Unfettered Era

The Unfettered Era was an era of significant political, racial, and sexual violence, civil unrest, social upheaval, and hyperpolarisation in the United States, named as such due to the unfettered partisan nature of the primary political parties (the Democratic Party, which gradually drifted to the left as it was seized by its progressive, social-democratic and democratic-socialist wing) and the Republican Party (openly far-right and anti-democratic by the time of its collapse).

It led to atrocities committed by all sides (most notably the massacre of approximately one thousand transgender and non-binary individuals by an order of the governor of Tennessee, Michael Alpeck), the secession of the State of Virginia and the attempted secession of Maine and New Hampshire, and a very high death toll for a civil conflict of its nature, believed to be as high as 130,000 (the generally accepted figure being between 30,000 and 55,000) by some historians when including those who committed suicide or were killed as a result of legislative action, primarily but not always by Republicans.

The prelude to the era is generally accepted to have begun in 2014, with the Ferguson riots. The backlash to this - and the Black Lives Matter movement it turbocharged - among sectors of the right led to significant polarisation - which had already been increasing since the election of Barack Obama as president in 2008 - and led to the presidential campaign and eventual victory of Donald Trump (Unfettered Era). His presidency unified Democrats and - in addition to the 2020 racial justice protests led to the eventual ascension of Joe Biden (Unfettered Era) to the presidency after Donald Trump lost the 2020 United States presidential election (Unfettered Era) with 232 electoral votes.

The Republican Party radicalised substantially between 2016 and 2021, and their attempts to inaccurately discredit the election results led to the start of the Unfettered Era with the January 6, 2021 Capitol insurrection (Unfettered Era); this failed, but it led to a complete breakdown of all remaining consensus in the United States.

2021-2022: Early stages
During 2021 and 2022, political violence began to increase at an exponential rate. The |April 2021 United States Capitol attack, 2021 lynching of Derek Chauvin, and the increasingly anti-democratic, anti-LGBT, and bigoted rhetoric of those affiliated with the political right, such as Republican politicians; a series of flashpoints occurred that incrased partisan animosity and hatred to new heights. By 2022, 45% of Democrats would not befriend a Republican; by 2023, this number had increased to 57%, and to 90% by 2025.

Part of the increasingly violent atmosphere was a response to legislation passed by the Democratic-controlled 117th Congress, such as the American Rescue Plan in March 2021, the American Jobs Plan in June 2021, and especially the election reform For the People Act and the Equality Act, which forbade discrimination against racial minorities, women, the indigenous, LGBTQI+ individuals, and several other groups. Many in the Republican Party held an erroneous belief that these acts were an attempt to silence their political views.

Nineteen people died in political violence surrounding the 2022 election cycle, with fifteen killed by Republican-affiliated groups and four by Democratic groups; many deaths were as a result of reignited racial justice protests and riots after the severe beating of Darryl Jones at the hands of a Republican police officer in September of 2022.

There were several deadly incidents during these events; the execution of an unarmed Republican counter-protestor at point-blank range by a member of Antifa (who claimed they believed they had been threatened) and the infamous City Council Resolution 117 order to run over racial justice protestors given by the government of Warner Robins, Georgia (controlled by Republicans) caused a significant backlash among swing voters, who turned out in droves to vote Democratic for 2022.

2022 election and Republican reaction to it
The results of the 2022 United States elections were disappointing for the Republicans, with them losing the popular vote by almost ten points, pareing back almost all of their 2020 House of Representatives gains (losing 17 seats) while simultaneously losing four Senate seats for a 54-46 split. This was blamed by many Republians on the passage of the For the People Act, which banned partisan gerrymandering, and resulted in an increase in violence, as many Republicans realised they would no longer hold legitimate majority power - as they simply were not the majority of the country at that time - without significant force.

The Democratic Party moved to the left during this election; 29 moderate Democratic congresspeople lost primary challenges to those from the left, with only one primary challenger from the centre succeeding and twenty-one congresspeople affiliated with the |Democratic Socialists of America entering Congress, with many of the newly elected congressional representatives of this year being progressives. The Blue Dog Coalition fell from 18 to six members, and the Congressional Socialist Caucus was founded, as the Democrats swept nine state legislatures. Many of the remaining moderate Republicans were also primaried.

The gunning down of Democratic Representative Cedric Richmond (LA-02) when he was entering a vehicle to drive to the United States Capitol by a far-right miltia in response to the Democratic gains in the election that year, some Republicans' praising of the assiliant and Republican leadership's failure to condemn the murderer resulted in a censure vote condemning the Republican Party being passed by the House of Representatives on January 21, 2023 and by the Senate three days later on January 24.

In response to this, the Republican leadership issued a statement on January 25 naming thirteen mostly progressive and socialist Democratic Congresspeople, and one Senator (Bernard "Bernie" Sanders as "upholders of a rotten, decadent, gender-bending society". Several assassination plots were foiled in the months afterwards. In response, several state Democratic Parties threatened to ban the Republican Party in their states.

