Facepunch Constitution Convention: A Forum Political Experiment
120 replies, posted
Welcome to the Facepunch Constitutional Convention, in which posters are all elected Delegates and may push agendas and policies into a "constitution" of a fictitious country of Facepunchia.
This is somewhat of a "forum game", I know, but I'm hoping it generates serious discussion and debate and perhaps be used to apply to the real world (and have the real world apply to this) enough to justify posting it here in Polidicks rather than Games In Progress.
How It Works
Posters will post articles of a constitution that they wish to submit to the overall Constitution on a range of topics, from military and diplomacy, to executive branch and judicial. Other posters will then rate agree to vote yes or rate disagree to vote no. Any other ratings will be ignored.
When a post with a submission has 10 agree ratings, it has been approved. But if a post has more disagrees than agrees, it is dismissed. This criteria may be changed by a submission itself as well.
Voting on submissions will end when a new page of the thread has started. I will then tally the votes of each submission as soon as I am online to check and add it to the constitution. (Note: Please bear with me as I cannot be online 24/7 and sometimes people will vote after a page is finished before I can get online. If you have solutions to this issue, I'm all ears.)
Example
Please use the quote arrows for the actual things you wish to add to the constitution while keeping normal text to general discussion, for example (without italics of course):
I want to add a submission about gay marriage and the army
Same-sex marriage is fully legal throughout the country.
The army will be capped at 250,000 soldiers
General Rules
I, Emperor Scorpious II, will act as the Convention Chairman as I am the OP. And because I am the OP, I cannot be voted out. With that in mind, I will not offer any suggestions or submissions whatsoever and will only post for rule inquiries.
Each post will be allowed up to three submissions. If a poster submits more and the post gets voted yes, I will ignore any past the first 3.
To add fun to this game, you may add submissions that have nothing to do with one another but ratings will be a yes or no to all submissions of a single post. If you submit a post that allows gay marriage but also outlaws immigration, posters will have to vote yes or no on both at once, causing interesting dilemmas.
You may submit any kind of political policy, including liberal, conservative, fascist, communist, socialist, ect, but you must submit specifics. Don't submit "legalized socialism" or something similar. If you want to push the country to become socialist, submit specific socialist policies to be voted on.
Can't think of a submission to add? What is a major political problem in your own real life country - assume that issue also plagues our country and offer a solution.
You can 100% submit something that specifically overrides something already approved. If someone somehow manages to get enough votes to outlaw Jews in the country, another poster may submit a post that cancels it out and if approved, the previous law will be struck from the constitution.
General Assumptions of our "country"
Here are some general "facts" about the country we are designing a constitution for. They will be extremely generalized so as to not restrict the constitution by some demographic or geography. You may submit posts that specify a specific within, such as "limit exports of grapes" with the assumption that we probably produce grapes.
Our country has a range of climates with a shoreline to an ocean
Our country has at least one region of every kind of geography, from desert and mountains, to rolling plains and forests
Our country is composed of a number of provinces whose governments may be determined by the constitution
Our country's population is majority religious but varies by how often they practice as well as home to a number of different faiths
Our country has a financial industry, a manufacturing industry, and an agricultural industry.
Our country has a modestly sized population and experiences immigration from foreign lands.
Our country has foreign powers that are friendly to us as well as some that are unfriendly with us.
Topics that need to be addressed by you, the delegate
We need an executive, legislative, and judicial branch as well as how much power each one has, and if they even can check & balance one another
We need laws regarding religion vs secularism
We need laws regarding the military, its branches and how war will work
We need laws regarding the economy, trade, deficit, lending, import/exports, banking, currency, and domestic economic problems.
We need laws regarding the environment vs industry
The Constitution of Facepunchia
Article I: Executive Branch
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Article II: Legislative Branch
.
Article III: Judicial Branch
.
Article IV: ---
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Rule 1. Everybody is required to wear a gasmask in public
Rule 2. Anime is banned.
Going to keep this 2nd post in reserve here in the event the OP hits the character limit.
GG to that first post though
Amendment to rule 2: People who watch anime are also permanently banned, and Sgt. Doom is to be reinstated as moderator and placed in charge of the War on Anime.
"No claims should be made towards the author's lack of foresight (technological or otherwise) in these documents. No attempts to abridge or nullify these documents or its subsections shall be made because of claims that they are no longer applicable due to the march of progress (cultural, technological or otherwise) without following the formal process for amending this document and its subsections in full."
