Vote Free Democrats for the 56th Cosă!

[Ian Plätschisch]

The Free Democrats in this election seek 101+ seats for ourselves,

Tell me something I don't know

[GV]

Does anyone remember the sad story of Sir Trotxa and the Killer Rabbit? It seems that the cultural divide that revealed itself in that episode - one side's banter is the other side's hurtful personal attack - still applies today.

I remember the Killer Rabbit well.  From the way the detractors were acting, one might have thought we had insulted Trotxa's family or something like that.  We Down South were taken completely off-guard.

[Miestră Schivă, UrN]

Hope everyone got this this morning!

===



Azul, estimada/estimat citaxhien del Regipäts Talossan!

Greetings, dear citizen of the Kingdom of Talossa. It is once again General Election season in Talossa, and I am contacting you to ask for your vote for the candidates of the FREE DEMOCRATS OF TALOSSA.

The Free Democrats have led Talossa's government for the last three successful terms. You can read a summary of what we've accomplished and what we're yet to do in my farewell speech to the Cosă: https://wittenberg.talossa.com/index.php?topic=806.0

After this election I will be stepping aside as Seneschál. The new leader of the Free Democrats, Txoteu Davinescu, is an experienced legislator and Cabinet minister, and has my full support to become your new Seneschál (Prime Minister).

You can read our entire programme and our candidates for the Cosă and Senäts here: https://freedemstalossa.wordpress.com/2021/04/24/free-democrats-for-the-56th-cosa-election-may-2021/. If you are in Atatürk province, please vote for Martì-Pair Furxhéir; in Cézembre province, please vote for Ián Tamoran.

This is the first of two campaign emails where I explain the two vital reasons why the Free Democrats need your vote in this election. The most vital one is: we are very close to reaching a historic compromise between republicanism and monarchy in Talossa.
What is the Historic Compromise?

In accordance with our last manifesto, the Government which we led held a ranked-choice referendum on constitutional options. A very slim majority (34 to 32) preferred an elected head of state to the status quo. These results showed how narrowly our "ImagiNation" is divided on the very basic issue of the Monarchy.

After consultation with the monarchist opposition, the outgoing Cosa passed a Historic Compromise (the "Talossa Shall Choose Its King" amendment) - that Talossa will remain a Kingdom, but that the King will need to renew their mandate every 7 years. See the full text at http://www.talossa.ca/files/bills.php?cosa=55&bill=21.

Not surprisingly, the existing King vetoed this compromise. This, after being absent for almost all of this Cosă term – and naming a deeply divisive monarchist politician as Regent in his absence. The combination of apathy, obstructionism and entitlement shown by this King has led many Monarchists to supporting the idea of a Compromise. If we are to have a King, it needs to be a better one than we've got.

Of the eight parties running in this election, four of them have pledged to support this compromise: the Free Democrats, the New Peculiar Way, the Talossan National Congress and the Parti Tafialistà. You can see a Joint Statement at https://wittenberg.talossa.com/index.php?topic=829.0. These four parties will need a 2/3 majority in the new Cosă to enact the Compromise over the King's veto.

This might be our last chance to end the Constitutional debate with honour on both sides. We need YOUR VOTE FOR THE FREE DEMOCRATS to get the biggest possible endorsement of the Historic Compromise.

In our second email, I will talk about the other most important reason why the Free Democrats need your vote: to enact our programme to increase immigration, and to get existing citizens more active. If you have any questions or comments, please let us know at (email redacted)

Restéu voastra,

Miestra Antônia Schiva

Prime Minister of Talossa / Seneschal dàl Regipäts Talossan

Party Secretary of the Free Democrats of Talossa / Secretár del Parti dels Democrätsen Livereschti da Talossa

[Miestră Schivă, UrN]

The KLüP's latest lulzy election email has actually a couple of good points:

Remove MCs and Senators from the electoral college for the new King. We don't want the election of the King to become a partisan affair. Worst case scenarios we actually get parties explicitly running on the platform of supporting a candidate for King.

Not actually an awful idea.

