[Adastros] Building an Effective Congress

Day 2,411, 12:37 • Published in United Kingdom United Kingdom • by Addaway


So as some of you will know, I want to be the Speaker of Congress for the upcoming month. I can’t think of many people who actually go to the trouble of writing a manifesto for the speaker election, but I have seem to have some kind of obsession with our legislative body, and so here I am. Plus, I have a load of stuff I wanna do as Speaker, so it warrants an article to explain it all out.

I’ve been in Congress three times this year, and was Speaker in the second of those terms, In March. The last time I did this I tried to change the way things were done in our legislative body, which at the time was troubled by disorganisation and ridiculous party infighting, which basically meant that congress wasn’t doing it’s job properly…. sound familiar at all?

Although I haven’t been in the congress mails since the 6th of this month, I think it’s pretty obvious that Congress is still damaged by the same old problems. The eternal arguments over where congress debate should take place, arguments over citizenship and the vicious political atmosphere among congress members. That’s before you even get on to Congress not fulfilling its two central roles. So, put simply, my intention in running for Speaker is to fix the immediate issues, and build a sustainable system for an effective congress.



The first problem we need to look at is making congress an ordered place to debate policies, not make blind attacks on other congressmen and go round in circles on petty issues. I propose we do that by drafting a congressional code of conduct which lays down a basic set of ground rules covering how congressmen should interact with each other. This will be developed in close consultation with congress members and Party Presidents, and I hope that we can reach agreement on the fact that congressmen should behave decently to each other, regardless of their dislikes and disagreements.

Of course, any code of conduct or set of rules is going to be completely pointless without an appropriate body to enforce said rules. Naturally the Speaker cannot autocratically enforce the rules himself, so I propose a cross-party Congressional Standards Committee which will consist of one senior congressmen representing each of the top-5 parties, which will discuss and deal with breaches of the code-of-conduct by majority vote. This committee, on which the Speaker will not get a vote, will be charged with ensuring that the code-of-conduct is stuck to by all congressmen, and will vote on any sanctions that may be necessary. This committee will also be responsible for holding the speaker to account, and will have the power to overrule the Speaker if they think he is acting outside of his remit (for example, in an IRC meeting if a congressman was breaching the code-of-conduct, the Speaker could suspend them, but the Standards committee could overrule him)

I want to make sure that the first week of congress is not subsumed by the monthly ‘Forums vs PM’ baw, so right from the start I would facilitate debate in the forums, the PMs and IRC, so we can just get on with the important issues. I will be proposing a minor amendment to the Speaker Act to oblige the speaker to endeavour to include all congressmen in debates on the Forums/PMs/IRC so that no future speaker can arbitrarily change how congress communicates, and all speakers are clear on what they have to do.


About as ordered as a standard debate in congress...


Transparency is key for Congress, and is something that has been sorely lacking. Opening up congress is one of my key aims if I am elected, with publicly-viewable IRC meetings, with detailed summaries of these published in-game and on the forums, as well as regular summaries of the activities in Congress through articles and public discussion threads opened on the forums. Congressmen’s attendance at IRC meetings, their activity and the quality of their input into discussions will all be made publicly viewable- so that the eUK public can see exactly what the people they elected are doing.



If I am elected as Speaker Committees will be making a comeback, as small groups of congressmen dedicated to looking at specific issues in government (Finance, Home Affairs, Foreign Affairs + Defence). I know that some of you don’t like the idea of committees for some reason but I thought that they worked surprisingly well when they ran during my first term as Speaker, and so I hope they will work again; so why don’t we give it a go? If it turns out to be a complete waste of time, then we can scrap it at the end of the month but why don’t we at least try and see if we can make a difference?

That’s really the theme of my run for Speaker- lets give it a go. It is blatantly obvious that congress isn’t performing properly, so we need to do something about it; because this cycle of petty insults just cannot go on anymore.

Tl😉r

- I will be trying to produce an active, inclusive and effective congress through trying new ideas. The status quo in congress has failed and we need to start working together to solve the issues. If you elect me as Speaker, I will be doing my utmost to come up with solutions to the problems which have plagued congress, and including everyone in discussions.

- Regular updates by me. Regular IRC meetings held, Emphasis on scrutinising the CP's actions and getting congressmen to propose their ideas, the committees will encourage this.

Cheers,

Adastros