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I propose that the Underhusen be disbanded, for a bill of rights to be set up and subjected to direct democracy, and that all other legal functions be taken up by the monarchy, as advised by the Riksråd [and Overhusen].

I would also like to keep the Overhusen, but I'm not sure how to do that, as I'm essentially saying we don't need to do a lot of new things with legislation, so this won't help activity in the legislature, it would just make the legislature a thing of the past... mostly.

Is there something we could repurpose the OH to?

If not, I don't see us surviving.

Also, if anyone else has an alternative to my proposal, then post your own topic. This one is for people to ask questions, to suggest improvements, provide criticism (but let's keep it constructive, guys) and so forth.

EDIT: Corrected UH to OH in the third-to-last paragraph.

The OH would just be a low impact job, in my perfect world... There isn't a need for it to be super active unless it's necessary...
Which I think it's really fine...

With Wintermoot's distaste for any office that is remotely ceremonial, I doubt he'll be happy with that plan, Reon.

@Wintermoot?

It is the same job as the Overhusen has now so you know... Can't really imagine...

Personally, I was always a fan of unicameral legislatures because they're simpler and more efficient...however, Charax had championed having a bicameral legislature as far back as when we were developing a platform for our Presidential election in Spiritus...long before Wintreath was a thing. So when he brought it up in our first Constitutional Convention, that's where we went. I designed it so it'd be as simple as possible...for example, no need to reconcile different versions of bills from the two chambers, and...well, the rest is history.

Had it been up to me alone, I would have developed a unicameral legislature and given myself the veto power that the Overhusen ended up with. At the end of the day if people want to go to that I wouldn't oppose it, but I'm also fine with having two chambers and keeping the Overhusen as is too. Compared to the executive where I've always known what I wanted, I've always tired to be more deferential on the legislature, which is why I haven't posted very much here so far. For me personally, I just hope whatever comes out of this is more productive than what we're doing now, whether it involves structural changes or just finding more for a legislature to do.

So I guess I'll kickstart this by mentioning the current Skrifa here.

@taulover
@Sapphiron
@Bodobol
@Barnes
@HannahB
@BraveSirRobin

Goddamn, we have a lot of Skrifa this time.

Anyway, it would be productive for all of us to discuss proposals already on the floor, and to collectively come up with something we all can live with, tall order though that might be.

I second Wintermoot's point on a unicameral legislature, but that's really just personal preference. Removing the Underhusen wouldn't really solve legislative inactivity.

True, but it would be admitting that we don't really need an active legislature anymore.

Nothing else I've seen has been a solution either. Changing the function of the legislature is missing the point, since they're not a legislature anymore then.

This way, we still have a way to pass laws, and it gets done by people who've historically been most adept at it, and who have the best understanding of the various ways in which these laws would affect Gameplay and so forth, while still giving the citizens full access to their citizenship rights, so that the Riksråd can't bully them. There is still the OH, too, so citizens would still be able to get in on the legislature that way.

I'm also of the opinion that a legislative body does not need to be very active to have its existence validated. If there's no problems that need to be addressed, then it's fine to have little going on. I don't think, however, that a bicameral legislature is justified in such an inactive system.

I don't think we need a direct democratic system for laws, either; the OH is more than capable of passing the needed laws. I wouldn't mind people fielding their ideas for laws in the Civil Service Board, but the actual process of legislation should be left up to the OH.

Perhaps to keep some power in the hands of the people, we could implement a recall system for the OH. Since there's no election for that position, the Monarch would just appoint a new member in lieu of the recalled one. To reflect the importance of the position, the required percentage of voters to sign the position should be raised from 30%, maybe to 50% or something.

I was in agreement with everything except the last paragraph, although I'm not disagreeing per se. I'm just unsure whether Wintermoot would want that. If not, then it's a moot point.

Yeah, I figured Wintermoot probably wouldn't be support of it. If I can't convince him of including that, then the suggestion itself is a moot point as well. It's not that I consider him likely to appoint OH members that are anything less than commendable - but I've seen regions with as vibrant a community as this one go downhill due to government corruption, so I think there should always be some small degree of power held by the people.

Here's the thing though: whether legally given by us or not, Wintermoot already has complete power. The only thing that prevents him from using it, is himself and the fact that dissatisfaction among the citizenry would make him unhappy too. Words on paper (which is really all laws are) don't prevent any founder or root admin from abusing their power.

And this is coming from someone who has clearly demonstrated that I'm not always in agreement with Wintermoot.

It's just pointless, in my opinion, to expect the founder to have anything less than full power, since they already have it.

Fair enough (and I suppose the main region I was referencing was a GCR, which is a completely different environment  ). I'd still like to see a recall system in place as a power check for the OH, but Wintermoot's complete power does make it somewhat less useful. Honestly, I don't suspect he'd ever abuse his power to an extent requiring such a recall vote, but just having the option there would be good for such a hypothetical situation. We could even crank up the required signees to be a supermajority (~75%, perhaps?), so that it could only be used in situations where a member of the OH has really fucked up. It would counteract some of Wintermoot's power, but nothing that would be incompatible with his founder abilities.

But then again, there's not really even that much point in abusing OH power really. So basically I don't really think a recall would ever be necessary, but it would look good on paper and the option would technically be there.

We still agree on the other, more important parts at least.

Yeah, GCRs differ substantially. In a GCR, I'd never advocate anyone having this much power. It's unavoidable in a UCR though, unless the founder has CTEd, or he intentionally takes a back-seat.

But there is one other thing to consider: Wintermoot was already fine with the idea of having an elected legislative body, so who knows? He could well support the idea of recall too if we go that route. It might be prudent to get his thoughts on this. @Wintermoot.

While we're on the topic, here's a fun fact: taulover is actually our founder in New Hyperion.

I would advocate myself having this much power in a GCR. I'd make a great Pacifican Emperor...except for the whole plotting and engaging in gameplay politics thing. But I couldn't be any worse than Krulltopia...or less active...

Anyways! My feeling is that I wouldn't support recall of Overhusen members...the purpose of the Overhusen is to represent the Monarchy, and even if there's a high recall threshold, at that point they're no longer doing so. On the other hand, I'm not sure that I understand what Bodobol is proposing...is it completely doing away with an elected Underhusen and just having the appointed Overhusen?