienna, frantic overtures of peace were made, while in Berlin Wilhelm and his government desperately tried to prevent the inevitable. On November 21st, even Germany was forced into submission as the Kaiser’s personal bodyguard joined the peace protesters.
Wilhelm was brought to the Reichstag, where he and Chancellor Bethmann-Hollweg were forced to contact the Allied Powers with the offer of armistice. On November 22nd, the guns fell silent in France, and Kaiser Wilhelm was officially dethroned by the new anti-war government formed in Berlin by Bethmann-Hollweg. The Great War was over.

armisticedaywallstreet.jpg

4. Armistice Day on Wall Street.​

However, before the Allied Powers could begin imposing their victory on the Tripartite, they would have to wait and see if the undeniably most powerful member of their alliance would have the same man that led the United States through the war negotiate the peace. On December 1st 1916, the American National Conventions began, and the shape of the post-war world lay in the balance.

[1] – The Conference was initially to be held in London, but was switched to Washington as a way to placate the Republicans, who believed the President might be too easily swayed to “surrender American objectives” if the conference were not held on American soil. The British and French, knowing the war depended on American effort, conceded.

[2] – It had been agreed at Washington in April that the United States would legally be defined as the only Allied Power to have been at war with Chile, and thus Chile’s future fell completely in the hands of the Americans.

--------------------------

Exceptional Situation(s):

Primary Time. Parties are: Republican, Federal, Independent.

Joseph Jarvis has already announced his candidacy for the Republican Nomination via PM.

More detail on the end of the war will be in the Presidential Election Post and a detailed explanation of Independent Running is forthcoming.
 
I am running for the Republicans, in a pacifist stance. We need to reduce the state to its minimal expression possible. We also need to recompensate those who lost someone or something in this war, as it was an unfair war for imperialist reasons.
 
What we need is a quick end to the war. Unfortunately, whats done is done, and we must all live with the consequences that the hawks have put the world in. Our priorities must now be to not to "press our win" on the nations we have defeated. Destroying the defeated nations will only lead to future troubles later on. We must instead look to plan a peace process based on future stability, not based on spoils and winners.

I will run for the Republican party nomine


My policies are Laissez Faire/ Free Trade, for our people deserve the freedom to build industry in our post war boom, Full Citizenship and Pluralism, for we must let all peoples who come to our shores be true citizens in rights. Let us become a renewed beacon for the disenfranchised, as the displaced masses from the war look to a new home. We shall be that home, a bastion for all. Finally, we should be Anti-War, as this Great War is over, and we must prevent the formation of a new one.

These are my terms.
 
I am running as a Republican! I have for the past two decades, stood as a stalwart against imperialism, expansionism, and statism; things which almost every president supported, more or less. My presidency, will see a return to the economic policies that made us the industrial powerhouse, the breadbasket, and the financial capitol of the world. I will end the Federal Reserve! I will bring American soldiers home! I will support the Constitution!

America has seen a great and terrible war, and has not only been a witness to several other conflicts, but the initiator of a few of those most egregious acts! Under my administration, I say, NO MORE! We can have peace, and, by God, we will have it! The great war machines built these past bloody years will be changed into machines of peace, of prosperity, of progress! The fleets of aeroplanes and cruisers will be converted into merchant vessels and commercial planes. The noble and honourable men who fought in the fields of France, in wintered tundras of Siberia, and in the shadow of the Andes, will see a quick transition to peacetime, with a mass conversion from wartime industry to a free market!

This war not only left millions dead, but millions more displaced by war, by famine, by disease, and by tyranny. Under my administration, we will welcome those poor and starving masses with open arms! Those former serfs and slaves will become workers, farmers, businessmen, soldiers; the lifeblood of our nation!

However, we cannot ignore the problems that emerged prior to the war; namely our tax system. Why should any two men be treated unequally by the law? Why should one man, who earns more be taxed so much more highly than a man who makes but a little less? Why are the financiers of business, the creators of our great railways, banks, automobiles, and countless other innovations, made to take such a heavy burden that even Atlas himself could do no more than to shrug off the weight? If elected, I will remedy this will a low flat tax of only five percent! Not only that, but for any small businesses created by our middle class, there will be a further cut, to only two percent for the next five years! That is how we will spur economic growth, not by putting our faith in government, in the indemnible State!

