Patria's decade in review

2000
As the decade, century and millennium began, Patria was still online with a 56 k dial-up connection. It was still the heyday of Geocities and non-interactive web pages; quite some time before blogs, Facebook, Twitter, Youtube, etc. There wasn't yet any need for high-speed DSL or cable internet.

The National Union-led Federal District of Castoropolis legislature imposed a dusk-to-dawn curfew and dress code on all under-18s in Patria's capital. No do-rags, baggy jeans, bandannas, or other "gang" clothing.

The 46th Congress ratified a Treaty of Friendship, Alliance and Mutual Regard between the Holy Empire of Reunion and Patria.

After watching the US presidential election fiasco, Patria decided to stick with hand-counted paper ballots for the 2002 election.

2001
The latest iteration of Reference Grammar of the Patrienish Language (Grammatíc-referítu linguë patríenice) was released.

Patria's devotees of Mata Amritanandamayi bolt the SRM and Chakra Parties to establish the Amrita Party.

9/11 - the event the defined the decade - immediately transforms the National Union into George W. Bush's number one cheerleader, "Ready aye ready at America's side". "Let's roll" as the events of Sept. 11, 2001 define the 47th Congress election campaign.

2002
The Castoropolis Centurions win the Kamala Cup. The perennially underachieving Toronto Maple Leafs of the PHL would at least have one championship season in this decade.

47th Congress election: National Union wins 85 seats, two more than the Amrita Party. But the tungsten-tough law-and-0rder NU is again stuck in opposition, looking up to Amrita's 83 seats, along with the SRM's 30. Another new-for-2002 party, the Rationalists, win 23 seats on an Ayn Rand, atheism and laissez-faire capitalism platform.

An extra day in office for the 46th Congress, as the inauguration of the 47th Congress is postponed until July 1. Not because Inauguration Day fell on a Sunday, but because the World Cup final was played on June 30.

2003
Patria remained SARS-free. Canada, particularly the Toronto area, wasn't so lucky.

While gay and lesbian marriages became legal in Canada, Congress affirmed that marriage is a sacred commitment between a man and a woman and refused to recognize or permit same-sex marriages in Patria.

The National Union continued to back Bush and Blair to the hilt, while the spiritual parties (SRM, Chakra, Amrita) spoke out against the invasion of Iraq and the potentially endless and unwinnable GWOT (Global War On Terror).

2004
Patria declares war on spam by going after the suckers who fall for the Nigerian scammers and the chumps who buy cut-rate Viagra, fake Rolexes and other spam merch. These morons, once tracked down and outed, were publicly ridiculed on Suckers who Bought Snake Oil, which quickly became one of the most popular programs on Ramrajyavani-Doordarshan (Patrienish television network).

Patria waded further into politically incorrect waters by condemning Israel as a Jewish-supremacist apartheid state and noting that not only are most of the neo-cons surrounding Bush Jews, but the war in Iraq was being fought at the behest of the Jews and to benefit the Israel-first war mongers. Virtually all parties in Congress favored a free and democratic Palestinian state. Jewish groups were aghast. Organized Jewry of course detests Patria anyway, as the Inner Realm is a haven for non-practicing Jews attracted to yoga and Hinduism.

2005
While the 2004-05 NHL season was wiped out by a lockout, the PHL played a full schedule. The Centurions were bounced from the Kamala Cup playoffs in 5 games and have not been to the post-season since.

The NU - once Patria's leading apologists for Bush and Blair's war - became almost silent on the war in Iraq. The most macho war-mongering National Unionists and the most peacenik far-left Chakrites and Social Democrats now have common ground against an unwinnable war fought on the basis of lies and deception (i.e. Saddam had WMD's and was harboring 9/11 terrorists).

In the wake of the South Asian tsunami, the Hon. Member from the Precinct of Arboria and Amrita Party house leader (better known as Amma) pledged one billion rupees toward relief efforts in India and Sri Lanka.

2006
The Jim Rome Show becomes one of the most popular radio programs in Patria. Van Smack, J-Stew and other leading clones are drafted into Congress as the Jungle Party is established.

The SRM and Amrita, which were a de facto coalition during the 47th Congress parties officially merged for the 48th Congress election.

48th Congress election: The Amrita Party (merged with the SRM) won 88 seats. Combined with the Chakra's 48 seats, the spiritual parties and new agers again kept the NU (70 seats) in check. Jim Rome's Jungle Party won 12 seats, not bad for a brand new party that had little in the way of a platform beyond "have a take and don't suck".

