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What is the state of government?


AJD

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  • 2 weeks later...

All I know is that GOV is kind of an abandoned faction which rarely makes an appearance both IC or OOCly. Faction Management needs to step up their game and get something done. For exemple, a State Government instead of a Municipal one.

 

A State Assembly / State Senate, a Cabinet, different departments, and so on.

A few ideas for departments;

- State Department (normally for foreign affairs, I'd say use it as ''Head of Legal Factions'' with the Secretary of State being ''third in command'' aswell as the Head of Legal Factions. Assistant Secretaries for each faction?)

- Department of Justice (not really GOV, but good addition with a District Attorney and so on)

- Department of Infrastructure (Incharge of power, water, roads, etc..)

- Department of Commerce (Handling economic policy, taking care of business licenses)

- Department of Treasury (incharge of the state treasury)

 

Should I keep going? GOV has a lot to improve and this is just the tip of the iceberg of what could be done.

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It's a common misconception that the Gov is inactive. I can't be bothered writing up a wall of text again, but I explained the Government's activity in the past:

 

10 minutes ago, ThatDutchPerson said:

GOV has a lot to improve and this is just the tip of the iceberg of what could be done.

Most of what you mentioned is already being done,

 

14 minutes ago, ThatDutchPerson said:

rarely makes an appearance both IC or OOCly

Since hiring a Curator of Culture, the Gov have hosted several IC events, such as Thanksgiving dinners with the Mayor, a Christmas event in Legion Square, and a meet and greet at the GWC Golfing Society.

11 minutes ago, ThatDutchPerson said:
7 minutes ago, ThatDutchPerson said:

- Department of Justice

This already exists, it's responsible for the courts, which have actively responded to cases.

 

8 minutes ago, ThatDutchPerson said:

- Department of Infrastructure (Incharge of power, water, roads, etc..)

It would be a massive project. We already had a Gov based energy firm in the past, it required a player with specialist knowledge to setup and a lot of time investment, but ultimately went nowhere. I spoke about it a bit on the link above.

 

9 minutes ago, ThatDutchPerson said:

- Department of Treasury (incharge of the state treasury)

This role already exists and is behind all of the Government's financial decisions.

 

Most of these things exist, I think they're just not easily visible to most players. Ultimately, having a good PR person(/s) would help Gov a lot, as while they have a lot of responsibility, they don't have someone broadcasting it.

 

When it comes to Government, a lot of people need to understand that it's a huge investment. It requires time and knowledge to setup right, and while many people would be eager to jump into the role, not everyone would do it well. Elections would especially be iffy, as they'd become OOC popularity contests that would likely end up with someone who isn't up for the job.

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This keeps coming up and getting nowhere.

 

GOV is actually more active more now than it has been for a long time, it works more as a civil service than a political wasteland.

 

Ultimately, things have happened to begin the process of turning government into a political institution and they've not worked, if anyone has any proposals that might actually work, I suggest them to send them to FM in a message, another general discussion post will do nothing to help.

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I will give my 2 cents on govt activity based on my interactions with them in past 6 months, mainly licensing as that's what I had to go thru.

Around 6 months ago getting a license was more of a hassle due to long wait time, as well as the fact that it all handled thru forums without really meeting anyone.

Since then (specifically 2 days ago) I've had the pleasure of having to go thru the entire licensing process again, this time it took more or less 24 hours between registering new business, applying for license, going thru inspection, payment and issue of the same, including actual inspection done by govt official going thru basic safety protocol of a building (fire exit, first aid kit, fire extinguishers)...

So yeah, based on what little interactions I've had with them I'd say govt went a long way from what it used to be, just because they maybe don't drive around in SUVs with govt license plates doesn't mean they aren't there.

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Im not saying that GOV should drive around just to show a presence. But as Pascal said there are appearntly a lot of government branches active. The question remains; where are they? The government seriously needs a good PR guy for both IC and OOC PR.

 

Just because elections could turn into a popularity contest doesnt mean that they should be abolished! Thats a big no no there. Have a few admins dedicate themselves to moderating these elections. Candidates for the Assembly or Senate would have to apply first and admins would have to approve that. Its that easy; admins can rule out any unfit/unrealistic candidates while still keeping a fair legislative branch.

