[CLOSED] The Nineteenth Century: The Saga of Equestria Voting: Round 2 · 1:22pm Sep 23rd, 2015
Welcome, fellow bronies and pegasisters, to the second voting round for The Nineteenth Century, the first installation in the Saga of Equestria series!
In the last round, Land of Equestria won by a vote of 5-4 and will become the Equestrian National Anthem. Today, I am seeking your opinion on path that Celestia should take our nation! Please note that this is not a question as to what you want Equestria to end up being, this is a vote as to which direction you want Celestia to try to take. If you want Equestria to end up as a communist/ fascist dictatorship, that's cool, but it's not what I'm asking.
Also note that just because a path wins in the polls, I am not guaranteeing that I will follow it. This is more of a "what do you think" poll then a "what should I do." That being said, I will certainly consider this poll when writing.
As I see it, there are three paths for Celestia:
1) Tyrant Celestia. This is the Celestia that sends liberal supporters to the Moon, rolls back political rights, and otherwise doubles down and solidifies control over the state, refusing to bend to the liberals on anything. This is the Celestia that banishes Luna and clamps down on the Political Rights Debate, and the Celestia that reforms Equestria into the Celestial Empire. Justifications for this Celestia include a fear of the United States, as well as a desire to keep Equestria/Celestial Empire strong, able to stand against the human menace.
2) Benevolent Dictator Celestia. Unlike her sister, Tyrant Celestia, Benevolent Dictator Celestia does not clamp down on the liberals. Instead, this Celestia passes every political, and later social reform except ones that would give ponies the vote. She cites the same reasons as Tyrant Celestia for this, but does not quite turn Equestria into a police state in the name of protecting it. I feels as if this Celestia is the most loyal to the show, and is the one I'm leaning towards. (Please do not allow this fact to sway your vote.)
3) Liberal Celestia. Unlike both of the above, this Celestia gradually slackens her grip on power, and slowly allows for representative democracy to come to Equestria. The nation would slowly adopt a political structure similar to Great Britain's, with a Parliament and a Prime Minister and all that good stuff.
(Please note that a vote for 2 or 3 is not a vote against pony imperialism. That's a topic for a different time.)
Cast your votes below! The voting period will last until we hit 1836, whenever that may be.
Yours in all things Pony,
Mint20
By an overwhelming majority, Path 2 wins!
CURRENT TALLY:
Path 1 - 2 votes
Path 2 - 12 votes
Path 3 - 3 votes
Number 2
You mentioned this fic being thee first instalment are you like doing hoi 3 as well?
Number 2
Number 2 seems like it would be the only real option. In the second episode Celestia was thrilled to see Luna finally back and it was shone in the premier of season 4 that she didn't use the elements until she had to. It wouldn't make sense for her to banish her sister again, even if Luna did support the Anarcho-liberals.
However it would still be nice to see number 2 expand Equestria, eventually the population is going to grow and they will inevitably need room. That and with how the Americans are acting at this point in time I would love to see them get kicked out of the west (even if it is only to be used as a buffer zone).
I vote for number 2 as well.
I think this is the most like the show, and would keep Ceelstia's hoof on the helm. She has led her nation the last thousand years, and with her sister back, and more princesses....
I think this will become the best course of action for the nation. Then again as a historian just starting reading about the history of this region of another world. All I can say is, this is going to be most interesting.
yes, I vote for number 2 as the most logical course of action.
It depends, I think. If the US actually become too threatening (if they are trying Manifest Destiny), I think Celestia would be more militant. Otherwise I do not think she has the heart to actively stop the reforms even if they are the right to vote. So number 3.
also a question if I may. how close to history will you stay? Will the world to take a different path than ours, or will it go like our time and Equestria just react to it? Shall we see a united Scandinavia maybe, possibly, perhaps, potentially?
2. While I enjoy a strict control on Liberals to stop them from fucking up my economy, this Celestia DOES stay true to the show.
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Thank you all. All votes have been recorded.
3414427
Just because Celestia is nice to her little ponies does not mean that Equestria can't experiment with imperialism themselves... :)
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Filthy Jacobins!
3414582
A united Scandinavia...interesting. I've always liked that idea...
As for how historical this will be, I will say that because a whole new country controlled by a completely different species exists, the sky's the limit!
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Let's not get ahead of ourselves. First, Equestria must westernize!
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Sorry to keep spamming you with replies, but I know next to nothing about Scandinavian/Nordic history, so...
What would it take, in Victoria 2's time frame, for a united Scandinavia?
3416178 I can think of three scenarios. The earliest possible would be "Riksdagen i Örebro 1810" when the new king of Sweden was elected. The old king Karl XIII had no heirs. One of the candidates was the Danish King Frederick VI, and if he became king Scandinavia probably would be formed.
Otherwise, Scandinavianism was very big in the 1800s and the kings liked this. in 1848 the Danish King Frederick VII wanted Schleswig-Holstein to be tied more closely to Denmark but they did not want to so Schleswig-Holstein rebelled, which was supported by Prussia. Frederick asked the Swedish king Oscar for help which he agreed to but only if the Germans invaded the Danish islands like Fyn. This did not happen but if the Germans had come deeper inland or if the Swedes had joined the war completely maybe the Scandinavian feeling had become strong enough to get the two kings to make a constitutional dual monarchy with a parliament. The war was won by the Danes in reality because Russia told Prussia to stop meddling. The third alternative is more dramatic. in 1864 the Danish-German War began. King Frederik VII had declined an alliance with Sweden in 1856, and after his death the new King Christian IX was in trouble with Prussia and Austria. If the alliance had been approved with Sweden i believe it had not made any difference but it is said that King Christian was so saddened by the loss that he wanted to give his crown to Prussia but they declined. If you want to be dramatic maybe if Sweden helped, Kristian would give his crown to King Charles XV of Sweden with the words "Avenge us".
