State and Defense Merger Bill

[MasterJedi]

State and Defense Merger Bill
   1. The Department of State and Department of Defense are hereby merged to form the Department of State and Defense.
   2. The principal officer of the Department of State and Defense shall be the Secretary for State and Defense.
   3. All previous duties that have fallen on either the Secretary of State or Secretary of Defense will now fall on the Secretary of State and Defense.
   4. The Secretary of State and Defense shall occupy the position in the Presidential Line of Succession, as defined by the Line of Succession Act (F.L. 6-5), presently occupied by the Secretary of Defense and Forum Security.
   5. This Act amends Article VIII, Section 2 of the Federal Constitution as is necessary to implement its provisions.
   6. This Act shall take effect on 3 March, 2006.
___________________________________________________________

Sponsor: Sen. Peter Bell

[Sam Spade]

From the GM:

There is roughly about a 75% chance that this will have a negative effect on relations with certain countries around the world; about a 20% chance that it will have no effect, and about a 5% chance that it will have a positive effect.

I will roll the GM's dice as such. 

[True Federalist (진정한 연방 주의자)]

I think it serves Atlasia well to have separate departments of War and Peace.

[Jake]

Peter Bell should be shot for even thinking about doing this.

[Sam Spade]

Peter Bell should be shot for even thinking about doing this.

rofl

[Peter]

I have proposed this bill, not because I particuarly want the intrepid attentions of the Senator for the Southeast, but because I feel it is a necessary reform to our fantasy government.

Ultimately I believe we are now fast approaching the point where we no longer have enough potential officeholders to actually fill all the offices. The recent exits from fantasy politics have left us with even fewer active members, and before it is over, there will probably be more.

Neither of the posts are actually relevant to the administration of the fantasy government, and whilst in real life I completely agree that we should have one department of peace and one department of war, this is not real life, nobody will actually have a failed negoitiation with us, nor will nuclear war break out.

I cannot recall a time when we have ever had an SoD and an SoS who have actually both strongly invested themselves in their posts at the same time, and this is actually understandable given that all they have to interact with is the synthesis presented by the GM.

Given that I believe that the government is desperately in need of economies, I believe it makes sense to remove two positions that have relatively low workloads, indeed, they could get away with doing nothing and it would not actually do any damage, and replace them with one.

[Jake]

Are those officers not productive because of the positions, or because we haven't ever asked them to be?

[MasterJedi]

Would it be better to merge State with the Vice Presidency? I don't know about in the future but it would work this time because I'll be running again for PPT and if I win I can run the Senate by myself without help and the VP could focus more on that. (Could translate that into the future as well)

[Jake]

That's not a horrible idea Jedi.

[Peter]

I am not opposed to the idea in principle, but I think that assigning specifically State is a bit too restrictive. The VP should fill the brief that bests suits his or her particular talents and interests. Thus I believe the President could be required to assign one of the cabinet briefs to his VP.

Also, I think we've had a number of Secretaries who have tried to make something of their positions, but unfortunately they are never going to generate highly tangible results in the same manner that perhaps the Secretary of Forum Affairs could because quite simply what they do does not directly affect any Atlasian. The positions are already unproductive in a structural sense, and no amount of reform, GMing or anything else will actually change that.

[Jake]

None of what any of us does, outside of forum affairs stuff, affects anyone here. Surely, the Sec. of Treasury raising interest rates, or the President meeting with foreign leaders, or even the Senate passing laws doesn't matter outside of simply being fake public policy?

[True Federalist (진정한 연방 주의자)]

As per Article 4 Section 1 Clause 2 of the OPSR, I call for a vote on this bill.

[MasterJedi]

I hereby open the final vote on this bill. Please vote Aye, Nay or Abstain. (And trying to shove things through I see Ernest, have patience)

State and Defense Merger Bill
   1. The Department of State and Department of Defense are hereby merged to form the Department of State and Defense.
   2. The principal officer of the Department of State and Defense shall be the Secretary for State and Defense.
   3. All previous duties that have fallen on either the Secretary of State or Secretary of Defense will now fall on the Secretary of State and Defense.
   4. The Secretary of State and Defense shall occupy the position in the Presidential Line of Succession, as defined by the Line of Succession Act (F.L. 6-5), presently occupied by the Secretary of Defense and Forum Security.
   5. This Act amends Article VIII, Section 2 of the Federal Constitution as is necessary to implement its provisions.
   6. This Act shall take effect on 3 March, 2006.

[Jake]

Nay

[MasterJedi]

Nay

[The Dowager Mod]

Aye.

[Colin]

Nay

[Gabu]

Nay.

[True Federalist (진정한 연방 주의자)]

Nay

[WMS]

Nay.

[Peter]

Aye.

[MasterJedi]

This bill has enough votes to fail. Senators now have 24 hours to change their votes.

[CheeseWhiz]

Nay FTR.

[MasterJedi]

With 2 Ayes and 7 Nays this bill has failed.

[Ebowed]

That's a shame.  For the record, I was in agreement with my esteemed Senator on the matter.

3. Combine State and Defense