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REGION OF RIGHT TO LIFE
Established June 1, 2011




Current Population: nations
Record Population: 193 nations
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23rd Senate

Speaker: New Missouri (RTF)
Senator: New Waldensia (CFP)
Senator: Catholic State of Eire (CSP)


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Reforming the Constitution; Three Ideas from the Founder
Topic Started: Wednesday May 24 2017, 01:30 AM (835 Views)
Culture of Life
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William F. Buckley

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The June 2017 election is almost here. As I mentioned on the regional message board, I think the 19th Senate should consider reforming the regional constitution. Here are my three ideas:
  • An Independent Delegate: Since 2012, the President and the WA Delegate of Right to Life have been the same person. In 2012, this made a lot of sense because, in the game, the Delegate was the only nation with whom the Founder could share executive powers. As you might recall, NationStates added regional officers in October 2015, forever changing the dynamics of regional management. Our constitution has not been adjusted to account for this major change, and I've been wondering lately whether it might be a good idea to separate the presidency and the delegacy. The President would be elected forum-side and would continue to serve as the head of government. The Delegate would continue to be elected game-side and would focus exclusively on matters related to the World Assembly -- resolutions, endorsements, etc.

  • An Independent Executive: Related to the proposal above, it also might be reasonable to take the President out of the Senate, thereby separating the executive and legislative branches. Of course, this has been proposed several times in the past. Removed from the legislative process, the President could focus his attention on making Right to Life a better, more active region through various programs, initiated and carried out by himself and his ministers. The role of the Founder would continue to be primarily administrative -- keeping the region peaceful and orderly and enforcing its laws (with the needed assistance of moderators and other officials).

  • A Flexible Senate: A perennial issue in regional politics has been the size of the Senate. Right now, the Senate has three members: the President and two senators. In the past, the Senate had five members: the President, a Vice President, and three senators. The five-member Senate was abandoned, and we returned to the three-member Senate because there were simply not enough players willing to run for the extra two seats. If the second proposal above were adopted, there would be three senators, elected once every four months. I think three is a good number for a region our size, but we should provide for the Senate's expansion for the times when activity and interest are unusually high. My recommendation: the Senate will have three members, unless more than six candidates run. If more than six candidates run, the number of senators elected will be equal to one-half of the number of candidates, fractions rounded down. To prevent tied votes, if the number of senators is even (e.g., a four-member Senate), we could give the President a casting vote.



Of course, the main concern would be staffing -- getting enough players to fill all of the offices:
  • Executive Council
    Founder
    President
    Delegate
    Foreign Minister
    Interior Minister

  • Regional Senate
    Senator
    Senator
    Senator

  • Independent Officers
    Bank Director
    Cartographer
    Justice of the Peace
    News Director
The only possible solution that I see would be to minimize the number of restrictions on citizens serving in multiple offices. In my opinion, the only necessary restrictions would be the following:
  • The Founder may not serve as the President, a senator, or the Justice of the Peace.
  • The President may not serve as a senator or the Justice of the Peace.
  • A senator may not serve as the Justice of the Peace.
Consequently, all 12 regional offices could conceivably be staffed by as few as six players. For example:
  • Executive Council
    Founder -- A
    President -- B
    Delegate -- B
    Foreign Minister -- C
    Interior Minister -- D

  • Regional Senate
    Senator -- C
    Senator -- D
    Senator -- E

  • Independent Officers
    Bank Director -- E
    Cartographer -- F
    Justice of the Peace -- F
    News Director -- A
Edited by Culture of Life, Wednesday May 24 2017, 01:43 AM.
The Christian Democratic Nation of Culture of Life
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Culture of Life
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William F. Buckley

Now that the 19th Senate has started, I'd like to take a straw poll of the senators on the various proposed constitutional reforms. Just answer "Yes" or "No" to these ideas. Unanimity is necessary for amending the regional constitution. Later, we can debate details (e.g., the wording of amendments).

