Happy Constitution Day (if you’re in the U.S.)
Thoughts on Tepatic governance:
The Constitution of Tepat is known as the Covenant of the People.
The Covenant of the People was enacted in the aftermath of the downfall of the Empire of Tepat (Qom dynasty), marked by authoritarian rule by the house of Qom. The failure discredited the proto-fascist views of the philosopher Tsyam, but that era had also seriously decimated the two previous major poles of the political spectrum, which I tentatively term Orthodox and Universalist (and other words like that). The realm was in limbo with a headless group of government ministers who had assisted the overthrow. And, they decided to leave it at that! After Qom, everyone wanted to avoid 1-man rule again. After settling things down and completing the Soul Banishments of Qom, his minister, and his son, the two schools worked out an agreement of their plan to present to the peoples of the nation.
This plan, as it would become the supreme law of the land of Tepat, was known as the “Covenant,” and codifies the form of national composition known as “conciliarity” (qôy-lwik), or rule by council, as opposed to the Kingdom, “Shattered Land,” and Empire that had preceded them.
Much of the bureaucracy and structure of the Conciliarity was set by the Qom Empire, and although the Conciliarity loudly reduced much of the heavy-handedness of Qom, it also continued a number of Qomist reforms. Reforms that originated in Qom include:
(Long list of stuff)
…all of which were meant to break the aristocracy. It did not go as far as Qom in tearing down boundary-stones & such.
(By the way, there is also a short post about Tepatic conceptions of rights: https://yuk-tepat.tumblr.com/post/623352720245637120/freedom-in-tepat)
Power and functions are divided among several different groups, including:
Most traditional provinces have been eliminated. Instead, the entire nation consists of at least these parts:
…each of which governs itself, but has generally similar internal structure (councils, etc.) All handle foreign relations, trade, and military affairs jointly. Notes:
Local “homelands” (do NOT call them barbarians) are essentially mini-states for small peoples living within the nominal borders of Tepat, which surrounds them. Many of them were nomads related to the Swira who are now settled. Compare Native American reservations, Soviet autonomous okrugs, Tibet/Xinjiang/Inner Mongolia in PRC. The “March” is an area of the steppe which doesn’t technically belong to Tepat or to the nomadic tribes, which Tepat keeps as a buffer zone.
Becoming a member:
What we know about Tepatic governance so far:
Almost everything is done by groups of people of varying size - I.e., councils - not by individual powerful people.
Significantly, compared to most familiar democracries, what you do is more important than where you are. Most people are formally organized into groups based on occupation, like guilds or coops. Each is overseen by a council largely consisting of members selected by and from that group. These iteratively form higher-level occupational / industry groups, up to the national level. National groups are largely self-governing and responsible for regulating themselves. The Grand Council of all of Tepat is composed of a mixture of representatives of each of these more specific national-level councils, which referees the different councils, as well as overseeing law that is universally applicable, like banning murder and stuff like that.
So it’s kind of like Congressional Committees x Executive cabinet departments x Industry Associations x Unions.
I’ll let you imagine what kind of abuses might occur in this system.
Some kind of popular member approval is required by most selection processes, but Tepat also makes some uses of sortition (random luck), and grading. Many positions require some kind of qualification, for which candidates are ranked and determined eligible for stuff. Some jobs require are prerequisites for other jobs. I imagine some separate personnel department is responsible for this. Generally, lower level positions are required for higher-level ones. Hence there is a kind of established cursus honorum for ambition men (& ladies). Selection processes were diverse, but have gradually been constrained by the Supreme Council.
Under a system like this, Trump could not have become President; he would have had to be mayor of NYC first, then NY governor/senator, before being eligible for president.
Maybe they have some kind of ceremonial president, I don’t know.
Additional (probable) restrictions:
There are, of course, location-based councils handling local affairs. Most city people live in neighborhoods where they are forced to join neighborhood associations which have their own regulations. Additionally, the Covenant permits for various what we might call “interest groups” or movements and political parties and stuff to form councils, which can apply to have a representative accepted to the Supreme Council to have a voice on stuff they care about. Similar things apply to minority religious groups, and other stuff.
The peculiar characteristic of this is that any given
person is represented in multiple ways in the system.
So suppose that you are, say, a Jewish doctor who
lives in a particular city and cares a lot about
trees. You belong to a civic organization, the American
Tepatic Medical Assocation, a synagogue (which is part
of a national group), and an environmental protection
group. Each of these groups gets some form of
representation on the Grand Council.
Beyond the Supreme Council, there is a further body of experts who are often retired councilors and serve an advisory rule. Unable to make law themselves, they may be asked to review laws or bills at the request of the Grand Council or its members. They also have awesome superpowers like censure.
Censors - officers of the Council of Census - have nothing to do with censorship. Rather, the census is a separate council operating parallel to the various occupational etc. council. Concerned with determining the boundaries of administrative divisions of the state, measuring their area, population, and productivity, and determining how much representation they are entitled to, and their responsibility for tribute. Indirectly, they determine the size of the Supreme Council. So while the Supreme Council, for example, sets tax rates, the Census determines revenue quotas from each region based on its economy. They also ensure subdivisions have comparable populations and land areas - compare to an independent commission to draw congressional district boundaries.
Inspectors constitute a separate aspect of the system, which is capable of investigated not only plebs but members of the other branches.
However, a lof justice may be handled locally; for example, minor crimes between members of the same guild, for example, may be investigated and disciplined by the guild itself.
Rather than employing a blanket standard like presumption of guilt, presumption of innocence, Tepatic courts are supposed to consider relationships of power and status between accused and accuser in considering evidence and imposing judgment. Punishment levels are tied to rank / status with higher “rated” convicts supposed to receive more severe punishments.
Capital punishment is not used anymore, but incarceration and convict labor are extensive. No corporal punishment either. It was a traditional part of feudal punishment, through the Qom Era; the Covenant itself now prohibits mutilation and tattooing as punishments. There are a lot of little things that Tepat does not like though, similar to “Banned in Boston,” so Tepatic people are used to receiving continuous mild fines and reprimands throughout their life.
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