Definitive Statement on the Resistance Groups

Day 652, 00:21 • Published in Canada Canada • by Jacobi

I’m on break at work, and I have been in a bit of a writing mood this evening, so I wanted to give a definitive statement on how I feel about the Resistance groups in Canada, their criticisms of the government and how the war has gone, and what future place lies ahead for them in Canada.

On Resistance Groups:

These were groups of Canadians that formed themselves after the fall of Ontario. I was initially wary of these two groups for two different reasons.

The first reason was the leadership of both groups. One was lead by Bruck, a person whose contributions to my cabinet during war time was minimal, who was the prime suspect for the COBRA leaks (due to his relationship with Augustus Baldwin, suspicious timing on money payments and the kicker, that as soon as he lost his moderator access to Cabinet and Congress, the leaks from both stopped.), and who had the day before ran an election against me on the premise that if he had been PM, he would have won the war. The other leader was Banach, a man who had been asked by Derek Harland to serve in Cabinet, but whose first reaction to the fall of Ontario was to tell me that he did not want to serve in cabinet and in fact, did not want to have anything to do with Canada at all.

The second reason was that though both groups wrapped themselves in patriotic literature (“ordinary Canadians sacrificing and working together for the good of all” “non-political group for the liberation of Canada”) at the same point the amount of anti-government statements from their members gave me pause. When you’re in government and your first encounter with a group is that they have formed because the government has failed, the government no longer exists and is “nowhere to be seen,” I don’t think anyone could find a way to spin those into positives.

Philosophically though, I liked the resistance groups. They provided activity and an outlet for newer players, and the reserves during the war were definitely under-utilized, and especially in those three days that Canada was off the map, it was important to keep Canadians motivated. So okay, on the balance they seemed good so I didn’t concern myself with them. Besides the anti-Jacobi propaganda from the usual suspects, I didn’t see any cause to worry anyways.

I’ll speak a bit at this time about why I call them “the usual suspects.” There is a group of people, and almost all of them are in the resistance groups, who have made it their hobby to post attacks against the government and I. This started with the Dean22 “scandal”, moved on to COBRA, moved on to attacks on the government’s handling of the war, and now attacks on the government’s actions via the resistance groups. This group of people have made clear that they only thing that will please them is my eventual departure from office, so I rarely take their attacks seriously. The problem with that of course, is that I tend to become myopic about the places they hang out. When they were mostly in the CEP, I was quick to tar the entire CEP with their brush. Now that they are mostly in resistance groups it becomes easy for me to tar the groups with their brush...the whole rotten apple spoils the whole bunch principle. However, I should be bigger than that, and I should recognize that not everyone in these groups agrees with them, and for that I apologize.

To continue as before, as time went on, and especially in the aftermath of the BC debacle (which seemed to piss Congress off especially, for reasons I can never fully understand), the attacks on the government seemed to continue and poisoned the atmosphere even as we were winning back province after province. The attacks centered on two issues: communication and government acknowledgement. Let me address them separately.

Communication:

As I’ve said before, I’ve never quite understood this complaint. There was this constant refrain that the government wasn’t communicating with the resistance groups, but they certainly weren’t approaching me to talk and there wasn’t very much we needed to say to them. Did they want special information about attacks? Did they want access to the high command? They didn’t really communicate what they wanted. 😉 But if that’s what they wanted, special access, advanced knowledge, we weren’t enthusiastic at best. The time that I did relent, and gave Banach information about Quebec, I was told on no uncertain terms by the Allied Command not to do it again. This spawned my infamous “I care more about Finland than the resistance groups” comment. Its true by the way, I do care more about Finland. They do a lot more damage than both groups combined and they do it without demanding anything from us or without attacking the government in the media.

Anyways, I regret that we aren’t able to tell Canadians everything about what’s going on. I regret not being able to be completely transparent, because my first reaction in most situations is to be honest and transparent. But in wartime, giving information to one group of people who’ve made clear they don’t want to play nice, was neither seen as the best idea by my Defense Staff, by our allies, and by my gut.

Acknowledgement:

Another repeated complaint from members of the resistance is that I do not acknowledge their contributions enough. Of course, nothing is further from the truth. I have before, now and in the future will thank all Canadians who have sacrificed their time, energy, money and wellness to the cause of Canada’s liberty. It made me proud to see the determination in Canada’s spirit as other countries descended into infighting, we stood tall and gave our all. Canadians everywhere have a grateful nation’s thanks.

For some reason, members of these groups feel that my thanks somehow doesn’t apply to them, or perhaps they think they are deserving of more thanks than every other Canadian. I do not believe that. I have no desire to single out a group of Canadians for doing exactly what everyone else is doing. I thank you, Octavian F, Neil III, Spencer McGee, Domino Gray (see I’m already leaving people out) as I thank every Canadian. Not as a member of a group, but as a citizen of a country. A country we should all be proud to be a part of.

But I have never seen a reason to go out of my way to thank groups who from day one set out to undermine the government. Sorry.

Where do we go from here?

There was a proposal from Domino Gray about the Resistance Groups and bringing them under the CAF wing to legitimize them as recognized Canadian groups while at the same time allowing them to keep their sovereignty. I did like the idea and supported it. However, CAF Officers and members of the military have come to me over and over again questioning this piece of legislation. They don’t like the concept of groups operating under the CAF without meeting the standards of the CAF or adhering to its Code of Conduct. I can understand that, and frankly if this is something that the CAF doesn’t want to come to pass, no Congress and no President is going to force it on them and live happily ever after. The idea, as it stands, is dead.

But, where there’s a will there’s a way, and I do see the inherent benefits of having groups like these exist in a semi-autonomous though legitimate way. I would propose, if the voters will allow me the ability to carry this out, the concept of reviving the Canadian Rangers.

The Canadian Rangers were the precursor to the CAF, and as an entity have a long and proud tradition. Using the skill and expertise of the non-CAF members of both resistance groups, it would not be difficult to revive the Rangers under an operating system similar to what both groups use now. It would be a place for those who either do not yet meet CAF qualifications, are just learning the game and want to become active, or simply don’t want to work under the stricture rules of the CAF. The Rangers would report to a Deputy Minister of Defense, would work under the government hierarchy (and thus its leaders, which would be accountable to this dMoD, would have access to orders in a timely fashion), but would be able to freelance as the Romanians do. The government would not be reliant upon them like the CAF, but it would be a social place for more Canadians to be involved without extensive or inefficient costs to the government.

Such an idea would be possible, and I think might be the best way for the prolonged existence of the resistance groups after the complete recapture of Canada.

As a final note, there are many personal complaints about my attitude in all of this. Allegations of paranoia, incompetence, and comparisons to Hitler that I find personally unhelpful. I’m only a human being, after all, and while I might be the Prime Minister of Canada in an online game, it is in the end an online game. If someone treats me with respect, I am most likely to treat them with respect, and I will consider working with most people if it means a better and brighter future for Canada. As Prime Minister, I could do no less.