Chapter 45: The Devil's Puppet Show - Part II
15th March
Old Settlement, Artemis, Freehold territory
The provisional government assembled to vote on the constitution that Frank put before us - or rather his idea for what the moon should be. And, as I should've known, the votes are stacked to ensure that his plan is voted through. However, it may just be possible for me to make an amendment to it, though that seems unlikely.
"To begin, on behalf of Consul Scuderi, I would like to thank each and every one of you for agreeing to participate in the Provisional Government. Thank you.
Now, moving on to our agenda today. Consul Scuderi and Consul Hue-Song have asked me to put forward a vote on the planned State of Luna: the state constitution, government, economic structure, and legal structure. First, I will briefly summarise the contents of the Luna State Act, then we will debate and vote on amendments, before finally voting on the Act along with any amendments that have been agreed.
I'll now summarise the Act, even though I'm sure most of you have read it…"
I have. I read through the Act, or at least enough to understand the contents. Basically, the act will make the entire moon a 'state' within the Freehold, rather than the 'unincorporated territory' that it currently is. The Act calls for the creation of a new lunar state within the Freehold, with its' own independent local government, economic system and so forth. And, just as Frank promised the world, it operates on an entirely new form of governance. The officials in the local government will be elected similarly to a parliamentary democracy, however each electoral district will send three representatives, rather than just one. Voting will be conducted with preferential ranking (ranking favourite candidate to least favourite), and any political parties formed will only be able to field two candidates per electorate, ensuring some variability. The representatives of each electorate will also double as the highest legal authorities in that electorate, with the people's first choice being the highest. The idea is that this gives the people truer representation in both the legislative and judicial branches of their government, without bogging them down in endless elections.
As for the economy, the credit system will remain in place. All transactions will be through the credit system, with employees being given allowances weekly or monthly, with a portion of the amount they don't use being kept by them at the end of the period. Because of this, banks are irrelevant, and will remain non-existent on the moon. Instead the new state will run an institution named the Wealth Redistribution Fund, in which part of the tax companies pay will be placed. The Fund will allow for citizens struggling to make ends meet to be given temporary monetary aid. And that sums it up.
By keeping the credit system in place, corporations, specifically the tigers, will keep hold of a lot of their current power. Corruption will surely run rampant thanks to the merging of the legislative and judicial branches, which makes me wonder why Frank did that. I suppose that may also be influence from the transnationals, who would prefer a lenient legal system, or perhaps that's what Frank intended all along.
"...and that's everything, really," Kyle finishes, "if anyone wishes to make any amendments to the act, they can put them forward now, and then we'll vote on them."
I'd come here with the intention of making a number of amendments to the act, or at least bringing them to a vote, but looking now, I see that there probably isn't much reason to. Now that I know who else is in the provisional government, I realise that there isn't much reason or point to doing so. The transnationals will protect the powers that Frank has enshrined into the state's constitution for them, and Frank's lackies will surely vote with them, to maintain their alliance. Six against three. There'd be no reason. But is that what Frank would expect of me? Surely, he'd realise that I would notice that there's no way any changes I wish to make would pass. Even so, maybe I can force through a smaller change. If I can convince two of the others to switch, then perhaps we can get something through. I stand up to make my case. So, I need to present an amendment that doesn't take much, if anything, off the table that the transnationals want. They're the ones I need to flip if I want to make a change to this farce of a constitution.
"First off, I think I should make it clear that there's a lot more that I don't agree with about the act, but I'm going to limit my amendment to give it a better chance. I want the electoral representatives to have a smaller say in the judicial branch. More of an advisory position than executive. This would make the judicial branch of this government much more acceptable to the Justice Association."
I sit back down, after finishing. Kyle replies quickly to me.
"Can you word that in a way acceptable for a motion?"
"Come on, you know exactly what she means," Randolph says from beside me, "do we really have to do all of that?"
"This is a formal…"
"Why don't I move a motion then," Jazz says, cutting over Kyle's response, "I motion for the removal of necessity for formal language in session."
We all look to Kyle, waiting for his response.
"I guess that would be fine then," he says after some contemplation, "let's put it to a vote. All those in favour of removing the need for formal language, raise your hand."
The vote passes quite easily, six against none, the rest abstaining.
Following the vote, everyone seems to relax a little, even Kyle. It'd been quite tense in the room beforehand, as you might expect. It isn't like any of us are enemies as of right now, but we certainly don't trust each other in the slightest. I guess a good way to describe it, is that there was a heavy atmosphere in the room before, and now it's lightened up a bit.
"Now that we've got that out of the way," Kyle put us back on track, "we should vote on Mei's amendment. Which was changing the role of the elected representatives from each district in the judicial system to an advisory role, correct?"
"Correct."
"All those in favour, raise your hand."
I'm not expecting to win this vote. In fact, I had only expected Randolph and Jamie to also vote for the deal, as representatives of the Justice Association. And they did, of course, but it was surprising to see Ms Larsson from Ingprad also put up her hand. As I looked over at her, probably with a look of disbelief on my face, she smiled and winked at me. What's that supposed to mean? I know I said I had to convince the transnationals if I wanted to pass any amendment, but I didn't really think any of them would actually support this. By linking the legislative representatives to the judicial system, Frank was making it easier for corruption to spread, which surely would benefit the transnationals just as much, perhaps even more so, than Frank.
"And those against, raise your hand."
If she was trying to win favour with the Justice Association, it was pointless anyway. Her vote won't change the result. Even with Ms Larsson's support, we still lose five to four. So, at best, it's a token effort. I close my eyes, and almost shrug. I knew the amendment wasn't going to pass anyway. After this, we'll vote on the act itself and it'll pass no matter which way the three here at my table vote.
"The amendment passes four votes for, three votes against."
Huh? I open my eyes, and quickly scan the room. The first abstainer is the representative from Fort-Leiher. Dora Qemali, as her nameplate reads, seems disinterested in the result. She is listening in on the meeting, it's not like she isn't paying attention, perhaps she isn't going to vote on anything. The other abstainer to my, and everyone else's, surprise is none other than Kyle. What reason could he have for not voting? Did Frank tell him not to for whatever reason? No, surely that isn't the case, because Jazz and Ms de Marcos both look surprised. Shocked even. Whatever this is, it definitely wasn't planned. But, why would Kyle go against what Frank told him to do? That seems unbelievable. Kyle has always done as Frank has said. That's been their entire relationship for twenty years. I don't know what spell or hypnotism Frank used, but I don't think I've ever seen Kyle go against what Frank has ordered. Never once has he opposed Frank, so why now? Kyle continues on, ignoring the stares that a few of us are giving him.
"If there aren't any more amendments, we will now move on to voting on the act with the amendment."
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