 

Because afterall, a government does more than just maintaining the state factions and infrastructure. A government without an elected legislative branch is a dictatorship with multiple people on its top, period.

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The lack of a legislature overshadows the current activity and all the activity which did exist in the past.  This is not something that can be easily shaken off.

 

The lack of legislature creates significant disruption and has a wide-reaching impact.  You cannot have an executive branch or civil service which exercises its authority lawfully without a legislature.  You cannot have a fully functioning judiciary without a legislature.  You cannot have a fully-functional legal system without a legislature.  The two latter points were demonstrated very recently in a court situation in which my character was involved; he was threatened with punishment for something for which the legislature never legislated.  A court was forced to act lawlessly because lawmaking is severely lagging behind.

 

I don't understand how anyone thinks it is suitable for one person to legislate for the entire state -- especially doing so in a piecemeal fashion.

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"Im not saying that GOV should drive around just to show a presence." — That's how it's coming across though, just from your presupposition that we're an abandoned faction. We're not the PD and FD where we have an omnipresent feel to our faction just because we're always visible, because most of the role-play that happens is extremely niche and only involves a select group of people. That's just how it is; expecting us to patrol the streets shilling buttons donning the American flag and some political motto on it, pamphlets with crime rates, and attending every outing is simply unfeasible. I concur that it reflects poorly on the faction, but please understand that there's a lot of cogs and wheels turning internally. We're not dormant in the slightest. We just launched the Department of Public Social Services, the Department of Finance is blooming and application times have been greatly expedited, and as the lone member of Cultural Affairs, I'm working with everything and anything tangible to turn it into role-play for us to engage with the public.

 

Again, we all have real life commitments (work, school, just life in general), but we still make it work to the best of our ability. I regret that you, and anyone whose opinion aligns with yours, feel that we're not there as much as we should be. I'm a big believer in OOC transparency pertaining to the faction, and thus, I more than welcome OOC inquiries my way to facilitate productive and insightful discussion. I can't promise I'll be able to give an answer for every question, but at least I'll know who you should pose the question to, and you can go from there.

 

It'd be really great if people lowered their pitchforks. All factions should be held to a standard, yes, but holding someone under a magnifying glass of hyperscrutiny is counterproductive, for it'll do nothing but demotivate. Perpetuating the narrative of GOV being inactive without at least trying to have correspondence with a member about the subject does nothing but worsen the stigma we so regrettably have. A lot of factors tie into our current predicament, one being engagement. It's hard to realize our niche role-play onto a bigger scale when people seldom engage unless they have something to gain from it.

 

PS: This Sunday at 6:00 PM. Stop by if you can.

 

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On 2/4/2020 at 9:54 PM, Midsummer Night's Dream said:

The lack of a legislature overshadows the current activity and all the activity which did exist in the past.  This is not something that can be easily shaken off.

 

The lack of legislature creates significant disruption and has a wide-reaching impact.  You cannot have an executive branch or civil service which exercises its authority lawfully without a legislature.  You cannot have a fully functioning judiciary without a legislature.  You cannot have a fully-functional legal system without a legislature.  The two latter points were demonstrated very recently in a court situation in which my character was involved; he was threatened with punishment for something for which the legislature never legislated.  A court was forced to act lawlessly because lawmaking is severely lagging behind.

 

I don't understand how anyone thinks it is suitable for one person to legislate for the entire state -- especially doing so in a piecemeal fashion.

And after the Government representative above has already addressed the claims of inactivity, this questions is yet unanswered.

 

You simply cannot have a functional government if you dont have an elected legislature! Sure this could turn into a popularity contest, but then again, we have a Faction Management for a reason dont we? You could make an application process (one that does NOT restrict people their propositions because they dont align with FM wishes), and then the FM could reject unrealistic candidates.

 

If you dont have a legislature, then you might aswell just abandone the whole lawmaking in general.

This is SUCH a BIG roleplay oppertunity and its being tossed out for a *potential* downside. What a shame.

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Can't speak for the rest of the government branches, though as a member of the judiciary faction (DOJ), I can confirm we're alive and kicking. All our cases are open to the public to view, should you ever wish to take some of your time to read through the cases.

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