Just to head off any claims in the future that times have changed and therefore things in the constitution should be ignored or reinterpreted.
Really cool thread idea, hope it takes off.
A unicameral legislature, the OIFY, shall be elected every four years using the single transferable vote system. Constituency boundaries shall be set by an independent, nonpartisan Boundary Commission using scientific formula.
Fuck the industry, let's live in the woods and hire the Druids to grow us berries and train bears to be our military.
Can we illegally banned talking about the spoiler effect everytime opposing party side losses like in Facepunchia?
Rule 4: Shut the fuck up about Tudd
I would advise against making a submission to outright ignore specific posters.
If they submit something you dislike, rate disagree.
Describing the federal legislature, executive branch, and elections/leaving office
The Legislature of this State shall be bicameral, with a lower House of Delegates and an upper House of Aldermen; there shall be one Delegate for no less then every 50,000 people, and no more than 250,000,
unless a Province has less then 50,000 citizens; each Province shall have three Aldermen, except in the Executive Province (like DC) which shall have two.
The Prime Minister shall be the executor of the Laws of this State, and shall appoint Judges and Officials of Executive Agencies with the advice and consent of the Delegates and Aldermen, a simple majority of
Delegates and three-fifths of Aldermen, there shall be a Vice Minister, who bears the duties of the Prime Minster should he be incapacitated.
The House of Delegates shall have one half of the body elected every other year, coinciding with the election of one third of the body of the House of Aldermen, the Prime Minister shall be directly elected,all
systems using Ranked Choice ballots, and the Prime Minister serving four year terms; Delegates, Aldermen, and the Prime and Vice Minister shall be subject to impeachment, or recall initiatives among
the People, requiring a three-fifths majority of the people of the Delegate District, Province of the Aldermen, or the entire State for the Prime and Vice Minister.
Just a heads up, this is the type of post I'm looking for.
Probably going to ignore the first few gag submissions about anime and gas masks. I knew those types of posts were inevitable at the start.
Can I appoint myself as the head of the Druids?
Guns are legal and are given to children at age 3. Murder is legal too and you gotta kill your girlfriends dad at a duel at dawn if you wanna fucker
Health care services, mental health care services, and pharmaceuticals are free to citizens and are funded by the Facepunchian government through a raised coin tax
Rule #(depends on how many rules are adopted)
Moderators can not unilaterally modify the Facepunch Constitution. Changes must be submitted, voted on, and approved by the people of FP. And while moderators may use their green names to lobby more effectively, they must still rely on a vote of the user-base where one vote is equal to any other, regardless of name color.
The government shall have no official religion, and will not make any laws without secular reasoning behind them. Furthermore, the government will not restrict any religion or religious practices, including the lack thereof, except in the following scenarios:
The religion or practice breaks another secular law, such as harm or non-consensual surgery.
The religion or practice requires monetary transactions from the individual. Religious texts requiring money for individual copies are fine, so long as said texts are available publicly, such as over the internet or in a library.
The religion states that Cloverfield Paradox was a satisfactory film.
The government shall be shut down until an agreement is reached on what to raise Congress's paycheck to.
Rule 69: The filthy fucking province of OIFY retains the right to self-determination; and its independence from Facepunch shall be granted on condition of @The bird Woman replying to this post with a picture of sweet hot pink nipples.
Rule 5: Traps are definitely gay
Rule 420: Being really, really high in public shall not be a crime unless you're posing a danger to others.
I propose that we absorb the entirety of pirate code into our legal system.
Weed smokers, anti-gun people, mumble rap fans, people with bob marley posters, and anime fans; anyone who subscribes to these catergories will only have their votes be worth 3/5th of anyone elses.
This but only mumble rap fans
PermaBan Garry
Rule Sex: In the interests of the security of this free state and of protecting individual rights and freedoms, every man shall be entitled to an equal share in our nuclear arsenal.
Thread Decimation.
If a thread has gone on for far too long or has degraded into nothing but shit-flinging.
One out of every Five posters will be banned.
Rule yellow: Put your fucking shopping cart in the fucking till you shit-stain.
Article IV, Rule 0: The rights and privileges of adulthood may only be attained as a result of ownership of a Ford AU Falcon. Procreation, without punishment by sack whack , is only allowed as a result of ownership of a Forté specification Ford AU Falcon.
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