Chapter 32: No Confidence
Two days later, Pardi and Collingswaggle were outside Parliament.
‘This is the most important debate we’ve had in years,’ said Collingswaggle.
‘Hope you’re not feeling nervous,’ said Pardi.
‘A little, but I know I’m taking these bitches down,’ replied Collingswaggle.
Pardi gave him a quick shoulder rub.
Collingswaggle walked onto the Parliament Floor. Pardi went up to the viewing gallery.
Sapey Parliament was a large building. In height, it was equivalent to a twenty-story building but only had five floors. The centre of the building was the Parliament Floor. It was designed like a giant atrium. It had no floors directly above it. The floor was surrounded by viewing galleries. The two upper floors were reserved for the media, and the two lower floors were reserved for guests. Above the viewing galleries were giant video screens. All parliamentary sessions were broadcast live. News shows would provide a five-to-ten-minute summary of the day’s events.
Parliamentary sessions would last for a maximum of three hours. After the session, there would be a thirty-minute break. The Parliament would resume with a vote. All governors and representatives were allowed to vote. The votes of the twelve governors were revealed first. If there was a supermajority, which has been defined by Parliament as nine or more of the twelve governors voting the same way, the governors would determine the outcome of the vote, and the representatives’ votes would not be revealed. If there were less than nine governors in agreement, the vote would be determined by the total number of votes cast and only require a majority to succeed.
Any governor had the authority to raise a topic for debate without concession from anyone else. Representatives could only raise topics for debate if they could obtain signatures from at least a quarter of all representatives. If they obtained a sufficient number of signatures, their topic was given priority over topics put forward by just one governor. After a topic had been discussed, governors would propose law changes to address the topics. These proposed changes to the law would be debated. After the debate, they were voted on using the rules described.
Votes of “no confidence” in Government were treated differently. To trigger a debate, it required signatures from at least a third of all representatives. If the required number of signatures were reached, the debate would occur in the next parliamentary session.
“No confidence” votes were conducted differently. Governors were not allowed to participate in voting. If more than 50% voted against the Government. A Governor’s Election would be called. Any representative could stand for election, which included existing governors. Once a vote of “no confidence” had been debated, another vote of “no confidence” could not be debated for another eighteen months. This was the case regardless of the outcome. Hence, giving the Government immunity from repeated attacks.
The new Government had the option to call a General Election six months after being formed. A General Election involved the public voting for new representatives. In these elections, governors sought election as representatives. If they were not elected, they would not be eligible to be voted in again as a governor. After the General Election, the elected representatives would vote to determine all the governors for the new Government.
Representatives took their seats. They were seated in a circle facing the centre. The governors entered the Parliament Floor one by one. Their names were announced as well as displayed on the giant video screens. Some of them even had their own theme songs.
The governors took turns chairing the debates. On this occasion, it was Lily’s turn to chair. Lily was one of the most charismatic and influential governors. She had been very successful in persuading the other governors to support her initiatives. The cakes initiative was her idea. It won the votes of ten governors; therefore, it bypassed the vote of the representatives.
Lily approached the podium at the centre of Parliament. ‘Governors and representatives from all regions, those up in the galleries, the media, and all of you watching at home, I would like to wish you all a very warm welcome to today’s debate,’ she proclaimed.
The governors began stomping their feet. The representatives were less enthusiastic about the introduction.
‘Today, we have a very serious topic for debate. I feel this debate is a little unnecessary, but I respect our democratic process,’ she continued. ‘The original debate was going to be about shoes. Instead, we will be discussing the issue of confidence in our Government,’ said Lily as she shook her head. ‘I would like to invite Representative Collingswaggle to make a statement.’ She jumped off the podium step.
Collingswaggle got up from his seat and swaggered towards the podium. He made it a point to walk in front of all the governors so as to give each one a smile. Eventually, he climbed up the step to the podium. He looked up to Pardi, who was giving him “thumbs up” gestures with his hands as he smiled broadly.
‘I’m honoured to speak in this great chamber, but I’m saddened by what I need to discuss,’ said Collingswaggle in a serious tone. ‘This Government has disrupted the balance between “rights” and “privileges”. It has contributed to creating a society of laziness and ungratefulness, and just recently we have observed uprisings, violence, and heinous crimes,’ continued Collingswaggle.
He paused to let the representatives murmur for a few seconds. ‘Nobody can deny that “rights” are essential. They were intended to address basic needs. This is not the case anymore. We continue to move towards more “rights” and fewer “privileges”. The Government wants you all convinced that the social benefits of doing so outweigh the economic cost. The social benefits are an illusion. It is a temporary boost in happiness. Before long, that happiness fades. That is, until another “privilege” becomes a “right”. As we keep going, the economic costs begin to mount as more resources are used and fewer are willing to contribute,’ said Collingswaggle forcefully. He took a breather to glance across at Lily. She looked unfazed and remained confident in her appearance.
‘Social benefits are just temporary, but increased expectations are permanent. The desire for more grows, and it grows faster. The chaos in Adoy is a perfect example of what happens when too much is given and not enough is earned,’ said Collingswaggle with conviction.
‘This Government will tell you more “rights” equates to more freedom. It does not. “Rights” reduce freedom. This is because we are making decisions on behalf of our citizens. We assume they all want cake. We assume they all want barbeques. That is not freedom. Freedom is getting a job and earning the tokens you want so that you can exchange them for the things you want. Freedom is to pursue the work that interests you. It is not lazing at home dependent on exorbitant “rights”. The rebels in Adoy attracted members because their lack of freedom was becoming more obvious,’ said Collingswaggle as he looked towards the governors while shaking his head.
