Good evening,
Just a few hours ago, a proposal to change the Constitution passed the Council. As the bill's only opponent, I'd like to explain my reasoning to the rest of you. To begin with, it was never clear why the reform was pushed, the answers seemed vague like "the government is confusing," however this really isn't true, the system has worked fine from my view, having been active in Lincoln for two years now, I have seen many a newbie come and go, including myself, and the system worked fine then, it works fine now.
No, it hasn't worked fine and that's why every successive council has watered down the original Philly Plan in some form. Just because you're not confused by it doesn't mean other people aren't.
Another reason for my opposition is the change to Lincoln's unique form of government. Currently, Lincoln is the only region which gives more power to the legislature than the executive. This allows for the legislature to keep the executive in check and prevent executive abuse. More importantly, it allows for new legislators to feel that they are actually important and are running a government rather than participating in one.
Not even giving the governor a true power of veto and constant referendums isn't a great model of government. Having separate chancellor, speaker, and governor positions is also unnecessary. Has there been an example of "executive abuse" that you can think of? I can't think of any. Regional governments have always been a pretty lowkey matter.
As you all are aware, the last time that this region changed its constitution there was an activity crisis, all three members elected to the assembly were recalled and the region had no legislature. No such crisis exists right now, in fact the region has during some Councils been the most active region, for instance the 2nd Council saw a total of 50-something bills, this one has seen 19.
That came after a very active summer with lots of bills passed in the Assembly. The reason this new Assembly was inactive was because it was made up of three inexperienced players and had nothing to do with the Assembly system of government. Changing government styles doesn't increase activity in any meaningful way. It's all based on the people involved. I'm sure if the Assembly had stayed around Lincoln would have the same amount of activity.
Another reason for my opposition to this change is the unique manifestation of partisan politics in Lincoln. Lincoln has long been known for its deeply partisan battles. Thus a simple system of having all slots open to all legislators simply will not work, as it will encourage bill clogging as was seen in June 2019, Lincoln actually avoided the clogging as the bills that were spammed were all in the opposition queue. The government/opposition dynamic and more importantly the split of the slots based on partisanship is important for a partisan region like Lincoln as it ensures everyone's voice is heard.
Denying the minority equal opportunity to make their voices heard is undemocratic (and now that you're in the minority I'd think you would realize that). "Queue clogging" is a scare tactic which can be dealt with if it happens. Otherwise it's meaningless especially given that it hasn't occurred in 2 years. Preventative measures for something that
might happen which lead to a weakening of true democracy are bad.
