Democratic Union Party of The West Pacific

[Cormac]

Platform of the Democratic Union Party of The West Pacific

 

---

 

Introduction

 

The Democratic Union Party advocates change, real change that will create a more vibrant in-game and forum community.

 

The Democratic Union Party advocates community empowerment by giving resident nations of The West Pacific the opportunity to actively participate in the governance of their region through their regional assembly.

 

The Democratic Union Party advocates responsible government through the active election of the Delegate, as well as other regional officers, via the regional community forum, rather than passive endorsement of a Delegate chosen by the outgoing Delegate or the Guardians.

 

The Democratic Union Party advocates justice and accountability through the creation of an independent but accountable judiciary.

 

The Democratic Union Party advocates security and stability through creation of a more open security council, and abolition of the fixed endorsement cap in favor of a much higher limit that will allow for a high endorsement, high influence civilian WA community.

 

The Democratic Union Party advocates accomplishment of these goals through community outreach, legislative change, and peaceful elections, rather than through subversion, intimidation, or force.

 

The Democratic Union of The West Pacific

 

The Democratic Union Party will seek enactment of a new Governing Charter of The West Pacific that will create the Democratic Union of The West Pacific, and will mandate the following:

 

1. Empowering the Community: The Congress of The West Pacific

 

The Congress of The West Pacific will be the regional assembly, open to all residents of The West Pacific who wish to join and are approved by the Vice Delegate, whose decisions to reject an application may be reviewed and overturned by the Congress. The Congress will be the supreme governing authority of The West Pacific and will have the power to make any law, treaty, or policy that it determines would benefit the region and its community.

 

A Speaker, elected every two months, will preside over the Congress.

 

The Governing Charter will also mandate rights of residency that will be guaranteed to every nation residing in The West Pacific, as well as rights of Congress members that would not be applicable to residents who aren't involved in the Congress.

 

2. Responsible Government: The Executive Council of The West Pacific

 

The Congress will elect an Executive Council every four months to carry out executive governance of The West Pacific on behalf of the Congress. Officers of the Executive Council will be limited to two consecutive terms in office. The Executive Council will be comprised of the following elected officers:

 

• Delegate: The Delegate will serve as regional Head of State and will be the first among equals on the Executive Council, chairing and deciding the agenda of its meetings. The Delegate will also be responsible for regional World Assembly affairs.
• Vice Delegate: The Vice Delegate will hold the second highest endorsement count in the region, will serve as liaison between the Executive Council and the Conclave of Guardians, the regional security council, and will be responsible for reviewing applications for membership in the Congress.
• Minister of Foreign Affairs: The Minister of Foreign Affairs will be responsible for conducting diplomacy with other regions, in consultation with the Executive Council, and for maintaining a diplomatic corps.
• Minister of Military Affairs: The Minister of Military Affairs will be responsible for administration and command of the military, which will act according to the interests of The West Pacific.
• Minister of Community Affairs: The Minister of Community Affairs will be responsible for regional community events, activities, and integration of the in-game and forum communities.

Officers of the Executive Council may appoint deputies to assist them in their responsibilities.

 

3. Justice and Accountability: The High Court of The West Pacific

 

The High Court of The West Pacific will have the power to interpret the Governing Charter and all laws made under its authority, to overturn laws that contradict the Governing Charter, to restrain government actions that contradict the law, and to hear criminal trials, decide convictions, and determine sentencing. The High Court will be comprised of three justices, appointed to six month terms by nomination of the Executive Council and confirmation by the Congress. Justices will have no term limits and may serve for as long as the Executive Council and Congress are willing to nominate and confirm them, to ensure both accountability and independence of the High Court.

 

4. Security and Stability: The Conclave of Guardians

 

The Conclave of Guardians will grandfather in the current Guardians, provided they are willing to defend the Democratic Union against coup d'etat, and will then be open to any nation that wishes to join, provided the nation meets endorsement and influence requirements mandated by law, and is approved by the Congress. This will create a dedicated and, over time, large security council to ensure the security and stability of the region against rogue Delegates and, less likely, invading forces. The Conclave will be chaired and supervised by the elected Vice Delegate.

