Join the new world

May 24th is day where Canada was once expected to take a moment to reflect on the fact that everything you hold dear, the land you live one, the money you use, the law you live by, and the allegiance you supposedly swear to, is provided by the generous grace of Her Majesty the Queen of England
bleh



Of course, most Canadians don’t care much about Commonwealth Day, let alone even know that it once existed as Empire Day, mainly because the monarch of England has little to do with what goes on here…as it should be. And yet, there she is on the backs of our coins and written in the constitution of our country. Unnecessary, out of touch, but still a mysterious presence at Parliament Hill.

Now imagine another reality where people had no rights to govern themselves, where another royal figure with the right lineage and a big enough army could sweep in to claim ownership of your country, where your fate was tied to the whim of an absolute monarchy, until another set of lords would mount a big enough rebellion, and then the process would repeat. Well, you could say that is now the reality of countries in eRepulik but you could also say it was the reality of medieval Europe until certain nations adopted such things as the Magna Carta and the Bill of Rights.



These laws effectively placed limits on the power of its kings and queens, and later paved the way for later things like legislative bodies, elections, parliament, and congress. Now, quite stupidly, the developers of the game have chosen to throw countries back into the Dark Ages to rediscover what it would be like without any of such social contracts built up over the ages. Like who needs those when training contracts are where the real money is at, right Plato?

By certain coincidence, May 24th is also the day eCanada would settle its choice to reclaim some semblance of an eDemocracy or go back down the recent path it took towards an absolute dictatorship. The choice on the referendum seems direct and simple, yet it’s not. Option B (Democracy) is fairly straightforward, since it’s basically the same old game with an extra chance of foreign PTO thrown in. Option A (Dictatorship) is where the game opens up to a whole range of possibilities.

Why? Because players have the power to shape what kind of dictatorship they wish to work with. How? Cooperation, communication, and planning – just like the old stuff we used to love to do, for better and for worse – all it takes is eCanada’s own Magna Carta, or Bill of Rights, or whatever other means it takes to install a Constitutional Dictatorship. When? Sooner would be better than later, but in this case it looks like you’ll have to try out a democracy until there’s need to revisit the referendum.



Much like some kind of envoy from England on this Commonwealth Day, Sir Humphrey Appleby has generously posted a solution for the broken political module: a constitution designed as a middle ground between absolute dictatorship and fatal democracy, “Constitutional Dictatorship: a suggestion for your predicament.

For reasons not worth getting into, Humphrey’s article may be a good constitution for the eUK, but eCanada would be better off with something more compact. Therefore, here is a shorter version that may help accomplish the same en😛 a semblance of democracy allowing for a return to party politics and congress debate but without any of the extreme PTO risk. You may think it involves too much roleplay or is too ‘meta’ for eCanada, yet it’s not much different than what normal Congress would normally do, except that Congress instructs the Dictator on what proposal to make in-game rather than doing it for themselves. It seems worth the effort of a installing a rubberstamp dictator to avoid the real danger found in unprotected Congress.


You wanna be a free bird,
You wanna be a free lover, see
You gotta run from the shepherd.
Run, run away with?
You gonna run, run away with...?
"Monkey Tree"

Option C: Bill of Rights for Constitutional Dictatorship (ie. the Bill of Dicks for short)

1. The Dictator of Canada is installed as in-game dictator of the country and as commander of the Dictatorship Military Unit (or whatever people want to call it).

2. The Dictator will make in-game proposals on the consent of the Congress sitting on the eCanada forums as instructed by the Speaker of Congress once a formal vote is completed.

3. The Dictator is expected to remain a neutral figure in eCanadian politics and cannot become a member of Congress, the Speaker, a Party President, nor the President of eCanada.

4. Succession is determined by the dictator (dictogeniture – a simple process can be set up for this).

5. Congress reserves the right to vote on the removal of the Dictator of eCanada by supermajority vote (66😵 and allocate the funds needed to start an in-game coup. (this part can be further clarified, too)

Some general points to define the role of Congress, Party Presidents, and Country Presidents:

a. The congress is created per game mechanics but members will only serve a useful function if they participate on the forums where deliberations and votes are held.

b. The election of a president takes place per game mechanics. She takes her place in Congress as a "first amongst equals" member, with additional persuasion but no extra vote.

c. Party presidents function as per game mechanics.

d. Citizens seek to preserve their method of governance - Dictator and Country.

This is a rough draft of what a simplified constitutional dictatorship could look like for eCanada. olivermellors has provided the main content of this draft, with some minor additions by me. Take it and run with it or leave it to be buried in the media boneyard in a couple days. Even if this article and Humphrey’s don’t solve the main flaw, it’s still worth considering workarounds that can recapture a bit of the old fun.

Best of luck with the results of your referendum, eCanada.