The WMD poll led to the fall of one WM, and the rise of another. How did one poll create so much change?
From the perspective of Meercovo
Story Time
It was early June, and I'd decided to run for WM. Having never served in the cabinet, and taking on FRS, the political powerhouse who'd been WM for longer than I could remember, I expected to be the underdog.
To overcome the issue of inexperience, I needed a running mate. I selected Brunholl for several reasons. Firstly, Brunholl had been Chaplain under FRS, so that ticked the experience box. Secondly, I saw Brunholl as a rival who I needed on my side to defeat FRS. And finally, Brunholl had the WM material that would boost my campaign.
With Brunholl as running mate, we managed to defeat FRS and I appointed Brunholl as my deputy. Anyway, my term came and went (fairly successfully I would argue). With the next election on the horizon, I decided not to run. Mainly because I'd failed to achieve my main pledge which was to find a decent sized region to merge with.
I'd made that decision a while before the election period started, but I confirmed it when Brunholl announced his candidacy before I'd pulled out. I saw Brunholl as perfect WM material with the support of the UFN nations and probably FRS too- not a campaign I wanted to run against.
With the playing field cleared for a Brunholl WM-ship, or so it seemed, I enjoyed the last few days of power I had. Then, Patec arrives in style, and announces a WM campaign.
After a relatively tense and surprisingly close election with low turnout, Brunholl comes out on top, but is still battle-scared from the heavy challenge of the newcomer.
Brunholl's campaign focused mainly on RP- particularly a law regarding the use of WMDs. With the legislation written, Niater announced that the law had been passed, much to the surprise of myself and FRS.
Having taken up the role of Supreme Judge under FRS' Opposition, we both agreed that we had some reservations about the law and that it was unconstitutional that the Cabinet had just gone and said it had passed without a poll, when it needed Opposition permission to do this.
So we laid down those reservations, and FRS ordered a poll.
The debate quickly escalated into essentially a war between the cabinet and opposition. Myself and FRS used the term 'WMD Ban', something we shouldn't have as it simply wasn't a ban. The government, still in its nappy (diaper), desperately tried to defend its signature proposal, with Patec, now Deputy, stating:
Patec stands by the WMD ”ban”. It does not hinder nations ability to keep such weapons, not does it even rlly go as far to “really” ban them. They may be held, and they may be used with consent of the target nation. If anything needs done the bill should simply be retitled TOO WMD RULES OF USE or something like that.
There was clearly confusion over the aim of the bill, but in the opposition, we weren't intending to bring down the government, we were just scrutinising a proposal that was, in some places, quite vague.
Its now August, and Niater has called the poll. Myself and FRS are still attacking it and trying to prevent its passage, as we both felt it hindered RP and was relatively confusing.
In perhaps the closest poll, 6-5 voted against passing the law. It must have been disappointing for Brunholl and Patec having fought hard- particularly for Brunholl who'd practically laid their WM-ship on the line for this one proposal.
And you probably know the rest- Brunholl steps down, Patec steps up and then Patec is WM until the end of the universe.
The sad truth about the whole debate, something which I only discovered recently, is that it was all for nothing. The whole thing was totally pointless:
Constitution, Article 7.8.3: Nations must not use nuclear or chemical weapons
So the law itself was effectively pointless. For the first time, the government was defeated in a poll, and not just any poll, a poll regarding their signature policy. A policy that was already in effect.
In many ways, the impacts of this poll can be seen today- the RP Act might not have been passed, Patec might not have become WM for a while, and many other things could have been different.
It was also a turning point for the role of the opposition. Before, the WA Delegate and opposition had just been rubber stamping everything, now we were properly scrutinising- something I'm sure many wish didn't happen.
And that's that, story time is over. It was a nice chance to look back on what did happen, and what might have happened if things had played out differently.