If elected, America will witness growth, will return from the bleakness and malaise of war, and into peace and prosperity again! Follow me into a brighter future!

My platform is Laissez-faire, Free Trade, Pacifism, Secularism, Full Citizenship

- Senator Joseph P. Jarvis of California
 
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The Republican candidates so far are looking quite promising. While my status as an independent prevents me from voting in the primaries, I will pay a great amount of attention to them.
 
After serving overseas, I can attest that I will be supporting a Republican when the time comes.

- Major Henry G. Bradley
 
I am disappointed with the course of the war, particularly in the unimaginative tactics and strategies that resulted in the loss of so many American lives. I will make it a goal to work further with the Army to develop new doctrine for the future so that we can fight smarter and save more lives.

With the war over, we MUST see to it that our vanquished foes are not treated harshly. They must not be forcibly disarmed, nor should they be required to pay massive reparations. To do so will make this peace only a temporary truce, for it will breed contempt and revanchism in the hearts of the subdued. We also must make it worth our sacrifice in American lives: we must see to it that our vanquished enemies are democratized. Monarchs may be kept for stability, but meaningful democratic reform must be a demand.

Due to these goals that I have for the future of our nation and for peace, I am pleased to announce that I am resigning my commission in the US Army (and resuming my commission in the Indiana National Guard) and running in the election to be US Senator for the State of Indiana (Independent nationalist candidate since I don't really subscribe to all of either party's tenets). I look forward to following in my grandfather's mighty footsteps and becoming a titan of public service and American values.


Walter Mandrake
Candidate for Senator
 
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Chile has proven itself uncapable of handling her own affairs by joining a war against our glory. Therefor the only acceptable peace would be a complete American takeover of all Chilean administration. The Chileans should be happy to finally be ruled by a Great Nation.

All our enemies must be crushed mercilessly. All Germany's non- European lands must be seceded to the winning powers. (If they have any, can't remember). Russia and Austria must be dismantled as Great Powers. That's the only acceptable victory. Anything else would be to act cowardly and accept defeat. Victory is in our hands.
 
I will be running for nomination of the Federal Party.

I commend the president who has done so much good work both at home and abroad, whilst preaching restraint to all candidates to look neither to revenge nor reward from this peace beyond future security and prosperity. I hope that as a nation we can see the value of moderation on all sides of the political spectrum, resisting unnecessary social turbulence or damaging jingoism, for we did not enter this war for our own material gain, but for the liberties of the peoples of the world. As Mr Mandrake says, "Victory is in our hands", but we must be careful of the world we create. Security, liberty and prosperity; that's the only acceptable victory.

My hope is, that we can forge a world that is just and secure with the creation of a League of Nations, where all nations will, in time, cooperate for mutual gain. I also wish for a restrained treaty based on the War Aims Act. At home, I hope to forge a fairer society, continuing with the noble reforms President Terrance has been instrumental in passing.
 
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If I am elected, we will normalize relations with our former enemies, we will conmemorate the Chicago massacre and we will decrease the size of our armies. Peace for our time!
 
I agree wholeheartedly with my opponent on the matters of a Chicago commemoration, and even more so on the reduction of our army. However, more than that, we must transition our nation from this military-industrial complex we have created, and into a system more oriented towards industry and commerce, to further spur our economic growth, and promote worldwide trade and commercial relations.

Most importantly, and I cannot stress this enough, we must sever the ties that forced us into this war, and needlessly slaughtered tens of thousands of our kinsmen; our binding alliance with France, this foolish Commonwealth, and the presidency of Mr. Terrance, for without him, America may have been able to avert this conflict! Do we want the man who led our sons into slaughter to continue on his course of statism and militarism? Or do we want to change our course, to freedom and peace? America must choose now, for we have all seen the results of the former course; poverty, suffering, death, and worst of all, the surrender of our social and economic freedoms! The latter course, however, has been proven, by the likes of Jefferson, Washington, and Mandrake; and what did we see? Growth, prosperity, an expanding middle class, and a peaceful environment to facilitate more growth!

A vote for Jarvis, or for Carlsson, or for Taggarman, will see us make a return to NORMALCY, to PEACE, to PROSPERITY, while a vote for Terrance will see more of the same!