There is a recurring pattern in Talossa - increasingly so in recent years as we have become a bigger and more technologically sophisticated nation. I name it Infrastructure Abandonment, though surely there's a better name for it than that.

The cycle goes like this:

• A Talossan, let's call them Txec Bloggescù, with certain technical or specialist skills takes on a project, and sets up an "infrastructure" for this purpose. This might be a tech set up, a particular legal framework, or an "aesthetic theme". The crucial thing is that it takes particular skills which are not universally shared to maintain this infrastructure.
• Txec Bloggescù runs out of energy, loses interests, has better things to do in their life, and has to leave the project behind.
• The problem happens where there is no successor with the same skills, who can operate the infrastructure, to keep the project going. If it's a personal vanity project, nothing is lost. But if it's - for example - now a vital piece of Talossan life, the whole nation is in trouble.
  

This happens again and again. Current examples:

• The National Database. This is the big one at the moment. MPF set it up; only MPF can really operate it. MPF still cares about Talossa but has many better things to do with his life right now. You have seen the Secretary of State complaining about how unflexible and hard to "steer" the Database is, and is considering just abandoning it for the upcoming Seneschal election.
• The National Webspace. One of the big achievements of the "FreeDem" era of government was to nationalise all our websites under our own administration. Which assumes we have someone to administer it - someone who can find their way around a cPanel setup, for example. My problem right now, as incoming (temporary, I hope) Minister of STUFF and Technology is that my predecessor, Eðo, filled the talossa.com Wordpress backend with all manner of plugins and additional features which I neither understand the use of nor no how to operate. I think talossa.com is drastically "over-specced", hard to maintain properly, and needs to be downsized. But I really hope that I can get advice from tech-nerds on how to do that.
• Any number of legal provisions in El Lexhatx which sit idle because no-one wants to do anything with them, or don't have the grasp of "legalese" required to fix them.
• A couple of examples from the Fiovan Provincial Chancery. My predecessor in the Fiova SoS role, Üc Tärfa, set up a fancy scheme in Wiki markup to track bills and decisions of the Fiovan General Assembly. It is a good thing that the GA has been very quiet over the last few years, because I can't make head or tail of that coding and I don't know how to update it properly! But conversely: I realised that, when I step aside from the role, I had better hope my successor understands the provisions for Single Transferable Vote elections to the Prasidïeu that I wrote. They're pretty clear for electoral-politics nerds, but might as well be Klingon to anyone who doesn't know what a Droop quota is.

Do others get what I'm talking about in this vein? We have to set a standard that Talossan infrastructure should never be so complex that rank amateurs can't take over, if necessary.

Our current system, which works great in its own terms IMHO, is that the Seneschal is elected only by a special Clark at the beginning of each new Cosa.

What if the Seneschal disappears or is run over by a Ukrainian tractor towing a Russian tank in the meantime? Then the Distáin takes the role. But what if the Distáin were to disappear too? Or no Distáin were appointed due to a screw-up?

The obvious answer would be: a No vote on the VoC leading to an early election. And a possible Government vacuum for more than two months?

A possible solution: "if the Seneschalsqab becomes vacant and the Distain does take the role (or there is no Distain), a Seneschal Suffect may be nominated by petition of 2/3 of the Cosa seats to the Secretary of State and confirmed by the King, to act on behalf of the Seneschal for the remainder of the term. This appointment shall take effect two weeks after receipt of the petition unless the Seneschal reappears."

Comment? I put 2/3 in there to make it more of an emergency situation than just bringing down the Govt on the VoC.

All the FreeDem efforts to reform the monarchy in the last several Cosas have run aground on the Royal Veto.

It needs 3/4 of the Cosa to override a Royal Veto on the Organic Law.

The Free Democrats and the Talossan National Congress between them have 154 seats in the Cosa; more than 3/4.

Therefore, any monarchy reform that the FreeDems and TNC agree on will pass, no matter what the King thinks.

The TNC has rudely dismissed both the Compromise proposals raised by the FreeDems - for no reason that has been explained, apart from personal attacks on Miestra Schiva.

Therefore, perhaps best if a successful proposal does not come from Miestra Schiva?

The challenge is this: if the TNC raises a bill for some kind of monarchy reform in the 57th Cosa, the FreeDems will look seriously at it and hope to be able to support it.

Monarchy reform is possible if the TNC and FreeDems agree on one. The ball is therefore now in the TNC court.

It should be abundantly clear what I expect to happen from here: that no proposal will come, because the TNC is almost entirely composed of conservative monarchists who will never support any monarchy reform ever ever ever, and the TNC's 50 word statement was disingenuous. But I allow for the possibility of pleasant surprise.

Quote from: Glüc da Dhi S.H. on April 02, 2022, 07:44:10 AM
I actually thought the final compromise bill was a solid proposal in the end, so Im slightly disappointed it is now declared dead.

