Prepoll discussion: Amendment/Revamped Constitution

[Kuciwalker]

Please read the notes at the bottom, as well as Article VII, BEFORE you yell at me.

Constitution

Article I: Executive

Section 1: President and Vice President

The President shall physically play the game after referring to his advisors, and generally checking with the people. The President is required to host at least one turnchat/thread/whatever a week. The President must post the save file after each turnchat/thread/whaterer. The Vice President is the right hand of the President; he may assist the president in any way currently needed (holding polls, consulting ministers, distributing the save files, etc). In the event the President is unable to play his turn, the Vice-president shall play the turn instead.

Section 2: Ministers

The War Minister is responsible for all units except Workers.

The Domestic Minister is responsible for all Workers, the tax/sci/lux slider, which technology is researched, and city production.

The Foreign Minister is responsible for all trades, alliances, and treaties.

Section 3: Assistants

Generals (or Admirals) are appointed by the War Minister to a specific theatre and confirmed by the (pick one: Citizens/Legislature). They are responsible for and make the final decisions on all units except Workers and Settlers in the theatre that they are assigned to. The President may, however, make minor changes in unit movement do to unexpected circumstances.

Governors are appointed* by the Domestic Minister to a specific Province (call it what you want) and confirmed by the (pick one: Citizens/Legislature). They are responsible for and make the final decisions on all Workers and city production in their Province. The President may NOT make minor changes to these things because the sort of unexpected circumstance that would force a change would be grounds to halt the (pick one: turnchat/turnthread).

Ambassadors are appointed by the Foreign Minister and are not confirmed because all they do is give him information.

Section 4: Chain of Command

If the President is not available for a turnchat/thread/whatever, the Vice President takes his place. Next in line is Governor of the Capitol province, then the General of the Home Theatre, then the Domestic Minister during peacetime or the War Minister during wartime.

Article II: Judicial

Section 1: Purpose

The Court is constituted to rule upon: contested disputes involving legal interpretation, validity of polls, violations of the Constitution, or any other legal dispute of national importance.

Section 2: Construct of the Court

a. Size of Court
The Court is composed of Five Justices. Each Justice is to be appointed by the President, and each must be approved by a simple majority of the populace in an Approval Vote.

b. Installing the First Court
The First Court appointed, upon ratification of this amendment, are to be chosen to staggering terms. One member will serve for one month, two will serve for two months and the remaining two will serve for three months. These first Justices of the Court will be appointed in the following manner: President selects 2 (3 month terms), Vice President selects 1 (two month term), Minister of Imperial Expansion(two month term) selects 1 and Econimics Minister selects 1 (one month term). All appointments must be approved by a majority vote of the public.

c. Terms in office
There is no limit to the number of terms a Justice may serve.
Each Justice serves a term of three months in length, except as indicated above in 2b. All appointments and re-appointments must be approved by a majority vote of the public.

d. Senior Justice
The Court is to select a 'Senior Justice', who will be responsible for ensuring that a timely report is published for each decision made by the court that communicates the rationale behind the decision; and make sure that the decision is stored and archived. Failure to provide the report is grounds for an appeal. The Senior Justice will also preside over any hearings before The Court.

e. Other Governmental Posts
A Justice may not serve in any other governmental post.

f. Reappointment
At the end of that term a Justice may be reappointed by the President. In cases where a Justice is not being re-appointed by the decision of the President, the President may be bypassed in this process if 75% of the populace re-approve the Justice in a vote. Any citizen may create such a poll. Such a poll would have to conclude before the term is completed.