2023: Escalation
Social and political conflict, both nonviolent and violent, continued to escalate throughout 2023. The Democrats, emboldened by their move to the left and their gains in Congress, took significantly bolder progressive steps, with many laws passed - such as the Slavery Reparations Commission Act of 2023 establishing the Wellman Commission for Study of Reparations for Slavery to study reparations; the Confederate Monument Removal Act mandating state governments to remove all Confederate monuments by January 1, 2030; the Raise the Wage Act instituting an $15 minimum wage by 2027 (which had been removed from the American Rescue Plan Act after opposition from moderate Democrats, many of whom were no longer in Congress); the Public Health America Act, which instituted a public option for healthcare, the Racial Justice Act of 2024, instituting partial defunding (cuts of 32%) and massive reform of police, including the forced shutdown of many police unions, and - most controversially, as even moderate Democrats did not wholly support it - the Protecting the Right to Organise and Labour Unions Act - which massively increased collective bargaining rights and made strikebreaking a criminal offence.

These actions turned some business owners against the Democratic Party, as their profit margins were significantly damaged by the higher wages they were forced to pay their workers as a result of PROLU; as partisan polarisation continued to soar, discrimination based on political affiliation in such matters as jobs and housing began to increase; Democrats increasingly could not acquire - or were fired on flimsy pretexts - from companies owned by Republicans, and vice versa for Democratic businesses. Violent rhetoric increased - the first Republican primary debate was cancelled due to calls for the execution of Democrats, and some progressives in the Democrats began to call for retailation and even murder of Republicans in their states. Social media segregation - beginning in 2018 - began to occur en masse.

Early campaign (October 2023-January 2024)
The 2024 campaign began with the public rape and beating of a lesbian LGBT rights activist by a member of the Oath Keepers on October 21, 2023; this incited nationwide riots and protests by Democrats, causing the death of twenty-one. Congress and the Federal Government banned the Oath Keepers, Three Percenters, and Proud Boys in response, causing hundreds of Republiacns to join the groups.

The winner of the 2024 Republican primaries was Republican Senator Josh Hawley(R-MO). In his acceptance speech he vowed to "crush the Democrats"; he incited violence several times within the next month. Under the pretext of free speech, many Republican controlled states voted to ban any discussion of LGBT rights in schools and rewrote textbooks to preach against "gender ideology"; in response, many Democratic states - with the notable collaboration of a contingent of moderate Republicans in the Northeast, who began to leave the party en masse - began to expel Republicans from committees and mandate LGBT-inclusive education. Several Democratic states also fully nationalised their health care systems and instituted slaver reparations - with the Nevada Democratic Party, taken over by the progressive faction on March 6, 2021, being a leader of these efforts.

Similarly, Republicans moved further and further to the right - with Tennessee, in a preview of the chaos to come, voting to amend the state constitution to state that only two genders exist, voting to legalise all forms of discrimination against transgender individuals, and embarking on a massive privatisation program, with almost all areas of the state being sold off to private companies.

Georgia attempted to purge over one million voters from electoral rolls - this was blocked by a judge, and as a result state government was almost entirely swept by Democrats in 2022, with only one Republican surviving; the Democrats unseated Georgia governor Brian Kemp, lieutenant governor Geoff Duncan, secretary of state Brad Raffensperger, attorney general Richard M. Carr, Public Service Commissioner Chuck Eaton, two out of three State Commissioners (Labor and Insurance), and State Superintendent of Schools Richard Woods. They additionally won control of the Public Service Commission and captured narrow majorities (92-88 in the House and 29-27 in the Senate) majorities in both chambers of state government. Texas banned provision of water and food to immigrants, leading to 50 deaths from starvation and thirst.

These legislative pushes were met by similar ones from Democratic states; almost all of the various voter suppression laws enacted by Republicans were repealed by Democrats upon taking control of the Georgia Senate and House in 2024 - this caused protests and attempts to intimidate voters during the 2024 primaries.

Mid Campaign (January - August 2024)
At a campaign event on January 4, 2024, Josh Hawley declared that he would declare, via presidential order, January 6th as the "Martyr's Day" national holiday and declare Ashli Babbitt, killed by a gunshot during the storming of the Capitol three years earlier, a national hero. This statement immediately incited protests in over 25 cities, often called or supported by local Democratic leaders, against Republicans, which continued for five days.

The most infamous incident during this event occurred on January 6, 2024. A Republican counter-protestor was beaten and killed by a Democratic anti-Hawley protestor; in response, a Democratic civilian was shot in the head the next day. Both leaders failed to condemn the killing of the other political party's activists, with Josh Hawley simply stating "This is what happens when you try to change the country into something that it is not.". This caused "Fight the Fascist Scum" chanting in many Democratic areas.

Tensions only further increased as the 2024 campaign grinded on; in March a bomb was found at the Democratic National Convention, and in April a Republican was run over by a Democratic campaign bus in a targeted attack. Social media segregation based on political orientation continued to escalate throughout 2024, with posts from Republicans across Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Snapchat, Reddit, and Vibal (a social media platform launched in 2022 to great success) dropping 60 to 75 percent dependent on platform between January 2023 and August 2024, with an especially steep decline after January 2024 - both sides were pushed onto ever more extreme platforms and exposed to ever more extreme views - although this process for Democrats lagged behind Republicans to some extent - several new social media platforms were founded, such as Free Republic and Forumtalk.

Protests gradually increased in violence, number, and size: by mid-2024, protests numbering at least several hundred, and often into the low thousands, were a near-daily occurrence in most large cities.