[FREE DEMOCRATS CONVENTION December 2021] Main Thread

[Miestrâ Schivâ]

From this thread we will spawn subthreads to the following pieces of Convention business:

• Election of Party President, Party Secretary and Provincial Branch Chairs
  
• Amendments to the Constitution
  
• Amendments to the Party Platform

This thread will also be the place for speeches from party members as well as guest speakers. Convention opens December 1st.

[Miestrâ Schivâ]

I declare this Convention open. It would be nice if Party President Txoteu Davinescu were to give a welcoming speech.

[Miestrâ Schivâ]

Estimats amici dels Democrätsen Livereschti:

I had a plan for a big speech I was going to give to this convention. The essence of it was going to be a severe warning, along the lines of the following:

I hate to say it, friends and colleagues, but the Government we lead has dropped the ball. Seriously, and collectively. We have failed to actively pursue most of our programme. The country is now in a serious crisis of activity, and it is possible that Talossa will die within 6 months if something doesn't change.

I have expressed these sentiments privately, and in Cabinet; but I was going to wait for the incumbent Party President to make his speech first before cutting loose with my jeremiad. And then... I saw a lot of the speech I was going to make being made by someone else on Wittenberg. My reaction can be summed up in a famous gag from The Onion:

Of course, not all the ills that the esteemed Baron von Tollbooth points out are our fault. For example, it's certainly not great that Talossa is effectively a one-party state (albeit where that one party is prevented from carrying out its most fundamental programme). But surely that is, literally, everyone else's fault. The Free Democrats didn't make a disorganised monarchist opposition go into the last election in the form of 3 or 4 microparties, at least half of which had absolutely no platform apart from stopping monarchy reform. Which they succeeded at, clap clap guys! - but they have absolutely no positive platform for government other than that. Well, that's what happens when your idea of Talossanity is an essentially negative one - "things must not change". But an organism which ceases to change ceases to live.

If the good Baron were to come out of retirement and lead a unified conservative party into the next election - a party which could aim to replace the Free Democrats as the leading party of the country, just like we displaced the ModRads who themselves displaced the RUMP - it would certainly be better for everyone than periodic mewlings about how everyone else apart from him has to do things like he tells them to. BUT, friends and colleagues: to get back to my original topic, the Baron has a point in the most general terms. And he has a point about the Government dropping the ball.

If this Government - which is now effectively a single-party Free Democrat government - doesn't do something in the rest of the term - as well as coming up with a programme for the next Cosa that it can actually implement - this party will be destroyed, and we will deserve it. Even if we don't get beaten by a rival party, we will simply disintegrate into apathy - and take Talossa with us.

I hope and expect that this Convention will approve a programme which is fit for facing the apathy crisis - and a leadership which is fit to actually enact that programme.

[Dr. Txec dal Nordselvă]

I heartily concur with the party secretary. Our own internal apathy will end our party soon if we don't do something.

[Txoteu É. Davinescu, O.SPM]

Work has absolutely kicked me in the ass this week... which is why it's 8:40pm and I'm working on shit that would have been done at work if not for my youngest getting sick at school. Tis the life of a single father. I will be making a formal statement tomorrow evening but I want to be clear on several things.

I fully intend to stand for Party President and continue as Seneschal. I believe we still have a lot of work to do but I know we are capable of doing it.

I will be shuffling the Cabinet tomorrow as well, so if you want to continue... make it clear by tomorrow.

Lastly, this talk of end times has its merits but that doesn't mean we lay down and take it! I am currently working across the lines to get even the Baron involved in the Kingdom again besides being the leader of the Anti-Miestrâ Party.

I am fully confident that our best days are ahead and I ask you join me on the journey!

Thanks,
Gen. Txoteu É. Davinescu, O.SPM
Seneschal of Talossa

[gv]

Count me back in, unless you've found people to take my once-old posts. Consider my double-resignation of a few weeks back null and void.

Once this biggest gig-weekend of the year is done for me, I will be able to get to a bunch of stuff. Defence will not be worked on as the Zuaves need little help from me.

GV, MinCulture & MinDefence

[gv]

Intended Subject Line: GV's Big Huge December 2021 FreeDems Convention Speech

First of all, a profound apology.  As has happened all-too-often with me, my initial enthusiasm with my current Cabinet appointments has turned out to only be a flash in the pan.  As my resignation from MinCulture and MinDefence have not been acknowledged or accepted, I assume I am still serving as both.

If that is the case, then I have still a window of time to make good on my part in our government's agenda.  And what I will do between now and the end of this Cosa is iterate on the YouTube channel Talossa, which I set up a few weeks back.  This channel I intend to be a one-stop shop for all Talossan videos anyone has put out on that platform.  There were a few 'podcasts' done a few years ago on YouTube by Talossans, and I will need to find those and bring them together.

Moreover, I have been mulling the idea of language-lesson videos: short and to the point.  By the end of this Cosa, you will will see ten of those on the 'Talossa' YouTube channel.  Surely I can do that little bit of work!

Following the end of this Cosa, I wish to have no more service in any Cabinet past this term and for the foreseeable future.  As I am a loyal, happy, and reliable FreeDems 'tool' in the Senats, I again place my name into nomination for another term.

This convention finds us at a cross-roads, and I hope this thread can be taken as the opportunity it is for all of us to voice our opinions.  Whether we like it or not, the check-and-balance of the minority as enshrined in our constitution has done its job, nixing the Historic Compromise and the cornerstone of our vision for Talossa.

Right now, we are shell-shocked.  We must get off our bellies, shake the dust from our feet, look to the future, and forge the way ahead. 

That future begins now, and it starts with vigorous discussion.

GV, Senator for Fiova

[Dr. Txec dal Nordselvă]

First, allow me to thank all of you for your confidence in me as we begin preparations for the next general election.