 

Additionally, the Governing Charter will abolish the endorsement cap, mandating only that a nation may not exceed the Vice Delegate's endorsements, which will encourage the growth of a high endorsement, high influence civilian WA community as well.

 

---

 

The Democratic Union Party is not accepting members at this time. Thank you for your interest!

[Elegarth]

From what I read, the party's goal is to turn TWP into the style of the bureaucratic gargantuan government of TNP?

[Darkesia]

I wish I had read this earlier.  I banjected this nation for advertising on the RMB earlier today.  Not smart, Cormac.

 

LOL.  Your post had BBD accusing you of being an NPO plant.  Too much like Lazarus' Revolution.  New nations bringing a whole new pre-fabricated government and forums only to later admit they were sent by the NPO. 

 

Change in TWP has come and it is upon us.  But it has and will alwyas come from within. It will be something organic rather than imposed.

[Cormac]

I wish I had read this earlier.  I banjected this nation for advertising on the RMB earlier today.  Not smart, Cormac.

 

LOL.  Your post had BBD accusing you of being an NPO plant.  Too much like Lazarus' Revolution.  New nations bringing a whole new pre-fabricated government and forums only to later admit they were sent by the NPO. 

 

Change in TWP has come and it is upon us.  But it has and will alwyas come from within. It will be something organic rather than imposed.

 

I'm confused how this was "advertising" unless you also can't advertise regional information on the regional RMB. I wasn't recruiting for another region, I was trying to get residents of TWP to join a peaceful political party that is hosted on this region's regional forum. This party is no different than the other parties in this forum except that I'm not advocating that we should maintain the status quo -- unlike, for example, the Revolutionary Party, I'm being honest. Milograd would pretend to support this system until he weasels his way into your Delegacy, then he would impose whichever system he wanted. I'm being honest: I think this system sucks, and I think it should be changed.

 

I think change should come from within too, that's why I was advertising it to residents of TWP on the RMB. Your response to that was to suppress, eject, and ban. The idea that this region's government is a game mechanics "democracy" because WA nations are endorsing you is a sham, because when someone proposes change you boot them from the region just like Krulltopia or Stujenske would. Just hand the Delegacy over to Elegarth now, Darkesia, at least he'll be more honest in his autocracy.

[Darkesia]

You were advertising another forum.  I might not have read that whole long proposal, but I did read the advertisement.  It skirted the line enough that I had to think about it.  But it was surrounded by other "harmless messages" for TWP nations to go some place other than their home.  No. 

 

No advertisements on the RMB except for BB (Now that Califormia Guy is gone).

 

Also, your fear mongering shows me two things:  1) You have not been paying attention to the tide in TWP.   2) You have your own agenda which you wish to import.

[Cormac]

From what I read, the party's goal is to turn TWP into the style of the bureaucratic gargantuan government of TNP?

 

The goal here is to provide to The West Pacific the same kind of government that has brought years of activity and stability to The East Pacific, The North Pacific, The South Pacific, The Rejected Realms, and more recently over the past two years, Osiris. Those regions have activity in both their in-game regions and their off-site forums that The West Pacific hasn't experienced under this flawed oligarchical system for years upon years.

 

But please, Elegarth, enlighten me: What is so wrong with The North Pacific? It's the largest region in the world, its Delegate has more endorsements than any Delegate in NationStates by far, its RMB is so active I can't keep up with it, and its forum is incredibly active with activity everywhere from RP to foreign affairs to legislation to military to WA voting. But no, you're right, we must avoid becoming like TNP.

 

Besides, the government proposed in this platform is very different from TNP's.

 

You were advertising another forum.  I might not have read that whole long proposal, but I did read the advertisement.  It skirted the line enough that I had to think about it.  But it was surrounded by other "harmless messages" for TWP nations to go some place other than their home.  No. 

 

No advertisements on the RMB except for BB (Now that Califormia Guy is gone).