Well, the Free Democrats will repropose it on the first Clark. The TNC and Dien will almost undoubtedly vote against it, but that's their look-out. We still have a majority in the Cosa for reform; but under our existing system that's not enough. I don't have the energy to fight for a compromise any more myself.

Total turnout: 14
Quota needed for election: 14/4 + 0.01 = 3.51

First Preference votes:

@Miestra Schiva: 9
@Gödafrieu Valcádac'h: 4
Bradley Higgs: 1

Miestra Schiva and Gödafrieu Valcádac'h elected on first count. Further counts to follow via software.

 Azul!

Estimadăs es estimats cüncitaxhiens da Talossa:

Once again, I hope this letter finds you well in these strange and uncertain times, and let's cut to the chase:

Please vote for the FREE DEMOCRATS OF TALOSSA in the election for the 57th Cosa, which ENDS on April 1st.

In my last email, I discussed the most important priority that the Free Democrats will have in the upcoming Cosa – finally restoring some unaccountability to our apathetic, mostly absent and politically partisan Monarchy. Our second main principle is cutting red-and-green tape – repealing laws and undoing bureaucracies that make it hard to be Talossan.

Many have made justified criticisms of a disappointing level of activity from the outgoing Government. I've made such criticisms myself (and seen them quoted back at me by our opponents!) But what is perhaps not obvious unless you've been inside the Government itself is how hard it is for any Talossan government to do anything, because of legal and technical constraints.

Talossa's laws and our "machinery of governance" are, in our experience, top-heavy, too complicated, and require too many people to co-ordinate to make any progress. Quite often, if one person becomes inactive for whatever reason, that puts a roadblock in front of everything. For instance, our Government was delayed for almost a month in starting because the King couldn't even get it together to swear the new Seneschal in. (Eventually an Uppermost Cort Justice had to do it.) Another example is our online presence – our National Website and National Database are incredibly complex, require specialist knowledge to run, and therefore become useless if that specialist knowledge isn't around for any reason. And they haven't been, for most of this term.

Our opponents seem to think that what went wrong in the last term was a simple "failure of will" – that if you just get into office and "hereby order" things to happen, tinpot-dictator style, they'll happen. They're in for a rude awakening if they get elected, when they see how complex "the machine of governance" has gotten – and how many of the levers they want to pull just don't work.

What the Free Democrats will prioritise, if we form the next Government, is to go on a massive spree of repealing and simplifying laws and processes. You shouldn't have to be an IT professional, a lawyer, or a full-timer to do Talossa. Our vision is for a Talossa whose government and administration are drastically simplified, so more can be done more easily by fewer people.

We want to downsize the number of "warm bodies" required to run the Talossan state. We want fewer Cabinet ministries, fewer offices or institutions which are there to stop things happening rather than to make things happen. Currently, new citizens are discouraged from activity because of how complex everything seems. If we really want the current boom in activity to continue, we have to change that.

That's all for now. Please write back if you have any questions or comments for me or the other Free Democrats. I would also ask you nicely to vote for our excellent candidates for the Senäts, should you live in the relevant provinces:

• Txoteu Davinescu for Maricopa;
• Ián Plätschisch for Maritiimi-Maxhestic;
• Gödafrieu Valcádac'h for Fiova.

Restéu voastră per la ImagiNaziun,

Miestră Schivă

Party Secretary, Free Democrats of Talossa



P.S. I thought you'd like to see this rather nice testimonial to my record on Wittenberg:

"Miestra... has been the author of a huge amount of legislation to simplify and reform the way things like the criminal code and a bunch of other parts of the law work.  She incorporated the input of others and worked hard to make it happen, and it really improved things.  It has been a bright point of this Government." (https://wittenberg.talossa.com/index.php?topic=1027.msg9994#msg9994)

La C'hronica Martă XLIII / March 2022

COSA ELECTION IN FULL SWING
Campaigning heats up on Wittenberg, on social media and via direct mail with one week to go in the election for the 57th Cosa. Cast your vote at https://wittenberg.talossa.com/index.php?topic=857.0

THE TALOSSAN RENAISSANCE?
Talossa always becomes more active culturally around election time, and this year is no exception. Check out the following:

• New Talossan media venture "Fora Talossa": https://wittenberg.talossa.com/index.php?topic=1168.0
• TNC leader discusses making the Haxh to the GTA: https://wittenberg.talossa.com/index.php?topic=1125.0
• Talossan Football Association "fictional league" season opens: https://wittenberg.talossa.com/index.php?topic=1176.0
• Would you buy tickets in the Talossan National Lottery? https://wittenberg.talossa.com/index.php?topic=1259.0
• Check out new developments in the Royal Society (https://wittenberg.talossa.com/index.php?board=19.0) and the College of Arms (https://wittenberg.talossa.com/index.php?board=20.0), if you're interested in that sort of thing

