Government of the Liamist States
The Liamist government is one of the most uniquely democratic structures in NationStates because of its Constitution, Cybercractic abilities and Assemblies structure.
Constitution
The Constitution simply outlines a list of rights, in order of importance, that are inherent to all citizens, residents and immigrants to the Liamist States over the age of sixteen and of sound mental health (a Liamist. Special rights apply for young teens, children and intellectually impaired). It begins with a preamble, describing the nature of the document, its historical context, the Liamists affirmation of the document and their establishment of sovereignty as people, and concludes with an outline for the Cybercracy (and its purpose as a legislating, right-protecting, non-limiting body) and procedure for amending the Constitution. It very clearly states that no right may be subverted by the government, unless it is for the purpose of securing a higher right.
Below is a list of the Liamist rights, in order of importance:
- A Liamist has the right to waive any of the following rights.
- A Liamist has the right to safety from direct physical harm (the First Amendment adds the clause from other humans).
- A Liamist has the right to self determination in existence, body, lifestyle, sexuality, religion, cultural and social persuasion.
- A Liamist has the right to a transparent and incorruptible government.
- A Liamist has the right to determination in any ruling body.
- A Liamist has the right to freedom of speech.
- A Liamist has the right to freedom of movement.
- A Liamist has the right to a free, quality and unbiased education.
- A Liamist has the right to a free, quality and effective health system.
- A Liamist has the right to a complete, healthy and clean environment.
- A Liamist who cannot work has the right to expect society’s support.
- A Liamist has the right to freedom from political-, gender-, sexuality-, religious- and ethnic-based discrimination.
- A Liamist has the right to be considered innocent of a crime, until proven guilty.
- A Liamist has the right to a fair determination of his/her innocence or guilt when they are tried for a crime.
- A Liamist has the right to a fair punishment for their crime, even if it includes the removal of rights.
- A Liamist has the right to privacy.*
- A Liamist has the right to freedom of assembly.
- A Liamist has the right to freedom of media and artistic expression.
- A Liamist has the right to not be exploited.
- A Liamist has the right to a competitive market that respects the consumer.
- A Liamist has the right to own property and generate as much wealth as they want.
*Freedom from harassment, freedom from scrutiny and the rights to the dissemination of their personal details
An amendment to the Constitution requires a petition (as submitted by a citizen to the Liamist States Democratic Organisation or LSDO) of 7% of the population. If 66% of the population approves of the amendment, it is added to the Constitution.
This Constitution is adopted by all indepedent nations of the LSE.
Cybercracy
The Cybercracy’s home is in the offices of the Liamist States Democracy Organisation (LSDO). Here any citizen may register a political party, sign a petition or vote. There is an LSDO office in every two or three Locales, which also double as offices for the Localees. Anyone over sixteen may register a political party by submitting a name for the party, his or her fingerprints (which are kept on file so that only that person can close the party and not register any further) and a contact detail (cell/mobile phone number, email address, mailing address, etc for party material to be transferred to). The party will remain registered unless they do not gain more than 0.1% of voting power in the Senate or secure a Minister at the next election or if the registerer of the party closes it. Party ownership may be transferred to another via a will or a sign-over form. There is a 5 Ch-ching administration cost for registering a party.
To sign a petition, a Liamist simply has to find the relevant petition in the LSDO computers and give away his or her fingerprints. They will be stored on the LSDO network to prevent double-signing fraud and after three months they will be erased and the signer will need to re-sign the petition, assuming the issue has not reached quorum and gone to a vote, where the prints will be erased anyway. A petition can be submitted by any Liamist, assuming it meets grammatical and relevancy criteria, set forth by the LSDO, and the Constitution.
Voting is just as simple as signing onto a petition. A Liamist merely gives the computer his or her fingerprints, which will be held for the duration of the election (usually a week) to prevent double voting, and selects their Cabinet of choice (by preference), their representatives of choice (by preference) and their Senate parties of choice (by single-transferable vote by preference). Voting can also be done if a voter registers his or her fingerprints with a mobile or cell phone number (votes by TXT) or an email address (vote by email) but these two methods, while convenient, are unsecure. The same deal applies to petition signing. As voting fraud is near impossible, a Liamist may vote wherever they wish, even in a different District for a different District's Districtees. Many see this as a waste of a vote and do not indulge in it. Travellers may vote for their home candidates almost as easily anywhere in the Liamist States as they could at home. Fingerprinting is being phased out in favour of the cleaner, non-greasy method of iris scanning.
Preferential voting is somewhat different in the Liamist States, as compared to normal preferential voting. Whereas 51% of the primary votes gives that person the seat and minority sees a countback with second preferences worth as much as first in normal voting, this is replaced with a points system. A voter may place a one in their candidate of choices box, having their preferences distributed automatically, or number all the way through. Their first preference will receive the same number of points as there are candidates. Their second preference one less than the candidate number points, the third two less and so on, down to their final choice scoring a single point. The points are tallied and the highest scoring candidate wins.
