Republican Party (Selucia)

The Republican Party (Selucian: Factio Republicana) is a political party in the Republic of Selucia founded in November 4367. The Republican Party subcribes to Civic Republicanism, a modern political ideology deriving from ancient Classical Republicanism. Defining itself in opposition to both Liberalism and Communitarianism, Civic Republicanism is based on the ideal of liberty as the highest good, which it defines as non-domination and independence from arbitrary rule, rejecting the understanding of liberty as non-interference. The Republican Party thus promotes a system of citizenship based on the Republican institutions of the rule of law, checks and balances, and civic virtue, in a political and economic system based on and consistent with Mos Maiorum but not bound by it. As such the Republican Party promotes the idea that rights and freedoms are not pre-political but rather the result of public deliberation by active and virtuous citizens involved in issues affecting their life. As Republican liberty is fragile and constantly under threat the Republican Party believes citizens have a duty to one another and to the Republican community to be actively engaged in public deliberation in order to secure and promote liberty.

Rights and freedoms
The Republican Party's understanding of rights and freedoms is meant to serve as a middle way between liberal and socialist conceptions of individual liberty, or between "negative" and "positive" liberty, that is the liberal view of liberty as absence of constraint, thus requiring non-interference, and the socialist concept of freedom as the fulfilment of socio-economic rights, which requires the state to take action and interfere on behalf of the individual. Instead Republican rights cover both civil and socio-economic issues, resulting from the Party's conception of freedom as non-domination; in other words, an individual enjoys freedom only to the extent that no other person or group can arbitrarily interfere in their affairs, and as long as the individual is not subject to the arbitrary will of another, so that they can look every other citizen in the eye as a political equal. Any individual subject to the arbitrary power of another is considered systematically unfree even when not actually interfered with, such as slaves to a well-disposed master or subjects to a benevolent absolute monarch. Freedom is limited when fear of arbitrary interference causes people to modify their behavior in order to avoid the threat of violence. Republicans do not oppose interference in general, and in fact welcome it when it is non-arbitrarily exercized under the rule of law with the purpose of reducing the arbitrary exercise of power. Rejecting the liberal and socialist understandings of rights as limitations or guidelines, Republicans instead emphasize "participation rights" as the most important rights, emphasizing the intrinsic value of political participation as the highest and most transformative form of living together that any individual can aspire to, as it is only through political participation that freedom as non-domination can be secured, enabling citizens to identify with the res publica and its freedoms. Since humans are naturally interdependent, this creates the risk of arbitrary domination in political and private life, meaning that Republican freedom is under constant threat and the only way to secure it is through active and daily participation in political affairs. The ideal citizen for the Republican Party is one who respects individual rights, tolerates different opinions and beliefs, values autonomy, takes an active part in the life of the community, and places the common welfare of the Republic and the well-being of other citizens above their personal or group inclinations, ambitions, and interests. A citizen who acts this way is believed to display civic virtue, and if the public is to manifest this virtue it must be bound by the rule of law. Equally important as the rule of law for the Republican Party is self-government; if a citizen is to be free from the arbitrary rule of others, she must be subject to an "empire of laws, not of men", but must also be self-governing, that is a Republican citizen is one who acts according to laws she has a voice in making, and not impulsively, arbitrarily, or recklessly. As such Republicans believe that the only way to be free is as a citizen of a free state, as self-government is the most important form of freedom and all other forms of individual freedom are only secure in a free Republic under the rule of law.

Constitutionally, the institutions promoted by the Republican Party do not differ significantly from those of representative liberal democracies, however the rationale for these institutions is substantially different. As opposed to a Liberal constitution, the aim of a Republican constitution is not to restrict interference and to protect "natural" or pre-political rights, but rather to avoid domination, outline how the government should operate, and promote an active citizenry. All other rights and freedoms should derive from and not be the basis of civic participation, and for this reason Republicans are opposed to a written constitution and to enshrining fundamental rights within the constitution or through international treaties. Instead the Republican Party believes that the constitution should evolve over time, and all rights and freedoms should be the result of public deliberation facilitated by the constitution. This is because the Republican Party finds the concept of abstract rights, including human rights, to be inimical to politics and associated with antisocial individuals outside social and institutional arrangements, believing instead that rights are a civic achievement of socially embedded individuals regulated by laws they pass for themselves as political equals. The aim of a Republic is to achieve freedom from arbitrary rule, not freedom from any rule. As such Republicans see rights as an important aspect in achieving non-domination, but they see them as rights of citizens, not natural rights of human beings that could be held outside society or within any society. Rather rights should result from laws that citizens give themselves as members of a Republic, within a specific context and responding to specific claims. For this reason the Republican Party opposes "strong" judicial review, that is the ability of courts to overturn laws passed by the legislative, but is not opposed to "weak" review, whereby the legislative has the opportunity to reject the court's ruling, as long as it does so publicly and transparently.

