A question of responsibility

Most governments would be delighted with the opportunity to pursue their agenda unencumbered. The difficult circumstance the FreeDems found themselves in at the beginning of the Summer are well known. How does this explain the government's meagre record. How does the "most active" party explain why its key Minister is a self-admitted flop, and its Distain still can't explain exactly what it is he did during the last Cabinet?

Again, responsibility, and refusing to accept it.

I think voters are starting to get the picture at this stage.

There is a party, our party, that has taken the measure of the challenge facing the next government, and is trying to find a way out of the malaise.

And there are the others, inside a comfortable bubble of self-regard, and who simply simply can't see the problem.

Oh yeah, the MRPT lost the last election after a period of relative inactivity. Of course the FreeDems won after, well eeh, a period of relative inactivity. There isn't much we can do about the previous election. I mean you can keep rubbing it in our faces if you really feel the urge to do that I guess. But honestly I'm not quite sure what you're talking about when you say we refused to accept responsibility. The MRPT did not have a lot of manpower, which we said during the elections. Still, we took part in government. Yeah, we acknowledged it hasnt been great, with two of our ministers being busy and having other responsibilities in and outside Talossa as well. Still, in the Ziu we punched above our weight and put a bigger mark on Talossa's future than the two larger parties. We could have supported the FreeDems. In that case it would probably the RUMP who would now be calling us out for "refusing to accept responsibility". Or you know, we could have supported neither and forced the FreeDems to deal with the RUMP, which I would not have minded at all, but is that really accepting responsibility?

I mean, it's all very easy to say for a party that campaigned on promises it wasn't going to live up to then disappeared in opposition, failed to represent its voters properly to now come out and declare victory for the opposition, because you know, responsibility...

I do get part of what your saying. I do think its very good you have come up with some ideas about making Talossa active again. And I get that it's sort of irrelevant whether I think they are really going to save Talossa or now, cause at least you're coming up with some ideas. (For the record I think introducing some sort of honours system is a good idea, though there are some details to be fixed. I do hope that regardless of whether you are elected to the government or not, you will still try to introduce these ideas.

And sure, we are too struggling with this. (Thats not to say I think its wrong of us to put energy in reforming our catchment or electoral system, because these things do make Talossa better. Besides that it also creates opportunities for debate, and I know a lot of voters do look for a party based on their ideological position. I know many voters vote FreeDem because they are Republican and many voters vote for the RUMP because they are Monarchist for example. And this is a real debate, so I dont think its wrong of us to discuss this in our manifesto, even if our position hasnt much changed from last year.) The government should come up with ideas to make Talossans more active and the MRPT sure doesn't claim that is has the solution for this issue at this moment.

I do agree with Ian that a lot of the activity has to come from the citizens. Not everything is about politics and a lot of citizens come here for other reasons, like language or heraldry. If we cant get to some level of civic responsibility and everyone would really rather watch netflix, I think we're doomed regardless of who is in government. And I also think we (some parties more than others) risk politicising everything. I could have applied for deputy minister of culture and created the music chart game as a government project and then claim the ministry of culture has been succesful at creating some activity thanks to the MRPT being involved, but the truth is I didnt do it because it was my responsibility, I could have done it without being elected, and I really dont think more people would have participated if it was some party's prestige project (especially those in other parties).

But we do need an active government to stimulate active citizenry, and here is where I really dont buy the argument that - well sure we disappeared for most of the term, to the point where we even forgot to vote and our public forum still is a ghost town, but we have this idea about sending clarks to citizens and we promise to fill non political functions (I dont think the question of how has been answered yet) that arent really up to the government to appoint (you dont have to be elected to the Ziu to fill them either), so vote for us, yay! - and then Id rather vote for a party that got some of its ideas done this term and has now a higher level of activity than 9 months ago, before the elections as well.

I can claim one great achievement for the FreeDems this term.

In the space of a few days, thanks our relentless scrutiny, the Ministry of STUFF and the Immigration Bureau have suddenly decided to do "things".

Based on this evidence, its all true: the ModRad's lethargy, and thee RUMP's vow of silence, must be all our fault. Imagine what heights these parties will reach when they are sent into opposition!

Admittedly, this flurry of activity appears to consist of filling in web forms and making announcements, but one must start somewhere. Though traditionally one does so at the start of the term, not at its end. And they still haven't explained what Lüc has been doing as Distain all term...

I reiterate my charge-the ModRads are living in a political bubble. Here's why:

Voters won't come to this election handing out points for musty manifesto items ticked off, like so many dessicated counting machines.

They aren't going to give gold stars out for setting up web accounts, when the people doing it have no idea what they might actually use them for (I guess "private iniative", i.e., someone else, will take care of the content?)

Instead, they will ask themselves the question: is Talossa actually worth spending any time on? They won't find the answer in the agitations of this zombie government.

This is simply illusory correlation.

I happen to be on Thanksgiving break, so I have had a little more time than usual to do "things."

I would have done these same things no matter what debate was currently going on.

Don't be ridiculous.


Also, immigrants come when they come with no regard for elections or level scrutiny applied, so I don't see how your claim about the immigration bureau is valid either

As I am replying with my phone, the quoting function is maddeningly difficult to use, but I am addressing Inxheneu's latest two posts.

First of all, it is yet another attempt to trivialize the progress of the MRPT in the Ziu. He seems to criticize us for doing what we told the voters we would do.

The FreeDem platform has several policy planks too, none of which were enacted over the past term.

I do in fact know what the purpose of the Instagram account is; promote the goings-on of Talossa, political or non political. As has been well established, I didn't make as much progress on this front as I had intended, but I'm sure you'd agree some is better than none. However, you keep bringing it up as if it were a bad thing. Is some worse than none, or am I ruining the "Ian P is the key MRPT Minister but is still completely inactive" narrative?

As to your list of members, I understand completely that people lack the time or need breaks, and I respect Dama Miestra's actions. I would also love to see Txec, Francal (fellow MMer), and others return to Talossa. It would be great for the country. The absence is not what I am criticizing the FreeDems for.

I am critical of the FreeDems for promising a massive return to activity just as soon as the voters give them a mandate.

Anyway, Glücs response above was excellent and there's really nothing else to say without either repeating him or repeating myself