SaintB
08-03-2008, 12:01
After hundreds of years of feudal rule Goldaron (SaintB) the current Monarch, Benard I who has been the driving force behind much social reform in the past decade announced on New Year’s Eve that it was time for a nationwide Parliamentary Election to begin in 2008. The process though already well thought out was put together quickly creating a mish-mash that consists of dozens of political parties competing for the seats of Parliament. In the past two months 5 parties have gained the most influence and support within the nation and are expected to hold the majority of the seats in parliament. Several other “lesser” parties have garnered enough support to reach the final round of elections but are not expected to gain much of a hold.
Role
The Parliament of Goldaron as a group will hold status and power equal to the Monarch. They will posses the power to pass laws and make policy with the Monarch’s consent or with an 85% majority vote as well as the power to veto (through popular vote) the laws and policies put forth by the Monarch. For a law or policy to pass both the Parliament (representing the people) and the Monarch must agree on it. Policies agreed too by the majority of the Parliament but not the Monarch will be brought to referendum during the yearly election process.
Organization
The nation has been divided into 10 districts by the election committee with a total of 100 seats currently open for elected office and another 100 seats to be filled in 2009. Each member of Parliament will serve a term of two years but will be eligible for re-election for up to five total terms; there will be yearly elections held the first week of every May for one half of the 200 total planned parliamentary seats. Each electoral district will have an equal number of representatives to best reflect the will of the general population. Information on the 9 political parties can be found below.
OOC: The elections will be announced Sunday, March 16. In the meantime I am inviting interested people to make IC contributions to any of the parties listed below from governments and companies who support their policies. I am going to base the future actions of my nation on the make up of her Parliament and how the Parliament and Monarch work together.
Liberal Party
Goldaron’s Liberal Party pushes for social reform in areas that would especially benefit naturalized citizens and members of the lower class. A secondary agenda is for reform of the nation’s penal system; they would like to see it either move away from privatization or for the government to place tougher restrictions on the kinds of punishments, lodging, and other aspects of prison life upon the private companies.
Party Leader: Richard Starky
Politics at a Glance
Foreign: Goldaron has in recent years maintained healthy relationships with most of its neighbors and several like-minded nations much to its benefit. There is no reason why we should not continue to build upon those relationships we already have, and perhaps another aggressive round of Embassy trading is in order in the future. Weapons trade is one of the nation’s cornerstones of economy but the government needs to pay closer attention to those nations which deal with our weapons manufacturer and perhaps restrict it only to Nova Europe and the EDI.
Military: Since the end of the civil war many steps have been taken to turn the nation’s armed forces into a top-notch force, as far as the Liberal Party is concerned those goals set by the Monarch have not only been met, but also surpassed. The Liberal Party believes that Goldaron needs to divert more funds away from the armed forces and toward internal and external interests and instead of advancing the military focusing on maintaining its current standing forces.
National: The Monarch’s civil service laws of 2,005 are a great way to promote understanding and responsibility in the young members of Goldaron’s communities; these laws could however use refinement, as the policy seems to be too strict. The Liberal’s would also like to see much reform in the area of the prison system. Under the nation’s laws one is innocent until proven guilty, however once proven guilty beyond the reasonable doubt criminals rights are considered void until they have repaid their debt owed to society; in the eyes of the Liberal Party this is what has lead to the eventual privatization of the penal system and what they see as the uncontrolled abuse of those people.
Economic: We have in our nation been blessed with a powerful economy and much wealth over the years, now it is the time to ensure that this economic might is spread fairly among our people. Too many people work as wage slaves to powerful corporations who do their best to keep them down. It is time for another change; the Liberal Party supports the formation of labor unions and a new minimum wage laws to improve the lives of all the nation’s citizens.
Social Reform Party
To the casual observer the Social Reform Party is similar to the Liberal Party, however to those who pay close attention the two parties have many differences. The Social Reform party is considered extremist by many of their Liberal counterparts. Many key members of the Reformists want to completely overhaul the status quo; ousting what little remains of the Aristocracy and aggressively pursuing the formation of a true middle class. Several members of the Social Reform Party also support the Socialist movement. The Social Reform Party has many supporters among the nation’s poorest citizens.
