Updates from the House!

Day 5,724, 01:34 • Published in United Kingdom United Kingdom • by Mr Woldy


Happy Sunday Citizens!

No Congress stats from me this month, wasn’t sure if it would have been met with opprobrium post-speakership. However I thought I would offer some updates and views from the Congress-front instead. It wouldn’t be like me to not keep in touch!

It has been a quieter month in Congress, which as always has picked up slightly toward election day. There hasn’t been as much an abundance of individual proposals as in previous months so do feel free to add any thoughts to the comments of what we did take forward in the next term.

I thought I would highlight some of the more interesting discussions to give my view as a Cabinet Member and Congressmen (the duality of man) and to outline what I think have been some positive steps taken this month.


Parliament*

Budget proposals!

For e-UK politics nerds the budget proposal at the top of the month was a bigger deal than most citizens may imagine. Whereas some nations have Congress set top line budgets, and some make each donation take the form of the CP asking for cash, the eUK had been in ‘don’t ask questions’ mode regarding the donations made by Congress. The budget was a really good example of active Congress members working with the Cabinet to produce a roadmap of when the Government was asking payments to be made, how much they wanted, and what it was for.

On a personal note I was very pleased to see various TRS members and Cabinet members come together with the President to produce the proposal. It gained Congress backing further showing we can all pull in the same direction on the topic of debates. We have also sent the funds to dedicated orgs so its purpose (and balance) is clear to anyone who might want to casually check. This is definitely a positive change and begins to put proper budgeting into practise - being one of the authors of the money flow transparency recommendations I met this approach with enthusiasm and was pleased to be able to design it from Cabinet end and trumpet it from the Congress side too.

New Player Message

Basically independently of one another Betafoxtrot and Artela raised the New Player Message this month. It had been something that I vaguely knew we should update but it has been a daunting and occasionally controversial topic in the past. Beta, Huey and I have drafted a new wording which is being discussed by Congress, who will ultimately vote on it in-game as they do donations. Our approach has been to keep it succinct, sing the praises of eRep and the eUK, and direct people to the eUK Portal.

The Portal itself (as well as a great many other wiki pages) was very out of date, but is definitely preferable to sending people to articles because the wiki can be updated in perpetuity. I have spent my perpetuity doing exactly that and, although it isn’t yet finished it should now be a useful resource for new players with some more up to date information in it. The wiki overhaul continues - if you are an editor with some time then drop me a line and I can point you at any specific parts that need doing, or just go over your own page/party page/MU page and check it is up to date. That would be nifty!

’God-king’ versus Democracy

One of the more curious discussions to be initiated was raised by Certacito of UKRP, who has suggested we move to a “God Emperor system where the CP just runs the country”. I am personally opposed to this. eRepublik gives different mechanical powers to Congress than it does the President, and members are elected to consider and agree how to use those powers. The Government works well with an active Congress and the budget proposal has shown what happens when people work across parties at effecting change. The ‘turning off’ of Congress reflects a position that various Congresspeople from TUP, UKRP, and WRP have all mentioned over the past few months, although I don’t believe it has been adopted as formal party policy.

Dissolving Congress, in my view, short-changes the public and the Government as a whole. A system of checks and balances exists for a reason and Congresspeople should not run without expecting to participate in constructive debates. At best it aims to have a system that is totally unenforceable in-game. At worst it is disingenuous to run Congresspeople and ask for votes if they hold views that Congress should not be doing anything. This month, over a quarter of Congressmen did not participate in discussions at all (including ones from every party, mine included), and we should all be doing our best to make sure Congress is actively engaged in its proceedings and any other other business it should appropriately be discussing. I would go even further and say that people who don’t want or think Congress should be doing anything are not the best candidates to run for Congress.


Recycled pic because it took me too long to make to use only once

Speaking of … it is Congress Election day on Tuesday! The Ministry of Home Affairs will be running another ‘Vote-Today-Giveaway’, this time with a little bit more of a 80’s TV edge. Make sure you are subscribed to eUK Home Office News and check out the article on election day to try and win a prize.

Broadly speaking we have seen a little dip in turnout and activity over the past few weeks, so let's see if we can turn it around and get a good number of voters out. As our political dialogue develops we are seeing that these elections do count, so get out there and be counted. You know who I want you to vote for, and hopefully the above demonstrates the impact of our active and collaborative Congresspeople. So make sure you bring your voter-ID (you do not need your ballot card!) and VOTE!

I’ll see you outside the polling station with my big spam-pink rosette on. Enjoy the rest of your weekend!

Thanks for reading,
Mr Woldy.


*in CANADA. Gotcha!