Do you honestly believe that Blueblodd has any real responsibilities? I mean, does he act like somepony who has to do anything on a day to day basis?

I'm actually convinced there is one. We just don't see it.

edited 24th Feb '12 11:58:28 AM by Mio

Blueblood and the rest of the Canterlot set are no more than the nobility of pre-Revolution France - they have "status" and lots of money, but no political power, is my best guess. They've traded in their actual influence for a safer world of petty intrigues and gardern parties, and none of it means a thing, but if they're happy with it, who can blame them, I guess?

@ L Mage: I just personally prefer to think of Equestria's government like most Fantasy governments.

We've seen him once (not counting his two cameos), at a party where his main concern was avoiding gold diggers. The very same party where Celestia spent most of her time greeting people and then running from animals.

edited 24th Feb '12 12:00:43 PM by Badwolfwho

@L Mage: Until we see some evidence for it, I don't think so. I'm sure she has a Bureaucracy, but any sort of democratic organization, nah.

We really don't know anything about Blueblood. He could be very important, or just lounge around doing nothing all day.

edited 24th Feb '12 12:02:08 PM by Bluespade

Blueblood is a douche. I want to see him in more episodes

WARNING UNFOUNDED FANNON ABOUT TO APPEAR

My prefered system of goverment for Equestria would go like this:

There are three political bodies The House Of Nobles, who reign over regional areas in the Princess's name and keep personal retainer forces they loan to the crown when Equestria is in need of an Army, The House of Senators which is made up of elected ponies from the various regions and meets in Canterlot to pass bills and laws, and finally The House Of The Princesses (formerly House Of The Princess) which is made up of Celestia and Luna advised by a small council of ponies appointed by them.

The House Of Nobles is passed down by heredity and are charged with keeping the Princess's Peace, Standing Judgement over trials that local goverment (like the Mayors) doesn't have the authority to preside over or is biased to one side. The cannot introduce bills or laws to the House Of Senators, and must carry out the will of House Of Senators at all times, except when The Princess claims emergency powers of war.

The House Of Senators is elected independently by general vote. Each region getting x amount of Senators in relation to their population. The House Of Senators can pass bills and laws and is the only body with the power to declare a State Of War and grant emergency powers to the Princess. Once a bill garners a 51% or higher vote to pass it goes before the Princess who has the power to Veto it or sign it into law. If she vetos the bill it goes back to the Senate who can put it back before the Princess by reaching a second vote of 60% (and she can again veto it, next time making having it to reach a 70% vote to go to her again and so on) or they can send it before her Small Council, who if they reach a conses can overturn Celestia's veto.

Finally The House Of The Princesses is made of Celestia and a group of councilors (that never exceeds 13 in number) that the Princess appoints to their positions. This Council is entirely the Princess's choice, and usually has one pony from each Equestria's major industries or institutions. Once appointed a Councilor can only be dismissed by a 90% vote from the other Councilors that The Princess or her acting regent abstains from. The Princess is the only one who can call for a dismissal.

edited 24th Feb '12 12:19:18 PM by LMage

I think Celestia just rules everything. End of story

This sounds like a really bad idea to me. No one should ever have a position of power that they can't simply be fired from (other than Celestia, lol).

That would be impossible short of omnipresence (which Celestia dose not have), she has to delegate something.

The idea is that a Councilor's dismissal would be rare and large event. Hence the high threshold of necessity.

edited 24th Feb '12 12:18:06 PM by LMage

Yeah, but if you get two guys in the council that decide they don't ever want to leave it would be impossible to dismiss them. In fact, no one would EVER be dismissed. If it ever got to the point where one had to worry about being booted out, they could just make an alliance with one or two others saying that they would never vote each other out. Then a 90% vote would be impossible.

Celestia presumably delegates at least a little. But I'd say she probably is an all powerful monarch, more or less.

There's a reason Celestia's catchphrase is "To the Mooooooooooooooooooooooooooonnnnnnnnnn!" 'Cause that's where any beurocrat who displeases her is getting sent. And they deserve it, because Celestia must not be displeased!

@ Blue

Yes, but these ponies are hand picked by Celestia and likely to be along the lines of Twilight in general morals and ideals. The dismissal clause if there "Just In Case".

Maybe Equestria is like Britain before the madness of King George?

Monarch calls the shots, but there is a hand picked cabinet doing the actual governing of the county, with a congress/parliament providing oversight?

I've always assumed that Equestria is actually pretty decentralized. The actual government system is probably a weird combination of Holy Roman Empire, and pre-Revolution France.

Wow, dat Daring Do plushie.

That is so beautiful. ;D

I get that, but it seems to me the "Just in case" option is pretty much impossible to pull off. If it was lowered down to 60 or 70%, then it might work.

There is one person that sells their plushes on eBay that does amazing work. She had a Luna plush posted and last I checked it was going for 1300 dollars. Needless to say I cant afford any of her stuff!

It looks like she has an embroidery machine to do the cutie marks *jealous* I thougth about trying to make some plushies, Ive made them in the past and have a whole storage tub full of fabric in my closet. Im just too lazy :(

Maybe but if things ever went wrong enough for Celestia to have to call for dismissal it's almost certain to be something so because that the other will vote in lock step with Celestia's wishes.

The thing about absolute monarchies is that they are absolute. You can delegate as much as you want, but if you decide that something/pony has got to go, they go. There would be little need for any sort of removal process, because all it needs is for Celestial to say "You're fired." and it is so. Just because she may have set up a complex burocracy (which I'm not even sure she has), that doesn't mean she gave up the power to simply circumvent the whole thing with a good old fashioned royal decree.

C'mon, guys, we need to pick up the pace! What happened to people having to edit their posts so that those little arrows were pointing at who they were talking to because a bunch of people posted right after them?

EDIT: Of course, as soon as I post this, someone posts right before me. Nice

edited 24th Feb '12 1:09:50 PM by LightPhaser

Emi: This one? Same maker as the Daring Do plush. And she's not the only one making great quality plushies. In fact, there's a lot of plush makers who do pretty good work and fetch a tiny sum.

For example:

• 2.1k Derpy
• 1.3k Trixie
• 822 Fluttershy

And I don't have the records anymore, because apparently eBay expires ended auctions, but there was a Gala Dashie that went for 2.4k, Galashy that went for 2.8k and 49" jumbo Dashie that went for 4.9k.

EDIT: Hmmm, I guess it's just my watch list entries that expire. That's really annoying. I can't find the Baby London Star auctions (at least not in the amount of time I'm willing to invest in tracking them down again), but here's her DA entries for them: Dashie / Flutters. And the auction for the 4.9k Dashie.

edited 24th Feb '12 1:26:58 PM by KuroiTsubasaTenshi

Geeze, is it at all possible to find a good one for less than a hundred dollars?

Pony squeezing revenge!