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

[glacial_queen]

"Hobart was very clever," Karla said, making a face. "Far craftier than anyone would have given him credit for. At first, he took advantage of the Territory's grief and confusion. The Queen, her Consort, and my aunt, the strongest Black Widow, were killed upexpectedly. As my legal guardian, a lot of people assumed he was just carrying out my mother's wishes. Then, when people started noticing things were wrong, he switched to other tactics. He started letting his bully-boys have freer reign in Provinces and Districts where Queens had defied him. Whispers and rumors. Spies everywhere. Then he reintroduced Rings of Obedience."

She shook her head. "It's like...I don't quite have a way to explain what it's like. But it's like being under siege. And I don't have any guarantees that they will be loyal to me. The older Queens, probably. The younger ones, the ones who have become Queen because of his influence and have grown up listening to what he says? I don't know if I can."

Re: Discussion: Intros, Background, Suggestions - NAT01

[glasses-justice.livejournal.com]

"It sounds as though he had his plans laid far in advance," Alex said, shaking her head with no small amount of sympathy. "He'll have prepared for the inevitable backlash. You'll need to be every bit as clever, if not more so, to unseat him."

Re: Discussion: Intros, Background, Suggestions - NAT01

[glacial_queen]

"That's one of the reasons I'm here," Karla said. "There's no way he's going to be able to predict some of the stuff I've learned while on the island. Or the allies I've made."

Re: Discussion: Intros, Background, Suggestions - NAT01

[glasses-justice.livejournal.com]

Alex smiled. "Then I'll wish you luck," she said. "And if you succeed, I'd like to hear about it."

Re: Discussion: Intros, Background, Suggestions - NAT01

[glacial_queen]

Karla gave Alex a shy smile. "If I win, you probably will. I might need some help framing the new laws I'd like to implement in my Territory."