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Franz never expected for his identity to be revealed; perhaps an innsman had noticed him, and deigned to reveal him to the entire Federation; he did not know for certain, nor did it matter, truly. He had to act quickly, more quickly than he had hoped. But this was something he had dreamed of, since his first thoughts, since his dreams became real and his mind became focussed, the horrors brought upon his family would be undone, not with fire and blood, but with discourse and forgiveness… but would they accept his olive branch, his open hand? He met the Archbishop at St Stephen’s, who seemed receptive to his plight, and allowed him leave to address the people on the street from the steps; he acted as fast as he could, recited those words he had spoken to himself time and time before, and when he stepped out to a throng of people, some hateful, some adoring, and most intrigued, he fought back his nerves, and spoke his words.

It seems word of my arrival travelled faster than I did, and now an increasing number of people have discovered who I am, and what my family was; I had hoped that time had erased the hatred and indemnity felt toward us had evaporated, but now, with calls for my arrest from imaginary crimes and sins committed by ancestors and family draped over my shoulders, I am a pariah to some, a saviour to others, and an enigma to the rest; I am a spectre of the Old Regime, a symbol of tyranny and absolutism, even with the shadow of the proud and ambitious General Lilic, whose regime left this very city nothing more than a heap of rubble, still hanging over this nation with still unseen repercussions waiting in the wings; those who regard me as some champion, some hero, I expect will find me lacking, for I am little more than a young man, with high ideals and without the pragmatism and sense that age brings… perhaps if my father had come in my stead, it would be different… for those of you who know not who I am, and perhaps for those of you who do, and care not to believe the slandering and the praise heaped upon me, declaring my intentions and objectives for me… perhaps you will hear me out, and deign to listen to the scion of an ancient House. I am Franz Ferdinand, son of Karl Ludwig, brother of Franz Ferdinand, heir to Ferdinand, the Last of the Habsburg Emperors, and I am here, not as a conqueror or some beggar Emperor, a sad and poor little man who would beg to armed thugs to thrust a crown and a throne, crafted from bones and broken promises, to reign over the ashes of a broken land… I am here to champion one thing, peace.

Some of the audience turned away, completely unwilling to listen to an autocrat preach from on high about his lineage and his ideas; the others... they seemed more receptive...

There are those you, I see, who will have nothing to do with me, simply do to my lineage and my name… perhaps even because am an Austrian, if you are not from this city. I… can understand your mistrust, your caution. What Emperor Ferdinand did, through brutal repression and force of arms, is condemnable and cruel; the twilight hours of his reign were marred by disunion, violence, and bloodshed, where thousands were slain, on both the left and right, defending their ideals and their leaders. My kinsmen acted in those final months unjustly, and I will not justify his cruelties, for he went far beyond the scope of sensible reaction against rebellion and chose instead to plot a course towards unbridled tyranny, devoid of reason and compromise; Herr von Metternich, a man of great honour and respect, a dignified and gracious figure, and a proud son of Austria, acted with pragmatism and intelligence, and I can bear him no ill will, despite the misfortune is has brought my family; perhaps had he lived, much of this madness could have been averted. As it stands, however, this Federation along the Danube is wracked with turmoil and disunion that threatens to tear apart what many men, my kin and ancestor’s included, sought to build; it is in this hour of need that I have arrived, not with an army, not with threats of reactions and calls of punitive violence against Revolutionaries and radicals, but with a heart pleading for peace and a mind determined to bring it about; this madness that has painted the Danube crimson, and has left the fields untilled, the factories silent, and the people disparate must come to an end.

I look upon this city, this damaged, torn city, and I cannot help but weep for the past; my father showed me paintings of the city, maps and beautiful renditions by the greatest artists who ever lived, I have heard the songs penned for the beauty and glory of this ancient city, and I have dreamed of the tales of my youth, told to me be my father… reminiscing from his own childhood in this city… and now I styand here, those dreams found untrue, those songs atonal and horrid, and those paintings burnt in a pyre of rebellion and death; this rubble… this wreckage and brokenness, is a symbol, I think, of the state of this land; the people are divided, the right and the left treat each other as foreigners, speaking different tongues, with tongues filled with blood and ire, and the people are left by the wayside, their lives and livelihoods nothing more than inconsequential problems, little inconveniences, for those who desire nothing more than power and blood.

