Peculiar Nationalist Party - PNP - An Election Broadcast

[Eðo Grischun]

Azul. I am Éovart Grischun and I write to you all today to ask you to consider voting for the Peculiar Nationalist Party (PNP) in this general election. I want to spend some time tonight to expand on individual points of our manifesto. If you find yourself in agreement with the policies that I discuss here then please consider casting your vote for PNP. You are also invited to join the party if you wish. Just send me a message and we can chat further.


Like I said, I am Éovart Grischun (also known as Eðo (Talossan for Eddie)) and I am the party leader of the PNP. I have been heavily involved in Talossan politics for around a decade now and am mostly known for my involvement in the Progressive movement of this Nation. I have crossed the aisle multiple times though. I've sat with progressives and I've sat with conservatives. I have served in cabinet for different political parties of different colours and stripes. I have sided with governing parties and sided with opposition parties. I have railed against party colleagues in the past and defied my own party whip at times. The reason for this behaviour is that I always try to be of service to the Nation before anything else. Whether I am right or wrong, I always act and vote in ways that I believe are best for Talossa. Simply put, I believe in service to the Nation before partisanship. I believe my record reflects this.

I often find myself in the uncomfortable position of fighting for the side of the unpopular opinion. In my earliest days of Talossan politics I fought tooth and nail against the majority establishment on issues surrounding relations with the Republic of Talossa. I have tried, over and over, to establish in law that prospective citizens and visitors to our Nation be protected by the same right and freedoms as fully naturalized citizens. I fought for humanitarian aid policies to be adopted by Talossa, which (and this still baffles me) has been met with the fiercest opposition. A long standing Talossan once asked me what it felt like to nearly always be a minority of one. My reply was, and still is, I serve Talossa in whatever way I feel is right and just, popularity doesn't interest me.

I have a couple of successes under my belt to tout as well though. I authored the bulk of our personal privacy laws. I am the chief architect behind the current constitution of Vuode province. I helped win the fight for the Kingdom to begin engaging in humanitarian aid efforts (something that, sadly, has fallen to the wayside since) and I helped write the current wording of the Covenant of Rights and Freedoms. These are my proudest accomplishments above all else.

Today, I am campaigning as leader of the Peculiar Nationalists. Again, I find myself leading a campaign of unpopular opinions. I hope to change some minds over these ideas and I will speak more in depth about those policies now.


Talossa is not a country with land.

I recognize that Talossa began in life in Milwaukee, USA. I understand that the formative years of our Nation took place there. I know that the first wave of Talossans lived, worked and socialized together there. But, that is no longer true. Today, Talossans reside all over the globe. People living in Russia, India, New Zealand, Australia, the United Kindom, The United States, Brazil, Italy, the Netherlands; places all around the globe, call and have called themselves Talossan. I think it's safe to say that hardly any of today's Talossans have a desire to physically move to Milwaukee. We don't wish to live there, we don't wish to find employment there. Aaaand, we have zero desire to actually take physical control of that land. There will never be a movement in Talossa where it is advocated to take control of that land, declare it not to be the USA, and then start collecting taxes from and provide services to the people that live there.

I'll be blunt. I believe that declaring the physical land of Milwaukee, USA, to be in actual fact not American soil, but rather sovereign Talossan soil, is complete make believe. If anyone truly, truly believes those land claims to be real then, I am sorry, they are living a delusion at best or playing a game at worst.

Yet, Talossa is real to me. I don't believe it to be a country with sovereign land claims. Instead, I believe it to be a Nation of people who have made the conscious choice to assemble together and govern themselves free of geographically based nationalities. Talossa really is the world's greatest political and social experiment. We are proving that in the modern age a population of people can exercise fundamental rights, such as right to assembly, right to representation and of franchise, right of self determination, without the need of physical and geographical contact. Talossa has transcended borders. We have no need for borders. In a sense, we are, truly, a successful global Nation. I believe that Talossa is a Nation without borders.

The digital age led Talossa to grow out of Milwaukee. It led to "CyberCitizenry". Peculiarism, as a concept, existed before Cybercitizenry, but today, I say the two philosophies go hand in hand. Talossa is more than just an internet club, though. It is an idea. It is a belief system. It is a nationality and an identity. It is something more than just a place. Again, I believe that Talossa is a Nation without borders.


Talossa is civic nationalist.

The founder of Talossa wrote a book (or thesis) titled 'The Berber Hypothesis'. It was extraordinarily detailed. It offered anthropological evidence that ancient Berber people migrated from northern Africa, through western Europe, then to north America and settled there as the original Talossan people. It is a wonderful book and I highly suggest that all Talossans take the time to read it. You'll find it online. It is inspiring and it is inspired. But, in my view, it is just a work of art. The theory isn't real. Early settlers to the land we now know as Milwaukee were not Berber come Talossan.

Ancient migratory patterns... yeah, whatever, it might have happened as the theory posits. But, if such a people existed, they were not "Talossan". Talossa was born in the 1980s. I'll go out on a limb to say that Madison was not a descendant of such a people either. Therefore, Madison's assertion that Talossa has a "Berber Connection" is a complete fabrication of imagination.

I will never deny the Berber Hypothesis as a work of genius. I will never discount it's rightful place as a work of Talossan art. But, I can never accept that the words in that book form the historical or anthropological basis behind a Talossan nationality.