Section 3: Case Structure

a. Quorum
A quorum of at least 3 Justices must be involved in any ruling that is made. Should The Court be tied about how to rule on an issue, any non-voting justice is to then review the case and vote.

b. Rulings
All rulings are immediately official and final except where appeals are granted.

c. Appeals
Appeals will be granted if there are grounds to believe that an error in the application of the law has been made. Any citizen directly involved in the case may make an application for an appeal. If 3 or more of the 5 judges decide to grant the appeal, a new trial will be created to examine the case. In that case, the current verdict is placed on hold until after the appeal process.

d. Injunctions
The Court cannot halt the game to make a decision without a 2/3 vote amongst the people. In case of an emergency due to timing of a turnchat and poll of the populace, the Court may halt the game for 72 hours, but only by unanimous vote of the Court and only if a specific case has been presented to them that must be decided prior to the turnchat. In the emergency case, the Court would immediately have to present a 72 hour poll to the people for their approval of the Injunction. If not approved by the time of the poll's closure, the game immediately resumes where it was before.

e. Case Presentation
The Court cannot act on any issue until a non-judicial citizen of the nation brings forth an Issue to The Court. Issues to The Court should be posted publicly and must involve a dispute that The Court is empowered to rule upon.

Article III: Legislative**

Section 1: Membership

All members of the Legislature must be Citizens. To become a membe of the Legislature, you must (pick one: have a certain number of posts per week allowing for vacations etc./post in a thread created for this purpose that you will be active for the following month). Each month new members of the Legislature are confirmed through a mass affirmation vote, which is a multiple-choice poll in which each potential member must have more than 50% of the voters vote for him (excuse my wordiness). Each month, a member of the Legislature may propose the removal of ONE other member. If this proposal is seconded, a vote is held in which (pick one: one half/two thirds) of the voters vote for the removal. EDIT: No member of the Legislature may hold an office in the Executive or Judicial Branch. To do so, they must resign from the Legislature.

Section 2: Code of Laws

The Code of Laws is a document, beneath the Constitution, which contains all laws deemed not of the sort to be put in the Constitution. To add or modify a part of the Code of Laws, a member of the Legislature (remind me to think up a good, original name for them) must propose the addition or modification and it must be seconded by another member. Then, it may be passed by a majority vote. Laws may be deemed unconstitutional by the Court.

Article IV: Government Policy***

Section 1: Amendments

Amendments to this Constitution can be submitted by any member of our nation. An amendment is passed and made official by a 2/3 or greater vote on the amendment's inclusion.

Section 2: Length of Office Terms

All office terms shall last one month. A member can run for a different office at the end of his term, but he cannot change offices during it. If a member is elected three times into the same office, that member must run for a different office in his fourth term, or not run at all.

Article V: Polls***

Section 1: General Rules

Polls may be conducted in an ‘unofficial’ format to simply gain information, but CANNOT be used in any official decisions. All of the following rules are regarding ‘official’ polls, which may or may not be used as official results for the actual game. Any unofficial polls must be labeled as so within the first post.

Each official poll should have its rules laid out, as well as a form of expiration, either when a certain event takes place (i.e. ‘when the game starts’), or a time limit (i.e. ‘5 days’). This is to prevent the occurrence of an incident such as if doesn’t include an expiration, and says 3 weeks later "well this poll said this" kind of thing, and use its results officially. Each poll should lay out the potential options, as well as the question in a clear format. The required inclusions for the post are: an expiration date/event, a fair, clear and concise, unbaised question which addressed the issue of the poll, and a general description of what your poll entails. Instead of a description if you wish to post a link to another thread to give a description, that is acceptable as well.

Those who wish to put up a poll are strongly recommended to first discuss the issue in another thread, and bounce around possible options for voting. If someone feels that a poll could have been better made as a 'grouping' poll, or a 'yes/no' poll, then it may be deemed invalid.

Section 2: Length of a Poll

Each poll must be open for a minimum of 3 days. This allows enough time for the majority of our members to see the poll and vote in it. Any poll open or taking results in less than 3 days is invalid. This includes 'spur of the moment' polls, that say something like 'This poll ends when turn 5 starts', but turn 5 starts in 2 days instead of 3 - this poll would be invalid.

Section 3: Fairness and Neutrality

The first post in a poll thread should be completely neutral. No options are to be suggested for voting, just what each option entails in an unbiased format. The same is true for the voting options. While poking fun at an option will probably be acceptable, if someone thinks that it interferes with a voter’s decision, then they may deem it invalid. If you show bias in your options, then it is no longer fair. So be warned, if your poll is a landslide one way and should win but someone feels that the options you presented are unfair and calls for a validity vote, if it’s deemed invalid your poll is useless.

