A New Constitution

[Tassadar500]

As Panzer32 has made a constitution. I think we need this thread to discuss if we need one and any amendments. I also think that we should have Political Parties in this. Here it is
I. The Government

The President
(a) The President shall physically play the game and post the save and a report of the game to the forum.
(b) The game shall be played on a regular and scheduled basis whenever possible,
-(i) If the President is unable to play the game on a regular and scheduled basis, the Vice President shall play it.
(c) The President may use turnchats, turnthreads, or another method to play the turn as approved in a poll.
(d) The President must follow the instructions of Ministers whilst playing the game, unless, during a turnchat, circumstances unforseen by the Minister dictate another course of action.
(e) The President has control over the economy/science/luxury slider and may make changes when he feels they are appropriate.
(f) The President decides what technology to research next.
(g) The President approves all spending requests.
(h) The President must appoint a Vice President.
-(i) The Vice President assumes all powers and responsibilities of the President should the President be unable to perform.
-(ii) The Vice President shall assist the President in the duties of his or her office whenever possible.
-(iv) The President may not dismiss the Vice President. The Vice President may only be removed via impeachment.

The Supreme Military Commander
(a) The Supreme Military Commander controls all units except settlers and workers.
(b) The Supreme Military Commander may disband units under his or her control.
(c) The Supreme Military Commander may appoint deputy ministers.

The Foreign Affairs Minister
(a) The Foreign Affairs Minister has power over exchanges and trade agreements with other nations.
(b) The Foreign Affairs Minister may spend gold to establish embassies or preform Espionage, but only after the approval of either the President.
(c) The Foreign Affairs Minister may enter into Right of Passage Agreements, Military Alliances, Trade Embargos, or Mutual Protection Pacts, but only after approval is given in a poll.
(d) The Foreign Affairs Minister negotiates peace agreements, but only after the approval of either the President or Supreme Military Commander.
(e) Any trade, exchange, or gift that involves giving away gold or cities must be approved by the President.
(f) Any trade, exchange, or gift that involves giving away workers must be approved by the Domestic Minister.
(g) The Foreign Affairs Minister may appoint deputy ministers.

The Domestic Minister
(a) Is responsible for managing all cities, their production queues, their citizens, and all of the workers and settlers.
(b) The Domestic Minister is responsible for choosing sites for new cities and disbanding cities.
(e) The Domestic Minister may rush any project, but only with the approval of the President.
(g) The Domestic Minister may appoint deputy ministers and regional planners as he sees fit.

Chain of Command
(a) In the event that the President is unable to perform his duties, they may be performed by the Vice President, Domestic Minister, Supreme Military Commander, or Foreign Affairs Minister, in that order. Vice Ministers or deputies do not substitute for their Minister in this instance.
(b) Should a Minister not be able to perform his duties, they may be performed by his Vice Minister, a Deputy Minister with specific authority, or the President, in that order. However, if a Minister has given specific written instructions, those instructions may not be ignored absent an incident as described in Art I, under 'The President'
(c) If a Minister is removed from office by a Change of Command poll, all of his or her orders and deputy appointments are nullified.

Miscelania
(a) Any reference in this Constitution to a "Minister" refers to the Supreme Military Commander, Foreign Affairs Minister, and Domestic Minister.

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II. Citizens

1 Any person who participates in this Democracy Game is considered a citizen. This includes Ministers and the (vice)Presidant.
2 No person shall be denied the right to become a citizen.
3 No citizen shall be denied the right to vote in a poll.
4 A citizen’s vote in a poll is to remain private. No individual with admin powers shall reveal the way a citizen voted.
5 Freedom of speech shall not be denied to any citizen unless it violates Apolyton rules.
6 A member of the government shall not knowingly hide information or give false information to the citizens.
7 All citizens shall have access to the save.
8 No citizen shall play ahead or make any irreversible changes to any of the saved games.

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III. Polling

1. Any citizen may initiate a poll.
2. For the poll to be official it must be open a minimum of 3 days and must have an unbiased first post.
3. The poll will contain 2 or more options as well as an 'abstain' option.
4. Ministers/the President must follow the wishes of any poll that passes with a simple majority. If one is not reached, a runoff poll following these guidelines can be posted.
5. Any poll that does not comply with these regulations is considered an opinion poll and the government is not required to follow its outcome.
6. Polling is required to give approval to: Declarations of War, Right of Passage Agreements, Military Alliances, Trade Embargos, and Mutual Protection Pacts.
7. These polls can also be election polls, as stated in article IV.

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IV. Elections

1. Elections for the President, Supreme Military Commander, Foreign Affairs Minister, and Domestic Minister shall begin on the 1st of every month and end 72 hours later on the 4th of each month.
2. The elections may be posted by any citizen and must follow the rules for polls as stated in article III.
3. Three days before the 1st of the month a nominations thread will be started for each position and any person can confirm their candidacy in that thread.
4. Immediatly after winning the election, the President must appoint a Vice-President.
5. Newly elected Ministers and the President begin their term immmediatly following the closing of the election polls on the 4th.
6. In the event that there are no candidates for either President or a Ministry, it will be assumed that a person in that position is "unable to preform their duties" and we will follow the chain of command as stated in Article I, Chain of Command.

