Post by Dien on Jan 18, 2018 20:21:11 GMT -6
Azul fellow FreeDems!
In response to the recent amendment to our longstanding agnostic clause, as the foremost Monarchist among us, I would like to announce the formation of the Royal Caucus. The Caucus has been registered with our esteemed Secretary, and given a board in which to bloviate about all the Republicans among us. Republicans, of course, would be welcome in our subforum to bloviate as well, without any oath of allegiance to the King being necessary.
We tend to fall more on the conservative side of the monarchist debate, and to that end, while we invite all members to join, we note that anyone expressing so called "moderate" views on the subject may find differences of opinion herein.
Going forward, our main points of concern are thus:
1. We believe that the party should continue to allow members to refrain from active engagement on any issue regarding the monarchy, irrespective of anything in our platform.
At the formation of the predecessor to the Free Democrats, the Liberal Congress, one major factor in our decision to join the party was its adherence to agnosticism on the issue of the monarchy. We felt, at the time, our Kingdom's attention should turn towards other concerns, such as those concerning privacy laws or other liberal issues. The leadership of the Liberal Congress, the Free Democratic Alliance, and now the Free Democrats, all tended to respect this issue to a point. But even we, as Monarchists, can't deny the issue has thrust itself in the forefront thanks largely in part to haphazard "reform" legislation, and it was no surprise to see this party be forced by outside actors to move in the direction of the former ZRT. The recent amendment to our agnostic clause which intentionally renders it all but symbolic can be seen as no more than the final nail in the coffin for what has been an outright shift of this party's purpose.
Having said that, we recognize the party majority's view that this issue can no longer be pushed to the back. As our current Secretary noted, "The ModRads have become the party of reducing monarchical power; we are the party which looks in the other direction and whistles." While we may disapprove, we understand the importance for party-led legislation concerning the monarchy; if nothing more than to attempt to regain our status as the party of the true progressives. Yet, while we do not wish to hinder the party majority's efforts in this regard, we do not wish to be forced to support the bill in either debate or final vote. To that end, we will encourage our party leadership to broadly abide by our constitution's section XII, subsection g, which allows for members to vote their personal opinion on issues regarding the monarchy. (We would, however, respect the party's platform by refraining from any outside debate on party-led bills concerning certain aspects of the issue.)
2. We will continue to work towards the restoration of the original agnostic clause.
Although changing winds may render this point a fantasy, notwithstanding our practical position above, we will annually offer amendments to our constitution that would restore the original agnostic clause. Once the "reformist monarchists" from outside parties finally settle down, we believe that it would be more politically advantageous for us to retreat to our clear position of having no position on the issue. Regardless of whether the original clause returns, we will continue a push for more progressive policies that fall outside of the issue, much like the purpose of the (dormant) Liberal Congress caucus.
3. We will individually continue to preserve the now-symbolic powers of the monarchy, work towards restoring the limited political power once held, and work against any push to depose our current monarch, whether or not the monarchy is retained.
While we may individually believe that some reforms to the monarchy are appropriate, we stridently disagree with the many "reforms" that have taken place over the last couple of years. We feel these reforms are completely unnecessary, in addition to being bloated, and render the monarchy an extremely weak position within our small but sovereign nation. We further believe that some, if not all, of these reforms may in fact be referendums on our current monarch's job performance. Our position is not to defend King John as an individual, but we believe that any attempt to reform the powers of--or outright depose--our current monarch is detrimental to the overall system itself. Whether our current monarch is King John or Queen Elizabeth, we as a caucus will encourage our members to push back against any attempt--Republican or Monarchist--to tear down our much loved constitutional monarchy.
4. We will continue to support the constitutional monarchy.
Perhaps a restatement of point 3, we pride ourselves on being True Monarchists, and as members, we will continue to support a constitutional monarchy as the best form of government for Talossa. Outside of the death-by-a-thousand-cuts-reform-measures, we will continue to oppose any shift towards an executive branch of government either democratically elected or selected by the Ziu. We will continue to monitor any Organic Law reform measures to ensure that the monarchy is retained, and within our party, we will continue to oppose the addition of platform planks that directly support a republican form of government.
If you are interested in joining, feel free to contact me here by PM, or by posting howdily doodily over in our subforum's welcome thread. Soon, we will be posting our organizing document and bylaws in compliance with the FreeDem constitution. If we get enough members, maybe we'll even challenge the ZRT caucus to some kind of a wargame or something, as is this country's tradition.
