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REGION OF RIGHT TO LIFE
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Idea: Library of Life; A Regional Public Library
Topic Started: Saturday Dec 24 2016, 05:47 AM (525 Views)
Culture of Life
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William F. Buckley

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LIBRARY OF LIFE
Beatus Homo Qui Invenit Sapientiam

Since May, we've been discussing the possibility of creating a Ministry of Outreach and Activism, which would have the duties of maintaining a list of pro-life and pregnancy resources and of keeping region members informed on the progress of the pro-life movement in the real world. In fact, a bill was even drafted; but no action has been taken on it. Given the lack of excitement for an Outreach Ministry and, perhaps, doubts regarding its necessity, I would like to propose an alternative: a public library.

Right to Life's public library -- the Library of Life -- would be distinct from the Law Library, which holds copies of the constitution, the regional code, regional treaties, founder's decrees, and judicial decisions. The Library of Life would, instead, be oriented toward the real world. It would contain links and references to pro-life websites, pro-life books, pro-life articles, and similar items of interest. Many of these materials could be read on the internet. Others might be available only in person. (For example, if you want to go to your local or school library, you might want to check out this book or that book.)

The Library of Life, like regional bank accounts, would be maintained on its own webpage here on the offsite forums; and it would be overseen by a three-member [duck]Library Board of Commissioners[/duck], which would have its own subforum in the Regional Offices. Two votes would be necessary for the addition of an item to the Library, and three votes would be necessary for an item's removal. In this way, there would be a bias toward expanding the Library and against censorship.

Several questions immediately come to mind:
  • Do you like this idea? Should Right to Life have a public library?
  • Do you like the name, motto, and logo that I've suggested?
  • What guidelines, if any, should be imposed on the Board?
  • Should there be an appeals process for removals of items?
  • How would the Library's commissioners be selected?
  • What would be the length of a commissioner's term?
  • How could a commissioner be removed from office?
  • Should the regional code impose limits on commissioners' partisan affiliations? For example, no more than two commissioners shall be members of the same regional political party.
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United Massachusetts
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Archbishop Óscar Romero

Ahem... where is the progressive faction?

However, I really don't see too much of a need to divide this over political lines; after all, we're all pro-life
United Massachusetts
Former Foreign Minister and Senator, Current Director of News
Proud Member of the Liberals for Life Coalition
A Believer in the Consistent Life Ethic
But Most Importantly, A Catholic Christian
We are still stronger together

Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired, signifies in the final sense a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and are not clothed.
-Dwight Eisenhower

The greatest destroyer of peace is abortion because if a mother can kill her own child, what is left for me to kill you and you to kill me? There is nothing between.
-Mother Theresa
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Culture of Life
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William F. Buckley

Here's a new draft for the bill.

Spoiler: click to toggle

Dallas Unit 9
Thursday Dec 29 2016, 10:12 AM
I had one other idea / suggestion. To ensure that the library of RTL continue to grow, what do you think about making a requirement that in order to be paid, each librarian add at least 3 (or another number of) new books for the library?
I like this idea. I've included it in the new draft above.

United Massachusetts
Thursday Dec 29 2016, 11:00 AM
Ahem... where is the progressive faction?
?-D

As I said, "the region's 'conservative faction' usually wins one seat, and the region's 'moderate faction' usually wins the other seat." By "conservative," I meant center-right or right-wing. By "moderate," I meant center-left, center, or center-right (depending on the region's politics at the time).

United Massachusetts
Thursday Dec 29 2016, 11:00 AM
However, I really don't see too much of a need to divide this over political lines; after all, we're all pro-life
I agree, but there might be different points of emphasis (e.g., religious pro-life websites vs. secular pro-life websites), and I think it'll be helpful to have a diversity of viewpoints on the Library Commission.
The Christian Democratic Nation of Culture of Life
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United Massachusetts
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Archbishop Óscar Romero

Culture of Life
 
As I said, "the region's 'conservative faction' usually wins one seat, and the region's 'moderate faction' usually wins the other seat." By "conservative," I meant center-right or right-wing. By "moderate," I meant center-left, center, or center-right (depending on the region's politics at the time).

Well, again, the regions "politics at the time" almost always are slanted to the right.

I'd propose an alternative, with three ministers:

1. Minister 1: Conservative Faction/ Religious Faction
2. Minister 2: Moderate/ Secular Faction
3. Minister 3: Other (Liberal and Libertarian Faction?)

I really do see the benefits of having an outreach program to liberals and libertarians; after all, most conservatives are already pro-life, and the others need the most convincing. I'll say that yes, this slot will usually be dominated by libertarians, as they are a much more robust group than the three liberals on this forum (Catholic State of Eire, ND, and myself). Our current President, I might add, used to be part of the Libertarians, so they ought to have some representation in our pro-life upkeep if we are making this political.

