Santa Barbara
16-03-2004, 06:55
A face appears. It's a healthful looking face, fairly young, thoughtful, sitting serenely beneath ordinary but full near-black hair. The camera pans, and standing at a podium is Heinrid Abadas, Lord President of the Federal Government.*
"My fellow Santa Barbarans," he says evenly-- he has a comforting tenor voice-- "And to our neighbors in other sovereign nations. I, President Abadas, would like to take this moment to introduce myself to you, and perhaps shed some light on recent events. As was recently publicized, Bob Pratt, the former owner of the PrattCo Conglomerate, was recently killed. The guilty party has been discovered, lawfully tried, convicted and sentenced. Unfortunately, justice cannot reverse the course of history. An era of this great nation's history has finally passed. It was the will of Mr Pratt that the PrattCo Conglomerate be dissolved, that the bounds and limits emplaced by that organisation be freed, and, in coordination with my advisors in the Federal Government, I have done so. I say an era has passed, but a new one is beginning, and it begins today. Ladies and gentlemen, this nation has for too long a time lived under rule of split personality. On one hand, we have had the PCC, which as you all are aware, is a conglomerate of the most influential, profitable and important businesses native to our soil. On the other, we have had the Federal Government, created by the Conglomerate itself to take up the job of governance which it had found itself too caught up in. This system, such as it was, was not the sort which I believe to have been intentional or efficient. Close as I was to Mr Pratt, however, the end results of this plan were never made clear to me. One thing is clear, however, and that is the need for change. For too long, this nation has stood in the shadows, dominated by an isolationist policy created by one, unelected man, playing a minor role, if any, in the events of Earth and our Solar System. We are a great people; hard-working, educated, healthy, proud and diverse, blessed with the most resource-rich territories in the universe-- I know this as surely as any of you. But our national voice has remained silent. In our recent GovPolls, you have expressed desire for a national unity, and this I also aim to create. To this end, the Integrated Theater Defense Organisation, which employs over thirty-two million courageous Santa Barbarans-- and Isla Vistans-- will not be dissolved. However, the Federal Government, as an offspring of the Conglomerate, will be. In it's place, and in place of the Conglomerate, we have organised a republic of their constituent remaining powers. Unlike the PCC, this new entity shall not be one whose sole aim is to provide profits for itself, and unlike the Federal Government, it will not be a mere functionary or pawn. Instead, the new government, which is called the Corporate Federal Conglomerate, has as the heart of it's interests the well-being and prosperity of all citizens and entrepeneurs that make up our great land. We will relieve the oppressions of the former dynasty, promote increased trade and interactions with foreign nations, and lead us into a new, peaceful, happier dawn in which we, the people of Santa Barbara, will take our rightful place among the peoples of this world. To all foreign powers watching, I now lift any bans on diplomatic interactions which may have been in place, and incourage you to take advantage of our new hospitality and open-ness, and meet us as neighbors in peace. To my fellow Santa Barbarans, I cannot express how proud I am of you; Santa Barbara is a land made of corporations, yes, and resources and land and power, but it would be nothing without your continued work, freedom, and happiness. And so I thank you, and look forward to the future as confidently as do you.
"Now then, I am prepared to answer any questions you may have."
[OOC: *This is an open press conference! Everyone has journalists here! For like the first time in history! Ask away, my friends.]
"My fellow Santa Barbarans," he says evenly-- he has a comforting tenor voice-- "And to our neighbors in other sovereign nations. I, President Abadas, would like to take this moment to introduce myself to you, and perhaps shed some light on recent events. As was recently publicized, Bob Pratt, the former owner of the PrattCo Conglomerate, was recently killed. The guilty party has been discovered, lawfully tried, convicted and sentenced. Unfortunately, justice cannot reverse the course of history. An era of this great nation's history has finally passed. It was the will of Mr Pratt that the PrattCo Conglomerate be dissolved, that the bounds and limits emplaced by that organisation be freed, and, in coordination with my advisors in the Federal Government, I have done so. I say an era has passed, but a new one is beginning, and it begins today. Ladies and gentlemen, this nation has for too long a time lived under rule of split personality. On one hand, we have had the PCC, which as you all are aware, is a conglomerate of the most influential, profitable and important businesses native to our soil. On the other, we have had the Federal Government, created by the Conglomerate itself to take up the job of governance which it had found itself too caught up in. This system, such as it was, was not the sort which I believe to have been intentional or efficient. Close as I was to Mr Pratt, however, the end results of this plan were never made clear to me. One thing is clear, however, and that is the need for change. For too long, this nation has stood in the shadows, dominated by an isolationist policy created by one, unelected man, playing a minor role, if any, in the events of Earth and our Solar System. We are a great people; hard-working, educated, healthy, proud and diverse, blessed with the most resource-rich territories in the universe-- I know this as surely as any of you. But our national voice has remained silent. In our recent GovPolls, you have expressed desire for a national unity, and this I also aim to create. To this end, the Integrated Theater Defense Organisation, which employs over thirty-two million courageous Santa Barbarans-- and Isla Vistans-- will not be dissolved. However, the Federal Government, as an offspring of the Conglomerate, will be. In it's place, and in place of the Conglomerate, we have organised a republic of their constituent remaining powers. Unlike the PCC, this new entity shall not be one whose sole aim is to provide profits for itself, and unlike the Federal Government, it will not be a mere functionary or pawn. Instead, the new government, which is called the Corporate Federal Conglomerate, has as the heart of it's interests the well-being and prosperity of all citizens and entrepeneurs that make up our great land. We will relieve the oppressions of the former dynasty, promote increased trade and interactions with foreign nations, and lead us into a new, peaceful, happier dawn in which we, the people of Santa Barbara, will take our rightful place among the peoples of this world. To all foreign powers watching, I now lift any bans on diplomatic interactions which may have been in place, and incourage you to take advantage of our new hospitality and open-ness, and meet us as neighbors in peace. To my fellow Santa Barbarans, I cannot express how proud I am of you; Santa Barbara is a land made of corporations, yes, and resources and land and power, but it would be nothing without your continued work, freedom, and happiness. And so I thank you, and look forward to the future as confidently as do you.
"Now then, I am prepared to answer any questions you may have."
[OOC: *This is an open press conference! Everyone has journalists here! For like the first time in history! Ask away, my friends.]