Hello ACP,

I’m back! Well, not really, but sort of. For those of you that do not know me, I am Klug1234, former ACP Second in Command, and was a soldier in this army from late December 2008 until October 2010, I believe, when I retired. I would imagine the majority of you have never heard of me. No matter though, I was still what I was. Ever since retirement, I have been looking for ways to attempt to make armies-specifically ACP- better. I constantly comment on CPAC, and worked there for a little while. Some of you may know me from the comments around there. Some of you may know me from chat, where my name is “Toilet”. Long story, but it is what it is. Anyway, Mch asked me if I wanted to be the President of the Senate. Seeing an oppurtunity to help ACP, I gladly took it. I have a plan for ACP’s flawed legislative system. And I hope you guys like it.

The Plan

Part I: Elections

Elections will be held every four months. These elections are open for anybody currently serving in the Army of Club Penguin. Applicants must fill out a form with their Club Penguin username, rank in ACP, and a small speech with why they should be in the Senate of the Army of Club Penguin and what bills they would propose, why, and how they would like to change the army. As Senate leader, I-and with help from Mchappy if necessary- will pick up to ten people from each rank to move on to the election round. Given that some ranks may have less than ten people in them (the higher moderator ranks), I will try to advance as many people from each rank as possible.

Elections: Part II

Once we have the ten or so candidates for each rank chosen, we will hold the elections. The polls will be organized into the soldiers’ ranks. (i.e. corporals will be in the same poll as other corporals, Field Marshals in the same poll as Field Marshals) Senate candidates will, once again, be given the opportunity to make a small speech that will be inserted under their name if they wish. Any current soldier serving in the ACP may vote, and they may vote by leaving a comment with their nomination for each rank on the election post. The elections will be open for a total of 7 days. After the 7th day, no votes will be counted towards the results. No cheating whatsoever will be tolerated. This includes encouraging others to vote for you on chat, whether in main chat or Private Chat. Anyone that sees this will be encouraged to report it to an owner rank, and anyone that does it will be automatically removed from the elections.

The owner ranks of the ACP (or any willing person) will tally up the votes. After the votes have been tallied up, the top 2 vote getters from each rank will win a spot on the Senate. This creates a total of 32 senators, plus the Senate President (me) and honorary Senate members (i.e. the owner ranks). This will make a chat of 39 or so people if all allowed into the Senate meetings are present during any particular meeting.

Part II: How the Senate Works

Now, some of you may be thinking “Why should the low ranks be represented in the Senate?” Good question. In the past, low ranks have either not been allowed to be in the Senate or have had a very slim chance of winning the elections in getting into the Senate. The idea that all ranks should have representation in the Senate comes from the protests by American colonists all the way back in the 1770’s. One of their most widely known rallying cries was “No taxation without representation!” This meant that they did not believe Great Britain should have been forcing them to pay taxes while they (the 13 colonies) were not represented in Parliament. Putting this in ACP terms, why should the lower ranks have to follow the laws of ACP if they do not have someone of equal rank to them representing them in Senate?

You see, if someone has an idea for a bill in the USA, they can write to their local Senator or House of Representatives member. If said Senator/House member likes the idea, they will present it during a meeting of the Senate. Therefore, if a Corporal has an idea for a bill, they would find one of their ranks’ representatives in Senate, propose the bill to them, and if they agree, the bill will be proposed in a meeting of the Senate. Likewise, if a Field Marshal has an idea for a bill, they go to their representatives and present the bill.

I suggest that each ranks’ representatives to Senate work together on bills and their reactions to bills that will or are being proposed in Senate. All bills that are to be proposed in Senate must be presented to the Senate President before said meeting, preferrably by email. I (The Senate President) will overlook the bill and decide if it should go on to be proposed in the next meeting. (Note: I’m not really going to not allow a bill to be presented, I just want to make sure all bills that will be presented have a good reason behind them and are well explained) All proposed bills must have a lengthy explanation to them to help the Senate President pass judgement on whether or not it will be presented in the actual meeting. If the Senate President deems a bill to not be voted on in Senate, it is vetoed and will be sent back to the Senator or Senators who orchestrated the bill for editing, or if they choose not to edit it and send it back, it will be forgotten.

The bills that do make it to be proposed in Senate will be proposed in the nearest meeting. There will be two meetings a month for Senate, meaning each term will have eight Senate meetings. There is no limit on how many terms you can serve on the Senate. To get a bill passed, it will have to have a simple majority vote. Simple majority is over 1/2 of the vote. So, if 20 Senators are at a meeting, any bill that is proposed will have to get over 11 votes to be passed.  IF a bill is not passed, the Senator or Senators that proposed it may edit it to what they will think may give said bill a better chance to be passed and re-propose it in the next meeting. If a bill is presented in Senate twice and is not passed both times, no bill of the same name or description may be proposed for the rest of the term of Senate.

Given that there will be two Senators for each rank, it is not mandatory for every Senator to attend every meeting. If a Senator can not make a meeting, there will be (hopefully) the other one there to represent their rank and vote on bills. Once again, it would be prudent for the Senators of each rank to discuss and work together on bills they create, want to create, or help create, and discuss with each other and the soldiers that they represent their opinions on proposed bills. Senators must remember, they are not just representing themselves, they are representing everyone in that rank.

Part III: Powers And Duties of the Senate

Of course, the Senate is nothing if it is not granted a little more power than just creating laws, right? To balance out the power between the leadership and the Senate, the Senate will hereby have the following powers:

1. The ability to remove and replace a leader- If the current leader is not popular with the public, and a Senator or Senators notices unrest with the leader, any Senator has the power to bring a vote of “No Confidence” upon the leader. This would mean that the Senate has the power to remove the leader with a 3/4’s vote once the charges of a vote of “No Confidence” have been brought up. If 3/4 of the Senators vote that the leader should be removed, the leader is to hand over control of the site to someone and either he or the Senate will choose the next leader. If the leader being removed refuses to cooperate and does not give control over the site in the chat back, no order of that person is to be followed until he or she gives control to the site over to whomever may get it while the Senate chooses a new leader. To prevent this power from being abused, this power can only be brought up once a year. This is to prevent the Senate unfairly removing leaders that they do not like. This is also a civil way to remove leaders that are not leading in the interests of the public without having to resort to rebellion, couping, or something that could potentially hurt the army.   Anyone that brings forth a vote of “No Confidence” must have good reason to be attempting to remove the Supreme Commander. In the event that a vote of “No Confidence” is brought up, all Senators must vote, regardless of who is at the said meeting. This power may also apply to any high ranking official of the Army of Club Penguin, including the Senate President.
2. The Senate may have the power to appeal a firing of a soldier that they feel is or was fired without good reason or cause. The accuser must have reasonable evidence to bring this appeal to attention of the Senate. Likewise to a vote of “No Confidence”, all Senators must vote on these as well.

Anyway, this is how the Senate will (hopefully) run from now on. If anyone has any questions about this, please feel free to ask me to clarify things for you on chat. Hopefully we’ll be getting Senate election applications out soon.

Senate President

~Klug~

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