Section 4: Poll Format

Each official poll MUST include either a ‘yes/no’ format, or a ‘group’ format, where similar options are grouped together, where the winning option within the group with the most votes is the official winner. The only time these formats do not have to be followed is in true multiple-choice polls, i.e. ‘Which Civilization should we be: Egyptians, Persians. Etc.’ In these cases, a simple ‘yes/no’ or ‘grouping’ poll does not suffice.

Section 4: Repolling

If someone wants to conduct a repoll, then it must be created at least 3 weeks following the initial poll. If a repoll is created before 3 weeks has passed, then that poll is immediately invalid. If a poll is an alternative poll, offering alternatives to decisions made in a previous poll, then it also must be conducted at least 3 weeks following the first poll, or be immediately deemed invalid. Any poll that's general purpose is the same or similar as another poll will be considered a repoll.

Section 5: Length of Validity

Poll results are valid until either a repoll is conducted, or an optional expiration on the results of the poll is included (either from an event or a time limit). In any other case, the results of a poll are official until the end of the game.

Section 6: Invalidity of a Poll

If these rules are not abided by, anyone may consider the poll invalid. If someone believes a poll to not be following these rules and declares it invalid, then a vote may be conducted among the elected officials listed above to be either ‘valid’ or ‘invalid’. If the poll is deemed invalid, then its results cannot be used for any official purposes regarding the game. A poll deemed invalid cannot be voted on again unless it abides by the rules regarding a repoll.

Article VI: Impeachment***

Section 1: Impeachment

a. Any citizen may bring the case of impeachment of an official to a member of The Court by PM. "Any citizen" is defined to include the President, Vice President, Ministers and Justices.

b. The Court will review the allegations made, allow an answer by the defendant, and by a vote of at least three Justices determine if there are proper and legal grounds to hold a Removal from Office hearing. If so, then the accusation shall be deemed "with merit", the official shall be impeached (indicted), and The Court shall proceed as directed in Section 2. If the accusations are found to be without legal merit, or if at least three Justices cannot find that there is merit to continue, the allegations shall be dismissed.

c. Should a member of The Court be the subject of impeachment then he shall not take part in the decision by The Court. The Vice President shall sit in his place for the sole determination of whether the impeachment has merit, and shall be considered a "Justice" for that vote only.

Section 2: Removal from Office

a. Once impeachment has been approved by The Court, the matter then goes to trial for Removal from Office of the official (which will be in a thread started by The Court). This thread will have an outline of the facts presented by the complainant and the response by the defendant.

b. The party who started the impeachment process will have a chance to elaborate on the summary and present the facts and evidence against the official including all specific allegations.

c. The defendant will have a chance to answer these allegations and elaborate on his defense. The defendant will have three days to respond once the allegations are posted by the complainant.

d. Both parties must post their arguments for the public to see, this will be in a thread on the matter started by The Court.

e. After the arguments are presented, the public then can debate the topic in the thread, and may request that The Court hold a public forum for arguments (a chat). The chat will be moderated by at least one member of The Court. There will be a three day time limit to this thread after the defendant files his answer and the chat must occur within that period of time.

f. The general populace will then review the case and vote for removal from office of the defendant in a poll. This requires a 2/3 vote. This poll will last for three days.

g. If for valid reason, the defendant did not file his answer timely, he will be able to make a case for filing late to The Court, which they can grant if the lateness is within reason as agreed upon by a simple majority of the Full Court. This is the only means by which a case can be reopened and re-presented to the public.

h. No appeals of the people's decision can be made, except as stated in "g", above.

Section 3: Offenses

a. An official can be impeached only if they have violated a part of the Constitution or Code of Laws in place at the time of the violation.

b. The Constitution can never be amended to retroactively and be made to apply to an act committed prior to the amendment.

c. No legislation in the Code of Laws can be applied retroactively.