I command no armies, as I said, and I cannot issue orders to those in the fields and streets to lay down their weapons and live, if not in unity and solidarity with their fellow citizens, their fellow Danubians, as I believe the term is, then in a quiet peace with an understanding that this madness, this vitriolic, unquenched hatred must be stopped; this cycle of hatred and extremism, which pushed one tyrant out of office and installed another, this Faber who has already met his just fate… sadly not before he inspired the vitriol of the right, must end; Mister Banik, I ask you to meet with me, or to send a representative to do so, and I would ask the same to the leader of this rightist movement. If two men, of such opposition views, with hatred and fear and disdain for one another, can enter into the same house and be seated at the same table, then surely we can find some peace, some compromise, some chance for progress and fidelity to be made, without the senseless shedding of a brother’s blood.

I am Franz Ferdinand, the heir of an Empire, and a citizen and brother to you all… and I cannot rest until I see this city, and this land restored to peace and order. I swear to you, at the steps of this great Cathedral, to the Lord Almighty and on every honour and title my family has ever held, that I desire peace and unity as much as any one of you… and that I will fight, not with cannon or blade, but with words and letters, to help heal our wounds and help us all.

Franz returned to the Cathedral, unsure of the reaction... but he hoped he made a good first impression
 
"Who among the eighty shall stand for the twenty?"

My father asked me this question during my studies, to inspire thought, as he always did, with a simple, rational argument. He wished to know, in a democratic society, when discussing a topic which had received support in excess of eighty percent from the voting populace, what was to be of the other twenty percent? Politicians, after all, are creatures of self-interest, desirous first and foremost of political survival and re-election, for their continued hold on power is essential to ensure the social and economic changes they consider necessary. Therefore, my father asked of me, which politician, standing comfortably among the eighty percent on an issue of national import, assured of victory if he would only assent completely to the overwhelming majority, would stand to defend the rights of the other twenty percent?

I believed this to be little more than a thought exercise for much of my life, but only recently has that question arisen once more and been given painful, staggering implications, as we were forced to watch the extrajudicial murder of those declared enemies of the state. Some of the men who died during the Faberist Terror were undoubtedly criminals and would-be tyrants, men who had wielded their ill-gotten power unjustly and without regard for the consequences or cost in human life of their decisions. Even I, a royalist and so-called "reactionary," could not countenance their decisions or their actions. However, we have now born witness to the snarling face beneath this Federation's smiling mask, as radical "democrats" have used the excuse of internal unrest to begin rounding up and murdering their opposition, just as they claimed their enemies had done. We have watched as the men and women of this Federation have taken to the streets, armed with ancient rifles and their burning anger at the atrocities committed in the name of so-called democracy. We are now forced to stand by and watch, again, as the recklessness and arrogance of this democratic government brings the house in which we all live crashing down around us.

These "reactionaries" are not automatons, not predators, not inhuman or alien or criminal. They are our neighbors, our countrymen, our comrades and brothers. They have risen up because they are tired of the corruption, tired of the rapacious conquests, tired of the weakness and the fear and the criminal stupidity of government after government. While human beings are possessed of certain inalienable rights and freedoms, fully deserving of their inborn right to express their opinions and choose their leaders, they are also entitled to the stability and order essential to the maintenance of a civilized society, and this Federation has not given them that stability in any lasting sense. It has manipulated the eighty percent of its citizens who demand the maintenance of their democratic rights into believing that terror is the only way to safeguard these rights. It has relentlessly persecuted, demonized, and threatened those who are not convinced of democracy's virtues, and thus shown them only democracy's vices. It has launched countless wars of foreign aggression, alienated the Great Powers of Europe, gobbled up foreign territories, and in all ways proven itself irresponsible and dangerous. The Federation has failed its people.

The twenty percent have taken to the streets because they believe that a tyranny of the individual is the only way to oppose the tyranny of the masses to which they have been continually subjected. They cry out for autocracy because they have been denied the fruits of democracy. They cling to dictatorship because they have yet to be shown any true leadership. They are the voiceless, they are the oppressed, they are our fellow citizens, and they are not so unlike us. They would accept self-determination, if only it was accompanied by the strong leadership and unity that such exercise requires, and that leadership, that unity, is not forthcoming under our current system of governance. Democracy, in its purest and most centralized form, has failed this Federation with its rapacity, its self-interest, and its unreasoning hatred of the minority.

