Ave, Sandum Citizens!
One of the most unchanging and stable traditions of our Nation-State, the Equinox marks more than just the changing of the year and seasons. It marks a quantifiable time where we, the Sovereign People of Sandus, can mark our achievements and plan further, as one people and as one State, further achievements in the future course of the year. Over the Summer season, Sandus has made great change to its political and social structure with the addition of Tellus. As the season of conflicts, this Summer saw very few of them as Sandus moves closer towards its 2015 Economic Goal and towards increased agrarianism. Few may understand and hostile on-lookers may jeer, but the State of Sandus has become more natural and has entrenched itself in our lives with the guiding Philosophy. The sole major conflict, with New Israel over Islamophobia and Xenophobia, this Summer was summarised with the Office of the Sôgmô’s presentation Is Sandus Aggressive? and showed the world Sandus’s commitment to its liberal and progressive values and to the Socialist society of our Sandum Nation-State. As the State of Sandus enters a new period of existence, marked by the Sôgmô departure for university, the Sandum People take with them upon this journey of renewal and growth the knowledge and experience of the past, of the Sandum Philosophy, and of our traditions. Therefore, pursuant to Sandum tradition, we do so author this report:
Charitable Taxes:
Faced with a reduced population and the Sôgmô’s own personal saving for university, charity taxes have decreased 44% from 80USD to 45USD. Nonetheless, Sandus has expressed its eternal compassion by these donations to causes ranging from securing the centres of the Sandum Philosophy via the Dharma and to aiding those sexually abused and involved in sex trafficking. Recipients of Sandus’s extension of weal include Kunzang Palyul Chöling, a Tibetan Buddhist temple in Poolesville, Maryland, and Courtney’s House, an organisation providing refuge for sex trafficked youth. The Sandum Philosophy, marked by its cognition of suffering, has been stressed through these donations as the guiding principle of the Sandum People and, with the experience of compassionate activity, the Sôgmô will pursue a large project of compassionate worth with Human Rights Connected, an upstart human rights organisation, as a result of the Sôgmô’s program in university and shall work closely with the organisation for the next nine months.
May the Sandum People perpetuate their weal through practising compassion for all!
No new Most Honourable Order of the Throne of Sandus Recipients:
As a result of a change made on the Summer Solstice to convention, the Sôgmô, as Sovereign of the Order, has not awarded any new recipients to the MH Order of the Throne of Sandus.
Continuation of the Paper on Lycurgan Sparta:
The Sôgmô had planned to complete the paper comparing and contrasting Sparta to Sandus by the end of Sextilo (August), however, due to the passing of the Sôgmô’s grandfather, the project has been suspended. Due to the end of the period of mourning, the Sôgmô shall renew the project sans limite and shall continue the project as time allows. The paper, entitled Our Own, New Sparta, relates Sparta to the Sandum State by the means of its blended government of monarchical, oligarchical, and democratic features. By clarifying where Sandus is different from Sparta and highlighting the connection Sandus has to Sparta in certain similarities, the Sandum State will be benefited by the historical example of Sparta.
Preparing for Kumano:
As the State prepares for the possible addition of Kumano as a Socilivo state to the Sandum citizenship, the State shall begin to prepare necessary changes to the census. For this, the State is preparing census documents for Kumano and shall anticipate their arrival into the Sandum citizenry. No changes shall be made to the census system, however, and the documents shall be similar in construction to the current Sandum census documents. As a result of the proposed Socilivo treaty, Kumanoese citizens who hold Sandum Socilivo citizenship would have to complete a census form and, should an individual Kumanoese citizen apply for Socilivo citizenship with suffrage rights, they would be required to complete quarterly charitable taxes.
Sôgmô moves out of le Palaso, moves into University of Maryland:
The Sôgmô has left Kremlum Sandus recently and has taken up residency at the University of Maryland. As noted above, this will have certain effects on the Sandum Nation-State, especially in terms of society and government. At the present time, only broad information is available for these sorts of impacts, a major one being the yet further increased importance of academia in Sandus. With increased importance of the intellectual in Sandus, a further incorporation of the alliance of Sandum people as workers, farmers, and intellectuals, the Sandum People shall certainly become more involved in the running of government. As the State begins to open up to more citizens in the future, the State shall become more democratic and, taking from the example of Lycurgan Sparta, shall become a more blended government. The Sandum democratic regime shall be improved from beyond simple democratic elections of the Sôgmô’s legitimate reign to a Sandum Council, inspired from the Spartan Apella or the Athenian Ekklesia. Furthermore, with the rise of the Party’s business and its return to activity, the Party shall evolve into a body similar to that of the Spartan Ephoroi and Gerousia and the Athenian Boule. Following the path of history from monarchy and oligarchy to eventual democracy, the State shall move towards the increased cooperation and activity of each and every Sandum citizen; however, unlike history, which considers collectivism and individualism as being opposites, the State of Sandus shall pursue collectivism with individuality and shall pursue Socialism with democratic aspects. For instance, the Athenians believed that each citizen possessed a certain competency which enabled them to govern democratically; Athenian democracy was not a rule of experts, but a rule of amateurs whose power was derived from the common man. Though certain common men were attributed informal prestige and power, such as Pericles, all power officially was held by the prytaneia (or “presidency”) of the Boule selected by lottery. So too shall Sandus become in democratic output, yet be as a democratic monarchy (or republic), grâce à such as Sparta by the Sôgmô. In this way, Sandus will be changed and further changes shall undoubtedly come to our existence and transform the State into success for the Philosophy.
As the State of Sandus steps forth into Autumn, Sandus shall prepare for the coming of the Second Philia Advance and shall work to open the State to the world!
— Sôgmô Sörgel
sandus.org 