MODERATION IS SERIOUS BUSINESS
Free Democrat Açafat dal Vál takes TNC leader Brenéir Tzaracomprada to court over deleting some of his posts. WARNING: this first Cort case in Talossa for years makes for heavy reading in parts. https://wittenberg.talossa.com/index.php?topic=1231.0

EIGHT IS ENOUGH? OR TOO MANY
Debate rages over whether Talossa's provinces should merge. Here's a thread of thoughtful debate: https://wittenberg.talossa.com/index.php?topic=161.0

SLAVA UKRAINI, HEROIAM SLAVA
The Government of Talossa made a donation to the Ukrainian Red Cross: https://wittenberg.talossa.com/index.php?topic=1165.0

IMMIGRATION NEWS
Caleb Frenibuerg became a Talossan citizen (https://wittenberg.talossa.com/index.php?topic=1156.30), celebrating in the traditional manner by becoming a Cosa candidate..

The prodigals return! Former Seneschal Lüc da Schir reclaims his Talossan citizenship after a nearly two-year absence (https://wittenberg.talossa.com/index.php?topic=1252.0), as does Antonio Montagnha, former citizen of the Talossan Republic (https://wittenberg.talossa.com/index.php?topic=1253.0)

Other new applications for Talossan citizenship are Cameron Koehler, John Seals, Shrayan Bose, Tomas Cussa, Cenk Lüleci, and Holly Fabian
(https://wittenberg.talossa.com/index.php?board=2.0)
---

La C'hronica is the monthly news summary provided by the Ministry of Stuff, for the enlightenment and interest of Talossan citizens and all other interested parties.

... with our full candidate lists, programme, and referendum statements

The record of Miestra Schiva, Free Democrats candidate for Seneschál, as Distáin, Attorney-General and Interior Minister in the 56th Cosa:

• applied for and successfully received membership in the Talossan Bar;
• increased the powers of the Legislative Review Committee, to improve the quality of Talossan legislation;
• successfully replaced Wisconsin law in Talossan statues with an indigenous improvement;
• proposed several Organic Law amendments which received serious cross-party support;
• revived the monthly Government newsletter La C'hronica, emailed to all citizens.;
• initiated a New Citizen's Information packet;
• revived the dormant ID cards programme, solicited an excellent new design, and began work on a Civics Quiz;
• restarted the TalossAssistant programme;
• and most importantly, when Seneschal Davinescu was unable to perform his duties, Miestra took up the slack, and fronted up to the people of Talossa taking responsibility (something which our political opponents seem to think is a bad and shameful thing, to gloat about in nasty emails)

The record of Breneir Tzaracomprada, TNC candidate for Seneschál, as leader of the main Opposition party in the 56th Cosa:

I check Witt using the "recent posts" feature. This shows 10 pages, no more, of the most recent posts. Today is, I believe, the first time ever that these 10 pages have not been sufficient to catch me up on everything that happened in the 16 hours or so since I last checked.

And it's all down to the superb (?) efforts of one FreeDem from Florencia :o

The record of Miestra Schiva, Free Democrats candidate for Seneschál, as Distáin, Attorney-General and Interior Minister in the 56th Cosa:

• applied for and successfully received membership in the Talossan Bar;
• increased the powers of the Legislative Review Committee, to improve the quality of Talossan legislation;
• successfully replaced Wisconsin law in Talossan statues with an indigenous improvement;
• proposed several Organic Law amendments which received serious cross-party support;
• revived the monthly Government newsletter La C'hronica, emailed to all citizens.;
• initiated a New Citizen's Information packet;
• revived the dormant ID cards programme, solicited an excellent new design, and began work on a Civics Quiz;
• restarted the TalossAssistant programme;
• and most importantly, when Seneschal Davinescu was unable to perform his duties, Miestra took up the slack, and fronted up to the people of Talossa taking responsibility (something which our political opponents seem to think is a bad and shameful thing, to gloat about in nasty emails)

The record of Breneir Tzaracomprada, TNC candidate for Seneschál, as leader of the main Opposition party in the 56th Cosa:

Estimadas és estimats amici, citaxhiens da Talossa!



I hope this letter finds you well in these strange and uncertain times. Let's cut to the chase:



Please vote for the FREE DEMOCRATS OF TALOSSA in the election for the 57th Cosa, which starts on March 15th (this Tuesday).



I have come out of "semi-retirement" to be the Free Democrats' candidate for Seneschál, should we win this election. This would be my fourth term in office. I'm looking forward to resuming the challenge of leadership in our ImagiNation.



The Free Democrats have a few core themes on which we are running in this election. The one I want to discuss in this email is our old favourite: bringing the Monarchy under democratic control.