We have seen the manifold failures of absolutism, and it must be opposed, but we have also seen the failures of democracy. For a sprawling multi-ethnic nation such as ours, one solution alone cannot be enough. We must seek compromise between the two paths, must merge the strengths of both systems while discarding the weaknesses, and must create a strong, free, resolute, representative system of government. A government in which the popular will and the unity of the nation are held in equal regard, in which regional differences can be settled by an impartial arbiter and the people can be left to tend to their affairs without continued centralist intrusion. In short, we require a democratic, constitutional Empire, led by an Emperor of character and strength, who can unite the peoples of the Federation while their elected executive and representatives do their work overseen by a neutral figure who stands outside partisan politics and commands their respect.

I have heard the words of His Imperial and Royal Highness, Franz Ferdinand of Habsburg-Lorraine, and I see in him the unifying figure that this Federation needs, an honest man whose compassion and boundless determination to do good are without question, the man among the eighty who shall stand for the twenty. The decrepit autocratic Austrian Empire was without a doubt our past, but a new democratic and constitutional Danubian Empire may yet be our future, a shining future in which imperial authority is bounded by the rule of law. A new state, powerful enough to defend its citizens from external aggression and internal persecution without continually meddling in their day-to-day affairs, and a nation that balances the needs of strength and freedom in equal measure. I echo his call for negotiation and mediation, and call upon the men and women of this Federation to support His Highness in his quest for peace and justice, so that we might return to the prosperity and order to which we are entitled as residents of the world's greatest nation.


Heinrich Wilhelm Karl Freiherr von Reuss
Chancellor of Silesia
 
*Alp Mustafa approaches the stand in the Congress Building and begins to present his speech to the masses.*

Gentlemen of the Federation, our nation is being tested. This test is one of the hardest tests we have ever faced. The test is being given out by our own people, and we must pass it, or we will be destroyed. These Reactionaries are nothing more than power-hungry fools, hoping to bring back the days of Jovan Lilic and his dictatorship. Members of the congress I say to you today that we must remain diligent no matter what the outcome of this rebellion is. If we win, then we must be diligent in restoring order and rebuilding a broken country. If we loose, then we must be diligent in protecting our own people from the new regime. We are here to serve the people, not to serve ourselves, but to serve our families. We are hear because the people have chosen us to lead them, and what do we do? We bicker with each other, divide ourselves between Radicals and Reactionaries, monarchists and republicans, leftists and rightists. Will this ever bring the Federation back to normalcy? Will this ever bring the Federation back into the world as a Great Superpower? We did not fight wars and revolutions just to watch our work burn in the ashes of a fire laid out by our enemies.

I say this to you from experience. In my home on Nicosia, Greeks and Turks kill each other. The Turks were the rulers, the Greeks were the peasants. When the Federation was handed Cyprus, the two cultures did not bond and mend the past to make way for a brighter future. They now kill each other more then ever before. Greeks raiding Istanbul to kill Turks. Turks destroying Greek homes and kidnapping Albanian children. These cultures of my home have been violent the day they were brought into the Federation. I will not let this country become another Nicosia, were people die base on what political ideology they see.

I ask you today, members from the Radical Union and the DPU especially, to lay aside your differences, to lay aside your grievances and your accusations, and help make the Federation great once more! Constant bickering will not rebuild our country, it will only destroy what we have left. This rebellion began because of the political hell this country has dived into. If we work together and lay aside our differences, then we will become a strong nation once-again. If you continue to bicker, then our country will become the poorest example of a democracy to ever graze this Earth.

-Alp Mustafa
 
((Now for a serious character that isn't a Von Tirpitz they are too infamous now, lol.))

No picture to be provided.

Name: Krysztof Czarnowski
Culture: Polish
Place of Birth: Oppeln, Silesia
Date of Birth: 21st of August, 1850
Position: Independant

Political Stances:
Monarchist^999, Pro-Jingoist, Pro Laissez Faire, Pro Free Trade, Pro Secular, Pro Full Cititenship

Bio:
Krzysztof Czarnowski was born to a middle class polish family in the mid 1850s, from an early age he was used to the dominance of the staunchly reactionary Von Tirpitz family in he state of Silesia. He's early years under the extremely xenophobic and intolerance rule of Erwin Von Tirpitz were like a living gel for his family. Critisized for being too liberal and even more being directly discriminated for being polish by the authoritarian dictator that was Erwin Von Tirpitz, Krysztof has to grow up quickly. After Erwin Von Tirpitz was charged with treason and executed things started to get much better for his family, finally being protected by the law.