Baron AD and Citaxhien Miestră to perform a duet on Talossan television. Perhaps a rendition of Don't Give Up by Peter Gabriel/Kate Bush.

A deal, but only if the Baron sings the Kate parts and I sing the Gabriel parts.

[Miestră Schivă, UrN]

And I hope everyone got this:

===


An election message from the Free Democrats of Talossa

Azul, estimada/estimat citaxhien del Regipäts Talossan!

Greetings, dear citizen of the Kingdom of Talossa. It is once again General Election season in Talossa, and I am contacting you to ask for your vote for the candidates of the FREE DEMOCRATS OF TALOSSA.

This is the second of two campaign emails where I explain the two vital reasons why the Free Democrats need your vote in this election. In the first letter, I explained the "Historic Compromise" we're trying to achieve between monarchy and republicanism, and the reprehensible behaviour of the King which pushed even monarchists to realise something had to change.

But constitutional arrangements are only part of the issue. Whoever wins this election will have to govern Talossa – make sure that our machinery of State works well, and help make Talossa a fun and rewarding environment for everyone. We want to persuade you that your only sensible choice is giving the Free Democrats the mandate to run the next Government – and for our new Party President, Txoteu Davinescu,  to be the new Seneschál (Prime Minister).
Why are the Free Democrats the best governing party?

1.      Because we are the only MASS party in Talossa. The Free Democrats are the only party with a whole team of active Talossans, ready to do the work. Just look at our party list – we have twice as many candidates as any other party on the ballot! No other party in this election even pretends they would be in a position to take on the Government of Talossa. At best, they're all jockeying to be our coalition partners, or to stymie our agenda. (There is also a small chance that your vote might be wasted if you vote for a party who has only 1 person on their list, as there's a limit to how many seats 1 person can hold.)

2.      We have the experience of governing. It's extremely easy to write a whole programme of things that you absolutely swear you would do if you were in government. It's so easy that several parties in this election have done so. But if they'd asked Free Democrats, we could have told them – from experience – what is actually achievable with Talossa's resources and a reasonable level of commitment from citizens. The answer is "not as much as they think" – even less so since the other parties only have maybe 2 or 3 active citizens, at most, who would be able to do the job. In contrast, the Free Democrat programme is written with the benefit of experience and hindsight. We made a few outlandish promises ourselves, in the past, and got embarrassed when they didn't work out. Now, we promise only the things we actually think we could do, with our own resources, in a Cosa term.

3.      We prioritise immigration and citizen activity. The biggest crisis facing Talossa is a crisis of activity – not only apathy towards non-political Talossanity from existing citizens, but a lack of active ways for new migrants to "get involved." The Free Democrats are partway through a plan to turn that around, and you can read more of that in our manifesto. Just looking at the numbers of parties participating in this election, and the upward trend in turnout, shows that when Free Democrats are in power, we get things done, and we have more fun. (Admittedly, this is sometimes because what we're doing infuriates the opposition. But that's how you stimulate activity and engagement!)

4.      If we lose, we won't sulk. Talossa needs political diversity to function. In the past, parties of the opposition in Talossa have led a "boycott strategy" – that if they can't run Talossa, they will drop out of activity altogether, out of spite. Even if Free Democrats are not in the Government, we will remain active in Talossan culture and administration, as well as being a voice of constructive opposition in the Cosa. Which other parties will agree to that?



You can read our entire manifesto, and our candidates for the Cosă and Senäts, here: https://freedemstalossa.wordpress.com/2021/04/24/free-democrats-for-the-56th-cosa-election-may-2021/. If you are in Atatürk province, please vote for Martì-Pair Furxhéir; in Cézembre province, please vote for Ián Tamoran.

Do you have any questions or comments about this email, about the Free Democrats, about the record of the incumbent Government of Talossa, or about Talossa in general? Please contact me at (email redacted). I really look forward to hearing from you.



Restéu voastra,

Miestra Antônia Schiva

Prime Minister of Talossa / Seneschal dàl Regipäts Talossan
Party Secretary of the Free Democrats of Talossa / Secretár del Parti dels Democrätsen Livereschti da Talossa