Miriam Webber's Peace Address to the Congress of the Commonwealth of Free Cities, December 18
I have travelled around the Commonwealth. I have spoken to refugees from across the continent. Labourers from Oklahoma. A fisherman from Miami. A lumberjack from the Japanese states - never did tell me which one.
And everyone I speak to, the sentiment is the same.
They are thankful, that our people give so generously. That our people offer food and board and work so readily.
But they grow tired of us, Congress, not giving them the same thought. They grow tired of being told to wait just a little longer, suffer just a short time more.
They are furious that the people of Detroit and Toledo have jumped the queue, become citizens at a time not a single refugee is eligible to do the same. They are outraged, that the hypocritical fear-mongering of the traitor Sperling
worked and
still works, that there are those who refuse to acknowledge that these people are not the assassins, spies or saboteurs that Sperling would have us fear.
They will not tolerate being pushed back forever. If we do not address this respectfully, responsibly, and comprehensively - if we do not pass the Refugee Act - then there will be violence.
But the Refugee Crisis is not the
only crisis we face.
The Commonwealth is still grasped by food insecurity. The government policy of simply handing out equipment and subsidies and loans to farmers is insufficient. We need a coordinated, comprehensive, government-led overhaul of the agricultural sector, or we will continue to be reliant on the goodwill of our neighbours to feed our own citizens.
The slow progress of agricultural reforms is indicative of another problem - we are some 15 to 20 million people.
How many exactly? It's hard to say, because not every constituent that made up the founding of the Commonwealth held censuses. We haven't held one in the four years we've been a true government. At no point in the life of this government have we ever had a firm idea of how many people we govern.
Frankly, those who fear Sperling's phantom invaders should be scrambling all over themselves to get a census out, yet there never seems quite enough support for that to work out.
Why have we not yet resolved the refugee crisis? Why have we not yet resolved the food crisis? Why have we not yet held a census?
Because the Johnson Administration would rather spend considerable time, and considerable resources, stomping on the neck of an enemy we have
already beaten!
We fought to defend Detroit, and we did so. We had the chance for peace - it was even the Victorians who instigated the peace talks. Yet we could not reach peace deal, and so the war not stop at Detroit.
Instead we fought to seize the Welland Canal. Our defence ministry insisted that
this would bring the Victorians back to the table, a threat that could not be ignored.
And the Victorians ignored it. So we did not reach a peace deal, and the war did not stop at the Canal.
So we marched on Buffalo - and the citizens there have had family killed, lives upended, homes destroyed, because of it.
This, we were told, would
surely bring Victoria back to the negotiation table.
Well, where are they? How much further are we going to overextend, before we admit that we have gone further than we should have already?
We cannot continue to waste time, to waste resources, to draw away the focus of this administration with this pointless bloodshed!
I know that none of us really like our neighbour, but are we really so determined to burn their house down that we ignore our own home falling apart behind us?
I don't want to be mistaken for some kind of sympathiser, or apologist, but we have achieved everything we set out to achieve in this war and more.
Detroit is safe, and it has been brought into the fold. Victoria is maimed, and what's left of its army is busy fighting amongst itself.
There is no need for us to keep pushing. We lack the strength to destroy Victoria completely, and there is little point pretending otherwise.
Everything since the Battle of Detroit has been unnecessary bloodshed, a failure of this administration to achieve a reasonable peace deal with Victoria, despite their uncharacteristic willingness to play ball.
It is clear that this administration has lost sight of what we first set out to achieve. It has lost sight of all the problems pushed to the wayside to allow this campaign to continue. And if this administration cannot bring us back to the peace negotiations and end this farce, so that we can turn our attention, our time, and our resources, to the places they are truly needed, then it has lost my support.
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Late because I didn't want to be seen as dumping fuel on the prior debate, but this is (obv) set prior
to the latest update
