The Public Interest (magazine)

[hughbartlett]

ERP defunct?

Whats' this, you say? Well, a wild rumour has been spreading about the possible closure of the ERP, sparked by comments made by their leader and spokesperson, mr. hughbartlett, in the new LD parties thread. In fact, these comments were about the prospects of the LD, ERP and possibly other parties joining into a coalition, or even merging, as he believes they have similar views, and where they differ is like members of every party differ a bit. He did, however, say that if the ERP did not have at least 1 more member by the 10th of december the party may well disband. This would be a shocking blow to all left-centrista and indeed the whole of EUtopia. We here at the PI wish the ERP, LD and all other parties luck with gaining the support they need for the upcoming elections.

 

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One is the loneliest number

... but "two can be as bad as one, it's the loneliest number since the number one" - at least according to Three Dog Night. Surveying the current political scene of Eutopia, we are inclined to agree. With the defection of two members from the LP, the number of official parties has dropped to two. While we are gratified to see that the RD is among the remaining parties, we are less enthusiastic about the fact that the emergence of a de facto two-party system seems a real possibility.

We believe that the healthy development of Eutopian democracy would be best served by a multi-party system with strong and vibrant parties. To that end, we hope that some of the current proto-parties will attain official party standing before the upcoming elections.

The cause of the current malaise is, of course, easy enough to identify: lack of interest in party politics among the denizens of Eutopia. Whether this lack of interest is due to straightforward political apathy, a post-materialist disdain for political parties and a preference for alternative modes of political participation, or both, one thing is certain: party politics is a central element of Eutopian democracy. Hence, we hope that all parties will succeed in attracting a greater number of members, and that voters will ultimately not be limited to choosing between two parties.

-mel

 

[hughbartlett]

Results in for our top students

A study by world renowned EUtopian profesor, Michaela Brysha, has determined that students who study arts and music as electives in their high school are over find it almost 20% easier to cope with the stress of exams in the final year.

In a study of 1500 students over 6 years, Ms. Brysha and her team have discovered that the average mark was 3 points higher, and the suicide rate was lowered by 18%. Also, in interviews with teachers, parents and the students themselves, they found a distinct theme. Ms. Brysha said- "We found that the students who studied an art or music subject, or played a musical instrument, found it easier to settle into new schools, but especially importantly, we found out they are more likely to cope better and succeed with their end of school exams". Due to the results of this study, the PI is suggesting all parties make an art or music elective compulsory to high school students. -HuB

 

[hughbartlett]

It's official!

Despite comments made earlier in this magazine, hughbartlett has disbanded the ERP, to work with the LD as head of the social policy. In a statement made earlier today, Mr. Bartlett said "The ERP is now defunct, due to lack of support. I have joined the LD to try and help them into party status. Could a mod please close this thread. Centre left parties never last". We at the PI wish him good luck with his new adventure in EUtopian politics, and hope he continues his excellent work as an advocate of the centre left, which is what this magazine is all about. On a persinal note, i believe that he will try and coerse his party into working with the RD in the upcoming elections.

We hope that all people who supported the ERP shall now support one of the other centre or left parties, the RD, LD or ESRP; and that Patric123 clean out his inbox because this may not have happened otherwise.

 

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Party polka

Eutopia's party system continues in a state of uncertainty as new parties are being formed, old ones are mired in stagnation or threatened by oblivion, and membership numbers keep fluctuating. The most profound changes of the last few days are, perhaps, the steady increase in membership numbers for the RD and FR, the regrettable demise of the ERP, the consequent rise of the LD to official standing, and the uncertain future of the LP after the loss of another member (and the acceptance of a new one). We at the PI congratulate the LD on its new status, and hope that it will cooperate with the parties of the Left in areas of mutual agreement.

Regarding the Libertarians, their future is uncertain at this point; the LP has lost 60% of its old members over the last few days, but may still be saved by gaining new members. In fact, even if the party proves unable to successfully compete for members in the political market, it may possibly be saved by state intervention - that is, a change in the rules governing party registration. We are sure the members of the LP fully appreciate the irony of this eventuality...

-mel



Close, but no cigar

The NLP has become the latest minor party to be wooed by the FR and RD. In a recent attempt to entice the NLP towards cooperation with his party, the FR's Chair opined that "the Nordic people will have no better friend of all the major EUtopian parties than the Free Republicans," asserted that "the FR is THE party committed to a Federalist Republic in EUtopia (why else would it be in our NAME)," and suggested that the FR shares the NLP's concern with environmental issues. We admit that we find these blanket assertions less than convincing.

