Founded December 31st, 2018, the Modern Whig Party was a political party in Respublica's United States of America. The party existed to enhance equality, further democratic ideals, and educate on the social and economic benefits of well-researched common sense solutions. The Party is seen as a middle-of-the-road grassroots movement turned mainstream, representing voters who do not strictly accept Republican and Democratic positions. The Party's general platform supports transparency, pragmatism and extensive research in government.
The Charter of the Modern Whig Party[]
The Charter of the Modern Whig Party, known better amongst Whigs as the Charter, is the official founding document of the Modern Whig Party. Written by members Marilyn Manson, Ryan Stewart and Satania Grá Emoticonius, the Charter is the building block of the party. The Charter of the Modern Whig Party was officially ratified by all Whigs on February 3rd, 2019. Here is the contents of the Charter:
The Charter of the Modern Whig Party
Ratified February 3rd, 2019
Preamble
Founded December 31st, 2018, the Modern Whig Party is a political party in Respublica's United States of America. The party exists to enhance equality, further democratic ideals, and educate on the social and economic benefits of well-researched common sense solutions. The Party is seen as a middle-of-the-road grassroots movement turned mainstream, representing voters who do not strictly accept Republican and Democratic positions. The Party's general platform supports transparency, pragmatism and extensive research in government.
Article I - Definitions
1.1 The following shall be understood as such herein: the Modern Whig Party as “the Party”; The Charter of the Modern Whig Party as “the Charter”; Whig Leadership as “party leadership”; Chairman as “the Chair”; and Whig National Committee as “the Committee”.
Article II - Membership
2.1 The Party shall be available for anyone to join regardless of their sex, gender, race, ethnicity, sexuality, religion, or views within the bounds of Article XI.
2.2 In order to remain recognised as a party member, one must remain active within Respublica and follow the Charter and by-laws of the Party.
2.3 The Committee may ask moderator clerks to de-role members who do not follow established rules and laws or have grown inactive.
Article III - Whig Leadership
3.1 To ensure that party members are represented and cared for, party leadership positions beneath the elected Chair shall exist.
3.2 Positions within party leadership that are directly at the discretion of the Chair shall be known as “running mates”.
3.2 Beyond the Chair, only WNC members shall be directly elected by party members and thus be given greater responsibility than delegated positions.
Article IV - The Chair
4.1 The Chair is the face of the Party and is responsible for delegating tasks to the Committee, utilizing the treasury, upholding deals and agreements, maintaining the Party's public presence, updating party members on recent events, releasing public announcements, running the Discord server, and protecting the Party from both internal and external threats through enlisting moderator clerks.
4.2 The Chair shall be directly elected by a simple majority of party members and shall serve for a term of one month. Should no majority be reached in a single round of voting, a runoff shall be held between the top two candidates. There shall be no term limit.
Article V - The Vice-Chair
5.1 The Vice-Chair is a required “running mate” responsible for overseeing task delegation within the party leadership and must be filled throughout a Chair’s term as well as declared by nominated candidates via party announcement prior to a Chair’s election period.
5.2 The Vice-Chair shall be appointed by the Chair and confirmed by the Committee via a simple majority vote.
5.3 The Vice-Chair may be removed by the Chair at any time through a party announcement, or by the Committee via a simple majority vote excluding the Chair. The position must always be filled within reason.
Article VI - The Whig National Committee
6.1 The Committee is the party leadership’s body responsible for fulfilling delegated tasks and positions from the Chair’s mandate, upholding the Charter and by-laws of the Party, and ensuring members are represented and noticed.
6.2 There are to be four seats on the Committee.
6.3 Committee members shall be directly elected by party members for a term of one month each.
6.4 The roles of the elected committee members are to be determined by the Chair.
6.5 The Committee may trigger an early Chair election through a unanimous vote of no confidence.
Article VII - Presidential Preference
7.1 Upon the Chair's election, the Chair is to select one party member to serve as the Party's Presidential Preference. Ultimately, the Presidential Preference is the Party's presidential candidate or the President if successful.
7.2 The Chair may remove and replace the Whig Presidential Preference at any time.
Article VIII - Elections
8.1 Elections are to be held by the party leadership.
8.2 Any party member may run for a position as long as they have been in the Party for at least three days.
8.3 Elections in total shall last about six days or 144 hours. The first three days shall be spent on a campaigning period and the last three days shall be spent on a voting period.
8.4 Elections shall be held in the party’s official Discord server and in-game votes should be unanimous with the winner of the Discord election. This is to deter or prevent a coup via rule-breaking and/or hostile parties as well as to ensure reliable access to the treasury.
Article IX - The Challenge System
9.1 The Chair and committee members may be challenged for their positions, with five or three written claims of support needed respectively to trigger an election.
9.2 Once a party member gets the necessary support, the party leadership must bring the challenge to a vote. A simple majority is required for the challenger to succeed.
9.3 If a challenge fails, the official in question cannot be challenged again for at least a week.
Article X - Chain of Succession
10.1 In the event that a Chair resigns, goes inactive for a period of a week without an excused absence, or is somehow hijacked, the Vice-Chair shall assume the duties of the Chair. An election for the Chair’s position shall nevertheless be called within a week of this situation arising.
10.2 If the Vice-Chair is also unavailable, the duties of the Chair will pass to the most senior committee member unless that member specifies, through a party announcement, that they will be turning down the position. An election for the Chair position shall also nevertheless be called within a week of this situation arising.
10.3 If some committee members have served on the Committee for the same amount of time, an openly displayed vote between them shall be held to determine who will serve as Chair. In the event of a tie, the committee member with the higher party influence will be selected to serve as Interim Chair.
Article XI - Etiquette
11.1 Party members are to be kind, collected, and direct no language deemed foul towards others.
11.2 Party members are to treat each other with respect. Activities such as or in the same vein as harassment, coercion and intimidation shall not be tolerated.
11.3 All moderator clerks shall retain the right to warn, mute, kick, or ban individuals from official chat platforms at their discretion within reason.
Article XII - Amendments and the Amendment Process
12.1 Any party member, including those within the party leadership, may only propose an amendment to the charter through a party suggestion. After a period of three days, amendments may only be moved to a party vote if the party leadership is in majority support.
Article XIII - Acknowledgements 13.1 Marilyn Manson, Ryan Stewart and Satania Grá Emoticonius are to be recognised as the original authors of the Charter.