Kalistani Major History

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National Assembly actually proposes Legislation
Aims at bringing National Economic Actors more in line with Socialism
Kaliburg, Ananto
February 12, 5353


National Assembly shows signs of Life as Deputies take to the Floor for Omnibus

The National Assembly of the past few decades has been less about fireworks and highstakes log rolling, and more about serving as office space for a Party which is less about politics and more about administration. Under One Party Rule, it is quite usual for the members of the Governing Party to simply gavel in and gavel out, the "deliberative body" serving more to ratify decisions made by the Cabinet and the Premier of the Republic than to hammer out the policy preferences of competing visions for the Republic. "It's not like we do not have input," said Brian Mickleson, Socialist Deputy from Nevaras City. "The Premier's decisions are always the result of intensive committee work, which all Deputies do all the time during our working hours. But generally, we share the same vision for the Republic, as socialists, and work to enact the large policies of our Republican Government. Its rare we even need to vote, but will vote on matters where there is significant internal dissention, whenever those matters arise."

Given the standard process of Socialists focusing on enacting the Policy of the Government and performing hearings, receiving information, and conducting oversight in small committees, which make their recommendations to the Government, rather than spending a lot of time debating it on the floor of the National Assembly, actual pieces of legislation are rare. "There's not always a lot that needs changing," says Mickleson. "The policies we have in place tend to work over the long haul, but occasionally, we conduct a review and then its a free for all." Such a free for all produces the kind of legislation we have seen come forward over the last week, where the Premier has posted a bill that aims at changing several statutory provisions of Kalistani Law, some in major ways to bring Kalistan's law more in line with the Socialist Party's actual practices.

"The Rectification Act's provisions aim to correct some provisions in the law," says Mickleson, "such as getting rid of the limitations on gambling, or increasing workers' power and share of profits in the private sector or reducing corporate taxes to almost nothing to offset those additional costs that profit sharing will incur. We also have the elimination of homeschooling, as well as the near prohibition of ODEN's advertising abilities in domestic markets, simply to keep medical decisions between individuals and their doctors. The goal is to align Kalistan's institutions with the way things are done in the Government. And once this bill passes, which it will, it is likely we will go back into one party mode."

The impetus for the Rectification Act, said Mickleson was the rise of the georgesmith Party, which consists of one Deputy, George Smith, from Vrassa, who ran as an independent, and actually gained enough votes in the recent election to get himself elected to the National Assembly, ousting long time Deputy Hanna Klein from Port Swedes. "Knowing how randomly people in Kalistan vote," said Mickleson, "Comrade Smith only has to vote on a couple things and campaign, and he could very easily turn the 451,000 at large votes that he got into a national movement capable to electing himself and 60 of his friends. So we figured that we had better go on record, force some hard votes from Mr. Smith, and make him establish positions that he has to defend. And if the people like his positions better than ours in that sense, they will reward his movement with seats in the National Assembly, and we will return to the floor of the Assembly under regular order, rather than focusing all our time and effort on constituent and stakeholder service."

The challenges of single party government always daunt nations which endure it. When a country becomes a single party state, often through no fault of its own, people tend to forget that someone keeps the roads paved, and keeps the military paid, and continues to promote economic development and technological progress while they are out doing as they will living their life. "Voters tend to punish established Parties during One Party rule," said Mickleson. "This has been our experience. So our task then is to go out and remind people who has been doing all this stuff that nobody else wants to do--or else it would get done-- and let them know that indeed the Government hasn't just been on autopilot, but the laws that people appreciate are being daily administered by people with experience and vision and dedication to our society. We aren't sure what Mr. Smith stands for except that he hasn't yet voted on a bill. So it is likely a matter of time that he just wanted to see what our government is all about and may not stick around. Either way, these changes needed to be made, so, he is welcomed to vote on the bill as a seated member of the National Assembly of Deputies."

The Rectification Act is expected to pass with out much opposition, if any at all. All Socialist Deputies have already turned in their votes "for" guaranteeing its successful passage. It remains to be seen whether Mr. Smith has really gone to Kaliburg to make a change or not. If so, he may indeed attract more voters. If not, the bill will pass 78-0-1 anyway. But the Kalistani Legislative Calendar remains empty following the Rectification Act.