Constituional changes

[Danke]

dis, what if someone said that you voted for someone because they supported a policy that would benefit you? As evidence, they cited thread statements from you, saying that you wanted x policy because you would gain from it, and they cited the candidate saying they supported policy x and planned to implement it.

How would you defend yourself in a PI on the grounds you voted as you did for the sole purpose of gaining a profit, not because you felt they were the best qualified?

My argument here is that bribery has not been an issue, is clearly wrong, and candidates attempting to utilize it will have a hard chance of winning as it would be very hard to hide the kind of widespread bribery needed to win an election. However, a law such as the one proposed opens the door to a whole lot of painful and stupid legal accusations. Though I agree with you in spirit.

 

[Bill_in_PDX]

I think in the bigger picture that any actual attempt to spend gold to buy votes would be spotted pretty quickly.

We can't think of in advance all the possible ways people could try to organize voting blocs, but fortunately we don't need too. Instead, we should always focus on the end result intention, and in the case of bribery, it is organizing a bloc of votes, something i would call a political party.

If we take the idea that no where is bribery specifically forbidden in our Constitution, then we will embark down a very dangerous road.

For example, no where does it say that robbery is illegal either, therefore, anyone could post in the RPG thread that they have robbed the Bank of Fanatika for all of it's funds, etc... Chaos would take over.

If we cannot take action against bribery or the selling of votes, then our democracy is lost, and we will need to beg the Mods to step in. I'd prefer to solve our own problems ourselves.

Bill
Judge Advocate

 

[disorganizer]

No Rule, No Ground for a PI.
If you want to deny something, make a rule.
No personal preference shall influence our judges on the decissions.

And i personally think that a political party is much worse than buying votes
Political parties vote for a representative. The problem of parties is that non-members have no chance of winning. You vote for a party (or get forced to vote for the "right" candidate just because you are member of it).
And i can do with my vote what i want. Its like the free speach act. And on the other hand: Who would put up evidence i REALLY voted for that person?
Maybe the money i get i just for helping me because we are so good FRIENDS ;-) ?
Anyways, there is no ground in our ruleset to deny the buying of votes and this is definitely not a political party.

 

[disorganizer]

@danke:
my proposel is not well worded i believe. it was just to get discussion up and running.
i cant find the right words to really get it up to bribery or other "bonus"-systems for voting.
of course, i could vote for less tax etc. thats not bribery.

 

[disorganizer]

@bill:
some quotes out of the dictionary:
political party
n : an organization to gain political power;
Source: WordNet ® 1.6, © 1997 Princeton University



party
SYLLABICATION: par·ty
PRONUNCIATION: AUDIO: pärt KEY
NOUN: Inflected forms: pl. par·ties
...
2. An established political group organized to promote and support its principles and candidates for public office.
...
Source: yahoo dictionary:

now if i take def1 i dont want to gain power when selling my vote. and with def2 i am no group and dont promote my principles or candidate with that

so when selling my vote, im not a political party and due to this not forbidden by law

 

[Stuck_as_a_Mac]

can we state that the DP has the ability to go on after contact is made?

 

[Octavian X]

The DP may end the chat at anytime already.

As to this vote buying controversy, my thought is that it violates a citizen's right to vote. The CoL specifically states that each citizen should vote according to his own conscience. Paying people off to vote for you, I feel, would be illegal.
I will also be contacting the bank management to make sure transactions of this type do not occur.

 

[disorganizer]

Octavian: Well, if someone wants to pay me for that, i will definitely post the transaction in the bank. If im not payed, i will sue for it.
My conscience is money-based, so when selling my vote i will definitely vote in my conscience and it is not up to the judicacy to tell my what my conscience is.
No rule, no measure.
Bring up a specific rule and i will stop