Partisan politics come to Lavalon

On February 6, Lavalon's fourth political party was founded by Carson Smith. Called the Liberal Democratic Party (L.D.P.), this party advocated a platform of seriousness for Lavalon:

-Consideration of switching to a monarchial form of government
-Active recruitment of citizens
-Strict policy against inactive citizens
-The creation of an immigration office as discussed by A.M. Carson Smith in the General Assembly.
-Creation of working economy
-Removal of Regent Christophe's ridiculous bureaucracy in the University - ACCOMPLISHED!
-Active diplomatic policy
-No government-sanctioned simulation for Lavalon
-supports the historical accuracy and continuity of Lavalonian culture
-Moving Lavalonian forums to phpBB or Invision or ezBoard

Despite being Lavalon's fourth political party, this is really the first real opposition party: the Progressive Bagelcratican Party and the Socialist Party have caucused together, which is essentially a merger, and Regent Jonathan Christophe's That Other Party is barely active. In fact, some have speculated a merger of the L.D.P. and T.O.P. or even the dissolution of T.O.P. in favor of the L.D.P.

With the opposition, of course, comes the heated partisan debates. The first of these ocurred when Smith introduced a bill in the General Assembly to withdraw Lavalon from the Micronational Cartography Society, stating he felt the M.C.S. Smith feels that Lavalon should have no simulated aspects whatsoever sanctioned by the government. He explained in another forum that he felt one thing would lead to another, and before we knew it, we'd all be running around with a million paper dolls and the government would be stupid things with no relevance to Lavalon. When Bagelcratican Chief Justice Nate Shepard stated that he felt this was "the first step to becoming like those 'snooty' old time micronations that refuse to even acknowledge the 'less serious' nations that have no set in stone plan for erecting a small island or purchasing acres in the middle of nowhere," Smith said rather bluntly that he didn't care: " I'm sorry if people think we're snooty simply because we do not want to be a silly little role-playing game. Just to clarify, I do NOT believe that Lavalon should be simulation-free. I believe that Lavalon should be free of government-endorsed simulation. Perhaps, if we do not wish to be seen as snooty because our government doesn't endorse simulation, we could associate with more "serious" nations. From what I've seen, there's been no real effort to associate with these nations. Has there been any association with Hanover? No. Has there been any association with Molossia? No. Would we have associated with Breuddwyd if we did not have the ties with Kieran? Probably not." The only other person who voted for this bill was Undersecretary for Technology Matthew Vasroixe, who said that "Lavalon is not a game," and it ended up being defeated 4-2. However, Smith did not back down. He proposed that Lavalon withdraw from the M.C.S. but begin an internal mapping project, which would not have anything to do with the government. This drew strong objection from the Socialists and Bagelcraticans, though, and Smith eventually ended the debate, after several fiery attacks had come from both groups.

But if the mapping debate was one thing, the forum change debate was quite another. Since early November, Lavalon's message boards have been based on the ProBoards system, which some people have expressed concerns over its speed, ease of use, and lack of backup capabilities. So, for quite some time now, Matthew Vasroixe has been pushing a change to phpBB. He seems to have found an ally in Smith, who has, on behalf of the L.D.P., expressed his support for the proposal, and also encouraged consideration of ezBoard and Invision. The proposal is now in the General Assembly, and voting has commenced for a second time, the legislation having failed the first time.