Dead Center Party
| Dead Center Party | |
|---|---|
| File:Dead Center Party.png | |
| Founder | John Kay |
| President | William Tyndale McLafflin |
| Secretary | Lionel Hutts |
| Speaker for the Rep's Chamber | Lionel Hutts |
| Founded | 15 October 1976 |
| Dissolved | 15 March 2017 |
| Merged into | New Choice |
| Headquarters | Denver, CC |
| Ideology |
Radical centrism Christian democracy Libertarianism Liberism Communitarianism |
| Official colors | Dark blue |
| Seats in the Senate |
0 / 51 |
| Seats in the House of Reps. |
1 / 100 |
| Website | |
| http://www.dcparty.rb | |
The Dead Center Party was a party in Rio Blanco.
The name Dead Center was chosen by founder John Kay to express his dry humor and to honor the Italian party Democrazia Cristiana.
After leaving the opposition block (Conservatives-First), the DC, along with the Humanists and the Liberals, formed a House group (the middlemen), which is neither part of the Government nor of the Opposition.
History
Origins
The DC has its origins in the now-defunct Rioblancoans for Hope, especially in party members John Kay and Lionel Hutts; they first met during Hope 4 All '66, a Christian convention organized by Rioblancoans for Hope, the Constitution Party and some speakers from the Home Guard.
Since then, the two members ascended the ladder of the party, with Kay becoming Secretary of Rioblancoans for Hope in 1972 and Hutts being promoted to National Coordinator a year later. However, the relatively liberal views of the two, as well as the fact that Kay was a Catholic, caused internal sparks, with some members wanting the two to step down; the dissent later transformed into a real conflict, making the party perform slightly worse than usual in elections and causing some people to leave Rioblancoans for Hope and join other parties, mainly Conservatives and Constitution.
During the 27th two-year Pan-Christian Assembly (1974), Kay made it clear that he wanted the party to be united ahead of the presidential election of 1976; however, the call for unity did not help the party fare better and it did not stop internal conflicts between the "liberal" faction K-H Coalition and the Lexman Group, the more "conservative" of the two factions, led by Walter Lexman. Seeing that the conflict contributed to the low number of votes during the election, the K-H Coalition left Rioblancoans for Hope, with the Lexman-led coalition taking over. Lexman would be later expelled from the party on grounds of "religious discrimination" and "unfriendly behavior".
Foundation
Kay and Hutts founded the DC as a form of protest against the supposed "ultraconservative" views of R4H and as a more "universal" platform for Christian politicians; they were soon joined by the other members of the K-H coalition. Soon after, the first DC congress was held in Denver, in 1977, with Kay being elected President of the Party and Hutts as Secretary.
At first, the secession was not recognized by Rioblancoans for Hope, but after said party was eliminated from the second turn in the 1980 election, Secretary Charlton Crummer (father of Jeremy, the last Secretary) apologized to John Kay for contributing to the conflict while Kay was a member of R4H.
Later activity
The party did not reach the second turn in the presidential election of 1980, as it only had 0.3% of the popular vote, coming at a distant third position from the Conservatives and the Progressives.
After a six-year hiatus, the DC, R4H and the Constitution Party organized the 28th Pan-Christian Assembly in 1982; since then, the event has been held regularly.
In early 1991, the DC, the Rioblancoan People's Front and other pro-life organizations held a sit-in protest against the bill that would legalize abortion within three months from conception, in front of the Denver Museum of Nature and Science; the passage of the bill caused an uproar from those groups and Hutts said that he would do anything to have it abolished.
Although the legalization of same-sex marriages in 2004 was seen as a "hard hit" for the DC by some, Kay quietly accepted the result.
In 2004, the party finally reached the second turn, with 0.4% of the popular vote. While not too happy about the result, candidates Bernard Knockler and Richard Timmers thanked the voters and the party for supporting them. A year later, John Kay stepped down and retired from politics, focusing on personal life.
In 2016, after the death of former President Lawrence Radigan, the Rioblancoan People's Front merged into the party.
About the Conservative internal clash, Secretary Lionel Hutts expressed interest in the development of the conflict, stating that the party would be open to anyone; he also talked to Gozner about the possibility for the Dead Center Party to either merge with or absorb the new Conservatives, should the latter lose any more power.
After the foundation of New Choice, the party unanimously agreed to join the newly-formed party.