Rain
Marquesa
- Joined
- Feb 28, 2002
- Messages
- 699
I developed this for something else but as it seems relevant to this discussion i thought i would post it here. I think it establishes some desired principles and might be suitable as a over riding statement once further devleoped. If nothing else i think it should serve as guide for those attempting to rework the constitution. Anyway food for thought...
It seems to me that the streams of thought on citizen representation essentially divide into
1) all issues whould be decided by citizen polls
2) issues should be decided by citizen polls when feasible
3) the cabinet acts as a proxy for the citizens
Given that 1) while ideal is never fully compatible with playability and (3) denies any role for the citizenry, the pragamatic result is (2) with the cabinet acting as proxy when (1) is not feasible.
Objectively we should strive toward (1) whenever possible. The difficulty develops in defining "feasibilty" and who determines this.
Since an appeal to the citizenry is not by defintion immediately available then the goal should be to establish the broadest base of support for the decision in keeping with the spirit of (1). Therefore such decisions should be made by cabinet vote which is a broader basis than the decision of any one executive member and that cabnet vote should to the degree possible be influenced by what evidence (if any) is available regarding citizen opinion.
It seems to me that the streams of thought on citizen representation essentially divide into
1) all issues whould be decided by citizen polls
2) issues should be decided by citizen polls when feasible
3) the cabinet acts as a proxy for the citizens
Given that 1) while ideal is never fully compatible with playability and (3) denies any role for the citizenry, the pragamatic result is (2) with the cabinet acting as proxy when (1) is not feasible.
Objectively we should strive toward (1) whenever possible. The difficulty develops in defining "feasibilty" and who determines this.
Since an appeal to the citizenry is not by defintion immediately available then the goal should be to establish the broadest base of support for the decision in keeping with the spirit of (1). Therefore such decisions should be made by cabinet vote which is a broader basis than the decision of any one executive member and that cabnet vote should to the degree possible be influenced by what evidence (if any) is available regarding citizen opinion.