Newbies, this is not directed toward you. Those who came in this year see little and know little, through no fault of your own. The fact of the matter is that the game is no better off than it was two years ago, when the Wixted/Jas ticket changed things.
Now, a good many things are beyond the pale, or withheld because "people would never agree". The regions, they must be preserved! Why? Because they increase participation! How? Nobody knows. Atlasia has become formulaic, and I who introduced the regional legislature, that for which regions are hailed, know this better than anyone. But Atlasia is stronger than ever, they will say. Look at the number of voters. But how many of these voters are involved with Atlasia? More than before, it is true. But Atlasia is divided in two: those who are full Atlasian citizens, who can elect and be elected, and those who stand by the wayside, serving as vote mills. A few newbies have managed to shoehorn themselves into the former category; most remain in the latter, for induction into the Atlasian political sphere requires much arcane knowledge, inside knowledge of the game's workings that generally cannot be gained without outside assistance. All whose eyes are open see this, although many, even most, deny it.
The changes planned to rectify this are cosmetic changes: to decrease the amount of time needed before voting rights are conferred, to lengthen the duration of elections, to change the Game Moderator. If you seek real change, they say, go to the Convention. So, let us go to the Convention. What do we see? Little. In a false search for consensus, all that could have been accomplished through the Convention has been lost, and none speak of the Convention any longer.
I predicted this would happen when the Convention opened, and I with others prepared
a Constitution to preempt it, to avoid this very decay. Go back. Look at that Constitution. Many will attack it on its very ideas. But a Constitution it is, and it is far more than the Convention has provided. Yet, at the time, we were told that at the Convention, things would be done "very slowly and patiently to get it right". It has not been gotten right, and it is safe to say at this point that it will not. The time for debate was then, but now it has passed. Now is the time for action, and if none shall take it, I shall. I know that PiT is ready and willing, and I am confident that Lief is as well, but the litigation shall go on a good while, and even when a winner is proclaimed, he will have to work through the system, which shall delay and dilute any proposal to the point of insignificance.
Plutarch records Anacharsis as noting that in Athens, the wise spoke and fools decided. The same is true in Atlasia, and this is necessary and desirable at most times. But when action must be taken, action will be taken, legality or no. Just as the Second Constitution began illegally, it will end illegally. Therefore, I declare the leaderless, aimless, and illegitimate Republic of Atlasia dead. In its place stands a new Republic, which shall eventually take the Constitution that should have been passed in February. But the Constitution shall not be implemented forthwith: first shall come war, for Atlasia shall not and cannot last bifurcated. The Army of the Republic is recruiting.
Edited to reduce the number of tl;dr comments. And yes, it was suppposed to be hard to read.
