Mideast Citizens for Progress and Reform

[tmthforu94]

The Mideast needs an organization/party that looks out for its interest. This is a group that is dedicated to fighting for this region at all levels of government, similar to what the Imperial Bloc does for the IDS.

This party is for finding reforms and ideas that will improve and help grow our region. We are the greatest region in Atlasia, and it must stay that way.

Anyone is welcome to join, regardless ideology. More to come later.


Notice: There are two groups listed below. One group is for people who are officially members of the MCPR Party. The second list is for those affiliated with another party, but still part of this group. You can join MCPR as a non-party member.

Party Membership:
- Former President Tmthforu94
- Vosem
- Senator Benconstine
- Idaho Blue Dog Dem
- Former President afleitch
- NiK
- Mideast Speaker HappyWarrior

Other Members:
- President-elect Napoleon
- JCL
- GM Shua
- Governor ZuWo
- Cathcon
- Senator TJ in Cleve
- Oldiesfreak1854
Other Region Members:
- Simfan

[tmthforu94]

It is not required to register for this party to join this group. Though it is strongly encouraged!!

Party Bylaws

Chair and Vice-Chair

1.) The chairman and vice-chair shall serve a term of at least four months
2.) This term shall conclude two weeks before the beginning of a presidential election
3.) The chairman and vice-chair are voted on at the party convention by approval voting
4.) If the chair or vice-chair fails to gain 50% of the party's support, they are removed from office and a new election is held for the position
5.) Should the Chairman not be available at the start of the convention, the Vice Chairman shall run the convention, and may delegate specific tasks to trusted members of the MCPR.
 
Endorsements
 
1.) To receive the endorsement of the Mideast Citizens for Progress and Reform, a candidate must make it publically known in the party or convention thread that he would like an endorsement.
 
2.) All party members shall be automatically endorsed by the MCPR. All other candidates must be voted on to receieve an endorsement.
 
Conventions
 
1.) The MCPR convention shall begin approximately two weeks prior to a Presidential Election. The Chairman or Vice Chairman may close the convention when all business has been conducted.
2.) When the Chairman or Vice Chairmen opens the convention, a list of all party members must be listed. Party members are encouraged to sign in when a convention starts. A link to the bylaws should also be listed.
3.) All conventions must be held within the Mideast region.

[tmthforu94]

Welcome to our new members! We only need one more person to register to reach major party status.

[tmthforu94]

Good luck with the new party! I'm not going to jump ship from the Whigs, but I am glad to see a new party here to fill the center-right (by Atlasian standards) void we have at the moment.

Well, there are party members and then there are those who are just members. Anyone, regardless of party, can be a member.

Also, this isn't a center-right party at this point. It's just a pro-Mideast party.

[tmthforu94]

We have officially reached major party status in just a few hours!!!

[tmthforu94]

This is not a right wing party. Our ideology is..."mideasternism".

[tmthforu94]

I'll join as a nonparty member, for what that's worth.

Cool beans! You're more than welcome to join the party whenever you wish.

[tmthforu94]

I have a couple of reforms I would like to propose. As I think some could certainly pass and others could be a stretch, I'll begin intrdoucing them individually.

If an Assemblyman could please sponsor this so it can be brought to the floor, I'd greatly appreciate it!

You must be logged in to read this quote.

I will make my case for this amendment, as well as the others I plan to introduce, in their respective threads. I will also link this in the MCPR thread for discussion.

I have introduced an amendment that will increase the Assembly back to five seats. After reading the current version of our Constitution (which I just updated on the wiki), I'm quite opposed to the recent change. I don't think the number of Assemblymen should be based on the number of candidates running. If we have four Assemblymen who mesh well together and no one else runs, one of them should not be punished by losing their seat.

I think our region could soon develop a problem once again of having a large amount of zombie voters, and that could be because they don't have opportunities to get active. Should this pass, I would personally encourage new members of the Mideast region to try running for Assembly.

I do plan on introducing another amendment later that would help solve a potential problem in uncompetitive Assembly elections.

Discuss!

[tmthforu94]

Here's another amendment. We've done a lot of talking about establishing a Lt. Governor. The Governor's poll showed that just over half of Mideast citizens would be willing to support the position, so I think it's certainly worth discussing. Like my other amendment, I will outline what the changes are and why I think we should do this in it's debate thread. This will certainly be a working amendment, as I expect many changes to be made.

You must be logged in to read this quote.

 

Here's a second amendment, which basically tries to accomplish this:

How about this:

- The Assembly expands to 4 members.
- Whoever places first in Assembly elections becomes Lt. Governor. This guarentee's that there will always be at least some competition for the Assembly seats, and also takes away the fear some have that creating an entirely new Lt. Governor position and vote will be uncompetitive.
- Should the top vote getter not want to be Lt. Governor, it keeps getting passed down until someone wants it.
- The Lt. Governor will pretty much hold the same responsibilities the Speaker currently has: Lead the Assembly, fill in if Lt. Governor is vacant, etc. Their vote will also break any tie.

So basically, base it off the Northeast system.

I did address several of Shua's concerns, as he's the only Mideasterner who commented on it by creating an odd number Assembly (that's actually in a seperate amendment) and not letting the Speaker break ties (I actually didn't spot the clause where that is established, but I believe it is by the Governor).

[tmthforu94]

Haha, you're right on the Wiki section. That's something we can work on when debate rolls around - whether the Lt. Governor, Governor, or both should have the responsibilities.

