Posted by Ladislaus Horatius (Minister of Sophistry) on May 18, 1997 at 17:05:03:
In Reply to: "Fernando A man of visions" posted by Ladislaus Horatius (Minister of Sophistry) on May 18, 1997 at 15:36:19:
Sorry everybody.The message "Fernando A man of visions" was copied and pasted from another program. It definitely looked better in that program.-( Here it is again, formatted. Sorry about the noice. I hope it works better this time...--------------------------------------------------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 and now 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). Very enthusiastic person. He told us it would be good for our multicultural, open image to choose Fernando for President. Apart from giving us "an international recognition". Yum, yum! "Esporte" was sure Fernando would "consider travel to Sweden to his instalation". That would attract the media. Only good news so far. Apart from the propaganda-value, "esporte" assured us that Fernando was "a very dynamic, active and creative person". (The picture for Fernando's "campaign" -- http://www.aim.se/ladonia/pict/fe-kamp.gif -- shows him wearing some cool sunglasses and presents the slogan: "Fernando. A man of visions".) Well, of course this is what one always says about presidential candidates, in any country. However Ladonia is no ordinary country. At least 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 far demonstrated his dynamic, active and creative nature?Well, one cannot accuse him for writing too many letters. At least not letters to ministers. I have counted five. (And then I included a forwarding from Porto Claro which Fernando didn't write, so really it should be four.)So the "active" part hasn't been demonstrated, even hinted at. Fernando may be very active in his job as journalist, or at the beach, or in the kitchen, but he hasn't been active *in Ladonia* (or Cyber-Ladonia, if you wish).Yes, but volume isn't everything, you say. Look at the quality, the dynamic creativity. Well, let's see what we can find.The only thing I can find is the Presidential Decrees, and I'm not very impressed 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 for three years. (That's an eternity nowadays. Or a marriage...) An Elders Council is suggested, or rather decreed. Lars Vilks is to refresh the cabinet -- "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. Sounds dictatorial to me. However, so far his voice hasn't been heard about any appointments. (Sorry, forgot Humberto and Vera.)After that -- SILENCE. For more than a month. "And what about his Excellency?" was a phrase that echoed in the cyberhalls of Ladonia. (This is when I proposed to write an operetta with the above title. Some people took 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 if nothing had happened. (Which, in a way, was true.)This "Word" prompted me to write a letter to him: "Surely one can ask the prosaic but not unimportant question: WHERE YOU HAVE BEEN?" No reply. Perhaps one really cannot ask that. Perhaps our president is above answering such prosaic questions. Maybe I used the wrong tone, maybe I should have said: "Dare we humbly inquire where our Illustrious Excellency has spent the last couple of weeks?"Fernando then made some comments on and small additions to Lord Sig Whig's proposal for Constitution. And that's it. That's the total of Fernando's active, 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-will against Fernando Rodrigues. I am sure he is a man of qualities. However, I see many possibilities that Ladonia could have with a strong, i.e. *really* active and creative (in Ladonia) president. These possibilities are closed at 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 in that case he should at least mention the subject and tell us what to expect. (Presidents *always* make promises!) Fernando has been very uncommunicative so far. He may have a big correspondence with Lars -- who knows? -- but he definitely should talk to us too. My question is: Is Fernando occupying a place where somebody else could do a better job? Are we witnessing Peter's Principle in action? I suspect the answer to both questions is "yes".The idea to have *both* queen and president -- "in order to create a situation of female-male-principles" -- came from the Minister of Health. I am not sure what such a "situation" means, but, as you might know, balance between feminine-masculine energies has also been one of my concerns. Queen Ywonne clearly stated she would make small claim to rulership outside her own palace ("ringa ansprk p maktutvande frutom i sitt eget palats"). But what about masculine Fernando? (No sarcasm, just refering to his 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 Sndor that there are possibilities for Ladonia that we are not realizing, perhaps are 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.) A strong active tone or an absent tone, but tone nevertheless. Of course the Queen does that too, and we ministers also. However, I think the presidential "tone" is cardinal.Who was it said "A country isn't stronger than it's president"? Must have been the Court Jester. (The living one.)Now my thoughts are unloaded.Ladislaus Horatius (Minister of Sophistry)--------------------------------------------------To refresh your memories here's a small (re)collection of voices and developments relevant to the question, taken from this Ladonia-Board.Erik Johansson (February 23)Varfr rstar s mnga p Farnando????Jag frstr inte riktigt meningen, med att rsta p en man, utan parti, och utan ngra som helst politiska ml (tminstone inga jag hrt talas om)[Why do so many vote for Fernando? ... a man without a party, with no political goals... (My translation)]Vera Porad (February 24)The reasons to vote for Fernando are really quite obvious. The power of a man who manages to gather so many votes without even making much of a campaign must possess extraordinary powers. Now every Ladonian must recognize 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 many votes, without doing anything.. But what if that is all he's got?? Maybe he is 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 thought it was a very nice idea. Besides, it was something that was preesented to me by an old and beloved friend,Vera Porad.[snip]First of all, can you imagine how charming it would be to have a president from a Third World country? Someone from a Third World country always inspires people in Europe to give more attention to certain matters. ItĒs some sort of guilty complex that affects almost everybody living above the Tropic of Cancer.Lord Nikos Leocardic, Baron of Trans-Arx (March 02)All citizens noble in heart or/andblood shouldnĒt fail to see their responsibility. Our beloved Mother-country is at the risk of falling into the hands of incompetent scoundrels!Vote for Barda as Queen and vote for the Optimates and our constitution!President Fernando Rodrigues (March 04)Dear coutrymen, Thank you all!!ItĒs an honour to be president of Ladonia.[snip]Please, do send sugestions of how you all expect me to conduct my presidency.Lars Vilks (March 04)Our president Fernando Rodrigues has as his first measure appointed two ministers: Umberto Saccomandi (our ambassador in Brazil), as minister of extraordinary affairs in Latin-America, and Vera Porad as minister of extraordinary affairs in Europe.Christer Edling (March 06)It is with great worry we now observe the present development in Ladonia. In a short time many problems have developed: 1. We have a queen who in an act of eternal disgrace and nepotism appoints her husband to an important office and who continues to mock the serious need of the People of humour and relaxation by appointing a dead man as court jester! :-( As if that wasn1t enough this queen has lowered herself to the level of a petty bourgeoisie by using Our beloved country1s homepage to sell ......... pork (sic!)!2. The president appoints a couple of nitwits to equally important officies.4. There hasn1t been appointed any responsible government. Our beloved Ladonia drifts steerless in an ocean of bickering and nepotism.Lord Mlndr (March 16)Where is our Queen and our President? We havenĒt heard from them in a long time. I think itĒs important that they take part in the open discussions on the board! Maybe they have withdrawn to their datjas......Sandor Posvari (March 30 In Reply to: Easter Sunday posted by Johan Sderberg, Herde >Todays latin on Easter Sunday:> Dominica resurrectionis>Glad PĪskOK. But where is the President?Lars Vilks (April 04)Citizens!First I will inform you that president Fernando is back and working. He is interested in suggestion to form the ladonian constitution, and ask you all to make 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 the leadership ladder, when he seems averse to rubbing elbows with those who stay active in Ladonia's administration.Senor President, make your presence known!