Amritavarsham 60: rallying the Amrita Party devotees

Although the lakhs (quant Indglish term for 100,000's) of devotees attending Amritavarsham 60, Amma's 60th birthday celebrations at her home base in Amritapuri, Kerala could not have been aware of it, the event was none other than a humungous rally to launch the Amrita Party's 2014 re-election campaign. As in the USA, being an incumbent (in Amma's case, the Amrita Party's house leader and the Honourable Member from the Precinct of Arboria since 2002), is an incredible advantage when it comes to ginning up popular support and filling the campaign war chest with crores (another quaint Indglish term for tens of millions) of rupees.

DISCLAIMER: the Amrita Party exists only in the Inner Realm of Patria and has no connection whatsoever to the MA Center, Amrita University, Amma Canada, MA Math, or any other Amma-related organization in the macro-national or so-called "real" world. Amma does not hold and does not seek political office anywhere in the macro-world.

Campaign 2014: 50th Congress election primer

For newbies to Patria or first-time visitors to this blog, the following is a brief summary of what you need to know about Patria's upcoming federal election.

Election Day: April 19, 2014 (Third Saturday in April; Patriot’s Day long weekend)

Inauguration Day: June 30, 2014

What’s at stake: 333 seats in Patria’s 50^th Congress (L Con. Pat.), elections for Precinct legislatures and local city, county or demi-precinct councils in some of Patria’s 13 Precincts and the Federal District of Castoropolis (FDC). There is also an upper house in Patria, like the US and Canadian Senate or UK House of Lords, but its members are selected by the Precinct legislatures, not by direct popular vote.

How members of Congress are elected: European or Israeli-style proportional representation. Lists of candidates are prepared by each party and seats are awarded in proportion to the percentage of votes received in each precinct. An idea whose time has come in Canada but will likely never happen.

Congressional apportionment per precinct:

Caesarea – 61 seats

FDC – 38

Nova Columbia – 36

Lazuria – 27

Centralia – 25

Aeolia – 24

Arboria – 21

Antioch – 19

Ambrosia – 17

Canardiere – 16

Mauretania – 15

Pottsylvania – 13

Haldimania – 12

Fredonia – 9

Term of office: Four year term ending June 30, 2018.

Method of vote counting: paper ballots counted by hand. No hanging chads. This ain’t Florida 2000!

Follow on Twitter @Patria1818 and @Patriavotes2014. (the latter account created solely for the purpose of electioneering and political ads from all parties) Hashtag: #PatriaVotes2014

For some basic background information on Patria’s many and varied political parties, please visit the links below. Note that some of this information will require updating since the 2010 election.

Amrita Party “Embracing Patria”, Amma as House leader in Congress. Generally liberal-progressive. 

SRM (Spiritual Regeneration/Swadeshi RamrajyaMovement) “Bring the jobs home” Small-c conservative Hindu nationalist, economic protectionist.

Chakra Party “no gurus, just right” yoga/new age liberal.

National Union “where a man belongs”, macho, populist law and order.

Jungle Party “Have a take, don’t suck”, inspired by Jim Rome.

Parties from the macro-world Parties that actually exist in "real" or macro-nations, e.g. Green Party, Libertarian Party, Social Democrats.

Minor parties: fringe groups and nutbars (Chastity Party, Family Values Party, Lilith Party, Freedom Party, etc.) that get in thanks to no votes being wasted under proportional representation. There are several parties that hold only a single seat in Congress.

It is likely that at least one new party will come into existence during the 2014 campaign, either in the “fringe/nutbar” category above or coming out of nowhere to win more than one or two seats.

Congress returns from summer recess as Campaign 2014 begins

The Fourth Session of the 49th Congress (4·XLIX 2013-14) meets on Monday, Sept. 16. As Patria's Congress returns from its summer recess, the usual economic issues are on the order paper (the economy has improved, at least for Patria's one-percenters) and celebrations of Amma's 60th birthday are set for the last weekend of the month. Macro-world issues such as Syria and immigration reform will also be discussed. But of course, the 800 lb. gorilla or the elephant in the room is Campaign 2014. The election of the 50th Congress will take place on April 19, 2014 (third Saturday in April, during Patriot's Day long weekend). Inauguration Day for the 50th Congress-elect is of course the traditional date of June 30, 2014.

With the election still seven months away, the Amrita-Chakra-Social Democratic "Positive Possibilities" coalition once again faces the challenge of the rightist, economic protectionist Hindu nationalist SRM and Patria's version of the Tea Party, unofficially dubbed the "Diet Coke Party". The manly-values, tungsten-tough, cigarette-smoking, pit bull-owning National Unionists wait in their mancave, pushing their usual macho law and order agenda and separating the real men from the pussycats. The Jungle Party of Jim Rome's Clones, along with the Greens, Libertarians and a whole bunch of nutbar fringe or single-seat parties could swing the balance of power.

As in 2010, you will be able to follow the campaign trail at this blog site as well as on Twitter, where a special account has been set up @Patriavotes2014 for all parties to tweet. If you have not already followed this account, please do so, as well as this blogger's personal Twitter feed @Patria1818. Don't forget to use Patria's Campaign 2014 hashtag: #patriavotes2014.