Luthori

[Ligbruderkrieg]

Tories now talk about "consolidation of government" theory - here's how it's dangerous for our democracy.
18th February 5675 (backdated) - by Brad Yeoman

The "Consolidation of Government" theory, once stated by far-right and conservative political analyst to the Weekly Telegraph, Brian Robinson stated that the Luthorian political system should be "consolidated" under the two major political parties, ending the current so-called "bloc" system that dominates Luthorian politics, replacing with a de-facto two party system where most minor political formations would be "absorbed" into either the Conservative and Nationalist Party or the National Labour Party. This theory states that the "consolidation" of the Luthorian political system around the two political formations would grant stability to the Luthorian parliamentary system, by allowing political parties to win an outright absolute majority in the Chamber of Representatives, allowing to form a government on their own, without requiring much negotiations on the government official program, as it would be likely that the parties entering government - alone, would govern as they saw fit.

Now, due to the current system being criticised on conservative circles, some conservatives have begun endorsing the view of the need of a "government consolidation", Tory high-ranking politicians such as Margaret Harper (Leader of the ISC [Identity Study Committee]) or Martin Shepeard (Leader of the Constitutionalist Conservative Group (CCG)) have openly stated that they believed that the "future of the Luthorian political system would be through a consolidation of political ideologies within one party", stating that in their view (M. Harper) that "conservatism has only one home available and that is the Tory Party". While these views have merely been addressed by some members of the Tory Party, the fact that these members are considered as higher-ups in the party's hierarchy is worrying at best. The Tories are now, in short term, saying that political pluralism, guaranteed through the existance of minor political formations, should be dismantled in favour of a generic two-party system.

Prime Minister Brooke hasn't publicly acknowledged the statements, but according to private informations, the PM didn't endorse these views out of fear of backlash from his coalition partners in the Moderates and the Hosian Democrats. Both parties have complained to the Prime Minister about the controversial statement from some of his party members. According to concording reports, the Liberal party leader warned the Prime Minister about "unforseen consequences" if Conservative leaders "didn't change their hostile tone", hinting at a potential resignation from the Cabinet if the Tories doubled down on the endorsement of some of their leaders of this dangerous theory. To ease tensions and reassure every one in his coalition, the Prime Minister instructed the Chairman of the Conservative Party, Sir Bill Kayes to instruct members to lay low about the "concentration theory" or to instruct statements to repudiate these views. 

There is little doubt that the Conservative and Nationalist Party is trying to strengthen its position with the political chessboard of the Luthorian Empire, but by doing so, is endorsing the view that poltitical pluralism, represented through the different political parties represented in the Imperial Diet (also known as Chamber of Representatives), isn't as necessary in our democratic process as it may seem, the fact is that consolidation of government states that numerous small political parties would need to be dissolve into more larger political formations in order to grant stability to the realm. According to Robinson himself, to acheive this goal, and allow the formation of a large right-wing political party, the Luthorian Parliament would need to change its electoral system to first-past-the-post in the Chamber, allowing stronger majorities to be formed but at the cost of allowing elections where the elected MPs are with 30% to 40% of the vote, and through a divided opposition, elected to represent their constituency to Darlington. These elections would risk creating apathy towards the political process, as this undemocratic system of representation strangle the will of smaller parties at the difference of much stronger and established political institutions.

Usually, these are the first step towards an overall democratic backsliding, as single-party majority governments have usually less pressure related to their policies and their actions compared a coalition majority government - this could lead towards increased government authoritarianism, potentially leading towards the death of Luthorian democracy as we know it. Tyranny usually comes, at least in representative democracies, from persons having far too much influence within a party which has, in itself, an absurd amount of influence within a nation's political system.

Democracy is fragile folks, and it's our job, as citizens to fight in order to preserve it. And well, at worst, we still have the Emperor to coup the government if it all comes down to the worst.