Today I voted in a Parliamentary election. In less than an hour from now, I will attend an election results party to which Sheila has contributed a vegetable chilli and Aileen has contributed chocolate cake. I would have preferred to attend a
Khruath (scroll down) but we do not have those here yet.
In the Technic History:
Dennitza has a tri-cameral parliament: the Lords, the Folk and the Zmayi;
Aeneas also has a tri-cameral parliament: University; Landfolk; Townfolk. (Tinerans, Highlanders, Riverfolk and Orcans remain unrepresented because of a property qualification for the franchise.)
Chundrban Desai, High Commissioner of the Virgilian System, wonders whether he should disempower the landed gentry:
"'...and establish a parliament based on strict manhood suffrage?'"
-
The Day Of Their Return,
7, p. 125.
The militarism of the armed Landfolk might have initiated the McCormac Rebellion. Sure, let's have more democracy but does Desai seriously contemplate excluding women?
1 comment:
Kaor, Paul!
And I'm frankly glad Boris Johnson and the Conservatives won the UK parliamentary elections by so resoundingly thumping a margin! NOW "Bojo" should finally bring an end to the wretched Brexit issue by evicting the EU from the UK.
I don't think the Landfolk of Aeneas were that particularly "militaristic." Not when you keep in mind how Aaron Snelund's deliberately bad misgovernment had infuriated wide sections of the University, Townfolk, and Landfolk.
And I believe you have misunderstood what Commissioner Desai meant by thinking about "...strict manhood suffrage." He did not mean limiting the vote only to adult male Aeneans--rather, he was using "manhood" in the generic sense to mean both men and women.
And nothing legally prevented the tinerans, Riverfolk, Highlanders, or Orcans from meeting the property requirement for voting. Recall, many of these people had no interest in the politics of Nova Roma.
Last, I'm very skeptical that Ythrian political institutions would work for human beings. Not unless there were enough Ythrians in a polity to counter balance the human influence. So, I see little or no value in adopting Ythrian institutions.
Ad astra! Sean
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