Atlasia-America Synchronization Bill

[Democratic Hawk]

In my capacity PPT, I have deemed this to be forum affairs legislation and moved it into the fifth debate slot

Atlasia - America Synchronization Act

§1. Findings
The Senate of Atlasia finds that:
(a) The Republic of Atlasia was established primarily to be an election simulation in the context of the politics of the United States of America.
(b) To that end, a correspondence between the characteristics of the Republic of Atlasia and the United States of America is desirable, except where a difference has been intentionally adopted.
(c) Because of the limitations of time and the number of players, these characteristics have diverged without any explict intent to have them do so.
(d) These differences form a barrier to new players by adding to the learning curve of the game.

§2. Purpose
The Senate of Atlasia intends that this Act should reduce the unintended differences between the Republic of Atlasia and the United States of America.

§3. Public Laws of the United States
(a) Subject to subsection (c), the public laws of the United States of America adopted during the First through Fourteenth Senates of Atlasia shall be adopted as laws of Atlasia.
(b) Beginning with the Sixteenth Senate and subject to subsection (c). at the close of each session of the Atlasia Senate, the public laws of the United States of America during the previous Senate of Alasia shall be adopted as laws of Atlasia.
(c) In subsections (a) and (b), the public laws of the United States of America passed during certain sessions of the Senate of Atlasia shall not be adopted where they are -
    (1) invalid under the constitution of Atlasia, or
    (2) contradict the laws passed by the Senate of Atlasia.

§4.  International events and condidtions
     The policies and economies of countries other than the Republic of Atlasia shall generally be reset to those existing in the real world at the time a new Game Moderator is appointed.  Where differences between in-game and real-world policies and economies directly as a result of differences in the foreign and trade policies of the Republic of Atlasia and the United States of America, the Game Moderator may allow those differences to continue to exist, but shall report as soon as possible after becoming Game Moderator a list of those differences.

§5. Domestic events and conditions
    The policies of Atlsaia shall be those adopted by the Republic of Atlasia.  The economy of Atlasia and the policy of non-governmental organizations of Atlasia should be based as closely as possible upon those of the United States of America, with the Game Moderator reporting on any differences as soon as possible a list of those differences.

§6. Timeliness of reports
(a) The Game Moderator is urged to provide the reports requested under sections 4 and 5 within one month of taking office so that the government of the Republic of Atlasia can react appropriately to such events.
(b) The Game Moderator may amend the reports requested under sections 4 and 5 if in doing so, he is able to provide greater detail of the world geopolitical and economic situation.  He should avoid amendments that change the world geopolitical and economic situation except where a policy of Atlsaia as embodied in law is brought to his attention and the amendments are as a result of that attention.



Sponsor: Sen. Ernest

[Democratic Hawk]

I have requested the Vice President's concurrence on this legislation

'Hawk'

[True Federalist (진정한 연방 주의자)]

I would like to comment on Section 3 of the bill, so as to explain why the timing there was so written.  The automatic passage of laws is scheduled so that no U.S. law becomes Atlasian law until there has been the opportunity for it to examined during a complete session of the Atlasian Senate.

[Dr. Cynic]

Granted.

x VP Cynic

[Democratic Hawk]

Any senator may challenge our decision pursuant to Article 7, Clause 2, of the OSPR within the next 72 hours

Should 2/3 of the Senate (i.e. 3) concur then our decision is overruled

'Hawk'

[Јas]

Can I ask what is the status of Acts passed by the US Senate during the tenure of the 15th Atlasian Senate under this Act?

[Democratic Hawk]

Can I ask what is the status of Acts passed by the US Senate during the tenure of the 15th Atlasian Senate under this Act?

Seems like an oversight, but Senator Ernest had best clarify that

'Hawk'

[True Federalist (진정한 연방 주의자)]

Under this bill, Acts passed by the U.S. Congress during the Fifteenth Atlasian Senate would, if not contradicted by Atlasian law, come into force at the end of the Sixteenth Atlasian Senate, those passed during the Sixteenth would come into force at the end of the Seventeenth, and so forth.

[Colin]

These laws of course would come into effect without any approval or affirmation by the Senate of Atlasia, I assume?

[True Federalist (진정한 연방 주의자)]

These laws of course would come into effect without any approval or affirmation by the Senate of Atlasia, I assume?

Correct, though there is a period of delay of at least one full Senate session, so that if there be a U.S. law that the Senate wishes to object to, it would have the opportunity to do so.

[Colin]

These laws of course would come into effect without any approval or affirmation by the Senate of Atlasia, I assume?

Correct, though there is a period of delay of at least one full Senate session, so that if there be a U.S. law that the Senate wishes to object to, it would have the opportunity to do so.

How would the budget and appropriations work under this setup? Would the Atlasian budget be subject to the whims of the United States Congress and its deficits and spending?

[True Federalist (진정한 연방 주의자)]

These laws of course would come into effect without any approval or affirmation by the Senate of Atlasia, I assume?

Correct, though there is a period of delay of at least one full Senate session, so that if there be a U.S. law that the Senate wishes to object to, it would have the opportunity to do so.

How would the budget and appropriations work under this setup? Would the Atlasian budget be subject to the whims of the United States Congress and its deficits and spending?

To the extent that the Atlasian budget is not defined by the Atlasian Senate, yes.

Whenever we pass a budget or eliminate or add a program, that would trump whatever the U.S. Congress does, even if the Congress were to pass its law later.  For example, if we passed a bill eliminating the Bureau of Indian Affairs, then despite any future funding provided for the BIA in future budget bills of the U.S. Congress, the BIA would still get $0 in Atlasia.  (Unless a future Atlasian Senate were to pass a law restoring the BIA of course.)

[Colin]

These laws of course would come into effect without any approval or affirmation by the Senate of Atlasia, I assume?

Correct, though there is a period of delay of at least one full Senate session, so that if there be a U.S. law that the Senate wishes to object to, it would have the opportunity to do so.

How would the budget and appropriations work under this setup? Would the Atlasian budget be subject to the whims of the United States Congress and its deficits and spending?

To the extent that the Atlasian budget is not defined by the Atlasian Senate, yes.

Whenever we pass a budget or eliminate or add a program, that would trump whatever the U.S. Congress does, even if the Congress were to pass its law later.  For example, if we passed a bill eliminating the Bureau of Indian Affairs, then despite any future funding provided for the BIA in future budget bills of the U.S. Congress, the BIA would still get $0 in Atlasia.  (Unless a future Atlasian Senate were to pass a law restoring the BIA of course.)

What about increases in appropriations for entities that are still a part of Atlasia? Will, say, a larger appropriation to the Defence Department be assumed to be a part of the Atlasian budget as well as the American budget due to the Senate having passed a bill increasing funding?

[True Federalist (진정한 연방 주의자)]

That would depend on how we phrase our budget bills.  If we say that the budget for the DoD is X, then it'll be X no matter what the U.S. Congress does.  If only the other hand if we vote to subtract Y and they vote to add Z then the result would generally be the combination of the two.  (If we vote to subtract Y by canceling some program and they add Z by increasing its funding, then our cancellation would preempt their increase.

[Democratic Hawk]

I hereby open the final vote on this Bill. Please vote Aye, Nay or Abstain

Atlasia - America Synchronization Act

§1. Findings
The Senate of Atlasia finds that:
(a) The Republic of Atlasia was established primarily to be an election simulation in the context of the politics of the United States of America.
(b) To that end, a correspondence between the characteristics of the Republic of Atlasia and the United States of America is desirable, except where a difference has been intentionally adopted.
(c) Because of the limitations of time and the number of players, these characteristics have diverged without any explict intent to have them do so.
(d) These differences form a barrier to new players by adding to the learning curve of the game.

§2. Purpose
The Senate of Atlasia intends that this Act should reduce the unintended differences between the Republic of Atlasia and the United States of America.

§3. Public Laws of the United States
(a) Subject to subsection (c), the public laws of the United States of America adopted during the First through Fourteenth Senates of Atlasia shall be adopted as laws of Atlasia.
(b) Beginning with the Sixteenth Senate and subject to subsection (c). at the close of each session of the Atlasia Senate, the public laws of the United States of America during the previous Senate of Alasia shall be adopted as laws of Atlasia.
(c) In subsections (a) and (b), the public laws of the United States of America passed during certain sessions of the Senate of Atlasia shall not be adopted where they are -
    (1) invalid under the constitution of Atlasia, or
    (2) contradict the laws passed by the Senate of Atlasia.

§4.  International events and condidtions
     The policies and economies of countries other than the Republic of Atlasia shall generally be reset to those existing in the real world at the time a new Game Moderator is appointed.  Where differences between in-game and real-world policies and economies directly as a result of differences in the foreign and trade policies of the Republic of Atlasia and the United States of America, the Game Moderator may allow those differences to continue to exist, but shall report as soon as possible after becoming Game Moderator a list of those differences.

§5. Domestic events and conditions
    The policies of Atlsaia shall be those adopted by the Republic of Atlasia.  The economy of Atlasia and the policy of non-governmental organizations of Atlasia should be based as closely as possible upon those of the United States of America, with the Game Moderator reporting on any differences as soon as possible a list of those differences.

§6. Timeliness of reports
(a) The Game Moderator is urged to provide the reports requested under sections 4 and 5 within one month of taking office so that the government of the Republic of Atlasia can react appropriately to such events.
(b) The Game Moderator may amend the reports requested under sections 4 and 5 if in doing so, he is able to provide greater detail of the world geopolitical and economic situation.  He should avoid amendments that change the world geopolitical and economic situation except where a policy of Atlsaia as embodied in law is brought to his attention and the amendments are as a result of that attention.

'Hawk'

[True Federalist (진정한 연방 주의자)]

Aye

[Bdub]

abstain

[Democratic Hawk]

Aye

'Hawk'

[Speed of Sound]

Nay


Just doing what I do best: Hearing good arguments and changing votes becuase of it

[Everett]

Aye.

[Colin]

Nay

This legislation is absolutely atrocious. It's despicable and horrible and I don't really know how anyone could vote for it. This would take away any of the legislative power that we have and put it into the hands of a US government, that, for the purposes of the game, does not exist. It would go over the heads, completely, of the Senators. It would make Atlasia subject to all the bad legislation, pork barrel projects, and earmarks that characterize the American political system. It would poison Atlasia by making this a completely ad hoc system. No longer would the Senate and the elected government of Atlasia act as an actual body with actual power. No we'll just be overseeing the country and acting as if we have power and giving ourselves little titles. It'll take away even the small amount of decisionmaking that we have in this fantasyland.

The 10 or so bills passed by each Senate would be swamped by the massive mound of Congressional legislation passed every 2-4 months by the Congress to the point where to get rid of all the bogus legislation that we do not want cluttering up Atlasia it would take a myriad of bills and Senatorial wrangling. We're letting a monster into our midst. A monster that is the American political beast, a beast made for a real working functioning country with its own beliefs and its own way of dealing with things, not the small online community that we have here. So, we have no oversight of the rules that get passed within Atlasia, the people have no oversight over what petty earmarks and appropriations are constantly being passed outside of the realm of Atlasia. The Senate has neither the time nor the energy to abolish all the bad legislation and stupid wastes that are passed by Congress and, certainly, that should not be our jobs.

So will you allow Atlasia to be swallowed up by a political process that is completely foreign to us and our laws? Or we you actually keep some semblance of reality in Atlasia and keep us at arms length from the problems and works of the real world.

[Virginian87]

Aye.

[True Federalist (진정한 연방 주의자)]

So will you allow Atlasia to be swallowed up by a political process that is completely foreign to us and our laws? Or we you actually keep some semblance of reality in Atlasia and keep us at arms length from the problems and works of the real world.

Colin, if we hope to get Atlasia revitalized we need to make the game accessible to new players.  That means keeping the differences down to those actually made by deliberate decision.  If you're worried about our budget going out of control, the solution is simple under this law, then work to see that the Senate actually passes one!  If it does, then it trumps whatever mistakes the Congress makes.

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

Abstain

[Colin]

So will you allow Atlasia to be swallowed up by a political process that is completely foreign to us and our laws? Or we you actually keep some semblance of reality in Atlasia and keep us at arms length from the problems and works of the real world.

Colin, if we hope to get Atlasia revitalized we need to make the game accessible to new players.  That means keeping the differences down to those actually made by deliberate decision.  If you're worried about our budget going out of control, the solution is simple under this law, then work to see that the Senate actually passes one!  If it does, then it trumps whatever mistakes the Congress makes.

How will this help people? Our laws are very much still in concert with America's. Where will this arguement lead next? End all other parties but Democrats and Republicans because people can't wrap their minds around things like parties with different names? I'm sorry but I can't see this actually keeping us in synch with America as just filling Atlasia with a vuluminous amount of bills and legislation that wouldn't pertain to the game at all in order to keep everything "synchronized" so that these fictional "new recruits" can "understand" the system. This would basically turn Atlasia into America: The Game, and I'm sorry there are plenty of other sites for people interested in playing make believe America.

If you want something that will actually retain people on the roles we should institute new deregistration laws. If you actually want some meaningful reform, instead of something that might help the "learning curve" of new applicants, which has never seemed to be a problem ever before, then why don't we consider some structural changes to the Atlasian government? I know you will counter this arguement well, what do I know I'm just the plain and simple Colin, but why don't we try thinking a little out of the box instead of automatically assuming that our difficulties are caused by the differences between our two systems.

All of us Atlasians are smart people I think we and all newly minted voters could easily come to understand the laws and structure of the Atlasian government. Saying that just because we haven't kept up with American law since 2004 is a handicap is the same as saying that because we have a unicameral legislature, or IRV, or more than two parties, or regions instead of states, causes undue stress upon new voters and those trying to learn about Atlasia.