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I've known Jacobi a very long time in eRepublik terms. There was that brief ten days when we were both in Congress prior to Jacobi's surprise win of the Presidency that long ago June 5th. That's right, it is a year ago as of tomorrow, that Jacobi was elected to his first term, and though we had a few debates prior to that fateful election that was nothing next to the roaring battles that took place even in that first Presidential week in office.

I remember them well, I am sure Jacobi does too. His surprising win against a beta veteran, his unconventional campaign using youtube videos and coordinated articles took Canada's much smaller population by storm. This of course led to our first real conflicts, for Jacobi wanted a much larger cabinet, (by today's standards it would be an average to small cabinet, only 17 members) he wanted wholesale amendments to the Constitution, budgets and big profits. Is it any surprise that there was considerable resistance to these sizable shifts in national policy. There were holdouts, resisters, and even a few stumbling blocks.

One of whom, was me...

I mentioned the push for Constitutional reform. Halfway through my first term, after being one of the few to sit down and read the Constitution, a wave of amendments were proposed. Naturally I argued against them, I wanted different wording, I demanded safeguards! This might seem like what you would expect me to say, but no one had learned to expect it in those days.. The debate raged, President Jacobi pushed for a vote on them, and then I did something I had never done before. Some of you may know what's coming... I copy and pasted segments of the Constitution clearly showing the amendment process being used was illegal, I didn't do it once, I did it to all three amendments that day. Suffice it to say, Jacobi noticed me that day boy howdy. The Constitutional amendment process was stalled entirely until Jacobi's second term.

It became something of a Congress cliche, There was even a Motivational poster made about my er.. penchant for quoting the law..



However it also led to directly to my election as Speaker when I was returned to Congress a week later, and this is where antagonism, turned to rivalry, and friendship. The President had to speak to the Speaker after all. within 48 hours I was ruling Congress with an iron fist, but government can't function in this country if Congress and the Executive are at loggerheads, which lead to IRC. As I recall it took less than 24 hours for our tentative conversations to begin to blossom into a rough and ready friendship. I soon learned we shared several of the same hobbies, and both had a love of roleplaying games. Later I learned we had shared similar personal losses and setbacks, and to me, that brought us closer. It wasn't long after that, that Jacobi, in an article he wrote gave me a moniker I have cherished since... "Tribune of the People". I've lost count of how many times that moniker (which is still in my forum signature) has gotten me into trouble, but it certainly summed up my service in Congress.

Now, it may seem at this point I had softened toward the man but we were still staunch political rivals, I kept him honest, and he kept me hopping to halt his "Change Train from driving the country to Ruination". This of course lasted until Canada faced it's darkest hour, we were invaded with little time to prepare! I've never been prouder of this country than I was seeing the Executive and Congress pull together behind our army and our allies, we burned through our resources, and those vast gold reserves built up during Jacobi's first term trying to stem the rising tide of PEACE GC aggression. Sadly, our allies were too pressed, and our enemies were too well funded to turn back. Canada, for several painful days was wiped from the map.

Here I will digress to relate a story that was once one of Canada's most closely guarded national security secrets. During the invasion, most of Congress, the Ministers and the citizenry wanted to turn Ontario into a fortress, hold it no matter what. In Closed Door Congress a debate raged for pages and pages about what to do, it was I who first advocated the idea that we absolutely must lose all of our regions, or be forever trapped by the wars and alliances leveled against us. I don't say this to aggrandize myself but merely to lead into the aftermath of that discussion. Little did most of Canada know, but the Government with Jacobi leading, planned for the annihilation of Canada, we wanted it to happen, we had even talked to the eUS about attacking our last region if PEACE didn't. Thankfully, PEACE didn't see the strategic benefits of leaving Canada beaten back and powerless to starve in it's last region, they attacked. And here, is what most people don't know, Jacobi was willing to destroy his own political future, and retreat Ontario (you could still do that back then) in the final minutes if it looked like we were going to win! How could I not come to respect a man willing to give up so much for Canada's future...

In the aftermath our nation fragmented, groups of citizen soldiers banded together under different leaders and this made a coordinated effort to retake our territory that much more difficult. And yet, we prevailed, in one day three regions, most of our eastern seaboard was retaken from the eUK. Suddenly Prince Edward Island was our Capital and the Party Presidential elections were only a couple days away. Alas, Canada no longer had any political parties, all of our old parties were now stuck in France. Without Jacobi and the coordinated actions of the CAF and the militia groups still organizing at the time, our triumphant return to full sovereignty may never have materialized.

It was in those early days of our return to the map, that Jacobi made his next noteworthy sacrifice. I had been collecting donations, with the intent of forming a political party, without one we couldn't run candidates for Congress and the elections weren't far off. Jacobi and I had discussed the plan, many people knew of it as IRC had suddenly become even more important than the forum for Canadians to keep in touch. On the day I had planned to move back to Canada, and start a party I had decided to name the Canadian National Coalition, Jacobi beat me to it. Out of his own pocket, he paid the 40 gold to start a party, then handed it off to me when I logged in later that afternoon. And he never asked for a penny back. Jacobi got some flak for that, people thought he was trying to steal my idea, but really it was a generous gesture on his part. I may have led and shaped the CNC for that first month, but Jacobi paid for it.

Of course, as Party President, I couldn't run for a third term as Speaker of Congress, which meant, someone else (Nosyt) would have to take on the job. And thus I returned as a Congressman, but not for long. With the next Presidential Election Jacobi was returned with huge public support and I took my first step beyond Congress and became the Minister of Justice for the Administration I had wrangled with for so long.

Today, my rival and friend is leaving Canada, but I do not wish to forget how that rivalry, that friendship first began. And really there aren't many higher tributes than to have your enemy sing your praises. Jacobi, you have been a great friend, and that won't change but our rivalry is gone. I shall miss that, as I miss seeing your articles and posts in Congress. Our rivalry in many ways defined my political career, and I think it nudged yours this way and that more than once.

Keep in touch my friend, wherever your journey takes you, I'll be here waiting to be a friend to talk to, and always ready to tell you when you're wrong. 😉

The Chinese may consider living in interesting times to be something of a curse, but in eRepublik it is the only way to live as long as we have. While you may have grown bored with politics in eCanada, I hope that fresh challenges await you wherever you wander.

Your friend,
Goran Thrax

p.s. don't forget to wear your fedora.