# A Reaction to the Discussion ## By Lord Robert Pratschler, Duke of the Military, written while on Vacation at Lusper Resorts, Liscenius System of the Capernia Barony in the Alpanian County of the Soverignty of Penical, Dependency of Tiwak, 83345 I was content to let this game play out. The debate was to me irrelevant. I challenge any reader, listener, or intrigued person to find a family line more dedicated to upholding the Federation, and yet less interested in its politics, than my own. We have never backed an Imperial, or a populist, or a revolutionary. My family celebrates the days we helped liberate the Federation from the tyranny of Zenin, of Jessica, of Malik, and of Madeline, to list only a few. Our citizens and our sovereignty prides itself on its deep and long lasting connection to our history. Mr. Howstein is right to note the variability of Lords, and is right when he says a family like my own should be respected, I would go so far as a to say revered, for our ability to preserver through such dramatic reconfigurations and changes. I would have been content to just read the fight had Mr. Howstein not offended me by slandering myself and my ilk with his charge of ill fated glory seeking. I personally led the liberation of dozens of sectors, thousands of planets. My sons and daughters tens of thousands between them. There is no glory in a useless and costly defeat. There is no honour in dying in a useless charge. A valiant retreat to fight another day has more valor than wasting lives standing on pointless, indefensible ground. While I certainly saw parliamentary and some connotational lords cower before a squad of deutchrean infantrymen, I more often saw platoons of Federal troops refusing to engage out of fear. I lost more ships in winnable battles which Federal fleet-captains refused to join due to "the waste of taxpayer funded munitions in non-essential engagements." My troops never wanted for ammo, food, weapons, batteries, clean clothes, fleshly pleasures, or other needs. I never took money from John, nor from anyone else to fund my sizable and essential contribution to the war effort - lest we forget who it was who led the fleet engagement which defeat Kylo's force, saving John and his mission, nor who it was who led the liberation of Tahara, nor who was essential in stopping Utopian fascism, and protecting of Germushian liberties. Rather I constantly watched as the senate wasted funds, and shuffled around barely winning even when it would've been easy. Yes, let us abolish the useless military, that of the Federal government. Let us also abolish any sovereignty which refuses to properly defend itself, so that all that remain are lands which can keep their citizens safe. Let us weaken the Commons and the Senate for slowing down the good work of Lords and Business. Let us allow the Federation to enrich its people and defend itself. Burn the welfare state, tie the right to food to working, destroy any right to shelter while increasing the ability of employers whether aristocratic or economic to house their employees. Beauty is found in order, and order is what I am calling for. Once we have a strong military underpinning a strong economy we can make our ships beautiful, our citadels inspiring, and our uniforms imposing. And in all of this there will be work. Let us destroy the Netizans as an offense to all that is good and proper. Let them die so they may be reborn as is right in our religion. The souls must be allowed to move to the nether so they may finally reform in the aether. We must do our part. Furthermore, the netizan is founded on an abhorrence towards real labour. This cannot stand and must be rooted out. It is lazy and cowardice at its lowest. The true netizans should be running our ships, but even then I do not trust their moral character. As this great war ends, we must prepare for the next. The instability in Vers will soon become apparent. Deutchrea is not destroyed, only stalled. There are rising threats we must prepare for. A strong economy and military is the only way. If we abolish the Federal military, reduce the Commons and shrink the Senate, we can cut taxes on the lords, who motivated by security needs will take the savings and invest in their military, allowing the current set of industry to continue giving us time to transition, while freeing labour who due to the weakened Federal institutions will have more funds to be paid their bonuses, while lower taxes spurs the market to action creating jobs. Now turning to the beautiful Lady Goodwin with whom I have enjoyed a great many verbal sparing sessions. I agree, let us kill the ugly bitch who always complained at her grand-fathers parties, calling them painfully gauche while always being in attendance, wearing a new gown each year. Of course each of those gowns she would subtly reveal as being more expensive than the last, and the first worth more than my capital ship. I do so suspect that the value of our revolutionary loving friend's wardrobe is greater than my value of my entire fleet. Thankfully the well named Lady Goodwin has done no such thing. Her greater sin may simply be that her writing is flat, uninspiring, and boring. She has no great vision, and her strong facts and most powerful argument are but appeals to her already perfected technocratic solution. Forget her! I have laid out my own piddlingly wrong solution without the grand and pompous appeal to arrogantly claim no one, not even a mere clerk, can critique me. Rather I have paid for that clerk to come and chair a debate on Earth next year between those interested in replacing the good and gorgeous lady's grandfather as D.A.M.. On the other side, there is the aforementioned ugly bitch. Samantha is far from any actual noble title, an impossibly distant heir to the Lewer and McIntosh names. She has enough wealth and status to live comfortably but never to truly rise unless she learns to fight for _herself_, something which cannot be substituted by calling for revolution in the name of the masses. I wholly encourage Sam to take her rhetoric to its logical conclusion, and have the courage to pick up an assault rifle and actually fight for once, rather than letting others do it for her. I also encourage her revolutionary friends to join her. Let the traitors to the Federation show their imperial faces so we might restore them to their proper place. Long may the D.A.M. Live. Bright may the Jewel Shine. Strong may the Federation Stand.