AtlaMinh Liaison Office - Bump! Townhall!

[minionofmidas]

Yarr Well. The principles AtlaMinh is committed to. I've been postponing writing this thing for weeks now.

The Republic of Atlasia is a Sovereign Nation.
This is'nt a "game" anymore. It's a real country. So other countries don't recognize it? Big deal. Same goes for Sealand and Abkhazia. So we all of us have another citizenship too? Big deal. Same goes for the Vatican.

Reality Exists.
No, the voices aren't just in your brain. There really is a United States of America out there. And it's not particularly affected by the decisions we take here. Same goes for anything else they're saying on the news.

So where is this "Atlasia" exactly?
Ah, tough one. It is my opinion that the Republic of Atlasia exists only in cyberspace, but that it's shape (not its size) may nonetheless be visualized as the same as the US' and that it may nonetheless be visualized as sharing land borders with Mexico and Canada.
Obviously, because Atlasia exists only in cyberspace, secession is a fairly empty threat. Everybody is free to set up another country elsewhere on the net - doing so doesn't affect Atlasia at all. (Verin tried this once, a long time ago.)

And who lives there?
Every registered member of the Forum, insofar as he, she or it is currently online and on the Forum. Citizenship currently rests (as per a Supreme Court decision that seemed not to note how much they were saying about Atlasia's place in the world) only with registered voters, although AtlaMinh wants to extend it to all registered forum users.

And because we're so small and inconsequential...
There's no conceivable harm in an ethical foreign policy either!

The Atlasian Revolution
AtlaMinh is convinced that the current pseudofederalist setup of the game has failed the Atlasian people, and proposes to scrap either all the regions, or four regions and the federal government. It does not however propose to give all their legislative powers to the Senate, but rather to the people - all laws, and all resolutions except those dealing with Senate procedural matters, should be subject to a popular vote. Obviously, AtlaMinh also believes in an all-proportional Senate.

...to be achieved by Peaceful and Constitutional Means
The above program is revolutionary. The methods to be used in achieving it are not. Nothing shall be done without popular consent. As popular consent is not currently forthcoming, the aims will not currently be achieved. That's not a problem. Ve heff time.

Principles and Pragmatism
I'm willing to accept any compromise that brings me a step further towards my goals, and work with absolutely anybody in order to achieve them - within the bounds of constitutional action. I'm not willing to give up on an inch of my goals in the long term.

Everything I've Forgotten
I'm sure there's a lot. I might even edit some of it in later.


Taking questions and insults now. Fire away.

[Associate Justice PiT]

     Lewis for SoEA.

[ilikeverin]

Atla-Minh!  Atla-Minh!  Atla-Minh!

[minionofmidas]

Ask me questions!

[minionofmidas]

what do you mean by exsists?

By "reality exists" I mean, approximately, that what it says on the news elsewhere in your life is also the (foreign) news here in Atlasia, ie that Atlasia exists (however precariously) in the real world, and not in some fancy parallel universe in which it has completely supplanted the USA, as we in the past pretended, and as some people still pretend despite their obvious failure when they tried to make that work.
I suppose that's ancient history to many of the new sign-ups to Atlasia, though... but the US' nonexistence is still the official position of Atlasia. But hasn't ever really been mine (there was a time when I considered that battle lost for good, though, but that's something else.)

I hope that's what you meant, and that it answers your question.

[Torie]

Having a popular vote on every frigging bill seems cumbersome to me. Part of the problem, is that much of the legislation is procedural, or in any event, requires some effort to know what is involved. Moreover, we have enough trouble keeping the senators active, and to show up and vote. Few debate anything really. What is the point in being a senator by the way, if everyone gets to vote?  I guess the senate still as the exclusive power to generate proposed legislation. Is that about it?

[minionofmidas]

Having a popular vote on every frigging bill seems cumbersome to me. Part of the problem, is that much of the legislation is procedural, or in any event, requires some effort to know what is involved. Moreover, we have enough trouble keeping the senators active, and to show up and vote. Few debate anything really. What is the point in being a senator by the way, if everyone gets to vote?  I guess the senate still as the exclusive power to generate proposed legislation. Is that about it?

That would be the idea, yeah.

Lots of people vote on Constitutional Amendments, why shouldn't that work on other bills as well? I think it's worth giving it a whirl - in the regions, the people vote on bills too (at least in theory - regional votes tend to be much more badly attended), and that's the one aspect of them (besides parochial pride in the places where I myself have resided, first the Pacific and now the Midwest) that I've always liked a lot.
In a sense, I'm trying to build a better Atlasia from parts of the Federal structure and parts of the Regional structures, and like Afleitch, I want the voting booths never to close.

[Filuwaúrdjan]

Ask me questions!

Any membership forms [qm]

[minionofmidas]

Ask me questions!

Any membership forms [qm]

No.

You can have a membership form for the SDP though ... oh wait.

[Filuwaúrdjan]

Ask me questions!

Any membership forms [qm]

No.

You can have a membership form for the SDP though ... oh wait.

[Хahar 🤔]

Ask me questions!

Any membership forms [qm]

No.

You can have a membership form for the SDP though ... oh wait.

Indeed.