Cortath

For one who purports to study Francoism, you ask some peculiar questions. The questions the Francoist asks are: "What are our institutions? What is the reality of our position? How can our position be made better? How can our position be made worse? How can we discard institutions to do not support us? How can we build up institutions that bring us peace, strength, and prosperity." Mindlessly posting about some "God Emperor" is not the nuanced analysis of the material conditions of our world that the Francoist engages in when they make their political critique.

She is a loving mistress. (Both Pacifica and your wife, I presume. ;) )

I apologize. I misunderstood the context.

You are mistaken, comrade. There was war in that other realm, and there were agreements of mutual defense.

I think Oceania Pacifica can unite itself just fine without you. *chuckles*

Francoism suggests that we discard grudges that are not useful.

Grudges are not useful.

Ultimately, Francoism is not an ideology suited to analyzing personal relations. Moreover, the reasons for the fall of Pacifica are many, complex, and not any single event. It is foolish to analyze history in some sort of linear "great person" narrative.

I don't know what you think "sovereignty" is or what your term "distributive sovereignty" means. Perhaps we should talk about it. The Emperor is sovereign. That is, the Emperor's decision is final on all matters. The Emperor, however, does not decide all things. For instance, my nation is currently conducting a tech deal that is organized by the State. Without inquiring of him, I shall state with certainty that the Emperor did not approve it. He did not arrange it. He did not order that money be sent, or tech be purchased. No one even went to him and asked, "Hey, is it okay if Cortath does a tech deal?" This is because the Emperor has delegated his powers. The Emperor has power over the entire alliance, but the Emperor does not make every decision in the alliance. If that were so, the Emperor would stay in his audience chamber, beginning one dawn in a never-ending parade of small decisions. But our Emperor, in his wisdom, decided one day, "I shall not approve every tech deal, but rather, my Imperial Officer for Economic Affairs, shall govern the bailiwick of economics and bring only the most important decisions to me." This is a delegation of sovereignty: for those underneath the Imperial Officers of Economic Affairs must obey their orders, for their word has the power of the Emperor's united sovereignty behind them. I do not know what you think sovereignty and decision-making is. Perhaps in a very small alliance, an alliance of one or two nations, an Emperor could make every decision, and eschew the kind of delegation of petty decisions to Officers. But the New Pacific Order is not an alliance of one or two nations, and at its peak was an alliance of more than one thousand nations. To think that a thousand people can be governed by some Philosopher-King who micromanages every decision of a people is so far-fetched that I cannot imagine you're actually making this argument. Perhaps I am simply misreading or failing to understand the thrust of what you are saying.

You grossly misunderstand the role of the Imperial Officers and the duality of the Francoist notions of the absolute unification of sovereignty in an Emperor, and the never-complete unification of wisdom in an Emperor. All nations of the New Pacific Order unify their sovereignty in an Emperor. In giving up their sovereignty, they achieve true freedom. This is all very well-covered in my Comrade Vladimir's "The Paradox of Freedom." The unification of sovereignty is a comparatively easy task compared to the unification of wisdom. This is where Imperial Officers come in. Francoism extolls no man, no God, no idea or set of beliefs above any other. Rather, Francoism recognizes that though the Emperor is an absolute sovereign, they are frail humans, and can make all the mistakes attendant to humanity. Our past Emperors, in their wisdom, have created various structure to help to advise them. To gather up the wisdom of the Body Republic into the Emperor. That is, of course impossible, and it is a ceaseless and thankless task to which all Pacificans strive. Emperor TrotskysRevenge founded the modern Imperial system in his Imperial Decree establishing the Mark II ranks, forming Imperial Officers. This system remains generally unchanged unto today. The purpose of the Mark II Ranks was two-fold: one to endow officers inferior to the Emperor with some of the Emperor's sovereignty in specific areas. Thus, we have Imperial Officers of Economic Affairs, who are largely in charge of the economy of Pacifica. Ditto Military Affairs, News & Propaganda, Internal Affairs, etc., etc. The Emperor remains ultimately sovereign, but in an alliance of a thousand, sovereignty and power necessarily devolves downhill to administer the Pacifica machine.. But as important to the delegation of sovereignty to the Officers is the exchange of wisdom. As sovereignty flows downhill, Officers attempt to deliver wisdom uphill to the Emperor. Thus, it is the duty of Officers and all Pacificans to question the Emperor, to engage in self-criticism, in the hopes that through debate and discussion, we unify our wisdom in the person of the Emperor. Thus, your thesis that Imperial Officers held more power than the Emperor is false. You mistake the giving of advice and criticism, the duty of all Francoists, as some sort of opposition. The Emperor has no need of sycophants, even ones talented in administering the will of the Emperor. Talented technocrats and bureaucrats are a dime a dozen, and they are the death knell of the permanent revolution that Francoism demands. Francoism demands a government of constant self-criticism, constant debate and discussion, for our Emperor is human, and all humans are fallible. It is the never-ending mission of Francoism to unite our collective wisdom in the man whom we call “Emperor” whom we have successfully united our collective sovereignty.