(Interestingly, 1327 people declared Berber ancestry in the 2000 US census. Not one of them claim to be Talossan).

The PNP deny the existence of a natural Talossan ethnicity. We believe Talossan nationality can only be adopted by choice and that membership of the Nation is voluntary. We agree with Ernest Renan's definition of nationhood as the desire of a people to live together and with his words "a nation is a soul, a spiritual principle". We believe that to be Talossan, one simply needs to hold the desire to be Talossan and agree to adhere to the principles set out in the Covenant of Rights and Freedoms. Talossan citizenship should be open to anyone who shares the values of the Nation.

Immigration policy should reflect civic nationalist values.

To an extent, this is already what happens. People become Talossan through choice. However, I believe that the immigration process should not contain hurdles or barriers, and it definitely shouldn't be kept in check by paranoid gate-keeping. The immigration process should not be built in a way where you need to prove you are Talossan enough. It should be the reverse; that anyone is welcome unless it can be proved you shouldn't be part of the community.

As policy goes, we would like to see that immigration requests never go through the Ziu (as immigration should never be a political issue) and that the only body with the power to decide over problematic immigration cases be the judiciary. Additionally, we would like to see a policy where immigration applications can only be blocked with sufficient evidence of a problem (at present, no evidence is required to block an application, just a petition).

Further, and related, we would like to see a two tier system in place for citizenship status. We would like to see the implementation of a Register of Talossan Nationality which would exist alongside a Register of Talossan Franchise. To have your name on the Register of Talossan Nationality, you simply need to immigrate and declare you are Talossan and that you share the values of the Nation. By being on this register you would be counted as having Talossan nationality, have the right to display a coats of arms, be afforded all the protection and rights our laws provide, the right to work and take part in private enterprise and the right to access any public forum (such as Wittenberg). To stay on this register you would not need to vote in elections, nor ever return a census. However, you would not have the right to vote in elections nor be able to hold public office. The second tier, being the Register of Talossan Franchise, would have the same rights, but with the added abilities to vote and hold office, but would require you to return a regular census with up-to-date and verifiable contact information.


The Monarchy should be wholly ceremonial.

The PNP believes that the Monarchy should be modeled similar to the UK's Monarch. The Crown should be completely non-political, have zero veto power over legislation and should only exist ex-officio to parliament with the functions of "to be consulted, to encourage and to warn".

We truly believe that constitutional monarchy is the ideal form of Head of State for Talossa, but that form needs to be removed of politics, entirely. We know that a ceremonial monarch of Talossa doesn't have supermarkets to officially open, or ships to smash bottles off, or schools to visit; so, we would seek to create new ceremonial roles for the Monarch to help promote the Nation.


Parliament should be supreme and the Prime Minister should be elected

This, I guess, may be a Peculiar middle ground behind Monarchism and Republicanism. We want to see the Prime Minister (Seneschal) be elected to office in a popular election (elected by the entire voting population on the Nation). The King would be ceremonial Head of State while the Prime Minister would be the elected Head of Executive Government.

We would also like to see parliamentary supremacy be installed. This would be a system where the Ziu's decisions are sovereign. This would mean that neither the King nor the Prime Minister would possess a legislative veto. Vetoes would not exist, at all. The parliament would ultimately be responsible to the population in elections.

We also want to see the parliament become a single chamber and for elections to that chamber to be conducted in such a way as to prevent majorities from forming. We would like the parliament to be representative of the political views of the nation, and at the same time encourage parliament to be "hung" at all times. This would prevent gross swings and power grabs and would force politicians to compromise, form coalitions and find middle ground through multi-partisanship.


Our legislative agenda as printed in our manifesto:

• The Monarchy to become a wholly apolitical and ceremonial Head of State.
• The Seneschal to be elected by the population to serve as Head of Executive Government.
• The complete abolition of legislative vetoes.
• The abolition of all statutory cabinet post except for executive functions. The cabinet should be dynamic and the Seneschal should have the freedom to create and abolish Ministries as required.
• The adoption of Parliamentary Supremacy.
• The installation of unicameral Parliament (MMP or AMS) and abolition of the Senate.
• The rejection of land claims.
• Relaxed immigration policy following the principles of civic nationalism.
• The abolition of “Immigration threads” in favour of allowing prospective citizens to fully participate in Talossa life from day one.
• A longer prospective citizenship period to be adopted before gaining the right of franchise or ability to hold public office.
• The rejection of provincial land claims. Provinces should cease operating like “States within a Union”, but should still exist as communities within the Nation. We have no desire to dismantle the already existing communities, nor remove the right of self governance of those communities.
• An end to national representation for the provinces (abolition of Senate).
• An end to forced provincial assignment in favour of dynamic choice in community membership.
• An “abandon ship” protocol in regard to Wittenberg migration. We propose just walking away from ProBoards. Archivists can continue working on archiving after we have left.

Please Consider Voting Peculiar Nationalist

Our aim in this election is not to win. We are simply seeking a parliamentary mandate to represent the viewpoints I have outlined above. If you find yourself in agreement with most of these views then please consider voting PNP in this election. We'd love you represent you.


Yours for Talossa,
Always in Service,
Éovart Griuschun.