A matter of design.

[WolvinX84]

I was planning in this post to comment on the lack of a ruling Kaiser over the nation, but with the resignation of Meskan II, that seems, now, a moot point. But I still believe comment of some nature must be made.

Recent events have shown a flaw in this nation. This nation is overly dependent upon the Kaiser, and the system in place to prevent this has, for a time, broken down. Without a Kaiser, power falls upon the Steward, should there be none, the Landsraad must elect one, but without a Praetor, the Landsraad cannot function, and without a Kaiser or Steward, no Praetor can be elected. Now this was a situation of many compounding variables, but it shows that changes are needed to the system.

Further, it has become apparent to me, from the reading of history, law and several conversations, that the current feudal systm of this nation is not functioning in a way that is sufficient.

However, now we have a Kaiser, and events may now take their course. Events which shall bring this nation out of atrophy.

Firstly, With a kaiser upon the throne we may now elect a Praetor of the Landsraad. With this Praetor in place, the Landsraad may once again attempt to function. Though, it does appear that I will be that next Praetor.

Secondly, with a new Kaiser, and the election of a Praetor, we can restore the mechanisms by which absence of rule may be avoided. A Steward must be elected by the Landsraad, or appointed by the Kaiser. Should the Kaiser not appoint one, and I be elected Praetor, my first action will be to start a vote for the immediate election of a Steward.

Thirdly, to help prevent some instances were we may be unable to elect a Praetor, I propose the first ammendment to the Charter. The addition of the power of a Praetor, not being removed from office, to, before his resignation, hold an election, for his successor. Further, to this amendment I will request the addition of a means by which an election may be run by the Minister of the Interior or, the Arbiter of Shireroth. I believe this amendment to the Charter would help create some more avenues by which to elect a Praetor should the need arise. One additional change would be a clause stating that the Kaiser and the Praetor may not be the same person. However, I believe that this should be the extent to which we amend the charter at this time.

Fourthly, I believe we should follow through with ideas of merging some of the ministerial operations. Specifically resulting in only the existance of the following ministries: Interior, Exterior, Immigration and MoMA. These changes would be made by the Landsraad. The Kaiser will need to move the law creating the Ministry of Cartography, into the sphere of the Landsraad. With these changes, we will need to staff the ministries with people willing and able to do the duties of the ministry to which the belong.

Fifthly, and most dramatically we must rebuild the feudal system. The exact details of my design I shall outline later. The basics, however, shall include the removal of counts from the Landsraad. And a return to something similar to what many call "Old Feudalism". The Landsraad will return to being a body primarily made up of the noble level traditionally known as dukes. Though changes of an interesting manner shall occure here. Further, the automatic alotment of "counties" will come to an end. As the chief territorial unit will no longer be the county, but will become the regions traditionally known as the duchy. Though, once again, interesting changes shall occure here.

Lastly, the symbols and unity of the nation must be preserved, in the face of the changes we are about to bring to the face of this nation. Once again, this is a different speach, I plan to write soon. But, this nation must change, and yet maintain its identity and heritage. Part of this will be both recognizing the past, and learning from it. This nation has a rich heritage, spanning both many years and cultures, both real and micronational. It is time that we bring about recognition of this heritage. If possible we must find the reasons for these influences, the cuases and, the persons and places responsible. We must remember what is buried and lost to time- or, conspiracy and propoganda.

There is a flaw in the design. It is our duty to find this flaw, and remove it as best we can. But the design must remain, as a grander design.

[hypatias mom]

Wolvin--

I would love to explore your ideas in greater depth. Would you be willing to IM me so we may discuss this privately? I plan to propose changes on Saturday when I greet the country as Kaiseress. You may IM me at: Hypatias mom. Thanks for your proposals. I think most of them seem workable and sensible, and I agree about the need for fixing the gaps in the governmental system.

[Gman Russell]

It sounds like a good plan to me. I especially like the idea of more ways to fix problems from within the system.