Got to go with number 2. I can't see this Celestia going all out tyrant mode, but I also think she would prefer to keep a monarchy for the sake of stability if for no other reason. Also, if she remains as the immortal(?) ruler, she doesn't have to worry about corruption in the political system.
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Recorded. Thanks!
I have to admit, number 3 intrigues me the most. As I don't see the rest of the world failing to make that sort of impact on the ponies (more so at this point that they're establishing close ties with the UK). So seeing it plausible and finding it more interesting that number 2, then number 3 gets my vote.
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Logged.
Just a quick word, let's not forgot Equestria's potential impact on the world, as well...
2
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Noted.
3417592 Quick response.
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I have this tab open almost all the time...
One,because it opens up some interesting interactions later.
3417592 One and Three! Most realistic and usually what Celestia is good at!
I wonder how many Ninjas it takes to kill her?
2
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Recorded.
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You can only vote for one, so I'm counting that vote as path one. Tell me if you want me to change it.
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Noted.
2
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Recorded.
Number 3 is the path I would like Celestia to try and take.
As tempting and accurate as number 2 is, I don't see why Celestia would not at least attempt to guide Equestria into a Parliamentary democracy [once it has been strengthened/ Westernized]. At least She and the other three princesses could/would still have some sway in how things are managed/ approved.
Also, is it not possible for Celestia to choose 2 or 3, and at the same time, allow Equestria to make some form of imperial expansion [ie. Hawaii] later on?
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As I said before for to an earlier commenter, just because Celestia is nice to her little ponies does not stop her from experimenting with imperialism. After all, it's not like they're ponies or anything...
That being said, your vote for 3 is noted.
Number 2.
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Recorded.
I vote for Number 2 because I see it as the one that will last the longer and my reasons are thus:
1.- If Celestia goes full Tyrant, she will receive a coup d'etat very quickly or may be destroyed by the US very soon. No dictator has ever survived like this (I would give her a couple years at best), in fact the other princesses would take her down first. The closest thing I've seen in my history to this was José Tadeo Monagas (who decided to execute the Congress in his first year of political rule, but he was overthrown after 11 years of dictatorship) and Juan Vicente Gómez (who succeeded because he literally destroyed the political parties and had total control of the government, from the Congress to the military. But he is from 1908 - 1935 and that's a different story unless you want more information in case you decide to take this route).
2.- If Celestia goes Liberal, it will be interesting, but I don't see it happening as of now and some type of political crisis must happen before this Celestia appears.
3 .- Benevolent Dictator is A LOT more plausible. Granted, she wouldn't be like Marcos Pérez Jiménez, maybe more like Isaías Medina Angarita (1941 - 1945) who allowed the creation of political parties and was making reforms in almost every aspect of the government, but he was overthrown by a coup d'etat for the following reasons:
A) He never allowed vote, that was one of the two reason why the political parties wanted to get rid him, that aside, he even allowed freedom of speech, free press and political parties (even though he was called a fascist).
B) The second reason the political parties wanted to get rid of him was because even though Gómez died in 1935, the government was still controlled by Gomecist andinos (or followers of Gómez) and I'm pretty sure they were very unpopular ("the Rise of the Andinos" which lasted from 1899 - 1945, is IMO a very interesting moment of Venezuelan History if you want to understand Venezuela today or how dictatorships can truly last).
C) (THE BIG ONE) The Military was unhappy, only old soldiers or followers of the Andinos were getting promoted, the military wasn't modernized (and by this point WWII was on full swing) and the young soldiers wanted to have a better military for Venezuela, so they joined in what is known as the "October Revolution of 1945" (I say that this is the big one because if it weren't for the military, this revolution wouldn't have happened, Venezuela has a big attachment to the military through it's history).
If you go through the Benevolent Dictator, I hope this 3 aspects of Medina Angarita helps you out to work out this path. And as I said: I go for option number 2.
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Your vote is logged!
Interesting...I haven't gotten into the political polarization of the Equestria population yet, so that may need to be considered...
I've already said too much...
Anyways, nice little look into the different dictators of Latin America. Whatever God there is knows there has been plenty of them...
3749465 If you want to search on political polarization, I will speak in first hand experience, it starts in the moment the citizens starts to get unhappy with the actual government, the first ones who start the Opposition are always the ones who have the education (with Gómez, it was a protest started by a generation of students called "the Generation of 28", and although the students went to jail or were exiled, as prove of how big it was in the grand scheme of things, some of those students became presidents in Venezuela during 1959 - 1999) or the common knowledge to start it (Antonio Leocadio Guzman founded the Liberal Party in 1840 to respond to the Conservative party of Páez and some of his government decisions), and the more the government doesn't listen, the more the opposition tries to get into power (it always start with a protest, a letter or a petition, if denied, then the leaders of the opposition start to get into politics), eventually the citizens start to follow the leaders of the opposition.
In other words, if you create an opposition, you must not only find the civilians being unhappy, but you must give them a leader who can start it, one that has the knowledge, the popularity and knows how to lead the opposition (from what I've seen, Twilight or Luna could be the leaders of either the liberal party or the moderate party).
I hope it helps, good luck with your works and have a good week.
I'd vote for number 2, but think it wold be interesting if aspects of number 3 came through. Just things liek allowing ponies to vote on where their taxes go deals. Nothing really big like leadership changes but big enough that the considerations of the public should be taken into account.
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Noted.