Hutch wrote:"kzt"]"n7axw"]
This might be an overly optimistic pov... Revolutions have a very poor record for producing positive results in places that don't have a track record of participatory government, Mobius being a case in point. Without long term outside help, the cure could turn out worse than the original disease.
Highly optimistic. The previous government had reasonable support, they always do. Planets are big, with an enormous population. The fact that someone has a bunch of guys with guns does not mean they have broad popular support or can produce a government with broad popular support. It especially does not mean that they WILL produce a government with broad popular support when they have a bunch of guys with guns.[/quote]
I'm not sure I agree with you, kzt, on the 'reasonable support'. It was more reminiscent of the old USSR, where the population had been beaten down so much that they were just satisfied with surviving day-to-day. That is a very fragile 'support' and textev indicated that once the revolution started it did gain widespread support very quickly (or the SLN wouldn't have had to kill those towns).
That said, again using the old USSR as an example, I would expect every repressed political thought, from Monarchy to Anarchy, to suddenly find it's voice and begin demanding things be changed the way they want.
Which will be diametrically opposite from everybody elses thoughts, who will also be demanding changes.
Michael Breidenbach will have some interesting times. That he apparently is a excellent organizer, a solid leader, and is the one who got the Manties to blow most of the old government to smithereens (at least in the eyes of the Mobious population) will help.
But for the first few years, it will be a wild and wooly ride.
Best advice I could give is import a bunch of Havenite diplomats recommended by President Prichard....if anyplace knows how to transistion between a totalitarian state and democracy (and has made the mistakes along the way), those folks do.
But Therekov will be coming back to Montana soonest, I agree...there are still a large number of "Presidents for life" who think they are more ruthless than he is and need to be 'educated'....
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Another source (and closer) might, surprisingly, be Montana (maybe even the infamous Steven Westman) or the Reconciliation Party on Kornati -- Montana has a
STRONG tradition of independence, constitutional government and individual rights (and even right hooks). Kornati, at least after Vuk Rajkovic inherited the presidency, has a parliamentary tradition and has recent experience in bloodying its nose with internal issues. Sometimes that can be a very good learning experience.
-- Stewart