If I were a Mandarin

cthia wrote:I stick by the notion that the League has emergency war powers somewhere within the spirit of the Constitution.

Weird Harold wrote:

cthia wrote:I stick by the notion that the League has emergency war powers somewhere within the spirit of the Constitution.

There is texev that there ARE emergency war powers, but the self-defense response has been stretched as far as it can be (legally) and further powers require a formal declaration of war by the assembly.

Actually, it isn't any of the Mandarins that would gain "emergency war powers" but the elected League President -- if they should happen to have a Benjamin IX type in office when the declaration passes.

Getting a Unanimous Declaration of War is unlikely, and getting a Solarian Benjamin IX to restore Constitutional Rule is even more unlikely. (we've met the current president and he's no Benjamin IX.)

Weird Harold wrote:Getting a Unanimous Declaration of War is unlikely, and getting a Solarian Benjamin IX to restore Constitutional Rule is even more unlikely. (we've met the current president and he's no Benjamin IX.)

kzt wrote:

Weird Harold wrote:Getting a Unanimous Declaration of War is unlikely, and getting a Solarian Benjamin IX to restore Constitutional Rule is even more unlikely. (we've met the current president and he's no Benjamin IX.)

Luckily there is Mesa....

Weird Harold wrote:

cthia wrote:I stick by the notion that the League has emergency war powers somewhere within the spirit of the Constitution.

There is texev that there ARE emergency war powers, but the self-defense response has been stretched as far as it can be (legally) and further powers require a formal declaration of war by the assembly.

Actually, it isn't any of the Mandarins that would gain "emergency war powers" but the elected League President -- if they should happen to have a Benjamin IX type in office when the declaration passes.

Getting a Unanimous Declaration of War is unlikely, and getting a Solarian Benjamin IX to restore Constitutional Rule is even more unlikely. (we've met the current president and he's no Benjamin IX.)

cthia wrote:Could there be one good Mandarin?

What if one of them is just as sick of the idiocy as Eloise was about her Republic? What if one of them, has always had the real spirit of the League at heart. What if one of them, is just as passionate about their Solarian League as Eloise and Rose are about their Republic?

SNIP

* Who would it be? Agatá Wodoslawski or Omusupe Quartermain?

.

SftS, Ch. 47 wrote:She'd spent twenty T-years with the Kalokainos Line before she'd entered the ranks of the federal bureaucracy. The others had spent their professional lives dealing with the often arthritic flow of information over interstellar distances, and all of them had amassed far too much experience of the need to wait for reports and the dispatches to make their lengthy, snaillike way to the League's capital planet. But there was more to it for Quartermain, especially this time around. Her earlier private-sector experience—not to mention her current public-sector responsibilities—had all too often brought her nose-to-nose with the Star Kingdom of Manticore's dominance of the wormhole network that moved both data and commerce about the galaxy. She was more accustomed than the others to dealing with the consequences of how that dominance put Manticore inside the loop of the League's communications and carrying trade, and she didn't like it a bit

Armed Neo-Bob wrote:

cthia wrote:Could there be one good Mandarin?

What if one of them is just as sick of the idiocy as Eloise was about her Republic? What if one of them, has always had the real spirit of the League at heart. What if one of them, is just as passionate about their Solarian League as Eloise and Rose are about their Republic?

SNIP

* Who would it be? Agatá Wodoslawski or Omusupe Quartermain?

.

Neither. Agata has been processing the credits from the protectorates for a decade, and her only worry is that the flow will be interrupted. Quartermain? Who'd she have to pay off to get the job in the first place?

SftS, Ch. 47 wrote:She'd spent twenty T-years with the Kalokainos Line before she'd entered the ranks of the federal bureaucracy. The others had spent their professional lives dealing with the often arthritic flow of information over interstellar distances, and all of them had amassed far too much experience of the need to wait for reports and the dispatches to make their lengthy, snaillike way to the League's capital planet. But there was more to it for Quartermain, especially this time around. Her earlier private-sector experience—not to mention her current public-sector responsibilities—had all too often brought her nose-to-nose with the Star Kingdom of Manticore's dominance of the wormhole network that moved both data and commerce about the galaxy. She was more accustomed than the others to dealing with the consequences of how that dominance put Manticore inside the loop of the League's communications and carrying trade, and she didn't like it a bit

Armed Neo-Bob wrote:

cthia wrote:Could there be one good Mandarin?

What if one of them is just as sick of the idiocy as Eloise was about her Republic? What if one of them, has always had the real spirit of the League at heart. What if one of them, is just as passionate about their Solarian League as Eloise and Rose are about their Republic?

SNIP

* Who would it be? Agatá Wodoslawski or Omusupe Quartermain?

.

Neither. Agata has been processing the credits from the protectorates for a decade, and her only worry is that the flow will be interrupted. Quartermain? Who'd she have to pay off to get the job in the first place?

SftS, Ch. 47 wrote:She'd spent twenty T-years with the Kalokainos Line before she'd entered the ranks of the federal bureaucracy. The others had spent their professional lives dealing with the often arthritic flow of information over interstellar distances, and all of them had amassed far too much experience of the need to wait for reports and the dispatches to make their lengthy, snaillike way to the League's capital planet. But there was more to it for Quartermain, especially this time around. Her earlier private-sector experience—not to mention her current public-sector responsibilities—had all too often brought her nose-to-nose with the Star Kingdom of Manticore's dominance of the wormhole network that moved both data and commerce about the galaxy. She was more accustomed than the others to dealing with the consequences of how that dominance put Manticore inside the loop of the League's communications and carrying trade, and she didn't like it a bit

cthia wrote:Now there's a thought. I didn't consider the nonexistent powers of the "figurehead."

But that's the current president. A new one can be elected ...

Weird Harold wrote:

cthia wrote:Now there's a thought. I didn't consider the nonexistent powers of the "figurehead."

But that's the current president. A new one can be elected ...

I doubt that anyone new could be elected or travel to Earth before the League collapses -- even if elections were in progress right now.

I'm not even sure how the League manages League wide elections.