{"id":1084,"date":"2016-03-27T17:05:36","date_gmt":"2016-03-27T22:05:36","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/keithgoodnight.com\/blog\/?p=1084"},"modified":"2016-03-27T17:05:36","modified_gmt":"2016-03-27T22:05:36","slug":"offworld-is-our-country","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/keithgoodnight.com\/blog\/2016\/03\/27\/offworld-is-our-country\/","title":{"rendered":"Offworld Is Our Country"},"content":{"rendered":"

September 1, 2183<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cChaos would not be too strong a word.\u201d Arthur dropped his handscreen on the conference table with a disgusted gesture and leaned back in his chair. \u201cLegally, anyway. The NAC has a challenge pending before the International Court against Monroe\u2019s original ban on supplies to the Colonies. Now he\u2019s out with this new one, and he\u2019s invoking emergency powers. Where does that leave North America\u2019s case? He never bothered to claim a legal basis for his original blockade order, but emergency powers give him one\u2014 and the Constitution states clearly that when the president declares emergency powers, he has them until two or more Continental Directorates protest.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat the dust is something like that doing in the Terran Constitution?\u201d Carol asked. \u201cI\u2019d have thought it would require the president to ask permission to grab that much power, not require the continents to say no after the fact. Wasn\u2019t the whole idea of the Terran Federation to end dictatorship everywhere?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYes but the Constitution was ratified by the allies right in the middle of a rather nasty global war, if you\u2019ll remember. The view of the time was that a crisis would likely jump off too fast for legislative debate, and giving the continents a veto would be protection enough. And it only takes two to veto an emergency powers declaration\u2014 just enough to stop one rogue continent from blocking the president, not enough to make it difficult if it\u2019s the president who\u2019s gone rogue.\u201d<\/p>\n

Carol frowned. \u201cBut unfortunately, two is one more than we have.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cRight.\u201d Arthur nodded. \u201cThe North American Continent is the only one on our side\u2014 and we need to realize even that is shaky. Public opinion in the NAC is almost as solid against the Colonies as everywhere else on the planet. The only reason the government leans our way is because our representatives vote as a bloc instead of by party, and so hold the balance of power in a divided congress. So the politicians court us. But that won\u2019t hold if we get unpopular enough, or if the next election gets either party enough votes that they don\u2019t need us.\u201d<\/p>\n

Charles broke in. \u201cAnd meanwhile the emergency powers are legally in effect no matter what we do.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s correct, Governor.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cSo even if the NAC decides to keep defying the Federation, Monroe\u2019s order to the military to actually shoot down the transport ships is in force.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n

Carol shook her head. \u201cIt\u2019s in force, but would they actually do it? Most military units are locally recruited and organized. Would a North American patrol ship actually shoot down a North American transport ship? Even if they\u2019re ordered to?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI doubt it\u2019ll come to a test,\u201d Arthur said. \u201cThey\u2019ll back down, call off the shipments until things straighten out.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat does this do to our plan to sustain the lifesystems by trade between Colonies?\u201d Charles turned to Aaron Hayes, seated at the end of the table.<\/p>\n

Hayes shook his head. \u201cBlows it to dust, Governor. The whole scheme was predicated on the six NAC Colonies still receiving supplies. Without that, there\u2019s no way we can reach sustainability, at least not soon enough.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWill exchanging supplies still help?\u201d<\/p>\n

Hayes thought it over. \u201cSome,\u201d he finally said. \u201cIt\u2019ll delay the inevitable.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThen we go ahead we those plans.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ll be easier to sell politically now,\u201d Carol observed. \u201cMutually beneficial trade instead of our six Colonies helping the others out of charity. We all like to say we\u2019re in favor of helping, but voters tend to react to their own bottom line.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cPlus\u2014\u201d Hayes began, then hesitated.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat is it?\u201d asked Charles.<\/p>\n

