Issue 53: 2
Issue 54: 1

I might actually win these!

Apologies for not launching the next round of issues yesterday evening, I didn't even feel good enough to sit at the computer. I'll post 3 issues ASAP.

Then again, there are only 6 voters today, and that's despite the issue having been open for 16-18 hours longer than it should have.

I could slow down the stream of issues to one per day, giving us two to three days to answer them, is that a good idea?

Almost, but not quite.

Flag burning will be allowed, through unanimous vote. The foreign aid issue will be dismissed (exactly a 40-60 ratio between increase aid and stop aid).

==== Overview ====
Civil Rights: Excellent
Economy: Fair
Political Freedoms: Good

The Free Land of Gogan is a very large, genial nation, remarkable for its ban on automobiles. Its compassionate population of 110 million are fiercely patriotic and enjoy great social equality; they tend to view other, more capitalist countries as somewhat immoral and corrupt.

The enormous, socially-minded government is effectively ruled by the Department of Education, with areas such as Law & Order and Defence receiving almost no funds by comparison. The average income tax rate is 39%, but much higher for the wealthy. A substantial private sector is dominated by the Pizza Delivery industry.

The government is giving peace a chance, every product goes through extensive safety-testing by the government, refugees from other nations are flocking to Gogan's border, and trespassers often find themselves impaled by crossbow bolts. Crime is relatively low. Gogan's national animal is the Goglodyte, which frolics freely in the nation's many lush forests, and its currency is the Gog.

Gogan is ranked 4,847th in The North Pacific and 111,039th in the world for Largest Gambling Industry, scoring -2 on the Kelly Criterion Productivity Index.

==== Issues ====
1 day 10 hours ago: Following new legislation in Gogan, trespassers often find themselves impaled by crossbow bolts.
1 day 10 hours ago: Gogan was reclassified from "Scandinavian Liberal Paradise" to "Democratic Socialists".
The overview has been updated following the last decisions made.

Close Encounters Of The Sci-fi Kind? (issue 55)
A recent, well-publicized UFO sighting over rural areas of Gogan has turned people's attention to the skies, and what... or who... might be up there.

1: "This event proves one thing: there are other life-forms out there," says eccentric astronomer Larry Nagasawa, "All we have to do is find them! What is the price of a few hundred Radio Telescopes compared to the benefit of living in peace and harmony with our brethren of the stars?"

2: "Spies! It's gotta be spies! A few planes or satellites from our enemies or 'allies' in our region," rages General Doris O, head of Gogan's military, "The only way to keep those snoops out of our airspace is to patrol the streets 'n skies, and shoot 'em down! Even if they are some sort of little green aliens, a couple of SAM batteries and a few flak cannons'll keep 'em from abducting our Goglodytes."

3: "Extraterrestrial life-forms? Alien invaders? I don't know why we even have to listen to such idiocy!" complains prize-winning physicist Peggy McKay. "In my opinion, the idea of 'aliens' on another planet is highly unlikely, and even if they did exist, getting from there to here is technically impossible! I say we forget this nonsense and stop spending our tax Gogs on it. Leave this sort of foolishness to the people who attend those 'trekkie' conventions."

Time To Put The Older Senators Out To Pasture? (issue 56)
Many people are starting to think that it's time to put term limits on elected officials, given the average age of 70 years old and 40 years of service in the nation's Parliament.

1: "It's time to get these lifetime politicians off the government payroll!" says term-limits advocate Britney Neumann. "Let them get real jobs like the rest of us once they leave office. Besides, if they are currently a Senator, they can always run for another office like Governor. This gives people the right to elect whomever they want to run for office, just not the same office forever. It'll keep things from going completely stale!"

2: "Wait a minute," says Evan Sanchez, chairperson of the national Infinite Power party. "We pay a lot of money to get those people into office. It can take several terms before we get a return on our investment, I mean, candidates. We should extend the number of years for each term, not limit the number of times a person can serve in any specific office!"

3: Your aunt's mother's step-sister's best friend's hairstylist, Ryan Parke, pooh-poohs the entire idea. "You know how to run your country, yes? Why deal with the hassle of elected officials and elections in the first place, yes? Eliminate elections and this entire term limit issue becomes moot, yes?"

Free Press Too Free? (issue 57)
Citizens, politicians, and businessmen have been campaigning for the government to keep a tighter rein on the media after several well-respected newspapers printed false articles with contents ranging from claims that the capital city had been stolen by a UFO to erroneous share prices which led to job-losses and a stock market decline.

