I hereby propose the following as the constitution for DG6, in its entirety.
Let's first hold discussions on this proposal here. If this gets a lot of support we can either hold discussions on the articles individually, on the whole thing, or even go straight to a vote if there are no objections. (fat chance of that, but a guy's gotta try)
Code:
We, the people of <insert name>, in order to create an atmosphere of
friendship, cooperation, and pride, establish this Constitution of our
beloved country. We uphold the beliefs that each citizen must
have an equal voice in the government and ruling of our country,
that government itself is a construct of and servant to the people,
that rules, regulations, and laws should be established to
facilitate the active participation of the people and to make
possible the dreams and desires of the citizens.
Article A. All Civfanatics Forum users who register in the Citizen
Registry are citizens of our country. Citizens have the
right to assemble, the right to free movement, the right
to free speech, the right to a fair trial, the right to
representation, the right to seek to redress grievances
and the right to vote.
Article B. Governing rules shall consist of these Articles of the
Constitution, such amendments that shall follow and lower
forms of law that may be implemented. No rule shall be
valid that contradicts these Articles. The Constitution
amendments can be added/modified/removed when the
need arises. An amendment or lower form of law may make
the provisions of an article more concrete or specific,
in which case the more concrete or specific rule takes
precedence.
Article C. The government will consist of the Executive Branch,
Legislative Branch and Judicial Branch.
Article D. The Executive branch is responsible for determining
and implementing the will of the People. It is headed
by the President who shall be the primary Designated
Player. The President shall take direction from a
council of leaders and from other elected and appointed
officials via the turnchat instruction thread. The President
shall be tasked with control of worker actions.
1. The Minister of Domestic Affairs shall be
responsible for all domestic initiatives, worker allocation,
as well as the distribution of funds, as prescribed by law.
2. The Minister of Foreign Affairs shall be responsible
for matters involving treaties with foreign nations including
trade embargoes, and all espionage and embassy missions as
prescribed by law.
3. The Minister of Defense shall be responsible for all
military strategy and troop activities, as
prescribed by law.
4. The Minister of Trade shall be responsible for all
trade, domestic and foreign, and the use of resources,
including gifts, as prescibed by law, except that gifts of
cities must have the approval of the Governor responsible for
the city, or Domestic Minister.
5. The Minister of Science shall be responsible for all tech
acquisition, as prescribed by law.
6. The Minister of Culture shall be responsible for the construction
of wonders, as well as the analysis and maintenance of cultural
borders. This official shall also be responsible for monitoring
Japanatica's cultural level against that of all rival nations.
7. In the absense of clarifying law to the contrary, the President
shall be responsible for any decisions which do not clearly
fall within the responsibility of another official, or which
might fall under the responsibility of multiple officials, until
such time that the Judicial Branch rules on applicability of the
law, or a clarifying law is enacted by the people.
8. At any time that the decisions or instructions of the government
conflict such that it is not possible to follow all of the
decisions or instructions, the President shall have the
responsibility for choosing a set of said decisions or instructions
which can be followed as a whole, and implementing them. The
President shall communicate such a decision as early as possible
so that alternative Designated Players may act accordingly, and
so that the officials who have posted conflicting instructions
may have the opportunity to coordinate the changes necessary to
remove the conflict themselves.
Article E. Legislative Branch
The Legislative Branch will be formed of one House of the People and an Advisory
Council.
1.The House of the People will be formed of the entirety of the
citizenry and is responsible for the drafting of new Laws and
Amendments to the Constitution.
a.The House will present all proposed Articles, Amendments
and Laws to the Judicial Branch for review.
2.The Advisory Council will be formed of the Provincial Governors.
They will advise the citizens of the state of their individual
provinces, any concerns there may be for said provinces,
and enumerate any goals they envision for their provinces.
a.Each Governor shall determine any policies and procedures
needed to carry out their duties.
b.Governors are responsible for the care, management,
use of the cities, and use of lands of a province through the
setting of build queues, allocation of laborers on tiles,
population rushes and drafting of citizen soldiers.
Article F. The Judicial Branch will consist of one Chief Justice, one Public
Defender and a Judge Advocate. These three justices
are tasked with upholding the Constitution and its supporting
laws (if any) in a fair and impartial manner as prescribed
by law. The Chief Justice shall have the additional
responsibility to organize and conduct the affairs of the
Judicial Branch. The Public Defender will act as council to an
accused individual. The Judge Advocate will act as the prosecution.
Article G
1. All elected positions shall have a fixed term of one
month. Each position will be granted to the candidate
receiving the largest number of votes in that election.
In the event of a tie between two or more front
runners, a runoff poll shall be opened between those
candidates only. This poll shall run for 2 days, and be
repeated as often as needed to resolve the tie.
2. All Executive and Legislative positions shall have a
deputy. The Deputy will be permitted to conduct the
affairs of the office as directed, or during a planned
Absence of the elected official. If no instructions have
been posted for an office within 24 hours of the upcoming
Turn Chat, the deputy for that office may post the official
instructions for the office.
