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Description
Adorkable Twilight & Friends - “Moving Forward.”
All throughout Saturday the 10th and Sunday the 11th, we will be testing out a more serious story arc, so we need your feedback. Check back for multiple comic updates! We will go back to funny Adorkableness come Monday!
All throughout Saturday the 10th and Sunday the 11th, we will be testing out a more serious story arc, so we need your feedback. Check back for multiple comic updates! We will go back to funny Adorkableness come Monday!
Few people hate the powerful without envying them.
“…where the people have effectively been enslaved by a right-wing, near totalitarian state…” You say as the right is currently the populist, and the left has rigged elections. I suppose it depends on what you mean by “right”, though. It’s always strongly annoyed me that somehow libertarians and authoritarians get put under the same title of “right”.
And I wouldn’t call FDR the greatest president… He ran three terms and put the Japanese in internment camps, for two. Washington’s probably easily the best, to me.
@Meanlucario
I think it’s a matter of perspective more than anything. People like to paint the powerful ones as the bad guys because they’re “big bad” - we put those two words together in our language an awful lot. But perhaps the two aren’t necessarily linked? I’d say the U.S. is way better than a lot of small nations like N.K, Pakistan, Cuba, and if anyone’s a “big bad” it’d probably be China, with cities so polluted you need a mask to go outside, a one-child policy, and a host of other issues.
But you see, that is just the thing that bothers me so much about the U.S. Historically, it’s just about the best you can ask for out of human beings, but something with an immortal, benign and competent monarch is far superior. Probably first and foremost is her ability to influence culture, second is her ability to see long-term; you know why we haven’t been back to the Moon? I think a lot of it is because either people aren’t interested in space, or when they are, each president wants his name on the space program. Bush wanted Constellation, Obama wants “Mars or a meteor by the 2030’s” (long after he’s out of office and no longer has any control over it) and cancels Constellation - they fight for their own glory at the cost of achieving anything at all.
That’s to say nothing of the fact that simply put, a president has no reason to care about what happens to a country after he’s gone, and people have no reason to care about what happens to the world after they’re dead. A president is incentivised to make short-term decisions that will cause long-term issues that are, well, “someone else’s problem”. (Neville Chamberlain moments - “yay! I pacified Germany by letting them have part of Czechoslovakia so they won’t go start “The Great War” all over again!) (Let’s just ignore the debt - I’ll let the next president deal with it and it will make him look bad, meanwhile I can go deeper in debt spending on stuff that will make me look good!)
Finally, a single leader can be a lot quicker and more decisive in handling issues that come up. She can make “executive orders” / “royal decrees” with unlimited power to handle any issue that the country needs to face - if you trust her with such authority and she won’t do anything immoral with it, then there’s no need for checks and balances. Checks and balances are a necessary evil that we have to have because humans are prone to corruption and greed. Even a benign and wise human monarch will die and give way to someone incompetent or corrupt, eventually. But Celestia probably won’t, if the last thousand-plus years are anything to go by.
Finally, consider figures like Sunset Shimmer, Starlight Glimmer - even Twilight’s fess-up in “Lesson Zero”. In any human system of government, Sunset and Starlight might’ve been give life sentences at best, executed for treason at worst. Twilight would’ve faced a very severe punishment, as well. “A clear and present danger” might’ve even had her magic removed. But a figure like Celestia, wielding supreme authority, was able to step in and pardon them - and here’s an interesting thing; technically leaders can do that in even our system of government, but they simply don’t.
Simply put, there’s a lot to it, and a lot comes down to the individual chosen as a leader. So far, Celestia’s managed to make and upkeep a civilization better than ours, with justice that similarly seems better than ours, and whatever mistakes and shortcomings she’s had, she’s still managed to lead her nation through much worse trials than America’s ever faced, especially when you consider that in addition to all the attacks and Starlight’s subversions, Equestria’s probably faced similar problems to any nation, and what problems they haven’t faced are probably due to a better culture that Celestia undoubtably played a large part in forming.
You know, I can help but enjoy the irony that America has a love of the underdog, but has became to big bad competition itself.
Where’s that portal when you need it?
Sadly, I have front row seats to the downfall of all Big-Named civilizations.
