07-01-2008, 06:39 PM
THE JUSTICIAR OF HANOVER
HUNTINGTON PALACE
New Bergen
I have served as Hanover's Prime Minister, under many titles, for nearly four years now. In that time, I witnessed (and indeed was partly responsible for) the stabilization of Hanoverian democracy under the Bergen Constitution, and the subsequent fall of that democracy into the morass of unwritten laws and customs we are still escaping from.
Throughout those years, I have had a somewhat fatal fondness for radical change, but I have always done what I thought was best for the Kingdom. In retrospect, some of those plans were simply horrible, founded more on the latest fads in the Kingdom than on experience and reason. Nevertheless, we weathered the worst of times, and have now pulled through into a new era of expansion and prosperity. I hope that I have in some small way contributed to that success.
I have been trying to retire from the Hanoverian Premiership for going on two years now. Indeed, I'm somewhat infamous for becoming fed up with excessive duties -- something I bring upon myself -- and resigning it all in one impulsive moment. However, each of those attempts was eventually defeated by the simple fact that the Hanover of those days was obsessed with laws and politics, and I couldn't let any political argument go by without trying to dominate it.
Modern Hanover is a different place. Through the transition to Second Life, we have accomplished almost effortlessly the transition all micronations struggle with: the transition from a community knit together only by it's constitution (and hence very fragile) to one united by a growing common culture and economy. Today, Hanover does not need the sort of artificial activity that we once generated through endless constitutional reforms. Instead, we must simply obey our existing laws, letting them become stable, while changing them only when they have become truly inconvinient and out of date.
It has become quite clear to me that the real duty of a Hanoverian Justiciar or Prime Minister has always been to lead that sort of artificial political activity: to come up with a new and revolutionary reform plan at the beginning of his term, and then fight against the attempts of his successor to change it. In modern Hanover, that role is unnecessary, and indeed does little but divide and annoy. Therefore, I now feel comfortable in fulfilling my dream of two years, and retiring from my service as Hanover's leading politician.
Of course, I will not retire from Hanoverian affairs. I hope to secure appointment as Speaker of Parliament, and also conduct a series of classes in parliamentary procedure -- which has long been a passion for me. My prediction now is that a new sort of Parliament will eventually be born: a council of citizens meeting to discuss and resolve their concerns, not just about politics, but about all aspects of Hanoverian society. I hope that, when the time comes, I will be an impartial guide and (if necessary) teacher for that new body.
And so, by this letter, and with the consent of His Majesty the King, I now finally step down from my office as Justiciar, and I pledge that (if it can be helped) I will never seek to take it up again.
Yours sincerely,
Christopher D. McQueeny