Modern History of Pacitalia
 |
| This article is part of the Pacitalian history series. |
| Component articles |
|
Introduction |
Contents
Immigration Period (1876-1946)
During this time frame, which included the turn to the twentieth century, Pacitalia was seen as a safe haven and a land free of the ravages of wars. This was especially true during World War I (1914-18). Although immigration started to pick up in the 1860s, the level of new citizens arriving at eastern and western ports was tremendous, so tremendous that the port authorities and police couldn’t handle the influx. During the first forty years of the so-called “immigration period”, Pacitalia saw almost 40 million new residents flow through its seaport systems. This was just as many people as Pacitalia had at the 1859 census, just one year before the influx began. The most prevalent of expatriations were from Greece, Portugal, Italy, Cyprus, Austria and Germany. After the immigration period ended, Pacitalia saw 82 million new residents, bringing the population up to 121 million in 1945.
The Mid-Century Era (1946-1965)
The late 1940s and the 1950s were marked by solid growth in the economic and social sectors of Pacitalia. Most of the growth was centred in the southern cities, however the growth in the northern metropoli was sufficient enough to keep up. In 1945, Rabastano Pietro Grazzo of the Pacifist Party was elected Prime Minister of the republic and created the Economic Package reforms, which guaranteed, as he put it, "a car in every garage and two kilograms of meat a day on every kitchen table". Also included were make-work projects which smartly included the creation of new infrastructure with the introduction of almost ten million new jobs. The reforms boosted Pacitalia's GDP per capita from $19,874 in 1946 to $23,241 in 1948, and further to $28,706 in 1952.
Grazzo ended his tenure as national leader in late 1956 when he announced he would not seek a fourth term in the 1957 elections. Pacitalians chose their Senior Deputy Prime Minister, Grasiru Damescu, as their new leader and Pacitalia's second prime minister of Romanian blood. Damescu was on the right of the party, a bit further than Grazzo therefore he was slightly more capitalist and more inclined to favour business. He kept the Economic Package reforms until 1960, when he deemed them outdated. By that time, Pacitalia's household income averaged $32,200.
That same year, Damescu, along with his Finance Minister Renaldo Santotto, introduced what he called the Friendly Business Initiative. It lured businesses to Pacitalia from other nations with incentives, tax breaks, and other pro-business clauses. Some say this worked even better than Grazzo's reforms in the 1950s, and it did. Pacitalia's GDP skyrocketed almost $10 trillion in the eight years Damescu held office, and that boost meant the household average income was up to almost $35,000, classifying Pacitalia as an economic superpower.
Damescu turned 71 on 8 October 1964 and as a result, decided to call it quits. He, like his predecessor and former boss announced he would finish his second term and not run again. Unfortunately, the candidate running for PM in the Pacifist Party wasn't exactly the best choice. Party pundits wanted the finance minister, Santotto, to take the nomination but he refused. Instead, the environment minister Susana Patropestia was reluctantly appointed to the nomination. In the resulting elections, she lost to the Liberal Party candidate Jota "Jack" Rodriguez by almost 60 points. It was the worst defeat of a Pacifist candidate in the history of the party.
The Liberal Years (1965-1985)
Following the 1965 elections, Rodriguez immediately set out to end the pro-business reforms he said were "hurting the common people of Pacitalia". He argued that the reforms gave more money to the rich and middle class while taking so much away from the poor and creating a bigger divide between the well-off and the less-fortunate. As a result, he created the Even-Up Tax, which increased household income tax by 10%. That 10% was pointedly designated by Rodriguez for social welfare and equality programs. However, Rodriguez knew that Pacitalia would implode if he completely removed the pro-business reforms of the predecessive PM. Thus, he began to slowly replace Damescu's reforms with his own which put more regulation on corporate practices. Unfortunately, he could not continue on with his changes as he was diagnosed with severe melanoma just before the end of his first term. One fortunate thing is that another Liberal Prime Minister was elected by the people.
Rodriguez died in 1970. A year earlier, Roberto Castorini catapulted his way from mayor of Sambuca to Prime Minister of Pacitalia for the Liberals. He continued Rodriguez' slow but effective economic turnarounds, which despite dropping the household income by $2,000, still kept the economy stable and looking positive. Castorini finally scrapped the FBI in 1974 and replaced it with the Workers and Corporations Rights Act, which forced corporations to allow unions for their workers and guaranteed a minimum wage of six douros an hour. In return, workers were expected to do the duties corporations/management had assigned for them, and do their jobs well. This act had no effect on the economy, in fact, Pacitalia experienced only a slight economic upturn in 1975, with the GDP increasing a mere $20 billion and the household income rising only $500. Because of this, and Castorini's lack of other important or substantial legislation, he became known as the "Do-Nothing Leader", despite keeping the country stable, peaceful and still economically strong, something that really in essence defied the Liberal Party's anti-capitalist policies.
