Amendment to the Citizen-Initiator Act

[Cormac]

The Citizen-Initiator Act will be amended as follows:

1. Qualifications and Election
1. Any citizen of Taijitu may stand for election to the office of Citizen-Initiator.
2. An election for Citizen-Initiator will be held when three months have passed since the last election, the Ecclesia chooses to hold an election by a majority vote, or the office of Citizen-Initiator is vacant.
3. No person may serve as Citizen-Initiator for more than two consecutive terms.
4. The Ecclesia may remove the Citizen-Initiator by a majority vote.

2. Powers and Responsibilities
1. The Citizen-Initiator will be responsible for managing Taijitu's community and community activity.
2. The Citizen-Initiator will review and promptly approve or reject citizenship requests according to law. Rejections may be appealed to the Ecclesia.
3. The Citizen-Initiator will serve as presiding officer of the Ecclesia and will be responsible for moderating debate in the Ecclesia, recording the results of votes, and making rulings on procedure.

3. Citizen-Liaisons
1. The Citizen-Initiator may appoint any number of citizen-liaisons to assist them in their powers and responsibilities.
2. The Citizen-Initiator may dismiss citizen-liaisons at any time.
3. The Ecclesia may remove any citizen-liaison by a majority vote.
4. Citizen-liaisons may appoint any number of citizens as citizen-guides to aid in community management and all associated activities.

The Delegacy Act will be amended as follows:

1. Qualifications and Election
1. Any citizen of Taijitu may stand for election to the office of Citizen-Delegate.
2. An election for Citizen-Delegate will be held if three months have passed since the start of the previous election, the Ecclesia chooses to hold an election by a majority vote, or the office of Citizen-Delegate is vacant.
3. No person may serve as Citizen-Delegate for more than two consecutive terms.
4. The Ecclesia may remove the Citizen-Delegate by a majority vote.

2. Powers and Responsibilities
1. The Citizen-Delegate will serve as head of state and conduct foreign policy.
2. The Citizen-Delegate will hold the in-game delegacy of the region of Taijitu with full powers and will exercise them as provided by law.

3. Citizen-Diplomats
1. The Citizen-Delegate may appoint any number of citizens of Taijitu as citizen-diplomats to assist them in conducting foreign policy.
2. The Citizen-Delegate may dismiss citizen-diplomats at any time.
3. The Ecclesia may remove any citizen-diplomat by a majority vote.
4. Citizen-diplomats may appoint any number of citizens as citizen-ambassadors to extend the message of the Glorious Revolution to other regions.

4. Citizen-Liaison
1. The Citizen-Delegate may appoint any number of Citizen-Liaisons to assist them in maintaining Taijitu's community and community activity.
2. The Citizen-Delegate may dismiss Citizen-Liaisons at any time.
3. The Ecclesia may remove any Citizen-Liaison by a majority vote.
4. It shall be the responsibility of the Citizen-Liaison to greet new members of Taijitu and assist them in navigating our forums and culture.
5. Citizen-Liaisons may appoint any number of Citizens as Citizen-Guides to aid in community management and all associated activities.

There are two components to this amendment:

1. We currently have no procedure for rejecting citizenship applications. This deals with that by a) letting the Citizen-Initiator reject citizenship applications, b) letting applicants appeal rejection to the Ecclesia. This also requires that the Citizen-Initiator promptly act on applications.

2. Myroria and I recently discussed how the Citizen-Delegate was originally envisioned to be head of state and the Citizen-Initiator was envisioned to be head of government, and how he was concerned Citizen-Initiator was going to become more like the traditional role of Speaker. To get back to how the Citizen-Initiator was originally envisioned, the second component of this amendment would transfer community responsibility and appointment of Citizen-Liaisons from the Citizen-Delegate to the Citizen-Initiator. This would also divide power more evenly to ensure that the Ecclesia, rather than a particular office, remains the most powerful institution in Taijitu.

Your feedback is appreciated!

[Myroria]

I am willing to support this. I would rather not see the Delegate accumulate more and more power and would prefer to see the Initiator as more than just a speaker, as Cormac said.

[Khem]

Oh my Pha my office might move!
I support this legislation.