If you call, I will answer.



also: Don't ask about conspiracies here. It's bad for your health.


(This is the part where I cackle like I have something to hide!)

[Harvey the Blue]

Okay, first off, you're totally right about the Kaiser dependancy. This isn't the first time the monarch has gone AWOL and people found replacing him difficult.

THAT SAID... the vast majority of the activity, and I use the term "activity" loosely here, was grumblings about the lack of a Kaiser. The major players of this nation have been themselves not around as much. What has been stopping people from working at minstiries, or writing about their subdivision or in SSHIT, or getting all rilled up and launching a war (or recwar) at some unsuspecting neighbor, or doing any of the things that Shireroth did in the past?

I have answers, but no one likes mine and I refuse to be blamed for being a naysayer again, so I'll let you ponder those questions and answers on your own. The bottom line is that as easy as it is to blame Bill for the decline of the nation, but every citizen is also to blame for not doing much themselves. It's not entirely Bill's fault Shireroth is in pretty bad shape. Rather than shake your fist at the throne, ask yourself: why did you stop coming here, and is there any way you can make it more fun than just an occiasional thing to check when you're bored?

[osmose1000]

They will not listen to your sense!

[Hypatia Agnesi]

I definitey support the overall aim of your post. Fixing the system in some pretty basic ways, to deal with the lack of leadership without a rebellion, and going back to an old feudalism sound like pretty sound moves to me.

The old feudalism we had was this: someone would be granted a duchy (it was later specified that they must have a minimum number of people to make up that duchy), and if they wished, they could make one (or more) of their subjects barons, granted the baron had enough subjects to make up a barony. Then Dukes and Barons got a speficic number of votes in the Landsraad, dependent upon their position (and NOT the number of subjects). The newer feudalism worked ok when we had more citizens and more activity, but I think that having the old feudalism back right now would be better for the nation and DEFINITELY better for the Landsraad. I know that I, for one, have been discouraged from utilizing the Landsraad much because it's a huge hassle to keep track of exactly how many votes I have, and when I was Praetor (before Bill came into office but after the new feudalism and voting system) it was an even bigger hassle to figure out the votes for everyone else.

Further, having the old feudalism back would make the ministry of cartography a largely unnecessary office, since it was originally instated as a way to keep track of who got which counties and how those counties were made up into baronies and duchies.

Anyway, I think after we finish the Praetorial election, we should revamp the feudalism system to go back to what we had before (or at the very least, the vote distribution for barons and dukes), to expidite the rest of the reforms.

[Scott of Hyperborea]

Yeah, old feudalism sounds good around now.

Perhaps another component of the same solution would be something allowing the Landsraad to function in the absence of a Praetor, at least temporarily. That way if there's no Kaiser, Steward, or Praetor, the Landsraad could at least elect a Steward or Praetor to get things going again. Although a Praetor's very useful for keeping things official, it's not absolutely necessary seeing as all voting is done in public and anyone can count the votes.

I don't know about making the Kaiser and Praetor unable to be the same person. There've been a couple of times when no one except the Kaiser has had the energy to do Praetorial stuff.

[WolvinX84]

If that being the case, there would be no need for a Praetor to begin with. As the Kaiser would be the only one doing anything of importance. However, I agree that the Landsraad should perhaps be able to run a vote for Praetor on its own. But the Praetor and the Kaiser must remain distinct offices. The recent situation is an direct example as to why this must be.

As for a possible misunderstanding: I was not attempting to blaim Meskan II for the situation in the nation, but instead I was challanging the design of the system.

[Scott of Hyperborea]

As a compromise, might we say that the Kaiser cannot be the Praetor, but in the Praetor's absence the Kaiser can perform basic Praetorial duties?

[WolvinX84]

That is already in the Charter.

Article II, Section D, Paragraph 1

The Kaiser shall manage the election of the Prætor by the Landsraad, and shall act as Prætor of the Landsraad until one is immediately elected.

[Gman Russell]

Hm...