Most say that Castorini was lucky to get a second term in 1973, and they were probably right. He attempted to get the nomination for a third term in the 1977 elections. Unfortunately, starting in September 1976, he was soon embroiled in a bitter fight with his Junior Deputy Prime Minister, Athena Papistikas, for the Liberal's Prime Ministerial nomination. The Liberal board of directors wanted Papistikas to take their request and go for it, but Castorini did not allow it. He forced his way into the nomination ballot and for the first time in 122 years, there was a vote to decide who would get the nomination to run for Prime Minister under the Liberal banner. Papistikas took Castorini to the cleaners by a 72-17 margin, with 11% of party members abstaining.
Papistikas handily won the 1977 elections over the Conservatives and Pacifists, with a 52-28-20 (L-P-C) victory. Under the reign of Papistikas, the first stage of the Autostrada superhighway system was completed, which drastically reduced traffic jams and heavy volume by almost 50%. The second stage was completed in 1984, which further reduced those levels by another 25%. Papistikas was seen as a more centrist Liberal, so she was seen as more inclined to be respectful of corporate practices. Under her leadership, Pacitalia gained back the slight economic losses it endured under the previous two Liberal leaders, and then some. In fact, Pacitalia's household average income was up to $36,900 in 1985, the highest number ever.
The Not-So-Good Years (1985-1988)
The good times for Pacitalia lasted until the 1985 election. Liberal PM Athena Papistikas, the sole woman PM in Pacitalian history was voted out of office by a 43.2-42.8 margin (the Pacifists picking up a disastrous 14% of the vote), after the Liberal party held government for twenty years. Pacitalians were thankful of the Liberal and Pacifist governments of the past forty years for their hard work to bring Pacitalia to a status among the world greats, but they decided it was time for a change. So, the Conservative party gained 367 of the 590 seats, and party leader Giorgio Cassata was placed in the Prime Minister’s chair. Right off the bat, the majority-government Conservative party started increasing the military’s size and slashing budgets from necessary departments like health, education and transport. These actions caused a bust in the economy. Stock exchanges were having selling overdoses and people were quickly leaving Pacitalia’s dying economy. By 1987, over 20% of Pacitalians were unemployed and the economy was equal to that of the dismal post-war Soviet Union. Pacitalians were angry with what they called disgusting behaviour from the Conservative party. A poll was held in the fall of 1987 and over 95% of Pacitalians surveyed wanted an election called. Cassata knew his party’s number was up, but he wasn’t intent on leaving. Instead, he sat down with officials and tried to draft and pass legislation in Parliament that would literally dismantle any opposition to the Conservative party. Since the Liberal and Pacifist parties knew they were outnumbered in Parliament 367-220, not counting three independents; the only thing they could do was form a left-wing-centrist alliance and hope that at least eighty Conservative members of parliament chose to vote against the bill. It seemed hopeless, but the two opposition leaders of the Liberal and Pacifist (now the Capitalist party) parties, had a feeling it could work. Decision day for passing of the legislation was October 24, 1987. Parliament was seated and commenced, and the bill was defeated 412-178. Only 175 of the 367 Conservative MPPs, or 48% of the party, and the three independents, voted in favour of the bill. The rest voted with the left-wing-centrist alliance. PM Cassata was shocked and angry. He was told by one of his advisors earlier in the week that support for his bill inside the party was at 71%, a clear majority. Obviously, he was mislead; as that advisor, an MPP for Puerto Vallarta, in the north, voted against Cassata in Parliament.
Just twelve days later, Cassata was given a vote of non-confidence by ninety percent of Parliamentarians, and Conservative party members voted him out of the leader’s chair and thus the Prime Minister’s spot, during the party’s annual convention in Saronno. He was replaced by centre-right Conservativa MPP Daniel Cicerone, who immediately called an election for February 23, 1988.
Rebuilding the Nation (1988-1995)
After what the Conservativa party (farther right than the Republican Party in the United States) had done to the economy and well-being of Pacitalia's citizens, it was basically a nationwide dream to abandon and forget about the right-wing party altogether. Halfway through the campaign, support polls showed the Pacifista party leading with 49% support, but just by two percentage points, over the Liberale party, with 47%. The Conservativa party had only 4% support in total now, leaving them totally out of the race for government leadership. It was a guarantee that Pacitalians were switching from a right-wing government with a hint of fascism, to a government that was a long way to the left in the political spectrum. Just days before the election, Conservativa supporters bombed the “Prado”, or Pacitalian Parliament building. About forty percent of the 200-year-old building was destroyed, but luckily not a soul was injured or killed. A group calling itself Libertiae Santome, which in Pacitalian means ‘Freedom Fighters’, openly declared its responsibility. When asked to show its leader, they oddly obliged and recently-ousted Conservativa leader Giorgio Cassata stepped out onto a platform in Timiocato’s Central Forum with a smirk on his face. He was met with stones, sticks and boos from the crowd.
One day later, all members but the Conservatives in the House of Parliamentary Legislation voted to abolish the Conservativa Party. However, just two months later, the Party d'Italiano (with similar, almost exact, political beliefs) announced its formation and many of the now-independent MPPs made the jump to the new party. It announced it had no ties to the old Conservativa party despite its MPPs being of the old party and some of the upper echelons of the party being members of or leaders of the old party.
Back to the election campaign of 1988.