King John has almost entirely given up on Talossa. He doesn't even log into Wittenberg for weeks or even months at a time. He ignores the elected Government, and when he does perform official functions, he does to at the urging of unelected "cronies", to whom – he has explicitly admitted – he gives honours and favours precisely because they support his unaccountable Royal powers.



In our current system, there is absolutely nothing anyone can do about this. But the obvious alternative – a Republican system – does not have the overwhelming support needed to surmount a Royal veto and change the constitution. This is why Free Democrats have been trying for ages for a historic compromise.



A bill was passed by the last Cosa that would allow Talossa's legislature to call a "vote of confidence" on the King every 7 years, and to replace him if he is found to lack that confidence. You can see the full details here: https://wittenberg.talossa.com/index.php?topic=848.0. Of course, the King vetoed it. So we need a 2/3 majority in the new Cosa to even allow it to come to a referendum, not even to enact it.



Talossa's constitution makes it extremely difficult to change the law over the King's veto. This might be the only chance we have to bring King John into a position where he has to justify himself to the nation. If you are a Talossan of Republican sympathies – you need to make sure this law happens. If you are a Monarchist Talossan, but you want an active King, who rules for the whole nation, rather than for a group of "favourites", you need to make sure this law happens.



And the most straightforward way to make sure this law happens is to vote Free Democrats in the upcoming Cosa elections. Any questions?



I look forward to telling you more about the Free Democrat programme and team in a future letter. Please vote FreeDems, and vote as soon as you can.



Resteu voastra per ar ImagiNaziun,

Miestra Schiva

Party Secretary, Free Democrats of Talossa

I'm calling you out, Mr Senator from Florencia and Talossan National Congress leader. A debate between candidates for Seneschal.. Prove your mettle.

As the challenged party, it's your call as to format and moderator. Best to do it before people start voting, though.

Clock's ticking, va amic. "If you want to be the champ, you've got to whup the champ" - Muhammad Ali

The Free Democrats hope to win a majority of Cosa seats in this election to form a new government; on our own if possible, in alliance with other parties if necessary, on a platform reflecting our priorities of democratic accountability for the monarchy, and drastically cutting "red-and-green tape".

The Free Democrats will NOT go into coalition with our main opponents in this race, the Talossan National Congress. However, should the TNC win and lead the next Government, Free Democrats will be happy to serve the State as Permanent Secretaries or in other non-political roles under such a government.

There are two main reasons for this latter principle:

1. Talossa needs an Opposition. A "grand coalition" or "government of national unity" may be appropriate in times of dire national threat. But the current situation does not warrant that. It is better for the country - and indeed, better for the Government - that there be a strong Opposition in the Cosa, keeping the Government accountable and formulating alternatives to Government proposals. There was no effective opposition in the 56th Cosa - the TNC did absolutely nothing but vote no on the VoC - and that only increased the spiral of apathy and inactivity. The FreeDems, should we be the minority after this election, will be an active Opposition.

2. Issues of personnel. We have experience in trying to form a government with the TNC under its current Seneschal candidate. Not only did he renege on commitments he made before and after the election, he refused to explain any of his actions to his former partners in Government except through the medium of personal insults. We would have to see a heartfelt apology and a pattern of very different behaviour before revisiting this position (although frankly, we expect nothing but personal insults in response).

We would also note that the other main leadership figure of the TNC is the very person who has made the lives of many Free Democrats miserable over a period of a decade or more; someone who continually treats us with withering contempt, as incompetents, ideologues or actually criminally corrupt; and yet always seems surprised that we don't see him as a friend.

Under El Lexhátx C.1.1, as Deputy Minister of STUFF acting with the consent of the Seneschál, I recommend to the King that @Eovart Grischün be appointed to the following role:

Permanent Secretary to the Minister of Stuff for Webmonkey Business and NUMB-Skullery

FURTHERMORE, I notify the Crown and the Nation that the following terms of contract have been agreed between the Ministry of Stuff and the recommended Permanent Secretary:

(i) The Permanent Secretary to the Minister of Stuff for Webmonkey Business and NUMB-Skullery shall be responsible to the Ministry of STUFF and shall be head of The National Upkeep and Maintenance Bureau (NUMB).

(ii) The Permanent Secretary to the Minister of Stuff for Webmonkey Business and NUMB-Skullery shall be responsible for keeping the Kingdom's web presences up to date and performing general maintenance on same; including performing system backups when required, assisting in troubleshooting of system errors and any other tasks required by the Ministry of Stuff in relation to the ongoing upkeep of the Kingdom's web infrastructure.

(iii) The Permanent Secretary to the Minister of Stuff for Webmonkey Business and NUMB-Skullery shall be responsible for maintaining at all times the passwords to the National Webspace and to the national social media accounts, and granting/removing access to these websites and accounts for the Seneschal, the Minister of Stuff, and such other responsible officials as may be named by the Government, as and when necessary.