Francoism does not use the terms "userite" or "feederite" on Planet Bob because there are no class distinctions here. In that other world, the Pacific and the other feeder regions were the birthplace of all nations. Because they were the birthplaces of nations, and ultimately, nations and controlling them are the building blocks of power, nations were like the means of production. Thus, the userites, people who controlled user-created regions, attempted to control the means of production by controlling the governments of the feeder regions. Thus, when we speak of "userites" controlling the feeder regions, we speak of dictators such as "theDoc" whom Francos Spain, a native of the the Pacific overthrew, returning the feeder region to native control. *** There is no such class distinction on Planet Bob. There are no classes. There is no inherent mechanic that creates an analogous means of production. You are using the term "userite" simply to mean "people I don't like," which is anathema to a Francoist philosophy that demands that we describe reality as it really is, not as we would like it to be. Francoism is simple in that it eschews absolute labels, principles, Gods, and demands that we view the world as it is, analyze the world as it is, and build principles, structures, and institutions that grapple with the world as it is. We do not preach "Enlightened Order." We simply seek to create a system in which our nations can seek peace, strength, and prosperity. We do not hold ourselves as enlightened, or wiser than others, for we are not. Our Emperor is absolute in his sovereignty, but not absolute in his wisdom. It is the duty of Francoists to build institutions that attempt to unite our wisdom in the Emperor, but it is an ongoing, never-finished task, for we are all but human. Francoism is not a "world philosophy." We do not impose our ideology on others. We do not seek to give strength, peace, prosperity to others who do not want it; we only seek it for ourselves. We do not, and have never attempted conquest in the name of spreading Francoism to others. Francoism is a philosophy for us. Certainly, others can attempt to govern under its guiding principles, but it is not some heathen religion we convert others to by the sword, but a set of philosophies that comrades take to heart. I hope this brief missive corrects any misconceptions about Francoism.

The Emperor has been instrumental in maintaining our core tenants and principles -- Francoism -- in all aspects of [i]the[/i] Order.

Although I am quite retired these days, I am happy to speak of the Emperor, my comrade, Letum, from the days when I interacted with him well. Comrade Letum's reputation in the Order as an economist is second to none. Having come to Pacifica from GATO in the end of our then-conflict with them, he immediately found a home in the economics areas of the Order. I served on the New Council with Letum, during the reign of Emperor TrotskysRevenge, representing the interests of the Body Republic to the Emperor and his Officers. His eloquence and empathy combined with his incisive analysis of the material conditions of the Order made him one of the most effective Councilors I had the pleasure and honor to sit aside. As one of our premier economists, he was instrumental in oiling the aged gears of Pacifica's economic superstructure in the wake of the Armageddon War, bringing Pacifica safely out of the vicious terms of that war. Although always at home in economics, his wit and subtle understanding of politics proved an excellent aid to him as he became more and more involved in the foreign affairs of the Order. I can let me other comrades speak more to our Emperor, and I would encourage any who feel that they don't know him well enough to introduce themselves.

This history is ... peculiar. The Atlantic Central Command had no influence on the New Pacific Order. Rather, it could be said the other way around, as a certain Senator of the New Pacific Order was also the head of the Atlantic Alliance. The AA/ACC had no imperialist ambitions on [i]the[/i] Pacific, but rather it preyed on frail userite regions.

Hail the Emperor! Hail [i]the[/i] Order! Hail the Body Republic!

This is quite silly. Why is there so much silliness here? [ooc]I miss the academic sub-forum.[/ooc] Pacifica is neither imperialist nor "not friendly to the press," whatever that means precisely.

I'm unclear what precisely you are attributing to me, but let me state for the record that I don't believe Pacifica has anything like the problems that I faced at my appointment as the Fourth Emperor of the New Pacific Order. I don't know what you're attributing to me, or why, or what conversation this was you mean to be referencing, but the substance is not that.

It's time like these I [i]really[/i] miss the Academic Subforum.

Principles. I highly recommend them.

Given that I embodied Pacifica since long before you arrived at this world, yes, I think she is proud indeed.

I much prefer he battle against whatever strawman he thinks Francoism is. Though Pacifica gains little by sharpening her claws in the bellies of the weak.

*chuckles* The tongue wags but it does not speak.

I added some sarcasm quotes. In case it all wasn't apparent before. Heh.

That is an excellent analysis, comrade. OOC: The history of American's (and Victorian UK as well) use of blackface, minstrel shows, caricatures of African peoples is long and well-documented. I think it's pretty appalling to create an alliance and an alliance leader character who is based off of these revolting stereotypes. To those who claim this is "not racism," I'm afraid you don't have an adequate understanding of the nature of racism, and how it functions by perpetuating stereotypes and ideologies to permit the ruling race justifications for its subjugation of "inferior" racial peoples. Racism is a biologically irrelevant socially salient ordering of people that functions by socially constructed "races" for people based on stereotypes and perceived differences which then in turn justify the racialist system. This alliance and its leader is a fine exemplar of that strategy as used in the antebellum United States and Victorian UK.

I call 'em as I see 'em.