1: "Over a thousand jobs lost!" clamours Miranda Johnson, angry protester and ex-employee of Dreddmax Incorporated. "And why? Because the press isn't concerned about the truth anymore; all it wants is higher sales! We must forbid these rags from lying to the people and dish out heavy fines to those who try! This so-called 'free press' has a dark side, you know. We learnt that ever since we discovered it wasn't cottage cheese they were mining up north!"

2: "This is censorship!" says Klaus Cruz, editor-in-chief of The Hebdomadal Gabfest while carefully noting everything you say in a notepad. "We speak for the people! Admittedly some newspapers didn't check all of their facts before they published, but that doesn't merit such draconian measures at all! If we're only allowed to print the absolute truth then how soon before we're getting constantly sued by politicians for libel? What about our rumour columns? It'll totally destroy the business! The government must have no part in repression of the media!"

3: "You know that no matter what we decide we're going to make people mad," points out Margaret Jamieson, your Minister of Public Relations. "But the best way to control public opinion is to tell the public what their opinions are. I suggest nationalising all the newspapers and putting them under government control. Then we can tell them whatever we like! After all, we're much more trustworthy than some profit-driven media moguls, right? At least we won't have to issue ANOTHER public statement to tell everyone you're not a hyper-intelligent aubergine."

==== Discussion ====
Should I slow down the stream of issues (giving us longer to vote) or keep the current of two per day?

Available choices are:
2 per day (current)
2 per weekday (none on weekends)
1 per day
1 per weekday

Issue 55: Dismiss.
Issue 56: 1
Issue 57: 2

Um, I think two per day works well. Today has three, though, which does begin to feel like a lot to read through.

Yeah, because I missed a day and therefore posted when one of today's issues had appeared. Remember, there can be a maximum of 5 unsolved issues at a time, and with 2 a day, we're usually at 4 shortly before I post.

Day n+0, posting time: Issues are posted and the result for the previous day's issues are submitted.
Day n+1: The next two issues trickle in while voting happens for the issues posted at n+0.
Day n+1, posting time: We now have 4 unanswered issues, the 2 I'm just about to submit (that we've voted on for the last 24 hours), and the ones for the next day.

If I miss posting one day, one more issue get in and I have to post 3 issues the next day instead.

My other concern is that interest seem to have dropped, and perhaps a longer voting period (two days rather than one, one issue per day instead of two, post by MGT every other day instead of every day) might be beneficial.

Ah, I see.

Given that I remain the only voter for today, perhaps spacing it out might be a good idea... Or, this could just become my own little private dictatorship. "MWAHAHAHA! DANCE, PROLES, DANCE!!"

Right, for now I have put the nation in "vacation mode", which means it'll take 60 days of inactivity before it's deleted, and no new issues will appear before we leave vacation (don't worry, there are the three current ones and then two more to pick up after that, so we won't be without discussion and controversy when we want to pick up where we left off).

And, yes, we can leave vacation mode when ever we wish to do so.

55:3 - If the extraterrestrials are advanced enough to make the journey to Gogan and are interested in contacting us, they will. And if they are not interested in contacting us, spending millions on trying to contact them with our inferior technology will in the best and most probable case not achieve anything. And in the worst case just annoy them (if they are there at all).

56:1

57:2 - Yes, free press has it's dark sides. But censorship is much darker and holds great dangers to a democracy. Because once the government gets to enforce 'truth' it automatically also gets to define, what 'truth' is and that would be an open invitation to political abuse of the press.


@Frequency of issues: I would stay away from the 'per weekday' options. Because the Gog forum is at least as active on weekends as it is on weekdays. But we could reduce the number of issues to 1 per day. That would allow us to discuss each issue separately and give it the attention it deserves, instead of having a bundle of decisions each time. So my vote goes to 1/day. But I would also be OK with sticking to 2/day.

1 every day also translates nicely to 2 every other day - making it possible to continue to run in batches of two but having twice as long to discuss them.

Yes, that's also a good way to go. Which would be nice for those that want to participate but are not here every single day.

Ah, you know what? You're right, I'll just not give a damn if no one else wants to continue. This isn't my show, but that of - as I said to begin with - "as much of [the community] as sees fit to participate", if that means just you, me and Lifthrasil, so be it. Others can join in if they get interested in make-believe politics again

In about 14 hours, I'll commit the votes for issues 55, 56 and 57, post issues 59 and 60, and leave vacation mode but set the issues at a reduced rate (1/day).

