Taking Congress Seriously

Day 2,218, 07:03 • Published in United Kingdom United Kingdom • by Mr Woldy


Another Congress Article

As a nation, we need to start taking Congress seriously.

The fact of the matter is, no one really does. Once a month the Parties get in a fluster and act like they care in order to come out trumps in the dickwaving contest which is our elections, and apart from getting the most people elected, very few parties seem to have a genuine interest in making Congress an active, responsible and worthwhile institution.

What little concern the top parties have with Congress seems to be in making sure that they hold a majority, or at the least that their big rival doesn’t - presumably so they know where they stand in respects of who can impeach whose CP.

Does this play in the power holders hands? As it stands, our Congress does diddly, which means whichever party elects a CP on the fifth gets absolute control for a month, without any criticism (that’s partisan!) to keep them in check. Even if the party without a CP holds a majority they won’t say anything unless they believe they have the opportunity to outright impeach, in which case a party whip will be sent out and the PP’s involved will cross their fingers that the people they elected have managed to stay active.


Our current ethos

Indeed we now operate in an autocratic nation, which isn’t all that strange for eRepublik. In fact being a somewhat global citizen I know that once you hit alliance levels people tend to appreciate do-nothing Congresses, as one person having to say ‘how high’ is a lot easier to manage than forty odd having to say it. So perhaps to some the autocratic system has its merits.

However, for us down here we are practically left without a say, the body of people who are claimed to represent us literally do nothing towards that end, and do absolutely nothing towards achieving their only other job - which is making sure the CP isn’t an autocrat and ensuring the CP is held to account. THAT is what the impeach button is actually for.

So in reality the citizens are left with no say at all, beyond choosing a CP (largely chosen by PPs anyway) there are very few channels for normal people to actually be heard. Although Congress candidates are also chosen by PPs, we would hugely benefit from our voters being more savvy, and directing their votes to those parties they know will actually elect Congressmen who do their jobs.


How democratic is a country with a do-nothing Congress?

However when the Nation operates in a zeitgeist that promotes laziness, it takes more than a few individuals with newspapers to change things. A good start would be Congressmen taking themselves seriously, so that we can begin to take them seriously. Back in the days of roleplay etc. Congress was an active body that used to discuss what went on with the eUK, used to hold the CP to account and would often spend days discussing the issues that reared themselves. Discussing the merits of roleplay is a different kettle of fish, but I think there’s a lot to be said about the fact that if Congressmen actually played as Congressmen, we wouldn’t be so left out of the political system as we currently are. Whether or not them taking themselves seriously requires even a tiny splash of roleplay remains to be seen, but going on our history it probably wouldn’t hurt to encourage them to do their jobs.

Once Congress takes itself seriously, I also believe that party bickering will lessen. If you actually give Congressmen issues to discuss, you will find that the differences between party policies come out naturally, people will align themselves with the people they naturally agree with, and party politics will actually become about politics and not about mindless attacks and partisanship. Which is all it currently is (and vapid articles shamelessly bribing you to join them).

So, we can conclude that one way or another, Congress has to take themselves seriously, and we have as a Nation to take Congress seriously, otherwise we abandon all power and influence to our monthly dictator, without any means of actually regulating behaviour and creating consistency.


Again, voting smart is important - vote for those you know do the work - Pressure your PP’s about it!

And one more thing, I hereby name Waynekerr as Heir to the throne of the eUnited Kingdom.

~~~

Thanks for reading!
HM Woldy I,

OBE, KCVS, MC, HRH.





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