Umbrella Research Party
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The Umbrella Research Party (URP) was founded on February 24, 2009 as Umbrella Corporation Party. It was the political forefront of the Umbrella Corporation. It was created by Don Keedick and Dale Marks. The party came ahead of schedule and in response to the United States Workers Party dropping their endorsement of Don Keedick hours before the Congressional election in New Mexico in which Don was the incumbent. It was also a testament to the ideals of the Umbrella Corporation for low income and VAT taxes while the USWP was successfully spearheading a project to double income taxes. URP had its own paramilitary unit - Umbrella Military.
Party presidents
- February 24, 2009 - March 15, 2009: Don Keedick
- March 16, 2009 - April 15, 2009: Don Keedick
- April 16, 2009 - June 15, 2009: Redclaw486 / Unknown / Dale Marks
- June 16, 2009 - July 15, 2009: TheSupernatural / Unknown
- July 16, 2009 - August 15, 2009: Chris Maliwacki / Habraka Abrivianius / Dale Marks
- August 16, 2009 - September 15, 2009: Dale Marks
- September 16, 2009 - January 15, 2010: Don Keedick
- January 16, 2010 - February 15, 2010: Max McFarland 2
- February 16, 2010 - March 15, 2010: M.Leviathin
- March 16, 2010 - April 15, 2010: Don Keedick
- April 16, 2010 - May 15, 2010: M.Leviathin
- May 16, 2010 - June 15, 2010: Absolutist
- June 16, 2010 - July 15, 2010: finalbill
- July 16, 2010 - August 15, 2010: Sam Roswell
- August 16, 2010 - End of 2010: shadow1313
Last known ideals of the URP/Umbrella Corporation
Assisting the liberation of taken regions
The URP and Umbrella Corporation assist countries in RWs when they are attempting to regain regions originally belonging to them. The URP does not side toward a particular military alliance.
Providing infrastructure to regions and countries that need them
The Umbrella Corporation has provided hospitals and defense systems to struggling countries free of charge. One of our most notable achievements was the donation of a Q5 hospital to Denmark.
A say in politics, not a majority
The URP sought to hold one or two Congressional seats each month so we can simply have a say in some of the workings of its home country. Umbrella has organizations, ambassadors, etc. in many countries, however, we are primarily based in the USA at this time.
Old ideals of the URP
This section highlighted what the URP was founded on in February 2009. Umbrella has since decreased its political influence. This section would be retained for historical purposes but was found to be biased. It has since been removed and can be viewed under the history tab. The old ideals included lowering income tax and VATs while increasing import tax, border expansion, and encouraging high paying jobs with regular raises.
Beginning of the URP
The USWP dropped their endorsement of Don Keedick, the incumbent in the February 25th Congress elections for New Mexico, only hours before the election day. The USWP then publicly announced on their forums that they did not feel Don was a good candidate for New Mexico due to his affiliation with the Umbrella Corporation. It was after such a betrayal and the immediate loss of a seat in Congress that Don and Dale spoke. It was decided that the Umbrella Corporation would speed up the creation of the party in order to get started what we envisioned as a political party.
Rise of the URP
Upon being founded the URP made an extensive recruiting effort. It involved sending PMs to several hundred new and old players alike and involved multiple recruiters. The number of party members quickly surged to a high of 65 members. As a result, the URC became the 10th largest political party in the eUS. This gained a large amount of criticism as it was not believed that a political party could attain so many members in such little time, however the rise of the party was thanks to hours of combined manpower to recruit to a very wide audience.
Don Keedick's hiatus
Around April-August 2009, Don Keedick was out of the game due to real life issues. This period of time saw the entire restructuring of the URP and Umbrella Corporation. The wiki page was not updated so there are some 'unknowns' in the party presidency. Due to the restructure, the Umbrella Corporation mostly walked away from having a political branch. The number of members dropped sharply for that reason and also due to the fact that Umbrella members are spread out amongst many countries.
URP goals
The September 15th, 2009 party presidency elections saw the return of Don Keedick as party presidency. The URP and Umbrella Corporation go hand-in-hand and the party is more of a facet in which Umbrella can be recognized on the political front. The URP has no means of establishing a majority of congressional seats. Under Don Keedick's guidance the following goals have been set for the URP.
Bringing Umbrella members to Congress
Umbrella desires to hold a few seats each month in Congress. This is not an attempt to gain any sort of majority rule in Congress, instead, it is a front in which Umbrella and its members can be recognized as having a political opinion. It allows Umbrella to support particular individuals for the presidency as well as having the ability to voice an opinion on political matters.
Having a high level of active members
The September 2009 elections saw approximately 66% of party members voting in the election. The minimum goal is set to have 75%+ active members.
History
URP existed for almost two years - from February 2009 until the end of 2010. The end of the party is quite vague and nobody can say definitely what happened, however, it is believed that the party dropped under 5 people membership and it changed name often. However, what is known is that in September 2013, the party was taken over and renamed briefly to American Freedom Alliance before it becomes Black Sheep Party.
Member count
As of September 15th, 2009, the party had 44 members. The all-time high was approximately double that. The URP resided in 10th place amongst political party rankings by the number of members.