In truth, the FR's platform includes absolutely no commitment to minority rights, multiculturalism, or national self-determination. The FR suggests that its advocacy of federalism is in the best interest of the Nordic minority - and that may be the case. However, this is purely accidental; the FR does not support federalism *because* it may benefit any one minority group, but because of an abstract belief in the virtues of decentralization. There is, in fact, but a single passage in the FR's platform which so much as mentions "minorities" - and it is by no means clear that this refers to ethnic minorities.

In contrast, the RD's programme demonstrates a fundamental and systematic commitment to minority rights: the RD has sworn itself to protect the interests of minority groups, to constitutionally entrench minority rights and multiculturalism, to counteract the historical marginalization of many minority groups, and to achieve self-government for ethnic groups in cultural affairs.

The FR's Chair further suggested that his party is "the" federalist party of Eutopia, as evidenced by the fact that the party's very name reflects its belief in federal principles. In fact, it does not: neither "free" nor "republican" necessarily suggest a commitment to federalism, especially in a societal context where a specific interpretation of these terms may not be shared by all. More importantly, by the FR's logic, we are presumably justified in claiming the RD and LD to be "the" champions of democracy in Eutopia - after all, they are the only parties to explicitly include "democracy" in their names...

Finally, the FR claims that it shares the NLP's environmental concerns. In fact, the FR's platform makes it clear that they believe in the protection of the environment only to the extent that it imposes no economic burden: "We believe in protection of the environment without hamstringing our economy." As any objective observer will be able to discern, this does not compare favourably to the RD's strong commitment to sustainable development and the development of environmentally friendly technologies.

The FR, a friend to Eutopia's Nordic minority? We don't doubt it; however, it certainly isn't its closest or most outspoken friend.

-mel

 

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No cigar, not even close

In an entirely predictable move, the FR's tabloid (the so-called Voice of the Republic) has tried to deflect attention from our analysis of the FR's platform/programme by claiming that we got it all wrong - beginning with the fact that the FR does not currently have a platform and that we quoted instead from the FR's general principles. We find this a novel if, at best, entirely transparent and, at worst, self-defeating argument: the argument is transparent because the difference between "principles" and "programmes" is a good deal less clear-cut under current circumstances than the FR tries to make readers believe. The fact that the FR calls their policy stances "principles" makes them no less of a programme (no matter how incomplete and provisional).

If the FR insists that there *is* a substantial difference and that they do not currently possess a party platform, then, we are afraid, their argument is rather self-defeating. Presumably, the editors of the VoR are aware of the rules governing the registration of political parties. Are we to understand that the FR does not, in fact, see itself as a party?

With that, much of their response evaporates. As for the rest: the VoR claims the RD made a "mad dash" to attract the (now-defunct) NLP's attention; publicly available records at that party's headquarters indicate otherwise. The VoR also argues that the number of times a party programme (excuse us, a motley collection of party principles) uses a term does not necessarily reflect the importance that is being attached to it. That is quite correct; however, if a party claims to be concerned with the status of ethnic minorities, we would expect to find at least some reference to those groups in that party's programme (provided they have one), or to its policy projects regarding those groups.

The VoR tries to deflect our critique of the FR's attempt to claim the mantle of "the" federalist party of Eutopia in a less than straightforward manner. It argues that the FR defines the form of republicanism and federalism it seeks to attain in its principles. That is true - however, that was not the claim made by the FR earlier, and it is not the claim we responded to. Moreover, the FR is, of course, free to define terms any way they like. Likewise, we are free to define the term "blue cheese" in any way we choose; at the end of the day, if our definition does not have at least some relation to bovine lactations, we will very quickly encounter a communication barrier with most of the population. We are confident the VoR's editors can see the analogy.

In the remainder of its response to the "naming" issue, the VoR tries to turn back the criticism on the RD - and fails spectacularly. Let us quote them at some length: "We might also say, 'yes it does entitle you to claim to defend democracy, if that means direct democracy, a practice we reject as spurious in our principles. If you wish to defend the tyranny of the majority unchecked, feel free.' Of course that would contradict their calims to protect minorities, but this is because the RD wishes to be all things to all people, and lacks any serious political core."

