Robespierre
The MacMilitant
- Pronouns
- He/him
- TNP Nation
- Francois Isidore
- Discord
- themacmilitant
The Spotlight: An Interview with Robespierre
Written By: Brisdon (AKA @SkyTheAquariusOP)
Disclaimer: The following article was intended to be published as part of TNS Issue XXXVII. However, despite being approved by both then-Minister of Communications @AraFuttio and Deputy Minister of Communications @Kaschovia beforehand, the interview was shut down by @Simone. As such, I am self-publishing this section of what would've been TNS for your viewing pleasure.
Please enjoy and consider upvoting this dispatch in support of a free press in The North Pacific. Thank you!
Sky: Hello, readers! Today, we have a talented and renowned person from TNP here with us. He's a former Delegate and has worked in many cabinet-level positions over the years. Rather serving abroad as an ambassador for our region or commanding members of the North Pacific Army as a General, it's sufficient to say that he's done it all.
Most recently, he ran as a candidate for Delegate in the May 2024 general elections but lost to Simone. I can only imagine the innumerable questions the readers have about that, so let's ask from the man himself. Please welcome Robespierre!
Robespierre: Thank you for that warm introduction, Sky.
Sky: And thank you so much for the interview. How are you doing?
Robespierre: I'm doing well enough, I suppose. I've been taking on more hobbies to keep busy in real life, but I do still check in to see what's going on in TNP every now and then.
Sky: Ah, well then you must've seen this year's observation of Democracy Day. I would like to get your perspective, so you have any words for us about what democracy means to you or what the significance of that event is for the region?
Robespierre: The beauty of Democracy Day is how it means something different to everyone. For me, how I feel about it depends heavily on where I’m sitting when the time comes on any given year. Some might say that there’s still an ongoing struggle to protect the region’s democratic institutions from outsiders. Namely, the Brotherhood of Malice or any other organization from Raider Unity that might wish us harm. Personally, I think that struggle pales in comparison to the struggle that’s happening internally in terms of keeping positions of power appropriately staffed and keeping the spirit of a thriving democracy alive.
I may get a bit of flak for saying this, but democracy isn’t always my preferred form of government. In real life, sure, a people’s self-determination and all of that is very important. But on NationStates? I’m not so sure. It works for some regions and it doesn’t work for others. I obviously don’t want to witness the breakdown of the system that’s been built over the years, as most North Pacificans seem to enjoy democratic governance. In principle, I think that democracy on NationStates is a fine enough idea; but I cannot, in good conscience, willfully ignore its drawbacks.
This is a separate but adjacent issue to the preservation of North Pacifican democracy, but The North Pacific is a region that has more red tape and more opportunistic characters than perhaps any other region I’ve been involved with in the past nine years. We take ourselves so seriously and it’s a point of pride for some, but it’s that same seriousness and by the book approach that routinely leads to [unnecessary] headaches and drama. In a way, the region’s culture feeds off of it. Maybe some people like that and, if so, then fair enough. If that’s the case, then it must be suiting us just fine. But I think that we’ve had a lot more to be proud about in past years than we have to be proud about this year. It’s very disappointing. I can’t really comment any further because I didn’t participate in the Democracy Day festivities, nor did I order a pocket constitution as I normally would.
Sky: As you know, Simone has just completed his second month as Delegate and we’re now past the midterm mark. How would you rate his performance in the role thus far?
Robespierre: Well, I wouldn’t say that he’s done anything to really prove me wrong about him. I think that the people who he’s surrounded himself with have done most of the heavy lifting when it comes to mitigating some of his most troublesome qualities as a leader.
Of course, despite how vocal a critic of his administration I’ve been, there are members of his cabinet who I do have great respect for. Some names that immediately come to mind include Pallaith/Ghost, Kashovia, Prydania, and Dreadton. I’ve thought for a while now that Simone’s tenure as Delegate won’t be nearly as detrimental to the region in the long-term so long as he has people around him who know what they’re doing and who are willing to tell him no sometimes.