The 48th Congress Inaugural Address advocated changing Patria's legal system to "guilty until proven innocent" and full legalization of recreational drugs.

2007
Patria joins the social networking revolution by connecting with other micronationalists on Facebook.

The Archives of Patria is kept busy digitizing old images from the pre-digital camera era as the 35mm film camera is officially declared dead, along with VHS videos and audio cassettes.

Castoropolis Transit took the last tokens out of circulation and no longer accepted cash fares. The GoPatriaCard smart card, similar to London's Oyster Card, was adopted by virtually all public transit systems in Patria.

2008
The worldwide recession drags Patria down with the US and the rest of the world's economies. Just before the economy drove off a cliff in the latter part of the year, the price of gas hit an all-time high of RsPat. 50 a litre.

Patria received an apparently serious offer from the African country of Cameroon, offering some land for sale. No action was taken as the offer appeared to be an African scam

Popular opinion in Patria overwhelmingly endorses Barack Obama for US President.

The SRM-Amrita merger begins to show signs of falling apart as the economy goes down the tubes.

Shonny the Cablinasian is bounced from the Jungle Party caucus and declared ineligible for re-election in a "business decision".

2009
In the wake of the Great Recession of 2008-09, Patria is swept by a groundswell of "bring the jobs home", "no more offshoring" and "no more made-in-China" protectionism.

The annual message to Congress at the close of the Third Session urged all Patrienish citizens who still had jobs to spend as much as possible on consumer goods, particularly big-ticket items, noting that consumer spending is a patriotic duty to defeat the global economic downturn, just as saving ration coupons was a patriotic duty to defeat the Axis in World War II.

In one of the worst-kept secrets (rumors had been swirling for almost a year), the SRM-Amrita merger was dissolved and the SRM re-established for the 49th Congress election.

The SRM becomes the leading protectionist party in the 2010 election campaign, advocating Gandhian "Swadeshi" self-sufficiency and rejection of imported goods.

Yahoo killed off Geocities, and Patria's official website migrated to a new host.

Follow the Campaign 2010 tweets!

A new Twitter account, twitter.com/patriavotes2010, has been set up as a 140-characters-or-less forum for electioneering slogans, promises and other news from the 49th Congress campaign trail. All the parties, from the big players to the nutbar one-seat fringers, will tweet on this site until the day before the election (all campaigning must end at 11:59 PM on April 16, 2010). Of course, for campaign news that is greater than 140 characters long, stay tuned to this blog!

National Union's platform in road signs

NO LEFTISTS.
NO FEMINISTS.
NO LIBERALS.

What part of "no" don't you understand?

Law and Order. It's where we live. Tough as nails. Vote National Union.

SRM - Swadeshi Ramrajya Movement

To almost no one's surprise, the SRM is pushing Gandhi-style swadeshi - domestic production of virtually all consumer goods (not just hand-spun cloth) and rejection of imports to the greatest extent possible. Indeed, the SRM may now stand for Swadeshi Ramrajya Movement, as well as Spiritual Regeneration Movement.

BRING THE JOBS HOME!
NO MORE OFFSHORING!
NO MORE OUTSOURCING!
BUY THE GOODS YOUR NEIGHBORS HELP TO MANUFACTURE!
SAY NO TO "MADE IN CHINA"! SAY YES TO "MADE IN PATRIA"!

Nothing plays as well to laid-off workers and those who are in fear of losing their jobs as simplistic, knee-jerk protectionism. All is fair in love and war and recessions.

"Under this plan of life, in seeming to serve India to the exclusion of every other country, I do not harm any other country. My patriotism is both exclusive and inclusive. It is exclusive in the sense that, in all humility, I confine my attention to the land of my birth, but is inclusive in the sense that my service is not of a competitive or antagonistic nature. SIC UTERE TUO UT ALIENUM NON LAEDAS is not merely a legal maxim, but it is a grand doctrine of life. It is the key to proper practice of ahimsa or love."

"I have never considered the exclusion of everything foreign under every conceivable circumstance as a part of Swadeshi. The broad definition of Swadeshi is the use of all home-made things to the exclusion of foreign things, in so far as such use is necessary for the protection of home industry, more especially those industries without which India will become pauperized. In my opinion, therefore, Swadeshi which excludes the use of everything foreign, no matter how beneficial it may be, and irrespective of the fact that it impoverishes nobody, is a narrow interpretation of Swadeshi." (Mahatma Gandhi, 1926)

Gandhi's thoughts on the meaning of Swadeshi.

The Gospel of Swadeshi