Opinion by Trump and Pence | Associate Justice NEW WESTERN ATLANTIC - Recently the Founder of Norden, Solborg, has sent to some a list of proposed changes (hereby the list) to the New Western Atlantic (hereby NWA). As the co-Father of the Constitution and the co-Architect of the Laws and the Politics for the NWA, I will hereby respond to this proposal list; line by line.
Section one of the list is on the topic of electoral reform. The first item is to raise the Senate seats to 31. This is an odd number (literally and figuratively), I presume this would be to allow the Senate to avoid tying and thus usurping the Deputy Prime Minister (hereby the DPM). This number not only look wrong to the eyes, removes the one core function of the DPM, harms the assignment of Senatorial positions, but it does not yield to reality. The Senate almost never goes to the DPM. The Senate was formed in April of 2017. The number of times the vote has ever gone to the DPM is once, maybe twice? This proposal is not needed but counteract yet reserves a trend which if taken explains the rest of the list. Section two of this list is the very voting system itself. Solborg proposes a version of the Webster/Sainte-Laguë method. To summarize the general idea of this system, it is a proportional vote; to which any reasonable observer will find our system currently does this. However there is a difference between our system and the proposed one. In the proposed system, there is a mandated percentage for any party to get any seats. This mandate would attempt to remove the lowest of parties from the elections. This mandate is not functional under our current system due to the limited number of parties, but the proposed idea will make sense later on. Section three of the list would require parties to make a list of candidates before an election. I blame this proposed idea on Solborg’s lack of knowledge of the Region. Any reasonable observer would find that the large parties, and possibly the smaller ones, already practice this. The Constructive party for example holds primaries and has been holding primaries for a long time now. These primaries cover Senate and Prime Minister elections. This proposed idea would be pointless, but will require government regulation on how the parties are ran and are thus a threat to the people. Section four of the list proposes a constitutional amendment which would raise the party cap to 12. This idea is so terrible and unstabilizing that the French Revolution looks like a field of flowers. To those who are not familiar, the number 12 is the number which limits the number of spots used for answers on a Nationstates (hereby NS). The cap is at 6 to, prevent a large amount of parties, fractured politics and revolts in parties (like the APU), and to effectively cover the wide range of the political spectrum. To raise the number to 12 would be to throw the politics of the Region into disorder. This disorder does not look good to the wider NS population. Section five of the list demands that all recognized parties hold at least five per cent of the Region’s World Assembly members. This would not only make raising the cap useless since most people fit within the Activist and Constructive parties on the spectrum, but would make it harder for Unity and Bloc. My theory as to the reason behind this must be to allow for Solborg’s only party, the Pirate party. For those who do not know, he is trying to form this party after having promised to not do so pre-merge. Of course, this will try to attract Norden members into it and it would effectively create cleavage between the people of the NWA and the Norden immigrants. This undermines the very goal of cooperation and unification that he agreed to when the merge was initiated. UDR and I both vocally were against this during the merger talks, and yet here we are with Solborg disrespecting the words of wisdom-- even himself. To summarize, Solborg wants to move record keeping from a regional dispatch to another website as a whole. This is not needed nonetheless and deserves little attention. On the subject of Military, Solborg wants us to remain neutral with no allies. I can not really disagree with him on that, so this is a point of agreement and I will move on. Section six: the list would require that all the executive positions be elected by the Senate and not directly by the people. This is proves that Solborg is but a two-tongue liar when he claims UDR’s proposed electoral reform is "undemocratic", yet it is himself that wants to remove the power of the people to directly elect the executive. Solborg also wants the executive to be dependent on the will of the Senate overall. This very much destroys the balance of power. The deal would be ineffective as it could make the Senate Chancellor the head of government, and effectively put at end to the position of Prime Minister as we know it. This proposed idea, of course, goes against the very system we have had for years. This delicate system is what keeps Atlantican politics fresh and active for years on end. This idea would merely allow for political coups and weird sorts like Elipium, Josh and others to try to mess this tried-and-true system. Section seven: the list wants us to rebuild the ties to the inter-NS community. This I have no problems with; well I do have a problem with who would presumably try to lead us to this goal, Solborg himself. Section eight: the list dares to change citizenship as it requires to remove the 7 day requirement and have all nations, WA or not, automatically given citizenship. This would allow for easier puppet voting and is a threat to the security of our elections. Maybe to allow himself. Section nine: the proposal would require immigration to run API through a server. Immigration Minister Bananaman has stated that this would be costly and is ineffective. Remember, this is the same Immigration Minister who is doing a great job fixing the immigration left unattended by his predecessor, Baconbacon123. Section ten: the list wants an open Roleplay ran by a Roleplay director that is picked by the Senate. This is pointless as the rest of this list because it is trying to break a system that already works. Overall, this Nordic Founder has the gall to come into our home, without sufficient knowledge, mind you, and wants to change the carpets, wallpaper, and furniture. This fraud is trying to use his people, the innocent Norden people, to up-and-turn our working system into the failed one he implemented in Norden. The very system had to be removed due to its poor Senate. What Solborg forgets is this; this is the New Western Atlantic, not the United Kingdom; not Norden, not Norway or even the United States: this is the NWA. We are getting there together, not getting nowhere never.
10 Comments
Director Krennic
26/2/2019 04:48:14 am
Oh, it's beautiful...
Reply
Ehoi
26/2/2019 05:11:00 am
Great work by TP. I did not even hear about this, but you're right that this is a terrible list of solutions to non existent problems
Reply
I think you hit the nail on the head Trump and Pence. I agree with basically everything you said. Why should we take away the right we already have to elect our own PM, and also other ministers? It does not make sense to me. Parliaments work IRL in countries that have millions of inhabitants, but 500 people is not enough to completely transform our constitution as we know it. The merge was a good idea, but this frankly isn't.
Reply
O-Broki
26/2/2019 06:57:32 am
Appropriate response to proposed changes. Making the list public as well was also good to bring this discussion out of private government VC and into public discourse. However statements like "weird sorts like Elipium, Josh and others to try to mess this tried-and-true system" and "Maybe to allow himself." Are just speculative fearmongering that do not complement an informed response such as this. Pointed statements like these detract from the objectivity and legitimacy of others.
Reply
Norrizi
26/2/2019 12:30:08 pm
Basically what I think too, just keep it on the (bad) ideas, not the person. Good read
Reply
Marinne
26/2/2019 07:07:55 am
Brilliant! (Your response not the suggest stuff)
Reply
Russian Empire
26/2/2019 08:58:31 am
Marry me
Reply
UCP
26/2/2019 09:13:55 am
I personally don't see the issue in any party advocating for these changes. Whether you like them or not, they're just proposed beliefs of a party. One could argue all day about whether the Pirate Party should exist or not, but their ideas are legitimate. Any attempt to paint their ideas as somehow radical or unwelcome in this region based purely on the political content, is simply fear-mongering and an attempt to scare the public into rallying against their existence.
Reply
Trade Federations
26/2/2019 03:11:54 pm
"simply fearmongering and an attempt to scare the public into rallying against their existence"
Reply
Ravennog
26/2/2019 09:49:58 pm
Well done!
Reply
Leave a Reply. |
Details
Reporter(s)USGCR, Chief Columnist Archives
February 2019
Categories |