There are a number of obvious problems and distortions in this quote: note that we did not specify a *type* of democracy the RD or LD might hypothetically lay claim to, since the FR likewise did not specify a type of federalism (it simply claimed to be "the" federalist party). In other words, if the FR believes it can claim the totality of federalism, the RD and LD could, by analogy, claim the totality of democracy (needless to say, any hypothetical claim of that nature would be as ludicrous as the FR's actual claim). As a consequence, the VoR's rant about direct democracy simply misses the point. By now, their bad aim does not surprise us. Suffice it to say that the VoR's grasp of the RD's take on democracy is somewhat slippery.

On a related note, the VoR claims that the RD's policies would make minority members second-class citizens; if equality, minority rights and self-determination amount to second-class status, then maybe that is indeed the case. Unfortunately for the VoR, we doubt that many citizens would share that definition.

Finally, the VoR claims that the proof is in the pudding, and that the NLP and FR have merged as the NLP saw this to be in their best interest. That is inaccurate. In actual fact, the NLP was dissolved, and its former members decided to join the FR afterwards. Although we feel they would have fared better with the RD, we are sure they had their reasons for this choice.

-mel

 

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Natural highs

In its latest ill-thought out piece, the self-declared Voice of the Republic claims that "in a howl of pain that can be heard across EUtopia City, the Public Interest cried foul at being laid bare by our article." We congratulate the VoR on its imagery and on its powers of observation; a howl did indeed rise from the PI's offices. Unfortunately for the VoR, it wasn't a howl of pain at its feeble attempts at countering our arguments, but a howl of laughter at its amusing incompetence in doing so.

We note with satisfaction that the VoR has reiterated only one of its earlier erroneous and misleading statements. Let us take a look at that statement. The VoR persists in claiming that the "NLP and the FR have merged, as we announced here and to the public at other locales. The NLP was not 'dissolved.'" We would like to submit to the public the (perhaps unusual) idea that simply because the FR "announces" something doesn't make it so. The fact of the matter is that the NLP's former leader ended his party's existence with the following words: "as there is few to nun other people that wishes to join the NLP. I must say that this is the end. I will close my office and resign." He then applied, *as an individual*, for membership in the FR: "I hereby formally apply for mebership in the FR." In other words, the NLP was dissolved, then its former leader joined the FR. QED.

Unfortunately, while this is the only misleading statement the VoR has chosen to repeat, it has added some new ones to detract from its earlier failures. Thus, the VoR chastises the RD for discussing the implementation of AA, allegedly "A very old and unfortunate attempt at aiding minorities that, while noble in aspiration, is failed in practice consistently." We note that AA has, in fact, been very successful in the US in contributing to the emergence of a Black professional middle-class.

More importantly, the VoR's grasp of the RD's stance on this major issue is, yet again, slippery at best. Contrary to the VoR's insinuations, AA does *not* typically involve quotas, and the discussions in the RD's headquarters (records of which are publicly available) have made it clear time and again that the RD does not support quotas. When contacted for comment, the RD's leader, Melanchthon, explained that he supports a mild form of AA because, unlike some other parties, he does not believe that a problem will go away if we ignore it hard enough. In other words, "group inequality needs to be addressed directly and as such."

What's left? While this may come as a surprise, the PI agrees with the VoR's suggestion that "what is needed more than a handout is an opportunity." Needless to say, the PI disagrees regarding just what constitutes a handout or an opportunity, and on how to provide the latter. While we share the view that entrepreneurship education and the encouragement of business may be an important part of the solution, the FR's exclusive reliance on this approach to solving the problems of the "underclass" demonstrates that it sees the latter as a purely economic phenomenon. In fact, the "underclass" is the product of the interrelation between economic inequality and ethnic/racial discrimination. The FR seems to have no understanding of the latter, and its "methods" are therefore destined to fail.