It was at this time that Krysztof started to admire his King, while at first he had hated him for not standing up to Erwin Von Tirpitz after learning about the political turmoil at the time he realized why the King did what he did. The King, soon became his roll model and his idol as he wished during his teenage years to become a King himself one day.

In an effort to get to be with and help his new found idol, Krysztof at the age of just 18 decided to join the Silesia Royal Militia with the hole of being picked for the royal guard. Unfortunately the last spot on the guards was taken by an even younger man, Leopold Von Tirpitz. Angered even more at this, lossing his at the time dream job to some upstart Von Tirpitz bastard he decided to try and get recognition by his King in other ways.

With his martial dreams crushed it was at this point that Krysztof decided to go into politics, not to repersent his consitutents, help his fellow people and not even for power but, merely to just show that he was worthy in his eyes to the only person that actually mattered. Too an extent it worked he got elected as both a deputy in the Silesian Parliament and federal in a bi election.

((My writing skills are sub par, so if your getting anything other then he's a massive ultra monarchist and ages Von Tirpitzs I failed at writing.))
 

Mr. Hapsburg (who I will never call majesty or highness) may talk prettily, but I do not trust him any farther than I can throw him. I am sure that he wishes to use the reactionary rebellion to install himself as emperor, something that cannot and must not be allowed. But even if his motives are pure and he is sincere in what he says, which I seriously doubt, he is wrong. If we simply pursue peace with the reactionaries as we have done so often in the past, we are doomed to repeat this farce. Peace in the short term means chaos in the long term. Reactionaries like those that are rising will never be satisfied until the democracy they despise so much is torn down and replaced with tyranny, whether under a dictator like Lilic or an emperor like Franz Ferdinand surely seeks to be. These reactionaries have proven that they cannot exist in a democracy and that there can be no compromise with them. We must achieve peace only through victory.


Mr. Von Reuss is, of course, a madman, a liar, and a fool. He is clearly deluded and has lost all touch with reality. I think I speak for most people in Danubia when I say that I would sooner die than live under an emperor. I would sooner die than be subjected to the sick, twisted and wrong system that is monarchy. I am a citizen and I will never be a subject. A Danubian Empire would be an abomination, and the idea merits no further discussion. It is utterly off the table.

Of course Mr. Von Reuss' rambling a are filled with hypocrisy and falsehood. There would be no self-determination or freedom under an emperor. Who would determine the emperor? An emperor would not command respect (I, for one, would never respect an emperor, nor would any leftist, so the emperor has lost the respect of 80% of the population), he would not be a unifying figure (how could he be, with 80% of people against him), and he would not be impartial (what man is?). Why would an emperor be worthy of respect, trust, or indeed anything other than loathing? The one refuge of monarchists has always been to claim that monarchy and democracy are compatible. At least Mr. Von Reuss has the decency to admit that they are opposites, though he is of course a disgusting traitor for siding against democracy. Under an emperor there would only be tyranny, oppression, and persecution, and I have no doubt that there would be terror, a reprisal against the left far stronger, bloodier, and viler than anything ever inflicted upon the right. And there would be no peace or stability, only chaos, since just as rightists will never rest until democracy is replaced with tyranny, leftists will never rest until tyranny is replaced with democracy. At least the revolution would be quick and strong, since leftists outnumber rightists by far.

Mr. Von Reuss also repeats the absurd minoritarianism that has characterized the right for so long. Democracy should protect minorities, yes, but ethnic and religious minorities, not political ones. You don't choose to be a Czech or a German, but you do choose to be a reactionary. You do choose to hate and oppose democracy. The ridiculous rightist policy of portraying themselves as an oppressed and persecuted minority deprived of its rights is obviously just their excuse for why they should be allowed to dictate to all of thus and force their views down all their throats even though most people oppose them. That is why they oppose democracy, because they always lose because everyone opposes them. They can only win through fraud as they did with Lilic and now that that option is no longer open to them they have resorted to rebellion and treason. And of course they are criminals, because treason is a crime.

