Insignia
Insignia
Controlling a multigalactic empire is a huge task for any
bureaucracy. As the size of controlled territory increases, so does the infrastructure
required to maintain it, especially for as socialistic a nation as the Weirdo Zone.
Government itself takes up nearly four or five percent of the GNP of the Weirdo Zone. That
doesn't sound like much until one remembers how big the WZ is and that five percent of its
GNP is the production of at least three hundred thousand planets. One percent of the
Weirdo Zone's population is in the government (not including the military).
Weirdo Zone Government seems to be everywhere. It monitors
school systems, controls trade, directly makes the laws for about half of the inhabited
systems in the WZ, and basically controls the finances of everyone in this gigantic
commune. What keeps such a federal monster from devouring every last vestige of freedom in
the land?
The answer lies in committee. There are regulating
committees for everything. Each regulating committee has members from each race involved,
and so if any ratty politicking occurs, it can be counted by the ratty politicking of
everyone else. Also, the MediaNet, Collected News Agents, and the Weirdo Zone News
Corporation keeps a sharp eye on the everyday operations of government. Corruption is of
course possible even in the enlightened society of the Weirdo Zone, but it is more like
than not going to be detected by either the news media or the semi-secret committee-run
Weirdo Zone Internal Security Services (WZISS).
The use of such committes is inefficient at best. However,
the only other effective option is either oppression, such as in the Thaurian Concordat,
or mind control, such as in the Reaver Biological Collective. We despise both. Therefore,
the Weirdo Zone is actually constructed as loose as possible to avoid chafing the freedoms
and cultures shrouded within it.
The Federal Government
The Federal Government of the WZ is based on various successful representative republics in the past. The most effective means that has worked to date is a legislative unit that consists of popularly elected Population Council where representation in each sector is based on population (hmmm...), and a local-government appointed Sector Council in which each sector gets three votes; an executive unit that is headed by a military veteran-elected Supreme Emperor that controls appointments and the military; and finally a Jurisprudential Unit appointed by the Supreme Emperor and confirmed by the legislative units.
nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;All elections use the Borden count voting system. This simply means that the candidates are ranked in order of preference by each voter.
The Supreme Emperor
The fact that the only people eligible to vote for the
Supreme Emperor are those who have been honorably discharged from the military makes the
WZ a de facto military dictatorship. However, even as it requires a special person to hold
the highest political office in known space it requires a special sort of people to vote
for such a person. This sort of voting style is used for two reasons: 1) It gives an
incentive to enlist when honor and duty aren't enough, and 2) soldiers are at least
slightly 'better' politically than civilians because they are not just willing to stand up
for their beliefs but die for them. This idea was taken from the Terran Dominion who got
it from a book written in the 1950s by Robert Heinelein. If this idea makes no sense,
later publications should help sort it out.
The Supreme Emperor acts as the supreme commander of the
military, the head federal law-enforcement official, and appoints all federal posts. His
powers of government are taken directly from the Constitution of the United States of
America, a document that controlled the most powerful nation on Earth for several hundred
years (The good 'ol USA still exists, but as a state within an united planet within a star
system within a sector within a galaxy within the Weirdo Zone. It's basically relegated to
'large portion of a city' status in the year 3000).
For elections, Supreme Emperor candidates are randomly
selected from the group of all eligible persons, whether they want to or not. Supreme
Emperors are elected for ten year terms with no term limits. They can be impeached for
breaking any federal law that is a class A misdemeanor or above (none of this vague 'high
crimes and misdemeanors' stuff for us!). Eligible candidates must be of adult age in their
respective offices, have served for at least one tour of duty in active military service
and honorably discharged, and have been in a leadership position (tank crew commander,
mayor, whatever).
The Legislative Unit
The Legislative Unit is the largest parliamentary structure ever assembled. The Weirdo Zone has more than one thousand representatives at the federal level. As described earlier, the Legislative Unit is bicameral, split into the Population Council and the Sector Council. The Population Council has one thousand representatives from the 79 sectors of the WZ. Representation is apportioned according to relative population. One sector in the heart of the old Terran Dominion near Sol has 20 representatives while a frontier sector on the WZ/RBC border has only one. The Population Council is in charge of most legal coding. Representatives in the Population Council are elected directly by their constituents for terms of five years. The Sector Council gives each of the 79 sectors three representatives for a total of 237 representatives. The Sector Council is responsible for most financial and foriegn-affair legislation. Sector Council representatives are elected by local government heads, who can provide a slightly more knowledgeable choice, for eight years. However, the will of the people is still exercised because if a local governor elects an upopular representative the governor won't have his job for much longer.
The Jurisprudential Unit
The Jurisprudential Unit is made up of various federal judges appointed by the Supreme Emperor whose duties are to interpret the laws and rule on cases based on these interpretations. These federal judges are apportioned within each sector and create a legal hierarchy that leads up to the High Judicators of the Weirdo Zone (HiJud for short), an eleven-judge council that can interpret laws for the entire Weirdo Zone.
The Weirdo Zone Military Services
While the military is not really a section of the Weirdo Zone Government in areas of legislation, it is the power projection arm of the Government. The Supreme Emperor can order the military into hotspots as coordinators and logistics for up to six months, but further involvment of stellar warships and ground forces requires the assent of the Sector Council. Also, the fact that only honorably discharged military personnel can vote for Supreme Emperor makes the military a vital part of the Government. The WZMS will be highlighted in a later publication, however.
Local Governments
Local governments in the WZ are a dime a dozen and widely varied. Whatever works for the constituents works for us. Constitutional monarchies, direct democracies, oligarchies, whatever. As long as the people approve and there is no oppression (the WZISS has its ways of discovering such things), the federal government does not care and does not wish to get involved.
Weirdo Zone Office of Public Relations netdoc 411.00
Uplinked on 10.17.3000
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