La C'hronica Fevráglh XLIII / February 2022

PARTIES GEAR UP FOR COSA ELECTION
Existing parties the Free Democrats of Talossa and the Talossan National Congress have officially registered for the 57th Cosa election in March, alongside new entry the Partì da Reformaziun and the revival of a party last seen in 2003, the Raßemblamaintsch dels Citaxhiens Talossáes https://wittenberg.talossa.com/index.php?topic=1111.0

ZIU UPDATE:
The February Clark passed an amendment to the Organic Law to allow seats in the Cosa to be given to new citizens who immigrate between elections (http://wittenberg.talossa.com/index.php?topic=1074.0) and a bill re-organising the Cabinet Ministries (http://wittenberg.talossa.com/index.php?topic=1095.0)

WELCOME BACK MY FRIENDS TO THE SHOW THAT NEVER ENDS
Former Seneschál Miestra Schiva announced that she would be standing again for her old job at the head of the Free Democrats Cosa list: https://wittenberg.talossa.com/index.php?topic=1137.0

FLURRY OF ACTIVITY
Senator for Florencia and TNC leader Breneir Tzaracomprada went on something of a flurry of activity this month, initiating a Talossan Book of Cuisine (https://wittenberg.talossa.com/index.php?topic=1133.0), a campaign for regular pledges to the Talossan treasury (https://wittenberg.talossa.com/index.php?topic=1147.0), a potential visit to the Greater Talossan Area itself (https://wittenberg.talossa.com/index.php?topic=1125.0) and a new, "what's happening in Talossa list" (https://wittenberg.talossa.com/index.php?topic=1142.msg9391#msg9391).

INFORMATION AND ID CARDS
Cabinet has approved a final text and design for the New Citizens' Information Packet, to be distributed to all new immigrants (https://wittenberg.talossa.com/index.php?topic=1082.msg9106#msg9106).
Cabinet has also approved a scheme whereby physical ID cards will be mailed out to all citizens (new or established) who can pass a 20-question Civics Test on Talossan history and culture (https://wittenberg.talossa.com/index.php?topic=1110.0)

IMMIGRATION NEWS
Mic'haglh Autófil became a Talossan citizen (https://wittenberg.talossa.com/index.php?topic=1102.0), celebrating in the traditional manner by starting his own political party.

Applications arrived for Talossan citizenship from Mark Salego, Asad Ashiq, Riccell Piovischini, Pablo Muller, Anna Tkachenko, Jodie Orr, Tomasz Mazurek, Johnnie Ortiz and Caleb Ashworth. (https://wittenberg.talossa.com/index.php?board=2.0)

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La C'hronica is the monthly news summary provided by the Ministry of Stuff, for the enlightenment and interest of Talossan citizens and all other interested parties.

Doesn't mention Talossa, but is still a fun read. Check out those cosplayers at MicroCon. Should we be involved in that?

Esteemed members of the General Assembly of the Free Province of Fiova:

According to the Constitution of our Province, elections for a three-person Praisidïeu (standing committee of the General Assembly) will be held at the same time as every Cosa election. That is, if I understand the national electoral calendar correctly, this election will run from March 15 to April 1 this year, i.e. starting in just over a month.

Under the Elections and Referendums Law, Title I Section 3, as Secretary of State I am required to submit to the General Assembly the rules by which I will carry out this election.

Therefore, I hereby declare that the rules for the upcoming election of the Praisidïeu will be as follows:

1. Nominations for the Praisidïeu (Title III Sections 1-2) will open on March 1 this year and will close 1 week after that, on March 8.

Under Title III Section 2.1, such a nomination includes the candidate's full name; their party affiliation (if any); and a statement, no longer than fifty words, of the candidate's aims and objectives (optional).

Please make these nominations in this thread, or by personal communication with myself.

2. The period between close of nominations and start of voting (Title III Section 4) will therefore be one week, as determined by the Chancery's timetable for the national elections.

3. the actual process of voting and the production of the "ballot paper" (Title II Section 2) will be delegated to the National Chancery, whom I have asked to use the same voting mechanism as used for Senäts elections. This will allow "write-in" candidates (Title III, Section 5.3.1): the voters may give any citizen, not just the officially nominated candidates, a preference.

4. Once the Chancery reports all the votes, I will count them using the OpaVote website using "ERS97 STV" rules. I certify that this will provide a result as close as makes no difference to that set out in our law. (Title V, Section 12).

Questions? Comments?

Estimadas es amadas cüncitaxhiens:

Against my own preferences, but rising to face necessity, I am presenting myself as the Free Democrats' candidate for Seneschal in the 57th Cosa election. "Just when I thought I was semi-retired in a hole, they pull me back in again."

The reason I gave up the presidency of the party, and stepped aside from the job of leading the Government, over the last calendar year was a feeling that I had reached a dead end.

