Freie Zeiten|Furēe zēten|フリータイムMEET THE PEOPLES CABINETby Julia SandmannSyakusen, Mitrania - The Freedom Democrats has announced the formation of a "shadow cabinet" of their own. While the shadow cabinet has no official status in the Crownlands, it is meant to prove as an inspiration, to show voters what an FD-led government would look like and to present the people in charge of party policy on different areas. Glücksman has said he considers his team a
"Peoples' Cabinet", and no - that's not a typo.
"I call it 'the *peoples* cabinet'. Not 'the people's'." (Glücksman chuckles) That would amount to ideological deviance. We're stalwart Septembrists after all. For us, everything we do are about 'the peoples'. 'Two peoples united' as our song goes.
For me this is a cabinet for the peoples because it's made up by folks most can relate to. Including me of course. Hehe.
Governor-General: Jörg GlücksmanTurning 40 this year, Knight Jörg Glücksman is looking to crown his political career by eventually running for Governor-General. Hailing from the small town of Rosenburg in rural Mitrania - Glücksman made it through High school with average grades and has taken a few courses in journalism and religious history, but holds no academical degree. Before launching the tax revolt, Glücksman had a background as a professional restaurant reviewer with a beer tasting self-professed speciality. He nowadays spends most of his time at the
Residence of the Free, a building outside Syakusen technically owned by the party and serving as its headquarters. Glücksman has recently made arrangements to expand the Residence of the Free with a swimming pool and a tennis court, to keep party leaders like himself 'fit for fight' as he says.
If all goes as planned I plan to run for Governor General but I'm sure I'd fit in as Staadsminister too. The peoples long for their heroic knight in shiny armour to come and rescue them once again. Don't they?
Foreign policy: Terīzā RaushenbāguTerīzā Raushenbāgu, 27, is Glücksman's stepdaughter and leader of FD's Mitrania district. She left High School with good grades but has since then worked full time for the FD, and has never had any other professional life. Already seen as Glücksman's heir apparent by some, she is notable for being both less of a neoliberal and more socially liberal, being outspokenly pro-LGBT but also anti-abortion. Religiously, she describes herself as a deist. She likes hiking and skiing and outdoors activities in general - something she considers to her advantage. Foreign policy is something of a hobby, and she has lobbied actively to create a global party organization for pates sharing the FD's values, something that has been met by rather lukewarm interest from others in the Executive Comitee.
I am an active person and I strive to actively spread the values of freedom and democracy around the globe, and in our corner of the world, in particular. I love to met people from other cultures and backgrounds. With me in charge of foreign policy, our neighbours would think twice before taking any steps down the path to fascism and ethnonationalism that so plagued this continent in its past.
Welfare issues: Hilda LieberndörferHilda Lieberndörfer, 46, works as a naturopathic nurse and has taken several courses in alternative medicine. She is also a small-time businesswoman who imports and sells biocomputers used for bioresonance therapy, a form of medical treatment not considered scientific by the mainstream medical community. She also happens to be Glücksman's mother-in-law. Lieberndörfer views a privatization of the health care system as an equality issue.
We need to introduce competition inside the public health care system. Right now, nature-based medicine is unavailable for anyone that doesn't own a fortune. I have a friend who works as a nurse at a 'vanilla' hospital, and she is not allowed to administer colloidal silver even to patients who wants that, because it's not considered 'scientific'. Big pharma and the socialists are sitting in the same canoe and you're the one doing the paddling.
As taxpayers, we pay for health care effectively as a form of insurance. When we are in need of its services, we should be treated as customers to satisfy rather than dumb peasants in need of the wisdom of buereucrats and their overlords in the multinational pharmaceutics industry.
Finance: Theophilus UngerTheophilus Unger, 52, is the owner of a small pub and liquor store in rural Mitrana. Unger was the man who introduced Glücksman to Draddwyr Ale which he soon became completely hooked on. Publicly joined the tax revolt against the dictatorial regime in the Freedomite movement's early years. Nowadays, he is most notably famous for importing Draddwyr ale that he promotes as
"Authentic Druidic ale made from the spring water of the purest of sacred groves" and
"a refreshment for both the throat and the soul". He also has a professional background as a truck driver. Unger states that he is going to have a great use of his personal experiences when working with economic policy.
Small businesses are the foundation of the Crownlander economy. Yet - few politicians seem to have any idea what it's like to run one. We need to repeal the harmful minimum wage laws our current government is set to introduce and stimulate the creation of green jobs in the industry. The income tax needs to be flattned and eventually abolished. It is an archaic way of taxing. In most cases, a government which governs the least governs the best.
Environment: Aeronwen de RougeAeronwen de Rouge, 36, belongs to the Crownlands' small Draddwyr minority. Before getting into parliament she worked as a fortune teller with Glücksman as one of her clients. Rumours of the two having an extramarital relationship are said to have created trouble inside the party, this is something Glücksman has denied categorically, however.
