I disagree with the proposal set out here.
The Revolution was started to establish equality of all Citizens. This is why our offices use the prefix "Citizen," because no one is above anyone else, people just have different occupations.
Was anyone ever really that oppressed? Was anyone really suffering under any yoke of tyranny?
I do not think it is either compatible with the spirit of the revolution nor the right thing to do to re-establish a hierarchy for the sake of having a hierarchy to ascend. Every elected office has a different job, and people run for those offices because they want to do that line of work or are inspired to try to go above and beyond in service to Taijitu.
Additionally, I disagree that the Revolutionary Calendar should be scrapped. That has never been a complaint by new people as something that has made it confusing. It is hardly ever used, except for the Voice of the People or for foreign publications. It's really just a cute thing that echoes the French Revolution, when they created a new calendar to abandon the religious inspiration of the Gregorian calendar. It's just a little thing that I think is very unique and easy to explain. And it's hardly used in practicality so it's not necessary for participation in the region.
I really don't think Prydania really was concerned about the spirit of the revolution.
As far as current elected offices go, none of them really have all that much actual responsibility. The mediator is an as needed type of thing. The Liason is more or less the old Minister of Community that we used to have. The initiator is one part MoIA and one part Speaker of the Senate. Which, I admit is a nice streamlining of duties that does make sense. The Sargent fills the function of MoD, but without enough people to establish a viable Militia will have very little to do. The Delegacy is mostly seemingly cermonial and responsible for suggesting treaties and embassies and the like.
Think about it like this... as you yourself have come out and passionately defended NSGP. If a new player could have a choice between one of the fairly anemic positions above. Or go to a region with a more conventional political structure, what do you think they would choose if they were interested in Regional Political play? And yes, valid arguments can be made in favour of the current system. I don't deny that. But a bit more resonsibility to keep those in office engaged may not be the worst idea ever.
As for the calendar. Meh. I'm not a fan of it myself but there are bigger fish to fry.
I believe internal recruitment wherein we guide new members of the region towards the forum would be a better plan of action, personally. I would hate to concentrate more power in the hands of a single individual or a collection of Cabinet members - while that works well and is efficient for larger regions, I think the rapid growth Taijitu saw before the recent unpleasantness speaks to the success of the model we have now.
With some focus on internal development, we could turn things around while working within our current system. The Citizen-Delegate is still a prestigious position and serves as Taijitu's head-of-state; I think if we foster a culture where newcomers know that Taijitu works amongst itself as a direct democracy they will be more than okay with a "first-among-equals" post like the Citizen-Delegate. Of course, the newer members of our region could probably speak of that better than I.
I also think that the Revolutionary Calendar is one of the most enduring parts of our theme. When working abroad, the fact that we had our own calendar was well-known and immediately gave people a vision of what our theme was. I have no problem with using it alongside a normal calendar but I like it quite a lot.
All pretty fair points, Myro. And really I think that most of what Prydania is talking about are points we should visit maybe at some point down the road, but not immediately.
I had thought about making a thread for this but since Prydania opened this one I'll air my thoughts here to prevent another thread from being made which would have some over lap in topic.
Honestly, my big problem with what I've seen and observed from afar over the last couple of months is just the over all divisive and hostile atmosphere I've noticed. Systems of government and the minutia of each won't matter for shit if people keep going at each other like this.
You remember how this region used to be years ago. Yes there were disagreements and we had the occasional asshat here and there but for the most part everyone was respectful, civil, and didn't demean the ideas or contributions of others. That's honestly what bothers me the most. Everything else at this point in my eyes is secondary.