As always,
Munditenens Tresplet
Founder
The RoyalWe Caucus
In response to the recent amendment to our longstanding agnostic clause, as the foremost Monarchist among us, I would like to announce the formation of the Royal Caucus. The Caucus has been registered with our esteemed Secretary, and given a board in which to bloviate about all the Republicans among us. Republicans, of course, would be welcome in our subforum to bloviate as well, without any oath of allegiance to the King being necessary.
We tend to fall more on the conservative side of the monarchist debate, and to that end, while we invite all members to join, we note that anyone expressing so called "moderate" views on the subject may find differences of opinion herein.
Going forward, our main points of concern are thus:
1. We believe that the party should continue to allow members to refrain from active engagement on any issue regarding the monarchy, irrespective of anything in our platform.
At the formation of the predecessor to the Free Democrats, the Liberal Congress, one major factor in our decision to join the party was its adherence to agnosticism on the issue of the monarchy. We felt, at the time, our Kingdom's attention should turn towards other concerns, such as those concerning privacy laws or other liberal issues. The leadership of the Liberal Congress, the Free Democratic Alliance, and now the Free Democrats, all tended to respect this issue to a point. But even we, as Monarchists, can't deny the issue has thrust itself in the forefront thanks largely in part to haphazard "reform" legislation, and it was no surprise to see this party be forced by outside actors to move in the direction of the former ZRT. The recent amendment to our agnostic clause which intentionally renders it all but symbolic can be seen as no more than the final nail in the coffin for what has been an outright shift of this party's purpose.
Having said that, we recognize the party majority's view that this issue can no longer be pushed to the back. As our current Secretary noted, "The ModRads have become the party of reducing monarchical power; we are the party which looks in the other direction and whistles." While we may disapprove, we understand the importance for party-led legislation concerning the monarchy; if nothing more than to attempt to regain our status as the party of the true progressives. Yet, while we do not wish to hinder the party majority's efforts in this regard, we do not wish to be forced to support the bill in either debate or final vote. To that end, we will encourage our party leadership to broadly abide by our constitution's section XII, subsection g, which allows for members to vote their personal opinion on issues regarding the monarchy. (We would, however, respect the party's platform by refraining from any outside debate on party-led bills concerning certain aspects of the issue.)
2. We will continue to work towards the restoration of the original agnostic clause.
Although changing winds may render this point a fantasy, notwithstanding our practical position above, we will annually offer amendments to our constitution that would restore the original agnostic clause. Once the "reformist monarchists" from outside parties finally settle down, we believe that it would be more politically advantageous for us to retreat to our clear position of having no position on the issue. Regardless of whether the original clause returns, we will continue a push for more progressive policies that fall outside of the issue, much like the purpose of the (dormant) Liberal Congress caucus.
3. We will individually continue to preserve the now-symbolic powers of the monarchy, work towards restoring the limited political power once held, and work against any push to depose our current monarch, whether or not the monarchy is retained.
While we may individually believe that some reforms to the monarchy are appropriate, we stridently disagree with the many "reforms" that have taken place over the last couple of years. We feel these reforms are completely unnecessary, in addition to being bloated, and render the monarchy an extremely weak position within our small but sovereign nation. We further believe that some, if not all, of these reforms may in fact be referendums on our current monarch's job performance. Our position is not to defend King John as an individual, but we believe that any attempt to reform the powers of--or outright depose--our current monarch is detrimental to the overall system itself. Whether our current monarch is King John or Queen Elizabeth, we as a caucus will encourage our members to push back against any attempt--Republican or Monarchist--to tear down our much loved constitutional monarchy.
4. We will continue to support the constitutional monarchy.
Perhaps a restatement of point 3, we pride ourselves on being True Monarchists, and as members, we will continue to support a constitutional monarchy as the best form of government for Talossa. Outside of the death-by-a-thousand-cuts-reform-measures, we will continue to oppose any shift towards an executive branch of government either democratically elected or selected by the Ziu. We will continue to monitor any Organic Law reform measures to ensure that the monarchy is retained, and within our party, we will continue to oppose the addition of platform planks that directly support a republican form of government.
If you are interested in joining, feel free to contact me here by PM, or by posting howdily doodily over in our subforum's welcome thread. Soon, we will be posting our organizing document and bylaws in compliance with the FreeDem constitution. If we get enough members, maybe we'll even challenge the ZRT caucus to some kind of a wargame or something, as is this country's tradition.
As always,
Munditenens Tresplet
Founder
The Royal