-mel

 

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Eutopian Congress of Labour

The Eutopian Congress of Labour aka ECL, was conclude their platform, It was created by their General Secretary, Pero Coveilha and some things with the help of the thier Executive Secretary Vasco I_Killed-Kenny the other member mr. Apebe who din't give any ideas for the platform . The objective of this Union is that the workers will be respected by the employers and they will have better work conditions.
In a brif. talk the executive secretary of the ECL said that "I believe in a future cooperation with the parties of EUtopia so our great workers and their family can have better living conditions"

Vasco IKK, Editor of the PI

 

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Talk in the town

Observers of Eutopia's political scene noted the exceptionally cordial atmosphere during recent exploratory coalition talks between the RD and FR. Those talks have been taking place over the last few days, and the two parties seem to be rapidly approaching a consensus of sorts. Both parties seem willing to offer significant concessions in an attempt to build a compromise which could form the basis of a stable parliamentary coalition in the future. Apparently, at this point neither the FR nor the RD is satisfied that such a coalition could be achieved with the LD, since the latter has shown a marked disinterest in talks with other parties.

The emerging understanding between the major parties of the Left and Right notwithstanding, it seems improbable that they will field a common candidate in the upcoming presidential elections.

-mel



One (wo)man, two votes

In a recent announcement, the CRO office set the dates for the first presidential and parliamentary elections in our young republic. Both elections are - perhaps somewhat cynically - scheduled to begin on Friday, December 13; they will last one week. Citizens will have two votes: one for a presidential candidate, and one for a party list running for Parliament. The PI encourages all citizens to exercise their basic democratic right to vote and shape the future of Eutopia.

-mel



Field day

Eutopia's Lacrosse Series saw another day of action today. The scores were reported as follows:

Monarchs/Crows 11/15
Cascade/Nemesis 20/10
Lynx/Titans 15/16 (OT)

The Monarchs lost a disorganized game to the Crows before an unruly home crowd. In a hopelessly one-sided match, the Cascade came down like ton on bricks on the unfortunate Nemesis, and after a close and riveting match, the Titans finally sent the Lynx packing with their tails between their legs in overtime.

-mel



Turning the page

Today's title was chosen by Josiah Hanky of BookMarks, New Lancaster City:

Olive Gingham, "The Lion's Share" (Douglas: Inner Kids Publishers, 2002).

In this charming children's tale, Smirk, a self-absorbed little lion, is taught the virtue of sharing by Smack, an outspoken and irreverent mouse.

 

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ELS scores

Titans/Crows 18/10
Nemesis/Monarchs 9/12
Lynx/Cascade 12/19

The fourth day of the season saw two victories by guest teams. While the Crows croaked in Tabor, the Monarchs ruled the day in Hurteau, and the Cascade tamed the Lynx in Harton, winning a decisive victory.

 

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Rollercoaster

In an unprecedented turn of events, the LD was left without a Spokesperson as party leader Apebe disappeared under mysterious circumstances. Authorities have so far not released any information regarding his fate, but there are rumours that he was forcibly removed from the Island. Oddly, a similar same fate seems to have befallen former NLP-leader and current parliamentary hopeful for the FR, Flensburg. We will keep you informed as events unfold.

Without a Spokesperson, the LD's ability to meet the registration deadline for the upcoming elections was put in jeopardy - as was its very recognition as an official party. LD headquarters were buzzing with activity tonight as party leaders scrambled to minimize the fallout from the day's events. In an emergency session, hughbartlett was elected new party leader. Thus, it seems the LD will be able to save its status as an official party.

According to our information, the LD will also be able to submit a list of parliamentary candidates to the CRO office in time before tomorrow's deadline. However, rumour has it that, as a consequence of today's dramatic events, the LD will not field a presidential candidate. While the last few days have seen speculation about a three-way presidential race, a one-on-one between Murmurandus (RD) and J. Lundgren (FR) now seems more likely.

-mel

 

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Reappearance act

In the latest twist to an already unusual story, former LD-leader Apebe paid a surprise visit to his party's headquarter's yesterday. Apebe, who was reported missing some time earlier, seemed unharmed and in good spirits. His party welcomed him back with open arms, and is set to replace newly elected leader hughbartlett with his predecessor. Hughbartlett declared his intention to relinquish the leadership to Apebe without contest, and seems to support the latter's return to the helm. He did, however, offer to stay on as party leader until after the elections, if only to provide a measure of stability to the party. At this point, it seems unlikely the party will take him up on the offer.

As to the cause of Apebe's sudden disappearance and reappearance, authorities have so far been silent. However, given that Apebe has applied for a reissue of his citizenship documents, it seems possible that some form of identity theft may have been involved. When questioned by our reporters, law enforcement officers refrained from comment on that scenario.

There is no sign yet of former NLP-leader Adrian Flensburg, who disappeared at the same time as Apebe. While police initially considered the possibility that the two cases may be linked, that now seems unlikely.

