Citizens have the right to be heard on the Senate floor (Sign the Pledge)!

[Adam Griffin]

I don't know about you, but for as long as I can remember, citizens have been welcome to speak in Senate threads on legislation that the body is considering.

Apparently now, however, some Senators and officeholders find that to be controversial, even in my own party.

Well, I will not stand for this. Every damn citizen in Atlasia has the fundamental right to pepper the Senate with questions, comments and criticisms on any and all forms of legislation directly where said debate is occurring. While there are "separate but equal" discussion threads,  we are under no obligation to use those exclusively to voice our concerns. I'm not confident that most Senators even would read comments there, anyway.

This type of attitude from elitist Senators - that citizens cannot post in Senate legislation threads - shall not be tolerated as long as I have something to say about it and I hope you'll join me. If we need to rotate out the entire goddamn Senate in order to guarantee our access to discussion, then so be it.

    Also not a Senator, but I would like to say that...

This is the people's Senate. Those bastards work for you, there is no need to apologize for speaking your piece on the Senate floor. Senators legislate by voting in accordance with the majority rules, but the people still possess free speech rights and this has always been an open forum, a precedent Windjammer continues to uphold.

There is a thread in the main page to present views and formal submissions

Main Page? The AFE board is not the main page. The AFE board is the board where the elections game aspect of Atlasia is conducted.

The purpose of said thread's creation was to provide a vehicle for greater interest in the Senate's discourse, not to compartmentalize and cast aside the opinions of private citizens to that they can be ignored by the Senate. This place has a long history of being out of touch on a variety of issues, the most recent example being the previous Amendment ratification. Suppressing public interest and input is not in the chamber's best interests.

     The issue is that while people take issue with the Senate for pushing some ridiculous ideas, there are never any consequences. The same folks keep winning easily. Something has to change with that.

Yankee - your stands are adorable but the purpose of the thread was not just to increase exposure, but a way to have the clearest avenue for input to Bills.

Sign the pledge: "I will not have my posting rights dictated to me like a child, telling me where and when I can voice concerns about critical legislation being debated in the Atlasian Senate"

x Adam

[Adam Griffin]

Speaking as someone who's regularly "contributed" to various Senate debates while not a member of that august body I'd actually think it's better that the Senate impose stricter rules on just that. Being a Senator should carry more privileges than simply being able to vote on legislation. Citizens can now, bizarrely, even introduce legislation.

Elitist

This campaign is the height of opportunistic hypocrisy.

Corrupt

[Adam Griffin]

As I already said yesterday citizen input on bills when it is a new perspective or facts which have escaped the senate's notice or a well written amendment is a very good thing and is to be welcomed. I do think that a non senator just posting in every senate thread something like "I like this amendment" or "I don't like this amendment" disrupts the senate and the Speaker should try to stop those useless posts, but they are rare enough that it's not really a problem.

Unfortunately, that's not what happened to start this conversation, or else I wouldn't have made this post feeling it was necessary. As far as I'm concerned, Senators should have no ivory tower in which to retreat from the citizenry, and they certainly don't need additional powers and privileges.

I don't recall anyone ever criticizing a citizen for making germane contributions to Senate discussion threads. Often, these comments are extremely helpful. Have I missed something?

See OP and corresponding thread.

[Adam Griffin]

As I already said yesterday citizen input on bills when it is a new perspective or facts which have escaped the senate's notice or a well written amendment is a very good thing and is to be welcomed. I do think that a non senator just posting in every senate thread something like "I like this amendment" or "I don't like this amendment" disrupts the senate and the Speaker should try to stop those useless posts, but they are rare enough that it's not really a problem.

Unfortunately, that's not what happened to start this conversation, or else I wouldn't have made this post feeling it was necessary. As far as I'm concerned, Senators should have no ivory tower in which to retreat from the citizenry, and they certainly don't need additional powers and privileges.

I don't recall anyone ever criticizing a citizen for making germane contributions to Senate discussion threads. Often, these comments are extremely helpful. Have I missed something?

See OP and corresponding thread.

Are you referring to TNF's remarks?

Yankee pls go

He's the only Senator whom I see unequivocally criticizing a citizen for posting in a Senate discussion thread. But it would be extremely out-of-character for you to launch an attack on one of Labor's own Senators, so I have to confess that your claims continue to puzzle me.

Both. Just because some are more abrasive than others and some prefer more tact than others doesn't change the overall meaning of the message.