Aurora.3/code/modules/customitems/imogen_guiltymen.txt

...on one side a resurgent Sol, on the other an expanding Biesel, and the last an imperious Dominia. We are Isolated and alone, led here through the failures, and sins of Guilty Men.
...we were victorious! At the peak of its power and glory, Sol found itself humbled through the efforts of the people of the frontier, with nothing but retrofitted freighters, and a handful of defectors. Look at where we find ourselves today, what would the victors of Xansan think of what we’ve done with that hard-won freedom?
If our noble Coalition is ever to falter, and stumble it will be our own fault. When we needed most to change, to adapt, we instead bickered with one-another over the smallest of details as the shadows closed in...
Leaders? And what leadership have they shown us? Through their inaction they have shrugged that responsibility from their shoulders, and we the people suffer the consequences. I ask again, what leaders?
And what if the Strelitz had faced the Grand Army in Fisanduh? Would we face that petty gaggle of tyrants, and despots from across the Badlands? The answer is obvious, yet now we must reap the bounty of our inaction.
Mictlan, Port Antilles, and how many others now suffer under the yolk of corporate tyranny rather than flourishing amidst the freedom of the frontier? Is this what our forefathers fought for? Passivity and inaction?
..I think the argument has been laid plain, the evidence held bare. Now we all might agree it is time for the Guilty Men to retire, and allow the ship of state to be steered by those more able.
And who might the blame be laid upon for these crimes? Chief Sianne, First-Speaker Helminen, Presiden Afza and dozens more whose sins will be laid bare in these pages …
...at what point might we finally admit that the tepid response of diplomats might have a limit? When might we finally realize that our values might need defense with blood, and force-of-arms, not words?
...so I ask, how much longer might we gaze across the frontier and utter ‘Not our business’ as those theocrats, and warlords in Dominia ransack free colonies? How many worlds will we abandon to the whims of these petty despots?
...should our Coalition continue upon its current path; that of inaction, of delay, wrapped in the cloak of political theater, then we will come to a precipice. That is not alarmism, it is a reality we will have to face, within our own lifetimes.
In mankind’s history, it has been the indifference of those that have known better; the silence of the voice of justice when it mattered the utmost, that has made possible for the great evils of our people to arise. We can ill afford more silence.
...On our horizon lies a gathering storm. The sky above dark and frightening, looming over us with ill intent, engulfing all hope within its smothering embrace. The earth below shudders with unrestrained fury, our feet unsteady, and weak in its wake. Yet we needn’t have been set upon this path, had steadier hands steered our course...
...there is nothing in the universe with a shorter half-life than a politician's memory for inconvenient facts. Yet their unwillingness to face these inconvenient truths does nothing to shield us from them, if they do nothing, we must find those who will.
Some might label those who come to believe as we do, know as we do, as extremists. Yet it is imperative to remember that our society has had decades to seek a less drastic course, and instead it has done nothing. As we near a precipice, radical action must be considered.
Those who look upon this book, and the solutions offered within with scorn must face one simple, elegant truth. Not one man, woman, or child within this Spur can make the truth untrue, simply because it is painful to face.
Given the foes that look upon us with malice, greed, and hate from every corner of the Spur, I think it time to consider that in measures such as foreign policy, and military operations, the decentralized nature of our Coalition has failed us. A federal structure might serve us on the interstellar stage, and allow us to defend ourselves abroad, while preserving our liberty at home...
...And too we must see to change within our great Coalition. A hundred member states feud at times with a hundred more, we must take action! So that when the time comes, our foes face a united Coalition, bound with amity, held together with common need, and common purpose...