Speaker of the House: A Primer
Gnilraps
As you've likely heard by now, Congress recently endured some high drama. Several have published their "take" on the situation. It's now my turn.
If you haven't read Carlos's blow-by-blow yet, it'd be helpful to start there. He will walk you matter-of-factly through a skeleton version of the chronology, though he focuses more on the aftermath of Jimmy Cincinatti's faux resignation.
I'm not going to focus on Oblige's poorly veiled power grab. Frankly we've all been down that road before with him and there's nothing new in it to discuss. Neither will I focus on Jimmy Cincinatti's truncated Speakership in any particular way.
What I'd like to focus on more specifically is the question, "What is a 'Speaker of the House' and what does it take to be one?" I believe that if Congress had paid more attention to that question, we would have completely avoided the distracting and unfortunate failure of a generally good guy who got thrust in over his head.
Ultimately I hope that this article will prove to be useful for future SoH hopefuls so that they can learn from the experiences of the 122nd Congress and have a greater chance to succeed in the future.
NOTE: In this article, criticism of certain individuals will be as oblique as possible so as to avoid disharmony. Some of you will be able to read between the lines, and if you can I'd prefer you avoid personal criticisms. But if we cannot look back at what happened with a sober mind, we will not learn.
The eUnited States Government is unique in the eWorld. We have all the same ingame buttons as every other eNation, but we've decided to maintain those buttons in good order through a Constitutional government located offsite. I've rhapsodized elsewhere about the value added by this to gameplay in eUSA. I simply simply restate it here for framing what I'm about to say.
A Constitution is a living document. It exists and functions only if it is enjoined by the Congress which enacts and upholds it. And since Congress is by definition a CON-GRESS (CON='together', GRESS='walk', therefore 'a group of people walking together'), it requires leadership and direction. Without proper leadership and direction Congress does a ton of GRESS and very little CON.
Therefore Congress elects a leader called "The Speaker of the House".
The Speaker (or SoH) is THE ONE responsible for keeping the "walkers" "together". The SoH becomes a director when congress wanders off. The SoH becomes the engine of activity when Congress gets sleepy. The SoH keeps good order by providing Constitutional guidance... LEADERSHIP... to a Congress that, without it will descend into the chaos like a chicken running amok without its head.
If anyone wants to see what that looks like... well, they just did.
So what does it take to be a good Speaker of the House?
First and foremost it takes the ability and discipline to read and understand the Constitution itself. The Speaker must - MUST - have the faculties that are often found in the best Justices of the Peace. That is, the LAW must guide him.
So if you aspire to be SoH, become familiar with the Constitution. If you can't seem to get widespread agreement on your way of reading things, it could be that you aren't very good at comprehending the Constitution. That doesn't make you a lousy person, it just makes you poorly suited to be Speaker. If your eyes glaze over after spending 2 minutes reading the Constitution, it doesn't make you a lousy person, it just makes you poorly suited to be Speaker.
And if you are poorly suited to be SoH because you can't get a good handle on the Constitution, let someone else be Speaker.
But if you are doing OK on #1 - know the Constitution - then check yourself on #2...
Second, decide before you choose to run for Speaker that you are going to devote some time to the game for a month. Everyone knows that this is "just a game", and nobody holds it against anyone for two-clicking, taking a few days away from things, or just cruising along at low idle. For the average Congressman, logging in once or twice per day is almost always plenty.
But for the Speaker of the House, you need to be available. Nobody forces you to be Speaker, so you have to know that you are signing up to be especially active during your term. Your term will begin several days after Congressional elections and it will continue until several days after the next Congressional election, so know this in advance. If your RL schedule prevents you from dedicating some hard core gaming hours, don't run for Speaker.
Now if you really think you can do some good work as Speaker but you have pockets of time when you KNOW you cannot play, you can look for some Deputies who can offer you their availability during those times when you know you aren't around. So one of the litmus tests for choosing good Deputies for yourself should be, "hey man, are you usually online during the times I'm usually not?" See how easy this is?
The bottom line is this, it is not fair to everyone else in Congress if you accept the lead position in Congress and then days go by between your postings. That is sucky leadership and if Congress has any good reasons to not like your Speakership already, you are fueling the flames by being in absentia.
Let's review so far.
#1 - have an above-elementary-school reading comprehension skill and actually apply it to reading the Constitution.
#2 - put down Candy Crush Saga for a month and play eRepublik/Congress.
And I'd like to offer a #3.
Third, respect your enemies.
Nothing is harder to watch than a Speaker who attempts to apply law in a partisan way. Realize that you will likely not receive 100% of the votes when you are elected SoH. Therefore you are now serving as Speaker, not only to those who voted for you, but you are equally Speaker for those who voted against you. And know that those who did not support you as Speaker are likely to hold you to a higher standard than those who supported you. Understand that this is quite natural. Expect it. And so hold yourself to a higher standard than even your opponents do.
And when you must adjudicate a debate, find some neutral ground in there. Things might be crystal clear to you and your supporters, but the only way to help your opponents understand why you are adjudicating as you are is to patiently and thoroughly explain not only your own point of view but also what it is about the opposing point of view that is wrong.
One way to guard against this problem is to surround yourself with and advisor or two or a deputy with whom you disagree. And then determine in advance that you will keep your ears OPEN to at least those few. And have the courage to make a decision that is unpopular with your supporters if necessary. Trust me, your opponents are not wrong about everything. Neither are the opponents of your opponents if you know what I mean.
So those are Gnilraps' BIG THREE rules about being Speaker of the House.
But before I let you go, I want to share a few more random thoughts that don't merit a full point but that, if ignored, can lead to trouble.