Here's how we'd do it: 2 Appointed Nominees by the Senate (Ministers One and Two, exactly like the law mentions)
1 Member Elected by the Libertarian and Liberal members of the region, defined as anyone either:
- in the LLC
- formerly in the now defunct Libertarians

- not a member of the political party controlling the Presidency
- not holding other regional office elected by the people
- a member of a party shut out of the Senate (usually the LLC, but I digress)

PS: This is probably the most impractical idea imaginable, but basically, I think we should have a seat ensured to political opposition to the current government. The current political majority is guaranteed representation, and as such, the minority viewpoint should be as well. We need as many pro-life arguments out there as we can get, whether they agree with the political opinions of the RTF or not. No party should have a monopoly over the way the Library collects goods.

My Alternate Section 2:
Library of Life
 

SECTION 2. The Library of Life shall be curated and governed by a Library Commission, which consists of three commissioners, who are appointed for terms of either two or four months as follows:
Not earlier than the 5th day and not later than the 10th day of the months of February, April, June, August, October, and December, the senators of Right to Life (excluding the President) shall each prepare a list of two nominees for the Library Commission and shall, in a private forum, present their lists to the President of Right to Life;

Not earlier than the 10th day and not later than the 15th day of the aforementioned months, the President shall select, from the aforementioned lists of nominees, two citizens to serve on the Library Commission, naming one of them to be its chairman;

Not earlier than the 5th and not later than the 20th day of the months of January, April, August, and December an election lasting seven days shall be held to elect a new member of the Library Commission. Any citizen neither affiliated with a political party controlling a Senate Seat or the Presidency nor a position in the Senate or Presidency shall be eligible to both vote and run for the office.

No earlier than the 15th day and no later than the 25th of the aforementioned months, the citizens so selected shall assume their offices as commissioners, replacing the preceding Library Commission;
Pursuant to subsection (b), the President shall appoint at least one commissioner from each list of nominees. Senators are not prohibited from submitting identical nominations to the President.
Edited by United Massachusetts, Friday Dec 30 2016, 11:41 PM.
United Massachusetts
Former Foreign Minister and Senator, Current Director of News
Proud Member of the Liberals for Life Coalition
A Believer in the Consistent Life Ethic
But Most Importantly, A Catholic Christian
We are still stronger together

Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired, signifies in the final sense a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and are not clothed.
-Dwight Eisenhower

The greatest destroyer of peace is abortion because if a mother can kill her own child, what is left for me to kill you and you to kill me? There is nothing between.
-Mother Theresa
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Culture of Life
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William F. Buckley

United Massachusetts
Friday Dec 30 2016, 11:05 PM
Culture of Life
 
As I said, "the region's 'conservative faction' usually wins one seat, and the region's 'moderate faction' usually wins the other seat." By "conservative," I meant center-right or right-wing. By "moderate," I meant center-left, center, or center-right (depending on the region's politics at the time).
Well, again, the regions "politics at the time" almost always are slanted to the right.

I'd propose an alternative, with three ministers:

1. Minister 1: Conservative Faction/ Religious Faction
2. Minister 2: Moderate/ Secular Faction
3. Minister 3: Other (Liberal and Libertarian Faction?)

I really do see the benefits of having an outreach program to liberals and libertarians; after all, most conservatives are already pro-life, and the others need the most convincing. I'll say that yes, this slot will usually be dominated by libertarians, as they are a much more robust group than the three liberals on this forum (Catholic State of Eire, ND, and myself). Our current President, I might add, used to be part of the Libertarians, so they ought to have some representation in our pro-life upkeep if we are making this political.
I see your point, but I don't agree with it.

I don't believe it's democratic to divvy up the commission with one conservative, one moderate, and one liberal because these "factions" aren't equal in size in Right to Life. The system that I've outlined above would guarantee two seats for the "majority party" and one seat for the "minority party." Yes, I acknowledge that the "third party" would be shut out (unless the "majority party" or "minority party" nominated "third party" members), but isn't this the democratic thing to do?

For instance, on bipartisan federal commissions in the United States, such as the Federal Trade Commission and the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, the president's party gets three seats, and the opposition party gets two seats. Nobody would suggest that the Libertarians or Greens should get equal representation because their numbers are significantly smaller than those of Democrats and Republicans.