The decades-long struggle to reform Talossa's Organic Law to decrease the unilateral, unaccountable power of the monarchy – and its seemingly inevitable effect of encouraging every King of Talossa in lazy, self-righteous defence of power for power's sake – had been mostly effective, but had bogged down at the very last hurdle of basic democratic accountability. Political struggle against a group of people who are convinced not only of their right to set the agenda for the nation regardless of lack of mandate, but of their right to be taken seriously, takes a lot out of you, and you have to question at what point you say "enough".

I also had to have the humility to admit that I had no answers to the most fundamental question facing Talossa – where are new citizens going to come from? Because Talossa's leadership – on both sides of the Cosa – is old, tired, and burned out. I mean old in "Talossa years", which are something like "dog years", in that you get tired at an accelerated rate. Much the same people are running the institutions and having the debates as they were at the time of Reunision. This is not healthy.

The most articulate monarchists, of course, have an argument that it's precisely the smug pomposity of monarchist Talossa that attracts new citizens, and things like democracy, equality, making the "top jobs" open to all, are no fun and ruin the essence of Talossanity. But that can't be true. Can it? If it is, I've wasted 25 years.

This speech is difficult for me because I have to be honest about the consequences of my decisions. I have to admit that the Government of the 56th Cosa has mostly been a failure.

Part of this was its inexplicable sabotage at the beginning by one of the three initial Coalition parties – who, after campaigning in the election on the basis of supporting the "Monarchist-Republican Compromise" – turned tail, broke for Opposition, and subsequently loudly opposed the compromise. And they never gave any explanation why, apart from insults. The fact that this party now provides a home for veterans of the RUMP gives a hint as to what might be going on, though.

I know that the study of Talossan history is not fashionable at the moment, but even King Robert I knew why the Kuenn/Rosalez faction, known as "Davron", were such bad news. Unprincipled politicking and backstabbing in the search for power alone is even worse than KR1's tyranny, which at least had a vision of Talossa behind it. This might sound like picking a fight. But I'm always stunned at people who defend their right to behave as they want, to break commitments, and not only suffer no consequences, but for it never be mentioned again. What goes round must come round.

But that could have been surmounted, if the Free Democrat and LCC Ministers had subsequently pulled together and did their job. But mostly, we didn't.

I have to be honest here. The performance of my successor as Seneschál, Txoteu Davinescu, has not been satisfactory. Up until this point, my personal friendship with Txoteu and the requirements of Cabinet solidarity and party loyalty have led me, publicly, to avoid this particular elephant in the room. But the Talossan people are not fooled. You all know what's going on. Some of you have even noticed the point where the old Distáin had to step up and publicly take up the slack.

I have been honest with the Seneschal about this behind closed doors. Txoteu has had a string of difficult things to deal with in his extra-Talossan life that have taken attention away from his duties in leading the Government. I bear him only the best of will and I hope to see him representing the Free Democrats in the next Cosa. But to pretend there was no problem with the 56th Cosa government would be rightfully scorned by the Talossan public. It also would also make my decision to resume the leadership inexplicable.

Of course, it wasn't all the Seneschal's fault. At least one Cabinet Minister has done precisely nothing in his role in this term, and we couldn't fire him because there hasn't been an obvious replacement. But "the fish rots from the head", as they say. Culture is set from the top down. A Seneschal has to lead.

My main qualification - perhaps the only one - for the top job is that I do what I say I'm going to do, regardless of personal convenience. The 56th Cosa cabinet had six policy portfolios with targets to be achieved. I ended up doing two of those – Justice and Interior – all on my own, and hitting virtually every goal for achievement we set. But I did this at the cost of burning myself out, personally.

What all this has shown is that running the Talossan government is a lot of hard work. But it has also shown me that our Organic and statute laws make this much harder work than it has to be. Contrary to the opinions of certain of my Cosa colleagues, "overly formal and pompous rules" are not a good thing. They are part of the reason Talossa grinds to a halt. There is too much that the laws say have to be done, and not enough people to do it.

I mean, the Electoral Commission, to start with. Why do we have to go through that rigmarole every time? I'll tell you why – because when the secret ballot was first brought in, the RUMP party (fearing electoral disadvantage) professed anxiety about how easy it would be for a secret ballot to be rigged by the Chancery. And things are MUCH harder to abolish than they are to establish in Talossa. So: this vestigial body has to be appointed every time to do nothing.

There is a temptation for the party in power to run on its record. "Re-elect us because we're the only ones who know how things work". That's how the RUMP party stayed in office. The Free Democrats are not going to do that. We couldn't claim, on the evidence of the last term at least, that we're superior in activity or administrative 'chops' than a putative opposition. (I might note here the good record of the Balançéu party's leadership in the Cézembre provincial government. That's what the provinces are there for.)

