Citizenship Bill

[Alunya]

This telegram was sent to R3nnaissanc3r (R3n, HMS Unicorn) in response to a telegram notifying Alunya of the introduction of the Citizenship Bill:

Meow, HMS Unicorn!

I am very much in favor of your bill, and were I still in the Regional Assembly, I would give it this public endorsement. (As I am not, I give you permission to post this in its entirety.)

It accomplishes the inclusion that the status quo does not. It recognizes that legislating does not appeal to all players, and yet permits them to stand for office and to vote for those who govern them. It eliminates what has been a choke point (the Regional Assembly) as a requirement to enfranchisement. Moreover, the Regional Assembly often is a harsh baptism by fire for the newcomer, who is either understandably intimidated or otherwise seeks a friendlier environ in other regions. I have suspected that we as a region have missed out on valuable contributions that could have been made by others to our overall efforts simply because of this insistence on Regional Assembly participation.

The very idea that those less interested in legislative affairs should just shut up and abstain in order to maintain a general enfranchisement would seem to run counter to the idea of service in the Regional Assembly. I have never understood why the strongest proponents of our legislature have advocated this policy except as a means of otherwise limiting and maintaining some measure of personal control over the body politic.

As a pragmatic matter, there will always be a strong preference to elect those who are active in the Regional Assembly, and this is the surest route for electoral success for almost every candidate. I foresee that most successful candidates will still emerge from that body with a record of active involvement.

If I were in the Regional Assembly, I would vote for this bill. And I say this knowing full well that with the same requirement to the obedience of the law, which includes Chapter 7, Section 7.3, Clause 14 of the Codified Law of the North Pacific, that I will have to decline citizenship in The North Pacific or if grandfathered in, that I will have to resign such citizenship. But that is a separate issue, best not dwelt on here, and in the best interests of The North Pacific I urge all Regional Assembly members to vote for this bill, even at my own expense.

I wish to thank you, HMS Unicorn, for introducing this bill and I hope for its successful passage and implementation as the law of The North Pacific.

>^,,^<
Alunya

 

[punk d]

I like the spirit behind the bill, but I'd prefer allowing citizens to stand for and vote in elections versus making citizens part of the new RA.

You see, I do believe there is a large swath of the population that are not overly concerned with legislating but would still like to continue to participate in TNP. I think we can draw those nations in by giving them a voice and this bill looks to do just that. I like that...but I think I'd like this bill better if it continued to separate the legislating from the act of being a citizen. On my initial read of the bill citizens are RA and vice versa.

This does not appear to be the intent of the bill, however. "Legislatively active" citizens are probably more analogous to the RA as we know it today. I think I'd like a clearer demarcation between the citizens who legislate and those who choose not to then what I'm currently reading in the bill.

Perhaps this is being nitpicky, but I do agree with the spirit of the law to include more people in the process. By taking these steps we could take more revolutionary steps to get more of the rank and file of the region involved. For example, just take the list of nations in TNP sort them by longest time in the region and recruit those nations who have been here longest but are not participating here on the forums. It's one thing to have them get involved in legislating and quite another to ask them to register as a citizen and vote on who runs the region they are already vested in. This bill could help us achieve such a thing and make our community that much more greater.

 

[Andrew]

I like the spirit behind the bill, but I'd prefer allowing citizens to stand for and vote in elections versus making citizens part of the new RA.

You see, I do believe there is a large swath of the population that are not overly concerned with legislating but would still like to continue to participate in TNP. I think we can draw those nations in by giving them a voice and this bill looks to do just that. I like that...but I think I'd like this bill better if it continued to separate the legislating from the act of being a citizen. On my initial read of the bill citizens are RA and vice versa.

This does not appear to be the intent of the bill, however. "Legislatively active" citizens are probably more analogous to the RA as we know it today. I think I'd like a clearer demarcation between the citizens who legislate and those who choose not to then what I'm currently reading in the bill.

Perhaps this is being nitpicky, but I do agree with the spirit of the law to include more people in the process. By taking these steps we could take more revolutionary steps to get more of the rank and file of the region involved. For example, just take the list of nations in TNP sort them by longest time in the region and recruit those nations who have been here longest but are not participating here on the forums. It's one thing to have them get involved in legislating and quite another to ask them to register as a citizen and vote on who runs the region they are already vested in. This bill could help us achieve such a thing and make our community that much more greater.

What he just said

 

[punk d]

Here is what I'd like to see:

The North Pacific Citizenship drive of 2014
The purpose of the drive would be to get people onto our offsite forums and let their voices be heard. We know that not all members of TNP really want to be involved in legislating, but we also know that many members have a lot to contribute besides voting and making legislative edits. Let's be intentional about valuing those contributions by changing our laws to reflect those values. In this manner we allow citizens to:

• Vote in all elections (General & Judiciary)
• Give any nation residing in TNP the right to apply for citizenship under one nation within TNP.
• Grant all citizens the right to join or abstain from joining the legislative body of TNP, the Regional Assembly.
• Allow all citizens to stand for the following elected offices - delegate, vice delegate, attorney general, justice, and security council member. Speaker of the RA would be selected from amongst RA members.
• Allow citizens to serve as ministers and deputy ministers except within the Speaker's office where deputies would need to also be members of the RA.

I would charge that the Speaker's office would be responsible for maintaining both the citizen and RA member rolls within the region. I think a system like this can greatly enhance our community and truly set it apart from other communities within NationStates. I think the bill at discussion is similar in spirit to this tone, I think it just needs a bit more tweaking.