Order of Prometheus Commentary

[Condottiere]

It is quite possible to have a representative democracy even in a one-Party state. Any Solomani citizen can register as a Party member. As long as the basic concepts of the Solomani Cause remain sacrosanct, anyone can join the Party and through it run for an elected office. A world government can have multiple political parties so long as all of them are members of the Party. Thus the world is governed by the Party but the population get to decide what aspects are emphasised and what policies are followed – or at least how they are followed. Even if there is only one Party, multiple candidates can stand informally to represent the interests of particular factions, interest or regions. In worlds with this sort of government there are few barriers to entry into politics aside from money.

 

[Sigtrygg]

It's not really a democracy if no opposition parties are allowed.

And it is worth repeating "a large fraction of Solomani choose not to participate in the Party, either through apathy, lack of time or energy, or a disagreement with the basic principles of the Party".

 

[Arkathan]

It is quite possible to have a representative democracy even in a one-Party state. Any Solomani citizen can register as a Party member. As long as the basic concepts of the Solomani Cause remain sacrosanct, anyone can join the Party and through it run for an elected office. A world government can have multiple political parties so long as all of them are members of the Party. Thus the world is governed by the Party but the population get to decide what aspects are emphasised and what policies are followed – or at least how they are followed. Even if there is only one Party, multiple candidates can stand informally to represent the interests of particular factions, interest or regions. In worlds with this sort of government there are few barriers to entry into politics aside from money.

It is not at all possible to have a representative democracy in a one-party state. In a NO party state, yes. A ONE party state means that everyone is starting from a position agreeing with the party platform. If you disagree, you are ostracized from the party and not able to represent those with your opinions.
Just look at the voting patterns of the members of a certain party in the US. And then look at what they say about anyone (or those any two) who does not vote in lockstep.
Those in power who preach that one party can be a democracy are fascist or socialist (or a mix of both) totalitarians.

 

[Condottiere]

So we're back to the Solomani Confederation being a fascist, racist, one party state.

 

[Sigtrygg]

No.
We are back to the Solomani Party which is the interstellar government of the Confederacy being a one party racist communist state (it's government model is more akin to Soviet or CCP model). If it were fascist and totalitarian there would only be one world government type permitted within the Confederacy.
The committee/cell model is one made popular by communist states such as the Soviet Union and the CCP.

Individual worlds can have any government and a sizable fraction of the population wants nothing to do with the Solomani Party.

So once again, to describe every human living in the Confederacy as a racist-fascist-communist is not only insulting it is lazy. It is a product of Imperial propaganda - the same as the way the Imperials convince their citizens that the Zhodani are evil mind controlling mustache twirling B movie villains.

1. It is the Imperials who have always been racist, the whole major/minor race categorizing of sophonts is racist.
2. It is the Imperials who are authoritarian and an absolute monarchy.
3. It was the Imperials who invented the Solomani Movement and Solomani Cause.

 

[Condottiere]

Once I read the MongoVerse take on the Solomani Confederation, I've always maintained it's closer to the People's Republic of China model, having a centralized bureaucracy, but the provinces tend to be somewhat autonomous.

The vast majority of mainland Chinese are nowhere near communistic inclined (as opposed to communicably) but a lot are nationalistic and racist; the diaspora sticks to stand up comedy in those regards.

There are few true believers as far as I can tell, though reportedly the current President is one of them.

In terms of local representative democratic governance, as long as you don't publicly commit heresy, you're probably ignored.

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