The Good Days are Gone: USA Political RP (IC)

[The United Artherian Federation]

With Lewis' proposition cleared up, Barnes stood once more.
"Ladies and Gentlemen, currently this nation is in a place not seen since the 1860s, and we all know that. We all know that the abolition of the Electoral College led to the place we are in right now. And I believe that Governor Lewis' proposal will bring us out of this ditch of despair we are currently in. So, in order to restore our nation to its former glory, I believe that we must immediately pass and ratify his proposed amendment. However, if we continue to sit on our asses and do nothing but bicker among ourselves, the nation will imminently crumble and, I predict, that we will have Second Civil War, that will be the most destructive war, foreign or domestic, that this nation has ever seen. Not only that, but our adversaries overseas will take this opportunity to strike our allies, and inevitably our homeland. Now I would like to remind you all that this nation has not been invaded in over one hundred and fifty years. We must ask ourselves, do we want to be remembered as the group of leaders that brought this nation back from the brink of total collapse? Or do we want to be remembered as the group of leaders that let it slip through our fingers and allowed our enemies to subjugate our people? No more should the American people be left questioning their futures. As a matter of unity, pass that damn amendment! I can already tell you, I wholeheartedly support it, the IGA most likely will, and Congress should."
After saying what was on his mind, he sat back down and took a sip of water and looked around the room, waiting to gauge his colleagues reaction.

[Cold Snom]

Davidson finally decided to stand up. It was to long. So, she responded. "I agree that we should cooperate, Mr. Barnes. But I do not think Lewis' proposal is the best for the situation. The electoral college didn't stop the Civil War, did it not? We're substituting the large states ahting us for the small ones. This will just lead to Alaska hating us instead of Texas, Oregon instead of Virginia, Maine instead of New York, and Oklahoma instead of Florida. And there will be others. Instead of eight states wanting to secede, it will be twenty. And we're doing this by a tyrannical system that keeps the people from their choice. The Nazi regime was an authoritarian replacement for the Weimar republic, but we don't praise it, do we? SO in short, this proposal, unlike uniting us, keeps us divided. In fact, it might be considered hypocritical." She said the last sentence with a smile.

[Exalted Inquellian State]

Davidson finally decided to stand up. It was to long. So, she responded. "I agree that we should cooperate, Mr. Barnes. But I do not think Lewis' proposal is the best for the situation. The electoral college didn't stop the Civil War, did it not? We're substituting the large states ahting us for the small ones. This will just lead to Alaska hating us instead of Texas, Oregon instead of Virginia, Maine instead of New York, and Oklahoma instead of Florida. And there will be others. Instead of eight states wanting to secede, it will be twenty. And we're doing this by a tyrannical system that keeps the people from their choice. The Nazi regime was an authoritarian replacement for the Weimar republic, but we don't praise it, do we? SO in short, this proposal, unlike uniting us, keeps us divided. In fact, it might be considered hypocritical." She said the last sentence with a smile.

Lewis got up. "Representative Davidson, do you not think you are exaggerating here? Now we'll be honest to the people that they won't elect the president. The electors will be seen as representatives of them. It is a perfectly democratic system that will ensure stability. We will probably need to modify it to some extent, however, given how many parties there are. I have been toying with the idea of proportional representation in the House, but that might be a chaotic mess, so we'll wait to see where I go with that."

[The United Artherian Federation]

Davidson finally decided to stand up. It was to long. So, she responded. "I agree that we should cooperate, Mr. Barnes. But I do not think Lewis' proposal is the best for the situation. The electoral college didn't stop the Civil War, did it not? We're substituting the large states ahting us for the small ones. This will just lead to Alaska hating us instead of Texas, Oregon instead of Virginia, Maine instead of New York, and Oklahoma instead of Florida. And there will be others. Instead of eight states wanting to secede, it will be twenty. And we're doing this by a tyrannical system that keeps the people from their choice. The Nazi regime was an authoritarian replacement for the Weimar republic, but we don't praise it, do we? SO in short, this proposal, unlike uniting us, keeps us divided. In fact, it might be considered hypocritical." She said the last sentence with a smile.

"So, what exactly do you propose we do, Miss Davidson? Settle our differences in the parking lot of a Chilis on a Friday night? Randomly choose one person to be president? Lie down and die? While the Electoral College didn't prevent the Civil War, it didn't lead to an authoritarian government or the failed state we call the Weimar Republic. And I'm afraid I'm not understanding your comparison of the Electoral College to an authoritarian system. Additionally, I do not believe the states 'hate' each other. I have brothers and sisters, and like any family in our teenage years we had disagreements, but we never 'hated' each other. So I ask again, Representative Davidson, what do you propose we do?"

