Topic Actions

Topic Search

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: Google [Bot] and 43 guests

If I were a Mandarin

Join us in talking discussing all things Honor, including (but not limited to) tactics, favorite characters, and book discussions.
Re: If I were a Mandarin
Post by Weird Harold   » Sun Feb 25, 2018 8:17 pm

Weird Harold
Fleet Admiral

Posts: 4478
Joined: Thu Apr 24, 2014 10:25 pm
Location: "Lost Wages", NV

cthia wrote:I stick by the notion that the League has emergency war powers somewhere within the spirit of the Constitution.


There is texev that there ARE emergency war powers, but the self-defense response has been stretched as far as it can be (legally) and further powers require a formal declaration of war by the assembly.

Actually, it isn't any of the Mandarins that would gain "emergency war powers" but the elected League President -- if they should happen to have a Benjamin IX type in office when the declaration passes.

Getting a Unanimous Declaration of War is unlikely, and getting a Solarian Benjamin IX to restore Constitutional Rule is even more unlikely. (we've met the current president and he's no Benjamin IX.)
.
.
.
Answers! I got lots of answers!

(Now if I could just find the right questions.)
Top
Re: If I were a Mandarin
Post by ldwechsler   » Sun Feb 25, 2018 9:32 pm

ldwechsler
Rear Admiral

Posts: 1235
Joined: Sun May 28, 2017 12:15 pm

Weird Harold wrote:
cthia wrote:I stick by the notion that the League has emergency war powers somewhere within the spirit of the Constitution.


There is texev that there ARE emergency war powers, but the self-defense response has been stretched as far as it can be (legally) and further powers require a formal declaration of war by the assembly.

Actually, it isn't any of the Mandarins that would gain "emergency war powers" but the elected League President -- if they should happen to have a Benjamin IX type in office when the declaration passes.

Getting a Unanimous Declaration of War is unlikely, and getting a Solarian Benjamin IX to restore Constitutional Rule is even more unlikely. (we've met the current president and he's no Benjamin IX.)


The mandarins already pretty much do what they like. What they need is a way to shift blame for all the damage they are going to face.

Somewhere in text there is mention that even on Terra they are now being called the Mandarins. That means the general public is aware of their power.
Top
Re: If I were a Mandarin
Post by kzt   » Mon Feb 26, 2018 3:42 am

kzt
Fleet Admiral

Posts: 11337
Joined: Sun Jan 10, 2010 8:18 pm
Location: Albuquerque, NM

Weird Harold wrote:Getting a Unanimous Declaration of War is unlikely, and getting a Solarian Benjamin IX to restore Constitutional Rule is even more unlikely. (we've met the current president and he's no Benjamin IX.)

Luckily there is Mesa....
Top
Re: If I were a Mandarin
Post by ldwechsler   » Mon Feb 26, 2018 10:24 am

ldwechsler
Rear Admiral

Posts: 1235
Joined: Sun May 28, 2017 12:15 pm

kzt wrote:
Weird Harold wrote:Getting a Unanimous Declaration of War is unlikely, and getting a Solarian Benjamin IX to restore Constitutional Rule is even more unlikely. (we've met the current president and he's no Benjamin IX.)

Luckily there is Mesa....



The smart move would be to "take sick" and move myself and my money to a nice quiet planet. And do it well before the crowd goes nuts.
Top
Re: If I were a Mandarin
Post by cthia   » Mon Feb 26, 2018 11:13 am

cthia
Fleet Admiral

Posts: 14951
Joined: Thu Jan 23, 2014 1:10 pm

Weird Harold wrote:
cthia wrote:I stick by the notion that the League has emergency war powers somewhere within the spirit of the Constitution.


There is texev that there ARE emergency war powers, but the self-defense response has been stretched as far as it can be (legally) and further powers require a formal declaration of war by the assembly.

Actually, it isn't any of the Mandarins that would gain "emergency war powers" but the elected League President -- if they should happen to have a Benjamin IX type in office when the declaration passes.

