The State of our (Dys)functional Union

Day 5,674, 16:36 • Published in Ireland Ireland • by OogieBoogie3

Hello fellow citizens of Ireland...

It seems I always find myself in this position, a country disguised as a functional and peaceful Democracy that in reality is vexed by political turmoil and controversy.

A few days ago, our president Nerusia decided it would be mature and reasonable to threaten me over accidentally "stealing" a medal from him. I can say with sincerity that this incident (if you can call it that) was merely just an honest mistake - yet our President, the supposed leader of this country decided to threaten me, claiming I'd never again win a medal in this country. Now obviously that was a hollow threat, as I've earned a handful of medals since this "incident", but I think it's important to highlight the fact that we have a loose cannon with the maturity of a petulant child serving as our head of state who believes to his core that not only I have acted with malicious intent to defraud him of something consciously, but that he is also somehow entitled to a medal in an open battle in a free country. Again, reality doesn't align with his overreaction - this was just an honest mistake - I wasn't particularly paying attention to know any better.

All of that being said, after some mean words and a bit of overreaction, we've resolved this incident. However it's important to highlight publicly that this happened, because it's important to highlight what is going on in our government. A sour misguided and unhinged President of a democracy feeling as if something was owed to him, and choosing to threaten a sitting congressman is definitely something foreign to me, and a troubling precedent. It implies that he believes that rules of conduct and mutual respect do not apply to him, and that he's free to take a run at individuals within the government for reasons not related to government. This is conduct unbecoming of a President, or any congressman or minister for that matter. I can admit that my response was no better in conduct, but I am not the President, and I did not initiate this incident based on an unhinged and baseless assumption of foul and malicious play. All that aside, there are more serious matters that must be publicly addressed.

Most notably, the internal conflict between Kaitlynn, Ad Hoc Ireland, and the sitting seat of power, Eire Aonair.

Ad Hoc and their allies accuse Nerusia and Eire Aonair of defrauding our elections. They claim the election results to be illegitimate and are demanding that Nerusia step down and resign. Until they get their way, they have chosen the route of political protest within the chambers of congress, utilizing frivolous legislation to cripple the government's ability to balance the budget and fund the government. In response to this strategy, Eire Aonair have threatened literal treason. They intend to fund and initiate a coup de'etat to upend our democracy and replace the government with a military dictatorship. This will be even more damaging to the state of our union than the already crippling protests by Ad Hoc within the chambers of parliament.

Compromise is the only reasonable route to resolve this conflict. We can not allow for the seat of government to start a civil war to destroy this democracy. There has to be some sort of compromise, some sort of terms - somewhere - that can be agreed to in order to prevent this catastrophe from occurring. Somebody threatening to betray and defraud our democracy by committing treason can not argue against me referring to them as loose cannons. You're threatening the most unreasonable course of action possible to get your way - the literal definition of a loose cannon. But I have SOME semblance of trust that a resolution can be met between all sides involved. I'm here to act as a sort of semi-neutral mediator. I've negotiated several peace treaties and non-aggression pacts between feuding (and warring) countries before, but never feuding parties within a single country. It is paramount that these two sides attempt to resolve their differences - civil war over an issue this trivial is unreasonable and should be treated as such.