[Cold Snom]

Davidson finally decided to stand up. It was to long. So, she responded. "I agree that we should cooperate, Mr. Barnes. But I do not think Lewis' proposal is the best for the situation. The electoral college didn't stop the Civil War, did it not? We're substituting the large states ahting us for the small ones. This will just lead to Alaska hating us instead of Texas, Oregon instead of Virginia, Maine instead of New York, and Oklahoma instead of Florida. And there will be others. Instead of eight states wanting to secede, it will be twenty. And we're doing this by a tyrannical system that keeps the people from their choice. The Nazi regime was an authoritarian replacement for the Weimar republic, but we don't praise it, do we? SO in short, this proposal, unlike uniting us, keeps us divided. In fact, it might be considered hypocritical." She said the last sentence with a smile.

Lewis got up. "Representative Davidson, do you not think you are exaggerating here? Now we'll be honest to the people that they won't elect the president. The electors will be seen as representatives of them. It is a perfectly democratic system that will ensure stability. We will probably need to modify it to some extent, however, given how many parties there are. I have been toying with the idea of proportional representation in the House, but that might be a chaotic mess, so we'll wait to see where I go with that."

Davidson continued. "We at least must stop electors from not voting for the party they were chosen for. Might allow people to elect" her smile faded. Why did she pick them? Well, it'd look weird if she backed away. Almost as weird as Lewis staring at the wall behind Agberin for five seconds. "National Alliance electors without worrying about them voting Green Instead."

[Cold Snom]

Davidson finally decided to stand up. It was to long. So, she responded. "I agree that we should cooperate, Mr. Barnes. But I do not think Lewis' proposal is the best for the situation. The electoral college didn't stop the Civil War, did it not? We're substituting the large states ahting us for the small ones. This will just lead to Alaska hating us instead of Texas, Oregon instead of Virginia, Maine instead of New York, and Oklahoma instead of Florida. And there will be others. Instead of eight states wanting to secede, it will be twenty. And we're doing this by a tyrannical system that keeps the people from their choice. The Nazi regime was an authoritarian replacement for the Weimar republic, but we don't praise it, do we? SO in short, this proposal, unlike uniting us, keeps us divided. In fact, it might be considered hypocritical." She said the last sentence with a smile.

"So, what exactly do you propose we do, Miss Davidson? Settle our differences in the parking lot of a Chilis on a Friday night? Randomly choose one person to be president? Lie down and die? While the Electoral College didn't prevent the Civil War, it didn't lead to an authoritarian government or the failed state we call the Weimar Republic. And I'm afraid I'm not understanding your comparison of the Electoral College to an authoritarian system. Additionally, I do not believe the states 'hate' each other. I have brothers and sisters, and like any family in our teenage years we had disagreements, but we never 'hated' each other. So I ask again, Representative Davidson, what do you propose we do?"

She turned to Barnes. "As I said to Lewis, we should at least make sure the electors are faithful. Preferably, we change nothing at all. Even if bad candidates were elected, they were only bad because of state distrust and the pandemic. If we remove those problems, well solve them. So we either give the states more autonomy, but not as much as the Articles of Confederation, or we let the ulcers that want to leave leave."

[Exalted Inquellian State]

"Well, I do feel we should consider letting go the secessionist states as a last resort" Lewis began, turning to Davidson. "But I don't agree on the electoral college. Candidates even between 2041 and the 60's when the movement began to pick up pace were still considered horrible. A few crisis' here and there shouldn't have made every president except maybe Agberin considered a total failure."

[Free Ward Marchers]

Televised Announcement by Former Vice President, Public Representative of the Red Secessionists; Ty Feldman

Good afternoon my fellow U.S citizens, as you may know, our party's founder and Head Chairwomen Rosetta Martinez is currently under FBI investigation for a pipe bomb that went off near the entrance of the congress building during a protest organized directly by her in the name of this party almost 2 weeks ago. You may also know that the bomb killed a senator, two representatives and injured 10 more people. And you might know that Mrs. Martinez's whereabouts are currently unknown. As the Public Representative for this party, and now the De Facto leader of this party, I promise on my late grandmother Lydia's spirit that I am working fully with the FBI to track and find Mrs. Martinez, and that her actions, if she is truly responsible for these actions, do not represent the values of this party. This party values freedom and democracy, all of which directly contradicts this heinous act of terrorism and violence against the elected individuals of this great nation. Thank you America and good night

[Untecna]

"Well, I do feel we should consider letting go the secessionist states as a last resort" Lewis began, turning to Davidson. "But I don't agree on the electoral college. Candidates even between 2041 and the 60's when the movement began to pick up pace were still considered horrible. A few crisis' here and there shouldn't have made every president except maybe Agberin considered a total failure."

