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Bill: More Socialism Please
Details
Submitted by[?]: Imperial Kalistan Party
Status[?]: defeated
Votes: This is an ordinary bill. It requires more yes votes than no votes. This bill will not pass any sooner than the deadline.
Voting deadline: May 2051
Description[?]:
| While our people have wonderful new-found freedoms like smoking pot and feel-good legislation has passed causing the popularity of certain parties, let us not forget that the Kalistani people are still going through economic problems and international corporations are coming in and exploiting our manpower and resources. We must give these back to the people. |
Proposals
Article 1
Proposal[?] to change Radio stations.
Old value:: The government subsidises a national radio station for educational and informational purposes; other private non-subsidised radio stations are allowed.
Current: All radio stations are owned by independent non-profit-making cooperatives which receive no subsidies from the government.
Proposed: All radio stations are owned by the state.
Article 2
Proposal[?] to change Television stations.
Old value:: The government subsidises a national TV station for educational and informational purposes; other private non-subsidised TV stations are allowed.
Current: All TV stations are owned by independent non-profit-making cooperatives which receive no subsidies from the government.
Proposed: All television stations are owned by the state.
Debate
These messages have been posted to debate on this bill:
| Date | 04:07:50, May 11, 2005 CET | From | Imperial Kalistan Party | To | Debating the More Socialism Please |
| Message | This portion of the "More Socialism Please" economic plan covers the Media. No more useless violent and idiotic shows made by international capitalist exploiters! |
| Date | 07:05:37, May 11, 2005 CET | From | To | Debating the More Socialism Please |
| Message | The SoG strongly opposes this bill. While we can understand annoyance with violent and idiotic shows, it is not the government's place to control the content of our media outlets. Subsidizing a national TV and radio station for educational and informational purposes is a good thing, because it allows advertizing-free programs that don't necessarily have to appeal to a large audience. But owning all stations is a different thing, for it will lead to censorship - either direct or indirect. Private media stations are not a bad thing. They give the audience what they want, and they ensure freedom of speech. We believe this bill is just fine the way it is. |
| Date | 15:52:28, May 11, 2005 CET | From | Pansexual Peace Party -- FNORD | To | Debating the More Socialism Please |
| Message | We are undecided on this bill as of now. We will wait, and observe the debate. But, as of now, we would abstain from voting. |
| Date | 17:24:51, May 11, 2005 CET | From | To | Debating the More Socialism Please |
| Message | The TDPK cannot support this bill for two reasons: #1: The Darwinist elements of our party would likely reopen the inner party civil war over such an issue. #2: How better to control the masses? Through vast expenditure of public resources, and public funds, with a secret police, or to allow the following situation to develop everywhere across the nation? The average Ken Kalistan, wakes up in the morning. He goes to his job, because if he doesn't, he won't be able to eat or live. On the way, he tunes in to a private popular music station on his radio, and even if he hears the news, he's to tired to pay attention. Ken gets to work, and works all day, in a tiny cubical, with minimal contact with his fellow employees. At five o' clock, Ken drives home listening to the same station, and eats dinner before watching sit-com reruns or pro sports on T.V. before he goes to bed. Does Ken know what’s going on in Kalistan? No. Does he know what’s going on around the world? No. Does he wish he did? No. Under any other system, the first two would be easy to achieve, well the third nearly impossible. One day, the TDPK would like to see our society freed of such distractions, but not until we have evolved as a species to a point where we can truly govern ourselves, and make choices that are best for the largest number of people, and not just best for ourselves. |
| Date | 19:12:41, May 11, 2005 CET | From | Imperial Kalistan Party | To | Debating the More Socialism Please |
| Message | Technocrats: The daily routine of Ken Kalistan and his work environment is EXACTLY what this bill is striving to end, or at least the beginning of it. This bill does not, in any way, implicitly or explicitly create a 'secret police' or a police state. We can democratically decide what will be on the State-owned media without allowing for destructive, exploitive, or seriously stupid media to fry the People's brains. |
| Date | 20:25:49, May 11, 2005 CET | From | To | Debating the More Socialism Please |
| Message | Ah, but you see, that's the thing. The best way to "democratically decide" what will be on th or radio stations, is to let the people decide. And the way to do that, is by allowing private stations to exist, for they will program what the people want to see. Now, if by "democratically decide" you mean that the government will decide, then that's censorship, plain and simple. A government that controls the media is a government that is prone to corruption, because it will be so much easier to decide which "truth" the people will hear about, and which not. I'm well aware that this is not the NDP's intention with this bill, but for someone, at some point, it will be impossible to resist. And even if we would take extreme precautions to prevent this, only provide the funding for the media stations and give reporters, editors, broadcast managers full control over content, we would still be excerting a form of "indirect" censorship, because it is much harder to be fully critical of the people that provide your pay check every month. Private stations are a form of security against ourselves - we don't control the media, we can't cover up our corruptness. (Hypothetically speaking, naturally, the SoG would never imply that any party in Kalistan is corrupt.) And the TDPK's point is very valid as well., and fits into this. Give the people the full truth, in technicolor, and they're likely not to care much. But attempt to control which information they may or may not receive, and they're likely to revolt over a fart in Parliament. And then there's the aspect of healthy competition when trying to appeal to an audience, stimulating cultural and economic growth. (Though, granted, the majority of broadcasts can hardly be labeled 'cultural', but there is some quality into the mix. And, regardless of the public's current preference of sensation over quality, we feel that this will change eventually, as the public grows more demanding. A private media sector is much more suited to evolve at the pace of the public's desires than a choked, bureaucratic government would be. Which, like I said, doesn't mean there shouldn't be a national radio and tv station at all, as it is our duty to fill the gap which the private sector refuses to fill because the audience is not large enough for it. Anyway, to summarize: the SoG does not feel this bill needs changing. |
| Date | 21:46:20, May 11, 2005 CET | From | Imperial Kalistan Party | To | Debating the More Socialism Please |
| Message | Yes, some censorship, of course. It is certainly needed to some small degree. If it came to an educational show about the arts and culture, or of science and technology versus good ol' fashioned blood and guts violence, blood and guts violence will win out. Why? It is human nature to be entertained instead of to learn. We are all still animals by instinct. Again we are dealing with the ethical problems of profit motive. Giving the people what they want is not necessarily the RIGHT thing to do. The NDP feels government ought to be a guiding force, not a restrictive force. |
| Date | 23:23:24, May 11, 2005 CET | From | To | Debating the More Socialism Please |
| Message | I suggest we call a vote on this. |
| Date | 03:53:29, May 13, 2005 CET | From | Interstate Centrist Party | To | Debating the More Socialism Please |
| Message | The KNP supports this bill. Kalistan must not allow it's industries to be bought out by foreign controlled companies. |
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Voting
| Vote | Seats | ||
| yes | Total Seats: 11 | ||
| no | Total Seats: 36 | ||
| abstain | Total Seats: 0 |
| Random fact: If your "Bills under debate" section is cluttered up with old bills created by inactive parties, report them for deletion on the Bill Clearouts Requests thread: http://forum.particracy.net/viewtopic.php?f=11&t=4363 |
| Random quote: "We can only protect liberty by making it relevant to the modern world." - Tony Blair |