On the occasion of the 2020 American presidential election: The writer Stéphane Denis imagines a principality somewhere in Europe between Switzerland and Liechtenstein, which "borrows characteristics from Monaco and Empress Sissi" (Etienne de Montety). A country long forgotten by modernity and the European Union, where the people are ruled by a sovereign more concerned with organizing his personal pleasures than with enacting laws.
Les Moréniens n'avaient rien contre le cumul des mandates ni l'hérédité politique, trouvant agréable qu'on les déchargeât de preoccupations qui leur importaient peu. Also the ministre des Affaires étrangères s'occupait-il des questions constitutionnelles.
Cela n'arrivait pas souvent.
On the democratic plan, the Moréniens sont à la fois actifs et indifférents.
Ils ont deux cents députés, ce qui fait beaucoup. This is a large village in the Sien, which is a local area for acclamations and is located in the Parlement of Bona, an ancient Jesuit. Les Moréniens ont chassé les Jesuits qui prétendaient les convertir à l'obéissance au pape et transformé les lieux en limitant le nombre de parliamentaires au nombre de pièces.
Deux ou trois fois par an, les députés votedent, à la demande des électeurs qui suggèrent ceci ou cela. On appelle cela une supplique.
Democracy has begun, with Albéric disposing of an absolute power.
Il n'y a rien d'étonnant à ce que le ministre des Affaires étrangères s'occupe des questions constitutionnelles: la Morénie n'a pas de constitution.
Au cours des siècles, les margraves ont soigneusement évité d'écrire quoi que ce soit. Graver in the marble of the text sacrés comme on the fait en France, traditionnellement l'amie de la Morénie, ils s'y sont toujours refusés. Même the father Barbin, envoyé par le gouvernement Couve de Murville, s'y est cassé les dents. The Morénie is restée without règles ni lois.
The system represents the tradition, and the suggestions, the modernity.
Et ça fonctionne.
Stéphane Denis, Le male blanc
The Moreni had no objection to multiple mandates or political inheritance and found it pleasant to be relieved of worries that were of little importance to them. The foreign minister dealt with constitutional matters.
That didn't happen very often.
From a democratic point of view, the people of Morenia are both active and indifferent.
They have 200 representatives, which is a lot. Every large village has its own, elected locally by acclamation, who sits in the parliament of Bona, a former Jesuit college. The Moreni expelled the Jesuits, who claimed to be converting them to obedience to the Pope, and restructured the place, limiting the number of parliamentarians to the number of rooms.
Two to three times a year, members of parliament vote on requests from voters who propose this or that. This is called a petition.
Democracy ends here, because Albéric has absolute power.
It is no wonder that the foreign minister is concerned with constitutional issues: Morenia has no constitution.
Over the centuries, the marquises carefully avoided writing anything down. They always refused to carve sacred texts in marble, as was customary in France, Morenia's traditional friend. Even Dean Barbin, sent by the government of Couve de Murville, met his match. Morenia remained without rules or laws.
The system represents tradition, proposals represent modernity.
And it works.
This article is written in German and can be found at https://rentree.de. Automatic translations into English and French are available. English, French.
