Farewell Address to the People's House
I have just completed the last update of the House so that it can be copied over to the new noticeboard. It most certainly has been an adventure. Eight Congresses and sixteen months and it seems like only a day has gone by, and yet in that day the world has changed so much. When I first ran for the House, I thought it the most unlikely event that I would be elected as Speaker, I would just be satisfied being a dissatisfied and vocal opponent of the dysfunction that had arisen over the course of the first four congresses under both Party's leadership. When the dust settled, we had achieved a majority and I was elected as Speaker, a position that the people's representatives have maintained me in, despite frequently being in a majority liberal and even a majority Laborite House.
Even before taking office, I collaborated with the outgoing Speaker Never to rewrite the rules, and presided subsequently over their implementation. We had a four fold increase in the number of bills placed on the President's desk in the 5th Congress. Over the next year and a half, many other improvements were made. We pushed for the addition of the Deputies, We ensured the involvement of the Vice President. We established a simply and transparent format that made sure people were always one click away from the previous chamber's debate. We set up lines of communication as a regular process to ensures bills kept moving. This last Congress saw the House pass or fail thirty nine pieces of legislation, which I believe is matched in Atlasian History only by the Senate this session, which got into the mid forties.
It has been said that I don't know when to quit and it is true that I am a very committed, passionate and devoted person. But I can say that it pleases me greatly and it is one of the happiest moments in Atlasia to be able to hand off the Speakership, knowing it is capable hands if the practices we have championed are continued and implemented even more aggressively. Also with regards to leaving the House seat, knowing that the issues we have championed will continue to march forward, gives me great satisfaction as well. In a previous life, I spent over two years consecutively as PPT, coming after three other stints in the position, over the course of an unimaginable sixty-eight month stint in the Senate. By comparison sixteen seems both measured and reasonable and I should note that sixteen is one of my favorite numbers. Therefore I can say that I have just finished an adventure, not an eternity this time.
I will leave you the people and your dedicated representatives with this. Remember always that regardless of what the constitution explicitly calls it, the House will always belong to the people and everyday every member should ask themselves "How best can I serve the people today". If you do that and nothing else, the House will ably serve as a the voice of the people in government.
Thanks for the honor of being People's Speaker, good luck and good fortune to those who come after and goodbye....for now!
