Join the new world

This is the third in a series of five short articles about the role of government in eRepublik. Please subscribe to this publication so you are notified when the next part is released. If you don't like reading short articles, the entire series will be released in a single compilation after all sections have been released.

Part 1 - Introduction
Part 2 - The General Welfare

Part 3 - Congress & The General Welfare

With threats to the general welfare of citizens in mind, it falls upon congress, and all those who elect congressmen into power to ensure every proposal that coerces a republik's own citizens to pay more taxes fall within a system of proper oversight.

There are three things to look for in every proposal which attempts to appropriate funds from the people:

- The proposal should be clearly defined by congress or the president
- The proposal should be assigned a cost
- The proposal should be assigned a due date

The due date is the most important of these three elements.

It provides congress with an opportunity to reconsider the nature of a proposal sometime in the future. At this time, congress can decide whether to:

- remove the taxes if the proposal's goal is complete or no longer a priority
- raise taxes if more money is required or has become more urgent
- mantain the current taxation rate if more work is still required

Ideally this due date should not last for more than a single mandate, so a proposal can be considered by two different parliaments. In this way, fair decisions can be made with full transparency and the full consent of the people.

Any proposal that is not defined clearly, assigned a cost or assigned a due date is clearly violating the defintion of general welfare. As this assumes the government has a persistant right to take what rightfully belongs to its citizens.

Next

The fourth article in this series will take a look at the role that community has to play in The New World, and demonstrate how a strong community can not only enforce a better experience for its citizens, but also how it can reinforce our definition of general welfare.