And with me, we're least three voters this round.

We're not going to waste any money on aliens, politicians won't be able to sit for as many terms as they have before, and we're not going to start censoring the press.

==== Overview ====
Civil Rights: Excellent
Economy: Fair
Political Freedoms: Very Good

The Free Land of Gogan is a very large, genial nation, remarkable for its ban on automobiles. Its compassionate, intelligent population of 122 million are fiercely patriotic and enjoy great social equality; they tend to view other, more capitalist countries as somewhat immoral and corrupt.

The enormous, socially-minded government is effectively ruled by the Department of Education, with areas such as Law & Order and Defence receiving almost no funds by comparison. The average income tax rate is 39%, but much higher for the wealthy. A substantial private sector is dominated by the Pizza Delivery industry.

Every product goes through extensive safety-testing by the government, refugees from other nations are flocking to Gogan's border, trespassers often find themselves impaled by crossbow bolts, and crowds of flag-burning protesters tend to accidentally become crowds of burning protesters. Crime -- especially youth-related -- is moderate, and the police force struggles against a lack of funding and a high mortality rate. Gogan's national animal is the Goglodyte, which frolics freely in the nation's many lush forests, and its currency is the Gog.

Gogan is ranked 3,059th in The North Pacific and 69,887th in the world for Lowest Overall Tax Burden, scoring -6 on the Hayek Index.

==== Issues ====
2 days 5 hours ago: Following new legislation in Gogan, crowds of flag-burning protesters tend to accidentally become crowds of burning protesters.
The overview has been updated following the last decisions made.

Arms Industry Demands Respect (issue 58)
Representatives of Gogan's arms manufacturing industry have expressed outrage over the lack of public and private support for their sector.

1: Interviewed by the industry's trade journal 'Our Weapons, Your Victory', the CEO of Gogan Arms Inc, Wil du Pont, said: "It is shameful the way we have been treated over the last few years! Shameful! Our workers, and I tell you we have a great many of them, can barely get to work thanks to disruption by protesters and all that hippie nonsense. And as for this dangerous talk of 'Ethical Trade Practices', I say we need full government recognition of our vital contribution to the economy - relaxation of trade barriers, gun laws, and a crackdown on all these long-haired weirdos who try to shut us down!"

2: "We have a right to protest against this evil business!" screams Bill Zhimo through a megaphone. "The arms manufacturing industry is a stain on our nation's character and must be removed. How can we make money from the production of these evil weapons; how can we stand by and profit from the blood spilled by these abominations? The government must take a stand and outlaw the whole sector!"

3: Your Minister of Trade advises taking a middle ground: "We can't ban arms sales without harming the quality of our military and police departments, not to mention the economy. These hippies do have a point though - guns are terrible things in the wrong hands. We should implement additional safety checks on the groups to which the weapons get sold. That way we don't lose too many sales, and the people are persuaded we are making a stand against nations who use the weapons for immoral ends. The arms industry get to sell their guns and the protesters get to protest. Everybody wins!"

Wipe Out Graffiti? (issue 59)
Citizens all over Gogan have been petitioning for firmer action on public graffiti.

1: "It's a disgrace!" declares Ivan Christmas, middle class and proud of it. "I can't even go downtown without seeing these hideous eyesores debasing the streets! We need to arrest the scumbags at the root of this, lock them up, and teach them a jolly good lesson! More policemen on the beat should do the ticket, even if it does require a slight augmentation in taxes!"

2: "I don't see what's so bad," comments Pete Steele, a famous art critic. "This is urban art at its finest. It's vibrant, colorful, and simply reeks of culture! Just look at the form displayed in this string of racist expletives! Wonderful. Simply wonderful. I think we should really be encouraging these budding Rembrandts, not putting them down! I say we legalise it, in the name of culture!"

==== Discussion ====
With the rate of issues having been slowed to one per day, I'm only posting another bulletin every second day. At least until the level of participation increases to reasonable levels again. If more people do join in again, we'll take a discussion about whether raise to two per day or keep the current rate.

Ah, sorry guys, I forgot about you.

Issue 58: 3 - Hopefully it will appease everyone.
Issue 59: What do they mean by graffiti? If it is some nice picture or writing, then I am all for it. On the other hand, if it's one stupid curved line to just destroy plaster from wannabe graffiti-artist or cuss-word (or even normal word), then I say punish them hard!