AmishThrasher
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The Democratic Republic of AmishThrasher is a small, environmentally stunning nation, renowned for its absence of drug laws. Its compassionate population of 7 million enjoy extensive civil rights and enjoy a level of social equality free from the usual accompanying government corruption.
Contents
The Government
The government -- a sprawling, bureaucracy-choked, liberal, socially-minded morass -- devotes most of its attentions to Social Welfare, with areas such as Law & Order and Religion & Spirituality receiving almost no funds by comparison. Extreme political groups are outlawed, and surveillance cameras are banned.
Structure of Government
As a result of the 2004 democratic revolution, the AmishThrasher government is a representative democracy. The Federal Constitution explicitly states the separation of powers between the legislative, executive, and judicial branches of government; as well as the powers held exclusively by the Federal government, and residual powers held by provincial governments and citizens.
Legislative Branch
The Federal government, as well as each province, features a bi-cameral Parliament.
Legislation can be introduced either by a member of the Legislative House or Provincial House. Alternatively, it can be introduced in either house by a sitting Judge, a head of an Executive Department, or a member of the Executive Council. Upon legislation being introduced, the members of the house have three options:
- They can Pass the proposed legislation without ammendements.
- They can Pass the proposed legislation with ammendements.
- They can Veto the proposed legislation.
If ammendments are added, the proposed legislation is re-introduced in the other house. Once a piece of legislation, and all ammendments, pass both houses, it is presented to the Executive Council. Upon reicieving legislation, the Executive Council can agree to enact legislation, veto it, or re-introduce it to either house with ammendments. Upon the Executive Council enacting legislation, it becomes the law of the land.
Legislative House
The 100 members of the Legislative House are elected once every 4 years, through proportional representation. Each party recieves 1 sitting member for every 1% of the population that votes for their party, nationwide. The remaining seats are prefferencially distributed.
Provincial House
Each of the 10 Provinces nominate 3 members of the Provincial House, as they see fit to do. Each province has legislation that determines whether the state's Provincial House representatives are directly elected by citizens of the province, or appointed by the Parliament of the province.
Executive Branch
The head of AmishThrasher's Executive Government is the Honorable President, who serves as the nation's Commander-in-Chief, and head of the Executive Council. Every 4 years, each province - either through direct election or via its Provincial Executive Council - nominates a Presidential candidate. A preferential vote is held for the Presidency, where each province's Presidential candidate is automatically given last preference on the ballots of the citizens of that particular province. If the standing president has only served 1 term, they may stand for re-election.
The President is responcible for selecting the members of the Executive Council. Each member of the Executive Council is the Head of a Government Department. In turn, each Department Head is the Head of their Department Executive. The 14 member Department Exective Committees include the Head of Department, a representative from the Presidential Executive Committee, one representative from the Executive of the equivelent Department Executive in each of the 10 provinces. The remaining 2 seats are taken up by a Treasury Representative, who acts as a Chief Financial Officer for the Department, and a Social Justice and Equality Department Representative, who ensures that the department complies with Social Best Practice. Similarly, the 14 member Presidential Executive Committee includes the President, the Vice President, a representative from each province's Governor's Executive Committees, a Tresury Department representative, and a Social Justice and Equality Department representative. These Executive Committees oversee the day-to-day opperations of various government departments. The President, Head of Treasury, and Head of Social Justice and Equality also have an inter-departmental committee to which their representatives in other Departments report.
Beyond the Executive and (in some cases) Inter-Departmental Committees, each department also has a Consultative Committee, to which "noteworthy citizens" are invited to intend. While Consultative Committees serve no control over department opperation, they do serve an advisory role. Noteworthy citizens may include representatives of relevant lobby groups, community groups, academics, as well as private individuals.
This structure, also replecated at Provincial level, has been criticized, particularly by Libertarians, as representing a waste of taxpayer money. Such critics point out that a provincial Executive Council may be elected from a different political party to the Federal Executive Council, leading to disagreements and debates on how departments should be run. In this view, the Executive Structure is an ineffective and inefficient bureaucracy that often stands in the way of the most effective use of the executive government. Inter-departmental positions can lead to micro-management by the President, Head of Treasury, or Head of Social Justice and Equality in areas not covered by their respective departments. Similarly, the prominant positions given to Social Justice and Equality achieves little beyond political correctness.
A counter-argument to such criticism is to point out that the structure encourages communication and integration between the provincial and Federal government, as well as between government and civil society. Such integration allows greater Presidential control over all aspects of the government, as well as emergent problems within government. The prominance of Tresury representatives is due to the need, by Treasury, to control expenditure effectively across the government. And the prominance of Social Justice helps ensure a fair and equitable public service.
Judiciary
Provincial Governments
Political Parties
National Economy
The AmishThrasher currency is the megadollar. The average income tax rate is 47%, but much higher for the wealthy; high-income earners pay a 100% tax rate. As a result, an almost nonexistent private sector is dominated by the Beef-Based Agriculture industry. College students often make ends meet by selling their kidneys.
Crime
Crime is well under control.
Environment
AmishThrasher's national animal is the amish thresher, which frolics freely in the nation's many lush forests.
