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« on: December 08, 2020, 07:04:43 PM »
Azul,
In response to various other campaigns being launched in recent days, it is now a fine time to launch The Campaign For Keeping The Monarchy The Way It Is.
Remember that The Way It Is already severely limits the power of the King, compared to the powers he enjoyed five years ago. Over this period, the King lost his absolute veto over Organic Law amendments, his veto over other legislation became much weaker, and the hereditary aspect of the Monarchy was removed.
Contrary to what you might think at first, the people who are now part of the Campaign for an Elected Head of State were not the ones who principally pushed the above reforms. The main sponsor of all three amendments (48RZ14, 50RZ19, and 54RZ28) was in fact me, the very person who stands before you now leading the campaign to protect the remaining powers of the Monarch. It does not take a crusted-on reactionary to believe that the needed reforms have been made and that making further changes would do more harm than good.
Below is part of an article I wrote for La S'chinteia in September outlining why I support the Monarchy and you should as well.
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1. For Talossa, Democracy is Not the End-All-Be-All
For good reason, powerful Monarchies in “real” nations are largely a thing of the past. When citizens do not really have a choice but to the be subject to the laws of their home country, it is only fair that the People have the ultimate sovereignty over those laws, which clearly rules out the possibility of a Monarchy. Talossa is in a different situation though. To start, citizenship is completely voluntary; no one would become stateless if they were no longer Talossan. Also, let’s be honest, being subject to Talossan law has basically no relevance to a Talossan’s everyday life, which is lived almost exclusively outside Talossa. Because of this, options for government which would not be palatable to other nations are open to us.
Talossa is a country, sure, but it is also a voluntary association with the goal of letting everyone have a good time (Article I, Section 1 of the Organic Law). Therefore, if we decide that a Monarchy is the form of government best suited to having a good time (and I will later argue that it is), calling the Monarchy undemocratic misses the point. As I said earlier, the typical reasons why a Monarchy with power would be bad don’t apply to us, and we have much more to gain from an “enjoyable” government than other countries.
2. It’s Unique and Fun
As I pointed out above, non-figurehead Monarchies are not particularly common anymore. However, the idea of Monarchy still clearly captures the public imagination (I still can’t believe how closely Americans follow the drama with the British royal family, for example, and they have almost no power). It is just different from what most people experience in their regular lives, and Talossa is well-positioned to deliver the benefits of a Monarchy (coats of arms, knighthoods, other accoutrements, and overall pomposity) without the obvious downsides that usually accompany it. I thus find it very likely that many immigrants are attracted to the Monarchy, and Talossa would be wasting an opportunity to provide a unique experience to new and existing citizens if it dispensed with that institution.
It is often claimed that a figurehead Monarchy is more than capable of providing the desired pomposity, but there is just something hollow about being awarded a coat of arms from someone whose only job is to award coats of arms. It works better if the Monarch is also responsible, in some small capacity, for the governance of the Kingdom.
3. Talossa Needs Someone for the Long Term
Talossa currently has only 181 citizens, all of whom must balance Talossa with all of the other things they do in their life, and all of whom can lose interest for various reasons. They drift in and out of activity (but recently, usually just out), and Talossa itself has undeniable semi-comatose periods. This is a problem no “real” country ever faces (that wouldn’t even make sense), so we cannot look to other countries for solutions.
The institution of the Monarchy, however, is a Talossan solution to a Talossan problem. If we are searching for the best form of government to ensure Talossa’s continued existence, we should give some power to a position whose incentives are long-term rather than short-term. This is what the King is; he can withstand short-term changes in sentiment, but the value of his domain will deteriorate significantly if he does not act properly over the long term. The Cosa, on the other hand, is elected every six months. Its strength is its quick response to the people, but it can be susceptible to enacting politically convenient policies that, rather than fix problems, simply mask them until they are someone else’s problems. The King cannot dodge responsibility this way because the problems will always be his problems.
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