Economy
In economic terms the Republican Party expands the ideal of active citizen involvement and civic virtue to promote an economic system defined by employee primacy, that is a cooperative economy where all workers are also owners, adopting aspects of the Aurorian ideology of Distributism, the idea that ownership of the means of production and productive capital ought to be as widespread as possible. As such the Republican Party is largely ambivalent about the market; it neither considers that free exchange has inherent moral value as in free-market Liberalism, nor does it condemn it as inherently immoral. Instead the Republicans believe that what is immoral about market exchanges is if they are conducted under unequal power relations, which, the Party contends, can lead to the creation or maintanance of arbitrary domination. Instead the Party believes that all conditions that produce arbitrary domination must be removed from the market so that it can function as an instrument for freedom. Thus the Republican Party believes that a Republican society should be market-based and property-based, but where restrictions on the distribution of wealth and power need to be created in order to permit the un-dominated exercise of citizenship. As such the Republican Party opposes welfare capitalism, as it does not prevent inequality and hence dominance from arising in the first place and only alleviates its most extreme negative consequences, supporting instead a form of pre-distribution by implementing policies designed to ensure that no individual or group can become rich enough to dominate others and society as a whole and that nobody is poor enough to be forced to depend on others, including by implementing a maximum wage pegged to the local poverty line or introducing a high inheritance tax. On the other hand the Republican Party is weary of dependence on government aid, which it sees as potentially arbitrary and thus a form of domination, and as such it has advocated replacing or scaling back welfare systems in favor of a Universal Basic Income. The Republican Party also believes that citizens have a duty not only to each other, but also to past and future generations. Coupled with its advocacy for a moral economy, this has led to the Party adopting a "degrowth" platform, advocating the controlled and equitable reduction in economic activity and encouraging citizens to live more frugal but also more meaningful lives.

Society
In social terms the Republican Party rejects both conservatism and liberalism, finding both to be incompatible with the ideal of Republican liberty. Instead the Republican Party believes that individual liberties, while fundamental to civic virtue, should be restricted to only those liberties that are co-exercisable, that is exercisable by each citizen and all citizens together, and among these the Republican Party recognizes only those liberties that enhance both the common good and the welfare of the people that exercize them. That is because the Republican Party believes that rights and freedoms do not exist prior to or apart from politics, but are rather the result of political deliberation, rejecting the liberal view that laws are a necessary evil. Instead the Republican Party believes that freedom is consistent with and in fact requires an extensive system of laws, provided they protect against arbitrary domination by any individual or group over another, and as long as the state itself does not as a consequence dominate its citizens. Republicans believe that the end goal of all laws is enhancing the common good, which they believe is distinct from the total sum of individual preferences, by cultivating in citizens the qualities necessary for self-governance. For this reason the Party believes that morality is not merely a private concern, but is instead a public matter.

Nationalism
Although the Republican Party has often been associated with nationalism, the Party rejects this identification, seeking instead to recover the traditional pre-modern meaning of "Patriotism" as love and affection for the people's common liberty in opposition to selfish ambitions by private individuals, and dedication to political unity based on the common good rather than cultural, religious, or ethnic homogeneity. In contrast to nationalism, republican patriotism is based on interdependence and not on commonalty, rejecting the nationalist allegiance to a common identity, be it ethnic, cultural, or linguistic. A further distinguishing feature from nationalism is that in republican patriotism love for the fatherland is not a natural feeling but an artificial sentiment that can only be cultivated through the citizens' shared experience of liberty and equality in a Republic. As such the Republican Party perceives citizenship as less exclusive than nationality, seeing it as based on interdependence and not on a pre-political identiy, allowing it to embrace a diversity of ethnicity and culture. On the other hand the Republican Party also rejects the liberal understanding of citizenship, including civic nationalism, due to its neutrality and claim of distinction from particular cultures within the state. The Party argues that in practice public neutrality tends to privilege the majority culture, to the detriment of minorities or women. For the Republican Party citizenship is determined by common deliberation and interdependence, not on presumed neutrality or predetermined common values. This rejection of nationalism does not however mean that the Republican Party endorses cosmopolitanism or transnationalism, which it rejects as affecting popular sovereigny and the importance of citizenship. Republicans believe that a Republic is not a club that one may join or leave at will, nor an exclusive relationship like families, friendship ties, or ethnic groups. They rather see it as a semi-voluntary association of people bound together by common predicament, not by culture nor by mere administrative convenience. As such the Party believes that popular sovereigny is essential in securing a non-dominating political and legal system for its citizens. Due to its views on citizenship the Republican Party supports restricting immigration to only those foreigners that are already in a position of interdependence with Selucia's citizens, including family ties, business or trade relations, colonial history, or missionary activity, and opposes immigration for ethnic or cultural Selucians who are not interdependent with Selucia's citizens. Due to its belief that popular sovereigny is necesary for non-domination, the Republican Party opposes membership in international organizations like the Majatran Alliance or the Majatran Union of Nations, due to what it considers the dispersal of sovereignty among competing and incomplete polities, the potential for domination by strong states, corporations, or individuals, and the lack of a unified public sphere under popular sovereignty capable of fostering relations of non-domination.

