Bluejay Party

"'Shoot all the bluejays you want, if you can hit 'em, but remember it's a sin to kill a mockingbird.' Harper Lee, To Kill a Mockingbird" The official party slogan is "For the Greater Good!" More commonly known, however, is the above Harper Lee quote. Originally used by opponent to Bluejay Governor C. Carroll of Minnesota, the party adopted it as a testament to its resiliency.

The Bluejay Party (officially the True North United Bluejay Party) is a big-tent authoritarian leftist American political party, founded officially in 2031 in St. Paul, Minnesota. Often associated with the Bluebonnet Party of Texas, it is incredibly popular in the western Great Lake regions and New England, and at its height had control of the Senate, House, Presidency, and ten states*. Its most prominent officials include Vice President/President Samuel A. Hilton, Speaker of the House Ella Thomas, and White House Chief of Staff Jane Pratt.

Most notable for the Master Plan but infamous for the Hay-Adams Affair and subsequent formation of the Blue Republic, many look back and associate the Bluejay party with corruption and ruthlessness, but in its time it was one of the most popular and efficient political parties, filling voids leftover from the collapse of the two-party system.

''*The control of the Senate House, and Preisdency was in conjunction with the Bluebonnet Party of Texas, while the Bluejay Party itself controlled ten state governments at one time and 16 over all time. Combining the two, they controlled 24 state governments over the course of all time.''

Platform
The Bluejay Party finds its basis in the Treatise of a Twenty-First Century State (or Bluejay Code as it is known), which outlines the "Four P's": Provision, Progression, Protection, and Perseverance. These four are what make up the Master Plan.

Provision:
The idea that ever man, woman, and child shall be provided for by the state, that no need shall be left unfulfilled. This translates into the Master Plan through the Equivalent Finances Act, the Redistributive Act, and the Common Good Act.

Progression:
That it is the state's duty to further the progress of society, scientifically and culturally. This translates into the creation of the Bureau of Research, the Department of Technology, the Federal Committee for the Arts, and the Scholar's Administration.

Protection:
In the wake of many terror attacks, an outbreak of school shootings, and wars raging in Europe, the Protection section was added to the Bluejay Code most recently. It assures that each person requires the state's protection of their rights, including the right to life, the right to safety, and the right to be unafraid. This translates into the SECURE Act, the Unilateral Defense Act, and the Steel Shield Directorate.

Perseverance:
This was the blanket term for the job and infrastructure creating packages proposed by the Bluejay Code. The idea was to create employment opportunities for unemployed peoples while also fixing a failing network of depression-era projects. This translates into the American Railway Administration, the Office of Transportation Planning, the Construction Bureau, and the Lock-Levee Oversight Committee.

Founding and Early History
Some historians think that Samuel A. Hilton and Praxis A. Faloon (founder of the Bluebonnet Party of Texas) founded their respective parties together in 2020 while they both attended Stephen F. Austin High School. However, these were just speculative rumors, and neither took major political action during this time (save a student strike protesting the Austin Independent School District's mismanagement of the Coronavirus).

Officially, the Bluejay Party was founded on May 11, 2031, the 173rd anniversary of the statehood of Minnesota. Recently graduated from Georgetown Law School in Washington D.C., Samuel Allen Hilton stood with the Mayor Rachel Calvert of Minnetonka and announced the creation of a new party. Despite their joint appearance, many remarked that Calvert was effectively a means to gain credibility for Hilton, who was the main idea man behind the party. He announced that it would be the harbinger of "a new era, one in which the greater good prevailed over the whims of the few", rolling out a left-wing agenda further than the dying Democratic party had ever gone.

