As the Secretary of the Treasury of the ISC, an opinion on this matter was likely expected. York nodded slowly, his fingers steepled in deep thought as he listened to his ISC brethren. They had laid out the excellent points, and York intended to drive them home. Slowly, he stood and approached his podium. Very deliberate motions gave a sense of caution and deliberateness. It also helped to draw the rest of the audience in so that they would be silent when his voice finally gave way to words.
"Speaker, I want to commend both Governor Archer and Secretary Carrick for outlining the logistical and practical problems in enforcing this particular rule. Not only would some entity, be it through a trial or hearing, would have to determine intent, but ultimately all reasons are political. Whether it be economic, militaristic, diplomatic, or sheer pettiness, any reasons a faction may have to try to deter one planet or planets from trading with another outside of that faction would be political."
He motioned to Governor Archer and said, "And as stated, the punishment of sanctions is in direct violation of the law itself. Economic sanctions are precisely what this rule would ban- the prevention of trade or services rendered on a political basis."
He sighed, and looked down at his podium. A heartfelt moment to be sure, something more...emotional soon to be forthcoming. "And, in the spirit of transparency, the ISC is already in violation of this rule. The Treasury has recently put in place certain incentives and directives...perhaps so far as to be called "pressuring" the planets and systems in our Consortium to buy certain goods and services inside our faction's borders instead of buying them outside of our faction. Likewise, there are certain resources and products that have similar restrictions, guidelines, and incentives to only sell those products or materials within the ISC borders." He punched a button on his pad and the word for word ruling would flash in front of every senator who had their holopad on. As they could clearly see, the ISC would already be in violation of the law.
"Now, let me tell you why that it is. It is not because we want to punish the FWA or the New Republic or any of the independent planets that are not affiliated with us. We have a situation that I believe may be hard for the New Republic senators to understand. Not because they don't care or because they can't understand, but because the struggle with planets on the Outer Rim is quite different than what you see closer to the center of our galaxy." York hit another button and several of the guidelines for certain resources to stay "in house" or to be purchased only from ISC planets would show in front of the legislative body. "Unlike the New Republic and many of the FWA planets who call the Inner Rim and Expansion Region home, the ISC has a vast number of planets and systems in the Outer Rim, many of which have been ravaged by thugs and criminal syndicates for thousands of years. We don't have the same "core" of highly developed, economic powerhouses as the New Republic and the FWA. We have planets such as Lok, a dusty, mostly barren planet whose populace simply survived by whatever scraps galactic pirates left as they passed through. The ISC is trying to help the people on Lok by indulging some of our raw material-rich planets to forego more prosperous deals with planets in the FWA and the New Republic so that with ISC help, the necessary infrastructure for that planet to become a growing manufacturing center can be built."
He put his palms on the podium and looked out at the others in the room. "We are trying to give the citizens of Lok a future that is theirs, a sense of wealth and ownership in their own success."
He clicked the button again and the rule that would prevent such measures would shine in red words in front of the legislators. "But this would be stripping the people of Lok from their future, their chance to finally become self-sufficient." A long list of planets would also pop up. Shimia, Tattooine, Orvax IV, and dozens and dozens of other planets and moons with sentient civilizations would start scrolling in front of them. "And the people of all these other planets that we're trying to help as well."
He would give the members of the galactic senate an opportunity to read over sheer volume of planets who would be adversely affected by this rule before turning it off. "I believe this agenda item was brought to this body with the purest of intentions to promote free trade. Unfortunately, this would mean that many of our planets would forego their trade deals inside the Consortium for more lucrative individual deals with the New Republic core and colony worlds as well as some within the FWA. Of course, this means that the rich would get richer and the poor in the Outer Rim would have the rug pulled out from under them just when they thought they were getting their footing."
He looked across the room, panning the large space with his eyes slowly to get as many eyeballs as he could. "If you do vote in favor of this, all I ask in return is for you to visit each of these planets that I have provided for you and tell those people eye to eye, face to face why the fat cat major corporations and ecumenopolises of the Core Words deserve that business and money more than they do."
York tucked his datapad back into his pocket and looked out at the senate. "Short of that, I ask you to support the motion and my second of the motion to table this agenda item."
With the same deliberation of how he started, York took his time turning off his microphone, gathering his belongings and making his way to his seat.
@Rhogar @Tess @lizziie @Sreeya @Mr. Teatime @Wit @Mockingjay @Nommie @The Good Doctor @LouJoVi @Reyn @Altaris
"Speaker, I want to commend both Governor Archer and Secretary Carrick for outlining the logistical and practical problems in enforcing this particular rule. Not only would some entity, be it through a trial or hearing, would have to determine intent, but ultimately all reasons are political. Whether it be economic, militaristic, diplomatic, or sheer pettiness, any reasons a faction may have to try to deter one planet or planets from trading with another outside of that faction would be political."
He motioned to Governor Archer and said, "And as stated, the punishment of sanctions is in direct violation of the law itself. Economic sanctions are precisely what this rule would ban- the prevention of trade or services rendered on a political basis."
He sighed, and looked down at his podium. A heartfelt moment to be sure, something more...emotional soon to be forthcoming. "And, in the spirit of transparency, the ISC is already in violation of this rule. The Treasury has recently put in place certain incentives and directives...perhaps so far as to be called "pressuring" the planets and systems in our Consortium to buy certain goods and services inside our faction's borders instead of buying them outside of our faction. Likewise, there are certain resources and products that have similar restrictions, guidelines, and incentives to only sell those products or materials within the ISC borders." He punched a button on his pad and the word for word ruling would flash in front of every senator who had their holopad on. As they could clearly see, the ISC would already be in violation of the law.
"Now, let me tell you why that it is. It is not because we want to punish the FWA or the New Republic or any of the independent planets that are not affiliated with us. We have a situation that I believe may be hard for the New Republic senators to understand. Not because they don't care or because they can't understand, but because the struggle with planets on the Outer Rim is quite different than what you see closer to the center of our galaxy." York hit another button and several of the guidelines for certain resources to stay "in house" or to be purchased only from ISC planets would show in front of the legislative body. "Unlike the New Republic and many of the FWA planets who call the Inner Rim and Expansion Region home, the ISC has a vast number of planets and systems in the Outer Rim, many of which have been ravaged by thugs and criminal syndicates for thousands of years. We don't have the same "core" of highly developed, economic powerhouses as the New Republic and the FWA. We have planets such as Lok, a dusty, mostly barren planet whose populace simply survived by whatever scraps galactic pirates left as they passed through. The ISC is trying to help the people on Lok by indulging some of our raw material-rich planets to forego more prosperous deals with planets in the FWA and the New Republic so that with ISC help, the necessary infrastructure for that planet to become a growing manufacturing center can be built."
He put his palms on the podium and looked out at the others in the room. "We are trying to give the citizens of Lok a future that is theirs, a sense of wealth and ownership in their own success."
He clicked the button again and the rule that would prevent such measures would shine in red words in front of the legislators. "But this would be stripping the people of Lok from their future, their chance to finally become self-sufficient." A long list of planets would also pop up. Shimia, Tattooine, Orvax IV, and dozens and dozens of other planets and moons with sentient civilizations would start scrolling in front of them. "And the people of all these other planets that we're trying to help as well."
He would give the members of the galactic senate an opportunity to read over sheer volume of planets who would be adversely affected by this rule before turning it off. "I believe this agenda item was brought to this body with the purest of intentions to promote free trade. Unfortunately, this would mean that many of our planets would forego their trade deals inside the Consortium for more lucrative individual deals with the New Republic core and colony worlds as well as some within the FWA. Of course, this means that the rich would get richer and the poor in the Outer Rim would have the rug pulled out from under them just when they thought they were getting their footing."
He looked across the room, panning the large space with his eyes slowly to get as many eyeballs as he could. "If you do vote in favor of this, all I ask in return is for you to visit each of these planets that I have provided for you and tell those people eye to eye, face to face why the fat cat major corporations and ecumenopolises of the Core Words deserve that business and money more than they do."
York tucked his datapad back into his pocket and looked out at the senate. "Short of that, I ask you to support the motion and my second of the motion to table this agenda item."
With the same deliberation of how he started, York took his time turning off his microphone, gathering his belongings and making his way to his seat.
@Rhogar @Tess @lizziie @Sreeya @Mr. Teatime @Wit @Mockingjay @Nommie @The Good Doctor @LouJoVi @Reyn @Altaris