I’d say that every one of the people whose names I just listed fall into the camp of people who know what they’re doing. Prydania, in particular, has been very visible in his role as Minister of Culture since he was appointed after the dismissal of Nutmeg early last month. Pallaith/Ghost is the ever-present voice of restraint and reason in pretty much every cabinet that he serves in. He’s been that for a lot of people, including me during my time as Delegate in 2021.
Naturally, one of the main difficulties that comes with assessing any Delegate’s performance in the role is determining how much credit to give them for the successes and failures of their cabinet. Generally speaking, I think that things are left better off when Simone doesn’t touch them and when he leaves the running of the various ministries to his ministers. That’s just me being honest and I understand how not everyone would like to hear me say that. But I view the current situation, so take that for what you will.
I hear that the Ministry of Home Affairs has been hard at work, and if that’s true then I must recognize the effort that Skaraborg and his staffers have been putting into recruitment. But, without a proper midterm report being released as of yet, I have no way of verifying what progress has and hasn’t been made in various areas since I’m no longer part of the Executive Staff myself. The Ministry of Defense conducted a major operation of its own as of late, but outside of that they’ve been rather quiet.
Overall, I’d say that Simone has been below average for the position. He hasn’t suffered any horrendous missteps, but he’s been plagued by a litany of questionable moves and poor communication choices. As I’ve said already, I imagine that the reason why things haven’t gotten worse is due to the presence of some of his advisors. I really do think that they, in large part, are responsible for me being unable to rate him any lower than as solidly below average at this time.
Sky: I'm curious. Why would you say that you lost to Simone in the Delegate election? Do you think your campaign lacked substance, or was it something else?
Robespierre: No, it definitely wasn’t a matter of campaign substance. It was… in a word: populism.
It wasn’t so much that Simone was championing the people’s struggle against the corrupt elites or anything like that. It was more so that he emerged at a time where the only two other candidates were a lot more experienced within the region that he was/is.
If you ask me (and you did), there are always going to be a few North Pacificans who are so outspoken in their dislike of me and their disapproval of me doing pretty much anything in the region that I was never going to win them over. Realistically, it just wasn’t feasible for me and maybe it was an option for him at the very least. Truth be told, I may have earned some of that apprehensiveness. I certainly don’t believe that I deserve all of it and it does get to me every now and then. But I no longer try for those people, so it’s kind of a weight off my shoulders in a way.
There was also a stark contrast between how I approached my candidacy and how Simone approached his. I prefer to keep those kinds of aspirations a lot closer to the vest than he apparently does. That’s just my style, and I’d much rather work quietly with those who I trust than broadcast myself to my regionmates as being an option for leadership via DMs. That’s not a knock, by the way. It’s just something that I think really did end up shaping the race before it even got started. It was in that way that I lagged behind because of my refusal to do that.
Something I’ve only talked about briefly since the outcome of the election was announced is how much I dislike campaigning. I really don’t enjoy asking people for things and I have a hard time feeling comfortable when it comes to approaching citizens who I may or may not interact with regularly. That isn’t a dilemma that was unique to me when I was a candidate, but it is a factor that hindered me, nonetheless.
Campaign awareness is very important. It’s the difference between a citizen going out of their way to support a candidate and them not even knowing that said candidate is running. That’s why I’ve always done my best to make my campaign as visible as possible in every race that I’ve run in. Posting early with a clear and polished platform, making the platform into a dispatch, encouraging people to upvote that dispatch, posting about my candidacy on the RMB, holding a live town hall, and giving people the opportunity to engage and ask as many questions as possible. Those are just some of the things that contribute to citizens having good awareness of a candidate and being more likely to support them once the polls open.
In my mind, the race was always supposed to be between Dreadton and me. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: If I were going to lose anyway then I think that Dreadton would’ve been the next best option. With that in mind, I could’ve very well treated Simone’s opposing candidacy more seriously than I did. Whether you agree with it or not, I felt like I shouldn’t have had to. I was, however, prepared to go up against Dreadton. But, when you’re a fresh face who approaches anyone and everyone and who is enthusiastic about all of these ambitious ideas that you have, people respond to that.