Section 4: Other

a. While impeachment and removal from office proceedings are pending, the official will remain in power.

b. If the President is removed from office, the Vice President (VP) will immediately assume his duties, and appoint a replacement for his vacated post of VP. The replacement VP will serve the remainder of that term.

c. If a Vice President or Minister is removed from office, the President will appoint a replacement, who will serve the remainder of the removed official's term.

d. If a Justice is removed from office, then the President will appoint a replacement to serve out the remainder of the removed Justice's term. If the remaining term is for longer than one (1)month, a confirming poll will be placed to the people, as described in the Amendment creating The Court.

e. Other procedural and housekeeping matters will be created by The Court as need requires in order to carry out this amendment.

f. If the people feel The Court has shirked their duty by failing to impeach the official, the people can post their own poll for impeachment. If 2/3's of the people agree to bypass the court, and impeach the official, then trial will commence as stated above in Secction 2.

Article VII: For those who don't like just putting the CoL in the trash bin

When this amendment is passed, it supersedes all previous Amendments and Articles. They are no longer in the official Constitution, but may be kept in a SEPERATE THREAD for historical purposes.

*Considering that Governors are so powerful, we may just have them elected.

**This section is not an integral part of this proposed Constitution, so it may end up just cut out.

*** These are taken exactly from the CoL (except that Code of Laws is replaced with Constitution to avoid confusion)

[civman2000]

I don't like the legislature idea. How will the mass confirmation vote work?? There will be at least 30-40 members.

WE should just let anyone, even a member of the executive branch, be able to propose laws. When 4 people have given support (only 2 is too few), a poll is made. Most laws will be game decisions, changes to how the government is run will be almost exclusively amedments. A similar policy on needing 4 to make the poll should be used for amendments.

The function of the executive is not to make the policy decisions. It is to enforce the laws. In the absence of a law concerning a policy, they make the decision, but the legislative branch (the people) makes the decisions.

Note that this means major changes should be made to the polling section. Polls are official if the creator of the poll calls it official and 4 people (including the creator) voice support of it beforehand. Thus, a victory for the "yes" option in an official poll always results in an addition to the code of laws unless it is an amendment or election or some other special poll.

[Kuciwalker]

I don't know why I stuck the polling section in there. It will only be in if the Legislative isn't. Please note that the polling section is the one we have now.

Members of the Executive and Judicial branches can propose a law, but only Legislators can bring it to a vote.

The mass confirmation would be a multichoice poll. If you don't want to confirm a person, you don't vote for them. If 50% of the voters confirm someone, that person is in.

[Sirotnikov]

I agree with civman2000.

Legislature is too cumbersome.

I also think that 3 ministers is not enough.

[Kuciwalker]

Sirotnikov - the Ministers have many assistants who do most of the work.

[Kuciwalker]

Also, the Legislature allows us to have a real Code of Laws. This will allow more precise laws and keep only the important stuff in the Constitution.

[Sirotnikov]

I'm sorry but I don't like this constitution that much.

Hmmm...

[Sirotnikov]

I agree completely to divide between the constitution and the code of laws.

But I disagree that only an elite group should be making laws.

[Kuciwalker]

This wouldn't be much of an elite group. It would be pretty much everyone here.

[UnOrthOdOx]

Well, I think that this asks too much. We already have a hard enough time trying to fill the minister slots. Creating these seperate generals, governors, and legislature will only complicate that further IMO.

[civman2000]

with 30-40 people, it would take at least 3 24-option polls to confirm everyone.

[Kuciwalker]

You don't confirm everyone. You just confirm the new people.

[notyoueither]

Legislature = List of Citizens. That is direct democracy.

That was the overwhelming sentiment when I polled for a senate. The consensus was, we are all senators. That was the sentiment even though I was not proposing the senate to be the law making body. People simply associated the concept. Those who perceived the purpose said 'do a court' (thanks Siro).

Also, I see no reason to exclude those who have very busy lives and who only occassionally drop by. One of the things about this demo game is the sheer scope of participation. I like it even though I do not agree with everyone. I would not wish to do anything to dampen that.

Very impressive effort though.