We need a list of national holidays so I can populate our forum calendar with a little something.

Ideas?

Congratulations to St. Andre's first Secretary of State, Mr. Alessandro Vercotti!

He will be leading the Department of State, which handles foreign affairs and defense.

This is a discussion that we need to have as a community as to what kind of national "theme" do we want to have. I have used the name "Bonnencontre Plaza", which is French, mostly because I liked the sound of it. The title of "Most Serene Republic" comes from the Republic of San Marino, and was originally meant to state that despite St. Andre being small, it is a sovereign and independent republic. Wasn't necessarily a reference to any Italian themes.

Despite the lack of emphasis on either theme, I am open to suggestions and ideas from everyone to integrate. Remember: St. Andre was first founded by Natopia, then ceded to Haifa. St. Andre will have a lot of Natopian and Haifan influences. Haifa was quasi-Jewish, Natopia... well, Natopia has its own very distinct theme and image.

What does everyone else think? Ideas?

Quote:Reporter ®: Thank you for sitting down with us today, Ms. Varnham, it's an honor to meet you.

Patrice Varnham (V): Thank you for speaking with me. Pleasure is all mine.

R: Ms. Varnham, you recently founded the country's first political party, the Social Democratic Union. What should voters know about you and this new political party?

V: Good question. Now that we have officially been recognized as an independent state by the late Haifan Government, and by Hamland and Mercury, I think we need to create a government that is for the people, by the people and of the people. You can't have that without solidarity, fraternity, liberty and social responsibility. The Social Democratic Union wants to help build that in St. Andre, but we can't do that without the support of Andrinos everywhere.

R: Can you elaborate further on what specifically that means?

V: Of course. The Social Democratic Union believes in the creation of robust and strong social welfare programs to help the poor and disadvantaged in St. Andre. We want to expand education, health care, and empower the people to climb up the social ladder. But most of all - we want to build a St. Andre free from discrimination, and free from influence by foreign powers. We started as a Natopian colony. Then we passed onto Haifa. Now we're independent, and we will show the world what St. Andre can do for themselves.

R: What can we expect the Social Democratic Union to fight for in the drafting of the new Constitution?

V: A strong and robust list of rights and responsibilities for the people of this Most Serene Republic will be the top priority. That will include fighting against any sort of entrenched, institutionalized discrimination. We're also going to fight for the protection of marriage rights, labor protections - we will fight to build a stronger, better St. Andre. This is the time for us to get things right.

R: Will you be running for President after the Constitution is ratified and elections are underway?

V: I am not going to start fanning the flames for the first presidential campaign without getting the Constitution right first. The party will decide on its nominee, and if it's me, I will gladly serve and fight tooth and nail to win. But if not, then I will support the candidate the party chooses to lead them in the next election, and fight tooth and nail there too.

R: Thank you so much, Ms. Varnham, that's all the time we have for today. Thank you, and take care.

V: Thank you very much, it was a pleasure.