Dreadton and I couldn’t have been that given our histories, although I don’t think that’s a bad thing. I believe that the region should’ve preferred a more experienced hand who had more of a finger on the pulse of what could realistically be achieved this term. Even if that person didn’t end up being me, I don’t think that I seriously considered that it would be him at any point.
So that’s how that happened but let me be clear: I’ve never hid what I thought of my opponents from anyone, including Simone himself. I knew that he was running well in advance, and I figured that he’d back off upon seeing Dreadton and I’s campaigns. When he came to me with a draft of his campaign, I was honest with him and what I said more or less amounted to me having no confidence in his ability to assume the role. He didn’t listen to my feedback and the rest, as they say, is history.
Sky: Let's say you had been elected back in May. What would your first month or two as Delegate have looked like? What would you have done differently from what Simone has?
Robespierre: My cabinet would’ve been much smaller and more compact, for one thing. I realize that it’s kind of like beating a dead horse at this point, so I won’t relitigate what I’ve said before about the number of people involved in Simone’s administration. It is worth mentioning, however, that I wouldn’t have chosen to reestablish the Ministry of Radio as Simone has. Not during the usual Summer lull term, anyway, and certainly not when the region already has staffing issues.
Also, I would’ve worked quickly to ensure that things like the Civil Defense Siren and retaliatory recruitment were resumed as soon as possible. Those were both things that I addressed in my platform, specifically in the home affairs section. Recruitment for our own region is a noble and often thankless endeavor. But using recruitment as an offensive and retaliatory tool during wartime is something that I think would’ve been helpful.
Speaking of the war, it feels like it’s been put on the back burner as of late. I’m not sure if that’s true, as I haven’t really been paying close attention to gameplay, but I hear more about movie nights from culture than I do about what the NPA is doing to combat BoM and Raider Unity. To his credit, I really do believe in Picairn and his leadership potential. I just would’ve liked to see the NPA be more active as far as fighting on the frontlines with our friends goes.
Besides that, it seems to be business as usual in the WA. I’ll admit: I didn’t have any grand designs for that area, unless you count my wanting to pursue a fifth WA Symposium event as a key agenda item. As far as I know, that’s still something that’s in the works(?) I actually don’t know, and that’s probably because communication from this government has been a bit spotty.
My biweekly [war] reports idea would’ve sought to remedy that disconnect. I would’ve looked to follow through with that, but hindsight is 20/20.
Sky: I see. Well, since we're getting close to the end of the interview now, is there anything else that you would like to say or pass onto our readers? A message, perhaps?
Robespierre: My message is that you should participate in and support the region that you love no matter who leads it or which of your regionmates you disagree with on occasion.
I really do wish that I could take my own advice on this, but, sadly, I don’t think that’s possible right now. There are a lot of things that I could be doing but that I’m choosing not to. I’ve never wanted to let anyone down, but I also don’t want to lie to them either. I’ve sort of distanced myself from it all for now, and that’s my choice. It might’ve disappointed a handful of people in the short-term, but I don’t doubt that some were probably pleasantly surprised by my sudden disinterest in what all has been going on these last couple of months.
Maybe it’s a bit hypocritical of me to have that be my message when I’ve chosen to do the exact opposite. Granted, I still chime in sometimes. But I remain unwilling to actually do anything worthwhile for the foreseeable future. I can never force people to acknowledge me, accept me, or even agree with me. I can only continue to advocate for myself and those who might want to say the things that I routinely do.
That’s enough for me right now and it’s a symptom of my on-again, off-again fondness for regional politics. But just because it’s that way for me doesn’t mean that it has to be that way for you. NationStates is a game, after all, so it’s up to you to do what you find fun and only continue for as long as it remains fun.
Sky: Thank you so much for the interview. As a new guy working in the Ministry of Communications, it's quite refreshing to hear new perspectives. I really enjoyed our interview. I appreciate it.
Robespierre: No problem. I was a bit surprised when you asked me, but I'm happy to tag along all the same. Thank you for hearing me out.
Sky: That's all for now. Farewell readers!