-mel



The race is on

Elections for Eutopia's President and Parliament began today. As widely expected, the presidential race will be decided between RD-candidate and Acting President Murmurandus, and FR-nominee J. Lundgren. In parliamentary elections, voters will have a choice between three lists: the RD, LD and FR. Over the last few days, observers speculated that the LP might field candidates for Parliament as well, but Eutopia's resident right-wing Libertarians failed to do so - and have, in fact, not regained official party standing at this time.

Early election predictions are split. Some observers foresee a tie between the FR and RD in the parliamentary election (a result which might enhance the LD's negotiation position) and a narrow victory by J. Lundgren in the presidential elections. Others predict a victory by the RD in both the parliamentary and presidential elections. The only thing that seems clear to us is that the ability of party's to mobilize potential supporters and overall turnout will be of crucial importance.

-mel



Net gains

Titans/Cascade 13/19
Crows/Nemesis 14/9
Monarchs/Lynx 22/10

On this, the fifth day of the ELS-season, the Titans were cut down to size by the Cascade in a one-sided match at Tabor; the Crows soared to victory over the Nemsis, and the Lynx continued their (mostly) pointless performance with a loss to the Monarchs at Chateauvallon.

-mel

 

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Election Poll-ka

And so the dance begins. Despite complaints by some observers about alleged low turnout, Eutopian citizens are in fact flocking to the polls in record numbers; CRO-officials say that 47.8% of citizens have already cast their votes at the end of the first day of voting. Early developments in exit polls see a lead for J. Lundgren in the presidential election and the expected neck and neck race between the RD and FR in the parliamentary election. Given that six days of voting remain and that the majority of citizens has yet to cast a vote, the PI will refrain from engaging in speculations about election results at this point.

Unaligned voters (i.e., independents and voters belonging to a non-registered party) are so far split in the parliamentary elections. However, largely unknown presidential hopeful J. Lundgren seems to be attracting substantially more personal support in the unaligned category than his party. The FR *has*, however, gained solid support from unaligned voters affiliated with the neo-conservative LP; in other suprising news, we have been reliably informed that hell has failed to freeze over on this cold December day.

-mel



Getting it together?

After failing to register candidates or obtain official standing in time for the current elections, the Libertarian Party has come out with undivided support for the FR. Given the LP's notorious lack of unity, this rare show of unanimity must be a first in the party's history. Who knows, maybe there is hope for the Libbers yet. We note with interest that the LP seems to have been inching away from the reactionary policies of its early days lately, in an effort to reconcile its different wings and become more appealing to a wider public. We can only applaud that development.

-mel

 

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On the campaign trail

On the third day of the elections, voters continued to flock to the voting booths in high numbers. CRO-officials report that the overall turnout now stands at 70.8%. The figure of 60% which was reported earlier by a different paper is therefore incorrect (and was incorrect at the time). Surprisingly, that same paper continues to claim that voter turnout on Day 1 was extremely low (17%), but that voters rallied to the polls on Day 2. In fact, the opposite is true. As we indicated in a previous article, overall turnout at the end of the first day was 47.8%; at the end of the second day, the overall turnout had risen by about ten percent, finally breaking the 70% benchmark today.

In related news, some observers of the electoral scene have suggested that the Liberal Democrats have thrown most of their weight behind Murmurandus's presidential campaign. In fact, exit polls indicate that the majority of citizens affiliated with the LD who have voted thus far opted not to support either presidential candidate.

-mel



Violation of privacy

Readers of the Skeletal Platypus may have come across a rather questionable item in that paper's election coverage recently: apparently, the SP saw fit to call on a leading citizen of Eutopia to explain his voting behaviour. Frankly, we find that appalling. Since when is it acceptable for a media outlet to single out a citizen and ask them to publicly justify their vote? We hope that similar incidents will not occur in the future.

-mel



Libbers on liberty

While the ongoing election has eclipsed most other news, some recent items associated with developments in the Libertarian Party have caught our attention. In particular, a leading LP-member opined that "giving gays and lesbians the right to marriage isn't a world saving event." We find this an odd statement from someone who belongs to a party that calls itself "Libertarian." Apparently, the concern with liberty ends at the bedroom door for some LP-members. We hope that this is a minority view in the party, and that the LP is not considering a return to its reactionary social policies of old.