3. The Judiciary does not use deputies. In the event of an
Absence, a pro-tem justice(s) may be appointed by the
Chief Justice (or Judge Advocate if the Chief Justice if
absent) and confirmed by the President and the
remaining justice if not also absent. If both the Chief
Justice and the Judge Advocate are absent, the Public
Defender may appoint pro-tems to the other seats,
with Presidential approval.
4. The President will appoint a citizen to any Vacant
office. If a deputy exists for that office, the President
must appoint that citizen. This appointment may be
challenged by any citizen by that citizen posting a
confirmation poll within 24 hours of the appointment.
Article H.
No person shall hold multiple positions of leadership
(President, Vice-President, Department Leader,
Judiciary, Provincial Governor, Deputy) simultaneously,
nor shall have more than one accepted nomination at the
commencement of the general election.
Article I. Census, and Amending the Constitution
1. The census shall be defined as the average number
of votes cast, dropping fractions, in each of the
contested elections in the most recent general
election.
2. Ratification of Amendments to the Constitution
shall require each of the following:
a. A poll which is open for at least 96 hours, which
states the text of the proposed new section(s),
the text of the section(s) being replaced, and
posing the question in the form of yes / no /
abstain.
b. A majority of Yes votes over No votes, Abstain
notwithstanding.
c. A total number of votes greater than or equal to
2/3 the census current at the start of voting on
the amendment, dropping any fraction therein.
d. The Amendment poll must first be posted as a
"proposed poll" in the discussion thread created
for the Amendment. The proposed poll must exist
in the discussion thread for 24 hours prior to the
Amendment poll being created. This gives adequate
time for review and changes.
Article J. Elected officials must plan and act according to the will
of the people. The will of the people will be determined
through discussion and polls, formal or informal. If pertinent
discussion is done outside the scope of the DG forums, then it must
be documented in the Turnchat Instruction Thread 6 hours
prior to the commencement of the turnchat by the appropriate
leader.
1. In the absense of a specific request to conduct a poll, an
elected official may act upon the will of the people as
determined by discussion alone, or on their own authority
if there is no significant citizen input.
2. Any citizen may submit an initiative to the people on any
matter, in the form of discussion or polling. The results
of such an initiative are not themselves binding on the relevant
official(s) but may be used as evidence regarding the will of
the people.
Article K. All irreversible game actions must progress during a public turnchat,
while reversible game actions (i.e. build queues) that adhere to
legal instructions can be prepared offline.
1. A turnchat instruction thread must be created at least 3 days
before the chat.
a. All official instructions must be posted in the current
turnchat instruction thread. Instructions must be clear
and defined.
b. Officials must post their instructions at least one hour
before the Turnchat. However, offcials may make changes
to their instructions up to an hour before the chat, so long
as those changes are noted.
2. The President shall be the primary Designated Player, and
may delegate this responsibility at any time to one or
more individuals or offices by public announcement at least
48 hours prior to the scheduled playing time.
a. Alternate Designated Players shall be listed in priority
order, a "chain of command" such that the role of Designated
Player is passed to the first such listed player who is
available and willing to play.
b. If the list of alternate Designated Players contains any
citizen who has not been elected to an office by the people
then any citizen may challenage that person's placement in
the chain of command by posting a poll challenging said
appointment. Such a poll must be scheduled to complete
prior to the next game play session.
c. If the chain of command lists individuals, then only those
individuals are authorized to play. If offices are listed,
then the highest ranking available member of that office
is authorized to play.
3. The Designated Player shall be charged with the creation
of a date and time for all public turnchats.
Article L. The constitution, laws and standards of Japanatica can never
be contrary to the rules and regulations of the
Civfanatics forums. Moderators may veto any such
constitutional amendments, laws or standards.
Article M. Commission of any game action by any person other than
the Designated Player while carrying out their duties
that is not instantly reversible without reloading the
save is strictly forbidden.
1. Exception: Determining options in the renegotiation
of Peace agreements requires an action of acceptance
or war to exit the bargain screen. This may be done
but the game must be immediately closed without
saving.
Article N: Rights reserved to the people
As provided by Article A of this constitution, all actions not
forbidden by forum rules, or by this Constitution, are presumed to
be within the right of every citizen. Actions prescribed by this
Constitution may be substituted by other similar actions, provided
such substitution lies within the spirit of these rules.
Article O
The area contained within the national boundaries of Japanatica
shall be divided into areas called provinces, each of which
is under the control of a Governor as stated in Article E. of the
Constitution. These boundries must be defined and approved by
the House well ahead of expansion, and may extend beyond the
cultural boundaries. City locations shall be determined by the
Will of the People.Let's first hold discussions on this proposal here. If this gets a lot of support we can either hold discussions on the articles individually, on the whole thing, or even go straight to a vote if there are no objections. (fat chance of that, but a guy's gotta try)
j/k
