Nation Building and the Origin of Government, Period 5, Class 1, Thursday, 1-6

[glasses-justice.livejournal.com]

"Welcome to class," she said, flipping her files shut and glancing around the room. "My name is Assistant District Attorney Alexandra Cabot. You can call me Alex, or if you'd rather, Miss Cabot is fine. This class is called Nation Building and the Origin of Government."

"I had a whole detailed explanation for what I'd like to do with this class, what the topic means to me, and how we should think about government. I was going to start today by reading that off to all of you, but I've just changed my mind." She straightened up, walking briskly over to the chalkboard and drawing a squarish shape on it. "Instead, today we're going to dive in with a thought experiment. We'll deal with technicalities later on."

She turned around and tapped her knuckles on the board, in the center of the shape. "Congratulations," she said. "This is a country, and it has just been entrusted -- in its entirety -- to you. It's a decent size, and it even comes with its own population. However, there is absolutely no civic infrastructure. There are businesses, but all of those are privately run. What I'm trying to say is that there is no government whatsoever. No publicly funded services, no mayors or governors, and no organization. Except, of course, for you.

"In other words, you're running the show. You can declare yourself Grand High Emperor for Life, or El Jefe, or whatever strikes your fancy. You can rename the capital city after yourself. You can blow the whole of the country's limited funds on hiring harem girls or cabana boys to dance for you. You can even paint yourself naked and run down the street.

"Before you get carried away, I'd like to point out that doing the above won't leave you much time until someone more sensible assassinates you and does all of the things you were supposed to be doing. So let's take it as a given that you decide to be a responsible leader who gives a damn about your constituents. Which is good, because they're going to need a lot from you." She dusted her hands off. "So. What's first? I'd like you to tell me what your number one priority is, and why."

Comments

Re: Discussion: Intros, Background, Suggestions - NAT01

[daventryprince.livejournal.com]

"I am Alexander of Daventry, and I've had the...interesting privileged," Alexander offered for this part of the discussion, "of having spent the first sixteen years of my life under the oppression of a terribly tyrannical leader, only to then escape from that fate to discover that I was the prince of another land. I suppose, actually, you could say I deposed the tyrant; his presence, though, still lingers, even if his power is diminished significantly. So now I live in a monarchy, and I am the heir to the throne of a peaceful kingdom. My father believes in ruling fairly democratically for a king, due to his own rise from a mere knight; I suppose one might easily call it a meritocracy, really, considering it was through his merits of saving the kingdom that he earned his crown. I...worry that I may not be able to live up to my father on the level of being a good ruler, and so, what I would like to gain from this class, are more tools to assure that I can continue Daventry's progress and peacefulness through my reign as well."

Re: Discussion: Intros, Background, Suggestions - NAT01

[glasses-justice.livejournal.com]

Alex nodded, hoping she was following along. "You say that you deposed him," she said, "but implied he still holds power. Have there been attempts at removing him entirely, or is it thought to be best to leave him where he is?"

Sometimes, the devil you knew was preferable to the power vacuum created by his absence.

"I hope this class will help, as well," she said. "If you have the best interests of your people at heart, I would say that's the best possible starting point."