Talossa is an extraordinary place, and as with all places of its kind, there are amazing accomplishments and more than the average amount of pitfalls and time traps.

Fellow FreeDems, we are at a crossroads. Talossa needs a rejuvenation. It needs fresh ideas. Fellow FreeDems, it needs US. Talossa needs us to step up and reinvigorate the stagnating institutions. We can’t simply reform the law. We must get people excited to be Talossan. How do we do that? We won’t do it with OrgLaw reform. It is all about the culture.

I’m asking for the leeway and opening the floor. Let’s brainstorm some ideas. Nothing is too silly. What are your ideas?

[Miestrâ Schivâ]

What I am most disappointed about is the failures in the Interior portfolio this time. Immigration is our lifeblood. But not only immigration, giving new immigrants things to do so they feel "part of Talossa". What has happened recently is that new migrants have been pretty much left to their own devices once they're on board. Tric'hard Lenxheir was discussing this on Witt.

Let's list the things we wanted to do with Interior:

Charitable causes. Charity is not only a moral obligation on us as human beings, but it is an excellent way to increase awareness of Talossa in the outside world. We work with the Culture Ministry to raise funds for charity through games, tournaments and quizzes, paying particular attention to the Cestoûr population of the Greater Talossan Area and the nearby Milwaukee region..

TalossaWare. We will return to prioritising “Talossa you can hold in your hands”, starting with a national ID card program but also including other patriotic “swag”, including national flags of various sizes.

La C’hronica. We will revive the monthly Government newsletter, emailed to all citizens, informing them of recent Talossan events and issues.

New Citizens’ Information Packet. Quite often new or prospective citizens don’t even know what to do in Talossa. We will create a packet of information which explains what they need to know. We will explore bringing back the old tradition of an “open-book civics test” on this material, as a prerequisite for getting an ID Card.

Restart the TalossAssistant Programme.

Well, we did get La C'hronica up and running again, and I gather the Minister is looking at TalossaWare right now. But honestly I think the New Citizens' Information Packet would be the key to enabling newbies to get involved quickly. When I joined Talossa in 1997, Mad Ben literally sold new citizens his Stalinist-style history, which, despite being full of lies, gave a full enough picture of Talossan life that I could get involved right off the bat.

Should we consider reviving the New Citizen's Council in some form to get feedback?

As to Culture, well, that's been a write-off too; but I still think our programme in that regard would be good:

We will work with SIGN to create new Talossan language learning materials and to create both translated and original literature.

Cultural events for citizens: tournaments, gaming streams, a “battle of the bands”, online quizzes. These may double as charitable fundraisers (see under Interior).

Regular meetups of citizens, either online or IRL, national or provincial, will be promoted.

Resume work on the New Talossan History Project.

We work with the monarchy to make greater use of the Talossan Honours System. We will develop Talossan versions of Letters Patent, State Awards, and other physical forms of the trappings of monarchy and chivalry.

To tie the two together, I honestly think the current New Talossan History Project should be "compulsory reading" for new citizens, and if it's incomplete, then we should work on completing it. Would organising historical research be popular? Something to revive the Royal Society?

Finally, STUFF is a real tragedy because Eðo just hasn't been able to work on it. But it should go without saying that actively curated Talossan social media feeds should be a priority - as should a continuously updated Talossa.com.

A certain Baron von Tollbooth suggested elsewhere reviving the Zuavs (good idea if someone actually wants to do it); and paying to advertise Talossa. The latter is not a bad idea, we've got the money, but we'd have to decide what our target audience is.

[Miestrâ Schivâ]

Just a question for the new Prez on one issue:

We won’t do it with OrgLaw reform

Are we so sure that there is nothing we could do to our political structure to encourage more activity? You will know of course that the Baron of Beef is fond of saying that we should bring back the old system where parties could give seats to anyone, without them having to stand at election, to integrate them in our political process. We abolished that because it led in practice to corruption, to parties buying loyalty, and to lack of democratic accountability. But is there any other way that we can allow newbies to be politically active right off the bat - if that's their jam?

[Dr. Txec dal Nordselvă]

I honestly have no idea. When I joined Talossa I was able to get seats in the Cosa relatively quickly and I think that motivated me. I’m fully supportive of Cosa lists but I also would love if we could find a way for newer citizens to get experience as a legislator also.

[zane]

I have several sets of trivia already written for trivia nights I have hosted for my church. I would be more than happy to host some here.

[Miestrâ Schivâ]

I wonder if we could reserve some Cosa seats (15, maximum of 3 each) for new citizens who've immigrated since the last election?

[Dr. Txec dal Nordselvă]

I like the idea of reserving seats or at the very least making them available to newer citizens. Perhaps the law could be written in such a way that the seats can be reallocated at any time should there needs arise?

[Françal Ian Lux]

I'm not sure giving away Cosa seats to new citizens right out of the gate would be ideal, but I do support allowing new citizens to shadow experienced legislators even for just a term so they'll better familiarize themselves on how our political system works.

As far as our current crisis in Talossa is concerned, I've written about them numerous times in several platforms so I don't need to hash it out again for everyone, but I will say that immigration is our lifeblood and if we can't get people to even just FINISH their applications (let alone participate once they become prospects), we have slim to no chance of carrying on as a nation.

I've always advocated for a sort of pincer approach to solving our current crisis: slim down the public sector to unburden the few active citizens we have left WHILE gradually diversifying our daily activities, especially when it comes to cultural stuff, to encourage new citizens to participate.

I haven't always been the best at keeping up with Talossan affairs in the past, but I'm not giving up on this crazy nation of ours and I'm only encouraged and excited by our new party President's election and the sort of energy and commitment he can bring to help our party help Talossa stay the overwhelming disaster that's coming our away.