 

Also, your fear mongering shows me two things:  1) You have not been paying attention to the tide in TWP.   2) You have your own agenda which you wish to import.

 

You need to go back and read the dispatch again, Madame Delegate, because the links were links to register on this forum, to apply to join this Holy Grand Assembly, and then to post in this thread. I deeply apologize for inviting residents of The West Pacific to register on their own region's forum, linked in their own WFE.

[Elegarth]

But please, Elegarth, enlighten me: What is so wrong with The North Pacific? It's the largest region in the world, its Delegate has more endorsements than any Delegate in NationStates by far, its RMB is so active I can't keep up with it, and its forum is incredibly active with activity everywhere from RP to foreign affairs to legislation to military to WA voting. But no, you're right, we must avoid becoming like TNP.

Your adolescent attitude is sort of boring. If you read again (to be someone who sends other to read properly, you seem not to do it), I ASKED YOU A QUESTION, without implying anything. As a citizen of TNP, I have no criticizing of their government except their excessive complexity, which can be perplexing to some new players if they don't realize is better to focus on a particular area first than trying to learn the whole system. You, sir, see ghosts where there aren't. Perhaps you are scared of your own ghosts?

[Cormac]

Your adolescent attitude is sort of boring. If you read again (to be someone who sends other to read properly, you seem not to do it), I ASKED YOU A QUESTION, without implying anything. As a citizen of TNP, I have no criticizing of their government except their excessive complexity, which can be perplexing to some new players if they don't realize is better to focus on a particular area first than trying to learn the whole system. You, sir, see ghosts where there aren't. Perhaps you are scared of your own ghosts?

 

If I misinterpreted you, I apologize. I doubt any apology for the multiple adolescent insults in your post will be forthcoming, but c'est la vie.

 

I'm not sure how the government in the platform would, by necessity, be anymore complex than our current government. We already have a regional assembly, multiple ministries, a judiciary, and a security council. The only thing this platform is proposing is breathing some liberal democracy into institutions this region already has and integrating the in-game and forum communities. That doesn't necessarily create a massive bureaucracy, at least not anything more massive than we have right now. As activity grows, bureaucracy may grow, but that will also be the case with the current institutions if activity ever grows under this system.

[Darkesia]

 

 

 We already have a regional assembly, multiple ministries, a judiciary, and a security council. The only thing this platform is proposing is breathing some liberal democracy into institutions this region already has and integrating the in-game and forum communities.

 

You joined the HGA, because our region remains open and accepting.  But you haveto behere longer than a week to include yourself in the "We" part of TWP. Especially when you only come around to say how crappy the region is.

 

We are not a liberal democracy.

 

TWP can remain open and it's community is protected from "rogue" Delegates BECAUSE is does not integrate it's forum and in-game communities beyond absolute necessitywhere official channels areconcerned.  But you will notice that the communities are quite well integrated on a social and voluntary level.

 

Your plan gives too much power to the Delegate over theforum community.

Your Vice Delegate, is a renaming of the Prime Minister position,  yet it's very name, implies that person shall be the next Delegate.  No.  Keep the name the same. They justc hanged it.

The rest is all the same, with minor name adjustments.

 

The Congress has far too much power over the Delegate.

 

You don't get it.  Just because you don't understand how TWP can operate happily without being a cookie cutter government, doesn't mean we want you here to try to force your pre-conceived ideas on us.  Try thinking outside the box. 

[A fish in the sea]

You know the problem in Lazarus? That was (in part) caused by the forum and in-game governments being connected.

[Cormac]

You joined the HGA, because our region remains open and accepting.  But you haveto behere longer than a week to include yourself in the "We" part of TWP. Especially when you only come around to say how crappy the region is.

 

I'm going to point out once again that I was just ejected and banned from this "open and accepting" region for posting a dispatch about a political party. The dispatch only included links back to this forum. I'm going to keep pointing this out until I hear some justification for being ejected and banned besides that I linked to another forum, which I did not, as one can clearly verify by looking at the dispatch.

