Atlasia-America Synchronization Bill

[Colin]

These laws of course would come into effect without any approval or affirmation by the Senate of Atlasia, I assume?

[Colin]

These laws of course would come into effect without any approval or affirmation by the Senate of Atlasia, I assume?

Correct, though there is a period of delay of at least one full Senate session, so that if there be a U.S. law that the Senate wishes to object to, it would have the opportunity to do so.

How would the budget and appropriations work under this setup? Would the Atlasian budget be subject to the whims of the United States Congress and its deficits and spending?

[Colin]

These laws of course would come into effect without any approval or affirmation by the Senate of Atlasia, I assume?

Correct, though there is a period of delay of at least one full Senate session, so that if there be a U.S. law that the Senate wishes to object to, it would have the opportunity to do so.

How would the budget and appropriations work under this setup? Would the Atlasian budget be subject to the whims of the United States Congress and its deficits and spending?

To the extent that the Atlasian budget is not defined by the Atlasian Senate, yes.

Whenever we pass a budget or eliminate or add a program, that would trump whatever the U.S. Congress does, even if the Congress were to pass its law later.  For example, if we passed a bill eliminating the Bureau of Indian Affairs, then despite any future funding provided for the BIA in future budget bills of the U.S. Congress, the BIA would still get $0 in Atlasia.  (Unless a future Atlasian Senate were to pass a law restoring the BIA of course.)

What about increases in appropriations for entities that are still a part of Atlasia? Will, say, a larger appropriation to the Defence Department be assumed to be a part of the Atlasian budget as well as the American budget due to the Senate having passed a bill increasing funding?

[Colin]

Nay

This legislation is absolutely atrocious. It's despicable and horrible and I don't really know how anyone could vote for it. This would take away any of the legislative power that we have and put it into the hands of a US government, that, for the purposes of the game, does not exist. It would go over the heads, completely, of the Senators. It would make Atlasia subject to all the bad legislation, pork barrel projects, and earmarks that characterize the American political system. It would poison Atlasia by making this a completely ad hoc system. No longer would the Senate and the elected government of Atlasia act as an actual body with actual power. No we'll just be overseeing the country and acting as if we have power and giving ourselves little titles. It'll take away even the small amount of decisionmaking that we have in this fantasyland.

The 10 or so bills passed by each Senate would be swamped by the massive mound of Congressional legislation passed every 2-4 months by the Congress to the point where to get rid of all the bogus legislation that we do not want cluttering up Atlasia it would take a myriad of bills and Senatorial wrangling. We're letting a monster into our midst. A monster that is the American political beast, a beast made for a real working functioning country with its own beliefs and its own way of dealing with things, not the small online community that we have here. So, we have no oversight of the rules that get passed within Atlasia, the people have no oversight over what petty earmarks and appropriations are constantly being passed outside of the realm of Atlasia. The Senate has neither the time nor the energy to abolish all the bad legislation and stupid wastes that are passed by Congress and, certainly, that should not be our jobs.

So will you allow Atlasia to be swallowed up by a political process that is completely foreign to us and our laws? Or we you actually keep some semblance of reality in Atlasia and keep us at arms length from the problems and works of the real world.

[Colin]

So will you allow Atlasia to be swallowed up by a political process that is completely foreign to us and our laws? Or we you actually keep some semblance of reality in Atlasia and keep us at arms length from the problems and works of the real world.

Colin, if we hope to get Atlasia revitalized we need to make the game accessible to new players.  That means keeping the differences down to those actually made by deliberate decision.  If you're worried about our budget going out of control, the solution is simple under this law, then work to see that the Senate actually passes one!  If it does, then it trumps whatever mistakes the Congress makes.

How will this help people? Our laws are very much still in concert with America's. Where will this arguement lead next? End all other parties but Democrats and Republicans because people can't wrap their minds around things like parties with different names? I'm sorry but I can't see this actually keeping us in synch with America as just filling Atlasia with a vuluminous amount of bills and legislation that wouldn't pertain to the game at all in order to keep everything "synchronized" so that these fictional "new recruits" can "understand" the system. This would basically turn Atlasia into America: The Game, and I'm sorry there are plenty of other sites for people interested in playing make believe America.

If you want something that will actually retain people on the roles we should institute new deregistration laws. If you actually want some meaningful reform, instead of something that might help the "learning curve" of new applicants, which has never seemed to be a problem ever before, then why don't we consider some structural changes to the Atlasian government? I know you will counter this arguement well, what do I know I'm just the plain and simple Colin, but why don't we try thinking a little out of the box instead of automatically assuming that our difficulties are caused by the differences between our two systems.

All of us Atlasians are smart people I think we and all newly minted voters could easily come to understand the laws and structure of the Atlasian government. Saying that just because we haven't kept up with American law since 2004 is a handicap is the same as saying that because we have a unicameral legislature, or IRV, or more than two parties, or regions instead of states, causes undue stress upon new voters and those trying to learn about Atlasia.

[Colin]

I'm just saying that we should keep the differences to those decided upon on purpose, not that there should not be any.

I understand. I'm just stating my position that changing these aspects of Atlasia would be equivalent to changing our voting system, our party system, or our legislative system to fit a mold more common to potential American registrants.

[Colin]

Nay