Getting a Unanimous Declaration of War is unlikely, and getting a Solarian Benjamin IX to restore Constitutional Rule is even more unlikely. (we've met the current president and he's no Benjamin IX.)


Now there's a thought. I didn't consider the nonexistent powers of the "figurehead."

But that's the current president. A new one can be elected that is as passionate about the League as Eloise is about her Republic. If the right person does the right thing, I imagine a fair amount of the League can be saved, intact. As mentioned by several people at times, the League wasn't always corrupt. There was a time it stood for what it was meant to.

Son, your mother says I have to hang you. Personally I don't think this is a capital offense. But if I don't hang you, she's gonna hang me and frankly, I'm not the one in trouble. —cthia's father. Incident in ? Axiom of Common Sense
Top
Re: If I were a Mandarin
Post by Armed Neo-Bob   » Mon Feb 26, 2018 3:22 pm

Armed Neo-Bob
Captain of the List

Posts: 532
Joined: Tue Jun 24, 2014 7:11 pm

cthia wrote:Could there be one good Mandarin?

What if one of them is just as sick of the idiocy as Eloise was about her Republic? What if one of them, has always had the real spirit of the League at heart. What if one of them, is just as passionate about their Solarian League as Eloise and Rose are about their Republic?

SNIP

* Who would it be? Agatá Wodoslawski or Omusupe Quartermain?

.


Neither. Agata has been processing the credits from the protectorates for a decade, and her only worry is that the flow will be interrupted. Quartermain? Who'd she have to pay off to get the job in the first place?

SftS, Ch. 47 wrote:She'd spent twenty T-years with the Kalokainos Line before she'd entered the ranks of the federal bureaucracy. The others had spent their professional lives dealing with the often arthritic flow of information over interstellar distances, and all of them had amassed far too much experience of the need to wait for reports and the dispatches to make their lengthy, snaillike way to the League's capital planet. But there was more to it for Quartermain, especially this time around. Her earlier private-sector experience—not to mention her current public-sector responsibilities—had all too often brought her nose-to-nose with the Star Kingdom of Manticore's dominance of the wormhole network that moved both data and commerce about the galaxy. She was more accustomed than the others to dealing with the consequences of how that dominance put Manticore inside the loop of the League's communications and carrying trade, and she didn't like it a bit
Top
Re: If I were a Mandarin
Post by ldwechsler   » Mon Feb 26, 2018 8:32 pm

ldwechsler
Rear Admiral

Posts: 1235
Joined: Sun May 28, 2017 12:15 pm

Armed Neo-Bob wrote:
cthia wrote:Could there be one good Mandarin?

What if one of them is just as sick of the idiocy as Eloise was about her Republic? What if one of them, has always had the real spirit of the League at heart. What if one of them, is just as passionate about their Solarian League as Eloise and Rose are about their Republic?

SNIP

* Who would it be? Agatá Wodoslawski or Omusupe Quartermain?

.


Neither. Agata has been processing the credits from the protectorates for a decade, and her only worry is that the flow will be interrupted. Quartermain? Who'd she have to pay off to get the job in the first place?

SftS, Ch. 47 wrote:She'd spent twenty T-years with the Kalokainos Line before she'd entered the ranks of the federal bureaucracy. The others had spent their professional lives dealing with the often arthritic flow of information over interstellar distances, and all of them had amassed far too much experience of the need to wait for reports and the dispatches to make their lengthy, snaillike way to the League's capital planet. But there was more to it for Quartermain, especially this time around. Her earlier private-sector experience—not to mention her current public-sector responsibilities—had all too often brought her nose-to-nose with the Star Kingdom of Manticore's dominance of the wormhole network that moved both data and commerce about the galaxy. She was more accustomed than the others to dealing with the consequences of how that dominance put Manticore inside the loop of the League's communications and carrying trade, and she didn't like it a bit



Let's fact it. None of the Mandarins is a sweet, nice idealist. But one or more might want to cover their own butt. If you know you're going to lose, it might be easier to simply quit the game early.
Top
Re: If I were a Mandarin
Post by cthia   » Mon Feb 26, 2018 8:45 pm

cthia
Fleet Admiral

Posts: 14951
Joined: Thu Jan 23, 2014 1:10 pm

Armed Neo-Bob wrote:
cthia wrote:Could there be one good Mandarin?