Party Leader: Samuel James Quincy
Politics at a Glance
Foreign: Goldaron’s current involvement in the international scene is perhaps enough for now. In order to truly take our place on the world’s stage we must first look inside our own borders, to our own people, and remove whatever social injustices we see.
Military: Our Monarch claims that our military’s duty is to serve the people, and protect our borders from aggressors. If this is true then why are so many of our nation’s warriors stationed on foreign soil? Many Reformists believe that we need to show less support to our allies militarily and focus on keeping our soldiers close to where they truly belong, doing what they are supposed to do… many vague answers have been given as to what they believe that may be.
National: It is beyond the time for a change, the Reformist movement looks upon the social structure of this nation and sees a flawed system of beliefs. The Monarch claims that he keeps the best interest of all his citizens at heart but continues to throw the brunt of his support toward those who hold the most wealth. It is true that he has still done much to see that the system treats all citizen’s fairly but there is no denying that the true motives of the government serve the higher interest of the economists and former nobility. The feudal government may be gone but only to be replaced by a new form of rule by the wealthy. If the country is to truly thrive we must move above this petty system, we need to truly oust the aristocracy and protect all our citizens.
Economic: The Social Reform Party wants to focus most of its preliminary efforts on the creation of what they see as a true middle class; they propose that this can only be achieved through stricter government control over the nation’s economy and laws limiting the amount of net wealth the individual can possess in land, money, and other valuables.
Royalist Party
In a nation with a tradition of rule by a single figurehead and one in which the ruler ship is so popular among the people it has come as little surprise this party was formed. However what has come as a surprise is the party’s leader, former noble and Foreign Minister Richard Long. The Royalist Party is formed of mostly moderates and supports Benard I in many endeavors. It has some measure of support in almost every district.
Party Leader: Richard Long
Politics at a Glance
Foreign: A progressive foreign policy is almost a necessity for a nation to survive in today’s ever changing world. Every nation must be on the look out for friendly nations willing to benefit from a mutual relationship between them, with this in mind we support the Monarch’s continued endeavor’s within both alliances we currently honor and would like to urge our nation’s policy makers to opening inroads within the new alliance being formed by the nation of Damirez; additionally we should attempt to convince other Nova European nations to join the existing alliances on the continent.
Military: We are a peaceful nation that sits astride a continent devoted to keeping friendly terms with all her neighbors. It is with this in mind that we believe the further advancement of military technology is paramount to our goals; we should continue to develop our weaponry and strategic doctrine to be at the forefront of technology in the best interests of not only ourselves, but also all those whose interests we share. This does not however mean that we should not review our budget policies and attempt to remove excess expenditure so that we may devote more money toward other projects.
National: The Parliament should be nothing more than a tool to help the Monarch govern his people. It is a means for the people’s voice to be heard and their words to carry weight. No man is perfect and it is another function of the Parliament to assist in policy and aid the nation as a whole in its growth through this new system of checks and balances.
Economic: Our economy will become even stronger as we strive to reach true equality within our nation; there is little need for change.
Conservative Party
Many members of the Conservative Party unsurprisingly believe that things are running down the right path and very little needs changed; other members of the party support maintaining of the current status quo and perhaps even reverting back a bit. A large portion of this party are former aristocrats and land owners.
Party Leader: Virginia Wright
Politics at a Glance
Foreign: At this time Goldaron only needs to maintain its relationships with her allies, fostering stronger relationships with the EDI and NEA should be the only true international agenda for our nation.
Military: In past years our armed forces have grown by leaps and bounds in terms of readiness and technology. Even bearing all this in mind we need to continue to improve our technology. Our nation is still several years behind many of our potential enemy nations and several of our allies. We must focus on continued development especially of our naval forces if we wish to defend ourselves from aggressors.
National: Our nation is a haven for culture and has a tremendous standard of living and GDP; there are less than 2% of the population are homeless in our nation and even they can find plenty of opportunities for government assistance if they looked. In short Goldaron is perhaps as good as it will ever get, it would be a useless endeavor to try and improve our standards of living through welfare and even more government programs geared toward the poor. We must instead put forth more effort into streamlining our governmental structure and improving the effectiveness of our law system.