I think my connection to our ancient spiritual heritage and to the spirit world will prove very valuable for any government. When you work in my profession, you don't just talk about the environment, you *feel* it. Mother nature is angry and restless over the ruthless exploitation of natural environments and the animal kingdom by multinational predators ,who seek nothing but their own pecuniary interests. We need a law that requires all public institutions to buy food that is vegetarian and organic. It's the best thing we can do if we're serious about protecting our environment and encouraging green capitalism.
Justice and the interior: Renault BürgermeisterRenault Bürgermeister, 23, is the incumbent leader of the Ring Freiheitlicher Demokratischer Jugend (RFDJ), the FD's youth organisation. An avid video gamer with rumoured far-right tendencies, Bürgermeister left High school without graduating due failing to achieve acceptable grades in maths and physics. He is a 'somewhat practising' Auroran Hosian, this is mostly noted by a frequent use of nicknames related to the term
"crusader" on different social media sites. Had a somewhat troubled time as a teenager when he was convicted for crimes related to internet piracy and shoplifting, the later which he ascribes to having personal issues with concentration that makes him forget to pay for what he takes at times. Has vowed to bring down all copyright-related laws - which he describes as the work of multinational economic predators - and ban the use of closed source code. He is also known for being Terīzā Raushenbāgu's boyfriend - and rumoured to have troubles with the enforcement authorities which is said to make him entirely economically dependent on her, and by extension on Jörg Glücksman himself. Famously showed up at the last congress with a black eye, something rumoured to have a connection to infidelity on his behalf.
'But that's just crap talk.' Renault explains. 'I accidentally fell and my face landed on one of Terīzā's hairbrushes. Nothing weird about it at all.'
'The most important thing we have to work for in the justice area is standing for the right to bear arms and to do that consistently. Which no one else does. You have, take for instance, Motorcycle gangs like Heavens Devils. They're politically correct to bash since they're mostly whiteys and intimately associated with masculinity - even though they're really just a bunch of rough-edged guys who like to arrange grill evenings with their families, drink beer and drive motorcycles. But the question remains - when the government fails to do its job - who are going to protect our local communities and our civil society? I'd rather keep part of our civil society armed in case of the publicly managed policing entities not being able to show up on time when need arises.'
Defence: Konsutanzu BōgeruKonsutanzu Bōgeru, 41, is a headstrong military hobbyist who hails from Mitrania. He has served as a sergeant in the Home Guard during the Hulstrian one-party sate but was dishonourably discharged, something he attributes to being to knowledgeable for his superiors to handle. Was employed in the Hotel security business before starting to work full time for the Freedom democrats. Like his party leader, Konsutanzu Bōgeru hails from Rosenburg and is Glücksman's childhood friend and they had a rock band called
the Flying Unicorns together in their teens, where Bōgeru played the bass. Bōgeru has previously sought to establish a private military company until realizing how that would be nigh impossible under current legislation. A self proclaimed military 'expert', Bōgeru wants to invest heavily in helicopters and wants to look into buying an Aircraft Carrier from Hutori or any of the other leading world powers, at some point.
We need more diversity in the military business! We need to start applying our liberal principles in this area as well, and privatize part of our military services to ensure cost-effectiveness and flexibility, rather than risk having some grumpy old generals who think they're better than everybody else simply because they have a monopoly on their services. Also, we need to employ people in Dranland, Kazulia and Sekowo that can 'stay behind' in case of a commie or fascist takeover in our neighbourhood. When that happen let the undemocratic leaders know we have well-trained people in their lands who can go and assassinate them so that they can never sleep well again. Yeeha!
Education: Gottohādo WakānēgeruGottohādo Wakānēgeru, 45, is a Daenist scholar, with a professional background as a High school teacher. Wakānēgeru is also one of the main proponents of Draddwyr Daenism and Zensho Druidism in the Crownlands. Glücksman met Wakānēgeru 10 years ago and belongs to his sangha (congregation). Wakānēgeru is also famous as a critic publicly managed schools and wants to reform the public education system to allow free competition in accordance with neoliberal principles.
We need flexibility and an universal voucher system so that everyone can chose a private education that suits them, not just those who happen to have affluent parents. Right now, we are referring large segments of the population to inflexible substandard public institutions, for no good reason at all other than some reactionary old left-wing morals about the supposed 'immorality' of making money from delivering public services. Were I in charge, we'd fully equate publicly and privately run schools with each other and have both compete for customers through a voucher system. We also need more flexibility in general in regards to how the education is done and what to learn. The goal is not to raise kids grades by forcing them to learn stuff they have no use of and will soon forget anyway, so that politicians get good statistics to boast about, but to deliver services that ensures to make them a little more whole as human beings and helps young people to find their calling in this life.
Interestingly, Wakānēgeru is the only person on this list with any academic degree and also the only one here not a member of the FD Executive Committee. While he proudly proclaims Wakānēgeru's importance in his spiritual life, Glücksman also admits that he "strongly recommend" the Nominations committee (headed by Terīzā Raushenbāgu) to not have them nominate his spiritual father to the Executive Committee, fearing that it could lead to
"an idea of the party's upper echelons being too intimately connected to my private life".
''I'm sure this is a team that will give people confidence in us and in our ability to present professional political policy.', Glücksman said as his closing remark