Wittenberg

(https://wiki.talossa.com/images/e/e0/PdR_Logo_Wordmark.png)

El Partì da Reformaziun, the Reform Party, is currently welcoming new members who may wish to serve as Members of the 60th Cosa. If you are someone who wants to make a positive difference for our country and help build toward a brighter tomorrow, consider registering with the PdR! Our goal is to lead Talossa into a more democratic future, where our culture can flourish under a smoother, more responsive state structure. If this sounds like your goal -- if you find our 50-word statement (https://wittenberg.talossa.com/index.php?topic=3178.msg27481#msg27481) appealing -- if our platform (https://docs.google.com/document/d/e/2PACX-1vTRCtQHEtWkIHIHGIJaDsuEV0d-Rl9lsnrXm1sJ1-AGoowUQUAbR0p_eUt838z72mN7aKnj6OAoPF7d/pub) aligns with your own values -- then think about reaching out to Mic'haglh Autófil, our Zirecteir Naziunal, for more information. And regardless of whether the PdR sounds like your cup of tea, be sure to watch this space as details on the PdR platform's planks is released!

Azul,

I have been trying to access La Tascaragnă Nouă.

Yours,

Garth Spencer
(Vancouver, Canada)

Quote from: Garth Spencer on June 03, 2024, 01:35:14 AMAzul,

I have been trying to access La Tascaragnă Nouă.

Yours,

Garth Spencer
(Vancouver, Canada)

Azul Garth! If the most recent issue isn't downloading properly from the thread I published it in (https://wittenberg.talossa.com/index.php?topic=3192.0), I've re-attached it at here. Let me know if this works.

One of the PdR's main objectives during the 60th Cosă is to implement a major reform to the Cosă itself: instead of being elected by party-list proportional representation, we will propose to transition to a Cosă elected by Mixed-Member Proportional Representation.

• "What the heck is that?", you ask? It's a system that combines proportional representation and regional districts, in order to ensure that smaller provinces' citizens cannot be drowned out on the national stage while still maintaining a proportionate legislature that accurately reflects the electorate.
• "Doesn't the current structure of the Ziu do that already?" - Yes, but it does so in a way that is: (a) needlessly clunky for Talossa's size, (b) chokes other potential reforms (especially those concerning provincial mergers) in gridlock, and (c) requires too many people; Senators are eight individuals that are unable to help "share the load" of Cosă seats, and we have seen several recent Cosăs where multiple MCs are holding the maximum number of seats permitted.
• "Wouldn't this over-represent provinces, if the Senäts also represents them equally?" - it would, though the goal is to implement an MMP Cosă as the first step to transitioning to a unicameral Ziu overall.
• "How does all this work, anyway?" - Basically, provincial seats are won using a given method (ranked-choice voting is a likely front-runner), and the remaining seats are divided among parties to approximate a proportional result, taking the provincial seats into account.

Considering how we make dramatic, sweeping changes almost every single year, it does not seem correct to me to say that the Senate chokes off reforms.

It also seems like switching to a unicameral system risks concentrating power even more significantly in the hands of just one or two people.  That's already a problem, since the crown has almost no political power at all and can't provide a counterweight -- eliminating one of the last remaining checks in our system seems unwise.

Yup. I agree with Mic'haglh that the fact the provinces serve as Senatorial constituencies hampers efforts at reducing the numbers of provinces so that activity does not get diluted; but I disagree that abolishing the Senate is at all necessary, and despite my past "tepid consideration" ("support" is a bit much) of it, I feel that MMP is too needlessly complicated. EM200 still feels somewhat wrong, but I can live with it.

What I'd much rather do is move Senate seats from 8 province-based single seat constituencies to a single nationwide constituency, so that in each GE we all vote for four of eight Senators, with 4 votes per voter and the top 4 vote getters being elected. This would solve provincial malapportionment, unbind provinces from the Senate so they get to be more than mere senatorial voting clubs, and thus remove the incentive to keep eight provinces because nobody wants to give up a Senate seat.

Quote from: Sir Lüc on June 05, 2024, 12:40:44 PMWhat I'd much rather do is move Senate seats from 8 province-based single seat constituencies to a single nationwide constituency, so that in each GE we all vote for four of eight Senators, with 4 votes per voter and the top 4 vote getters being elected. This would solve provincial malapportionment, unbind provinces from the Senate so they get to be more than mere senatorial voting clubs, and thus remove the incentive to keep eight provinces because nobody wants to give up a Senate seat.

Barring abolition of Senate I really like this idea.