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People of the eUK,

On the 25th of this month, we will go to the polls to elect a new Congress.

In my opinion the eUK Congress is at a crossroads; and we have two distinct paths we can take. We can continue to wallow in impotency, allowing ourselves to remain in the terribly ineffective systems by which Congress operates; or we can begin a process of reform to take steps towards improving Congress’s effectiveness, and increasing its influence over the eUK’s governance at the very highest level.

I am running as an ESO candidate under the UKRP banner for this term, and should I be elected I will be a candidate in the election for Speaker for the Feb-March Congress. So this is kind of my manifesto for what I will do if elected as Speaker. This also doubles as a statement of what I will be pursuing as a Congressman, even if I’m not Speaker.

Disclaimer: Please do not take any of this as a finalised plan, if elected I will spell out all of my proposals in more detail, this is more a simple statement of intent should I be elected Speaker.



Congressional Communication

Currently in Congress, the only means of communication that is used is the PM system, which has fatal flaw of splitting Congress into two separate groups that have no means of communicating with each other. Due to opposition from some people a long time ago, the Forums are entirely neglected as a means of communication, which is Idiotic.

If elected I would be pushing for a return to a more forum-based Congress, with debates primarily held on there. As well as this however, I would want to hold a full public discussion so that if anybody has other viable alternatives for Congress, they can put forward their ideas. Whatever the outcome, it is clear to me that Congress needs to find a new way of communicating that isn’t limited to the PM system.



Giving Congress a voice

The attitude within Congress has been a very passive one during my time playing this game. Rather than recognise that Congress is an important part of Government, it has been reduced to a mere rubber-stamping body; ratifying the decisions of the CP and his administration without any real effective scrutiny of the executive.

One of the key problems I see with Congress is that it operates as a completely disorganised group of 40 people. When you have a body of 40 people as a branch of Government, there needs to be a degree of organisation in order to be effective, and this is lacking. When you contrast this with the organised and decisive Executive branch of Government, it is no wonder that the CP has come to dominate Congress. This is not the fault of successive CPs, they were simply filling the void that Congress was incapable of doing so. In its current form, Congress is unsuitable for governing the country in line with the powers that the game gives to it.

If elected, I would aim to change that.

To improve the effectiveness of scrutiny, I would like to revive the Congressional Committee idea that I originally proposed last term, where we will have three or four dedicated committees which will cover all areas of Government, each lead by a chair who would ideally be someone who has experience/ knowledge of the area they are covering.

Whilst that change would hopefully improve scrutiny of the CP’s administration, it would not necessarily make Congress more active when it came to actually producing Government policy, and playing an active role in the highest level of Government. So, it’s my idea that we, as Congress, delegate elements of Congress’s power to smaller bodies of Congressmen in order to make it easier to use that power more effectively. I would like the Speaker to essentially act as the leader of the legislative branch of Government, just as the CP is the leader of the executive branch of government. Behind the Speaker you have a senior Congressman from each committee responsible for each area of the Government (MoD, MoFA, MoF, MoHA).

So essentially, these committees will act as the mirror of the CP’s ministries, working with their counterparts for the good of the eUK. Having, for example, the Chair of the Home Affairs Committee working in conjunction with the CP’s MoHA will retain a congressional influence inside the key ministries where key decisions are taken.

This would also solve the problem where the CP didn’t have time to consult congress on key decisions that had to be taken quickly; consulting 40 people would be difficult. But in this case, the CP could consult with Congress’s representative on that area of Government, or the Speaker. This would allow for fast decision making with Congress kept in the loop and not left in the dark.
There is far more I would like to say about how I see the relationship between the CP and Congress, but I shall leave this for another article.



Please do remember that none of what I have written is in any way a finished proposal, and I would be seeking to start a full public dialogue about this, where everyone can share their ideas and we can get a system we are all happy with. Should I be elected as Speaker, I won’t be looking to push through my reforms, I want us to work together to get a consensus on what we should do.

Tl😉r Version
- Congress is ineffective currently, and I want to reform it
- I will hold a full public debate about what we should do to help, and put forward detailed proposals
- Vote for me for Speaker!

Cheers,

Adrastos
ESO Congressman, Candidate for Speaker