-mel



ELS season continues

Crows/Cascade 16/15
Nemesis/Lynx 11/10 (OT)
Monarchs/Titans 19/14

The second half of the ELS-season began with a major upset, as the Cascade had a black day in Capistrano and lost to the Crows. The Lynx once again met their Nemesis (which actually seesm to consist of all the other teams), but managed to wrestle one point from their host team in overtime. In today's third game, the Titans lost at Chateuvallon; apparently, deities do believe in tradition.

In other news, Commissioner Melanchthon has indicated that the ELS may see some changes in the coming season. In particular, given the Lynx's unfortunate performance so far, the ELS is currently considering changes to the existing draft structure. Also, team owners are debating a possible ELS-expansion.

-mel



Turning the page

Today's title was chosen by Francoise Etranger of The Bookshore, Douglas:

Charlotte Bunting, "Odd Man Out" (St.Brendenstown: Move Along Press, 2002).

Nominated for the 2002 EGMW award, the fifth book in the Jean Faille series is the best yet. In the fall of 1815, Faille is charged with solving a grisly murder case in Fort-aux-Francais. It soon becomes clear that there is more to this case than meets the eye. Why was the victim murdered in the provincial palace? And how come he carried a laissez-passer from a senior civil servant? Is there a connection to Ernst I.'s impending arrival in Eutopia? An intriguing read for the holidays.

 

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Football, in America AKA Soccer

The King of all Sport

The professional EUtopian Football Federation have finally started, after mouths of negotiantion betwen the "Football Association" the biggest in EUtopia, the "Latin Football Federation" and the "Amateur Football Association" have merge in one major Federation the EUtopian Football Association. There will existe 18 clubs in the Premiere League other 18 clubs in the Second League and 54 clubs divided in 3 regional Leagues all combiene they for the Second League B.
To a better explanation go to the Official EFF HQ

We in the Public Interest will follow close this new sport Federation


Vasco IKK

 

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Doing the right(s) thing

While still in its infancy, the Eutopian Bar Association has recently announced that it intends to lobby Eutopia's politicians for the constitutional entrenchment of a Bill of Rights. We fully agree that the current absence of such a Bill is highly problematic, and that the situation needs to be rectified as soon as possible. We wish the EBA best of luck for its endeavours in this regard, and note with interest that this concern resonates strongly with some elements of the RD's platform.

-mel



Bare bones

Reading the latest edition of our esteemed competition, the Skeletal Platypus, we can't help but wonder whether that paper's name is supposed to reflect the quality of its content - which is indeed skeletal at best. In addition, the editors of said tabloid seem to be harbouring some sort of persecution complex. The PI earlier pointed out substantial inaccuracies in claims made by the SP; apparently, this is "slander." We'd suggest that the SP's editors make the effort of consulting a dictionary; the Cambridge dictionary defines "slander" as "a false spoken statement about someone which damages their reputation, or the making of such a statement." We are confident that the SP will be able to discern that the little adjective "false" is rather important.

At any rate, we weren't aware that pointing out the truth amounts to a "smear campaign." We thank the SP for opening our eyes in this respect, and in the spirit of their editorial, we will in the future refrain from correcting anybody who claims that the Earth is flat. After all, we wouldn't want to smear their reputation by pointing out that the Earth is, in fact, a globe.

Finally, the SP's "point" about timezones is not terribly convincing: in our usage, "Day 1" simply refers to the first 24 hours after the start of the elections, and "Day 2" to the next 24 - so it's quite impossible for one individual to lumber about in "Day 1" of the elections while others have already moved on to "Day 2." Admittedly, the SP does not seem to share this terminology, and hence may quite legitimately arrive at different assessments regarding voter turnout on specific days (or dates). However, the SP was incorrect even in that case; for instance, no matter how you slice the cake, the fact remains that the SP claimed that only 10-15% of citizens had voted at a time when a quarter of voters had already cast a ballot.

-mel

 

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Reactionary vs Revolutionary


I would like to say that I don't what to start a "flame war" betwen two magazines, like happen in the past this is just an explanation.


Reactionary: A party that is reactionary is a party that only makes reacts to what the other party does. It only responds it don't have their only ideias, they use the ideias from other parties, and say if they don't like some. Normally the reactionary parties are also Conservative.

Revolutionary: A party that what to make a revolution, that whant to change the "state of the things". A party that whants to inovate. Many times the leftist parties are called revolutionary by the conservative, because the Leftist paries aren't afraid of fighting for the people.

