Mark Colvin of the Australian Broadcasting Company has this interesting article about that rare event, the death (or, at least, decline into minor party status) of major political parties. Thanks to Sam Harley for the link.
One odd coincidence mentioned in the article is that the date of the upcoming British House of Commons election is 100 years exactly from the death of King Edward VII. Colvin traces the fall of Britain’s Liberal Party to the end of the Edwardian era.
Actually, ABC is the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, which is why Colvin mentions Gough Whitlam, the Australian Prime Minister who was removed from office by Australia’s Governor General (the Queen’s representative in constitutional monarchies like Oz and New Zealand).
You can read about it here http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1975_Australian_constitutional_crisis, including the theory that the CIA was involved in persuading the Governor General to dismiss the PM.
Thanks for the correction; I fixed the post.
John Prados in his book Safe for Democracy also mentions electoral intervention of the CIA in Australia.
Thanks for the correction; I fixed the post.