Judging by what are the priorities of the american aristocrats, its politicians and military commanders. Also factor in the fact that its debt is to all intents and purposes, unserviceable, i’d say the collapse will be within my lifetime. It will most likely to start with another civil war, as the common people would be pushed too far with neglect and coming to a realisation that their leaders are getting more and more corrupted with bribes and political contributions from the aristocrats and big corporations to the point where the people have effectively been enslaved by a right-wing, near totalitarian state, where democracy is only a veneer. It’s inevitable that the people will eventually revolt. For the world, you better hope and pray that the victors will take the US onto a dramatic political swing to the Left because one, it hasn’t since FDR (its one of the main reasons why he’s considered the greatest US President in american history). And two, you don’t want a true American Emperor; because with that you can guarantee WWIII, a war that would make WWII look like a minor skirmish in comparison.
Edited
“The people have spoken. Viva la resistance.”
“You pushed the resistance leader into a giant fan.”
“He was a traitor and a scoundrel. “
Mortals are flawed and any monarchy IRL will ultimately fail, burn, and end terribly for everyone because eventually someone incompetent or malevolent will take power (not that that doesn’t happen in any other form of government, too, it’s just worse in a monarchy).
Celestia seizes the opportunity for a near-utopia by getting around those inherent problems with immortal, benign, wise leaders.
I don’t care if Celestia would execute me for it, I’d kill both those generals so that the royal sisters can retain power and continue Equestria’s golden reign.
Seriously, imagine an Equestria where your choices for president are Trump or Hitlary. Celestia and Luna any day, million years, no trial.
Heavens’ knows how long the American Republic has before it collapses, and other countries have had their fun times, too. But imagine a leader who is long-sighted and selfless, who is competent and genuinely wishes for nothing more than the prosperity and happiness of her citizens while also respecting them as much as Celly and Luna do.
That’s a cause worth dying for, IMO, when the alternative is the relatively deplorable state known as “the human condition”, with regards to governance.
Democracy is like capitalism. It’s crappy but we use it because it’s the best option when working with crappy, flawed humans. Holy crap would having an opportunity to circumvent those human limitations be amazing.
…Dang, I was thinking, like, killing those two fools then turning myself in to Celestia, but not until I’d finished the job since I didn’t want her stopping me, but you know, future threats might come up, too. Just imagine, “The Order of the Golden Sun” - some general talking about “a radical fanatic organization sworn to the protection of the princesses that is neither approved nor overseen by them. Princess zealots, if you will…”
Edited
You can use it to describe any process of ridiculous complexity;
i.e. A byzantine set of instructions.
I thought it was overly complicated bureaucracy.
I thought the term “Byzantine” was synonymous with decadence and general social corruption not political corruption.
pull out more lightsaber, This comic needs more lightsaber and dark robes!
I’ve read a story where she talked about doing that before in fim fiction. So not that bothered by it. All she did was wait for her little ponies to mess everything up before coming back into leadership.
True, but he didn’t say he wouldn’t run either. My concern about Griggs stems from the fact that we have to take him at his word- we haven’t seen the population crying out for change ourselves, so we don’t know if what he’s doing is for them or himself. Plus, the fact that he recorded his conversation with Twilight for the explicit purpose of getting leverage against her doesn’t exactly scream “I’m the good guy.”
(Also, you could replace
“random general” with “random politician,” and my previous statement still stands.)
Which is kinda my whole point about the rich assholes buying the election and turning Equestria into a classist hellhole.
Good intentions don’t mean that it will end well. They could vote in ponies who don’t know what they’re doing, and run Equestia into the ground. People don’t always know what’s best for them.
The general never said he was going to run for presidency. He stated that it would be up to the citizens to choose. Twilight would retain power until an election is held, meanwhile Luna and Celestia would step down as supreme leaders and be more of figure heads and diplomats.
I see no ill-will the general has here. He is clearly trying to do what the citizenry doesn’t do. He’s risking his head, especially since he choose not to do this violently.
Oh, those guys. Let them rot.
Anyway, I feel that most of them are neutral/OK, and it’s the few like the ones you named that give them all a bad reputation.
Edited
Wasn’t talking about them. Was talking about the jerks like Blueblood, Upper Crust, Spoiled Rich, etc. that seem to make up 90% of Equestria’s upper class.
Yeah, I hope that happens. I can’t imagine there would be that many who would vote for some random general over the immortal benevolent demigoddesses that have kept everything running smoothly for over a thousand years.
They don’t need to, apparently they lead a perfect utopia that is somehow full of people that evil.
I- I don’t think either of the sisters would do anything like that. Are we even following the same series?