The majority has a right to govern. Giving one seat to conservatives, one seat to moderates, and one seat to liberals would virtually give the moderates permanent control. The "moderate seat" would always hold the swing vote on the Library Commission and, thus, would almost always get its way even if the conservatives (or liberals) had 50% or more support. For the region's liberals (in their present state) to get representation on the commission, they'd need either to knock off another "faction" or to persuade the "people in power" to give them representation on the commission.

United Massachusetts
Friday Dec 30 2016, 11:05 PM
Here's how we'd do it: 2 Appointed Nominees by the Senate (Ministers One and Two, exactly like the law mentions)
1 Member Elected by the Libertarian and Liberal members of the region, defined as anyone either:
- in the LLC
- formerly in the now defunct Libertarians

- not a member of the political party controlling the Presidency
- not holding other regional office elected by the people
- a member of a party shut out of the Senate (usually the LLC, but I digress)
Earlier, I suggested a partisan criterion for commission membership. I don't think it's very popular. In any case, the system that I recommend now secures bipartisanship without relying on party labels.

United Massachusetts
Friday Dec 30 2016, 11:05 PM
I think we should have a seat ensured to political opposition to the current government. The current political majority is guaranteed representation, and as such, the minority viewpoint should be as well. We need as many pro-life arguments out there as we can get, whether they agree with the political opinions of the RTF or not. No party should have a monopoly over the way the Library collects goods.
I agree completely. My draft above would usually give two seats to the majority and one seat to the minority, unless the President were feeling particularly altruistic or else were trying to gain the favor of "third party" voters ahead of his reelection campaign.

Let's take the current Senate as an example:
  • President: New Missouri (RTF)
  • Senator: Phydios (CFP)
  • Senator: RomanCatholicFederation (RTF)
And let's imagine that NM, Phydios, and RCF behaved as total partisans.

Phydios nominates C1, C2, and C3 for the Library Commission; and RCF nominates R1, R2, and R3 for the Library Commission. Subsequently, NM chooses R1, R2, and C1 to serve. Thus, the majority party (the Reactionary Traditionalists) has two seats while the minority party (the Conservative Federalists) has one.

United Massachusetts
Friday Dec 30 2016, 11:05 PM
My Alternate Section 2:
Library of Life
 

SECTION 2. The Library of Life shall be curated and governed by a Library Commission, which consists of three commissioners, who are appointed for terms of two months as follows:
Not earlier than the 5th day and not later than the 10th day of the months of February, April, June, August, October, and December, the senators of Right to Life (excluding the President) shall each prepare a list of two nominees for the Library Commission and shall, in a private forum, present their lists to the President of Right to Life;

Not earlier than the 10th day and not later than the 15th day of the aforementioned months, the President shall select, from the aforementioned lists of nominees, two citizens to serve on the Library Commission, naming one of them to be its chairman;

Not earlier than the 5th and not later than the 20th day of the months of February, June, and October, an election lasting seven days shall be held to elect a new member of the Library Commission. Any citizen neither affiliated with a political party controlling a Senate Seat or the Presidency nor a position in the Senate or Presidency shall be eligible to both vote and run for the office.

On the 15th day of the aforementioned months, the citizens so selected shall assume their offices as commissioners, replacing the preceding Library Commission;
Pursuant to subsection (b), the President shall appoint at least one commissioner from each list of nominees. Senators are not prohibited from submitting identical nominations to the President.
Based on regional history, I don't think this would work. We tried electing the region's PLI representative for a while, and the elections were almost always uncompetitive. No one really wanted to run (or even vote) in an election for anything but the presidency and the Senate (the "important" positions).
Edited by Culture of Life, Saturday Dec 31 2016, 12:27 AM.
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United Massachusetts
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Archbishop Óscar Romero


Quote:
 
I see your point, but I don't agree with it.

I don't believe it's democratic to divvy up the commission with one conservative, one moderate, and one liberal because these "factions" aren't equal in size in Right to Life. The system that I've outlined above would guarantee two seats for the "majority party" and one seat for the "minority party." Yes, I acknowledge that the "third party" would be shut out (unless the "majority party" or "minority party" nominated "third party" members), but isn't this the democratic thing to do?

For instance, on bipartisan federal commissions in the United States, such as the Federal Trade Commission and the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, the president's party gets three seats, and the opposition party gets two seats. Nobody would suggest that the Libertarians or Greens should get equal representation because their numbers are significantly smaller than those of Democrats and Republicans.

The majority has a right to govern. Giving one seat to conservatives, one seat to moderates, and one seat to liberals would virtually give the moderates permanent control. The "moderate seat" would always hold the swing vote on the Library Commission and, thus, would almost always get its way even if the conservatives (or liberals) had 50% or more support. For the region's liberals (in their present state) to get representation on the commission, they'd need either to knock off another "faction" or to persuade the "people in power" to give them representation on the commission.


