cluntobone

It's somewhat the height of hubris what I'm about to do, but hubris and punk daddy are often listed as friends. 
 
I would like for you two to stop personally arguing with one another in every thread. It's not productive and really detracts from the conversation. If you both wish to lead then do what great leaders do and lead. People are willing to follow those they trust to make wise decisions. People who are bitter, backbiting, and vindictive don't typically inspire said trust. 
 
I want to see you both show the rest of us you have the ability to civilly disagree. If you can't then we need leaders who can because the type of "dialogue" the two of you are having are just what tears regions apart. Do you think that all of us old guys agree with one another all of the time? Heck no.
 
during my time as delegate, Eli sent me a note that - paraphrased - said if I didn't start to do something he was going to overthrow me. Haha. And we like each other. But that's also happening behind the scenes and not in front of the "cameras" as it were because many of us understand that what is said publicly has value and that disagreements privately can remain just that, private.
 
So I am asking and pleading that you let go of your differences and help continue the conversation on the direction of TWP. 
 
Please.

Last I saw, she criticized the assumption that the delegate would have to forcibly make polls, and any future delegate should have the right to say no if she/he so pleases, and hence if the design we made depends on that, then it is fundamentally flawed.

I think having an in-game "lower house" sounds nice in theory, but is a nightmare to implement in practice. If it were as easy as just waving a wand and doing it, most regions in NationStates would have that kind of structure. As it stands, there are few regions that take legislative votes directly to in-game residents.
 
Can you imagine trying to organize votes for all in-game residents? If you do it on the RMB, the RMB would be dominated by that rather than by the casual, friendly discussions that usually take place there, and it would be -- I hate to keep using this word, but it's what comes to mind -- a nightmare trying to scroll back through the RMB to make sure you're getting all the votes. This isn't even to mention the difficulty in dealing with the possibility of multiple nations controlled by the same player voting, and how you would screen for that. Or how much you'd be annoying casual players who have no interest in regional government, who have as much a right to live in TWP in peace without being bombarded with constant votes as those who like regional government have a right to pursue what they enjoy.
 
This is an idea that I think might work in a region of 60, or maybe even 600. But a region of 6,000? It's not practical.
 
On a separate note, is the Prime Minister going to open separate threads for different aspects of regional governance? That's how I've usually seen constitutional conventions work.

^This. Thanks, Clunt.
 
However, I can still see where you're coming from, Resu; you make some very good points. As such, I propose the following compromise:
-From here on out, the Prime Minister will appoint an Officer of Judicial Affairs, who shall hold a seat on the Executive Council. The Officer of Judicial Affairs will serve to uphold the law, administer punishment on the forums, and generally keep the order.
-However, the Officer of Judicial Affairs will not be the sole judicial authority in TWP. The Officer, combined with two other justices appointed by the HGA to a six-month term with no reelection, shall together make up TWP's Court of Appeals. The Court of Appeals will be charged with hearing appeals from those who have been punished by TWP's Officer of Judicial Affairs and can also rule on issues of constitutionality or discrepancies in the law to more formally interpret it.
 
Together, these two authorities will make certain that our judicial process is not complicated and convoluted, but still fair, balanced, and respectful to the rights of individuals in TWP.

Because the Council may potentially have conflicts of interest. Theoretically, a good judiciary should have the power to rebuke the executive. It can protect ordinary citizens from abuse of power by the executive. I'm not entirely sure this is really the case here in TWP, but that's my two cents.

Because the Council may potentially have conflicts of interest. Theoretically, a good judiciary should have the power to rebuke the executive. It can protect ordinary citizens from abuse of power by the executive. I'm not entirely sure this is really the case here in TWP, but that's my two cents.

I support Elegarth's actions.

I am opposed to the exclusionary tactics that reduce input of region players just because they don't get 'elected', that is a tactic of the false democracies.
 
 
If they sign up they're in, that is TWP style.

Frankly I think the legislature should be composed of all the residents like the HGA is/was currently.

Frankly I think the legislature should be composed of all the residents like the HGA is/was currently.

I recommend replacing office names with Flintstone Character names during the drafting stage. It's a real trick I learned from editing academic papers. It keeps bias and assumption out of it. You can fight about names later and focus on the viability of the work.

I support Elegarth's actions.

Why? The law outlines the responsibilities so there isnt confusion. The name is irrelevant -- you're the one prescribing some meaning to it. PM doesnt necessarily mean anymore than Speaker in and of itself.
 
I don't think the Speaker/whatever should have the ability to change the name unilaterally. It's already noted the Assembly can change its name by a simple vote. There doesn't need to be a bill for that.

I like this. I already planned to do something like this after the PM elections. One thing: keep the name PM. Remember that the PM is also head of the Executive Council and Head of Government in TWP. The term "Speaker" hardly conveys most of what he does.
Apart from that, however, I support this. It would simplify and consolidate the laws governing our administration.
This isn't a constitution. It's a normal law.

