Talk:Ronald William Regan

Assassinated?

No, but apparently his predecessor was. Mr. Regan merely completed his term. Obviously he didn't do much of a good job, otherwise he'd probably been reelected into the office! --IJzeren Jan 04:12, 2 May 2005 (PDT)

Can only serve one term. The only exception was FDR during the Big War. Whittington was pressured to serve again, but deferred thinking it way too much of an honour to have served even one term. Anyway, it was seen as imprudent to jump ship in the middle of a fight (and the memory of the sorry state of affairs during GWI was still quite fresh), and he was doing a smashing job, all things considered. Elemtilas

Okay, but how did he become GM in the first place, after his predecessor's death? Was he some kind of vice-GM? If so, wouldn't it have been more attractive for Mr. Regan to leave the honour to someone else and go for a full term one year later instead of serving out his predecessor's term? --IJzeren Jan 11:14, 2 May 2005 (PDT)

Wainwright died of a bullet to the head -- assassinated, or so it is commonly believed -- while travelling in Louisianne. I don't think there are vice-GMs. The GM is not exactly like a President: while he has his own offices and duties as head of government, the General Moderator, as the title suggests, acts in concert with the Parliament and not as a totally separate executive. As I understand it, the GM pro tem is elected from the Parliament. The old Presidents(*) certainly were. Certainly if he were a vice-GM, I agree it would be more attractive to do as you say. I suspect that (some) MPs might use times like this to emplace "otherwise unelectable" persons in order to take on politically dicey issues that they themselves wouldn't want to tackle.

I am unsure of the details, but it may be that such a GM pro tem could run for a full term, just not subsequent to his present one. I doubt this is the case, though. Mr Clinton's "ten years is enough for anyone!" indicates at least to me that the NAL's leaders are elected for one term only regardless of actual length.

And mind you, just because Regan was only GM for a year doesn't end his cursus honorum. He could almost certainly return to seat in Parliament and would be a shoe in for a governorship. If he were a jurist, he'd almost certainly be a candidate for one of the Circuit Courts or even the High Court itself.

(*) The old office of President -- the one who "...prsides for a term of one year over the Government until such time as a successor to the General Moderatorship be secured..." was originally intended to be a stop-gap officer. The office was not well defined and had no real power to initiate or approve new legislation and their duties were simply to "carry on". I guess back in the early 19th century, this was a Good Thing as it might take days or weeks for news of the GM's death to reach faraway capitals, and further days or weeks for new elections to be conducted and votes counted.

By the time the first President was chosen in 1893, telegraphy, telephony and fast trains sort of obviated the original conceptualisation of the President. The debacle of the two Presidents during GWI caused such a stir that the whole issue was reopened and the Solemn League and Covenant itself was ammended to reflect the importance of the issue. The office of President was abolished and the successor to a deceased or removed GM simply completed the previous GM's term of office.

The exception, of course, was Ruth Rosenberg, whose three fortnight term of office was a temporary and emergency measure. Her duties were mostly to brief the incomming GM, Penn, as to the policies of her husband. She did manage to initiate some humanitarian legislation, though. Elemtilas

This is up for de-propping. Any comments, suggestions, etc? Zahir 13:44, 12 November 2006 (PST)