Here's where my main problem lies: The Library of Life isn't about reaching out to the majority of ourselves (if so, then I don't understand it). Instead, the Library is about empowering us to reach out to other people. The librarians ought to be, therefore, representative (at least in part) of both ourselves (so we have more tools in argument), and those we are trying to convince (typically liberals and libertarians). We need to have as many angles in this as possible. Call them what you will, the CFP and the RTF are both conservatives. We need to find articles that can appeal to people like liberals and libertarians, and who better to do that than one of them? With all do respect, I see plenty of religiously-themed calls to be pro-life, and while these are an important reason I hold pro-life views, I know pro-life liberals who are more struck by the humanist arguments. For a region that values itself on political diversity, three conservative members is both unreflective of our regions demographics (I'd bet a third of our citizens don't consider themselves "conservative"), but also futile at providing tools to best equip pro-lifers to win debates.

Quote:
 
The system that I recommend now secures bipartisanship without relying on party labels.

Yes, it secures bipartisanship, but does it secure diversity in opinion, which is more important? Let's face it: the political factions in Right to Life are the following, sized according to how powerful they are:
Very Conservative/ RTF
Conservative/Center Right/ CFP
Left of Center/LLC :ermm:
Libertarians/ No Party

So, unless 7 liberals magically migrate to RTL :lol: (cross your fingers), we'll (and the libertarians will) usually have no seat. That's a problem: we're creating a library with materials to conivnce EVERYONE to be pro-life (not just conservatives)


Quote:
 
Based on regional history, I don't think this would work. We tried electing the region's PLI representative for a while, and the elections were almost always uncompetitive. No one really wanted to run (or even vote) in an election for anything but the presidency and the Senate (the "important" positions).

Fine, maybe the Founder appoints one of the candidates who step forward having met my requirements.
United Massachusetts
Former Foreign Minister and Senator, Current Director of News
Proud Member of the Liberals for Life Coalition
A Believer in the Consistent Life Ethic
But Most Importantly, A Catholic Christian
We are still stronger together

Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired, signifies in the final sense a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and are not clothed.
-Dwight Eisenhower

The greatest destroyer of peace is abortion because if a mother can kill her own child, what is left for me to kill you and you to kill me? There is nothing between.
-Mother Theresa
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Dallas Unit 9
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But RCS, reaching out to minorities is not the same as giving them an unrepresentative voice in a strong position.

Here's the thing: RTL isn't super polarized. Yes, we have a spectrum, but we all seem to get along decently and respect one another. Ergo I don't see why there would be a problem appointing non-party members.

I suggest we go ahead and implement CoL's current proposal, and if there is a problem with it later on we can amend it.
No master but God, no Lord but Christ, no nation but the Kingdom.

“A man who does not have something for which he is willing to die is not fit to live.”
― Martin Luther King Jr.

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Culture of Life
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William F. Buckley

Dallas Unit 9
Saturday Dec 31 2016, 01:09 AM
Here's the thing: RTL isn't super polarized. Yes, we have a spectrum, but we all seem to get along decently and respect one another. Ergo I don't see why there would be a problem appointing non-party members.
I agree. It's entirely possible, I think, that RTF and CFP politicians will appoint independents and liberals. Also, I think conservative commissioners will vote to add liberal items to the Library.

Even if RTL were super polarized, the Liberals for Life Coalition could still secure seats on the Library Commission through political horse trading. For example: "We'll endorse your candidate in the next presidential election if you give us one seat on the Library Commission."



Maybe, this is a good time for us to start discussing whether there should be an appeals process and, if so, how it should function. Appeals, of course, would be a safeguard against an overly partisan commission.
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William F. Buckley

I've drafted a new version of the bill, and I hope the next Senate will consider it.

Spoiler: click to toggle
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The RCS
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Billy Graham

I would support this. I've always been an advocate for something like this.
I'm a Proud Southern Protestant Christian from the great state of North Carolina // Conservative Trump Republican // and a Proud fan of the Tennessee Volunteers and the North Carolina Tar Heels
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Your ways are higher than mine
Washed away every stain, Lord
No greater love than the blood, Lord
- From the song Providence (Broke My Chains)
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William F. Buckley

Culture of Life
Thursday Jul 20 2017, 05:12 AM
I've drafted a new version of the bill, and I hope the next Senate will consider it.

Spoiler: click to toggle
I heartily second the President's recommendation in his State of the Region Address, and I ask the senators to review the above draft and to enact it if they find it acceptable.
The Christian Democratic Nation of Culture of Life
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