Economic: We need to take a more hands off approach with our economy; our companies are best left alone to handle things their own way. Less effort needs to be spent on regulating our industries and more must be spent on improving our national infrastructure to ensure the continued growth of our economy.
Socialist Party
To many people within the nation the economic and political policies of the neighboring World Soviet Party hold a certain allure. The socialist movement has gained enough popular support to be a major contender for the Parliamentary elections within Goldaron. The Socialist Party approaches the masses with a platform of the gradual socialization of the nation’s industries without infringing upon the rights of those who own their own business.
Party Leader: Herbert Walker
Politics at a Glance
Foreign: We can learn much from our neighbors on the institution of democracy and equality and should make it a point to study the governments of other peoples. Our nation should openly embrace the benefits of socialism and democracy to create our own flavor or governance and culture that perhaps other nations could use as a model in future years to come.
Military: Armed forces are vital to the continued existence of any nation; we must continue down the path that our Monarch has set in recent years to ensure that we can survive.
National/Economic: All human beings should be seen as equals; our nation’s resources are vast and could be used to support us one and all. Over time there is no reason why we should not all benefit from the bounty we supply. The independently wealthy however, should not be punished for their luck and foresight those who have earned their fortunes should be allowed to enjoy them until they pass on, at which time their wealth shall be distributed to all.
Minor Parties
Nation Party
The Nation Party is an isolationist party that believes a policy of non-intervention in world politics is the best road that Goldaron, and any other nation, can take. External interests should only be in trade for resources that the nation cannot provide on its own.
Leader: Jane Romero
Green Party
The Green Party’s platform is one that focuses on the betterment and continued growth of the nation’s wilderness areas and natural resources. They support much stricter laws on emissions and increased government funding for the study of “Green Technologies”.
Leader: Franz Ferdinand
Expansionism Party
Many members of this party wish to see the nation’s territory increase. Fortunately the wish for continued peace is strong in the hearts of most of Goldaron’s citizens and the party has organizational issues.
Independents Party
Most members of the Independents hold views from several other parties and do not believe they fit with any one party. The overall policies of the Independents vary so significantly that it is a virtual impossibility to list them.
Role
The Parliament of Goldaron as a group will hold status and power equal to the Monarch. They will posses the power to pass laws and make policy with the Monarch’s consent or with an 85% majority vote as well as the power to veto (through popular vote) the laws and policies put forth by the Monarch. For a law or policy to pass both the Parliament (representing the people) and the Monarch must agree on it. Policies agreed too by the majority of the Parliament but not the Monarch will be brought to referendum during the yearly election process.
Organization
The nation has been divided into 10 districts by the election committee with a total of 100 seats currently open for elected office and another 100 seats to be filled in 2009. Each member of Parliament will serve a term of two years but will be eligible for re-election for up to five total terms; there will be yearly elections held the first week of every May for one half of the 200 total planned parliamentary seats. Each electoral district will have an equal number of representatives to best reflect the will of the general population. Information on the 9 political parties can be found below.
OOC: The elections will be announced Sunday, March 16. In the meantime I am inviting interested people to make IC contributions to any of the parties listed below from governments and companies who support their policies. I am going to base the future actions of my nation on the make up of her Parliament and how the Parliament and Monarch work together.
Liberal Party
Goldaron’s Liberal Party pushes for social reform in areas that would especially benefit naturalized citizens and members of the lower class. A secondary agenda is for reform of the nation’s penal system; they would like to see it either move away from privatization or for the government to place tougher restrictions on the kinds of punishments, lodging, and other aspects of prison life upon the private companies.
Party Leader: Richard Starky
Politics at a Glance
Foreign: Goldaron has in recent years maintained healthy relationships with most of its neighbors and several like-minded nations much to its benefit. There is no reason why we should not continue to build upon those relationships we already have, and perhaps another aggressive round of Embassy trading is in order in the future. Weapons trade is one of the nation’s cornerstones of economy but the government needs to pay closer attention to those nations which deal with our weapons manufacturer and perhaps restrict it only to Nova Europe and the EDI.