Perhaps it is unjust for the majority to force its will on the minority, but then it must be doubly unjust for the minority to force its will on the majority, as Mr. Von Reuss wishes to do. He attempts to portray the two sides, democracy and tyranny, as equal, being of equal merit and worthy of a compromise between the two, even though they are unequal by his own admission. It is eighty-twenty, not fifty-fifty. The mad, wrong views of a tiny minority do not deserve compromise.

Mr. Von Reuss is profoundly wrong on every level and should be arrested for treason immediately (and I would point out to rightists who do not understand how justice works that being arrested means that you are suspected of a crime, not that you are guilty, though I have no doubt that Mr. Von Reuss would be found guilty). An emperor would be totally unacceptable, end of story, and the reactionaries are not a legitimate minority, they are only a minority in the sense that most people know that they are utterly wrong.
 
I thank the Honorable Deputy for Lodomeria, Mister Mendel, for his kind response, and offer additional thanks for his assiduous efforts to provide copious illustration to my various points regarding the flaws of the unchecked democratic process.

I kindly suggest to the Honorable Deputy, who in his zeal to cast aside His Imperial and Royal Highness' courtesy title has omitted my own executive office from mention, that he re-examine the parable of the eighty and the twenty, and that he reconsider his own place in that parable given his position on the extreme left of the spectrum of political views. A man such as Deputy Mendel, a possessor of an extreme political viewpoint, will more often than not find himself among the twenty than the eighty, and should perhaps hold the values of tolerance and pluralism in higher esteem than he does at present. Despite Deputy Mendel's professed disdain for the rights of free speech, free expression, and free association, which I currently exercise and for which exercise he believes I should occupy a jail cell, I nonetheless respect his right to hold such an opinion, even if it does represent a lack of tolerance for others' opinions that I find profoundly regrettable in an elected official.

In this particular iteration of the eighty and the twenty, the two proportions do not represent the left and the right, but rather those who desire peace and those who desire conflict, regardless of political affiliation and motive. As a man of the eighty, I wish to promote understanding and reconciliation so as to preserve the lives and well-being of the twenty, be they hardened leftists who took part in the Faberist Terror or discontented rightists who have taken to the streets in response. I hold up His Highness Franz Ferdinand as an example of the eighty standing up for the twenty, a man of peace calling to save the lives of the men of conflict, and as a greater example for those of us who may be negatively inclined toward those who choose to take up violence when they believe that no political recourse exists.

All men of reason and sense can agree that unchecked, unbridled leftism is just as damaging to our nation as the same unchecked force from the right, and that if we are to remain whole and united, we must seek compromise and understanding rather than continuing the endless cycle of sectarian bloodshed. It is in that spirit that I join His Highness in his call for peace, and that I call upon men such as Deputy Mendel to set aside their zeal and embrace brotherhood. We may have a difference of opinion, but that does not make us enemies, but rather friends and rivals seeking to find an equitable solution to a common problem, and I believe that if we set aside divisive rhetoric and strive for statesmanship, we can do so together.


Heinrich Wilhelm Karl Freiherr von Reuss
Chancellor of Silesia
 
I support Herr von Habsburg-Lorraine's call for peace. Brothers should never fight amongst each other but must stand firm against their true enemies.

~Frederick von Innsbruck-Brno, Chancellor of Austria
 
Agostino, seeing which way the wind is blowing, stands in the Cisalpinian State Legislature

I also support von Hapsburg's call for peace. Danubia needs to stand strong or continue falling apart.
 
Some rhetoric that seems deluded and insane to Krysztof

Pan Mendel you speak as if all Monarchists are right winged, you speak as if having a political belief warrants arrest. I do not know what place you have come from, some twisted and shitty hell hole perhaps but, in civilized places we don't disrespect people and threat arrest and execution for their political beliefs. As a political belief is something you grow up into and is something that is very hard to change once aged and for the most part people don't want to change such beliefs. This is the very same way as religion, you are born irreligious but, your parents, or other family do whatever your religions initiation ceremony is and now you are that religion, and while most people can change they choose not to as it is hard, it distances them from family and is something they aren't familiar in. The same can be said for your culture as well, so you see the only thing you are born with is race, everything else is learned.

