I have come up with a new concept for the demogame. We should have senators-at-large elected until we have three provinces, to make so that one governor doesn't have veto power over proposed constitutional amendments and laws. We would have two senators-at-large if we had one province, and one if we had two provinces, to make so that the Senate always has at least three members to vote on those issues. They would be elected by the people and their post would be a leadership position. The first two would be appointed by the President because their office would be vacant at the beginning of the term. Discussion may start and I plan on polling this issue soon, maybe in around 24 hours, so it will be ready at the start of Term 2.

Another idea: What if the Vice President were made President of the Senate, with a tie-breaking vote there?

Technically, this is an old idea. Very old. DG1, if I recal from what I've read, had these. DG2 for some reason didnt.

good idea, though

I would add that since the constitution explicitly states that Senators are provincial governors it would take a constitutioal amendment to establish senators at large.

I believe that holds true for the VP being part of the Senate also.

There is at least one city founded in each of two new provinces-to-be, no matter which way the province size discussion / polls go. I propose electing governors for the to-be-named provinces for Term 2.

OK, I will try to get it as an amendment soon.

I would agree with this proposal. THe VP should have some responsibilities.

Actually, I'm of the opinion now that if we give the Vice President more responsibilities other than those of a 'deputy President' that the position should be seperately elected as it's own position. Maybe a position as a permanent council member and Senate head...

I do like the senators-at-large.

Originally posted by Octavian X
I do like the senators-at-large.

Speeking of SAL (Senators-at-Large), Can anyone Enlighten me on what a SAL did in Demogame I since I joined that DG late.

while the senators at large idea is good, i worry about later on in the game when we will end up with more governors/senators to shake a stick at. Would we then abolish the senators at large position or rename it to what the name was back in dg1?

Good idea but my main concern is its implementation in the far future.

CivGeneral: We've never had senators-at-large, ever. In the bygone era when the council was more powerful, in the beginning of DG1, there were two councilmembers-at-large, responsible for polling the citizenry, and voting in council votes according to the will of the populace. Those positions were abolished when the CoL and CoS came into being.

Well, in DG1 we did put up the idea of senators at large (or was it dg2? oh well). Anyway, by the time we got around to agreeing it might be a good idea, we had three provinces anyway. It seems very much like this will happen again.

Governors-at-Large is not a bad idea as it would keep one person from having more power than all the rest of the citizens. But then you'd still have the problem of two or three people having that much power over the rest. So no big gain there.

And thank you, Octavian X. There was no Governors-at-Large in DG1. The Gubernatorial issue at the begining of DG1 was the re-districting of SKILORD's Province. We had no problem finding Governors, nor did we have any Senate issues. It must have been a power struggle in DG2. :D

The poll (http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=54312) to amend the constitution is up.