Parliamentary Bicameralism (Discussion Open)

[bgwah]

This idea could be an acceptable compromise if others fall through, I think.

[bgwah]

Nay

[bgwah]

nay

[bgwah]

NOTA

[bgwah]

Since most of you seem to be supporting Option 1, I'll point out some of my problems with it.

Five-member Senate elections every six months? Really? Twice a year?!?! No, this is an elections game and this is unacceptable. And don't think covert attempts to abolish regional Senate seats is going unnoticed.

Perhaps some will counter with the fact that we have Representative elections every two months. But 15 seats? Didn't we only have like, 6 candidates for Senate in December? Maybe 7 or so last April? What makes you people think there will actually be 15 people willing to run? What makes you think they'll be at all active? But more importantly, what makes you think a good number more than 15 will run? We would need at least say, 20 or so candidates every two months to make the elections competitive, fun, and interesting, and I'm telling you right now that I don't think that is going to happen.

[bgwah]

Nay

[bgwah]

III: Nay
IV: Aye

[bgwah]

Oh no, did I miss the vote by ~20 minutes?

[bgwah]

Regions should be abolished.

I still don't understand what harm the regions do. At best they provide a training ground for new members. At worst? They are inactive and boring. You don't gain anything by their abolition.

I don't think it's a good idea to have an entire section of the game that is "inactive and boring."

That is worst case. We clearly see that some regions are not inactive and provide a vibrant training ground for new recruits. Look at how the Mideast has continued (despite your grim warnings months ago) to pump out active users. I went from Assembly member to Senator and now Dan or Persepolis will join me on that same track.

And I continue to insist that you would have been active anyway, especially if we created compensatory positions to deal somewhat with the decrease in positions brought about by the abolition of regions.

But it didn't hurt to have. Worst case we will see the regions are useless and remove them by amendment.

You know that will never happen

Not true, if I see the need to get rid of the regions, I would put the amendment myself in the senate.

Even if you could get the Amendment through the Senate (and I sincerely doubt you could), it would fail in the Pacific and Southeast regions by at least a 3 to 1 margin.

So how do we expect to pass any Constitution without an article including regions in three quarters of the regions for ratification?

With great difficulty.

Whatever document the Convention comes up with, if it is to pass in the Pacific it will require bgwah's approval. On the region's issue he's probably more hard-core than the RPP; in that he pretty much overtly doesn't care whether there is any actual regional activity. Voter turnout and elections themselves are his primary concern. The caveat to this analysis is though that now that bgwah has been President will he retain the same level of interest in the game (historically, many ex- President's lose touch or at least greatly decline their interest levels after their term of office). We'll have to wait and see on that one.

The other region of concern on regional issues is the Southeast. The absence of DWTL leaves a power-vacuum there (and within the party) as no other RPP member commands the same level of attention. PiT may be the new de facto leader, but we'll have to wait and see on that. Whether this is good or bad is hard to say, most non-RPP members have drifted away from any level of activity by the party's control of the region, so the decision will still be with that party's membership. There are signs that some within the party now accept that the current regional set-up isn't viable (the absolute and complete failure of the RPP-dominated Southeast government is too glaring and consistently apparant to ignore). They are more likely to accept a reduction in regions or enforced regional legislatures though at this time than actual abolition - but given their current disarray, who knows...

The Mideast now seems to believe it has found a solution to the regional inactivity - and best of luck to them - but I think the clock is running on that project. The election of reactionaries in the last election spurred activity again but now that the procedural issues have been sorted out, the Assembly will start to struggle to maintain an active agenda and I supect will drift into inactivity over the coming weeks and months. Whether or not this happens in time for the ConCon or the waivering RPP members to notice, I don't know. I susepct though that given the current levels of activity, the Mideast also would reject any change to the regional set-up.


All that said, if the ConCon comes up with a document which doesn't address the regional issue or approves the status quo, I will be voting for a rejection in the Midwest (not that that on it's own is significant, but I imagine I won't be alone).

Truth be known, whatever document the Convention comes up with will find ratification a tough hurdle to clear.

Ah yes, I too have noticed the Curse of the Presidency. It is indeed a strange phenomenon. It changes one's perspective of Atlasia and not for the better. Perhaps we should amend the Constitution to allow me to serve for life so no one else has to suffer.

I suspect this "curse" has to do with the fact that Atlasia is a game. And the ultimate conquest within this game is to be elected President. Once you've successfully been elected President (and subsequently re-elected), you have, in a way, accomplished all there is to do. There is no President of Earth. There is no (consecutive) third term to pursue. So, having won the game, your interest wanes and shifts to other things. At least this is my hypothesis. (Also, the Senate is annoying )

I still enjoy serving as JCP chairman and intend to continue. I'm not sure if I will run for elected office again soon, having successfully obtained the ultimate office after all. I will certainly keep voting in Atlasian elections for as long as I post on this website. A Presidential appointment to something may be interesting, I suppose...