Royal Federal Republic of Free States

Wow, I found some errors while rereading it. Thank you Nationstates.

Royal Federal Republic of Free States wrote:

In recognition of historic, as well as present, services rendered, virtues exemplified, and glory attained, I hereby grant award membership of the Order of the Eternal Brethren, primus inter pares, along with all its lawful privileges and rights, to Sir The Confederacy of Beastland, comrade from days of old—requiring no oath of loyalty, nor recitation of creed, nor ratification of the constitution and laws of this Republic, merely pending his acceptance of the honor.

Also. This membership was offered, but you haven't accepted yet. I assume you simply lost track of it, or didn't happen to see it.

Given that there is no Chief of the Assembly at the moment, this will require the Crown Sovereign (me) to issue a writ of order to summon the Federal Assembly to its business, and then it will be my responsibility to basically act as Chief, establish the quorum, call to vote, and so on. But until then, I just want to talk a little bit about why I think this constitutional amendment is not only beneficial, but necessary.

Our low population has been something I've had to work very hard around as Sovereign. While our Knights have been extremely helpful in some respects. they're unfortunately very limited in how much responsibility they can take on. This was originally by design, and I want to keep that design in place, but it was designed with a much larger and more active population in mind. I built it to accomodate greater and greater numbers of nations, but I did not consider just how difficult all the many offices would be to fill (and tasks to distribute) when they're so many in number, so distinct in function, so frequently selected, and most of all, so stringently separated. These are very good attributes for offices when there is much competition among many applicants; a diversity of offices means a diversity of officers, all looking to have a specific area of power where they can make a concrete difference.

On the other hand, when there's only the few of us, as there are right now, there is no constitutionally built-in failsafe for the Cabinet to become more simple, more powerful, and more flexible. I did do it for the Federal Assembly, and for the Senate. These systems weren't perfect, for sure, but they were necessary, and I rather wish I had as much foresight for the College of Lords as I did for the legislative bodies!

This amendment remedies the problem.

It carves out specific, limited, though far-ranging exemptions for trusted, experienced Knights, who serve at the sole discretion of the Sovereign, and can (1) fill multiple administrative offices (2) for extended terms, (3) with minimal fuss and bother with holding selections, (4) both at-home AND abroad, BUT (5) are still able to be held accountable, by the Royal Senate.

All three Republican Knights here present would be entirely eligible (GOR, Beastland, and Cylthropia) under the terms of this amendment, and I feel that the terms ensure that as a retinue of specially-privileged Knights, it could be kept reasonably exclusive on merit, rather than being a matter of simply who can ingratiate themselves the best with the monarch.

These are the reasons why I believe this amendment is prudent and necessary. I hope you fellows will agree.

Western Mars wrote:

As I recall, the purpose was to save on fuel, because of oil rationing. They started it during WWII, dropped it, and then brought it back in the 1970s, due to the fuel crisis and because of environmental concerns. That was about the same time they were doing all sorts of environmentally-motivated things, like implementing right-turn-on-red-OK laws, creating the EPA, and so on. I have mixed feelings on the results of that era, but the motive was fundamentally good. However, I despise Daylight Saving Time, and even more, I despise the apparently popular idea that what we OUGHT to do is... make DST permanent?? Absolutely stupid.

Farmers definitely don't care about DST because when you're a farmer, you wake up when you need to, no matter what the clock says. It's just a hassle for the rest of us working industrial and post-industrial jobs, being so tied to daily routine.

That's right: Germany implemented first and its enemies jumped on board under the assumption that it really did save energy, even though it wasn't proven. Oddly enough, it still isn't proven that it saves energy: studies show opposite results. Arizona at least opted out, as they found it led to people running their ACs longer.

Also, an often forgotten part of the misery: the US used to be aligned with other DST countries, but a George Bush era law from 2005 lengthened daylight savings time by about a month (to 'save energy'), which actually made it more miserable. This is why, for example, just as it is getting bright in the morning again, the time shift throws you into darkness again. [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Energy_Policy_Act_of_2005#:~:text=Clocks%20were%20set%20ahead%20one,(October%2028%2C%202007).]

Ironically, people's obsession with making DST permanent is illegal under federal law (though this can be changed of course), but some states make a point of passing laws that would make it happen anyway as a way to pressure the government and appease constituents...I guess? But, like Arizona, any state can actually opt out of DST, yet this move is for some reason never advocated.

I had a seizure during my accounting class yesterday. He said he was gonna give me an "incomplete" and have me come once a week over the Summer for help. It may make him look bad if someone that passed his class is an idiot in the next one. At the same time, I showed up everyday and stuff. I really do have something wrong with me and I think I'm too dumb to do accounting without notes. I may change to political science where I can write essays and stuff instead.

Very depressing that the one class (Intermediary Financial Accounting 1) I (almost, since he said he'd give me an incomplete) failed is my major