In your stance people who belief in monarchs as rightful head of states should be punished, I ask you this, what if you were the minority here and everyone believed that republics were some vile satan spawn? You were brought up to be a republican, no? So with that in mind if you grew up in Silesia or Albania you would be a monarchist most likely. So since you lacked this previlige, which I may add is very unfortunate I feel that you should come and stay some time in Silesia, meet the King converse with the man in unpolitical conversation you'd be shocked, considering your view of him that he is more intelligent then you.

- Krysztof Czarnowski
 

In this iteration of the eighty and twenty, actually, I am speaking for the eighty: the vast majority of people who accept and love democracy, the foundation of Danubia and the national character. Here, I am a man of the eighty, and you, sir, are no man of the eighty. You are a man of the twenty that despise democracy and seek to turn back the Revolution of 1848 to replace democracy with a tyrannous monarchy. I am all for tolerance and pluralism but the current debate has nothing to do with tolerance or pluralism and I challenge you to prove how it does. It is not about tolerance or pluralism, it is about reactionaries trying to force their evil system on everyone else.

You are trying to hijack the debate and turn it into something it is not, something illogical and incorrect. Democracy is not an extreme. Democracy is not "unchecked, unbridled leftism". You are attempting to make two utterly unequal viewpoints appear equal, but nothing could be farther from the truth. Democracy is a virtue and the foundation of the nation, the heart and soul of the nation, and it cannot and must not and will not be compromised, and nor can there or will there be any compromise with the forces of tyranny and oppression. Democracy is not up for negotiation. The Danubian Federation is and will always be a democratic republic, and that is that.

Mr. Hapsburg, who has done nothing to earn or deserve the artificial title you assign him, is not a man of the eighty standing up for the eighty, nor are you. He is a man of the one standing up for the one, just as you are a man of the one, and that one is Mr. Hapsburg.

You are not my brother. You are my enemy. Anyone who would seek to impose a monarchy or any other sort of tyranny or autocracy on me is my enemy. Anyone who would seek to deprive me of my rights and liberties is my enemy. Anyone who would seek to make me a subject instead of a citizen is my enemy. How can it be any other way? There can be no compromise with the enemies of democracy. Justice is a higher virtue than peace, and in this rebellion we must achieve peace only through victory. I will call you and your reactionary ilk brothers when you lay down your arms and embrace democracy unconditionally, and not a moment sooner.

((Come on, leftists, where are you guys?))
 
In this iteration of the eighty and twenty, actually, I am speaking for the eighty: the vast majority of people who accept and love democracy, the foundation of Danubia and the national character. Here, I am a man of the eighty, and you, sir, are no man of the eighty. You are a man of the twenty that despise democracy and seek to turn back the Revolution of 1848 to replace democracy with a tyrannous monarchy. I am all for tolerance and pluralism but the current debate has nothing to do with tolerance or pluralism and I challenge you to prove how it does. It is not about tolerance or pluralism, it is about reactionaries trying to force their evil system on everyone else.

You are trying to hijack the debate and turn it into something it is not, something illogical and incorrect. Democracy is not an extreme. Democracy is not "unchecked, unbridled leftism". You are attempting to make two utterly unequal viewpoints appear equal, but nothing could be farther from the truth. Democracy is a virtue and the foundation of the nation, the heart and soul of the nation, and it cannot and must not and will not be compromised, and nor can there or will there be any compromise with the forces of tyranny and oppression. Democracy is not up for negotiation. The Danubian Federation is and will always be a democratic republic, and that is that.

Mr. Hapsburg, who has done nothing to earn or deserve the artificial title you assign him, is not a man of the eighty standing up for the eighty, nor are you. He is a man of the one standing up for the one, just as you are a man of the one, and that one is Mr. Hapsburg.

You are not my brother. You are my enemy. Anyone who would seek to impose a monarchy or any other sort of tyranny or autocracy on me is my enemy. Anyone who would seek to deprive me of my rights and liberties is my enemy. Anyone who would seek to make me a subject instead of a citizen is my enemy. How can it be any other way? There can be no compromise with the enemies of democracy. Justice is a higher virtue than peace, and in this rebellion we must achieve peace only through victory. I will call you and your reactionary ilk brothers when you lay down your arms and embrace democracy unconditionally, and not a moment sooner.

((Come on, leftists, where are you guys?))

((I would consider my character left wing :p))
 
((Running as far away from you as humanly possible, I imagine.))

