la garçâ malpadert
Group: admins
(4379 posts total)
(last post: March 13, 2008 - 16:29)
Citizen #22:
Miestrâ Schivâ |
> However, I believe our new citizen and newest member of the UTP, Jim, has put it best...
>
> “We need to set forth laws that unequivocally show the world that this is the nation of Talossa and we hold sacred personal freedoms. If we do not explicitly show it then it will be harder for other nations, macro or not, to take us seriously. There are many progressive things that can be done but will be difficult for many to accept, even as Talossans, but will maximize freedom and live up to Talossan values. To not prepare for macronational relations by creating explicit laws is a mistake that will relegate Talossa to "hobby" status.”
>
> ( More at: http://www.talossaonline.com/1.23461.0.html )
My major problem with this is the fact that macronational issues and politics generate far more heated debate and personal emotional reaction than anything that happens within the framework of Talossa itself. People are far more likely to be open-minded on the qualifications for the President or Senators of the Republic, relations with other micronations etc. than they are about questions such as marriage rights, "real world" foreign policy etc.
For Talossa to take a stand on "real world" politicial issues would be a recipe for interminable arguments which led nowhere and did nothing for Talossa. Cxhn. Lixhità was probably not here during the American election campaign, when cxhns. Gruber and Pope engaged in many knock-down drag-out debates on the "Bush vs. Kerry" theme which took up much valuable bandwidth on Wittenberg and did absolutely nothing to build the Republic of Talossa as a nation. (I know that traditionally Talossa has taken sides in macronational conflicts, but this reflected the policy biases of the ex-King and his determination to shove them down the throats of his subjects. Talossa's "declaration of war" on Serbia in 1999 was a huge low-point in this regard.)
My deepest fear is that if we start taking "macro-issues" on, we will encourage the political dividing lines to be drawn not along the lines of Talossan issues, but along our "real world" political allegiances. Which would, I feel, be highly boring - especially for those of us politically active in our macronational reality! - and destroy Talossa's individuality (dare I say "peculiarity"?) as a nation. To give an example, I flatter myself that I have gained the confidence of a majority of the Talossan nation with my conduct in the governance of the Republic. If my "macronational" politics - which I believe most Talossans would consider extreme at best and evil at worst - were brought into things, I probably wouldn't last a second in this job.
The "universe" in which Talossa exists should, I feel, extend only to the boundaries of those things over which the Republic and its citizens can actually have an influence. I fear that encouraging Talossa to take exemplary stands on macronational issues will (a) not do diddly-squat to affect anything in the real world; (b) lead to long, drawn-out and utterly fruitless debates which will poison political discourse in the Republic itself.
Miestrâ Schivâ
Seneschál dal Repúblicâ Talossán / Prime Minister of the Republic of Talossa
"The Republic's Most Articulate Spokeswhatever" - R. B. Madison
|
