[Discussion] Governmental Reform

[Creeperopolis]

I'll go through this in the order of things I feel most strongly about from most to least.

We are not democratizing the consulate: no Council votes on consular successors and no Council votes of no confidence on consuls. What Quebec said earlier explains it well: "there's also no way to enforce it meaningfully versus game mechanics". Additionally, the "Consulate Orders" already exist (it's not just a meme), and the consular veto has never been abused (or used much at all for that matter). In my opinion, the Consulate is fine as it is. Meanwhile, the position of Speaker of the Council was previously an elected office. Two elections occurred in the early months of the office (March 2021 and May 2021); neither vote was a close competition, and it was a hassle to get the whole process organized. The democratic Speaker of the Council was done away with in the first place because it was impractical and unnecessarily decisive. There are no political parties because, because prior to the current constitution, partisan politics got in the way of effective community building and led to unnecessary animosity between region members. I oppose making the Speaker of the Council an elected position again.

I'm ok with making the Speaker of the Council have more of a standing position in comparison to other Council Delegates, as as it stands right now, the "Speaker of the Council" feels like a glorified title that doesn't do much. You proposed forming a "Council clerk" to update the law archive on the forums, article on the wiki regarding laws, and manage the Council votes. This would be a great way to devolve a power from the consulate while granting relevance to a Council position which is intended to have some legislative powers; I would support and recommend this proposal.

After being in this region for almost 5 years now, I have witnessed first-hand the downfall of the nomination system. Back then, when I was nominated for the first time to the 2nd session of the Council of the Republic, being nominated actually meant something, and those who nominate someone give a reason as to why they are nominating the individual (ie: "I believe that so-and-so deserves to be on the Council because X, Y, and Z."). Now, the nomination system is basically a participation award for someone who is already on the Council, for someone who is historically important to the region, or for someone who just recently became a citizen. I'd support either reforming nominations or getting rid of them entirely, as you suggested. An application system would be a good way to see who actually wants to be a Council Delegate instead of the office being merely a gimme title.

If I recall correctly, the Consulate already does activity checks after every vote, with individuals who have not voted and had not advised the Consulate in advance are warned or kicked off the Council (but as far as I can remember, we have not yet kicked someone off of the Council for inactivity). As I say this however, I would be open to having scheduled activity checks so that we can always have such an activity check system as votes don't occur every month (or every session for that matter).

Adding a "Criminal Code" sounds redundant and I can't see it ever being used in a meaningful way. If I recall correctly, there once was something akin to a "Criminal Code" over 4 or 5 years ago where individuals who had committed "crimes" against the Republic were taken to court. Of those, all of them were OOC issued which (in hindsight) should have been handled differently (without an IC trial), and the one (I think) which occurred IC was a frivolous court case between Gagium and the Consulate after he purchased 3,000,002 Council Delegate Estates with the bank bot. This is unnecessary as it never comes up. And on the topic of judiciary, devolving this power from the Consulate is not necessary as, once again, this issue hardly ever comes up.
Correction: As per Gagium, this case was not over the purchase of Council Delegate Estates, but was over the use of a warn command regarding the purchase, thus it was an OOC court case.

I'm unsure about having the Council be perpetual. I could be convinced of changing it, but right now, I lean towards the status quo.

I don't see the need to codify which consuls are the regions' World Assembly Delegates. It is unnecessarily restrictive.

I'm ok with codifying the DSB as a legal institution. This can be done with a Council vote.

I think this should address most to all the points made.