New MissouriThe RCSStelloniaYes/No Votes
Separate the President
and the Delegate
0 – 0
Separate the President
and the Senate
0 – 0
Make the Size of
the Senate Flexible
0 – 0
Shorter Terms of Office0 – 0
Term Limits0 – 0
Proportional Representation0 – 0
The Christian Democratic Nation of Culture of Life
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Stellonia
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Separate the President and the Delegate - Yes

Separate the President and the Senate - Yes

Make the Size of the Senate Flexible - No

Shorter Terms of Office - Yes

Term Limits - Yes

Proportional Representation - Yes

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New Missouri
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The United Empire of New Missouri

Separate the President and the Delegate - Yes

Separate the President and the Senate - Yes

Make the Size of the Senate Flexible - Yes

Shorter Terms of Office - Yes

Term Limits - Yes

Proportional Representation - No

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The RCS
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Billy Graham

Separate the President and the Delegate - No

Separate the President and the Senate - Yes

Make the Size of the Senate Flexible - Yes

Shorter Terms of Office - Yes

Term Limits - Yes

Proportional Representation - Yes
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
Citipointe Live
 
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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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United Massachusetts
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Archbishop Óscar Romero

The RCS
Monday Jun 5 2017, 08:04 PM
Separate the President and the Delegate - No

Separate the President and the Senate - Yes

Make the Size of the Senate Flexible - Yes

Shorter Terms of Office - Yes

Term Limits - Yes

Proportional Representation - Yes
Though I'm not a Senator, I'm going to put my opinions:
Separate the President and the Delegate - No

Separate the President and the Senate - Yes

Make the Size of the Senate Flexible - Yes

Shorter Terms of Office - No

Term Limits - No

Proportional Representation - Yes
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.
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Culture of Life
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William F. Buckley

New MissouriThe RCSStelloniaYes/No Votes
Separate the President
and the Delegate
YesNoYes2 – 1
Separate the President
and the Senate
YesYesYes3 – 0
Make the Size of
the Senate Flexible
YesYesNo2 – 1
Shorter Terms of OfficeYesYesYes3 – 0
Term LimitsYesYesYes3 – 0
Proportional RepresentationNoYesYes2 – 1

This straw poll was helpful. It appears that we have three areas of agreement.
  • Separating the President and the Senate should be relatively straightforward. The only thing we need to determine is how to elect the independent three-member Senate. Should we stick with [wiki]single non-transferable voting[/wiki] or switch to a different semi-proportional system, such as [wiki]limited voting[/wiki] or [wiki]cumulative voting[/wiki]? I like the cumulative vote, but the choice is ultimately yours.

  • In your opinions, how short should the terms of office be? Right now, terms are four months. In the proposal that I drafted above, I suggest that the terms should be reduced to three months. The President would be elected for a three-month term; six weeks later, the Senate would be elected for a three-month term; six weeks later, another presidential election; and so on.

  • I don't like the term limits proposal, but all of you want it. What do you have in mind? Do you want the President, senators, or both the President and senators to be term limited?
The Christian Democratic Nation of Culture of Life
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Free States
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2-month terms, please.
And yes, not sure if term limits are really needed.
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Stellonia
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I believe that we should give [wiki]range voting[/wiki] some consideration, if it can be applied in multi-seat constituencies (so far, I have been unable to find any resources on the matter).

EDIT: I think we should give STV a shot. Presidential elections generally gravitate towards two- races, and senatorial elections towards three-horse races, due to people editing their ballots; why not just avoid the hassle and confusion of constantly changing votes and just have people rank their preferences?

I can back either two- or three-month terms. As for term limits, I think citizens should only be allowed to hold an office for two consecutive terms; they must then wait another term before being eligible to run for that office again. Additionally, I believe we should amend our laws so that in the event that a tie occurs in an election, said tie is not automatically broken in favor of the incumbent candidate.
Edited by Stellonia, Tuesday Jun 6 2017, 03:42 PM.
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Free States
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Seems like the senators should be trying to reach an agrement on all those issues.
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Imperial Maryland
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The Imperial States of Maryland
I don't see how you can simultaneously hold that it's going to be difficult to find enough nations for these positions, but you support term limits.

Stellonia's idea is fine.

I support all changes except term limits.
Edited by Imperial Maryland, Friday Jun 9 2017, 09:16 AM.
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