[Cormac]

As a note, I won't be making any major changes to the current direction of Citizen-Liaison, if this change goes through. I support getting more in-game activity and getting people from in-game involved here as well. The only change I'm likely to make is to appoint a second Citizen-Liaison to help with Ecclesia tasks.

[Delfos]

And I thought the Citizen-Initiator already had so much work...I guess what it wants is power.

[Cormac]

And I thought the Citizen-Initiator already had so much work...I guess what it wants is power.

Actually, you're right that the problem is a power imbalance. The imbalance is currently in the office of Citizen-Delegate, which has power -- particularly appointment power -- over almost all areas of government. That is much more like a republic and a presidential executive than it is like a citizens' democracy, which is what we're aiming for, and we should correct the imbalance.

I don't want more power, for the record. It was the Ecclesia that originally thought the Citizen-Delegate should have responsibility for foreign policy and the Citizen-Initiator should have responsibility for domestic policy, but that has gotten skewed along the line and we've basically gone back to putting the Delegate in charge of the entire government except the military.

[Cormac]

al' Khem is working on legislation to make the Citizen-Liaison a separate, elected office instead, which is an idea I support, so this is my new draft to just amend the Citizen-Initiator Act:

The Citizen-Initiator Act will be amended as follows:

1. Qualifications and Election
1. Any citizen of Taijitu may stand for election to the office of Citizen-Initiator.
2. An election for Citizen-Initiator will be held when three months have passed since the last election, the Ecclesia chooses to hold an election by a majority vote, or the office of Citizen-Initiator is vacant.
3. No person may serve as Citizen-Initiator for more than two consecutive terms.
4. The Ecclesia may remove the Citizen-Initiator by a majority vote.

2. Powers and Responsibilities
1. The Citizen-Initiator will review and promptly approve or reject citizenship requests according to law. Rejections may be appealed to the Ecclesia.
2. The Citizen-Initiator will serve as presiding officer of the Ecclesia and will be responsible for moderating debate in the Ecclesia, recording the results of votes, and making rulings on procedure.

3. Citizen-Aides
1. The Citizen-Initiator may appoint any number of citizen-aides to assist them in their powers and responsibilities.
2. The Citizen-Initiator may dismiss citizen-aides at any time.
3. The Ecclesia may remove any citizen-aide by a majority vote.

[Myroria]

I will wholeheartedly support Khem's efforts to make the Liaison office elected.

The Initiator was originally an office with no term at all. Since then the Initiator has placed a term on its own office, and given up power that the Revolution intended for it to a delegate's office quickly becoming imperial in scope. This is a way to address that gross power imbalance.

This will make Taijitu similar to a semi-presidential system rather than the presidential system that Cormac rightly surmises it is becoming.

[Gulliver]

Whether the Liaison is appointed or elected, I do support the overall move of this proposal towards a semi-presidential system with a an internal-external policy divide in powers.

[Cormac]

The Citizen-Initiator Act will be amended as follows:

1. Qualifications and Election
1. Any citizen of Taijitu may stand for election to the office of Citizen-Initiator.
2. An election for Citizen-Initiator will be held when three months have passed since the last election, the Ecclesia chooses to hold an election by a majority vote, or the office of Citizen-Initiator is vacant.
3. No person may serve as Citizen-Initiator for more than two consecutive terms.
4. The Ecclesia may remove the Citizen-Initiator by a majority vote.

2. Powers and Responsibilities
1. The Citizen-Initiator will review and promptly approve or reject citizenship requests according to law. Rejections may be appealed to the Ecclesia.
2. The Citizen-Initiator will serve as presiding officer of the Ecclesia and will be responsible for moderating debate in the Ecclesia, recording the results of votes, and making rulings on procedure.

3. Citizen-Aides
1. The Citizen-Initiator may appoint any number of citizen-aides to assist them in their powers and responsibilities.
2. The Citizen-Initiator may dismiss citizen-aides at any time.
3. The Ecclesia may remove any citizen-aide by a majority vote.

I move to vote on this.

[Lindisfarne]

I second the vote.

L

[Cormac]

With a motion to vote and a second, this will go to vote in two days to allow any additional concerns with the draft.