The seccesionist states MUST NOT go! We must keep them in our union!

The senator breathes a bit before continuing.

[Exalted Inquellian State]

"I said as a last resort, Senator. Representative Davidson is right about one thing-the most secessionist states act as if cancerous ulcers. Obviously, we'll try to give them and create an electoral college to make them feel powerful, but if we must let them go, we must let them go."

[Asardia]

Analise Stormav stood. "The state of Georgia will never support an electoral college again. We've seen elections like 1824, 1876, 2000, and 2016 where the will of the people were not taken into account. I will vote against this measure, and I hope my colleagues can move from this. There's a reason we abolished that system decades ago.

New York Senator Adrian Levisay, meanwhile, was secretly on his phone looking at memes. He giggled to himself for a second before quickly putting it away. "You know," he began. "Bringing back an abridged version of the electoral college may not be that bad."

After that announcement, Levisay went back to his phone, where he read an article about Ty Feldman's speech. "Oof," he muttered under his breath

[Exalted Inquellian State]

"It will stabilize the country. I am no monarchist, but right now Canada's eternal regency council is causing a dumpster fire over there. I also am starting to lean towards introducing proportional representation into the House, so that the parties remain in the majority. If you don't want an electoral college however, it might not be the worst idea to crown the King of England as our head of state, albeit a ceremonial one, and Agberin declared Prime Minister. It could create a detente and stabilize the nation somewhat."

[The United Artherian Federation]

"Miss Stormav, at least back in 2016 this nation wasn't dealing with widespread and secessionist movements, had a functioning government and got through their problems. And, I will reiterate, ever since the Electoral College was abolished we have had terrible after terrible president, no offense to the incumbent. Going forward we must consider that the Framers decided upon a representative democracy, not a direct democracy, to maintain order and prevent mob rule. We must also consider that with every passing hour the American people become more and more fed up with our inability to come up with a solution, and those who would use violence to achieve their goals continue to plot and prepare for an uprising. If we cannot come up with a solution imminently, I suggest we begin talks on how those secessionists will leave instead of engaging in an act of futility."

[Untecna]

"The state of Massachusetts will support the Electoral College. And on the matter of seccesionist states, we must try to keep them in, and if they don't, we leave them alone, to think and beg to join the union."

[Cold Snom]

"The problem is not the people actually getting to decide who's elected." Davidson began, standing up. "The problem is bad candidates. Which is why we must introduce a little bit of technocracy. Make politicians have to excel in the fields they most speak about, so they actually know what's going on. It might also work to introduce term limits to Congress to stop political dynasties. And speaking of dynasties..." She turned to Lewis. "You are no centrist if you consider a monarchy in this country. If we appoint a monarch, we'll fall to reactionary dictatorship. And we'll be under the Russian boot."

[Untecna]

"The problem is not the people actually getting to decide who's elected." Davidson began, standing up. "The problem is bad candidates. Which is why we must introduce a little bit of technocracy. Make politicians have to excel in the fields they most speak about, so they actually know what's going on. It might also work to introduce term limits to Congress to stop political dynasties. And speaking of dynasties..." She turned to Lewis. "You are no centrist if you consider a monarchy in this country. If we appoint a monarch, we'll fall to reactionary dictatorship. And we'll be under the Russian boot."

"Technocracy? TECHNOCRACY? Heresy against the government is what TECHNOCRACY is! We should have a president, a Congress, and a court system like we did back 80 years ago!"

[Cold Snom]

"The problem is not the people actually getting to decide who's elected." Davidson began, standing up. "The problem is bad candidates. Which is why we must introduce a little bit of technocracy. Make politicians have to excel in the fields they most speak about, so they actually know what's going on. It might also work to introduce term limits to Congress to stop political dynasties. And speaking of dynasties..." She turned to Lewis. "You are no centrist if you consider a monarchy in this country. If we appoint a monarch, we'll fall to reactionary dictatorship. And we'll be under the Russian boot."