Ideological positioning
It is thus difficult to place the Republican Party on the traditional left-right spectrum. While the Party believes itself to promote individual liberties, its belief that interference is not the opposite of freedom but in fact sometimes necessary to secure it has led it to demand significant restrictions on several individual preferences, including limitations or even outright bans on recreational drug use, alcohol, tobacco, gambling, no-fault divorce, promiscuity, pornography, unhealthy food, or luxury. On the other hand the Party is eager to promote and defend progressive policies like same-sex marriage, gender reassignment subsidies, legal prostitution under cooperative principles, and legal abortion on socioeconomic grounds. Economically as well, by rejecting the limitless accumulation of wealth and promoting limitations on private property, but also supporting self-regulation via autonomous groups such as cooperatives and opposing welfare and the minimum wage, the Republican Party finds itself in agreement with both left-wing and right-wing views while also being very critical of both. Due to its support for some socially conservative policies as well as its promotion of an egalitarian economy, the Republican Party's base of support is among conservative Pagans, left-wing Hosian Democrats, and conservative blue-collar voters.

History
The Republican Party emerged as a result of widespread dissatisfaction with the policies of the ruling In Marea government, from both right-wing and left-wing sources, during the second half of the 44th century. A number of social movements and protests, focusing on a variety of issues, emerged during the 4350s. The largest of these was the "Selexit" movement, organized around 4358 by the "Democratic Selucia" organization and supported by IUVIM, the youth wing of the In Marea political party, and campaigning for a referendum concerning Selucia's membership in the Majatran Alliance, which the movement saw as a waste of money and resources. The campaign for a referendum did not succeed at the time, but the protesters soon found themselves a new ally in the grassroots opposition to the 4360 Victoria Olympics in Selucia, a movement criticizing the high expenditure of the games, the creation of "white elephants", and the nationalistic and commercial nature of the modern Olympics. These two protest movements crossed political and ideological lines and became an expression of dissatisfaction with the policies of both left-wing and right-wing governments. These social movements were ultimately galvanized by the re-founding of the National Legion in 4366, a far-right and ultra-Hosian organization, and in 4367 these movements coalesced around two prominent leaders of the protests, Decimus Nasennius Valens, a former member of IUVIM, and Postumus Oppidius Hortensius, a Pagan religious leader and member of the religion's College of Pontiffs, who in November that year laid the foundations of the Republican Party, a new political party subscribing to the old ideology of Republicanism in opposition to liberalism, conservatism, socialism, and social democracy. Calling for Selucia's withdrawal from the Majatran Alliance and international sporting events, term limits, the reintroduction of a dual Consulship, a franchise restricted to those that served in the Armed Forces or civilian service, the limitation or restriction of luxury and "immoral acts", and a corporatist guild-based economic system, the Republican Party was founded with a platform presenting an eclectic policy mix aiming to appeal to all voters dissatisfied with the political situation in Selucia.

