WHEREAS The current system of selecting the Seneschal is way too cumbersome given that the result is pretty much known in advance, and

WHEREAS The system for selecting the Túischac'h works well, and if applied to select the Seneschal, would lead to the same result as an election almost all of the time, and

WHEREAS We also have no method of finding a new Seneschal when the existing Seneschal resigns and there is no Distain

THEREFORE Article VI of the Organic Law, which currently reads:

QuoteSection 1 The head of the Government is the Prime Minister, who shall be known otherwise as the Seneschál. Any Talossan, except for the King of Talossa, shall be eligible to be the Seneschál. (54RZ23)

Section 2 The Seneschál shall be selected directly by the Cosâ, and his term shall expire upon the installation of his successor. He shall maintain the confidence of a majority of the Cosâ alone in order to hold the office. (54RZ23)

Section 3 The Seneschál has duties of the State. He may advise the King to dissolve the Cosâ and to appoint and remove members of the Cabinet, and such advice to the King shall not be refused. He may also declare war and write treaties with the approval of the Ziu, expedite the Ziu's consideration of legislation, and issue Prime Dictates. (54RZ23)

Section 4 Prime Dictates (PDs) are public declarations which affect government policy and have the force of law. They take effect upon their countersignature by the King and function as laws for all purposes, with such exceptions and subject to such conditions as the Ziu may enact by statute. Prime Dictates are exempt from all provisions relating unto legislative proposals, but may never be used to amend this Organic Law. (54RZ23)

Section 5 The election of a Seneschál shall be the sole and exclusive business of the first Clark of every newly seated Ziu, but neither a member of the Senäts nor the King may vote on the matter. The Senäts may undertake during such Clark any of their business for which the consent of the Cosâ or the King be not requisite. (54RZ23)

The method of election of a Seneschál shall be Ranked Choice Voting. Each member of the Cosâ shall have as many votes in the election as the seats which he hold in the Cosâ, but shall cast his votes as one bloc and have no divided conscience. The candidates for each such election shall be nominated by each political party which shall have earned representation in the Cosâ at the most recent general election. (54RZ23) (55RZ22)

No member of the Cosâ may abstain in the election of a Seneschál, and shall rank on his ballot at least two distinct preferences, which itself shall be made public. (54RZ23)

Whichever candidate shall have earned a majority of the votes in his election, as according to the method of Ranked Choice Voting, shall be appointed subsequently and forthwith by the King to serve as Seneschál, and the results of the election shall be published at large in the Clark. (54RZ23)

Section 6 The Seneschál shall announce publicly both the members of the incoming Government and the Government's legislative agenda at least before, if not sooner than, the last day on which a member of the Ziu may submit a measure to the second Clark. Failing this, the King shall dissolve the Cosa and call new elections.(54RZ23)(55RZ22)

Section 7 No election for the Seneschál shall occur, except during the first Clark of a newly seated Ziu. (54RZ23)

Section 8 The Seneschál shall appoint a member of the Government to be the Deputy Prime Minister, who shall be known otherwise as the Distáin. The Distáin shall act in place of the Seneschál in case of absence or disability of the latter, and shall become the Seneschál in case of death, removal or resignation. The Ziu may establish by law the procedures and standards in order to determine the absence or disability of the Seneschál, as well as the manner or conditions by which the Distáin shall be appointed. (54RZ23)

Section 9 The King appoints and dismisses members of the Government (Cabinet) on the advice of the Seneschal. The Government consists of the Seneschal, the Distáin, and various other ministers as set by law or appointed as the Seneschal sees fit. (54RZ23)

Section 10 Cabinet Ministers are responsible to the Seneschal, whom they advise and from whom they receive direction, and exercise state power with his consent. (54RZ23)

Section 11 Whenever the Government should lose the confidence of the Cosâ by a formal vote, the same Government shall remain in offce as caretakers until a new Seneschál shall be duly installed. (54RZ23)