The Cybercracy government is dissolved every five years and all branches are re-elected at the same time. Voting is not compulsory, as a Liamist can choose to waive their right to vote.
Structure
The Liamist States has three main branches of government.
- Firstly, there is a representative body collectively called the House of Representatives. It contains the Cabinet and the Canton, District and Federal Assemblies.
- Secondly, there is the countering body, collectively called the Counterweight, which contains the Criminal, Business, Dispute and Constitutional Courts (as controlled by the Minister for Internal Affairs) and the Anti Commissions (as run by the Prime Minister), which are run by the colloquially known Idealist Ministers.
- Finally, there is the legislative body, known as the Senate.
As explained above, the Cantons of the Liamist States Empire is divided into Locales of approximately equal numbers of people. In each Locale, a Localee is preferentially elected as an executive leader and representative of that Locale. The Localees of a Canton convene to form a Canton Assembly. Each Canton elects its Cantonee separately who serves in a similar role as the Localee for the Locale. The eighteen Cantonees for Liamopolis and Liamton come together to form the Federal Assembly or in the Liamist States, the twelve Cantonees form a District Assembly. A Districtee is elected in each district to represent that District at the Federal Assembly. This is the representative arm of the government. All Localees, Cantonees and Districtees must be politically independent and have no affiliations to parties, lobby groups, interested parties or corporations or the LSDO will not allow them to run for office. Localees have the power to override any Senate legislation with a simple majority within their Locale, if they judge it to be for the best of the Locale. This forms one half of the House of Representatives, the other being the Cabinet.
The Cabinet is a federal body that consists of directly elected Ministers. Below are the current Ministries:
- Prime Minister (Anti Commissions)
- Treasurer (Taxes, Budget)
- Minister for Internal Affairs (Courts)
- Minister for External Affairs (Foreign Ambassadors)
- Minister for Internal Security (Police)
- Minister for External Security (Defence, Intelligence)
- Minister for Fiscal Security (Welfare)
- Minister for Education
- Minister for Health
- Minister for TECS (Technology, Environment, Culture & Science)
- Minister for Social Justice (Ending poverty, unemployment & abuse cycles)
Ministers may have affiliations to any group and may be members of a political party, except for the Idealist Ministers who must not have conflicts of interest. The Prime Minister’s job is to run the Anti Commissions' offices (which include the Anti Corruption Commission, the Anti Monopoly Commission, the LSDO [nicknamed the Anti Tyranny Commission], etc) within his or her nation. The Treasurer’s job is to set tax rates and dish out funds as per lobbying. Normal Ministers lobby for Treasury funds in the budget from the Treasurer. They work closely with Districtees/Cantonees to place projects and surplus funds the Ministries may be awarded. The Cantonees in turn distribute funds to Localees as per the project requirements through the Assembly. A good Districtee, Cantonee, Localee or Minister will get the most Ch-Chings possible for their respective electorate/Ministry.
A federal legislative body to set up laws that protect rights is also formed: the Senate. A federal Senate consists of LSDO registered political entities. Using a single-transferable vote system, voters can either allocate one to a favourite party and have preferences automatically selected or select all the parties, in order of preference. Parties are now like shareholders in a corporation: the higher the percentage of primary votes a party has, the more voting power a party has, rounded to the nearest tenth of a percent. Scoring less than 1% rules the party ineligible for a voting power in the Senate and its votes will be re-distributed, according to preferences. Given the number of parties registered (registration is as easy as filling out a form but one citizen can only register one party), the number of <1% parties can be significant. Usually, a party will submit a spokesperson, often an actor or model, to submit legislation, debate and vote on behalf of the party’s stake. If a proposal raises more than 51% (simple majority) of the Senate’s vote, it will be law until the end of the Senate term. It can be federally overridden by a Constitutional Court, if a case is brought before it, or locally overridden by a Localee and when a new Senate is elected, it will need to be repassed. If a proposal raises more than 66% (double majority) of the Senate’s vote, the law is permanent or cannot be overridden, until the Senate overturns the law again. A Liamist may submit a proposal for a law to any political party with power in the Senate. The party may carry that to the Senate and have it voted on.
To remove any government official, 2% of the electorate must register with the LSDO on a petition to the effect of the impeachment (5% is required for dissolution of the Senate or the overturning of a double majority Senate law). If quorum is ever reached, it goes to a vote in the electorate. If 51% vote in favour of impeachment, a new executive is elected and serves the remainder of the term. Less than a full 51% and the current executive continues to serve.
Liam and Liam II's genetics links and links to governments and the Anti Commissions (which are Empire-wide to prevent internal corruption) provide the only government crossover in the Liamist States Empire.