So know YOU shose what the LP is...


Vasco IKK

 

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"R"ithmetic

In the interest of terminological clarity, we should perhaps point out that yours truly uses "reactionary" in its political sense - denoting ultraconservative policies and an opposition to progressive change. We should also point out that, contrary to insinuations by other papers, the PI has made no recent claims that the LP *is* a reactionary party. What we did claim is that the LP *was* a reactionary party in the past (after all, it did not lose a significant number of its original members for no reason), and we expressed our hope that the LP will not *return* to that state.

-mel

 

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The results are in

The first presidential and parliamentary elections in our young republic concluded earlier today. The FR's J. Lundgren narrowly defeated incumbent Murmurandus in the presidential race with 51.4% of votes. Recent exit polls showed the gap between the two candidates closing, but in the end, Lundgren held on to his early lead and won by a whisker.

In the parliamentary election, early momentum likewise carried the FR to victory. The First Parliament will be composed of six MPs from the FR (which garnered 48.6% of votes), five from the RD (40% of votes), and one from the LD (11.4% of votes). It appears not even the FR initially expected to do quite as well at the polls, since its party list only contains five names (Lundgren having been elected as President). The CRO has invited the FR to nominate additional candidates; given recent discussions of that issue in the FR-headquarters, this should present no problem.

RD-Spokesperson Melanchthon conceded the FR's victory in a short speech at the FR's headquarter, and expressed his hope to maintain the amiable relationship between the RD and FR that characterized the weeks leading up to the elections.

-mel



Joining the party

Eutopia's party system continues to change. Today, the Socialists took the four member hurdle and gained official standing after registering at the CRO-office. We expect the ESRP's attainment of full status will reinvigorate that party and further underline the diversity of Eutopia's party politics.

In related news, Eutopia's major royalist parties may be considering a merger. Over the last few days, the RPE and CMJ have been cautiously exploring their agreements and disagreements, and it appears the only remaining obstacle to union are differences in military politics between the two parties. Provided the Libertarian Party applies for official standing, an RPE/CMJ merger could increase the number of official parties to six - thus greatly increasing the range of citizens' choices in the next elections (which are scheduled for February).

-mel



Lacrosse tidbits

Cascade/Monarchs 21/22 (OT)
Lynx/Crows 11/14
Titans/Nemesis 17/16

In Day 7 of the Series, the Monarchs ruled the day at New Lancaster, narrowly defeating the Cascade in overtime after a dramatic game. The Lynx clawed their way back into the game after trailing the Crows by eight, but lost the match by three in the end. Titan-star Derring sealed the Nemesis's fate in Tabor with a last-minute goal.

-mel

 

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Position poker

A coalition between the FR and RD appears more likely with each passing day. Both parties seem less than impressed with the LD's lack of interest in negotiations, and have focused their energies on concluding an agreement with each other. As the two major parties had already reached tentative compromises on many of the policy issues that separate them before the elections, they are currently primarily concerned with hammering out personnel issues. At this stage, it looks likely that FR-leader Galloglaigh will succeed Melanchthon as Speaker. Other positions are still being discussed, but sources indicate that the RD will likely receive two Ministries and the position of CRO. Predictably, the RD-leadership has expressed a particular interest in the Ministry for Heritage and Social Affairs.

-mel



Winning streak

Crows/Monarchs 9/20
Nemesis/Cascade 9/18
Titans/Lynx 13/4

On the eighth day of the ELS-season, the Monarchs continued their winning streak (now five victories in a row) by clipping the Crows' wings in Capistrano. The Cascade flushed to victory in Hurteau, and frustrated Harton fans are considering renaming their unlucky team the "Lambs" after it was slaughtered by the Titans in Tabor.

-mel



Turning the page

Today's title was chosen by Sigmar Wentzel of First Hand Books, Neuwestbaden:

Elvis Surah, "Les jours qui demeurent" (Chateauvallon: Les Presses Esprit, 2002).

This slim volume by celebrated Nouvelle Anjou poet Surah is an astonishing achievement. Surah manages to convey the depth of his attachment to the people, scenery and history of his native province with powerful, yet economical imagery. The volume won literary prizes in Eutopia and Europe (Jubilee Prize, Kesselmann Award) and has been shortlisted for a number of other awards.