Posted by Ladislaus Horatius (Minister of Sophistry) on May 18, 1997 at 15:36:19:
Greetings Honorable Ladonians(Yes, you have reason to expect something grave when I use that tone.)I have an important question. It has occupied my thoughts for some time andnow it's time to unload. **Did we make a good choice when we chose Fernando for President?**On the 28-th december last year we received an e-mail from somebody called"esporte", a person from whom I never heard again (nor before). Veryenthusiastic person. He told us it would be good for our multicultural,open image to choose Fernando for President. Apart from giving us "aninternational recognition". Yum, yum! "Esporte" was sure Fernando would"consider travel to Sweden to his instalation". That would attract themedia. Only good news so far.Apart from the propaganda-value, "esporte" assured us that Fernando was "avery dynamic, active and creative person". (The picture for Fernando's"campaign" ( http://www.aim.se/ladonia/pict/fe-kamp.gif ) shows him wearingsome cool sunglasses and presents the slogan: "Fernando. A man of visions".) Well, of course this is what one always says about presidentialcandidates, in any country. However Ladonia is no ordinary country. Atleast shouldn't be, though in some respects -- like attitude to authority-- it is starting to resemble one.I do not think it premature to ask: How has our president so fardemonstrated his dynamic, active and creative nature?Well, one cannot accuse him for writing too many letters. At least notletters to ministers. I have counted five. (And then I included aforwarding from Porto Claro which Fernando didn't write, so really itshould be four.)So the "active" part hasn't been demonstrated, even hinted at. Fernando maybe very active in his job as journalist, or at the beach, or in thekitchen, but he hasn't been active *in Ladonia* (or Cyber-Ladonia, if youwish).Yes, but volume isn't everything, you say. Look at the quality, the dynamiccreativity. Well, let's see what we can find.The only thing I can find is the Presidential Decrees, and I'm not veryimpressed by these. To my ears the tone is strangely un-Ladonian. (With"Ladonian" I here mean the tone set by founder/father Lars Vilks.)Pataphysical? Pantagruelistic? No. Artistic? Not really. Humorous? No.Weird?? No, no! (It's almost Swedish...)Here we can read, among other things, that the presidential term is forthree years. (That's an eternity nowadays. Or a marriage...) An EldersCouncil is suggested, or rather decreed. Lars Vilks is to refresh thecabinet -- "all inactive members should be removed from their posts."(Fernando forgot to mention inactive *presidents*.) He is also to be the *only* one entitled to appoint ministers. Soundsdictatorial to me. However, so far his voice hasn't been heard about anyappointments. (Sorry, forgot Humberto and Vera.)After that -- SILENCE. For more than a month. "And what about hisExcellency?" was a phrase that echoed in the cyberhalls of Ladonia. (Thisis when I proposed to write an operetta with the above title. Some peopletook my suggestion seriously ;--->Then suddenly Mister President was back, according to Lars "in good health,working and proposing". Then came a "Word from the President", as ifnothing had happened. (Which,in a way, was true.)This "Word" prompted me to write a letter: "Surely one can ask the prosaicbut not unimportant question: WHERE YOU HAVE BEEN?" No reply. Perhaps onereally cannot ask that. Perhaps our president is above answering suchprosaic questions. Maybe I used the wrong tone, maybe I should have said:"Dare we humbly inquire where our Illustrious Excellency has spent the lastcouple of weeks?"Fernando then made some comments on and small additions to Lord Sig Whig'sproposal for Constitution. And that's it. That's the total of Fernando'sactive, dynamic, creative work (in Ladonia). Is this enough, I wonder?Don't get me wrong, this is not a personal attack. I harbour no ill-willagainst Fernando Rodrigues. I am sure he is a man of qualities. However, Isee many possibilities that Ladonia could have with a strong, i.e. *really*active and creative (in Ladonia) president. These possibilities are closedat the moment. Fernando is at the moment only a mascot, on the brink of becoming a joke("our silent president"). Perhaps he intends to become active *after* his installation, however inthat case he should at least mention the subject and tell us what toexpect. (Presidents *always* make promises!) Fernando has been very uncommunicative so far. He may have a bigcorrespondence with Lars -- who knows? -- but he definitely should talk tous too.My question is: Is Fernando occupying a place where somebody else could doa better job? Are we witnessing Peter's Principle in action? I suspect theanswer to both questions is "yes".The idea to have *both* queen and president -- "in order to create asituation of female-male-principles" -- came from the Minister of Health. I am notsure what such a "situation" means, but, as you might know, balance betweenfeminine-masculine energies has also been one of my concerns. Queen Ywonne clearly stated she would make small claim to rulershipoutside her own palace ("ringa ansprŒk pŒ maktutšvande fšrutom i sitt egetpalats"). But what about masculine Fernando? (No sarcasm, just refering tohis male-ness.) *His* rulership has been even smaller! This sounds like a *female-female* situation to me.As you perhaps notice I am more and more agreeing with ambassador S‡ndorthat there are possibilities for Ladonia that we are not realizing, perhapsare not even aware of. And it is *not unimportant* who is our president. The president gives a"tone" to the whole thing. (As Lars did when he created Ladonia.) Astrong active tone or an absent tone, but tone nevertheless. Of course theQueen does that too, and we ministers also. However, I think thepresidential "tone" is cardinal.Who was it said "A country isn't stronger than it's president"? Must havebeen the Court Jester. (The living one.)Now my thoughts are unloaded.Ladislaus Horatius --Minister of Sophistry----------------------------------------------------------------------To refresh your memories here's a smallrecollection of voices and developments relevant to the question, taken from this Ladonia-Board.Erik Johansson (February 23)Varfšr ršstar sŒ mŒnga pŒ Farnando????Jag fšrstŒr inte riktigt meningen, med att ršstapŒ en man, utan parti, och utan nŒgra som helstpolitiska mŒl (Œtminstone inga jag hšrt talas om)[Why do so many vote for Fernando? ... a man without a party, with nopolitical goals... (My translation)]Vera Porad (February 24)The reasons to vote for Fernando are really quite obvious. The power ofa man who manages to gather so many votes without even making much of acampaign must possess extraordinary powers. Now every Ladonian mustrecognize that this is the truly creative way to win an election.[snip]Real ladonians vote for Fernando.Erik Johansson (February 24)Ther must be something extraordinary about a man who collects that manyvotes, without doing anything.. But what if that is all he's got?? Maybe heis totally incompetent.. What do we do then??Vera Porad (February 25)We can all be incompetent. We can all grow with our tasks.The predictable is boring.Vote for the candidate at heart.Fernando Rodrigues (February 26)Why a Brazilian president?My dear countrymen and countrywomen,When I first heard of Ladonia, last year, I thoughtit was a very nice idea. Besides, it was something thatwas preesented to me by an old and beloved friend,Vera Porad.[snip]First of all, can youimagine how charming it would be to have a presidentfrom a Third World country?Someone from a Third World country always inspirespeople in Europe to give more attention to certainmatters. It«s some sort of guilty complex that affectsalmost everybody living above the Tropic of Cancer.Lord Nikos Leocardic, Baron of Trans-Arx (March 02)All citizens noble in heart or/andblood shouldn«t fail to see theirresponsibility. Our beloved Mother-country is at the risk of falling intothe hands of incompetent scoundrels!Vote for Barda as Queen and votefor the Optimates and our constitution!President Fernando Rodrigues (March 04)Dear coutrymen,Thank you all!!It«s an honour to be president of Ladonia.[snip]Please, do send sugestions of how you all expect meto conduct my presidency.Lars Vilks (March 04)Our president Fernando Rodrigues has as his first measureappointed two ministers: Umberto Saccomandi (ourambassador in Brazil), as minister of extraordinaryaffairs in Latin-America, and Vera Porad as minister ofextraordinary affairs in Europe.Christer Edling (March 06)It is with great worry we now observe the present development inLadonia. In a short time many problems have developed:1. We have a queen who in an act of eternal disgrace and nepotismappoints her husband to an important office and who continues to mockthe serious need of the People of humour and relaxation by appointing adead man as court jester! :-( As if that wasn1t enough this queen haslowered herself to the level of a petty bourgeoisie by using Our belovedcountry1s homepage to sell ......... pork (sic!)!2. The president appoints a couple of nitwits to equally importantofficies.4. There hasn1t been appointed any responsible government. Our belovedLadonia drifts steerless in an ocean of bickering and nepotism.Lord Mlndr (March 16)Where is our Queen and our President? We haven«t heard from them in a longtime. I think it«s important that they take part in the open discussions onthe board!Maybe they have withdrawn to their datjas......Sandor Posvari (March 30)In Reply to: Easter Sunday posted by Johan Sšderberg, Herde >Todays latin on Easter Sunday:> Dominica resurrectionis>Glad PŒskOK. But where is the President?Lars Vilks (April 04)Citizens!First I will inform you that president Fernando isback and working. He is interested in suggestion toform the ladonian constitution, and ask you all tomake contribution to this.Betsy Thaggard (April 08)Forgive the hint of sedition, but I must wonder about the existence of>our elected President. For weeks, we have heard nothing personally --only messages relayed by the State Secretary.I must protest his decree that the President occupy the top of theleadership ladder, when he seems averse to rubbing elbows with those whostay active in Ladonia's administration.Senor President, make your presence known!