So the two central platforms of the Free Democrats in this 57th Cosa election are:

1)   Enact the Monarchist-Republican Compromise, finally. We're serious this time. We will need a 2/3 Cosa majority – along with whatever other parties decide to support us – to finally bring Senator Plätschisch's much watered-down "Compromise on the Compromise" bill to a public referendum. This is the last step in the drawn-out process of removing the old, corrupt, RUMP-system in Talossa. There is a layer of people in Talossa who have no political mandate, and yet are given power by the King precisely because they protect his right to unaccountable exercise of power. The King himself has stated this openly. How anyone cannot see that this is the definition of corruption is beyond me. While this bill is not how I would choose to solve the problem – a "legislative decapitation" would be more to my liking – this is the last throw of the dice before a large segment of Talossans understand that it is impossible to put John I under any accountability under the OrgLaw, and draw the appropriate conclusions.

2)   Cut red-and-green tape. There is just too much law. There are too many Government offices who cannot be filled. We'll repeal all of it that we possibly can. We'll merge provinces where-ever we can. If we could, we'll downsize the Talossan state to the point that three or four people can comprise a full Cabinet, and do everything to keep our ImagiNation running smoothly.

I have to conclude with a solemn promise. If Talossa is not fundamentally different by the end of this term – if our programme has not succeeded in a buzzing country where new citizens become active with enthusiasm, where many more people are keen to take positions of responsibility, where the political leadership is actively competed over rather than being a "booby prize" – then this will be my last venture into national politics. If Talossa is not significantly better, if it has not become a fun pastime for me rather than an annoying and infuriating chore, I will retire from active political leadership at the end of the coming term, and scale my Talossanity back drastically, perhaps only to language nerdery and writing, perhaps to zero. This would require the current opposition to get a Government together and run stuff, which might be funny to watch, from a distance.

But I have promised at least one more term to my Free Democrat colleagues. Because I still believe in the possibilities of what Talossa might be. I still refuse to believe that Talossa is better and more fun when run by a self-declared aristocracy. I believe in the principles for which I fought in 2012, 2004 and 1997. Even if I am burned out before the end of the year, those principles must be fought for to the last drop of my will to be Talossan.

Vote Free Democrat. That is all.

Estimadas es amadas cüncitaxhiens:

Against my own preferences, but rising to face necessity, I am presenting myself as the Free Democrats' candidate for Seneschal in the 57th Cosa election. "Just when I thought I was semi-retired in a hole, they pull me back in again."

The reason I gave up the presidency of the party, and stepped aside from the job of leading the Government, over the last calendar year was a feeling that I had reached a dead end.

The decades-long struggle to reform Talossa's Organic Law to decrease the unilateral, unaccountable power of the monarchy – and its seemingly inevitable effect of encouraging every King of Talossa in lazy, self-righteous defence of power for power's sake – had been mostly effective, but had bogged down at the very last hurdle of basic democratic accountability. Political struggle against a group of people who are convinced not only of their right to set the agenda for the nation regardless of lack of mandate, but of their right to be taken seriously, takes a lot out of you, and you have to question at what point you say "enough".

I also had to have the humility to admit that I had no answers to the most fundamental question facing Talossa – where are new citizens going to come from? Because Talossa's leadership – on both sides of the Cosa – is old, tired, and burned out. I mean old in "Talossa years", which are something like "dog years", in that you get tired at an accelerated rate. Much the same people are running the institutions and having the debates as they were at the time of Reunision. This is not healthy.

The most articulate monarchists, of course, have an argument that it's precisely the smug pomposity of monarchist Talossa that attracts new citizens, and things like democracy, equality, making the "top jobs" open to all, are no fun and ruin the essence of Talossanity. But that can't be true. Can it? If it is, I've wasted 25 years.

This speech is difficult for me because I have to be honest about the consequences of my decisions. I have to admit that the Government of the 56th Cosa has mostly been a failure.

Part of this was its inexplicable sabotage at the beginning by one of the three initial Coalition parties – who, after campaigning in the election on the basis of supporting the "Monarchist-Republican Compromise" – turned tail, broke for Opposition, and subsequently loudly opposed the compromise. And they never gave any explanation why, apart from insults. The fact that this party now provides a home for veterans of the RUMP gives a hint as to what might be going on, though.

I know that the study of Talossan history is not fashionable at the moment, but even King Robert I knew why the Kuenn/Rosalez faction, known as "Davron", were such bad news. Unprincipled politicking and backstabbing in the search for power alone is even worse than KR1's tyranny, which at least had a vision of Talossa behind it. This might sound like picking a fight. But I'm always stunned at people who defend their right to behave as they want, to break commitments, and not only suffer no consequences, but for it never be mentioned again. What goes round must come round.

