The Opposition Leader Abolition Act

[Hooligan]

Debate on this draft resolution is now closed.
The bill as presented below has been submitted to the Chancery
for consideration by the Ziu.

The Opposition Leader Abolition Act

WHEREAS the Organic Law specifies that there be a royal post known as the Opposition Leader or Leader of the Loyal Opposition, and

WHEREAS in all the years, this position has rarely if ever been filled, and

WHEREAS the mode of filling the position is confusing, even were it to be followed, and

WHEREAS it has never been followed anyway, and

WHEREAS ever since the repeal of 34RZ2 as amended, there is now no mention in any Talossan law of any official duties to be performed by the Opposition Leader, and

WHEREAS even during the time when 34RZ2 was in force, there was no Opposition Leader to perform the duties anyway, and God knows that caused no end of problems, which is all in the past now, of course, but anyway,

WHEREAS the repeal of 34RZ2 creates a situation in which all citizens of the Kingdom may choose to provide input during the course of all immigration proceedings, and all citizens have avenues to pursue in cases of disagreement concerning such proceedings, thus obviating the need for any particular person, opposed to the government of the day, to be consulted by the government on such matters, and therefore such obligation to consult need not be reïmposed upon any certain person who may be acknowleged as Opposition Leader, and

WHEREAS since the Opposition Leader is, by its very nature, someone who opposes the policies of the government of the day, it actually makes no sense to assign any governmental duties to such a person anyway, and

WHEREAS the organization of political parties and coälitions and the election of any internal leaders of the same -- apart from the necessary mandate that a majority of the Cosâ shall join to recommend the appointment of a Prime Minister to the King -- is not in any way the business of the government or the royal house, and

WHEREAS the King is always free to solicit advice from any citizen of the Kingdom, regardless of the politics of that citizen, and

WHEREAS in eras of good feeling, the only voice of opposition in the Ziu may come from a crackpot, and

WHEREAS it would not be good for the Kingdom if the King were forced by law to appoint a crackpot to a royal post, now

THEREFORE be it enacted by the Ziu that a referendum be put before the electorate seeking to amend the Organic Law and modify statutory law as follows:

• Repeal Article XII, Section 10 of the Organic Law.
  
• Repeal 24RZ47 (The Opposition Leader Appointment Act).
  
• Amend 25RZ31 (The Bill Act) to allow any member of the Ziu, without necessity to seek a grant of permission, to prepend "His Majesty's Loyal Opposition, represented by" to his subscribed name when presenting a legislative proposal for the Clark.
  
• Remove the Leader of the Loyal Opposition from the Table of Precedences in 34RZ12, and, to correct an oversight, insert into the Table of Precedences, just above the Cabinet Members, the members of the nobility and knighthood in order of their rank and tenure.

Uréu q’estadra så: Barôn Tepistà (Senator, Vuode)

[Sir Samuhel Tecladeir]

Wasn't the original goal of the opposition leader to make sure there was a counter-balance? I mean it seems like it's kind of the house minority leader. It's an official position, but has balance against the majority.

Also, I thought *you* were the opposition leader.

[Sir C. M. Siervicül]

Also, I thought *you* were the opposition leader.

Which kind of points out the senselessness of the position, since he is also acting PM. Is he now supposed to lead the opposition to himself?

[Hooligan]

Yes, I agree that the Opposition Leader is kind of like the Minority Leader in the houses of the United States congress. However, there is no reference in the U.S. Constitution or any U.S. Statutory Law to such an office or person. These positions are only mentioned in the organizational rules of the legislature. These chambers simply choose to organize themselves in such a way that the minority party appoints its own leader who performs certain duties in that chamber on their behalf.

For example, I believe that each of the parties currently represented in the Ziu have appointed a party Whip. This is well and good, a fine thing, a necessary position to keep the legislators representing that party informed on the calendar of the Ziu. There is, however, no mention of any such position in the Organic Law or in Talossan Statutory Law, nor should there be.

The proposition hopping here is to take the government out of the business of politics. For the King to acknowledge any single person as the one and only official Leader of the Opposition is unrealistic (consider two equally-supported opposition parties, who are not working in coälition but are, for example, a radical left-wing party and a radical right-wing party, both of which are opposed to the moderate majority party). Better it be left to the individual political parties and coälitions to decide who shall lead them and what that person should do for them (including work to get the ear of the King, to ensure that their political views are fairly considered in royal decisions).

If it is felt that the King will rely too much (for his veto and parliamentary dissolution decisions) on the sitting government, and that the government could succeed in keeping all its opponents from obtaining an audience with the King, and that therefore the King should be obliged to choose for himself one or more advisors who are opposed to the government, this is (in my mind) the only reason for the position that I here propose eliminating.

I do not believe that such a thing is necessary, and of course the King is always free to solicit advice from anyone. In this age of worldwide instantaneous broadcast communication, it would surprise me if any King were not aware of the opinions in his nation which may run counter to its current policies, and consider these opinions while making his decisions to rule his realm.

In short, I am not arguing for all opposition and the leadership thereof to be abolished. Far from it! Rather, this proposal is to eliminate the singling-out by any procedure of any single official representative-to-the-King for all such opposition. This seems to be unnecessary (even if it were not rarely if ever done anyway), and not the business of law or government, but instead of internal party organization.

Hooligan

[Sir Samuhel Tecladeir]

I see where you're going with it now. This measure has my full support.

[Hooligan]

S:reu Secretary of State:

Having, I believe, reached a national consensus that the bill hopping in this thread, entitled The Opposition Leader Abolition Act, would be of beneficial effect to the Kingdom of Talossa, I hereby submit it to the Chancery in its final form as it appears at the head of this thread, and ask that it if it please the Chancery, it be offered for consideration by the Ziu during the Third Clark of the 35th Cosâ.

Respectfully,
Barôn Tepistà (Senator, Vuode)