Third view from Congress
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by Death and Taxes
Hmm. Guess I owe everybody an article on Congress. OK, so for starters, let's have a look at the legislations I've had to vote on:
So, the MPP's are pretty obvious, most come from our Country President at the time and are essentially renewals of previous pacts or strategic ones based on our military alliances. The only one I voted against was the MPP with Argentina. I've fought against Argentina a lot on behalf of Paraguay before and intrinsically - in spite of the great respect I have for their military prowess - I am not going to side with a country that systematically oppresses their neighbours.
As you can see, all these MPP proposals are passed through practically unanimously. Unfortunately, they are also passed without any debate in the Dáil, private or otherwise. This is unfortunate. Unless congress members are informed of the why, when, where, what of MPP alliances, they cannot be expected to learn how these alliances come about, why they are voting for them, and what the consequences are likely to be.
In fairness, the current MOD's did contact all congress members about the MPP with Argentina, but I haven't seen any information passing on any of the other 18.
The next legislation we should look at is the financial transactions proposed by Sweet Drinker and Columbia. All three are connected of course. It's interesting that the votes in favour of these proposals decreased from 33 to 25 and 25 as the proposals came along.
Now I trust Sweet, I have good and strategic reasons for doing so, as Sweet bankrolls the Boot Camp aided and abetted by a colourful cast of benefactors, so I have no reason to vote against these proposals. I know from conversations that the government are looking to transfer funds into previous dormant accounts for strategic reasons. Still, one would assume some sort of explanation of why 1,200,000 IEP is to be transferred from the country's accounts to three separate ones would be good governance.
Likewise, Winston Hope Smith's proposal to transfer 400,000 IEP from the country's account to the Irish Ministry of Immigration is a relevant one I am sure, after all I voted for it. But again, good governance would council an explanation to new congress members like me.
As you may know, WHS and I worked on implementing a new version of the Ceann Comhairle who is currently in place. I would hope that this article serves as a reminder to the government, and to congress, that communication and effort between us serves us best, and most importantly, the citizens we represent.
Thanks for reading.
Malbekh
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Thanks Malbekh, very interesting post.
Great to get a glimpse of what is going on behind the scenes.
Thanks! I really appreciate what you did here with the transparency. I hope to serve alongside you in Congress in this next term, perhaps we can work together to encourage a bit more communication on this sort of thing.
Ron
Hopefully communication will improve in Congress if it is indeed as bad as you make out, either way a good and interesting post.
Surely though most of these MPP's are obvious choices based on EDEN or TEDEN member countries? I am just bringing this point up as I am not sure myself being a new player. I would imagine they are to protect our borders or members of friendly alliances. Though of course I would advocate better communication, some things do not need to be overly discussed.
Regarding the MPP's:
We carry > 25MPP's on average, and each must be renewed every 30days. If Congress were to formally discuss all MPP renewals there would be a nauseating chain of repeat discussion threads. And as you said, these are pretty obvious: Do you agree to MPP Croatia/China/etc? What's there to discuss?!? lol
Regarding the non-standard donations:
All four were proposed by me, or at my request. There is a thread in the national forum regarding these... I expect few ppl saw that lol.
I followed the procedure outlined in your article about the new CC process:
I informed the CC of these proposal and their reasoning, and requested he desseminated that information to Congress as outlined.
I later spoke to the CC about this and he assured me he had followed the procedure: contact the party presidents.
So I've mixed emotions about the success of these donation proposals:
*These were legitmate proposals for the nation's benefit
and they were made by wellknown (trustworthy) members of our community
*These were large donations to recipients few TD's would have prior knowledge of
TDs really shouldn't ratify donations to unfamiliar recipients
As the procedure recently imposed on our government was followed yet TD's were not informed prior to these proposals, I blame the procedure itself
@Sweet
That's excellent, thanks for taking the time on making these responses. We all agree that the majority of MPP's are just a rubber stamping exercise, the problem is that the history behind these alliances, including the TEDEN ones are based on historical or hysterical legacy issues.
There are any amount of excellent newspaper articles on this, but newspapers don't lend themselves to easily dissemination. The only logical compromise is a sticky on the national forums.
In fact, the forums are the only logical place to debate any matters, private or otherwise. The transfer in funds is a case in point, and (hands up) I do see your informative piece on this subject in the Public Dáil (thanks). The problem with the CC is when the PP's aren't active for various RL reasons.
What can I say? It's a communication problem caused by the structure of the game. The only positive thing is that the trust is there and remains with this government.
very good article. Respect for your NO vote for the Argentina MPP 🙂
'Still, one would assume some sort of explanation of why 1,200,000 IEP is to be transferred from the country's accounts to three separate ones would be good governance.'
x2
Great article.
V
Where are the forums??
I do think part of the issue is ease of access. Even if the post is just:
"Subject: Reratification of EDEN MPPs
Here we go on our monthly ratifications. We do this flood every month due to our relationship with EDEN nations. Discuss if you like..."
At least that gives newer members of the Dail a reasonable degree of information or at least the opening to seek more information. Could a bit more communication hurt government. Many of us know all these details, but it would hardly be wise to assume that all people have all the facts on most proposals. Every proposal should have a blurb in the Dail, but things like the EDEN MPPs or the linked money transfers could be grouped in a single discussion.
Good to see what's going on. Thanks Malbekh.
very good article. Respect for your NO vote for the Argentina MPP +1