Sober Thought government

Sober Thought is a secular republic in which the federation, the provinces and the municipalities all have constitutional rights and obligations described in each of their respective sections. No government may promote religion or monarchy, and no religious or (former) royal person shall be elected or employed by any level of government except on the same basis as other citizens. The various levels of government play their respective roles in Sober Thought labour-management relations.

Federal government

The federal government is represented by the Community Conscience (head of state elected by universal suffrage), Chief Minister (head of government elected by the House of the Federation) and Provinces' Speaker (chair of and elected by the House of the Provinces, rarely well known or long served).

The exclusive and shared jurisdictions are organised into four ministries of three or four vice ministries each: Ministry of Community Wellbeing, Ministry of Community Prosperity, Ministry of Community Connections and Ministry of Community Defence. The Chief Minister appoints the Ministers and Vice Ministers. Collectively, they are all called the Cabinet and the five people acting as Chief Minister and Minister are called the Inner Cabinet. And with equal logic, the Vice Ministers are collectively the Outer Cabinet.

Federal jurisdiction

The federal government has exclusive jurisdiction over: international relations, foreign and domestic intelligence, criminal law, the constitution (including entrenched civil and human rights), prisons, currency, weights and measures, maritime transportation, air transportation, and broadcast communications and post. The House of the Provinces may choose the official language(s) of the federal government and its agencies.

It has shared jurisdiction with the provinces over: defence (including emergency measures), education and ground transportation.

The federal government may fund itself by import and export levies and income taxes. It may also borrow on its own credit.

Community Conscience

The people of Sober Thought believe that the country must exist as a community or it is no longer worth of the name Sober Thought. The electorate as a whole chooses, from a list of candidates vetted by the House of the Provinces, the Community Conscience as head of state.

The Community Conscience performs largely a ceremonial role but has large reserve powers to defend and promote human rights, the constitution and the values of the whole country. After an election, the Community Conscience chooses the leader of the largest party or party coalition in the House of the Federation to serve as Chief Minister (formerly known as Federal Leader). Subsequently, the House of the Federation may remove the Chief Minister provided it simultaneously elects a new one in a constructive vote of non-confidence.

House of the Federation

Also known as the parliament, this body consists of 300 representatives representing no more than 240 (currently 230) electoral districts in the following manner:

The total population of the country is divided by 300, the total number of HF seats, to establish the representational quotient (i.e., how many people per HF seat). Each province is assigned HF seats based on these calculations subject to the following rules: each province must have at least one HF seat, fractional seats owed to provinces are added in order from the province with the fewest HF seats to that with the most and fractional seats owed from provinces are deducted in order from the province with the most HF seats to that with the least.

Within each province, MHFs are elected in the following manner:

• If there is only one MHF, simple plurality in an electoral district comprising the entire province.
• If there are two MHFs, the entire province comprises a single electoral district district in which parties are permitted a single candidate (although an unlimited number of independents closely identified with a party or issue are permitted) and the two candidates with the largest number of votes both win as constituency MHFs
• If there are more than two MHFs, four fifths (or the next smallest fraction possible) of the members shall be elected in single-member electoral districts. One fifth (or the next largest fraction possible) shall be elected from failed constituency candidates based on the proportional vote of each party's candidates in that province during the federal election.

Current seats/districts are assigned and voted on as follows in descending order of population: Central Province 110/88, Hochelaga 69/55, Thuvia 40/32, Cholmestay 31/24, Bristle Island 15/12, Jarvet 11/8, Pastbeshchye 9/7, Braunekuste 8/6 and Capital 7/5.

Vacancies (whether from resignation or death) are filled as follows: constituency MHFs are replaced by a by-election (élection partielle) within 6 months of the vacancy, party list MHFs by taking the next available person on the list (the vacancy remaining unfilled if nobody is available from the list).

The House of the Federation chooses from among its membership one to serve as Chief Minister of the Community and the federal head of government. The Chief Minister has a permanent staff of civil servants underneath, called the General Directorate of Cabinet.

House of the Provinces

This chamber of government is designed to represent the interests of the provinces. Therefore, each province sets it own conditions for choosing its Members of the House of the Provinces, such election in its own provincial legislature, direct election by the people or simply by the sitting provincial government choosing its own members to have dual duty in the provincial legislature and the House of the Provinces. Consult the specific province you are interested in.