As the Honorable Deputy states, the vast majority of the people in this Federation do love and support democracy, myself included. I believe that democratic elements are an essential component of any free and modern society, that guaranteed political rights are a hallmark of civilization, and that we are best served when our fellow citizens are treated equally and fairly, for they are our brothers and sisters and no titles or birthrights can change that. Where the Honorable Deputy stands in the minority, however, is among those who believe that democracy must be spread by the sword, that an unconditionally democratic society must be imposed by force and those who disagree must be murdered and imprisoned. That is the extreme political viewpoint of which I speak, and the viewpoint which sets him firmly alongside those who believe the opposite must be achieved through similar means. In this regard, he is much more like those so-called "reactionaries" than he is the average Danubian citizen, who does not hold ideological purity above peace and security. While I do not agree with Deputy Mendel and his fellow-citizens on the left and right who believe in the violent imposition of their respective beliefs, I nevertheless believe that they must be brought to the table and an equitable compromise worked out.

His Imperial and Royal Highness Franz Ferdinand of Habsburg-Lorraine is a man of honor and decency, who has publicly displayed the virtue of tolerance and a desire for peace. This alone raises him far above those few individuals clamoring for violence to impose their minority viewpoints, such as Deputy Mendel and the leaders of the current rebellion. While Deputy Mendel claims that we must adhere, through the use of unlimited force against our own citizens, to the current regime with all of its manifold flaws and its endemic corruption, I offer a solution and a new path forward. A democratic constitutional Empire, founded on the ideals of peace, security, and freedom, capable of upholding the rights of its citizens and maintaining the order essential for prosperity. I do not propose that such an Empire be founded by violence, but rather through the ballot-box and the constitutional convention, as part of the democratic process.

Regardless, Deputy Mendel, you are and will remain my brother, as brotherhood cannot be renounced nor set aside, and I will continue to stand for your right to express your minority viewpoint. Such extreme positions are an inevitable part of a free and democratic society, and must be preserved equally alongside more measured, rational perspectives.

Also, I would like to kindly request that Deputy Czarnowski not speak on behalf of His Royal Majesty King Luitpold or issue invitations on His Majesty's behalf. Thank you.


Heinrich Wilhelm Karl Freiherr von Reuss
Chancellor of Silesia
 
I want peace, but I would raise the Armies of Zion before I would let this nation become a monarchy, I would have Franz Ferdinand come into our politics, but as a man, not some deluded Emperor. For too long we Jews have suffered under your kings and emperors, Spain, the Turks and Russia have all killed my people in the thousands, and each time we have had to move on and Survive, but now, we have found a new home, in the new Republics, whether in Danubia or Across the Atlantic in the United States of America, we have now a place to settle without fear of Pogroms or oppression, I ask how can an Emperor appointed by your Catholic Pope represent and protect my people? A Pope who is from a long linage of Popes that have oppressed my people? As I said, I will raise the force of Gʼát himself! before I would let this nation fall under the tyranny of kings again!

David Ibrahimovic
 
I want peace, but I would raise the Armies of Zion before I would let this nation become a monarchy, I would have Franz Ferdinand come into our politics, but as a man, not some deluded Emperor. For too long we Jews have suffered under your kings and emperors, Spain, the Turks and Russia have all killed my people in the thousands, and each time we have had to move on and Survive, but now, we have found a new home, in the new Republics, whether in Danubia or Across the Atlantic in the United States of America, we have now a place to settle without fear of Pogroms or oppression, I ask how can an Emperor appointed by your Catholic Pope represent and protect my people? A Pope who is from a long linage of Popes that have oppressed my people? As I said, I will raise the force of Gʼát himself! before I would let this nation fall under the tyranny of kings again!

David Ibrahimovic

I'm not really sure what a monarchy has to do with the Jewish people, to be honest. A democracy can just as easily, if not more easily, oppress the Jewish people. That is why we must always be vigilant and protect the rights of minorities, even when it is unpopular.

-A random radical deputy
 
The great mistake of the Silesian chancellor is that he imagines republicanism and democracy as inherently violent ideologies that must be spread by the sword if they to are exist. In this regard, he differs little than the monarchist powers of Europe that feared and loathed both the French Revolution and our own.