Two days before the election was the final debate. In it, Pacifist leader Francesco Santo Ragazzo (1934-1996) and Liberal leader Papistikas (1958- ) debated alongside extreme-left Nueva Revoluccione leader Lemvi Megescu. Megescu had been asked to fill the spot of Daniel Cicerone, whose Conservative party had been banned two days earlier by the House. The debate was now composed of two leftist candidates and a centrist. This outraged right-wing Pacitalians who felt that it was now impossible for even the smallest right-wing party to win anything because only left-wing points of view would be heard. However, it wasn't all that easy for the "left". Megescu was left to create an organized script of points for the debate in a short amount of time (basically 12 hours) or just wing it. He tried the second option, and it worked well enough for him to win the leftist Northwest Region in the elections. His party has not lost that region since then, and he is still the party leader. During the debate, Liberal leader Papistikas stumbled on many key points and speculation is that those problems cost her the election. It also cost her the leadership role, as she was removed from that position by the Liberale board of governors three months post-election. Prominent in the election was Pacifist leader Santo Ragazzo, who was clear and concise and support the coming together of all Pacitalians, no matter what. He also stated that he was the clear centre-right candidate in the nation, wanting to mix capitalism with socialism and help everyone get a fighting chance at a good salary and a good quality of life, meanwhile helping the economy.
The election day came and went and Santo Ragazzo barely got enough to majority-defeat the two leftist candidates. He picked up 51% of the popular vote, compared to 38% for Papistikas and 11% for Megescu. Santo Ragazzo won the West, Southwest, Central, Capital and Southeast regions, giving him 61 of 120 electoral votes. Coincidentally, 61 is the number of EVs needed to be Prime Minister. Obviously, the new PM was grateful to just sneak in, as he said, "I will work hard to make sure everyone in Pacitalia appreciates and supports the work the government does".
Santo Ragazzo soon renamed the party to the "Capitalist Party of Pacitalia", gaining support from others on the right who, before the ideologic and name changes did not feel the "Pacifista Party" was as centre-right as it sounded. During his tenure as PM, he strengthened the economy by lowering taxes and giving what were known as "Priority Boosts" to Pacitalian corporations to help them compete against international business selling similar products. However, he appealed to the slight-leftists by minutely raising taxes on the rich to help give some money back to those less-fortunate Pacitalians. Santo Ragazzo served two terms and in his seventh year -- third of his second term -- as Prime Minister, he announced his retirement due to failing health. He was replaced as leader of the party by Mandragora-Southeast MPP Timothy Ell in the 1995 Capitalist Party leadership convention. Santo Ragazzo served out his full term, as the Capitalist Party, Ell and the public wished him to do, then said his goodbyes to the political world and public life in August 12, 1996 at the new PM's inauguration ceremony. Ironically, he died two months later of a heart attack, the day before an election would have been forced.
The Ell Years (1996-present)
Many Capitalists were excited about the next election because it was highly known that Timothy Ell was a "true capitalist". He supported big business and did not like those who, as he said, "attacked" the government for free handouts. He called leftists "slacking pigs" and deeply offended the minority left by famously telling a Liberale MPP in a 1994 Parliament session, "even religion is more important than socialism". Many citizens were excited as well, because the majority of Pacitalians still clung, in various amounts and ways, to their Roman Catholic beliefs, and the majority of the nation held centre-right or rightist views. The Capitalist Party were sure that the people of the nation would agree with Ell's views and keep them in power for at least another term.
An election was held on August 10, 1996 (approximately two months before it was mandatory) to find a successor to retiring PM Santo Ragazzo. In it, Ell handily won, taking 54% of the PV, 72 of 120 EVs and 6 of 9 regions. Ell has been re-elected twice since then (three if you count the PM runoff election requested by Liberale challenger Aracio Partiva in the 2004 election after he declared the original PM results false).
Ell continued the capitalist traditions of the nation by again slightly lowering income taxes for all brackets. However, he removed the inheritance tax and furthered the cause of economic strength by backspacing former PM Santo Ragazzo's slight tax augmentation on the rich to help the poor. He also ridded the nation of free handouts, saying that "welfare will only be given to those who cannot help themselves". By that he meant people too sick to work or people unable to work because they had a physical or psychological impairment. 43% of the unemployed or homeless people in Pacitalia did not meet this criteria and are now slowly dying off, to the support and applause of over 1 billion Pacitalian citizens. In 2000, he reformed the Senatoro and CLP, dropping the seat count to 100 and 120, respectively.
Ell also improved the support of the defence department and its respective agencies, including a huge infusion of cash into the armed forces. Many agreed with the move, saying, like Ell did, "the military in Pacitalia was underappreciated". He also created the SAFD (Sniper Attack Force Delta), as a well-trained task force branch of the armed forces to help deal with varying degrees of domestic threats.
The nation's general economic strength has been improving steadily since the late 1980s, but even more so under Prime Minister Ell. Pacitalia is now one of the world's strongest countries and a member of the Forty Thousand Club - those nations having GDP per capitas of over $40,000.00 USD. However, with Ell's announcement of his resignation the political future of this country is not necessarily uncertain, but possibly caught off guard.