But that could have been surmounted, if the Free Democrat and LCC Ministers had subsequently pulled together and did their job. But mostly, we didn't.

I have to be honest here. The performance of my successor as Seneschál, Txoteu Davinescu, has not been satisfactory. Up until this point, my personal friendship with Txoteu and the requirements of Cabinet solidarity and party loyalty have led me, publicly, to avoid this particular elephant in the room. But the Talossan people are not fooled. You all know what's going on. Some of you have even noticed the point where the old Distáin had to step up and publicly take up the slack.

I have been honest with the Seneschal about this behind closed doors. Txoteu has had a string of difficult things to deal with in his extra-Talossan life that have taken attention away from his duties in leading the Government. I bear him only the best of will and I hope to see him representing the Free Democrats in the next Cosa. But to pretend there was no problem with the 56th Cosa government would be rightfully scorned by the Talossan public. It also would also make my decision to resume the leadership inexplicable.

Of course, it wasn't all the Seneschal's fault. At least one Cabinet Minister has done precisely nothing in his role in this term, and we couldn't fire him because there hasn't been an obvious replacement. But "the fish rots from the head", as they say. Culture is set from the top down. A Seneschal has to lead.

My main qualification - perhaps the only one - for the top job is that I do what I say I'm going to do, regardless of personal convenience. The 56th Cosa cabinet had six policy portfolios with targets to be achieved. I ended up doing two of those – Justice and Interior – all on my own, and hitting virtually every goal for achievement we set. But I did this at the cost of burning myself out, personally.

What all this has shown is that running the Talossan government is a lot of hard work. But it has also shown me that our Organic and statute laws make this much harder work than it has to be. Contrary to the opinions of certain of my Cosa colleagues, "overly formal and pompous rules" are not a good thing. They are part of the reason Talossa grinds to a halt. There is too much that the laws say have to be done, and not enough people to do it.

I mean, the Electoral Commission, to start with. Why do we have to go through that rigmarole every time? I'll tell you why – because when the secret ballot was first brought in, the RUMP party (fearing electoral disadvantage) professed anxiety about how easy it would be for a secret ballot to be rigged by the Chancery. And things are MUCH harder to abolish than they are to establish in Talossa. So: this vestigial body has to be appointed every time to do nothing.

There is a temptation for the party in power to run on its record. "Re-elect us because we're the only ones who know how things work". That's how the RUMP party stayed in office. The Free Democrats are not going to do that. We couldn't claim, on the evidence of the last term at least, that we're superior in activity or administrative 'chops' than a putative opposition. (I might note here the good record of the Balançéu party's leadership in the Cézembre provincial government. That's what the provinces are there for.)

So the two central platforms of the Free Democrats in this 57th Cosa election are:

1)   Enact the Monarchist-Republican Compromise, finally. We're serious this time. We will need a 2/3 Cosa majority – along with whatever other parties decide to support us – to finally bring Senator Plätschisch's much watered-down "Compromise on the Compromise" bill to a public referendum. This is the last step in the drawn-out process of removing the old, corrupt, RUMP-system in Talossa. There is a layer of people in Talossa who have no political mandate, and yet are given power by the King precisely because they protect his right to unaccountable exercise of power. The King himself has stated this openly. How anyone cannot see that this is the definition of corruption is beyond me. While this bill is not how I would choose to solve the problem – a "legislative decapitation" would be more to my liking – this is the last throw of the dice before a large segment of Talossans understand that it is impossible to put John I under any accountability under the OrgLaw, and draw the appropriate conclusions.

2)   Cut red-and-green tape. There is just too much law. There are too many Government offices who cannot be filled. We'll repeal all of it that we possibly can. We'll merge provinces where-ever we can. If we could, we'll downsize the Talossan state to the point that three or four people can comprise a full Cabinet, and do everything to keep our ImagiNation running smoothly.

I have to conclude with a solemn promise. If Talossa is not fundamentally different by the end of this term – if our programme has not succeeded in a buzzing country where new citizens become active with enthusiasm, where many more people are keen to take positions of responsibility, where the political leadership is actively competed over rather than being a "booby prize" – then this will be my last venture into national politics. If Talossa is not significantly better, if it has not become a fun pastime for me rather than an annoying and infuriating chore, I will retire from active political leadership at the end of the coming term, and scale my Talossanity back drastically, perhaps only to language nerdery and writing, perhaps to zero. This would require the current opposition to get a Government together and run stuff, which might be funny to watch, from a distance.

But I have promised at least one more term to my Free Democrat colleagues. Because I still believe in the possibilities of what Talossa might be. I still refuse to believe that Talossa is better and more fun when run by a self-declared aristocracy. I believe in the principles for which I fought in 2012, 2004 and 1997. Even if I am burned out before the end of the year, those principles must be fought for to the last drop of my will to be Talossan.

Vote Free Democrat. That is all.