This week on my show I pointed out the potential for Congress to be able to pass laws, constitutional amendments and so fourth. Many said this isn’t something that’s going to happen, as the presiding officers wouldn’t allow it to. Here we are less then a week after the election and we have our first case of a constitutional amendment passing via trello. The fact that this passed via trello isn’t the real issue at hand.
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As you can see based on this screenshot we already have our first scenario of a CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENT, not a bill, not a confirmation passing with 3 votes, no public discussion, no meeting, no set time frame for voting, no proper way to call motions, and the list of problems go on.
Am I the only one that would like to see this addressed? Am I overreacting? give me your thoughts because this is majorly concerning to me, rights shouldn’t be able to be removed with 1-3 votes. The fact that now we’ve seen first hand this can and will happen. Should congress do something to fix this problem? Such as a requirement that if something is to pass on trello all member of the chamber must vote? The entire argument for trello is that it’s easier for people to have access and vote? What good is better access if it’s not being used? I don’t see how this is a benefit to anyone in the State whether they’re casual citizens, members of departments, and so fourth. Am I alone?
Personally I think this should be looked into because it’s not about the PO’s opinions on what they think should be put into place or not so should decide whether or not something is allowed to be bought to the floor to be discussed and voted on.
I understand the whole point of using Trello is that it’s easier but I also agree that everyone should have to vote before it gets passed/denied with a small number of votes; obviously within a reasonable time period that can be laid out in a bill or even the new constitution.
Overall, there definitely should be something done about how Congress operate because some of the ways they do things is wrong and shouldn’t be allowed to happen.
The PO’s set up the voting and manage when the voting closes and so fourth as well as accept motions and so fourth. When you’re not at an actual meeting it’s all done remotely so with that the constitution sets the time required to pass anything at 24 hours. A constitutional amendment right now could pass with 1 vote if 24 hours passed.
Regardless of how long was given, the potential for Constitutional amendments to pass with 1 vote shouldn’t exist. As I said, there’s no point in trello voting if there’s not going to be full votes from the entire chamber. The entire reason for this rush to make sure trello voting was a primary source of voting was so that everyone could be “Accommodated” so that they could vote Not to mention there is no expressed time period in which the proposal was up. A single tag, no regulation, no way to properly take motions, no real attendance, so many problems that need to be fixed.
It isn’t ideal by any means and any constitutional undertaking should involve as many people as possible. However, the means were there for all Senators to be involved, especially since debate was open since the 20th and about 48 hours were given for motions and voting.
I think this links into the wider problem of political participation. For example, voting numbers are down, Congressional members go AWOL at the end of a term, and activity just dies down in general. The question is what do we do about that because the answer is ambiguous or non-existent.
There was only the ppt stating that it would close when plurality was met, no time limit or specific end date so there was not as much urgency leading to you guessed it, less votes…
I was trying to propose my amendment but then stamose pushed it through so
whether it was because of the lack of Senate response or a lack of agreement about your perspective, there was no second on your motion. but there isn’t any flaws with the thing on executive agreements nor 5 whole days for a governor to sign a bill
Looking back at it, I can see that it may have partially been my fault.
I know, I said I would close it once a plurality was met.
Due to the fact that the legislation was a high priority, I decided to close the voting early. I had informed the Senators multiple times to vote, and I only got 3 people to vote.
yes blame the POs when the SENATORS are inactive and dont represent their people, if you want to see ur vote counted then we gotta get active senators.
its not against anyone in particular im just saying voting and participation from senators and reps has been going down as an overall tendency
Personally, I disagree with any form of voting besides via Discord or within the chambers itself. I feel as if debating, doing full and thorough research and review of everything presented should be necessary.
In Firestone, we see this trend. Someone presents a bill, you read it, you decide if you agree with it. There’s a lack of review for ethics, loopholes, and most importantly the opinions of the Citizens on the said bill. Thus, creating a larger chance for flawed bills to easily pass, flawed leaders to be confirmed, etc thereby causing more time to be spent fixing the issues you were elected to prevent from happening.
Trello voting or anything that doesn’t allow debate heavily restricts this crucial part of the legislative process.
I get it’s a game and people don’t want to spend time doing that, but you being elected for the office mandates you to actually take it seriously, and conduct your own review on it.
There is a reason there has been quorum requirements for years. There is a reason there’s not a single functional legislative body in the U.S that doesn’t have a set quorum. I blame people’s lack of wanting to actually do the job on problems like this, as well as a lack of real scheduling, there was a single tag in the senate announcements I’m not going to pretend people were spammed to vote. When we’ve taken the time to have actual sessions in the term more then 5 people have shown up almost every time for both chambers.
Float how is a second even properly recognized in trello voting? What are the regulations? All of the regulations that exist on motions, are essentially USELESS so this rush has essentially destroyed our legislation on motions. How do we know if people even see it? We don’t, this is again why SESSIONS exist. As far as I’m concerned the fact that this system we have right now passed with no consideration for SIMPLE LIMITS such as requiring the members of each chamber to vote is a failure on the part of the congress as this went completely uncontested.
The fact that there’s no debate, no public discussion, no preset end dates for legislation, no urgency, no quorum. I hate that tomorrow if someone was corrupt and a PO with one supporter they could hide a legislation inside the trello get their buddy to vote and wait 24 hours and it could pass. There’s a reason quorum is a thing and the fact that this was allowed to happen really is painful for me to watch. “It’s not ideal” no it’s trash im going to be honest.
Just for the record there was not a “single tag” in Senate announcements and I had tried to host a senate session and I failed to meet quorum. So yea, an effort was made
Discord sessions on bills would be the best IMO as they allow everyone to participate but nooo, committees would also help solve some of these but nooo, and we are back at where we started. Of course its fucking horrible that 3 people can basically change the constitution but they are changing it because stuff like this can happen. I believe that those in charge of reforming the constitution will take notice of this and will devise a strategy to fix it. I mainly blame the congressmen who do nothing but hold office to use SS. I spoke with a former SS agent recently who has said that during a few terms congressmen joined to only use SS which was evident by their constant SS requests and lack of presence anywhere but in-game (at v2) to call SS. This is not a simple issue that can be brushed on the PO, but an issue that requires DEDICATED people and systematic change.
And so I call on the COMPETENT congressmen to help resolve this and try to at least make an effort to make the FIRESTONE CONGRESS more DEMOCRATIC.
Discord Sessions FTW
love you all, i dont mean to insult anyone with this its just my personal opinion and none of this is personal xoxo fmr congressman john