Being Speaker of the House is a position of service, not rule. You are a leader, yes, and you have some judicial powers, but your leadership and powers are to be employed in service to Congress. In other words, SoH is not a "control" position of authority. It is a volunteer position of leadership.
Being Speaker of the House is not really all that much about the technical aspects of Forum Moderation. You get buttons, yes. But those buttons are given to you because you are Speaker. You do not seek out the Speakership to get those buttons. Let's put it this way: it would be far greater to have a Speaker who delegates all button-pushing to a Deputy than a button-happy Speaker who sucks at everything else.
Don't drink your Party's Kool Aid. Being Speaker, you obviously don't stop being a Congressman, and you can drink all the Kool Aid you want when it's time to vote. But if you are high on Party Kool Aid when you are moderating discussions and making decisions on whether or not to extend votes or waive voting periods, you are a lousy Speaker.
Lastly, know more than a tiny bit about what's going on outside of eUSA. As Speaker, you are leading the body of representatives who are charged with things like funding wars and determining support for the Executive's Foreign Policies. If you are not aware, for instance, what country your Executive wants to attack until after the attack has launched, you've probably already blown it as Speaker. I'm not saying this will happen to you, but anything's possible so I'm mentioning it.
And now I've got to take a break from eRepublik so I can do some RL. I hope this will be helpful to you and your Party as you groom our future leaders in Congress.
You may now return to your regularly scheduled clicking.
Comments
Third Article[TV-Series][ENG][SRB]
https://www.erepublik.com/en/article/third-article-tv-series-eng-srb--2664499/1/20
I don't understand how this article relates to mine.
Great Read.
Thanks.
Do you think we can convert this into a useful post on our Party Forum Boards? Or am I delusional?
I think we should take your articles and create a sticky where we can spoiler them and they can be found in one spot for us to revisit.
07
You know I've always appreciated you chazp...
let me know if you ever want to get more involved.
\o/
is this your response to me demanding all your money?
V
I am curious who is a man in your photo?
what photo?
Oh, you mean my avatar? That's Tom Waits, the world's greatest musician.
Yes him, i see him some times but never knowing his name 🙂
At least Jimmy´s SoH leadership didn´t lead to unexplained removal of my posts in the public congress section.
SoH is mainly fulfilling tasks we can't (or are too lazy to) program a bot for, and doing a bit of moderation when things derail. It is not a function to be cool, and not a function to pick and choose who gets to post in public congress aside from the members of congress.
A major part of the Speakership you've left out of your description is the need to interpret the Constitution or Code when there is disagreement on the meaning.
Did you actually post during Jimmy's brief term? I rarely delete a post from non-Congressmen if it's on topic when I'm on a Speaker team.
double upvote
I wrote a new constitution in eNL (when I did it, it had more players than the current eUS) because of a lacking constitution. I find the need for 'interpreting' law a very wrong idea and a clear marker of poorly written law. Maybe it's more common in RL US, it certainly is not in RL NL.
(Or well, we have interpretation in NL as well, but far from the extension it is being done in the US)
We've got a whole Supreme court in the RL US for that purpose, Garmr. That's probably why we're more used to it.
lawyers have very good lobbyists here, writing a lot of laws that need interpreting is a good money making scheme ...
Your posts were worthless drivel. You do not get to decide what congress wants posted or not, the soh does that. If I'd been soh I'd probably also have deleted that
It's public, I didn't breach any rules, my posts were clearly good enough to stay, even though they dramaticised the point for added effect. Good to know how you feel in case you would ever attempt to do something of value in this game so I can kill it.
it's public, you didn't breach any rules.... however you did not add anything of value to congress. You are not a congressman, and therefore your drivel does not belong there. simple as that.
Also you are the second one to threaten me in this manner in the last three weeks. The other person is a lot smarter than you and a lot more powerful in this game. His threats don't concern me and neither do yours.
You aren't capable of being a speaker. Cool that I'm not the only one to dislike you, though you are the only person in this game I dislike. Also speaks for you to properly assess the reach of my threats.
Dumbass I've been speaker. You don't even know me enough to dislike me... get to know me and you will.
The reach of your threat is proven by the amount of time it took you to reply lol....
But you misunderstand something. Your threat does not concern me not because I don't think you have clout. I simply don't care. There is simply nothing you can do to me in this game that will really matter to me.
The only way to be a succesful SoH is to befriend those perennial congress people who make it their daily activity to criticize and insult, whether directly or passively those whom they do not consider their "friends." Jimmy Cincinnati unfortunately for himself was not in this crew and as a result things ultimately came to their inevitable conclusion. Could Jimmy Cincinnati handled the false-rage better? Certainly. However I contend that this result was an eventuality that bloomed sooner rather than later. While your article is well written and of an obective and concilliatory tone (a tone of which i believe you are sincere in) your article will gall upon deaf ears by all parties involved in the SoH event. Endorse, subscired - good article.
I appreciate your complimentary tone.
But I disagree with the underlying assumptions you are working with.
The Speaker of the House "situation" really has nothing to do with "friends" or "supporters" or "politics". Ultimately, it should be a role of servitude.
So you are wrong to suggest that "the way to be a successful SoH is to befriend..." No amount of 'friendship' would have saved Jimmy Cincinnati. His incompetence damned him.
I want to add a few points:
1. Before you think of being soh, try to get yourself a position as dsoh. This will give you very good practice.
2. gnilraps kind of mentions this, but try to lift yourself above party as much as possible while filling the role of soh. You are representing congress as a whole, and if you want the other parties to vote for you again, you MUST show them you are fair.
3. Try not to rise to the bait. There will be people trying to goad you. This will happen whether you are in the sfp or the feds or any other party. It happened to jimmy, and it happened to me last term.
looks like it happened to you in this article, shadowber fwiw
not sure what you're talking about....?
Pretty solid points