Petitioning SuperMiron: An Appeal in Desperation

The past few weeks have been endlessly chaotic and frustrating for Demarcia. In the aftermath of Prime Minister Examed's ban from Habboon, Chop took the leadership of the Civic Unity Party and became President of Demarcia. An already difficult time was made even more challenging when the President disappeared - as some, like Penstubal, had expected - and was then declared incapacitated by the Senate.

The country then faced a difficult situation, with Jake, the country's president earlier this year - who also went almost completely missing following his election - taking over as Prime Minister. Immediately making a bold pledge to hold a National Development Council meeting and organize games and contests with award giveaways, Prime Minister Jake quickly broke his promise - as is typical for us Demarcian politicians at this point - and then failed to communicate with his infuriated Cabinet.

For the first time in the country's history, we are now deprived of both a President - though Chop remains in office in name only - and also of a Prime Minister. The very familiar MikeBodwin, the Speaker of the Parliament, now serves as both Acting President and Acting Prime Minister, and is in an acting position in every role in the Cabinet.

The situation has now reached a point of ridiculousness that was unfathomable even months ago, when the country was already in quite a difficult spot. Our recent history has been marked by the continued ebbing of our nation's active population. Good-natured yet ineffective politicians have found themselves forced to run for office to keep Demarcia alive, if for no reason other than what the nation and their experience as part of the community mean to them.

They haven't had the ability, confidence, or readiness to fully dedicate themselves to generating new energy and vitality in the country. They have continued to run for office, at many levels, time and time again, in the hope of fulfilling a caretaker role and keeping the country on life support until new people come along who get attracted to the idea of Demarcia and decide to make their own contributions to their new homeland.

For a staggeringly long time now, politicians have been clutching at straws and hoping that things will somehow change. And indeed, there were a few times when there was cause to be optimistic - the activity period of April-May 2021, the unstable yet activity-generating times of January 2023, the Examed premiership in September through mid-October. Yet, time and time again, these mildly successful periods failed to generate any lasting change in terms of the active citizen structure.

For a long time now, MikeBodwin has wanted to retire from Demarcian politics with the aim of focusing on his business. He announced his withdrawal several times before - but then felt forced, by his love for his homeland, to return to active politics, to seek office again and try to keep the country alive. Likewise, JeskiaWeathers did not want to return to the Social Democratic Party's leadership but felt a duty to her party and to the country to provide it with at least some choice, even if, she knew very well, it wasn't a very attractive one.

It is time for us, as Demarcian politicians, to admit that we have failed. We have failed at reversing the seemingly interminable decline of the nearly decade-old nation. We have failed at making real many of our promises owing to our many personal obligations and the sheer lack of enthusiasm for any projects. And we do not have the ability to dedicate as much time to the country as we were once able to. We have been desperately hoping for new blood to help us all out, yet this helping hand from the skies has not arrived.

We no longer have the desire to run for the same offices we've held innumerable times before, again and again, keeping the seat warm in hopes that somebody new will take it someday. Having been in politics for so many years, we, like the many old people of this world, should now be in retirement. We should not be seeking political positions when we have nothing new to offer and no real dedication anymore towards making major contributions.

Nobody in either party wants to run for President anymore. We have reached the point in Demarcia that the eternal pessimists among us had expected would happen ages ago. In any case, the expectation that it would happen has been proven right. We are out of leadership options and people wanting to do things for a country that is increasingly perceived as in a vegetative state and on the edge of brain death.

Whither Demarcia? That is the question facing us now. We, the signatories of this declaration, are increasingly pessimistic than anything will meaningfully change with regards to Demarcia. We only believe that we can not continue to fool ourselves or to fool others that we can endlessly and devotedly contribute to the nation in the political arena. As a result, we are petitioning SuperMiron, the President of the Senate, to run for President as an independent, with the aim of maintaining stability, unity, and good governance in the months ahead.

Our hope is that, under an independent SuperMiron presidency, one that would last for multiple terms - possibly beyond the current maximum two consecutive terms - the Demarcian nation has a higher chance of reorganizing itself around common goals than if we switch our entire leadership, including the presidency, every three months. More than ever, we need clarity of vision and a clear leader in the house, and not endless rotating of leaders that turns out to be more cosmetic than in any way a meaningful change.

We also write to express our wishes for clarity of Demarcia's purpose and aims for the future. We are uncertain if the country has a future outside Habboon, but are certain it has none if it sticks wholly to it. We believe the country should consider expanding its operations on Discord and possibly seek to transition its center of gravity toward a place where we are more likely to attract new people and where people are more likely to contribute.

Ultimately, the question posed by the issues we now face is - is the country dead, or are we pretending it is alive and well, or are we expecting it to die out gradually through the eventual dissipation of even the little remaining interest that people have in it? We believe we need to be clear about what Demarcia is and what we want to happen to it. Currently, it appears, we are pretending things are fine and making half-hearted contributions to it when, in reality, we expect it to gradually die through the slow disappearance of its few active members.

For the sake of Demarcia, let us decide what we want. And for now, let us have an independent President SuperMiron, whose biggest boon is that he has been above the fray for the past few years and hasn't served as head of state for many years now, while nearly all other active or semi-active citizens have since then. At the very least, a President SuperMiron will ensure our country goes on for yet another few months. With his guidance, the cabinet of Demarcia, a national unity one, should hopefully come up with brand new ideas and commit to true productivity. Should he not run, however, we believe our country is headed for brain death on Orthodox Christmas.

SIGNED, IN ALPHABETICAL ORDER:

• JeskiaWeathers

• MikeBodwin

• Penstubal