What if one of them is just as sick of the idiocy as Eloise was about her Republic? What if one of them, has always had the real spirit of the League at heart. What if one of them, is just as passionate about their Solarian League as Eloise and Rose are about their Republic?

SNIP

* Who would it be? Agatá Wodoslawski or Omusupe Quartermain?

.


Neither. Agata has been processing the credits from the protectorates for a decade, and her only worry is that the flow will be interrupted. Quartermain? Who'd she have to pay off to get the job in the first place?

SftS, Ch. 47 wrote:She'd spent twenty T-years with the Kalokainos Line before she'd entered the ranks of the federal bureaucracy. The others had spent their professional lives dealing with the often arthritic flow of information over interstellar distances, and all of them had amassed far too much experience of the need to wait for reports and the dispatches to make their lengthy, snaillike way to the League's capital planet. But there was more to it for Quartermain, especially this time around. Her earlier private-sector experience—not to mention her current public-sector responsibilities—had all too often brought her nose-to-nose with the Star Kingdom of Manticore's dominance of the wormhole network that moved both data and commerce about the galaxy. She was more accustomed than the others to dealing with the consequences of how that dominance put Manticore inside the loop of the League's communications and carrying trade, and she didn't like it a bit


LOL

So much for my thought then. That all Mandarins weren't up to their gills in corruption. That one or two may have been in it only up to their knees. Hard to believe that they were all at the same level of corruption. I can imagine just having to go with the flow. Either sail with the ship or "man overboard!"

Son, your mother says I have to hang you. Personally I don't think this is a capital offense. But if I don't hang you, she's gonna hang me and frankly, I'm not the one in trouble. —cthia's father. Incident in ? Axiom of Common Sense
Top
Re: If I were a Mandarin
Post by Weird Harold   » Mon Feb 26, 2018 8:55 pm

Weird Harold
Fleet Admiral

Posts: 4478
Joined: Thu Apr 24, 2014 10:25 pm
Location: "Lost Wages", NV

cthia wrote:Now there's a thought. I didn't consider the nonexistent powers of the "figurehead."

But that's the current president. A new one can be elected ...


I doubt that anyone new could be elected or travel to Earth before the League collapses -- even if elections were in progress right now.

I'm not even sure how the League manages League wide elections.
.
.
.
Answers! I got lots of answers!

(Now if I could just find the right questions.)
Top
Re: If I were a Mandarin
Post by Armed Neo-Bob   » Tue Feb 27, 2018 1:17 am

Armed Neo-Bob
Captain of the List

Posts: 532
Joined: Tue Jun 24, 2014 7:11 pm

Weird Harold wrote:
cthia wrote:Now there's a thought. I didn't consider the nonexistent powers of the "figurehead."

But that's the current president. A new one can be elected ...


I doubt that anyone new could be elected or travel to Earth before the League collapses -- even if elections were in progress right now.

I'm not even sure how the League manages League wide elections.


I expect the members just select their own reps to the Assembly, without the need (or expense) for any League wide elections. Like the original states sending people to the Continental Congress.

Maybe I'm mis-remembering, but I thought of the League's ministers as Parliamentary. I mean, selected from within the members of the Assembly, by the members of the Assembly. That process makes the revolving door of the offices--which are used only for purposes of electioneering a REAL position in the SYSTEM government back home--easier. Wasn't there something to that effect discussing the Sollie foreign Minister? An exception to prove the rule, wasn't he?

Regards,
Rob
Top

Return to Honorverse