There is no set number of seats in this legislative body; rather, they are assigned on the following basis: provinces with two point five percent or less of the national population receive 1 seat; those with between two point five percent and less than five receive 2; those with five but less than ten receive 4; those with ten but less than twenty receive 6; those with twenty or more receive 8. Current membership is 37: Central Province 8, Hochelaga 8, Thuvia 6, Cholmestay 6, Bristle Island 2, Jarvet 2, Pastbeshchye 2, Braunekuste 2 and Capital 1.

Provincial government

Each of the current nine (historically, four to eleven provinces) has its own government, each sovereign in their jurisdictions. Each province, except the Capital Province, had its own reasons for joining the federation. Capital Province was created from two existing provinces to provide a neutral territory for the federal institutions. Once created or admitted into the federation, provinces may not be merged or severed without their consent or the consent of the House of the Federation.

Provincial jurisdiction

Provincial governments each have exclusive jurisdiction over: police, health, civil law and natural resources. Each provincial government may establish its official language(s) based on its own procedures, and composition of its provincial legislature. Provinces may fund their activities by levying property taxes.

It has shared jurisdiction with the federal government over: public security, education and ground transportation. Relations between this government and the federal government are fostered by the Ministry of Community Connections, especially its Vice Ministry of Community Cooperation which is responsible for the shared federal-provincial jurisdictions (including the CDF Civil Guard). In many provinces, it is the provincial legislature or government which chooses that province's representation in the House of the Provinces.

Provincial adhesion, secession and expulsion

While not a true confederal union, Sober Thought's values of democracy extend the right of self-determination to each province and the federation as a whole to eject members, both excepting Capital Province.

A sovereign country may become one or more provinces of Sober Thought if two thirds or more of the House of the Provinces answer ‘yes’ to the following invariable motion: “Are you in favour of admitting X Country to Sober Thought and making it Y Province(s)?”

In the year following a successful vote, the soon-to-be-former country must create a provincial government which meets Sober Thought’s constitutional requirements. Failure to do so will prevent adhesion.

Legal secession of a province may be secured if two thirds or more of the voters answer ‘yes’ to the following invariable referendum question: “Are you in favour of seceding from Sober Thought and becoming a separate country?”

In the year following a successful secession referendum, the federal government and the soon-to-be-former province will negotiate the terms of secession on the following conditions: residents of the seceding province lose citizenship in Sober Thought and may regain it only on the same conditions applying to other foreigners, and in the event that an agreement on the division of assets and liabilities cannot be reached, the federal government may seize and dispose of all physical or moveable federal assets in the seceding province.

Any attempts at secession outside this framework will be opposed by whatever civil and military means the federal government directs and secessionists will be prosecuted for treason as well as any specific overt crimes they may commit.

Expulsion of a province (besides Capital Province) may be secured if two thirds or more of the members of the House of the Provinces answer ‘yes’ to the following invariable motion: “Are you in favour of expelling X Province from Sober Thought and making it a separate country?” Negotiations are identical to secession except that it is the provincial government which may seize and dispose of all federal assets located in the province if another agreement cannot be reached.

List of provinces

For specific information, please choose from among the following nine provinces, listed in alphabetical order and displaying their percentage of the country’s population:

Municipal government

There are 57 federally chartered municipalities in Sober Thought, located in the following provinces: 6 Braunekuste, 8 Bristle Island, 2 Capital Province, 12 Central Province, 6 Cholmestay, 7 Hochelaga, 4 Jarvet, 4 Pastbeshchye and 8 Thuvia. The entire provinces of Braunekuste and Capital Province are covered by chartered municipalities. The remainder have at least some areas and population existing outside chartered municipalities.

Although all chartered municipalities have equal status and at least 0.2% of the national population, they style themselves variously as: city / ville, county / comté, island (Potato Island only), métropole (Mont Royaume only), peninsula (Bristle Island only) and region / région (Central Province only).

Municipal jurisdiction

Once chartered by the federal government, municipalities may not be merged, divided or altered without their consent. Municipalities may not move provinces without the concurrent assent of the governments of the municipality, the original province and the proposed province.

Municipalities have exclusive jurisdiction over municipal planning (zoning), fire protection and waste management. Each municipal government may establish its official languages(s), although the province in which it is located may require communication in a different language.

Despite the apparently narrow range of responsibilities, municipalities have some influence in jurisdictions formally under provincial, federal or both jurisdictions. Municipalities may fund themselves by sales taxes and development fees.

List of municipalities

For information on specific municipalities, please choose an item on this alphabetically ordered list which link to articles in the Cities category, sections of a Cities article or sections of a Provinces article. Each municipality with 1% or more gets its own article or a section in an article on an urban agglomeration.