Kalistani Major History

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IZQUIERDA- The Voice of the Kalistani Left
Socialist Party assumes Opposition Status
New Party Leader steps into unfamiliar Role
SPoK National Headquearters, Kaliburg, Ananto
March 17, 4056


The General Secretary of the Socialist Party of Kalistan, Fredricka Carrangus-Howard, sits down with Izquierda Feature Reporter Burt Larson.

IZQUIERDA sat down with Fredricka Carrangus-Howard, the incoming leader and Shadow Premier of the Socialist Party of Kalistan.  Carrangus is a young socialist lawyer from Neveras District, where her family has dominated politics for centuries.  She was elected General Secretary of the Socialist Party of Kalistan December of last year.  But the Government looks much different now than it did a few short months ago.  The Socialist Party is now prepared to hand over the Government to a coalition of hostile Parties, all unwilling to sit with the SP in Government, despite the fact that the SP controls the Presidency, 37% of the seats of the Assembly and three District Governments.  The new Leader therefore faces a number of challenges associated with divided government.  This is IZQUIERDA's exclusive interview with the General Secretary of the Socialist Party, current leader of the Opposition, and designated Shadow Premier when the Majority Coalition finally takes over.

I[zquierda]:  Comrade Speaker, first question:  Why does the President feel the need to send a Government Bill forward?  The Opposition doesn't have the power to put a bill of their own forward, and there is still a government in place which would legally be entitled to keep power.  So why is it important for the President to do this?

C[arrangus]:  Well, the suggestion that the President wouldn't put forward a Government bill is really radical.  I know Izquierda is known for its yellow journalism every once in a while, but really, this is too much.  Can you imagine the precedent this would set?  We are committed to the rule of law in Kalistan, whatever the election outcomes...

I:  Apologies, Comrade Secretary.  Of course, your point is taken.  So let's leave this topic.  What will the Party do while in the opposition?  What will your role be as the first Opposition Speaker from the SP in decades? 

C:  Well, the job of the opposition to to do what it can to slow down the agenda of the Government.  We naturally won't be giving the Government any votes.  The one legislative power we still do posses is the ability to prevent all constitutional amendments from passing.  As long as we maintain more than 250 seats, we can prevent the Majority from dramatically altering the constitutional arrangements that govern the country.  The laws will be changed, as the majority sees fit, and we will change them back when we have a legislative majority, but for the time being, at least the fundamental aspects of the regime are safe.  Our second role is to generate bills designed to alter the legislative positions of the majority.  By forcing votes, the Majority Parties will be on the record supporting bills which the majority of the population is against.  The voting record will reduce support for the Majority coalition.  And if they opt not to vote on those bills, their visibility on those issues is reduced.  Either way, voters return to the SP.  Its a pretty worn playbook that the SP has to run occasionally.

I: Do you have a comment on the slanderous comments made against the Government by the People's Movement before the election?

C:  We are convinced that their spokesperson has no idea what they are talking about.  They attribute some rising crime to the Government's policies.  I think they said something like drug and alcohol use is contributing directly to the recent uptick in youth crime.  Well, I'm not a social scientist, but even I know that you can't explain change with non change.  The Government's policies on drugs and alcohol have been unchanged for centuries, and if there is a causal relationship between the two things, youth crime should be rampant across Kalistan.  But Ministry of Justice statistics show that the crime rate is unchanged, within the 3% plus or minus over the last 100 years.  We periodically have movements who rise in Kalistan saying "Oh, there's so much more crime now."  or "Oh, the economy is collapsing recently..."  The Government's policies have remained unchanged for the most part, and so its not the government's policy which caused any changes, if those changes are real.  If we track the rise of new Parties, who terrorize voters by claiming there is some crisis when there is none, we find that the rise of new Parties corresponds directly with the rise of reports of societal decay.  If I was guessing, I would say that there is a direct causal relationship between the arrival of new Parties and the false reports of mass unemployment, crime and starvation in a country which puts liberty, full employment industrial development and social security at the front of its policy efforts.

I:  Do you see any possibility of working with the Government when the Party sits in Opposition?

C:  Well, we are trying to save ODEN.  There has been some forward movement on that, and some things may have to be compromised to keep it from being totally abolished.  If the Free People's Movement is willing to move toward the status quo there may be some opportunity to work with the Government.  But otherwise-  their entire goal is to undo the Kalistani economy and hand it over to capitalists, regardless of who is hurt by the policies.  Economic dislocation associated with liberalism is always painful, and the pain is always disproportionately born by the lower classes.  As we eliminate the equitable economic arrangement in Kalistan in favor of unlimited personal wealth, that wealth has to come from somewhere.  It always comes from those least able to defend what they have from the powerful.  This is what the Majority wants-  to take the money from the poor and give it to their wealthy clients.  The Socialist Party opposes that arrangement.  We have fought for centuries to prevent that sort of arrangement.  And our job is no different when we are in the Opposition-  We will still oppose the mass transfer of wealth upward that is inherent in liberalism.  The Dual economy is a good compromise between State communism and liberalism-  Ensuring there is no person who does with out, and all who want have plenty.  Liberalism ensures that some people have and some people do not have, that wealth is not evenly spread across the society, and that the society feels no responsibility whatsoever to the health of the society.  As the Right's reforms deepen, they will begin dismantling every protection the people have against rampant sink or swim Laissez Faire  capitalism which is perfectly happy to starve the poor out of existence.  How could we possibly work with Parties who support such a demonic economic system as this?

I:  You recently dispatched the outgoing Foreign Minister to Indrala.  Would you care to brief us on this trip?

C:  Put quickly, Minister Edwards flew to Indrala to begin talks with the Government of the Celestial Empire concerning trade, culture and security in East Selaya.  Over the past century, Kalistan aligned itself with the interests of Trigunia, but in the last few decades, this relationship has faded to nothing.  Indrala makes more sense, given their geographical proximity, commercial and cultural relationship with Kalistan, and mutual security interests in the region.  This is just a preliminary meeting of course.  We will continue to discuss matters of mutual interest.  The President's priorities are to open Kalistan once more.  This is the beginning.  But ultimately, it will be up to the new Government, when they are finally seated, to carry on the mission.

I:  We have heard rumors that the SP will be strengthening the KRSB.  Is there any truth to this?

C:  I have no comment on the KRSB.  We would have more to say on that if the SP was to control the Foreign Ministry when the new government is seated, but we can neither confirm nor deny any rumors.

I:  What about the rumors that the SP intends to run the KRSB under the aegis of the RSMoK?

C:  We have no comment on the KRSB.

The Opposition Leader politely excused herself soon afterward following some pleasantries. 

DISCLAIMER:  This interview has been reviewed by the Office of the Opposition Leader.  Her office opted to redact one question our interviewer asked concerning The President's attitude toward the incoming Majority coalition.  The comment that came with the redaction was "The President aims to remain above the politics of the partisan fight in the Assembly.  We should not presume to speak on the President's behalf, nor should anything we have said be seen as reflecting the President's opinions."