suggested Constitution

[Gingerbread Man]

This consitution is the standard constitution, with certain departments combined to deal with fewer players. Stuff in bold are my modifications.

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The Constitution
We, the people of xxxx, in order to create an atmosphere of friendship and cooperation, establish this Constitution of our beloved country. We uphold the beliefs that each citizen must have a 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 Fanatiks.

All Civfanatics Forum users who register in the Citizen Registry are citizens of xxxx. 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 demand satisfaction and the right to vote.

Governing rules shall consist of the Articles of the Constitution (removed CoL and CoS)
The government will consist of the Executive Branch, Legislative Branch and Judicial Branch.

The Executive Branch is headed by the President, who shall be the designated player of the game, and shall include a council of leaders, each of whom heads a department that is responsible for one major facet of the country, one representative from the Judicial branch, and th Judge. The departments are Interior (Science, Domstic, Culture), Foreign (Foreign and Trade) and Military. Each of these departments will be generally responsible for the items found under the respective Advisor in the Civilization III game and esoteric aspects that fall under their department name.

The Legislative Branch will be formed of two houses. The Senate will be formed of the Provincial Governors, each of whom are responsible for the care, management and use of the cities and lands of a province in addition to legislative responsibilities. The Congress will be formed of the entirety of the citizenry.

The Judicial Branch will be formed of one leader, the Judge (think of a better name!) who is tasked with upholding the laws. Any prosecuted citizen may elect a 'defender of rights'.

All offices will be filled via election with terms lasting one calendar month.

No person shall hold multiple positions of leadership (President, Department Leader, Judiciary, Provincial Governor) simultaneously, unless there is an unfilled governor position.

The average of the number of votes cast in each of the most recent contested elections shall constitute an active census of citizens. The highest vote total of these elections shall constitute a full census (the Congress). A majority of the Congress shall be required to amend the Constitution. A 2/3 majority of the Senate shall be required to ratify said amendment.

In an election, or whenever a poll gives more than three (3) options (excluding 'abstain'), the winner must hold more than 50% of the total number of votes. If the winner doesn't hold more than 50% of the votes, a runoff poll is created, with the top two options/candidate kept, and the rest discarded. The winner of a runoff poll is the FINAL winner.

Elected officials must plan and act according to the will of the people.

Game actions will be played out during a public turn chat.
The constitution, laws and standards of country xxxx can never be contrary to the rules and regulations of the Civfanatics forums. Moderators may veto any such constitutional amendments, laws or standards.

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please discuss.

 

[donsig]

While I do not think we should use the Fanatikan CoL or CoS I do think we should leave a provision for making our own some day in case we decide we want some specific rules.

The idea of grouping the departments is a good one though I have proposed that FA consist of culture, trade and ambassadors while Domestic would be made up of science, defense (military) and the governors.

I would move the governors to executive (under domestic) and just have the Congress (all the citizens) which would be responsible for amending the constitution and making laws and standards if needed.

I'd keep three in the Judiciary. The JA (prosecutor), Public Deferner and CJ or judge. I've give the Judiciary the responsibility of conferring citizenship on those who register in the citizen registry. Any new people would have to go through Judiciary before being admitted as citizens so they can try to weed our spies.

I think we should tie terms to game years rather than the calender month. We can make terms last 45 game turns and hold elections 5 or 10 turns before the next term is set to start.

I see nothing wrong with letting a person hold more than one leadership position especially if we are low on people and are making some departments sub-ordinate to others. We may eventually want to pass laws placing certain restrictions. Like you can't be president and domestic leader or you can't be domestic and trade leader but you can be domestic and science leader. We would place any such restrictions in our CoL.

I would do away with quorums and leave all amending and COL and COs making to the Congress.

The 50% rule threatens to drag out our decision making progress. Other than what is needed to actually amend the constitution we can leave the mechanics of elections to the CoL. I wouldn't mind the 50% rule if we were using approval voting, i.e. we were allowed to vote for more than one candidate in elections with three or more candidates.

Turn chats are not needed in PBEM. We only play one turn! Trying to schedule turn chats would end up delaying the game. The President needs to be able to play the turn quickly after getting the save so it can be passed on to the next team.

 

[Burebista]

Originally posted by donsig

Turn chats are not needed in PBEM. We only play one turn! Trying to schedule turn chats would end up delaying the game. The President needs to be able to play the turn quickly after getting the save so it can be passed on to the next team.

When department leaders post their instructions they know the situation after our move only. But when we receive the save file, other seven teams have played their moves. Will the president play alone if somebody declare war on us or if some other important event takes place?
I think the department leaders should play the turn in a chat session in such instances.
Otherwise, posting new instructions on the forum will be even slower.
We should have a mechanism for president to ask congress opinion in some cases.

 

[donsig]

Even if war is declared only one turn is played. The President will always have the option to delay things in an emergency in order to get input from the cabinet and citizens.

 

[Burebista]

Originally posted by donsig
Even if war is declared only one turn is played. The President will always have the option to delay things in an emergency in order to get input from the cabinet and citizens.

I think when war is declared on us and we did not expect it quite that turn, some of the most important decisions must be taken at that point. The enemy is not AI, so whoever attacks has a good plan and maybe alliances in place.
Hopefully, such cases are not very often. But if they happen, "only one turn" can mean a lot.
I think it will be fine with the other civs if we delay the turn in such cases.

I agree that most turns will not require a chat session, but maybe sometime it's necessary.

 

[Gingerbread Man]

Ok, if you want, remove the 50% rule. I wont be making the final constitution, just drafting it.