15-01-2003 04:14									#1
	Let's talk about elections and term lengths Enter the AD-FREE zone

After participating in three democracy games, Civ2, CtP2 and originally in the Civ2 game over at Civfantatics, and observing some of the other democracy games, i've gotten some strong opinions on how elections should be run and how long the government should be in office.

My proposal:
Cabinet members (president, minister of war, minister of foriegn affairs, etc) should have a term of one month long, begining on the first of the month, and ending on the last day of the month.

If we only have one judge, he should have only one month in office, just like the cabinet, but if there are 3, each judge should have the 3 month term, staggered so one is elected every month. with terms begining and ending at the start and finish of each month.

I don't like the 4 week thing, and i'll tell you why, there are very few who will remember how many weeks have gone by for a term, and will never be sure when a new election cycle will begin.

Some people are going to say that the elections could fall on a weekend and people will miss an opportunity to vote. In return I say that we do not need a strict timetable on when to begin the election. We don't need to start the election exactly 3 days before the end of the current term. A variable lame duck period would be completely acceptable and would allow the elections to always been done during the week. of course the nomination start and end date would be adjusted to coincide with the election.

proposal for election sequence
4 days for nominations
~1 day inbetween because whoever is running the elections is not superman*
3 days for the election

*=may be longer if the period falls on a weekend.


discuss

	15-01-2003 04:22									#2
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Change 3 days for the actual elections to 5 and I think the differences between this proposal and the CtP2DG system should be put in an amendment for the CtP2 D. It's perfect

	15-01-2003 04:25									#3
	Suffering from ads?

i never liked the 4 week term, its too confusing, plus no one is always on poly so much that they can instantly start an election when the nomination period expires. present company excepted

	15-01-2003 04:39									#4
	Increase Your PM Length

The longer the term, the longer the election.

If we have 1 wk elections, give us 1.5 months per term. You can't have 1/4 of the term in a turbulent election period. You can't physically and mentally concentrate on the game properly for 7 days, if you have the feeling you may be benched tommorow.

	15-01-2003 05:00									#5
	Tired of ads?

i'm failing to see the nugget of insight in your post

	15-01-2003 05:05									#6
	Increase Your PM Length

The nomination period is not turbulent at all, I think the CtP2DG certainly is proving this. The elections themselves only have to take 5 days, I don't see a problem with 5 days of 'unrest'. The game can still continue, I don't think people will loose *that* much concentration over a virtual election

	15-01-2003 12:18									#7
	Support Apolyton, buy Alpha Centauri

quote: Originally posted by Locutus Change 3 days for the actual elections to 5 and I think the differences between this proposal and the CtP2DG system should be put in an amendment for the CtP2 D. It's perfect

the only problem is that this proposal covers material in at least two articles... But I'll get to work on changing the existing ones to reflect my proposal.

	16-01-2003 00:33									#8
	Got spare money?

Never played a Democracy-game before. But I think the "1 month in office" is easy to remember for all.

	16-01-2003 04:14									#9
	Suffering from ads?

exactly, compared to 4 weeks, one month is like trying to solve 2+2 instead of sqrt(-1)

	16-01-2003 05:01									#10
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But those are both equally simple: 4 and i

	16-01-2003 07:43									#11
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i like the month long term

	16-01-2003 09:22									#12
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quote: Originally posted by H Tower exactly, compared to 4 weeks, one month is like trying to solve 2+2 instead of sqrt(-1)

Where is Mathmagician when we need him.

Oh, never mind we have locutus.

	16-01-2003 11:40									#13
	Inflate your Upload Space

when did you to do 2+2?

when did you learn the sqrt(-1) ?

I rest my case

	16-01-2003 18:27									#14
	Support Apolyton or Terrorists Win

Time of learning has little to do with it in this case: 2+2=4 is a very simple equation, sqrt(-1)=i is a definition, requires no math whatsoever. So if anything, sqrt(-1) is simpler to solve than 2+2 (in spite of the solution being complex )

	17-01-2003 13:01									#15
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quote: complex

heh, nice pun

	18-01-2003 08:58									#16
	Remove this text

That's a great idea re: the staggered 3 month
terms for judges. You are a genius

	18-01-2003 09:01									#17
	Support Apolyton, buy Civilization 2

Oh, and setting the terms on a date (i.e. the 1st)
rather than every 4 weeks is much better too.

	18-01-2003 17:51									#18
	Support Apolyton, buy GURPS/ Alpha Centauri

quote: Originally posted by Locutus sqrt(-1)=i is a definition, requires no math whatsoever.

I must point out here that though it is possible to define i as sqrt(-1) that is (IMNSHO) an extremely silly way to do it. Much better is to start with the complex numbers as pairs of real numbers (x, y) representing x+iy, and define addition and multiplication on these. Then finding sqrt(-1) is probably a little more difficult than finding 2+2...

With regard to the election term lengths, I was in favour of 4 week terms in the CTP2DG, but now I think using 1 month terms with elections always starting on the same day of the week would be wise for both games.

(And yes, I know I haven't joined the civgroup yet...)

	18-01-2003 21:14									#19
	Enter the AD-FREE zone

You mathematicians are always so impractical, you could learn something from us Computer Scientists in that respect

	20-01-2003 05:55									#20
	Get a bigger avatar today!

is it eaiser to define sqrt(-1) or 2+2 in a programming language?

(i really should let this go but I'm too stubborn)