Now, on to expanding the Assembly back to 5...

You yourself said via PM that the Assembly isn't too active right now because two are pretty busy and RogueBeaver is just starting. Imagine how much of an improvement it would be if JCL had also been elected? We have all of these new members, many of whom you recruited to build up the Whig Party. Shouldn't we give them an opportunity to become involved in the game rather than just become a zombie voter?

If there are 5 active Assemblymembers, one should not be punished because more candidates didn't run. There could always be someone, me for instance, who runs as a sacrificial lamb to ensure the others are elected. Actually, that may be a good idea...

[tmthforu94]

On the contrary, the way I have proposed to re-implement the Lt. Governor would also erase fears of uncompetitive Assembly elections, as it'd be a battle to see who would finish first and become Lt. Governor.

I think some consistency is good, just like in RL. Not sure if I'm crazy about the Assembly potentially changes size every session.

[tmthforu94]

I would like to invite your chair to join the Tripartite Commission.

For now, I'll call myself chair.

We have no bylaws, but just to make sure, do any MCPR members object to us joining the Tripartite Commission? A few hours for an objection.

[tmthforu94]

Welcome to both Cathcon and the Governor!

[tmthforu94]

Some idea's I have come up with:

- Create a committee, not government-run, just focused on updating the Wiki. Each person will be responsible for a certain job, such as updating statue, keeping main Mideast page up-to-date, creating pages for new citizen's, etc.

- Publish a monthly "newsletter" which citizens can easily access to see what's been going on in the Mideast in the past month, from bills passed to arguments to election results.

[tmthforu94]

I too will join as a non-party member as I am committed to championing the Mideast should I be elected to Federal office.

That isn't our goal.

I can't remember everything, but I do remember a comparison to the Imperial Bloc and I'm going on that. Don't hate.

It isn't hate, but that is the exact reason why I said we shouldn't be compared to the Bloc.

This about enacting reforms at the regional level.

You're both right - this is about creating more regional pride as well as coming up with common-sense reforms for the Mideast.

idea's

You're in college, mate, what's this?!

No I'm not. I still have a little over a month.

[tmthforu94]

I just made this banner. Tell me if you like it:

[tmthforu94]

Here's a rough-draft of the party bylaws, mostly taken from the RPP's old bylaws. Discuss this as well.

Party Bylaws

Chair and Vice-Chair

1.) The chairman and vice-chair shall serve a term of at least four months
2.) This term shall conclude two weeks before the beginning of a presidential election
3.) The chairman and vice-chair are voted on at the party convention by approval voting
4.) If the chair or vice-chair fails to gain 50% of the party's support, they are removed from office and a new election is held for the position
5.) Should the Chairman not be available at the start of the convention, the Vice Chairman shall run the convention, and may delegate specific tasks to trusted members of the MCPR.
 
Endorsements
 
1.) To receive the endorsement of the Mideast Citizens for Progress and Reform, a candidate must make it publically known in the party or convention thread that he would like an endorsement.
 
2.) All party members shall be automatically endorsed by the MCPR. All other candidates must be voted on to receieve an endorsement.
 
Conventions
 
1.) The MCPR convention shall begin approximately two weeks prior to a Presidential Election. The Chairman or Vice Chairman may close the convention when all business has been conducted.
2.) When the Chairman or Vice Chairmen opens the convention, a list of all party members must be listed. Party members are encouraged to sign in when a convention starts. A link to the bylaws should also be listed.
3.) All conventions must be held within the Mideast region.

[tmthforu94]

As of now, I'm proud to say the MCPR has a majority of Assembly seats as well as the Regional Senator. Our Governor and one of our at-large Senator's is also in the group, just not the party.

[tmthforu94]

Nice catch! I'll include it.

Is everyone OK with the logo? Feel free to come up with something better if you don't like it.

[tmthforu94]

Got it

Is everyone OK with the logo? If not, feel free to make a better one.

[tmthforu94]

Seeing as there were no objections, we will proceed to vote on the party bylaws and party logo. This shall last 48 hours.

Bylaws: AYE
Logo: AYE

[tmthforu94]

An idea...

Why don't the MCPR sponsor a debate for the Assembly? I don't think an Assembly debate has been done, but considering our high number of candidates, it may be a good idea.

[tmthforu94]

Props to the Governor for carrying out one of our ideas!

- Publish a monthly "newsletter" which citizens can easily access to see what's been going on in the Mideast in the past month, from bills passed to arguments to election results.

Also, I've been working hard on the Wiki today -
- First, I update the citizen list on the Mideast page, though it's not in ABC order.
- I also created a Wiki Page for the party:
https://uselectionatlas.org/AFEWIKI/index.php/MCPR
- Finally, I'm in the process of creating a page for every Mideast citizen - if any Mideasterners want something added to their page, just message me, and I'll be MORE than happy to add it!

[tmthforu94]

I'd like to join as an other member.

Welcome!

[tmthforu94]

Having both recieved unanimous support, the party bylaws and logo have been adopted.


Some Good News:
I just got finished creating a Wiki Page for all Mideast residents! Unfortunately, some of our older members have outdated pages, and newer member pages aren't too detailed. I encourage all Mideast residents to head over to the Wiki and check out their page. If you have anything they'd like to have added or changed, please contact me via PM and I'd be more than happy to work on your page.