This is the section I have so far describing what is usually called the "legislative" area of government. I hesitate to use that term since what I'm proposing doesn't fit a "traditional" model of government at all, but yeah. This essentially combines the Assembly Act, the PM Act (I've used the name Speaker largely because I find the name PM to be uninspired), and elements of the Electoral Act as well. I've left out points on ministries and other elected officials but will add them -- I just need to go to sleep right now and wanted to give people something to chew on for now.
 
Like I attempted to say but failed because I can't spell; bare with me. I'm proposing a system where the Delegate and the Assembly can collectively hold authority and guide the course of the region, without infringing upon each other, through a delicate system of balance and convention which I feel reflects our current de facto way of doing things anyway.

I fully support this action and have created the appropriate forum for the activity.

At this point, it would just be easier to issue a declaration of disgust and perhaps a request for NPO to disentangle from all matters on Lazarus. I told them so, anyway.

I have it on good authority that some of the errors that have taken place in the handling of the Lazarus situation on the NPO side of things are being handled.
 
I believe TWP has maintained a good relationship with The Pacific for a long time now and personally do not wish to see that thrown away over what some in the NPO are calling an overreach by certain parties and a blatant clusterf*ck by others.

The culture of Lazarus was ranked the highest of any GCR in TRT's issue on the subject last year. Llamas and I can certainly testify that our theme of propaganda and Communism was extremely fun while it lasted, and the region definitely benefited from the amazing amounts of culture we had. Well, depending on how you define culture.
 
Milograd has won a cultural victory!
 
I do not believe we should cooperate with Stujenske's government based purely on formality, policy and precedent. Recognizing the Delegate of a region as legitimate no matter what ignores the opinions of natives, your allies and disregards the R/D game, as regions are raided all the time. Legitimacy doesn't belong in NS, as there is no formal system for legitimacy that applies to regions, only ones that rulers of those regions make, ones that only last as long as they're in power. In a way, you could argue that any Delegate of a region is legitimate, but that would go against everything else that matters, and as such, we shouldn't be talking about legitimacy here. We should be talking about popularity, effectiveness and other desirable traits. The Lazarus that Stujenske has ushered in is that of NPO puppetry, you can almost consider it a raid. He got rid of all the longtime natives that populated the region and completely destroyed his international reputation. Lazarus, for a long time, has been not only a GCR, but a community. One made up of people like Funkadelia, Hobbes, Church of Satan, and even me for a while, and I do hope to rejoin one day. Stujenske destroyed all that progress with the NLO. The community of Lazarus is gone, kicked from their homes. Their culture has been knocked down, the same culture that was widely-renowned as the best in the world.
 
We shouldn't be bringing this down to simple game mechanics. We should be bringing it down to morality, justice and common sense.

I must respectfully disagree with some of the conclusions you have reached, madam Delegate.  Of course, this means nothing as I firmly support your rule in TWP without question as the sitting Delegate.
 
But, if an offsite community, which is often a vast minority of the total populace, is displaced, then they are always free to set up a new forum and a new community and/or ingame region that maintains their cultural identity.  The imposition of the Delegate upon the community is specific to the region, not the nations within the region.
 
While I support the idea that TWP maintains a separation between the ingame power of the Delegate and the offsite community that does not make it any better or worse than the NPO (or TNP or TSP or whatever) system of governance.  It is simply different.
 
That the Delegate of Lazarus as decided to align his region with the NPO does not invalidate the offsite community that existed before.  It simply invalidates its right to govern the onsite Delegate seat.

I can see your point in regards to the forum shutdown, being subject to such activity myself on occasion 'elsewhere', but the resilience of the community should not be measured in the functionality of the boards, in my opinion.
 
For example, TNP, which is not what I would typically utilize as an example of stability in regards to Delegacy, has maintained a stable offsite community for over a decade even though the Twoslit Experiment summarily shut down their original forum with no warning.  They also preserved through another forum based community usurpation during ALSO and the NPD and in the multitude of 'rogue' Delegacies over the last ten years.  The boards themselves were never the issue.
 
To lay blame for the disruption of the community on the owner of the boards, who was acting well within his own legal rights, ignores the core issue with the PRL to begin with.  If those in opposition to the Delegate can't even get their sh*t together to form a cohesive offsite community in the face of adversity, how do they ever hope to form a legitimate opposition to that Delegate?  
 
In my opinion, we can not blame the Delegate of Lazarus for reaching out to the NPO.  You acknowledge yourself that it is a stable and established culture and community.  The nations of Lazarus deserve an example of a stable culture considering the shambles with which the outgoing government has made of it.

I saw that the West Pacific map topic was inactive, so I made a new one!


If you want your nation on the map, just say where you want the nation, and what color you want it to be on the map. If you want to put your nation on the map yourself, you can download the file by clicking on the map. If you want to make a map of your nation, follow this simple tutorial.
Added Countries:
United States of Northern Americano
Ikania
The Republic of Llamas (Ezelis on map)
Benjamin Mark (simple country)
Occidius
Mediobogdum
Little Sealand
Liberillia
Wickedly Evil People (Eli)
Whisperville
States of Glory
Wallgates
The Dolorosa
Kisovec
Verbluffen
Rockandrollia
Cluntobone