possibly, but as i said, i think the situation is the other way around. Until the first World War the aristocratic families had all the power in the real world. After the war, many of them wanted to fight for their powers against the revolutions, but the war had sapped their strength. Doesn't this remind you a little bit of the wizarding world? If the Muggleborn with their progressive ideas gained strength it would be far more plausible why Voldemort had such success in the 1970s when he started. He was saying excactly the right things to make the people who had the power listen to him.

 

I have always tought that the new minister is chosen between the heads of department, as long as you are one of them you are considered a candidate. However only popular heads have a shot, and the only popular departments are MLE and international relations... Scrimgeour got there... Maybe because he was head of the aurors (a subdivision of MLE) and with Bones dead he was the next in line for the position of MLE head which ment he just skipped one part of the race to minister.

And obviously it is not wizards at large who choose their minister, it is the Wizengamot and they can only choose between Heads. Or that's what I like to think.

 

As JKR never really wrote anything about wizarding politics, or about the election system, I would say that is rather pointless to argue about it.

If you are writing a story that includes political themes, then you'll have to make it up.

 

I find the whole idea of arguing what canon says in regards to fan fiction hilarious. The whole purpose of fan fiction is to say fuck you to canon!

As for which is better, it's apples and oranges. In Lie and Bungle JBern has portrayed Hit-Wizards as mercenaries and assassins. Their job is to either kill or protect a target. Aurors are the police. They are not taught to shoot to kill unless necessary. Their primary job is to investigate crimes and arrest the offenders. So trying to compare the two jobs is a bit pointless.

 

Back to the ministers...

If you really look at it the way Rowling tried to portray it, or at least this is the way I would see her trying to portray it. This was at a time when her ideas weren't complete crap.

The government is based off of parliament, but fudge was always meant to be an idiot. He only came into power by a happy fluke, and was the only one at the time willing/eligible to take the position. He probably nominated himself or was nominated by someone ( Lucius, would explain the close chummy bond between the two ).

There were no long campaigns trying to scrape together votes, it was a position only available to those in the ministry and on the wizengamont.

I don't think Malfoy has either. He only seems to have the ears of the members, and was willing to donate to the ministry and its subsidiary enterprises; thus gaining favor...

The only connection between all of the ministers that I can tell is that they all had positions of power in the wizengamont, and it seems the most likely pool to draw from for a new minister.

 

That's true, but it doesn't necessarily mean that it's a formal requirement for the job. In the U.S. presidents have pretty much all been generals, governors, or senators, even though there's no official requirement. Since this is England, you would expect sort of a "voters elect the party, party chooses its leader" system.

I would assume there's a popular vote in there somewhere, if only because Hermione would have bitched about it at some point in canon if there weren't. IIRC she only ever complained about the powers of the minister, never about popular legitimacy.

You could easily imagine a situation like the American civil war, where one party was staunchly anti-Voldemort and the other was deeply divided over how to respond to him. That could easily get twenty years of one party rule after the war was over, even if the united party chooses a lame standard bearer like Fudge.

Anyways, politics is boring to read about, and I think Lie does well by sort of skimming humorously over the topic ("smells like politics") instead of getting bogged down in a TFtCD type morass of arguments and power plays.

 

Anyways, politics is boring to read about, and I think Lie does well by sort of skimming humorously over the topic ("smells like politics") instead of getting bogged down in a TFtCD type morass of arguments and power plays.





I completely agree.

 

That was well worth the bump.

Oh and to quote use:

{QUOTE}Quoted text in here{/QUOTE}

But with [] instead of {}. Dont just underline it.

 

I still can't get that quote shit to work correctly.

 

Try hitting the big giant quote button.

 

What the fuck Darius?

 

How can you change your name? I thought it was set once you became a member.

 

It was Le Darius a while back; S'not the first time he's changed it.

 

Hmm.... Which thing gets you into Hell quicker? Changing your name to MLK Jr. or the Hitler in a low rider banner?

 

The Abraxan avatar, definitely.

At least it's a T-Bird. He gets a couple of style points there.

 

It started off as Darius Darkmoon I think.

 

No update? Fucking assholes.

 

QFT. Also, Hitler banner definitely gets you there faster, but not nearly as fast as bumping this thread without an update.

 

I'm about halfway through TML 8. It's been slow going. I should have that done by the end of the weekend. Lie seems to flow more easily. Expect chapter 15 of Lie by the end of next weekend.

 

Query: Is it true that you are going to put TML on hold? Or are you keeping to the normal schedule?