"Technocracy? TECHNOCRACY? Heresy against the government is what TECHNOCRACY is! We should have a president, a Congress, and a court system like we did back 80 years ago!"

"Not full, technocracy, good sir. Just making sure the politicians know what they're doing. So we don't have nobody's, businessman, and overly hawkish militarists."

[Untecna]

"Miss Davidson, you do understand what our nation is built on has nothing to do with technocracy?" He turns to Lewis "And what kind of sentient robot are you that thinks a monarchy is a GOOD IDEA?"

[Exalted Inquellian State]

"Miss Davidson, you do understand what our nation is built on has nothing to do with technocracy?" He turns to Lewis "And what kind of sentient robot are you that thinks a monarchy is a GOOD IDEA?"

"I consider it a possibility, just like I considered the possibility of letting the most secessionist states go so they either rejoin or stop making other states feel the need to secede. Monarchy might be the last thing which can save this nation. They have guaranteed stability historically. The English had no major civil war since the 17th century."

[Cold Snom]

"Who cares what values this country was founded on? We moved past Confederation, and arguably slavery. We can have smart people be the only candidates while the people still choose from them. At least both cases present more alternatives than the electoral college." She turned to Lewis. "And Governor, I thought you wanted taxes to stay the same? Monarchies have to get their money from the people to stay alive. You hate communists for stealing money, but monarchy is the same. And is it worth sacrificing our right to elect a leader for 'stability'?"

[Exalted Inquellian State]

"Ms. Davidson, what helps if the people we elect are intelligent emotionless husks? The electoral college will allow the electors to decide what matters most-personality or policy. The people will vote them in. Now, I don't think your alternative is inherently wrong, but it has never been tried before, so we better move on to something traditional. Regarding monarchies, we pay for the defense budget, do we not? A few dollars more in taxes is nothing in the face of stability. And if we make the monarchy fully constitutional, with the monarch relegated to a mostly advisory role, it will surely help us even more. But as of now, I do not think we should restore it. The electoral college is more democratic in my opinion."

[Asardia]

Adrian Levislay put his phone down with a look of disgust on his face. "Governor Lewis. I mean no disrespect with my incoming statement, but have you been snorting cocaine by any chance? Why the hell do you even consider having a monarchy in this country? That statement along is enough of a reason New York to secede."

He sniffed loudly and turned towards Davidson. "Representative, while that may be a good idea in practice, the government as a whole is corrupt. My state of New York just got down investigating the NYPD for taking bribes. There is no way to ensure corruption doesn't exist. I do agree with your term limits proposal. In fact, I suggest am amendment on that very thing. And for you,

Levislay was about to sit down, but he wrinkled his nose. "Oh, and wasn't there another amendment we were supposed to vote on? What happened?"

Georgia Governor Stormav sensed the impending commotion that Levislay's comment would cause. She quickly spoke. "Senator Polalo. We all understand the merits of a corrupt group dedicated to overriding the people's will. All this proves it that the United States is too large to be sustainable. The Founding Fathers envisioned this country as a homogenous entity, where an elite class ruled over the rest. We've changed since then, obviously, which is why their ideals, while we should take them into account, shouldn't be a major sticking point in this debate. The vast majority of Americans were farmers in 1787. Meanwhile, the vast majority of Americans today live in urban areas. The electoral college existed to ensure that the elite wasn't taken out by the poor, who was sick of always being abused. Due to that, the only solution is a peaceful dissolution."

[Free Ward Marchers]

Shirly Cuirass stood up

"I agree with Senator Levisay, a monarchy would be awful, however I have a solution that might work. I say we turn this republic into a confederacy, as in we give the the states equal power as the federal government. It might sound abhorrent, but what do we have to lose? If the states want to succeed because their needs are not being met by ineffective presidents, then why don't we give them the tools to meet their own needs?"

[Exalted Inquellian State]

Lewis jumped in. "I don't want monarchy, but America might need one. Still, I won't be drafting a proposal for it yet. Regarding a confederacy, my amendment, which allows states to secede and gain autonomy in various situations would accomplish the same thing without considerably weakening the government. I have a draft ready from last night if you wish."

[Louisianan]

Dules Broussard stood up,
"On Behalf of the great state of Louisiana, I must agree with Miss Cuirass. Why didn't the British Monarchy work way back when? Because a central government hundreds of miles away, doesn't have the power to equally distribute common law among all of the populations, how in the hell, can a person about six states away, understand our struggles, and our issues. If each state could have equal power to the federal government, our governor could deal with our state without having to bend over backwards to please the feds."