 

We are not a liberal democracy.

 

That is very clear, and clearer by the minute.

 

TWP can remain open and it's community is protected from "rogue" Delegates BECAUSE is does not integrate it's forum and in-game communities beyond absolute necessitywhere official channels areconcerned.  But you will notice that the communities are quite well integrated on a social and voluntary level.

 

There isn't actually any protection from rogue Delegates. A Delegate not being considered rogue because the Delegate can already do whatever the Delegate wants is not protection from a rogue Delegate, it's inviting them to go ahead and be rogue without any consequences. You "protect" TWP from rogue Delegates by making being rogue an impossibility.

 

The next Delegate could remove the link to this forum completely in favor of a different forum and different form of government, and according to your system that would be peachy. Don't pretend this system protects the community from anything. It protects the Delegate's ability to do whatever he or she wants.

 

Your plan gives too much power to the Delegate over theforum community.

 

The Delegate already has power over the forum community. Westwind ratified treaties with regions by fiat, without consulting the forum community, treaties that mostly affected the forum community. The commander of the military is also appointed by the Delegate, despite the military having almost nothing to do with the in-game region. These are just two examples, there are others. This pretense that the Delegate and forum community are separate is just that: pretense. The forum community has no power over the Delegacy or the Guardians, but the Delegacy and the Guardians exercise whatever power they want to exercise over the forum community.

 

Your Vice Delegate, is a renaming of the Prime Minister position,  yet it's very name, implies that person shall be the next Delegate.  No.  Keep the name the same. They justc hanged it.

 

The Vice Delegate is nothing like the Prime Minister position. It holds the second most endorsements in the region, approves membership applications for the Congress, and chairs the Conclave of Guardians (security council). That is literally nothing like the Prime Minister position.

 

The rest is all the same, with minor name adjustments.

 

Much of it is the same, yes. The biggest changes are:

1. Electing the Delegate instead of autocratic appointment by the outgoing Delegate;

2. Electing the Vice Delegate and other Ministers;

3. Opening up the Guardians to any high endorsement, high influence nation that applies and is approved by the assembly;

4. Drastically increasing the endorsement cap to create a high endorsement, high influence civilian WA community.

 

The Congress has far too much power over the Delegate.

 

As opposed to the current circumstances, in which the Delegate has far too much power over everything.

 

You don't get it.  Just because you don't understand how TWP can operate happily without being a cookie cutter government, doesn't mean we want you here to try to force your pre-conceived ideas on us.  Try thinking outside the box.

 

There's nothing "outside the box" about TWP's current system. It is, at best, an oligarchy, at worst an autocracy. You make it seem outside the box by going on about how it's really democratic because you have the most endorsements, but you get those endorsements because you tart and WA nations will endorse anyone who tarts, and because the outgoing Delegate appointed you and would have prevented anyone but you from taking the Delegacy anyway. You keep the Delegacy by imposing and enforcing an extremely low endorsement cap that makes it impossible for anyone else to ascend to the Delegacy unless you and the Guardians permit them to do so, and keeps them from gaining enough influence that it would cost you anything significant to eject and ban them. There is nothing democratic about it, and there is nothing "outside the box" about dictatorship. It's been done before and it always has the same result: chronic inactivity. This burst of interest in the region is because you have people here who believe they can change its system, but when they realize they can't, they will leave, as others have left in the past, and everything will fall inactive again.

 

You can accuse me of being here to pursue an outside agenda -- I'm not sure whose agenda you think I'm pursuing though -- but to be honest, the reason I'm here is because The West Pacific has potential and I'm trying to get a fresh start somewhere in NationStates. But TWP's current system is not conducive to attracting dedicated players who want to spend most of their time and activity here, because all of the power is hoarded by the Guardians. This game is about power, like it or not, and as long as you expect other players to contribute while the Guardians hold onto all the power, you will get the same result: It won't happen.

[Elegarth]

The commander of the military is also appointed by the Delegate, despite the military having almost nothing to do with the in-game region.

