Chapter 6

“So, what happens to former Polish President Andrzej Duda and Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki, not to mention the Presidents of the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria, Greece, and the two Bosnian Presidents not included in the Council? What happens to the Prime Ministers?” Tang asked me while I pounded Eliza good and hard.

“Also, what happens to Japan and its Government, or China, for that matter?” Sabrina inquired as Eliza creamed herself and I spent my load inside her.

“Or India?” Eliza turned to me with a kiss.

“I haven’t decided yet on those countries. But I reserve the right to draw and redraw any maps at any time. Including ones that might seem settled. All of those aforementioned officials get lifetime seats in their respective legislatures, the upper house when bicameral, but otherwise when unicameral, that is. That should mollify them as severance packages. Putin also gets a lifetime seat in the Duma, in fact. So does Kasparov, which should shut him up a bit. Zelensky and Lukashenko, same deal. Lifetime seats in the legislature.

“In the Grand Duchy of Belarus-Ukraine, which is what the new combined country shall be called, the parliament shall be bicameral and consist of a sixty-member upper house called the National Convocation and a two hundred-forty-member lower house called the Congress of State Deputies. Six seats in the National Convocation shall be filled by appointment, and two were just slated by me for the said former Presidents, two shall be slated for the ex-Prime Ministers.

“Of the remaining fifty, five shall be set aside for the ethnic Russian minority, five for the ethnic Polish minority, five for the German minority, five for the Jewish minority, five for members of the Grand Ducal family, and five for women to ensure female membership in parliament. The remaining twenty shall be selected randomly by sortition. The forty-five members not appointed or slated on the basis of past government posts or royal blood shall only serve five-year-terms and be ineligible to hold the same office ever again.

“For the Congress of State Deputies, half shall be chosen at-large by a system of preferential party lists. That’s one-hundred twenty members selected by such means. The other half shall be elected directly on the basis of sixty electoral districts, with two deputies per district. These shall be the first and second placed candidates in each district. These can be re-elected as many times as their constituents wish. They cannot simultaneously hold any other public office while serving as deputies and they shall serve three-year terms of office.

“Members of both chambers are immune from arrest. Members of neither chamber can also serve in the cabinet, which shall be appointed directly by the Grand Duchess instead of being responsible to Parliament. In short, Belarus-Ukraine shall be an executive rather than an absolute or constitutional monarchy. A Prime Minister shall be appointed by the Grand Duchess without reference to Parliament, but must nevertheless win parliamentary support for legislation to enact it.

“The courts and their judges shall be appointed by the Grand Duchess with the consent of the National Convocation. Treaties must be ratified by the Congress of State Deputies, as must the appointment of diplomats, and all budgets must be initiated by them. By contrast, all commissions and promotions for military officers must be initiated by the National Convocation. All declarations of war must be approved by a joint-session of Parliament upon the advice and admonition of the Grand Duchess and Her Grace’s government, or Grand Duke if and when one should succeed Grand Duchess Milla.

“Meanwhile, in Draconia, the legislative power shall be held jointly by the Senate, House of Representatives, and President. All of my decrees remain in effect pending the approval of a more permanent code of laws, and these shall have the force of law unless replaced by contradictory statutes. Mine is a provisional government and naturally somewhat authoritarian for that reason. Think of it as an emergency regime, if you will, or like the works of Philip Dru: Administrator. Or like the Roman dictatorships of Sulla and Caesar, both of a bit autocratic out of grim necessity.

“Within ninety to two hundred days, there will be general elections for the Third Continental Congress, as I prefer to call it. Due to the present conditions, I shall retain whatever veto power must be kept in order to prevent repeal of my emergency code until I can get it codified as the permanent law of the land. A new Constitution will be drafted by the Third Continental Congress that abolishes such outdated notions as ‘states’ rights,’ makes it tougher to overturn my present regulations, enshrines secularism and pluralism into permanent supremacy, and prohibits so-called ‘blue laws’ forever.

“I will be named as President for the first six years in said Constitution, with a clear provision for the election of a successor after my departure. Naturally, I will be unimpeachable. While the first set of Governors and Mayors and such will be appointed by me, future ones will be directly elected instead. If anyone doubts that I will be the real leader of this country and Arbiter of the world even after I retire, they’re delusional.

“There will be stipulations for when certain parts of the former United States and Mexico shall be re-annexed, but only after they shall sign treaties that recognize the abolition of their residual sovereignty, the disestablishment of all religious laws and tests, the scientific realities of evolution and climate change, the supremacy of federal law above provincial and local statutes, and the indivisible nature of the Federation. Secession and nullification must be renounced forever, you see, along with slavery. Equal justice and protection of all citizens before the law must be accepted explicitly rather than merely implicitly.

“These instructions together constitute my Twenty-Eighth Decree. My Twenty-Ninth Decree requires that all persons who have been jailed, fined, restricted, interdicted, imprisoned, or otherwise punished solely for non-violent, consensual sex acts with persons aged fourteen or above shall be granted full amnesty and pardon, thus immediately released from custody and their records expunged. Essentially, unless you raped someone or engaged in prohibited activities with a person below the new federal age of consent, which is fourteen, you’re free to go.

“The Thirtieth Decree permanently abolishes any kind of military or civil conscription or draft. Selective Service no longer exists. The armed forces shall be entirely voluntary henceforth, with not even a slight provision for forcible levies of citizens. Conscription is a form of slavery and I will not have it! The future Constitution must abolish the Electoral College and all forms of indirect election nationwide. Elections shall always be direct and on the basis of ‘one person, one vote.’ Gerrymandering is strictly forbidden as well.

“A federal ‘jungle primary’ will be held for the first round or ballot, in which all citizens eligible to seek said office may do so. If and when no one candidate achieves a clear and straightforward majority of the total votes cast, a second round of balloting shall be conducted with ninety days of the first. The top two candidates in terms of popularity from the first round shall contend with each other, with one of them presumably winning a true majority and being elected President of the Federation of Draconia. The loser shall then be designated Vice-President.

“For now, though, per my directive, the Thirty-First Decree, Hae Soyon is hereby appointed interim Vice-President of the Federation. That’s my mother-in-law, in case you missed that,” I smiled to a loud burst of laughter led by Tang and Sabrina.

“Ooh, Tang, sleeping with the President really does have its perks!” Sabrina winked at her sister-wife and me.