Shall be amended to read:

QuoteSection 1 The head of the Government is the Prime Minister, who shall be known otherwise as the Seneschal. Any Talossan, except for the King of Talossa, shall be eligible to be the Seneschal. (54RZ23)

Section 2 The Seneschal shall be selected by each newly elected Cosâ. When the King is presented with a petition to appoint a Seneschal, signed by MCs who together hold a majority of seats in the Cosâ as then constituted, the person named in the petition shall be appointed by the King to be the Seneschal. Should no such petition be made by the first day of the first Clark, that Clark shall include a Ranked Choice Vote to select the Seneschal. Each party holding seats in the Cosa may nominate one candidate for this election.

Section 3 The Seneschal has duties of the State. He may advise the King to dissolve the Cosâ and to appoint and remove members of the Cabinet, and such advice to the King shall not be refused. He may also declare war and write treaties with the approval of the Ziu, expedite the Ziu's consideration of legislation, and issue Prime Dictates. (54RZ23)

Section 4 Prime Dictates (PDs) are public declarations which affect government policy and have the force of law. They take effect upon their countersignature by the King and function as laws for all purposes, with such exceptions and subject to such conditions as the Ziu may enact by statute. Prime Dictates are exempt from all provisions relating unto legislative proposals, but may never be used to amend this Organic Law. (54RZ23)

Section 5 The Seneschal shall appoint a member of the Government to be the Deputy Prime Minister, who shall be known otherwise as the Distáin. The Distáin shall act in place of the Seneschal in case of absence or disability of the latter, and shall become the Seneschal in case of death, removal or resignation. The Ziu may establish by law the procedures and standards in order to determine the absence or disability of the Seneschal, as well as the manner or conditions by which the Distain shall be appointed. (54RZ23)

Section 6 If the office of the Seneschal becomes vacant, and there is no Distain, then the most senior Minister (according to the seniority of the Ministries) shall become acting Seneschal until MCs together holding a majority of seats in the Cosa petition the King to name a new Seneschal.

Section 7 The King appoints and dismisses members of the Government (Cabinet) on the advice of the Seneschal. The Government consists of the Seneschal, the Distain, and various other ministers as set by law or appointed as the Seneschal sees fit. (54RZ23)

Section 8 Cabinet Ministers are responsible to the Seneschal, whom they advise and from whom they receive direction, and exercise state power with his consent. (54RZ23)

Section 9 At the expiration of each Cosa, the existing Government shall remain in office as caretakers until a new Seneschal shall be duly installed. (54RZ23)

FURTHERMORE, Article IV.7 is amended to read:

QuoteSection 7 A newly elected Ziu shall convene on the first day of the month after its general election, to coincide with the publication of the first Clark. Its term shall be equal to six Clarks, subject to the provisions elsewhere in this Organic Law. During its last month, the King shall issue a Writ of Dissolution ending its term. Whenever the Cosâ may be dissolved, all its members shall resign. (54RZ23) (53RZ18)

Ureu q'estadra sa:
Ian Plätschisch (Sen-MM)

Quote from: Miestră Schivă, UrN on May 09, 2022, 04:26:57 PM
I'm in favour of moving forward on this, as long as it also deals with the other issue of the Seneschalsqåb falling vacant between elections and there might not be a Distáin. I.e., if the "nomination mechanism" can be triggered at other times than after a general election.

In addition: how about we put the election procedure into statute law so it can be tweaked when necessary? The process would be:

- delete OrgLaw IV.5 in its entireity;
- tweak OrgLaw IV.2 as follows:

QuoteThe Seneschál shall be elected directly by the Cosâ in accordance with law, and his term shall expire upon the installation of his successor. The candidate chosen shall be appointed subsequently and forthwith by the King to serve as Seneschál. He shall maintain the confidence of a majority of the Cosâ alone in order to hold the office.

Are we sure we want the procedure in statute law? That seems too important to be changed willy-nilly.

