01-27-2020, 01:52 PM
Let's take a step back here. Why do we have a Guard in the first place?
When Mandate 12 got started, Lazarus did not have a military, and intentionally so, because it did not want to present any opening again for imperialists, defenders, raiders, or francoists to step all over this region like has been done in the past decade. With no military there, there would be no incentive for malign actors to try to step in and sway whatever numbers Lazarus could bring (historically something between 3 and 15) to their purposes. If treaty obligations required us to defend an ally, we would form a temporary citizen militia to take care of those obligations, then dissolve it once the mission is over.
Then the whole NPO war started. Quite a few advised against it, and Imki gave all of us a very frank and honest view and prediction of what either choice would entail, but most just ignored all of that because the "NPO Delenda Est" propaganda from outside struck Lazarus deep.
So we made a guard, but as a compromise to those that were trying to keep Lazarus from getting into the same troubles again, the Guard was restricted. Those that wanted the war would get their military to wage war with, while those that were against the war got the assurance that the Guard wouldn't get to be involved in any of the R/D shenanigans that Lazarus was very deliberately keeping itself out of ever since Mandate 12.
Then in November we got the first attempt at opening up the Guard to be in R/D. One of the suggestions was even to make its alignment subject to the Prime Minister, as if to say to the world "HEY, SUBVERT US!". Fortunately, that failed, but at too narrow a margin for comfort. And here we are again.
So, to recap: Lazarus, starting with Mandate 12, intentionally did not have a military. That principle was broken due to outside propaganda that led to Lazarus declaring war, a war that more and more Lazarenes now want to get out of. Already we've gotten on the slippery slope, and now we're talking about letting go and sliding further down. Why? Why in [violet]'s name would we do this to ourselves?
The arguments that have been made for this proposal can be categorized in one of two ways.
First, it is argued that this improves regional activity. This is simply false. No full-featured region ever got a major source of activity from its military in the history of NationStates. I don't wish to ascribe malice to anybody that has brought this argument here, but please consider its origin: This false argument was invented by the Imperialist sphere and, together with the invention of the ill-named "Independence" alignment, used as a tool to politically drive regions to support their military operations. Lazarenes that were around in 2017 should find this familiar, as the same rhetoric was used back then by Funkadelia and Lamb Stone to argue for an Independent Lazarus just before they overthrew the CU.
Second, the argument is that the "Guard" is bored, or that the individuals within the Guard wish to do more. I'm principally sympathetic to that argument, but Lazarus has no restrictions on cross-membership with other regions bar the NPO. It would not be treasonous or even disagreeable to satisfy the itch for military gameplay through a dedicated R/D region while keeping Lazarus as your home, and in fact many prominent Lazarenes already do this very thing.
Neither of these arguments postulate any non-negligible benefit to the region as a whole.
My fellow Shareholders, the dam is damaged already. Do your duty and don't let it break open even further.
When Mandate 12 got started, Lazarus did not have a military, and intentionally so, because it did not want to present any opening again for imperialists, defenders, raiders, or francoists to step all over this region like has been done in the past decade. With no military there, there would be no incentive for malign actors to try to step in and sway whatever numbers Lazarus could bring (historically something between 3 and 15) to their purposes. If treaty obligations required us to defend an ally, we would form a temporary citizen militia to take care of those obligations, then dissolve it once the mission is over.
Then the whole NPO war started. Quite a few advised against it, and Imki gave all of us a very frank and honest view and prediction of what either choice would entail, but most just ignored all of that because the "NPO Delenda Est" propaganda from outside struck Lazarus deep.
So we made a guard, but as a compromise to those that were trying to keep Lazarus from getting into the same troubles again, the Guard was restricted. Those that wanted the war would get their military to wage war with, while those that were against the war got the assurance that the Guard wouldn't get to be involved in any of the R/D shenanigans that Lazarus was very deliberately keeping itself out of ever since Mandate 12.
Then in November we got the first attempt at opening up the Guard to be in R/D. One of the suggestions was even to make its alignment subject to the Prime Minister, as if to say to the world "HEY, SUBVERT US!". Fortunately, that failed, but at too narrow a margin for comfort. And here we are again.
So, to recap: Lazarus, starting with Mandate 12, intentionally did not have a military. That principle was broken due to outside propaganda that led to Lazarus declaring war, a war that more and more Lazarenes now want to get out of. Already we've gotten on the slippery slope, and now we're talking about letting go and sliding further down. Why? Why in [violet]'s name would we do this to ourselves?
The arguments that have been made for this proposal can be categorized in one of two ways.
First, it is argued that this improves regional activity. This is simply false. No full-featured region ever got a major source of activity from its military in the history of NationStates. I don't wish to ascribe malice to anybody that has brought this argument here, but please consider its origin: This false argument was invented by the Imperialist sphere and, together with the invention of the ill-named "Independence" alignment, used as a tool to politically drive regions to support their military operations. Lazarenes that were around in 2017 should find this familiar, as the same rhetoric was used back then by Funkadelia and Lamb Stone to argue for an Independent Lazarus just before they overthrew the CU.
Second, the argument is that the "Guard" is bored, or that the individuals within the Guard wish to do more. I'm principally sympathetic to that argument, but Lazarus has no restrictions on cross-membership with other regions bar the NPO. It would not be treasonous or even disagreeable to satisfy the itch for military gameplay through a dedicated R/D region while keeping Lazarus as your home, and in fact many prominent Lazarenes already do this very thing.
Neither of these arguments postulate any non-negligible benefit to the region as a whole.
My fellow Shareholders, the dam is damaged already. Do your duty and don't let it break open even further.