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Nobility.... or not....

From: "Thomas Barclay" <kaladorn@f...>
Date: Sun, 2 Dec 2001 23:13:49 -0500
Subject: Nobility.... or not....

While I suspect that in the re-assembled NAC, 
the Americans would still reject the idea of the 
inequality of some citizens by virtue of birthright 
(at least insofar as their right to govern goes), 
this would probably only be an attitude that the 
NAC powers-that-be would work around. 
Remember, the UK is a democracy. There is a 
Queen, but when was the last time she went out 
and declared a war on someone? (It has been 
some time). Canada, while retaining the Queen 
as titular head of state, actually leaves little or 
no place for her in public policy (yes, the 
Governor General basically counts as "little or 
no"). 

I'm betting when the territories of North and 
South America are included, the format will be:

- Parliamentary (some reformed system that is 
not first-past-the-post or let-the-lawyers-sort-it-
out) and Democratic. 
- Recognizing "Honour Nobles" (Peerages 
granted for service) for what they are - simply 
some people given a minor reward (a modifier 
to their name, a bit of land maybe) for public 
service (always a good thing to encourage and 
no different than granting land for military 
service, a time honoured tradition). 

Yes, some former Americans may dislike this. 
Gee, I wonder if the NAC might have insurgent 
movements? Seems likely. American Militias who 
can't abide the idea of a foreign King (even if 
the country really is run by a Prime Minister....) 
but who are fine with families of huge hereditary 
wealth and power (Rockafellers, Fords, etc) or 
who live in a priveledged status due to there 
presence on the TriD (entertainers) or who are 
effectively more powerful than royalty due to 
consolidation of huge amounts of economic 
power in various sectors (Wm. Gates "call me 
Bill", Larry Elison, the head of GE, etc). 

And some would stay and fight about it. The 
SAS has, I note, had plenty of practice dealing 
with internal insurgencies. And the British have a 
certain talent (fails at times, but far better than 
their peers in this regard) at maintaining a light 
hand in the Colonial power game (contrast with 
France or the Dutch....). And some of the 
former United States citizens who really could 
not abide life in the NAC could either 1) Go join 
the UNSC, 2) Go live in FCT, or 3) Go live on 
some outrim world where they can revive the 
US Constitution, the Republic, and all that stuff. 
Gee, another NAC splinter group..... 

People can play this however they like, but 
canon shows us: The NAC is still a 
Kingdom/Monarchy. The NAC has absorbed a 
destroyed and torn-down former-American 
republic and has captured and integrated all of 
Central and South America. The only seemingly 
willing (and still whole and structurally sound) 
volunteer was Canada (AFAIK), and that may 
have been as much an acknowledgement of the 
way the winds were blowing and who protects 
who and trades with them as it was any 
idealistic fascination for Monarchy. But I think 
the canon is pretty clear that the NAC is still a 
Monarchy and the US, Canada, and the rest of 
the Americas are now part of that Monarchy. 

You are, of course, free to toss this out. But if 
you are operating within the strictures of canon, 
you need to look for reasons for why this _will_ 
work, rather than will not, because in the canon 
universe, even if it is as likely as a pink flying 
elephant, this IS the situation that exists.

Deal with it. We all know it is an unlikely fiction 
developed by a kindly man with a twisted sense 
of humor who spent too long in his cups (St. 
Jon^3). So what? Now all we have to do if we 
want to rationalize it is find a sufficient 
"justification" (read: thin tissue which papers 
over the obvious and patent unlikelihood of the 
whole thing). I'm sure Russians and Chinese 
would find the ESU about as unlikely. Welcome 
to Silly Games 101. Live with it, or live without it, 
but (to help out Mr. Beast), let us stop railing 
about how unlikely it is. There is no dispute 
there. That was _never_ the question, really....

Tomb. 
-----------------------------------------------------------
Thomas Barclay
Instructor, CST 6304 (TCP/IP programming for the Internet)
kaladorn@fox.nstn.ca 
http://fox.nstn.ca/~kaladorn/CST6304
http://stargrunt.ca/tb/CST6304
-----------------------------------------------------------


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