A man in an expensive emerald suit takes the stage. It glitters in the streetlights, and you realise he’s bedecked in the colours of the Colony Cross itself. He grins at the cameradrones filling the airspace around him. He’s dwarfed by the council chambers around him – surrounded by the beaurocracy of the Hamburg heartland, before, suddenly, they envelope him; holographs rising across the mountains of pastcrete heaped around him. The air falls still, before the crowd unintelligibly erupts.
“Men and women of our beloved planet. It is a beautiful afternoon to talk of the future, isn’t it? Even the lovely journalists from Suttgart at the front are only wearing one coat. Perhaps day we have to offer.”
A knowing laugh breaks across the crowd. The camera pans over the face of a young holocapture technician who is struggling not to giggle into her own footage.
“My name is Linus VonClaussen, and I do not believe in fate, my friends. But perhaps we should take this glorious sunset as a sign of optimism – even now, in grave times such as those we live in, we should not abandon hope because of the gravity of the situation into which we have been placed. We have seen, and had televised, some of the worst abuses of our fair nation in living memory, since the Alien War. There are now two, nearly three, whole generations who have not had to live in the shadow of our bravest, and darkest, of days. In eight-oh-one our Republic promised a new dawn from the embers of our innocence. Rheinland has grown wealthy – we can defend ourselves once more. Our explorers, scientists, and entrepreneurs have spread our people to fresh worlds, inspiring a fresh generation of pioneers. Von Rohe would be proud of the people we have become. We deserve to be proud of the people we have become.”
“Yet old questions go unanswered. Politicians on this very podium do not address the concerns that weigh most on our minds. They dare not – not out of political correctness, or any other buzzword, but out of acceptance. Our Republic, built upon the promise of the Von Rohe’s day Uprising, was codified to follow the principles of freedom, egalitarianism, and state responsibility, acting in the interests of all. The promise that a citizen could report a corrupt official, or boss, and not have to fear for their jobs, for their lives. The promise that any man, woman or child, who falls upon hard times, can hope for a path back to prosperity, on their own terms, helped by a state who prioritises their happiness over the share value of foreign pharmaceutical monopolies. Over the course of the Republic, the soil under our feet has been sold. There are families that have lived their entire working lives on land that they do not own, in beds that could be taken away from them at the stroke of a pen. In Hamburg, nearly three percent of the system’s population was either incarcerated, or had experience within the corrections system, before the Westphalia siege. Our police request, over and over, greater funding for rehabilitative measures, rather than punitive solutions, so that their clients may one day return to society as functional, stable members of society. But our government has become spendthrifty. We are told that money cannot be spent in schools for Hamburg’s children, sensors for the planetary defence grid; that our economy would stagnate if only we didn’t work just a little harder, for just a little less pay. It is temporary, we’re promised, over and over again, till you, me, our fathers, remember nothing else.”
“I do not wish to bring dark thoughts or strain to our viewers on this gorgeous afternoon. But I must be emphatic. Govermental neglect is a crime to humanity. It’s a sin against God, and it’s a crime against the state. Perhaps not the laws of the state which have been twisted by internationalist judicial appointments, but a crime against civility. A crime against the promise within men’s hearts that the poor should not depend upon the kindness of a self-interested rich.”
“There’s more an a few of you in the crowd who are chuckling at me, friends. Not the invited guests, of course, for the Chancellery likes to present only a certain face. I am glad you have come to laugh at me, my friends. Of course; I deserve it. I am a Von Claussen. I am a rich man. What does this Cambridge educated rich boy know of hard work?”
“What indeed?”
“It is an… abomination… that only men that are wealthy such as myself can afford to mount political campaigns. Perhaps it is the cost of power? Indeed, standing up for your fellow man has a cost when special interest groups are allowed to channel unlimited, unfettered donations to their candidates of choice. When organisations such as our own homespace security apparatus has been mounting political campaigns over the airwaves, in abdication of their office. Only those who have power, deserve power, we are told. Only those who are rich deserve to keep it. This is a lie. It might have been re-iterated since the Nomad war, but it nevertheless a lie. We are all in the same boat. When my half-brother, may he rest in peace, disappeared during the war, he did so fighting with his body and life in the black of space. As only a young man, I had to hide what was left of my family from the alien threat, down here, on our home planet, as did legions of others, rich and poor, young and old. Perhaps that truth has been drowned under expensive gallic wine, but it is still truth; power should be indebted to truth.”
“You’re probably surprised to hear this from an Imperial. Well, I don’t blame you; as you can understand, I don’t get invited to the snappiest fundraisers.”
Another chuckle from the front rows.
“There are those who say that the corruption in Hamburg is inevitable, that we are becoming numbed to its injustices. I do not believe this to be true. I believe that the time is now; that we can effect change now. But we will not do so with words or speeches, but with actions.”
“I am announcing my run as an independent candidate for the head of the Chancellery of Hamburg. My campaign will be based upon a review of corruption controls, increasing the power of the constabulary to investigate officials, a review of defence spending, a boost to social wealth-fare and the state scholastic system, and, for the first time since the Republic was founded, an illegalisation of inter-house donations to political campaigns. Yet I do not want to run an inflexible campaign – I’m running for you; my neighbours, for I believe we all have a part to play in making this house a house that we wish our children to grow old in. My campaign will open a forum to the people to hear your concerns. Furthermore, I will be submitting my personal files to the federal police for audit and review. Hamburg has suffered enough from untrustworthy politicians, and I wish to as frank and honest with you as I can; warts and all.”
“I wish to make one final ask of you: I will be publicising all donations and interest groups involved in my campaign to the Neuralnet. I cannot represent the people if the people do not know who is representing me, can I? I encourage you, expecially you men and women of the media, to read them and hold me to account. For you are not a weapon to whitewash the integrity of careerists, but the vital fourth estate. I trust you to keep me honest; to keep my campaign honest, and report on our mistakes as well as our successes. Help us create a government for Hamburg that typifies the best of our people, that makes good on the promises integral to our nation.”
“Thank you for your time, your respect, and your generosity."
The crowd resounds in cheers.
"...And that was independent party candidate Linus Von Claussen speaking from the steps of the Chancellery Hall. Whilst announcing himself as an independent, VonClaussen is known to be running for his seat with both the endorsement and the encouragement of the upper ranks of the Rheinland Imperial Party, raising questions as to how seriously the New Federalists will take the up and coming challenger. Linus VonClaussen, popularised in the media for his familial connections to the controversial Great War hero Adek VonClaussen, along with his significant chartitable activities on Hamburg itself, not to mention something of a playboy reputation, is presently trending on Rheinland social Media..."
-The views within this article do not reflect the official stance of the Imperial Party of Rheinland but the viewpoint of a single reporter.-
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