‘The leaders of this rebel group, who called themselves the “Inquisitives” did not care about freedom or anything else that could benefit their members. They cared only about their own grotesque desires. This Government gave them a tool to fulfil their needs. This is unforgivable,’ said Collingswaggle in a deeply saddened tone.
The governors began to feel a little uneasy as they could sense the growing outrage from many of the representatives.
Collingswaggle continued, ‘The ineptitude of the Adoy House of Divine Knowledge facilitated the outbreak of this chaos. They allowed a mentally ill Sapien to blurt out lies and propaganda to a wide audience. This enabled the kidnapping of those sweet girls. I would like to remind everyone here that nine of our twelve governors align themselves with the ideology of the House of Divine Knowledge. None of them dare condemn the theologists or philosophers who have enabled the heinous act that took place in Adoy.’
Collingswaggle paused. He did so so that the rumblings from the representatives with close ties to the Business Sector could be heard.
‘Before I continue, I would like to play the media statement plus the question and answer session from the Adoy Head Enforcer,’ said Collingswaggle.
The lights dimmed. The video played on all the giant screens in Parliament. After the video, the lights returned to their normal level of brightness.
‘This is an unbiased account of events based on the evidence discovered by the Adoy Enforcer Department,’ said Collingswaggle.
‘These problems are not unique to Adoy. I have reports from the Carvaress Company that several other regions have similar groups that could pose an equivalent threat. With this Government’s current approach, we will soon have another Adoy-type incident. Next time, we may lose innocent lives,’ he said in a sad tone.
He looked up at Pardi. He was still giving him the ‘thumbs up’. He knew his case was strong. He also knew how successful the governors had been at manipulating the representatives. He knew their strongest speaker, Lily, could not contribute to this debate because she was chairing this session. He knew he needed to induce a poor response from the governors. He could see that nine of them were female.
‘Before I conclude my statement, I want to leave you with a thought about representation in Government and other departments. What do the following have in common?’ asked Collingswaggle. ‘Commander Vulay, Philosopher Jaffadella, Theologist Genève, and nine of you lovely governors. Just food for thought,’ said Collingswaggle as he stepped down from the podium.
Lily now looked gravely concerned as the other eight female governors fumed at Collingswaggle’s closing statement. They thought Collingswaggle was trying to pull off a sexist coup. The male representatives began to stomp their feet.
Lily returned to the podium. ‘Thank you, Collingswaggle, for raising your concerns. I would now like to invite one of the governors to address your points,’ she said in a concerned tone.
Jallelle quickly rose from her seat. ‘I’ll address this matter,’ she said in a sharp tone to Lily.
Lily returned to her seat as Jallelle stormed up to the podium.
‘It’s very obvious what this is all about,’ she said angrily. ‘He’s jealous of the success of females in politics. We have achieved so much. He has achieved so little. We have made Sapey great, while Collingswaggle would prefer to spend all his time with his bum buddy instead of serving the region that elected him to represent them,’ she yelled into the microphone.
The representatives began to make a lot of noise. Lily rose to her feet. ‘Silence, please. Do not interrupt the speaker,’ she stated.
Collingswaggle raised his hand. ‘What do you want?’ asked Lily in an annoyed tone.
‘I want to clarify a point before my character is continued to be unjustly defamed by Governor Jallelle,’ said Collingswaggle in an angry tone.
‘Okay, you may proceed,’ said Lily.
‘I did not at any point criticise any governor or anyone for that matter based on their sex. On the other hand, Governor Jallelle attempted to make this debate about sex and blatantly lied about my sexuality. How can this kind of attack be permitted?’ said Collingswaggle.
‘Unfortunately, I tend to agree with Representative Collingswaggle. Return to your seat, Governor Jallelle,’ ordered Lily.
‘No, I will not return to my seat. I am not finished,’ said Jallelle.
‘You are finished when I say you are. Get back to your seat or I will have you escorted from the building,’ said Lily in a very angry tone.
‘I will leave the building myself,’ said Jallelle as she walked out of the building.
‘Would anyone else like to make a statement?’ asked Lily.
Governor John rose to his feet and approached the podium. ‘What happened in Adoy was really bad. I think there is a lot we can learn. Instead of voting “no confidence” in the Government, I suggest we debate what went wrong and how we can prevent events like these from reoccurring. Our Government has a great track record of listening and learning,’ said John in a calm voice.
He continued his speech for another thirty minutes, repeatedly emphasising the importance of learning from mistakes.
There were no more statements after John. The Parliament Floor was cleared as the representatives went off to consider their vote.
Approximately thirty minutes later, the representatives returned to make their vote. They each had a small computer screen in front of them. The question of the motion of ‘No Confidence’ was presented on the screen. All they needed to do was select ‘yes’ or ‘no’.
Lily went up to the podium. ‘You may begin voting,’ she said.
Pardi was still in the gallery. He waited eagerly to hear the results of the vote. He could see the screens flash as each representative voted on his or her computers. Within two minutes, they had all voted. They patiently waited for the voting time to expire.
The total votes appeared on Lily's screen. ‘Today, one hundred and thirty-two representatives voted; one hundred and six voted in favour of a vote of “no confidence”, and twenty-six voted against it,’ she said in an emotionless voice. ‘There will be a Governor’s Election in two weeks. Representatives have one week to register to run in this election. Parliament dismissed,’ she said.
Lily immediately exited the Parliament Floor. Collingswaggle met Pardi in the lobby.
‘You did it,’ Pardi said with a tear in his eye.
‘This is a huge step. We still have the elections to come. Lily is not going to give up,’ said Collingswaggle.
‘She might as well. She’s no match for you,’ said Pardi enthusiastically.
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