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V. Change of Command

1. A call for a Change of Command poll may be posted at any time against any one Minister as well as the President or Vice President.
2. In the change of command thread, people can announce their candidacy for the position of replacing the Minister/President. The Minister/President may also run to defend their position.
3. There will be two days (48hours) between the CoC announcement and the CoC poll.
4. The Change of Command poll must follow in accordance with the poll rules in Article III. The options must be each person running (with the incumbant topping the poll list) as well as an abstain option.
5. If a CoC poll results in a new Minister/President, the old Minister/President's orders will be disregarded.
6. The new Minister/President will take office immediatly following the closing of the CoC poll.

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VI. Ammendments

1. Amendments to this Constitution can be proposed by any citizen. An amendment is passed and made official when 2/3rds or more of the citizens who vote approve of the change to the Constitution.
2. A poll to pass an amendment must be clear, unbiased, state the full text of the change proposed, and be open for at least 7 days.
3. Abstain votes are not counted for or against passage.

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VII. Conflicting Laws

1. This Constitution above any other proposed laws (polls) - besides ammendments.
2. Conflicts of law must be decided upon with a poll, as described in article III.

[Torkkeli]

Re: A New Constitution

Originally posted by Nuclear Master
(h) The President must appoint a Vice President.

Is this really the case or can Vice President be elected as the nomination thread suggest?

I think VP should be elected, but I'm fine if one is appointed.

[BigFree]

I like the idea of appointing a VP; the President should be able to work very well with the VP.

[Torkkeli]

Originally posted by BigFree
I like the idea of appointing a VP; the President should be able to work very well with the VP.

That is a valid point.
So MWIA should update the nomination thread to reflect this fact if this aproved by all. Or if the new con(stitution) does not get approved before the first term starts we might go with the elected VP.

Should the new con be approved before the elections take place?

[BigFurryMonster]

facts:

• No game progress will take place before a new government has been installed;
• No new government will be installed before elections will have taken place.

Now, if...

• No elections can take place before a new Con has been approved;
• No new Con will be approved before it has been polled out extensively;

...this game will never get going.

So, to answer your Q: No. Proceed with the elections, please.

[Torkkeli]

Originally posted by BigFurryMonster
facts:

...this game will never get going.

Now that is something I don't want to see.

Lets play!

[MrWhereItsAt]

Well the VP position has always been a thing for discussion - appointment vs election vs the runner-up in the Presidential poll - whatever.

But, if we have someone volunteer then we may as well have an election - they get the blood going!

If not then we'll just get the Prez to appoint someone.

[Panzer32]

Personally I think political parties built into the system would complicate things. I think, however, that people should make parties outside of the system, where people tend to vote for the people in their parties. This was the case in SPDG I and I think it worked fine.

[Arnelos]

Originally posted by BigFree
I like the idea of appointing a VP; the President should be able to work very well with the VP.

Someone wasn't around when President Arnelos made his VP appointment, was he?

When the appointment process is, in essence, an election, it's sometimes better if you just did an election in the first place.

That said, I certainly agree that it's better for the President to appoint the VP rather than being forced to work with one he doesn't trust (which means he'll just try to avoid ever missing a turn chat ).

As it is, sometimes when the position is appointed, the President has difficulty getting ANYONE to volunteer for the post and ends up picking ANY person who flings their hat in to proove a point to you lazy people

[Tassadar500]

Do we even need a VP? Maybe we could do something like a Deputee President which isn't elected but will hold turn chats when the President can't. I think the VP is just a position wasted. I would rather have a real election on other minister positions.

[GodKing]

Oh no. not this discussion again.

[Kuciwalker]

The VP should preferably be on the other side of the planet from the Pres... for multiple reasons

[Kloreep]

Let's try the game without a con. It worked well enough for the SPDG2.

Arnelos: I agree not having any good candidates for appointment is a problem, but how would it be any better with the VP being elected? You'd still have nil or close to candidates in a similiar situation.

I can see both sides of the VP argument. I think both systems work well enough, but I don't have a strong opinion on which is better.

[Panag]

Originally posted by Nuclear Master
Do we even need a VP? Maybe we could do something like a Deputee President which isn't elected but will hold turn chats when the President can't. I think the VP is just a position wasted. I would rather have a real election on other minister positions.

hi ,

he could play the turns ones a week after the prez ; this way we get on each side of the globe some action at least ones a week , .......

and what if the prez gets a powerblackout ( seems to happen everywhere nowadays ) , etc , ......

have a nice night

[Tassadar500]

Panag if you read what I said you would know.