Chancellor, why do you imagine that there is a minority of people who do not support democracy when it theoretically favors everybody? I will tell you; it is because these people are simply power-hungry, selfish and corrupt, who believe themselves strong enough to seize all the power for themselves. Democracy does not exist solely to protect the majority, as you seem to imagine it does; it is also the best mechanism to protect the weak from the strong. A dictator or a monarch is but one man, one man who through no mandate from the people may impose his will upon them all. Monarchs are not like you and I; they are plucked from amongst the ever constant and inbred noble houses of Europe. They neither know nor care for the struggles of the people and thus are unable to respond to them. How could such a man understand the concerns of the "twenty," as you put it, the worker, the farmer, the laborer, the poor and downtrodden? Not all presidents are perfect, but all monarchs are inherently flawed. Only through a republican democracy can the interests of those with the least economic and social power be preserved against those with the most. If you intend to make the argument to me that the moneyed and aristocratic interests in Danubia require the protection of a dictatorship, then you are little different than the reactionaries: greedy, short-sighted, and corrupt.

- Valentyn Sikorsky, Councillor for Lodomeria
 
I am appalled by the actions of the Presidential Commission for Government Operations. Never did I believe that President de Palma deserved to be executed for simply not being knowledgeable of Lilic's actions or that every member of Lilic's government deserved to be put behind bars. I wish I could have attended his funeral to pay my respects to the unjustly executed former president, but it was simply too dangerous and I needed to be in Vienna to coordinate the efforts to crush this rebellion. I offer my condolences to his family; this is not how his life should have ended. I deeply regret not having done something to prevent this from happening. He was a man who did not deserve any of the blame put upon him, who merely did what he thought was best for this nation. Therefore, I posthumously pardon President de Palma for any crimes that he was convicted of. The Presidential Commission for Government Operations has gone too far in exercising its power and has turned into a newly reborn Committee of Public Safety. It is a disgrace to our justice system and a disgrace to this nation and thus I hereby disband it. Now its mess has to be cleaned up. I hereby pardon all members of Lilic's government, the DPU, and other parties on the right who were unjustly put behind bars, including Nicolo Donato and the former King of Albania. All of those who have been proven to be corrupt or knowledgeable of Lilic’s activities will remain in prison. This is the vindictiveness that I warned about and it is now time that it is ended before it does further damage to our nation.

Our nation now faces the largest threat to its democracy since Lilic. I have no doubt that if these reactionaries win, then it will mean the establishment of a dictatorship that we will be unable to combat. It will mean the destruction of our democracy, the curtailing of our freedoms, and the ultimate victory of Lilic and his reactionary backers. This cannot be allowed to succeed. The people of this nation must stand opposed to these forces of reaction which will only bring further pain and suffering. Once again our nation finds itself embroiled in internal turmoil and I am partially to blame for this. I turned a blind eye to the Presidential Commission for Government Operations when I should not have. My advisors told me that it would be a bad idea to interfere in its business and now it has executed the former President for no reason other than he had very little knowledge of Lilic's activities. I apologize to the people of this nation for allowing all of this to happen. I vow to do all I can to make up for this gross injustice to our nation and the start to that will be the pardoning of everyone the Commission has wrongly imprisoned. If we want true justice, then a non-biased commission will need to be established but at the moment no such commission will be formed.

After consultation with the Minister of War and Chief of the General Staff, I hereby declare a State of Disorder within the Federation. All state militias are to be placed under federal command to aid in combating the reactionary rebellion. Unfortunately, much blood will have to be shed in the process, much blood that does not need to be shed. But these men have taken up arms against the democratically elected government and that is inexcusable. If they stand down now, however, then we can avoid any sort of violence. Anyone who lays down their arms will not be charged with treason and allowed to return home. Those who continue to attempt to overthrow the democratically elected government through violence will be stopped through whatever means are necessary. The fate of our nation now hangs in the balance. May God help us all.

The Hungarian absorption of the Romanian Provinces: Nay – I do not believe we should be placing these provinces under Hungarian control without the consent of the people living within them. I call for a provisional government to be established and a referendum to be held following the end of the ongoing reactionary rebellion to determine whether these provinces will become a part of Hungary or be their own state.
The Education Expansion and Elaboration Act: Aye
The Sickness Insurance and Welfare Act: Aye

[RUF]

~ Lukáš Banik, President of the Danubian Federation
 
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