Just one thing, as per this law:

http://www.westpacific.org/forums/index.php?/topic/319-current-laws-and-legislation/?p=21889

The leader of the Army is selected by the Prime Minister, without delegate intervention.

[Darkesia]

Wow...  Just wow.  You really believe that would be good, don't you.  I mean, Pestarzt (who for some reason unknown to me since it's none of my business, has been allowed to remain in the HGA) obviously had an outside agenda, but at least he made an effort to comprehend that which makes TWP original and good. 

 

You and I have nothing else to say to one another on this subject.  If you can get people in the forum to follow your cookie cutter idea, go for it.  I think they are smarter than you realize.

[Cormac]

Just one thing, as per this law:

http://www.westpacific.org/forums/index.php?/topic/319-current-laws-and-legislation/?p=21889

The leader of the Army is selected by the Prime Minister, without delegate intervention.

 

That was not previously the case, when Westwind was Delegate. That's certainly a positive development, but one that could be thrown out by the next Delegate -- which is the point, and the problem. This community has no actual input into anything. The Delegate can do whatever he or she wants, which differs not at all from the NPO except that it's justified differently here and is far less organized.

 

Wow...  Just wow.  You really believe that would be good, don't you.  I mean, Pestarzt (who for some reason unknown to me since it's none of my business, has been allowed to remain in the HGA) obviously had an outside agenda, but at least he made an effort to comprehend that which makes TWP original and good. 

 

You and I have nothing else to say to one another on this subject.  If you can get people in the forum to follow your cookie cutter idea, go for it.  I think they are smarter than you realize.

 

What is my "outside agenda"? Whose interests am I pursuing, which other region or organization? This isn't an "outside agenda." This is called an opinion.

 

I'm not saying there is nothing original or good about The West Pacific, but its oligarchical/autocratic philosophy of governance is not one of the things that is original or good. It has been done, so it isn't original, and it's abundantly clear that it isn't good after seeing the results of it over the past several years. TWP has at times been the least active of the Feeders, even less active than the NPO, and is always one of the two least active. The two least active are autocratic; the ones that are thriving are democratic. It's very clear what the problem is in TWP: The problem is that you and the other Guardians are hoarding all of the power and that is holding the region back from being as active as the other Feeders.

 

If I do get people on the forum to agree with me, are we going to be able to advocate this to the in-game region, or are you just going to suppress our posts and eject and ban us like you did to me earlier, still with zero justification?

[Cormac]

Well, I've had a nation ejected and banned today and been asked to leave by a Guardian, all for expressing my views in a peaceful, initially respectful way. I think I'll be going now.

 

Consider this my resignation from the HGA. Best of luck to TWP and to future Emperor Elegarth.

[Elegarth]

Resignation noted. I'm no one's emperor, had I wanted, I could have been NPO's. See you around, C.

[Llamas]

I'm no one's emperor, had I wanted, I could have been NPO's.

o7 I feel this. Had I wanted, I could have stopped all criticism of the PRL, kissed Funkadelia's ass, and I would have very likely been appointed or elected Chairman after Funk left office.

[Darkesia]

Third time in less than a year, I think.

[Llamas]

Third time in less than a year, I think.

Let's see if we can get him up to 5 departures by this year's end. COME ON, EVERYBODY! WE NEED TO HARASS CORMAC UNTIL HE JOINS AGAIN AND THEN HARASS HIM UNTIL HE LEAVES A FOURTH TIME!

[Elegarth]

Let's just close this topic and let it die away in our memory

[Darkesia]

We dont like to lock topics, unless we really have to.

I see no reason anyone should be posting here at this time, though.  So let's just let it fade, shall we?  It's the polite thing to do.

[Eli]

[Consular]

Screw politeness. I came here to laugh at democracy.

[Bhang Bhang Duc]

Don't worry about Cormac, he has the attention span of a goldfish.

You watch another bandwagon will roll by in a minute with him on it.

[Eli]

Screw politeness. I came here to laugh at democracy.

:twpflag: