All Power to the Regions? (speech)

[Filuwaúrdjan]

Well, not strictly a speech, more some observations. I would like to keep ranting down to a minimum and to eliminate the dark forces of rhetoric that threaten the clear speech gifted to us by our forefathers and their forefathers and their forefathers forefathers.

First point; Regional government in this country is, on the whole, a cross between a sham and a joke. Regional government, of course, varies from Region to Region but can usually be described with by one (usually more than one) of the following:

1. totally dominated by a single active individual.
2. rather like a chamber of commerce or a toothless town council in a small town.
3. merely a ladder for future federal careers
4. dead

To illustrate my point, let us look at the careers of the last three people to be Governer of the Mideast. Polnut first ran for Senate then for President then for President again. Inks ran for Vice President and for Senate and is now running for Governer again. HappyWarrior is concluding his time as Governer with running for Senate. This is not an attack against any of these people (or even an attack on people running for federal office) but an example of what has become a fairly typical pattern (and of course it is not limited to the Mideast region).

Second point; Regional elections and referenda tend to have piss-poor turnout, regional politics is not something that either the media or the population have much of an interest in, regional legislation is both sparse and badly drafted, while most Regional governments have a whole host of utterly useless offices that tend to serve as lower rungs on the ladder to federal office or as a means of keeping defeated politicians on the gravy train. To put it another way; the very machinary of regional government has been reduce to a little more than a pathetic skeleton. And one with more arms than necessary.

Third point; but despite all of this, the Regions, in theory, wield great power here. Read the Constitution people; it's all in there. The Senate, and to a lesser extent the Executive, might be where all the power seems to be but, and I tell you this from personal experience, that's not really the case. The powers of the federal government are strictly limited here, far more so than in countries such as the United States. The current, awful, state of Regional government means that there is a great hole in the centre our our political landscape as many of the issues that people deeply care about are not federal ones. Because of this we must either change the constitution in order to abolish or weaken Regional government, or we must change Regional government from within.

Personally I favour the second option.

[Хahar 🤔]

I suport your idea wholeheartedly. There must be a "trial region" to test what should be done, however.

[Verily]

I've tried to change Regional government from "within", as it were, in the Northeast, but no one is interested in much except voting on new legislation each month. Debate is minimal, and people vote along ideological lines without offering suggestions to improve legislation. In short, the vast majority of the population has no interest in legislating, and forcing them to be the legislators of the most powerful political entities is and has always been a disastrously bad idea.

[MasterJedi]

We've already known this was a problem for a long time. The main problems are that people don't seem to care as much about the regions and there aren't as many people as their used to be.

We need to try and get people active in the regions again, we don't need a change in the Constitution at all.

[bgwah]

Merely a sign of how participation in this game is about half of what it used to be--there simply are not enough people to truly fill each position. We abolished our Chief Justice position in the Pacific since we realized how pointless it was, and really only keep the Lt. Governor for cases where the Governor resigns.

And personally, I've never seen anything wrong with using regional positions as a stepping stone to federal office.

[Queen Mum Inks.LWC]

We've already known this was a problem for a long time. The main problems are that people don't seem to care as much about the regions and there aren't as many people as their used to be.

We need to try and get people active in the regions again, we don't need a change in the Constitution at all.

Absolutely.

[TomC]

We need to try and get people active in the regions again

I don't believe optimism was an option.

[Filuwaúrdjan]

I've tried to change Regional government from "within", as it were,

Yeah; I tried and failed at that as well, as have plenty of other people over the years. By change from within what I actually mean is smash to pieces from within and replace with something better (after all, not much could actually be worse).

[Small Business Owner of Any Repute]

I've tried to change Regional government from "within", as it were, in the Northeast, but no one is interested in much except voting on new legislation each month. Debate is minimal, and people vote along ideological lines without offering suggestions to improve legislation. In short, the vast majority of the population has no interest in legislating, and forcing them to be the legislators of the most powerful political entities is and has always been a disastrously bad idea.

I think the Northeast has made terrific strides in activity as of late.  As well we should—being the most populous region means we have a lot to live up to.

You make some terrific points here, and I think I will introduce a couple "controversial" policy initiatives for the April legislative session—including the school reform bill that narrowly failed last time around.  I think debate on it (which was somewhat lacking last time) will boost its chances of passing, and with a little bit of bonus exposure in the papers by Jas, I think we can make things a little bit more interesting on the regional level.

In other words, I'm going to the CITIZEN AL CHALLENGE^TM!

[minionofmidas]

Al is right. And it would probably be more sensible to just change the goddam constitution.

[Colin]

Al is right. And it would probably be more sensible to just change the goddam constitution.

Yeah, I'm pretty much of that opinion as well. We can talk about raising regional activity until the cows come home but I have a real doubt that anything will change in the way regions are governed.

[afleitch]

Al is right. And it would probably be more sensible to just change the goddam constitution.

Yeah, I'm pretty much of that opinion as well. We can talk about raising regional activity until the cows come home but I have a real doubt that anything will change in the way regions are governed.

We've tried that before as both of us are well aware Ultimately the one regional 'power' that remains active is the right for them to effectively veto amendments if x number of regions do not vote in favour of an amendment. It makes abolishing the blighters immensly difficult.

[Colin]

Al is right. And it would probably be more sensible to just change the goddam constitution.

Yeah, I'm pretty much of that opinion as well. We can talk about raising regional activity until the cows come home but I have a real doubt that anything will change in the way regions are governed.

We've tried that before as both of us are well aware Ultimately the one regional 'power' that remains active is the right for them to effectively veto amendments if x number of regions do not vote in favour of an amendment. It makes abolishing the blighters immensly difficult.

Oh yes I know Andrew. We've tried this so many times I've almost lost my mind. I'll keep trying to push for it though as I believe it is much needed.

[Хahar 🤔]

Bumping for all you newbies with a romanticized view of federalism. The problems Al mentioned are still there. Seceding to protect it won't do jackѕhit.

[DownWithTheLeft]

Bumping for all you newbies with a romanticized view of federalism. The problems Al mentioned are still there. Seceding to protect it won't do jackѕhit.

Xahar, are you seriously calling myself a noob?  I was a Lt. Gov. and two-term senator before you joined.  SPC a Lt. Gov. and senate candidate before.  Duke and PiT are the only secessionists here shorter than you, and Xahar your still a newbie

[Хahar 🤔]

Bumping for all you newbies with a romanticized view of federalism. The problems Al mentioned are still there. Seceding to protect it won't do jackѕhit.

Xahar, are you seriously calling myself a noob?  I was a Lt. Gov. and two-term senator before you joined.  SPC a Lt. Gov. and senate candidate before.  Duke and PiT are the only secessionists here shorter than you, and Xahar your still a newbie

I was referring to Duke and PiT in particular, but you would do well to understand it yourself.

[DownWithTheLeft]

Bumping for all you newbies with a romanticized view of federalism. The problems Al mentioned are still there. Seceding to protect it won't do jackѕhit.

Xahar, are you seriously calling myself a noob?  I was a Lt. Gov. and two-term senator before you joined.  SPC a Lt. Gov. and senate candidate before.  Duke and PiT are the only secessionists here shorter than you, and Xahar your still a newbie

I was referring to Duke and PiT in particular, but you would do well to understand it yourself.

Your missing the point of why we are seceding (or at least voting on doing so if we get screwed over).  The point is that the game is so dull and lifeless right now something needs to be done.  A drastic step seems to be the only one.

[SPC]

Bumping for all you newbies with a romanticized view of federalism. The problems Al mentioned are still there. Seceding to protect it won't do jackѕhit.

Xahar, are you seriously calling myself a noob?  I was a Lt. Gov. and two-term senator before you joined.  SPC a Lt. Gov. and senate candidate before.  Duke and PiT are the only secessionists here shorter than you, and Xahar your still a newbie

I am also a former presidential candidate.

[Хahar 🤔]

Bumping for all you newbies with a romanticized view of federalism. The problems Al mentioned are still there. Seceding to protect it won't do jackѕhit.

Xahar, are you seriously calling myself a noob?  I was a Lt. Gov. and two-term senator before you joined.  SPC a Lt. Gov. and senate candidate before.  Duke and PiT are the only secessionists here shorter than you, and Xahar your still a newbie

I am also a former presidential candidate.

Which shows your lack of sense.

[minionofmidas]

Oh, some idiot with a  pretend grievance, pretending to revolt. How refreshingly new! Yawn.

Seriously. That's the one element of the former, more active Atlasia that I have never missed at all.

[DownWithTheLeft]

Oh, some idiot with a  pretend grievance, pretending to revolt. How refreshingly new! Yawn.

Seriously. That's the one element of the former, more active Atlasia that I have never missed at all.

There's no "pretend grievance".  Your asinine bill is our grievance

[Colin]

Oh, some idiot with a  pretend grievance, pretending to revolt. How refreshingly new! Yawn.

Seriously. That's the one element of the former, more active Atlasia that I have never missed at all.

Well I think Sam said it best when he said that StatesRights and Jake did it better. The current band of idiots is a poor cover of what was, even back then, nerve-wracking and idiotic.

[bgwah]

Getting rid of the Southeast might be the best thing that could happen to Atlasia...

[Torie]

There is not enough of a critical mass here to support both regions, and the federal government. We have about 25 active citizens at most. We need to go the way of France. Let's get real here. I might add that any faction, or facsimile thereof,  could take over Atasia if it got interested. We are that attenuated. As it is, we have a regime based on the force of personalities, and the respect such individuals have garnered. That is not all bad, to the extent that they earn it, and work to retain it.

[minionofmidas]

Oh, some idiot with a  pretend grievance, pretending to revolt. How refreshingly new! Yawn.

Seriously. That's the one element of the former, more active Atlasia that I have never missed at all.

Well I think Sam said it best when he said that StatesRights and Jake did it better. The current band of idiots is a poor cover of what was, even back then, nerve-wracking and idiotic.

I wasn't even thinking specifically of Southern states-rights-themed "rebellions".