“No doubt some of you agree with my actions and some of you disagree. That is neither here nor there for this meeting. The subject will be debated endlessly in any number of forums going forward, I am sure, but for this group, at this time, it is the future, not the past, that is our focus.
“What sort of government should Arcadia have? My bias is toward a government that allows the greatest freedoms to its citizens. We each are granted but one life, and it should be, to the greatest degree possible, our individual decision how we choose to live it.
“This includes, by the way, the decision to work hard and become wealthy if we wish, or to sit back and take it easy and not be so wealthy if we wish. It also includes the hard-working person’s right to keep the wealth he earned. The government has no right to take any of that wealth from him and give it to the person who has decided to sit back and take it easy.
“That is my general philosophy. Now if we start with our previous form of government as a baseline, what sort of changes do we wish to make? I have some suggestions. After I make these suggestions to you, I will oversee the election of a chairman for your deliberations and then withdraw.
“I am now, by default, in control of the government, having seized power. It is not appropriate, to my mind, that I have any input beyond this first talk. I have no desire to be the Emperor of Arcadia or anything of the sort, whether by that name or some other, such as the recent chairman of the council. I have no desire to repeat that mistake. If not in this generation, then in a later one, it always leads to tyranny.
“So, that said, on to my suggestions.
“I think the consolidation of the cabinet with the legislative body is not appropriate going forward. The department heads in the cabinet should be people with a deep understanding of the subject matter, professionals in the activities of their individual departments. The legislators, by contrast, should be more generalists, with a broader view. I suggest reconstituting the cabinet under the executive, but with a separate legislative body.
“That legislative body, I believe, should be elected by the people of Arcadia. This could either be at large or by precincts of some sort. As we grow it will need to be by precincts, and setting it up that way now is probably the better solution.
“The executive, who both selects and heads the cabinet, should also be selected with input from the people. That can be directly by election, or indirectly by the legislative body. The first, historically, has been called a president, the second a prime minister. They both have their advantages and disadvantages, and I think either way could work.
“We need some sort of document that states, in clear and unambiguous terms, what the government may do and what it may not. The first is usually called powers, the second rights. A clear delineation of powers and a succinct and broad recognition of rights are both required, I believe.
“We also need something to which people are allegiant. Historically, it has often been a throne or royal personage of some sort, even if they were largely without power. In other cases, such allegiance has been to the founding document itself. What it must not be is to some political leader, or to some political party.
“Finally, we need some high court to keep people in line. A statement of rights and powers is all well and good, but has no teeth if there is no body to enforce it.”
The Chen paused there, and waved someone out from the side of the stage. The young man came out with a teapot and a cup. He served the Chen, set the teapot down next to the pillow, and withdrew. The Chen took a sip of tea.
“Pardon me. I am unused to speaking so long.”
He took another sip of tea, then set the cup down on the floor.
“Another thing that must be considered, now that we have achieved the size we have, is having multiple levels of government. When we first arrived here, we were but a hundred thousand people. That would have been a small city on Earth, and the council was much like a city council. That was appropriate.
“We are now much larger, and will grow much larger still. We grew a factor of fifteen in the last fifty years. Do that three more times and we are at five billion people.
“That is unlikely, I grant. But getting much larger is not. I think it inappropriate for a planetary government to concern itself with street repairs and sewer connections and such. Perhaps we should put in place a lower-level structure to take care of that, such as incorporated cities with delegated powers. Or counties. Or provinces.”
The Chen sipped from his tea again.
“Another item for your consideration. The government has until now been in charge of the production coming out of the factories the metafactory has created.
“One reason we have done as well as we have under such a command economy is that the Kendall governments have been so amenable to maximizing government income. Whenever the price of some scarce commodity rose enough, they would redirect production to generate income at those prices. Between that and a flourishing black market, we have avoided the worst shortages of a command economy.
“That is not to say there have not been abuses. Mr. Kendall’s reservation to himself of the only two limousines he allowed to be
