[Congress] In Pursuit of Reform
Addaway
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
Comments
u have ma vote 😉
tl;dr nothing will change
The best parts of your proposals are borrowed from elsewhere: e.g. Sir Humph Appleby's committees.
The worst parts are mostly of your own doing however - including a blinkered view that anyone who doesn't use the forums - esp congressmen - are "idiotic".
This latter assertion seems to alienate the majority of the eUK public and most of congress too. Those who don't use the forums have a variety of reasons for not using them. Most are not idiots.
[For the record though, I use 'em of course]
There is however little argument for moving over to the forums when they are a proven hotbed of inactivity. In-game pm's are more accessible and more conrgessmen get involved - fact.
It is true to say the debate would be more structured on the forums but at what price?
I'll be voting for the other guy.
If you'd read the article properly you'd see that I only said that the neglect of the forum as a tool was idiotic; not the people who currently don't use the forums- I currently don't use the forums because nothing happens there. However, I recognize the potential the forum has and would be happy to use them if it was made easier. As I would hope the majority of Congressmen would be, because being a Congressman should require a little more effort than your average person.
You miss the point as well, I have never even suggested we get rid of the PM system, I'm saying we can keep that whilst still taking advantage of the forums superior organisation; if people want to use the PM for discussion then okay, but we can have the forums there as well.
As far as I see it, your criticism is based more on a personal dislike of me rather than anything of my ideas. Yeah I've put forward some of my ideas but that doesn't mean I want to force this through in anyway, my primary policy is simply to hold the debate on how we can improve Congress.
Surely you recognise that Congress is not fufilling its role at the moment and that we need to change it? we consistently fail to hold the CP to account, and produce almost no new ideas of our own.
Improving Congress’s effectiveness? Congress is as effective as game mechanics allow.
May I suggest you play the game as it is. Wishful thinking is ultimately pointless
I'm suggesting Congress actually acts as the game mechanics suggest, rather than roll over for the CP