This party was wildly popular in the Twin-Cities Area, and in 2032 Hilton was elected to the House of Representatives, where he remained for a term before running for Governor of Minnesota. He won, making him the youngest to ever hold the office at 31 years old, and was incredibly popular, serving three consecutive terms. During his tenure, the party spread from the twin cities into much of the rest of Minnesota with appeals to laborers in the Iron Range and farmers in the plains. It also bled into Wisconsin and North Dakota, but didn't have a broad reach outside of the upper midwest until 2044

In 2044, Hilton endorsed Caitlyn Carroll to be his successor for Governor of Minnesota and ran for the house again, winning along with twelve other Bluejay seats. After making a deal with the Democratic Party, Hilton got named Speaker of the House, converting many congressmen in New England from Democrat to Bluejay. The party grew across the north, spreading into the rust belt, and quickly became the more extreme successor to the Democratic party north of the Mason-Dixon.

Big Blue Formed
In 2051, Governor Praxis Faloon of Texas (founder and most renowned member of the Bluebonnet Party) called Hilton down to Austin to run the idea of a Presidential run by him. Faloon proposed a joint Bluebonnet-Bluejay ticket with himself at the top and Hilton in the VP spot. The two met every day for the month of April this year in what came to be known as the Wildflower Meetings, due to a good number of them occurring in the newly built Wildflower Hall on the shores of Lake LBJ. In the end, on May 3rd, Hilton flew back to Minnesota after having made the following deal with Faloon:


 * Faloon was slated to run for President in 2052 with the full backing of both the Bluejay and Bluebonnet parties.
 * Hilton would serve as Vice President during those two terms.


 * Hilton would then run in 2060 for President, and nominate Faloon for Secretary of State
 * The two would share major decisions, and Hilton would be given access to all covert briefings/strategy meetings
 * A Master Plan would be unveiled featuring reforms the parties wished to see
 * This later got turned into a solely Bluejay reform package, see Hay-Adams Affair

With these terms agreed upon, the pair announced their candidacy on June 4, 2051, the day before Hilton's 48th birthday. Their announcement included the creation of the Big Blue Coalition, a union of the more stat-centered Bluejays and the more liberty-centered Bluebonnets.

Presidency
The Faloon-Hilton ticket won a plurality in the Electoral College, but failed to reach a majority. The House of Representatives was called to special session, and speaker Aden Botchway of the Capital party was convinced by Faloon (some theorize with threats, others theorize with sexual favors) to give them the win.

Terms
Faloon served for two terms as President, stepping down in 2060 as Hilton ascended to the office and appointed him Secretary of State. Hilton then served most of two terms, dying 6 years in.

The Master Plan
The Master Plan was the name the Faloon administration, as well as the Big Blue Coalition, gave to a series of economic, social, and political reforms that came about as a result of the Wildflower Meetings. Originally, it was a moderate-point between the Bluejays and Bluebonnets, passing the Healthcare Protection Act, the Equivalent Finance Act, and the Lock-Levee Oversight Act within 100 days. At this point, however, Faloon began to exclude Hilton from certain crucial meetings. Hilton did not respond well to this, and on August 7th ceased attending meetings at the White House.

It is at this point that he hired Jane Pratt, former consultant and well-known political spider. Pratt assisted him in pushing his own more radical Master Plan proposals through Congress, starting with the Civilian Security Act. Using Hilton's clout in the House and Pratt's blackmail in the Senate (plus the power of the Vice Presidency), the bill wound up on Faloons desk on September 3rd. Holding out as long as he could to avoid vetoing a bill proposed by his administration, Faloon began a diplomatic tour of the world at this point.

Upon his return from the tour, he received a call from Hilton, the first time the pair had spoken in months. They arranged a closed door meeting at the Hay-Adams for the following week.

Hay-Adams Affair
The Hay-Adams Affair was the term used to refer to a series of meetings held by top members of the Faloon and Hilton administrations in the Hay-Adams Hotel in Washington, DC. The meetings, taking place over the course of a decade, were exposed in the Austin-American Statesman in 2065 for their alleged corrupt nature.

