MoM Elections: Q&A with Bianca Blishwick
Barnabella Cuffe here, feeling buoyant and bubbly after a few hours of catching up with Minister of Magic candidate Bianca Blishwick. The ravishing Ravenclaw agreed to meet with me in the Three Broomsticks, where she bought a round of firewhisky for everyone in the pub.
We sat down in a corner booth, happily swigging our drinks and warding away the October chill from the inside out. A few locals stopped by to chat with us before we could really get into the meat of the interview. Scrivenshaft’s employee Ursula Demamun thanked her for the recent increase in funding for small business owners since research from Blishwick’s Committee to Prevent History from Repeating Itself largely influenced the bill’s passing. Blishwick smiled and said,
Small business is imperative to keeping our society’s economy thriving. Some of my top researchers noticed the downturn in economic activity after small business owners received a heavy tax burden back in the mid-1900s. They acted quickly when they heard a similar proposal was going through last year.
Dorothy Smelt, head librarian at the Hogsmeade Public Library, struck up a conversation with Blishwick about their local historical society, which meets every Thursday evening. “What’s the best way to get the public interested in historical events?” Smelt asked. Blishwick tilted her head thoughtfully and replied,
People are concerned with what’s happening to them today. Many people find themselves interested in current events without truly understanding them, because they don’t have a proper understanding of the context of these events. Talk about what’s going on today in the context of the history that brought us to this specific moment. That was the very foundation of why I founded the Research Committee to Prevent History from Repeating Itself; our government’s tendency to ignore the past tends to make us blunder our way into the future.
When the crowd finally cleared, I dove into my questions. We started off by discussing the presence of Dementors at Azkaban. “It’s absolutely backward,” Blishwick began. “You needn’t look very far into history to see how easily these creatures can turn on us. We can’t risk another mass breakout in Azkaban, and it’s important to separate ourselves from the barbarism of our ancestors. If I am elected Minister of Magic, I will put an end to their depressing reign over the prison.”
I had a few questions about the economy, but our interactions with the Hogsmeade locals clearly showed me her stance on supporting small businesses. We moved on to Muggle relations. She began,
Relations with non-magical folk have been tense for all of recorded history. As their technological devices improved in complexity, our way of life became more incompatible with theirs. Magical tinkerers are making progress in integrating pieces of Muggle technology into our lives, but the potential for magical catastrophe is still quite great. Magical catastrophes arise from both material and human origins, unfortunately. Since magic and technology are not quite compatible, many pure-blood families still consider Muggles as lesser and wish to completely isolate wizarding society from them. I don’t agree with this. I think we need to move closer together. We have different skill sets, and if we can use them in pursuit of the same goals, we will find much more success; however, I think that the overall magical attitude toward Muggles has some room to grow before we can start successfully merging our cultures. As I’ve said on multiple occasions, both wizards and Muggles are attacked for the magic or lack thereof in their blood. Cultural education is a necessity on both sides of the equation. I think short-term separation, reeducation, and slow, steady integration must occur before we can begin considering opening ourselves up to the magical community.
I thanked Bianca for her time, and she flashed me a winning smile. She placed her indigo hat with a white peacock feather on her head, wrapped her coat around her, and left me fantasizing about what life would be like under a Blishwick Ministry.
Make sure to hear what the other candidates have to say before you cast your vote this November 8!
