Alternative History
Alternative History

The Liberal Party of Vermont was a political party in the Second Vermont Republic, formed after the 1998 election. It was formed to oppose President Dean in the House of Representatives, and generally followed a liberal conservative ideology. It was outlawed by the Kingdom of New England falling the fall of the Second Vermont Republic.

History[]

The party was formed following the 1998 election. During the election, no political parties participated, with candidates generally standing on pro or anti-Dean lines. This proved the major partisan divide during the life of the Second Vermont Republic.

Following the election, 61 members of the Vermont House of Representatives agreed to form the Liberal Party of Vermont, in order to oppose Governor Dean's socialist reforms. They were opposed by the Socialist Party of Vermont, supporters of Governor Dean, who commanded a majority in the House of Representatives.

During its brief existence, the Liberal Party opposed the government's social and economic reforms; it campaigned for greater economic freedom from government intervention, and supported lower government spending. It bitterly opposed the government's Land Reform Bill, which gave the government the right to redistribute land to assist the poor. It also favoured a more conciliatory approach to sovereignty from New England, as opposed to the hard-line stance of the Socialist administration.

In the 1999 local council elections in Vermont, the Liberal Party of Vermont gained a large swing towards it, capitalising on disillusionment with the Socialist Party, which had previously done well in the 1998 local council elections. This anti-administration swing contributed to a large degree to the fall of the Second Vermont Republic, as several towns defected to New England.

After the fall of Montpelier, the Liberal Party of Vermont was outlawed in New England.

Platform[]

The Liberal Party of Vermont, being based on an anti-administration platform, claimed inheritance from the Democratic-Republican Party of the early United States; it similarly championed individual rights against state powers. The Liberal Party of Vermont was formed to oppose Governor Dean; therefore, its ideology was somewhat loose, with economic rationalists, social liberals and religious conservatives represented within. It was generally a right-leaning party, and supported greater social and economic freedom from government intervention. The largest faction within were libertarians, who ensured that the party followed an economically liberal doctrine.

The Liberal Party of Vermont was a member of the American Union of Liberal Parties, an organisation of socially and economically liberal parties from across America. It attended the 1998 and 1999 conferences of the organisation, which the New England Whig Party boycotted in protest.