I could come up with an amendment if this idea is popular enough.

One of the goals of the incoming Government is to do a trial run of Google ads to promote immigration. In preparation, I have set up Google Analytics on talossa.com. I will keep everyone updated with anything interesting that it tells me.

I must admit that an election to determine the Seneschal, when in practice the Seneschal is determined by parties making up a majority of the Cosa, is maybe not very useful. On the other hand, I totally understand the concern that, if the King gets to nominate whoever he wants, it might go badly.

What if we did something similar to how we select the Tuis'chach.
-MCs representing a majority of the Cosa present a petition to the King to appoint X as Seneschal. The King then must (and will be deemed to if he doesn't) appoint X as Seneschal.
-If no such petition is presented within X time, the Cosa holds a ranked-choice vote. This ensures that someone will be named Seneschal regardless of any impasse (although their government would probably not be very stable)

In the insurance industry, the risk of "rogue admins not approving new subforums" would probably be referred to as low frequency, low severity:
-It probably won't happen
-If it does happen, the consequences aren't that bad (an organization has to use a different subforum until the situation is addressed)

The response to low frequency, low severity risks is usually to do nothing, because any proactive response would be unjustifiably costly. In this case, we would be imposing a complex process on everyone when it isn't necessary.

Note especially that while black swans are low frequency but very high severity, this risk is low severity as described above.

Quote from: Antonio Montagnha, Ed. D. on April 27, 2022, 11:26:48 AM
Good legislation does not make rules for the ideal now or the best operators, rather it seeks to eliminate the opportunity for for maleficence and self-serving actors; not because our current administrators are so inclined but because it is well inside of common human behavior to do so. Better to legislate the barn door closed before letting the tyrant our of the barn.

I'm not sure how that applies here. The worst case scenario seems to be that future admins will refuse to create new subforums; if that ever happens we could pass a bill to deal with it then.

Quote from: Eðo Grischun on April 26, 2022, 09:16:15 PM
I think we are doing our usual thing here and over-complicating things.

Would a simple 'breach of the peace' law work?  Make it a criminal offence to cause other Talossans alarm and distress?  Probably inOrganic, but is it worth exploring?

I'm sure you considered this but defining "causing alarm and distress" is pretty much impossible, plus I don't think causing alarm should be criminal anyway (if by distress you mean an actual threat of violence, I think that's illegal already)

Given that admins have traditionally been happy to create new boards when asked, I tend to think we do not need this law at all.

Reposting because people seem to be missing the main point.

Quote from: Ian Plätschisch on April 22, 2022, 09:05:16 PM
Voters vote for a party, not for individuals. It is thus clear that the TNC was encouraging an MC to betray their own voters, which seems pretty bad.

Voters vote for a party, not for individuals. It is thus clear that the TNC was encouraging an MC to betray their own voters, which seems pretty bad.

Quote from: Baron Alexandreu Davinescu on April 21, 2022, 04:11:24 PM

Quote from: Dr. Txec Róibeard dal Nordselvă, Esq., O.SPM, SMM on April 21, 2022, 01:51:39 PM
I've been giving this some thought and I think I will apply to become a Senior Fellow. My curiosity however is what type of lecture should be presented. My expertise is in public school education, but I would think that whatever the topic of a lecture is, it should be at least tangentially relevant to Talossa. Hmm.

There are no rules about what can be presented, and in the past only a small fraction of things presented had anything to do with Talossa. I think it's great that you want to join! Really, I think anyone who writes any kind of lectures or essays or whatever should join, and share them here. It was always really cool to see what everyone was working on, and I always learned something about math from @Ian Plätschisch 's posts.

Math fact of the day: "sexy primes" are primes that differ by six (as opposed to twin primes that differ by two and cousin primes that differ by four)

I felt like I was watching the beginning of a movie, when all of the production studios play their clips

That's not a bad idea.

I also vote for AD