\u201cWell, the plain fact is that people are already leaving, going Down. Not many, especially from Star City, but some. Obviously the Lifesystems Department tracks onboard population very closely. We\u2019ve declined a bit, for the first time since the Colony was founded. It\u2019s happening more on some of the other Colonies.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cMakes sense,\u201d said Arthur. \u201cColonies outside the NAC six are in a worse bind than we are. They know their own continent is against them, as well as the Terran government.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe ran some numbers,\u201d Hayes said. \u201cIf the Colonies, collectively, lost twenty percent of current population, we could achieve sustainable lifesystems without help from Earth. We\u2019d have to keep working to build up the systems as population rebounded, but we\u2019ve always planned on that. Maybe we could… well…\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat, start deporting a fifth of our population?\u201d Charles asked. \u201cHow do you figure we should decide who? A lottery? No. No way.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe might not have to deport anyone,\u201d Hayes said. \u201cIf things keep getting worse, maybe it\u2019ll happen by itself. Or maybe we can just encourage people who want<\/em> to leave\u2014\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cDisaster. That would be disaster.\u201d Arthur shook his head and folded his arms.<\/p>\n

Carol nodded. \u201cRight now people are scared. They don\u2019t know what\u2019s going to happen to their homes, their jobs, their lives here in the Colonies. If some are already starting to give up and go Down, the slightest whiff of defeatist talk from the Colonial government will turn that into a stampede.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWell sure, we can\u2019t afford to lose everyone,\u201d Hayes said, \u201cbut maybe we could limit the number of exit visas\u2014\u201d<\/p>\n

Arthur laughed. \u201cGood, so instead of deporting people by force, we get them running for their lives and then stop some of them by force. You\u2019re not a politician, Aaron, don\u2019t ever try to be one.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re not encouraging anyone to leave,\u201d Charles said, \u201cand we\u2019re not breathing a whisper of even wanting them to. If enough people go Down anyway, then we count our lifesystem blessings and go on, but all<\/em> initiative on our part will be encouraging our people to stay. Offworld is our continent,<\/em> dust it, even if Earth\u2019s population voted down that referendum. It\u2019s…\u201d He stopped, frowned, and then said, \u201cNo. Offworld is our country.<\/em> We\u2019re not giving it up.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re back to the question of what we do about it,\u201d Arthur said. \u201cMonroe has<\/em> the legal authority to force the evacuation, and to fire on supply ships heading to us, unless the NAC can get a second continental government on board to veto the emergency powers.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWell.\u201d Charles drummed his fingers on the table. \u201cI\u2019m sure civil disobedience is a fine thing but it\u2019s not something we in this room can decide on behalf of the whole population. Arthur, I want to call a special election. There\u2019s something in the Star City charter about popular referendums for charter amendments, right?\u201d<\/p>\n

Carol said, \u201cUsually those are on the ballot at regular elections.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe can\u2019t wait for the next regular election. Arthur?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWith a bit of creative interpretation, yes. If an elected official has to leave office, the governor can call a special election. And a charter amendment can be part of any official election.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cFind someone who needs a vacation,\u201d Charles said. \u201cHe can run for reelection right back into office. Or else I\u2019ll just call for the referendum without any vacant office to fill, and if anyone objects they can take me to court. If Monroe can do it, so can I. Get the legal office to put it in proper form to add to the charter, but the referendum is: Star City rejects any evacuation order, and assert its right to remain in operation regardless of any outside government or authority. Yes or no.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cCharter amendments require a two thirds majority of the popular vote to pass.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cGreat, if we\u2019re going to turn this Colony into rebels, I\u2019d like more than a bare majority anyway.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cA special election requires six weeks notice between you calling for it, and election day.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cOkay.\u201d Charles called up the calendar on his handscreen. \u201cHow long for the legal office to write a proper amendment?\u201d<\/p>\n

Arthur shrugged. \u201cA couple of days.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s Monday now. Think I can announce the referendum by Wednesday?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cShould work.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cGood. Then Wednesday plus six weeks…\u201d Charles counted down and then added a flag to the date. \u201cEveryone mark your calendars. On Wednesday, October fifteenth the revolution begins.\u201d<\/p>\n

TO BE CONTINUED<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

September 1, 2183 \u201cChaos would not be too strong a word.\u201d Arthur dropped his handscreen on the conference table with a disgusted gesture and leaned back in his chair. \u201cLegally, anyway. The NAC has a challenge pending before the International…<\/p>\n

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