First Meeting
The first Hay-Adams meeting was an off-the-books closed door sit down between President Praxis A. Faloon and Vice President Samuel A. Hilton on the 5th of October, 2053. Allegedly, this meeting was in regards to the discord between the two in the past months that was stalling administrative duties. After hours of arguing, which one Secret Service agent claimed could be heard from down the hall, the two emerged with an agreement. According to White House sources, the deal was that nearly all Bluejay Master Plan reforms would come to fruition so long as Hilton backed Faloon unquestioningly and utilized political consultant Jane Pratt to his benefit. Additionally, both would keep each other in the loop indefinitely.

Second Meeting
The most infamous of the bunch, the Second Meeting allegedly took place on the 24th of February, 2058 and included Hilton and Faloon as well as White House Chief of Staff Jane Pratt, First Lady Lyla S. Rose-Faloon, Chairwoman Alexandra Caspers of the Bluebonnet Party, and Attorney General Alexander Kizilos. It is at this meeting that, supposedly, the President and Vice President decided to respond to stalling in the Senate with direct force and fabricate a DOJ investigation into twenty-one anti-Blue Senators and twelve Congressmen.

Shortly after this meeting, the FBI arrested all of the aforementioned legislators under charges of treason, and an emergency executive powers act was rushed through Congress.

Third Meeting
The third and final meeting took place on July 14th, 2062 and included President Hilton and Secretary of State Faloon alongside Kizilos and Pratt. In this meeting, the groundwork was laid for the Second Constitution that would be proposed in the next year, granting the President more permanent executive power. It is also in this meeting that Hilton supposedly privately mentioned to Faloon his intention to retain the White House until he died, some decades off.

Second Presidency
The Second Presidency of the Blue Coalition refers to the tenure of Samuel A. Hilton as President of the USA under the Second Constitution, passed in 2063. It is marked with the decline of the party and bloodshed.

Statesman Exposé
On the 4th of July, 2064, the first to be celebrated since the induction of the Second Constitution, the Austin-American Statesman published an exposé featuring testimony from Secret Service agents and Attorney General Alexander Kizilos about the Hay-Adams Affair. This article called into question the transparency of the Hilton administration, and led to a government-ordered closure of the Statesman. With popular support slipping fast, however, and a congress poised to impeach, actions had to be taken.

The Capitol Bomber
The Capitol Bomber is the name given to an unknown terrorist who placed three bombs on the floor of each chamber in the Capitol Building during a special session on impeachment. The attacks killed off most of the legislature, and placed President Hilton in charge of legislating until he could schedule elections. While nothing was ever confirmed, it was theorized by many that the administration (specifically well-connected Secretary of State Faloon) was behind the attacks. Officially, it was reported to be a radical Mormon.

Assassination of President Samuel A. Hilton
Following a series of controversial executive actions and in the second year with no congressional elections, the Hilton administration was growing in its unpopularity. On the 5th of March, 2066, while he was leaving a photo op at the newly constructed Superior Dam, a gunman named Michal McCartney shot President Hilton after firing three shots into the crowd. His fourth shot landing directly under Hilton's throat, the gunman was taken down immediately. Hilton died in the hospital, taking his last breath at 3:42am on March 6th. Due to a recent ousting of Vice President Carroll due to a sex scandal, no presiding Speaker of the House, and Faloon's ineligibility to assume the office, Secretary of Treasury Jessie Lucas became President. Lucas couldn't hold the party together, and in 2068 ran against Faloon, who was running on repealing the term limits amendment.

With a split vote, Liliana Coovrey of the Republican Party won the office, and the Blue Coalition split back into Bluejay and Bluebonnet.

Party Decline and Dissolution
After the end of the Second Presidency, the Bluejay party began to decline. Many members joined the Bluebonnet party, especially after the sudden death of Praxis Faloon, and others reverted to the Democratic party. On January 1, 2071, the Bluejay party was officially dissolved into the Bluebonnet party by Chairman James J. Baker.