Military: Since the end of the civil war many steps have been taken to turn the nation’s armed forces into a top-notch force, as far as the Liberal Party is concerned those goals set by the Monarch have not only been met, but also surpassed. The Liberal Party believes that Goldaron needs to divert more funds away from the armed forces and toward internal and external interests and instead of advancing the military focusing on maintaining its current standing forces.
National: The Monarch’s civil service laws of 2,005 are a great way to promote understanding and responsibility in the young members of Goldaron’s communities; these laws could however use refinement, as the policy seems to be too strict. The Liberal’s would also like to see much reform in the area of the prison system. Under the nation’s laws one is innocent until proven guilty, however once proven guilty beyond the reasonable doubt criminals rights are considered void until they have repaid their debt owed to society; in the eyes of the Liberal Party this is what has lead to the eventual privatization of the penal system and what they see as the uncontrolled abuse of those people.
Economic: We have in our nation been blessed with a powerful economy and much wealth over the years, now it is the time to ensure that this economic might is spread fairly among our people. Too many people work as wage slaves to powerful corporations who do their best to keep them down. It is time for another change; the Liberal Party supports the formation of labor unions and a new minimum wage laws to improve the lives of all the nation’s citizens.
Social Reform Party
To the casual observer the Social Reform Party is similar to the Liberal Party, however to those who pay close attention the two parties have many differences. The Social Reform party is considered extremist by many of their Liberal counterparts. Many key members of the Reformists want to completely overhaul the status quo; ousting what little remains of the Aristocracy and aggressively pursuing the formation of a true middle class. Several members of the Social Reform Party also support the Socialist movement. The Social Reform Party has many supporters among the nation’s poorest citizens.
Party Leader: Samuel James Quincy
Politics at a Glance
Foreign: Goldaron’s current involvement in the international scene is perhaps enough for now. In order to truly take our place on the world’s stage we must first look inside our own borders, to our own people, and remove whatever social injustices we see.
Military: Our Monarch claims that our military’s duty is to serve the people, and protect our borders from aggressors. If this is true then why are so many of our nation’s warriors stationed on foreign soil? Many Reformists believe that we need to show less support to our allies militarily and focus on keeping our soldiers close to where they truly belong, doing what they are supposed to do… many vague answers have been given as to what they believe that may be.
National: It is beyond the time for a change, the Reformist movement looks upon the social structure of this nation and sees a flawed system of beliefs. The Monarch claims that he keeps the best interest of all his citizens at heart but continues to throw the brunt of his support toward those who hold the most wealth. It is true that he has still done much to see that the system treats all citizen’s fairly but there is no denying that the true motives of the government serve the higher interest of the economists and former nobility. The feudal government may be gone but only to be replaced by a new form of rule by the wealthy. If the country is to truly thrive we must move above this petty system, we need to truly oust the aristocracy and protect all our citizens.
Economic: The Social Reform Party wants to focus most of its preliminary efforts on the creation of what they see as a true middle class; they propose that this can only be achieved through stricter government control over the nation’s economy and laws limiting the amount of net wealth the individual can possess in land, money, and other valuables.
Royalist Party
In a nation with a tradition of rule by a single figurehead and one in which the ruler ship is so popular among the people it has come as little surprise this party was formed. However what has come as a surprise is the party’s leader, former noble and Foreign Minister Richard Long. The Royalist Party is formed of mostly moderates and supports Benard I in many endeavors. It has some measure of support in almost every district.
Party Leader: Richard Long
Politics at a Glance
Foreign: A progressive foreign policy is almost a necessity for a nation to survive in today’s ever changing world. Every nation must be on the look out for friendly nations willing to benefit from a mutual relationship between them, with this in mind we support the Monarch’s continued endeavor’s within both alliances we currently honor and would like to urge our nation’s policy makers to opening inroads within the new alliance being formed by the nation of Damirez; additionally we should attempt to convince other Nova European nations to join the existing alliances on the continent.
