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Old 03-18-2021, 09:34 AM   #701
jason taylor
 
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Conditions that prevent you from donating (like anemia), or conditions that just mean that your donation can't be used (like a history of hepatitis)?

In addition to the problems mentioned above, there is the problem you get with any "only worthy people get to vote" schemes is that this means that whoever controls the organization that decides what does and doesn't count as worthy gets a lot of political power.

(But this thread explicitly allows weird systems that will have long term problems.)
The worthiness test could be arbitrary like completing a vigil or a vision quest.
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Old 03-19-2021, 11:48 AM   #702
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but you can only have one vote in each category, so being a doctor and a solicitor doesn't get you more.
It's still probably OK if you can. The thing you mostly need to be careful of is schemes that allow one person to accumulate *so* many votes that a handful of them end up deciding elections. As long as the system is set up so that nobody can accumulate more than a fraction of a percent of all the votes that will be cast, you've probably still got enough diversity of opinion and coalition options that the system is no more broken than most.

The categories you need to watch out for are the ones where you've implemented an open ended linear scheme but the differences between interest groups don't distribute the same way. Money is doubtless the biggest one - if a dollar buys you one vote, $1 million needs to buy you substantially fewer than a million. And you know even then you can mitigate the problem with the same systems you'd use to prevent any "tyranny of the majority" issues (where the unevenly distributed thing is "population" or "candidate popularity" considering each "minority group" or "party" as a single corporate person with equal interests)
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Old 03-19-2021, 08:37 PM   #703
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Default Re: Exotic Governmental/Legal Systems

In a world with the right cosmology, there might be direct theocracies: a manifest deity personally serves as legislator, magistrate, bureaucracy, etc. to the entire nation.
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Old 03-20-2021, 10:06 AM   #704
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In a world with the right cosmology, there might be direct theocracies: a manifest deity personally serves as legislator, magistrate, bureaucracy, etc. to the entire nation.
The only time I remember that being done is in dystopias ruled by a pseudodeity. Like the Tripods Trilogy or some Star Trek episodes.

In DS9 the Prophets clearly exist. However the theocratic elements of Bajoran society are clearly under humanoid control and work no differently than the political face of religions we are familiar with on Earth.
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Old 03-20-2021, 10:10 AM   #705
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Default Re: Exotic Governmental/Legal Systems

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It's still probably OK if you can. The thing you mostly need to be careful of is schemes that allow one person to accumulate *so* many votes that a handful of them end up deciding elections. As long as the system is set up so that nobody can accumulate more than a fraction of a percent of all the votes that will be cast, you've probably still got enough diversity of opinion and coalition options that the system is no more broken than most.

The categories you need to watch out for are the ones where you've implemented an open ended linear scheme but the differences between interest groups don't distribute the same way. Money is doubtless the biggest one - if a dollar buys you one vote, $1 million needs to buy you substantially fewer than a million. And you know even then you can mitigate the problem with the same systems you'd use to prevent any "tyranny of the majority" issues (where the unevenly distributed thing is "population" or "candidate popularity" considering each "minority group" or "party" as a single corporate person with equal interests)
Rotten Boroughs were a nuisance historically but not a constitutional threat. So yeah.
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Old 03-20-2021, 11:32 AM   #706
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Default Re: Exotic Governmental/Legal Systems

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The only time I remember that being done is in dystopias ruled by a pseudodeity. Like the Tripods Trilogy or some Star Trek episodes.

In DS9 the Prophets clearly exist. However the theocratic elements of Bajoran society are clearly under humanoid control and work no differently than the political face of religions we are familiar with on Earth.
The Kill Six Billion Demons webcomic has one that isn't particularly dystopian - the demiurge Solomon David's slice of creation. It looks pretty good from the outside, but it's definitely authoritarian on the inside. Probably a damn sight better for average people than the realms of any of the other demiurges, though.
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Old 04-30-2021, 12:28 PM   #707
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On the coming of age a seal is presented in a rite-of-passage. It is shaped like a traditional royal seal implying that being a citizen is a kind of universal nobility. On election the voter stamps the form he turns in with a code distinct to himself to present his vote.

Note: I realize there are disadvantages to having an ID which the other team can trace if it has a spy. As well as advantages to making sure no one can cheat by importing unqualified voters. This is not about that it is about making an interesting cultural quirk.
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Old 04-30-2021, 12:31 PM   #708
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On the coming of age a seal is presented in a rite-of-passage.
The person must take care of the seal and feed it lots of fishes. If the seal dies young it is considered a bad omen.
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Old 04-30-2021, 02:35 PM   #709
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The person must take care of the seal and feed it lots of fishes. If the seal dies young it is considered a bad omen.
Not that kind.
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Old 04-30-2021, 02:43 PM   #710
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On the coming of age a seal is presented in a rite-of-passage. It is shaped like a traditional royal seal implying that being a citizen is a kind of universal nobility. On election the voter stamps the form he turns in with a code distinct to himself to present his vote.
This may be difficult to have each code be unique (enough to be readily distinguishable when used as a stamp) with a large population, at least if you want them to look sufficiently interesting (something like an SSN in barcode form is easy enough, going 2D if necessary, but doesn't look as interesting as, say, a Winged Lion Rampant below a Chevron, or whatever), and particularly if each person chooses their Seal (just think of the "fun" making an email address on a popular mail service - "Sorry, that Seal is already taken").

Still, it would certainly make for an interesting cultural quirk.
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