The Politics of the Novus Settlement

[Ingsoc]

And the caption said it was the 14th election he was speaking at, didn't it? That would imply they had a functioning democracy in which a majority continually elected Young as their leader.

Base on the fact that a group had decide to abandon the main group and form their own government and the fact that apparently Young manage to won 14 elections in a row (!!!) I would put much faith in the fairness of those "elections".

[morrismike]

Any time you have more than 2 people in an organization they'll be divisions. Google up the parable of the ant and the grasshopper to see what likely happened.

The most likely source of conflict was a portion of the population would be working their asses off providing and another portion wasn't. Look at America, 45% of households pay no federal tax outside of fica/medicade and those people elect folks that try and push that 45% to nearly 100%.

[D Toccs]

Then why where there 2 Goverments if they all worked together?

There weren't two governments until the split occurred.

I would say that the original crew probably had a fairly communal society. Probably similar to the dynamic they had on the ship, only with more freedom for the redshirts. Each person would contribute in whatever way they could with all produce going to the group. It would realistically be the only way such a small group could thrive under the circumstances.
Young was probably "the leader" but most decisions would be made by a council of sorts as Taylormatt said.

Once the split happened and the original crew and their immediate descendants passed away and the two societies began to grow, prosper and become fully fledged civilizations the type of government probably changed to suit the new situation. We don't know what governmental system was employed by either nation on Novus in the present day.

Hopefully we will learn more next episode.

[Ser Scot A Ellison]

I'm more curious in light of the debates from last year whether those who supported Young's authority, without question, would say his authority continues on Novus? If not, why not?

[traylormatt]

I'm more curious in light of the debates from last year whether those who supported Young's authority, without question, would say his authority continues on Novus? If not, why not?

My apologies, I did not read those debates. Do you mean gateworlders not questioning or do you mean the crew on Destiny not questioning Young now they are on Novus?

[qingdom]

I'm quite interested which of the two groups had control of the gate.

[Ser Scot A Ellison]

Traylor,

Gatworlders. Many maintained Young was the man because Earth had left him in charge. That elections are wrong because they are all under military authority. I wondered if that would still be true on Novus and for those who Young selected to suceed him.

[Duneknight]

The political division is still there for 2000 years, must be because of other deeper issues than ones started by the destiny crew. Who knows what. They are so different from us in their understanding of things. They dont seem to have christians or any religious among them. Why is that? Did they know of Earth? Did they have a terrorist groups or armies who worship Rush? Rush being a messiah figure could have pushed some into doing bad things.

[traylormatt]

Well undoubtedly Young should have stayed as leader whilst still on Destiny especially considering the threat of attack. Once on Novus I believe they would appoint him as leader because he is the only one really with experience leading both civilians and military. Looking forward to hopefully learning some more about their tie on Novus.

[D Toccs]

I'm quite interested which of the two groups had control of the gate.

Given that the entire offworld settlement was made up of Tenarans, it would be pretty safe to conclude that they had control of the gate.

The political division is still there for 2000 years, must be because of other deeper issues than ones started by the destiny crew. Who knows what. They are so different from us in their understanding of things. They dont seem to have christians or any religious among them. Why is that? Did they know of Earth? Did they have a terrorist groups or armies who worship Rush? Rush being a messiah figure could have pushed some into doing bad things.

Probably very similar to the Bedrosian and Optrican situation on P2X-416 in SG1 season 3 episode 19 New Ground.

[Ser Scot A Ellison]

traylor,

Well undoubtedly Young should have stayed as leader whilst still on Destiny especially considering the threat of attack. Once on Novus I believe they would appoint him as leader because he is the only one really with experience leading both civilians and military. Looking forward to hopefully learning some more about their tie on Novus.

Probably true. My question is more to those who insisted the civilians on the ship had no basis for their attempt to put the military in a subordinate position in "Divided". I'm curious to discover whether they would hold to that position once they've been trapped on Novus?

[Gollumpus]

Should the military be in charge, should the civilians be in charge, I say the Novans should be in charge.

They would have come to accept that the chances were pretty slim that they would ever see Earth again, so they would have to dig in for the long haul, something which would include setting up some form of governance. I don't believe Young would become a dictator in the new society. I believe he is too principled to hold such a position. He would likely remain as the de facto leader of the military, but I suspect that he would retire to become a private citizen. The skills Young acquired getting to his rank would be very valuable to the settlement and he would likely be a voice which was sought out to support one position or another in any debate.

I don't think it's surprising that Young was the leader at some point during the rest of his life, that being said, for all we know that might have been the first election he ever won.


regards,
G.

[Shylodog]

It's important to note that during his speech, Young was not condemning a split in the group. He was however making it clear that even divided like that, they all needed to work together to be able to survive.

[traylormatt]

Ser,

I think when they are all on Novus we will see a change in their duties. I really hope they become more unified in their efforts. No more of this military is in charge and civillians are kept kind of thing. When they went to that planet that the planet builders built (that was a ridiculous way to write that, the planet in faith was it?) any way, that planet, the military seemed to still tell people what to do which seemed wrong. I think there wil be some of that to start with, but when they eventually see that they are truly alone, it will stop to a degree and then people will all fall into their roles of what they are good at.

I thikn we will find that the usual leaders will still be the leaders though.

[traylormatt]

Also, is there really going to be a "military" by any real definition of the word, on Novus? What point would there actually be in the early days? Once the population grew they may need a kind of police, but still no military.