In the Party's first election in 4370 it gained nearly 18% of the seats in the Senate, becoming the third largest party and becoming indispensable for the formation of a new cabinet. Although they were courted by both the National Legion and In Marea, the Republicans ultimately decided to join a left-wing coalition in order to prevent the Legion from entering government. In spite of its numerous differences, the leftist-Republican coalition persisted for two legislative terms. During this time the young party, owing to its eclectic platform, successfully and selectively collaborated both with its coalition partners and with the National Legion on a number of legislative proposals that, among other things, reintroduced the death penalty, criminalized adultery, implemented corporal punishment as a voluntary alternative to incarceration, expanded the Republic's child benefit policy, provided tax incentives to worker-run businesses, and drastically increased the luxury goods tax. But the distinct ideological views of the center-left coalition parties ultimately led to its collapse and the Republican Party's shifting its focus towards a cooperation with the right, reaching a back-door agreement with the Legion and the Imperial Party on a potential coalition agreement. In the 4378 elections the Republican Party endorsed the Legion's candidate for Consulship, and after two years of negotiations, paved by a compromise bill that introduced Religio Seluciana as a second state religion of the Republic, the three conservative parties formed a coalition chaired by Republican Party co-founder Postumus Oppidius Hortensius. Under the new coalition the Republican Party continued its policy of selective cooperation accross ideological lines, and its attempt at establishing a cooperative economy under Distributist principles culminated in a series of bills that introduced a maximum wage, sold most State-Owed Enterprises to their employees, required that every business be organized as a cooperative, and eliminated or scaled back several welfare benefits in order to finance a Universal Basic Income. In 4381 the right-wing coalition implemented one of the core demands of the Republican Party, a referendum on Selucia's membership in the Majatran Alliance. With 58.49% of voters endorsing withdrawal, Selucia formally left the Alliance in 4383. The right-wing coalition lasted until 4392, when it was replaced by a centrist alliance that left the Republican Party outside government for the first time since 4370.

Republican cooperation with the right-wing parties was suddenly brought to an end by the assassination of Consul Martinus Varro, the leader of the National Legion, by an unidentified assailant. In the aftermath of the assassination the National Legion disintegrated, and in the 4394 elections a new force emerged on the right, gaining most of the core voters of the disbanded Legion, the Rexist Party. The centrist coalition collapsed soon afterwards due to the disintegration of the People's Conservative Party, one of its key members. In a series of events known as the 4400 Selucian political crisis Selucia found itself without a working government and was affected by the inability of the Senate to agree on a governing coalition, a well as a number of defeated calls for early elections. The Republican Party played a key role during the crisis, as it was Republican leader Rebeca Clodia Pastor that first introduced the idea of a minority cabinet formed exclusively of the Imperial Party. In April 4400 the proposal materialized in the "Cabinet of the Consul". For her role in managing the crisis Rebecca Clodia Pastor was granted the Selucian Golden Medal.

During the subsequent years the Republican Party established a close working relationship with both the far-right Rexist Party and the ultra-Hosian Aurorian Party, in spite the profound disagreements between the two. Following the 4402 elections the Republican party joined a coalition with the Aurorian Party and In Marea, returning the Republicans to government after a decade in opposition, and after the 4407 elections the party formed a government with the Rexist Party. Under the Republican-Rexist coalition the party supported a motion to withdraw Selucia from the Trans-Majatran Corridors Network and the Republican-controlled Ministry of Infrastructure initiated the dismantling of most highways on Selucian territory. In the elections in 4411 the party achieved the best electoral result in its history, with Republican candidate Hiroto Yukimura winning the Consular election and the party becomming the second largest in the Senate. This victory however did not allow it to join the new government, and the party found itself in opposition for the second time in its history. During this time Consul Yukimura successfully negotiated Selucia's participation in a trade agreement with Kalistan and Vanuku.

Over the next few years the Selucian party system witnessed a gradual consolidation, moving from a fragmented multi-party democracy towards a two-party system. This transition occurred due to the disintegration or merger of the parties to the right of the Republican Party due to their perceived instability and extremism, allowing the Republicans to capitalize on the lack of competition on its right flank by gradually monopolizing the right-wing vote. The Republican Party's rise to dominance began with the elections of November 4424 when the party became the second largest in the Senate and its candidate Haider bin Talal al-Mutanabbi was elected Consul, largely owing to a Republican-sponsored reform of the law enforcement system that introduced police conscription, community policing, and restorative justice. The close ties established with government officials in Kalistan encouraged subsequent Republican leaders, including Consul Haider al-Mutanabbi, to participate in a conference in Kaliburg setting the foundations for the establishment of a Non-Aligned Movement. Republican candidates would go on to win the Consulship in all subsequent elections except for those organized in 4441, although the party found itself in perpetual opposition to the larger and more organized left-wing In Marea. Believing that the source of the party's failure to enter government was its internal factionalism, which had benefited the party when it was a small centrist force capable of governing with larger parties on both sides of the spectrum but which damaged its ability to offer a unified opposition to In Marea, the Republican Party introduced a number of internal reforms in 4435 that implemented strict party discipline and aimed to curb factional infighting. These reforms proved their value to the party when, in the 4445 elections, it managed to gain control over both the legislative and the executive and become the sole governing party of the Republic.