Military: We are a peaceful nation that sits astride a continent devoted to keeping friendly terms with all her neighbors. It is with this in mind that we believe the further advancement of military technology is paramount to our goals; we should continue to develop our weaponry and strategic doctrine to be at the forefront of technology in the best interests of not only ourselves, but also all those whose interests we share. This does not however mean that we should not review our budget policies and attempt to remove excess expenditure so that we may devote more money toward other projects.
National: The Parliament should be nothing more than a tool to help the Monarch govern his people. It is a means for the people’s voice to be heard and their words to carry weight. No man is perfect and it is another function of the Parliament to assist in policy and aid the nation as a whole in its growth through this new system of checks and balances.
Economic: Our economy will become even stronger as we strive to reach true equality within our nation; there is little need for change.
Conservative Party
Many members of the Conservative Party unsurprisingly believe that things are running down the right path and very little needs changed; other members of the party support maintaining of the current status quo and perhaps even reverting back a bit. A large portion of this party are former aristocrats and land owners.
Party Leader: Virginia Wright
Politics at a Glance
Foreign: At this time Goldaron only needs to maintain its relationships with her allies, fostering stronger relationships with the EDI and NEA should be the only true international agenda for our nation.
Military: In past years our armed forces have grown by leaps and bounds in terms of readiness and technology. Even bearing all this in mind we need to continue to improve our technology. Our nation is still several years behind many of our potential enemy nations and several of our allies. We must focus on continued development especially of our naval forces if we wish to defend ourselves from aggressors.
National: Our nation is a haven for culture and has a tremendous standard of living and GDP; there are less than 2% of the population are homeless in our nation and even they can find plenty of opportunities for government assistance if they looked. In short Goldaron is perhaps as good as it will ever get, it would be a useless endeavor to try and improve our standards of living through welfare and even more government programs geared toward the poor. We must instead put forth more effort into streamlining our governmental structure and improving the effectiveness of our law system.
Economic: We need to take a more hands off approach with our economy; our companies are best left alone to handle things their own way. Less effort needs to be spent on regulating our industries and more must be spent on improving our national infrastructure to ensure the continued growth of our economy.
Socialist Party
To many people within the nation the economic and political policies of the neighboring World Soviet Party hold a certain allure. The socialist movement has gained enough popular support to be a major contender for the Parliamentary elections within Goldaron. The Socialist Party approaches the masses with a platform of the gradual socialization of the nation’s industries without infringing upon the rights of those who own their own business.
Party Leader: Herbert Walker
Politics at a Glance
Foreign: We can learn much from our neighbors on the institution of democracy and equality and should make it a point to study the governments of other peoples. Our nation should openly embrace the benefits of socialism and democracy to create our own flavor or governance and culture that perhaps other nations could use as a model in future years to come.
Military: Armed forces are vital to the continued existence of any nation; we must continue down the path that our Monarch has set in recent years to ensure that we can survive.
National/Economic: All human beings should be seen as equals; our nation’s resources are vast and could be used to support us one and all. Over time there is no reason why we should not all benefit from the bounty we supply. The independently wealthy however, should not be punished for their luck and foresight those who have earned their fortunes should be allowed to enjoy them until they pass on, at which time their wealth shall be distributed to all.
Minor Parties
Nation Party
The Nation Party is an isolationist party that believes a policy of non-intervention in world politics is the best road that Goldaron, and any other nation, can take. External interests should only be in trade for resources that the nation cannot provide on its own.
Leader: Jane Romero
Green Party
The Green Party’s platform is one that focuses on the betterment and continued growth of the nation’s wilderness areas and natural resources. They support much stricter laws on emissions and increased government funding for the study of “Green Technologies”.
Leader: Franz Ferdinand
Expansionism Party
Many members of this party wish to see the nation’s territory increase. Fortunately the wish for continued peace is strong in the hearts of most of Goldaron’s citizens and the party has organizational issues.
Independents Party
Most members of the Independents hold views from several other parties and do not believe they fit with any one party. The overall policies of the Independents vary so significantly that it is a virtual impossibility to list them.