Talking 'bout a revolution, babe

[D. N. Vercáriâ]

A catchy headline, isn't it? It might happen that us Republican Talossans will join the (by numbers) Talossan mainstream in 2012, so it's time to ponder what we will do once we arrived.

Briefly said, it is not my intention to sit in a corner and pout and doze away dreaming of the fun times I had in the Republic and that will be gone for good.

When I joined the Republic in its early days, I brought something back that had been hibernating in Penguinea, the 1997 offspring of the Kingdom of Talossa: Peculiarism, once a whimsical invention of a Talossan of fhe pre-internet-epoch.

Like Talossa itself, it is something that developed away from the initial spark of the momentary idea of the one who had it, and IMHO like Talossa itself it is something Talossan that deserves to be preserved and developed further on. Still it is something that is stumbling along on its very own feet.

Maybe some of you have heard that once upon the time the MRP, the Movement of Republican Peculiarists, was an influential political party in the formative years of the Republic. As an echo thereof, the NRP, the New Republican Peculiarists, still exist.

So if some of you guys here would be interested in the foundation of an all-Talossan Peculiarist Party, let me know so that we can start to talk and plan ahead.

- D.N.V.

[Deleted]

More details about Peculiarism, please?

[Xhorxh Asmour]

Peculiarism is a genuine Talossan invention. Initially a momentary whim, this spark became a fire that couldn't be extinguished anymore. For a while the idea survived in exile in Penguinea, from where it returned to the Republic of Talossa. Contemporary Peculiarists have always been inspiring the Republic and her citizens to head onwards to more democracy and new horizons.

Peculiarism is a philosophy that recognizes and embraces the distinct character of a nation, particularly if it differs from other nations in areas such as territorality and choice of citizenship. In other words, we believe that Talossa doesn't have to be a nation like every other nation in this world, with exactly the same prescribed trappings of nationhood. Being different won't make us a lesser nation.

The philosophy of Peculiarism includes elements of European liberalism. Not every initiative has to be designed and started by the state. One of our long-term dreams is a liberalisation of some constitutionally prescribed requirements in elections, under the assumption that responsible citizens will know best whom they could trust, regardless of how long a candidate in Senate or Presidential elections has been around, and regardless of the offices the candidates have been serving in before.

We use the word Movement instead of Party meaning that we're sort of an association of likeminded spirits, whose individuality (and peculiarity) will not be sacrificed on an altar of a streamlined party organisation. Sort of, every member is a distinctive political wing of their own.

[D. N. Vercáriâ]

What he says.

[King John]

Mad King Ben famously described Peculiarism as a view of Talossa "as a wacky, borderless Zen-like afterglow or plasmatic blobule unlike anything else on earth, with no claims to territory or physical space".

— John R

[D. N. Vercáriâ]

Ah yes, the famous quote from Ár Päts.

[Eðo Grischun]

Fun times ahead.

[Ián B. Anglatzarâ]

To its detractors *waving cheerfully here* Peculiarism can be described as "Let's drop his nation nonsense and be an internet community like everyone else".

[Xhorxh Asmour]

For more information, click here:

witt12.talossa.org/index.php?topic=3682.0

[Miestrâ Schivâ, UrN]

PECULIARISM IS TO TALOSSA WHAT TERMITES ARE TO WOOD!!! - Ián Metáirâ, 1989

(For those of you who haven't paid attention, the main political divide in the Republic since the Revolution has been the Peculiarists vs. those with a more, er, traditional view of what Talossa is.)

[D. N. Vercáriâ]

And what exactly are termites to wood? It's all a matter of the perspective. As for the Republican Peculiarists, you know very well that we always were a constructive opposition, as long as we were in the opposition. And we never tried to take away your toys - remember that it was one of these awful villains who wrote and composed the anthem of the Republic. So stop your fearmongering.

As it's been mentioned, we've been a sort of liberal party. We just didn't call it that because there has been one historical Talossan Liberal Party which had been suffering from the wrath of the King - we didn't want to steal their glory. And then Andy Lowry, co-founder of the MRP, hinted that Americans and Europeans don''t mean and feel the same when using the description "liberal", so we better put this term aside if we want to avoid confusion. Therefore we prefererred the glass-clear and well-defined term Peculiarism as our main brand. ;D

[Ián B. Anglatzarâ]

I think the reason that our hackles are raised is that the very reason many of us are here is that we want this adopted country to behave as a "real" country would, and this is the very core that your axe is aiming at. It's not just "weird" or "silly", it's antithetical to the essence of our micronational experience.

It's not the liberal tendencies, but when you say "Let's drop the territorial claims", "let's abolish political parties" and the like, that makes us react.

[Glüc da Dhi]

Interesting. I think Talossa needs more political diversity ( also, I think it is bad for Talossa that one party gets a majority every election), so if you join the Kingdom, starting a peculiarist party would be a great idea. ( I wouldnt advise you to use the name MRP though).
Do you have any idea what the views of such a party in the kingdom would be. ( for example would a peculiarist party support the monarchy?)

[D. N. Vercáriâ]

Dec 30, 2011 8:46:18 GMT -6 Ián B. Anglatzarâ said:

It's not the liberal tendencies, but when you say "Let's drop the territorial claims", "let's abolish political parties" and the like, that makes us react.

And who says this? If you're reading the OrgLaw, for instance, you will find paragraphs that are talking about Cestoûrs that are living on the Talossan territory, about citizen who don't have to live on the territory to be fully entitled to participate in the daily life of this nationette; I think some section says something about the necessity of internet access or the opposite thereof, I don't remember it correctly.

And that is perfectly okay for a Peculiarist. That nobody is wanting to enforce a more real territoriality of Talossa with a weapon in his or her hand is the kind of realism that Peculiarists are endorsing.

Furthermore, who the heck is wanting to abolish political parties? The founders of Penguinea had this dream, and therefore ran into conflicts with co-founder Ian Kabell. The foundation of the (in?)famous Penguinean peculiarist party GWP has been seen as an initial sin that kind of spoiled the design of Penguinea - and the Peculiarists in Penguinea fought for their right to be and remain a political party.

Strange thing. The Peculiarsts are sneaking around, ready to take all fun out of Talossa, and they are eating cuddly pets, or what? It is the opposite. The Peculiarists are celebrating the peculiarity of our Talossan nation. They may just avoid telling sweet little lies about the reality that surrounds us, to make the Talossan experience more real. Peculiarism: Up!

[D. N. Vercáriâ]

Dec 30, 2011 9:21:51 GMT -6 Glüc da Dhi said:

Interesting. I think Talossa needs more political diversity ( also, I think it is bad for Talossa that one party gets a majority every election), so if you join the Kingdom, starting a peculiarist party would be a great idea. ( I wouldnt advise you to use the name MRP though).
Do you have any idea what the views of such a party in the kingdom would be. ( for example would a peculiarist party support the monarchy?)

I hope that a pan-Talossan peculiarist party will not be a one-man project, and therefore I cannot predict which stances will be taken on the issue of monarchy. Presently I'm just trying to dip a toe into this big pool to see what will go and what will not go.

I, for the record, am not a monarchist. But I can't push King John off his throne singlehandedly, and in the shorter run there are more pressing problems than the abolition of the Talossan monarchy.

First of all, Talossa has to restore the national unity; we're almost, but not completely there. Then us people of the Republican variety will have to merge and meld into the Kingdom, which may not be as easy as it seems.

As a Peculiarist, I want to contribute to the process of making our nation one. I'm also wanting to pass on the spark of Peculiarism, to bring it back into the Talossan mainstream. Hopefully, there will be more people than just me and Xhorxh, who are interested in this.