Factions

 * Fraterculi Republicani ("Republican Little Brothers") is the largest and most influential faction within the Republican Party. A Hosian Democratic faction, the Fraterculi support Aurorian Patriarchal Social Thought and are the main supporters of the party's commitment to Distributism and Subsidiarity, which the Republican Little Brothers see as perfectly consistent with the understanding of freedom as non-domination. The Fraterculi believe that there is scriptural justification for the understanding of liberty as non-domination and for the implementation of an economy based on widespread property ownership, solidarity, and compassion for the poor, and for a political system rooted in pluralism, a separation of Church and State, and civic virtue. Drawing on Church tradition and the writings of Church Fathers on the cardinal virtue of justice, the Little Brothers believe that civic virtue is the disposition to direct the acts of virtues towards the common good of the society. The faction has close ties to the Aurorian Patriarchal Church and thus groups together most Hosian-oriented members of the party. The faction is conservative on social issues and left-leaning on economic issues. Its main representatives are Decimus Nasennius Valens, one of the party's two co-founders, and Adeodatus Nymphidius, co-leader of the party between 4400 and 4427. The faction takes its name from the 43rd century Fraternitas, the main inspiration for the faction's views.
 * Republicani Imperiales ("Imperial Republicans") are the most traditional faction of the party. Supporting a mixed constitution and limited franchise, the faction is the closest to traditional Classical Republicanism. The Imperial Republicans support a constitutional monarchy and political rights for the aristocracy, and are wary of the "tyranny of the majority" and what they see as the populist streak in the other factions. Instead, recognizing that most citizens would not have sufficient knowledge, resources, or even interest to be actively and daily involved in politics, they believe that in a well-ordered Republic only the politically virtuous elite should have the right to decide on the ruling of the Republic, and therefore they promote suffrage limitations based on income, land holding, education, voluntary military service, or some combination of these. The Imperial Republicans are moderate on social issues and more right-wing on economic issues. Most of its early leadership and members originate from voters and members of the Imperial Party. The Imperial Republicans are also the main representatives of the Pagan membership of the Republican Party. Its most important representatives are Postumus Oppidius Hortensius, one of the party's two co-founders, and former Consul Hiroto Yukimura. In time the influence of this faction has declined, although it remains one of the largest factions in the party.
 * Republicani Sociales ("Social Republicans") are the most left-wing faction of the Republican Party. They call for not only a political republic, but also a "Social Republic", one that is committed to ending all forms of attack on public autonomy, not just in terms of formal state power, but also in what concerns the markets, bureaucracies, inequalities of income, and all forms of colonial domination. Social Republicans believe that public autonomy requires not only civic participation in formal politics, but also the organization of autonomous counter-publics through the establishment of popular assemblies, workers’ councils, and traditional self-governance practices. Social Republicans also believe that public autonomy needs to be defended in economic terms through the establishment of an economic democracy based on egalitarian cooperative economics and a "solidarity economy". Social Republicans are progressive in social terms and left-wing to far-left on economic matters. The early leadership and membership of the Social Republicans originates from defectors from IUVIM, the youth branch of In Marea-Civis Sinistram. Its most known representative is Haider bin Talal al-Mutanabbi, Consul between 4419 and 4430.
 * Republicani Virides ("Green Republicans") are a small yet very influential faction of the Republican Party, combining the party's commitment to Civic Republicanism with a concern for ecological matters. Green Republicans believe that one of the core Republican ideas is that humanity is vulnerable and radically dependent on ecological balances, and share the Civic Republican belief in liberty as non-domination. They argue that non-domination can be achieved not only through civic engagement but also through the provision of public goods that ensure that no individual can be dominated by the state, the market, or other individuals. Green Republicans are particularly critical of consumerism and comodification, arguing that consumerism restricts rather than enhances freedom of choice. Green Republicans are more open to pluralism than the other factions, believing that, as long as demands for justice are satisfied, different conceptions of the good life can and should co-exist within a Green Republic, while also promoting lifestyles based on sobriety and social and political participation. The faction is the origin of the Republican Party's adoption of degrowh within its platform, while arguing that local communities should democratically define the legitimate needs of their members. Green Republicans are progressive on social issues and left-leaning on economic matters. The faction's main representatives are Rebecca Clodia Pastor, one of the party's two co-leaders between 4400 and 4427, and Iennifer Vinicia Opis, co-leader after 4427.