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Bill: Responsible Citizens
Details
Submitted by[?]: Libertad y Justicia
Status[?]: defeated
Votes: This bill is a resolution. It requires more yes votes than no votes. This bill will not pass any sooner than the deadline.
Voting deadline: January 2171
Description[?]:
| There is a famous saying: "You can't know where you are going, until you know from whence you came." An uneducated Citizen who has the power to vote will vote only based upon whim. This means that corrupt parties will gain votes by how much "money" they hand out, or how many "favors" they do. There is a way to solve this problem. Citizenship must be earned. And it must be earned by proving that the citizen knows enough about the nation that they could make responsible decisions. Non-citizens are still allowed to live and work in the nation. But only an educated Citizen can vote. |
Proposals
Debate
These messages have been posted to debate on this bill:
| Date | 01:18:55, January 13, 2006 CET | From |  Txurruka/Aperribai/Mayoz's OPX | To | Debating the Responsible Citizens |
| Message | OOC: There is an actual law you can change for this. At the bottom of bill pages (before they are put to vote), there is a link to Add a Proposal. Click that and hit next on the following page and scroll through the following list of proposals and pick your law. The next page has the options to choose from and hitting next will add the proposal to the bill. IC: As far as the issue at hand goes, the current policy granting citizenship is to give it to all nationals. To become a national, one has to be born here or, if an immigrant, pass a qualifying exam. So it seems there is little point to this. |
| Date | 01:57:22, January 13, 2006 CET | From | Libertad y Justicia | To | Debating the Responsible Citizens |
| Message | OOC: I saw the law, and it was that law that I was trying to change. I just couldn't figure out how to do so...I thought "put to vote" would bring me to where I could choose that law. IC: The point is for the people born here. Just because you are born in a nation, does not mean that you have what it takes to be a Citizen. The real issue is not a "qualifying exam", but the notion of a Responsible Citizen. Or, does the Citizen of a Free State have a responsibility to uphold that institution? Under the current policy, those born here (who constitute most of the citizen-base) must merely reach a certain age before they are given the immense responsibility of choosing who should lead their nation. There are too many, too countless examples throughout history of an uneducated citizenry, or a citizenry driven by their passions, that has voted into power totalitarian regimes. The only safeguard against a democracy turning into a mobacracy/totalitarian state is the level of education of the citizenry, and how responsible they are as citizens. A free nation is not "free", nor is it "easy". |
| Date | 04:46:56, January 13, 2006 CET | From | Txurruka/Aperribai/Mayoz's OPX | To | Debating the Responsible Citizens |
| Message | The question of responsible citizenry is a highly subjective one and a concept that can lead to widespread abuses. What if the next government decides that a responsible citizen can only be defined as a Seleyan, land-owning male? What if the next government decides that there are no responsible citizens and therefore decides that elections are meaningless? It is a dangerous precedent to set an abitrary line for citizenship. It is also much simpler to widen the definition of a citizen as wide as possible not only for administrative reasons but so that the individual vote decreases in value, thereby watering down the potential for a violent swing away from the status quo. Furthermore, people, particularly national Baltusians, pay taxes. More importantly, citizens pay taxes for the government and its institutions. What makes you think that its a good idea to steal money from/tax people and then not let them have any say in how the money is used? You may well go on to suggest that perhaps non-citizens shouldn't pay taxes. But without a wide tax base, the excellent education system (the highest funded section of government) available in Baltusia will crumble and we will return to the days of the Crimson Entente because our populace is not properly educated, as you correctly fear. And quite frankly, I would not want to spurn a large portion of the Baltusian national population by revoking their citizenship. They may decide to move to a different nation and then, as a large and loud minority who resents their motherland, may influence their new nation's relations with ours for the worse. |
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Voting
| Vote | Seats | ||||
| yes | Total Seats: 89 | ||||
| no |
Total Seats: 272 | ||||
| abstain | Total Seats: 0 |
| Random fact: Alduria, Rildanor and Lourenne all have Canrilaise (French) cultures. |
| Random quote: "Communism is like prohibition, it's a good idea but it won't work." - Will Rogers |