Establishment of the Republic (Pacitalia)
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Introduction |
This article deals with the era in Pacitalian history in which the Republic of Pacitalia was created. For other articles dealing with preceding or following Pacitalian historical events, look to the Pacitalian History Series sidebar located on the right.
Contents
Establishment of a Republic (1503-1587)
1503 soon became a busy and important year for Pacitalian history. From the end of 1502, the Redefinition Contract became both a major source of positive and negative protest. Those in favour of the Redefinition Contract wanted to see the formation of a Republic based on the principles of democracy. On the other hand, those against decided it was better for Pacitalia to return to the former kingdom status it had engaged for 600 years previously.
However, by this time, citizens in the land were growing apathetic after nearly 220 years in an unofficial period of governance marked by the word 'transition'. By May 1503, it was becoming apparent that a majority supported democracy, and the Commission of Noblemen, recognising this, set a tentative timetable for the implementation of such principles through a 27-page final report they called Il Confederazione Formali della Repubblica Fundazza in Democracia (Formal Establishment of a Republic Founded on Democracy). The following month the Treaty of Raputa (site of the Battle of Raputa-Logorinus in 416) was signed into action, giving the Commission of Noblemen the power to, in consultation with randomly selected upstanding citizens of all parts of the inhabited lands to work on the first draft of a Charter of Establishment.
Unlike other political movements where the defeated side of the argument would resort to violence as a last attempt at proving their point, the anti-establishmentarianists actually decided against such a move and threw their tentative support behind the creation of a republic. Their leader, Marco Pantereno-Graza, spearheaded a new moderate movement that simultaneously supported the creation of a republic and demanded that the Commission of Noblemen's new Sub-Committee on Establishment Framework reserve 20% of their seats for members of the anti-establishment, to ensure that the new documentation would not be heavily biased or protectionist against the dissolution of a democratic republic if it were to fail.
This move led to the creation of two of the world's first political parties in July 1503, and the remarkable thing was that it happened to be purely accidental. Those that had been pro-establishment since the last days of 1502 felt their rights would be in danger if the Commission listened too closely to the demands of the opposition, and in anticipation of such a move, formed the Liberal Party. The now-moderate and former anti-establishment opposition was outraged and, temporarily up in arms about how to deal with such a revolutionary move on the part of the pro-establishment group, decided the best way was to fight fire with fire and form their own political organisation. That organisation was the Conservative Party. While the Liberals focused on improving social issues in Pacitalia such as crushing the poverty that was seeping through the cores of the bigger cities and towns and the income disparity that was caused by overzealous, greedy business oligarchs, the Conservatives promised to use economic restrengthening to indirectly fix the social problems in Pacitalia. Unfortunately for the Liberals, although the pro-establishment cause was majority-supported, the Liberal ideals were not.
On 21 November 1503 the Republic of Pacitalia was officially proclaimed running in its present boundaries from the Rio Grande in the north and the Caraccio Santumo foothill range in the northwest, south to the Rio Timiocato and the Strait of Fentomeria, and including some two hundred islands off the western shores. Subsequent national elections were held to determine Pacitalia's first prime minister, government and opposition, and to the surprise of many, Marco Pantereno-Graza did not run, instead stepping aside to allow his second-in-command, Barunino Madusso-Ceranta to run for the Conservative Party. They narrowly defeated the Liberals, 51 to 49%, but thusly formed a majority in the new parliament in Mandragora.
Through further elections in the 1500s, critics of the Conservative Party sat dumbfounded as the Liberals struggled to elect governments. It seemed the right-of-centre ideology sat better in the intellects and consciences of the Pacitalian people. However, in the 1543 election, the Liberals started doing better and won two straight elections, plus two more in a row after a quick run with a third party, the Socialists. Through the 1550s and 1560s, however, the Conservatives held a majority of seats and power for most of the years until the end of this first century under the banner of a republic.
The year 1587 was seen as a major transition point, and as a period of maturity from fledgling democratic republic to one struggling with a new identity.
Conservatism and the Preguntamo Religioso (1587-1612)
The fiscal and social conservative ideology held steadfast through the turn of these centuries; those who called themselves "compassionate Pacitalians" struggled to gain the attention a second political ideology should have had. Still, in the 1600s political differences were becoming increasingly overshadowed by the importance the Catholic church placed on itself and the influence it tried to exert over the Pacitalian people.
The church was becoming a growing voice because of its claims that a vote for conservatives was a vote to bring oneself closer to God. Most of the Pacitalians who voted were Christian-Catholic, so they believed this without hesitation. By the beginning of the second decade in this century, the church's influence stretched across most of the new republic and as far north as the border with Mexico. However, the Conservative party's brand of fiscal-social conservatism was not as far right as the church's beliefs. Riccardo Vidinanta, the prime minister from 1605-1612, saw this as troubling, but he also realised there was nothing he could truly have done to reverse this trend. A Conservative prime minister could not convince people not to vote along religious lines when the church had just said there were ties between them and his party. So, in his last year of office, he brought it up among Pacitalians.
- The question is, my dear people, do you want a government free of the interference of religious zealots and organisations? Or do you want the church to hold crushing sway over everything you do, turning this glorious land into a theocracy of despair? I sincerely hope you answer this before the next time you vote. (Riccardo Vidinanta, 1611)
That was all he had said, but the power of those words was felt by every Pacitalian voter. His seconds-long speech became known as the Preguntamo Religioso (the Religious Question). Voters agreed with him so much, snapping out of what many called a 'trance' by kicking the Conservatives out, and they elected liberal Lymanto Zerga the next prime minister in 1612.
