Intergalactic Summit

Distinctions like that don’t matter much as long as there are State ships in Federal space or State boots on Federal soil. But I don’t fault you for defending your own people in your own territory. I'm not asking for reparations. The last thing I want is a handout from a Caldari. I just want you to understand its my home and just like you I am going to fight for it.

I guess we just have to make the rest of the Federation want to hand over the other half of Home. Democracy should win out at that point. To be honest I don't have an especial yen to do it by fire and sword - quite happy to do it by trade and diplomacy. Actually, I'd prefer that. Right now this war is screwing us Patriots just as hard as you Liberals - loads of our property is in the CEWPA warzone and it just can't be developed properly with the 'Forever War' going on.

If you really want peace, get the hell out your peoples from OUR planet, before we turned them into bloody mush of flesh.

I have more faith in our elected leaders than to think that they would allow such a dishonorable act to occur. I think Operation Highlander demonstrated that such a decision is highly unlikely reguarding the Federations commitment to its citizens on (pauses) Caldari Prime. But I respect the democratic ideal. So hypothetically Ms. Falken If the Federal Senate expressing the popular will of the “People” decide to return (pauses again) Caldari Prime to the State then I will respect the decision. Until then I will do whatever I can to see that doesn’t happen.

Here's the funny thing. Do you know what Caldari have historically done to annexed districts and their residents?

Historically, we've put them to work on a fair wage and incorporated them into the system. when Placid was overrun by the STPRO early in the war, megacorporate administration was installed on a lot of worlds, and the first thing they did was employ the existing residents as on-the-ground leadership and colonial leadership. A lot of colony administrators in the warzone nowadays keep their position no matter who's in charge because when the Federation's in control they've been doing such good jobs that they get re-elected, and when the State takes over they're recognised as having earned the position on merit.

Captured troops are offered fair pay and the opportunity to defect and join the winning cause. Local talent is recruited, local knowledge valued, local infrastructure exploited and local culture respected because those things are practical. When you take over an area you can either subdue, alienate, oppress and humiliate the locals, which will ony foment and inspire resistance movements, or you can let their lives tick over more or less unchanged, except that now everything is cleaner, living is cheaper, work is more available, wages are higher and the employment package includes dental and medical.

Guess which one results in fewer ongoing problems for the occupation? It's a zealous resistance indeed that continues to fight when their own neighbors and kin are begging them to stop.

Provism was an anomaly in that respect. One we're expunging.

Sure, that's the ideal rather than the reality a lot of the time, but I invite you to remember that the one person who ever ordered that Home should be burned rather than compromised was disobeyed, ousted and is now the State's #1 most wanted.

If you don't trust our word, trust our self-interest. And our self-interest is for a politically stable, prosperous Caldari Prime. We will do whatever it takes to secure that, and the most efficient and profitable route would be to buy it and honour whatever contract the Federation drafted.

Oh, and Na'Dare - if you balk at calling it "Caldari Prime", remember that the other name for that world is Home. If you were born there, you're entitled to use it.

You really don't get what we're about, do you?

Look: the Provists were a glitch. They were not ever devoted to the ideal of meritocracy, they just used it as the rallying cry to get people behind them. What they were ABOUT was populism, dictatorship and prejudice. That's not the Caldari way, and that's why we got rid of them.

I don't care what your experience of Provists was, your experience of Caldari will be different because - and this is important - Provists and Dragonaurs are not Caldari. They don't abide by the State's philosophy, they don't respect its purpose, they have no regard for its traditions and they see no value in its principles save where those things can be exploited to feed more money, men and materiel into the grinder. They are Caldari only by ethnicity.

To me, and to a great many others, the word refers more to a philosophy than it does an ethnic group. It means placing competence ahead of all other concerns. It means doing whatever is practical to secure the greatest common good. It means economy and wisdom, intellectual courage and honesty, and disciplined self-improvement. It means expanding your awareness outwards from the individual to embrace the Self of Group, and the Self of Humanity.

Do we live up to that standard? No, not always, of course not. I'm something of a dreamer and idealist in that regard. But that doesn't change the idea, nor does it change that that's what so many billions of us spend our lives working to accomplish. You've seen a loud minority of bigots, and from that you're deriving your opinion of the quiet, hardworking and sensible majority. You need a bigger sample size before your conclusion is valid.

And yes, you would have a voice. Voices are necessary, voices are meritocratic. It's just that we don't think opinions are worthy of automatic respect. Opinions are only as valuable as their content, and voices are only as good as the opinions they express. That doesn't mean that nobody's allowed to speak - after all, the words that aren't spoken can never earn respect. Nobody ever quoted a silent man. A state which suppresses what its citizens have to say suppresses the opportunity to hear thoughts that could improve it, which is the antithesis of meritocratic thinking.

Alternatively, you could continue to be a citizen of the Federation. Reasonable Caldari are not calling for Federation citizens to have to become State citizens, we're perfectly capable and happy to have foreign nationals living among us. All we are asking for is the right to govern our own planet.

And I say again - Caldari Prime is your Home too, and you are entitled to call it that. Freeze anybody who says otherwise.

Only if you choose not to use it. I could go back and forth on the matter, point and counter, forever. So could you. So I'll leave that alone. I do have another question... Is it the freedoms of the Gallente living there that you're trying to represent? Or is it a matter of whose flag flies over the tundra? Also, what ties make it home to you?

In all reality, "special" treatment wouldn't even be an issue. If the Federation truly believes their citizens on Caldari Prime (those who were actually there through the last five years, to be realistic) deserve a break, why not provide funding for their cost of living? It's inexpensive (don't you dare tell me that monster Fed economy of yours can't handle it, people), doesn't make them deadweight on our own system, and satisfies the need there seems to be for them to remain Federal citizens.

So, if history is important, you're putting your thirty-odd years up against hundreds of thousands?

First I represent nobody but myself and of course it matters to me what flag flies over my home. Doesn’t it to you? But I have spoken with several people a lot wiser than I am about this. So let me say this. I love the Federation. I love the ideals upon which she was founded and towards which she still strives. I understand that sometimes hard choices have to be made and that those choices cause gain and loss. To answer your question directly. Yes I could live with State control over Caldari Prime if it strengthened the Federation and promoted peace. But the “freedoms” of Federal citizens must be guaranteed.