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The recent debate over the future of the Supreme Court of eCanada has brought forward many critical observations and brilliant proposals on how to salvage the lesser-known third arm of the eCanadian Government. The criticisms and defences presented demonstrate a key issue in the development of eCanada as a virtual community in the realm of the New World.

A list of all relevant “Great Debate” articles consulted for this proposal:
--http://www.erepublik.com/en/article/-jargon-en-the-great-debate-about-what--1371735/1/20
--http://www.erepublik.com/en/article/the-great-debate-about-these-titles-1370755/1/20
--http://www.erepublik.com/en/article/the-great-debate-concrete-change-the-last-in-the-series-again--1370296/1/20
--http://www.erepublik.com/en/article/the-great-debate-writing-down-our-laws-1369724/1/20
--http://www.erepublik.com/en/article/the-great-debate-sdc-longsword-and-traitors-last-of-the-series-1370147/1/20
--http://www.erepublik.com/en/article/the-great-debate-the-apolitical-justice-system-1370176/1/20
--http://www.erepublik.com/en/article/-jargon-en-the-great-debate-about-what--1371735/1/20
--http://www.erepublik.com/en/article/the-great-debate-ii-what-should-be-done--1366740/1/20
--http://www.erepublik.com/en/article/the-great-debate-i-whither-the-supreme-court--1365315/1/20
--http://www.erepublik.com/en/article/the-great-debate-the-court-of-public-opinion-1367242/1/20
--http://www.erepublik.com/en/article/the-great-debate-a-less-than-stellar-contribution-1367362/1/20
--http://www.erepublik.com/en/article/the-great-debate-piggy-blow-the-conch--1367391/1/20
--http://www.erepublik.com/en/article/the-great-debate-a-supreme-joke-1367481/1/20
--http://www.erepublik.com/en/article/call-me-crazy-kangaroo-court-1360780/1/20
--http://www.erepublik.com/en/article/what-has-the-supreme-court-been-up-to-1368934/1/20
--http://www.erepublik.com/en/article/the-supreme-debate-1368705/1/20

(though I am not sure what saltydog’s visual representation of this debate will look like, my estimation is that it will look something like this
http://img88.imageshack.us/img88/4116/obrazekasaur.jpg



Before I begin laying out my proposals on how to restructure the Supreme Court of eCanada, I would like to take a moment to present my experience and credentials that would help legitimize some of my claims. In the past, I’ve written about how eCanada behaves much as what Benedict Anderson termed an “Imagined Community.” The establishment of the SCC was an integral component in the evolution of eCanada, and perhaps eRepublik as a new avenue in social gaming. In fact, eCanada has been at the forefront of community innovation, having also established the first writers’ guild (WGC) in the New World before spreading to Ireland (WGI) and India (WGI) (I will return to WGC later in this article). As well, I was appointed a Justice of the SCC back in June ’09 and served six months until retirement in December, during which time I had the pleasure to serve under Chief Justice Vincent Valentice, and briefly work with current Justices Leps Dissim and olivermellors. I have great recollections of some the cases we adjudicated over, all listed in Justice olivermellors’ recent article. Though I have not had the chance to serve with the current Justice Banach or work with the Attorney General Acacia Mason, I’ve been lucky to share membership with them in the Writers’ Guild of eCanada, where we discuss a wide range of matters pertaining to the social gaming features of eRepublik. Their commitment to the Supreme Court of eCanada demonstrates its ongoing relevance and future potential.



The Supreme Court of eCanada – community property since Sept. 2008

Some may assume I support the SCC out of some sort of honourable nostalgia or that I am part of the ‘inner-party’ that favours or even benefits from its continuation. This is far from true. My impression of Justice Leps Dissim and Justice olivermellors does remain strong and, though a sense of solidarity might lead me to defend the SCC out of a sense of allegiance to its Justices and past ties to all the work committed to deliberating on cases, I can assure you that each Justice of the SCC is trained to remain objective and detached, no matter what ties may bind.

With all this in mind, I now present a four-fold approach to reform the SCC so as to A) legitimate its legal rule, 😎 strengthen its moral authority, C) streamline its case/appeal management, and D) regain the confidence of the eCanadian community. To better illustrate this process, I present a chart that provides a breakdown of each objective:

Plugson’s 4-fold SCC Solution – click here for larger image


As you can see, the biggest task will be codifying all possible illegal acts on eRep (as well as in future modules and versions) into a succinct and easy-to-follow guide for all current and prospective Justices. Once a completed criminal code is in effect, enforceable by admin intervention, all that remains is to follow procedure in a timely manner and ensure eCanadians that their rights and freedoms are supported.



Writers’ Guild of eCanada – private property since March 2009


Earlier I mentioned my participation in the Writers’ Guild of eCanada, a project committed to promoting the excellence of eCanadian media, as determined by its media elite. The reason I introduce WGC to a debate on the SCC is that the future of the WGC may lie in improving the function of the SCC. Before I get there, I would like to take a moment to acknowledge the departure of Adasko from eRep and, as a result, the presidency of WGC. Since March, Adasko served us well as WGC President, so with his loss we are left with much to do in completing the projects he had started.


WGC presidential farewell montage – click to enlarge

Though I had been nominated to run for WGC presidency a number of times in the past, I had always refused due to time constraints. There are simply so many other duties that afflict active eRep players that making time for another is not an easy task. However, with my retirement from the CAF, the SCC, the media scene, and living existence for a time, I find myself much more available to take on this daunting role. Therefore, I will be actively seeking the position of WGC President in the next round of elections.

The main thrust of my WGC platform will be to make it more accessible to the community at large. While the “Behind the Scenes” folder in the WGC forum is abuzz with media discussion, it would seem favourable to bring this into the public domain. One step will be to establish small-scale media events that will involve new eCanadians and educate even the older ones. For example, I recently had a discussion with our Minster of Heritage, 00AngryMobMan00 about holding an event quite similar to “Canada Reads,’ a radio program on CBC that puts Canadian writing into an elimination-style round of debates. While this may sound similar to the current “Canada Prize” media tournament, the main difference is that a panel of readers would find classic eCanadian articles and defend their pick as the “Article Every eCanadian Must Read.” The purpose will be to enliven the media scene with debate, educate eCanadians about our media heritage, and acknowledge the great work our writers have already put out.

The next stage of my platform is where this last half of my article ties in with the first half on the SCC. While discussing ways of improving the SCC during the Maxxamo vs. Rex case, it was noted that creating more forum masks was strongly discouraged. We were seeking a way of limiting access to new cases to those called to testify in order to avoid unwanted intrusions, yet have it publicly viewable as well. Creating a new mask for the SCC was not possible because too many were currently in existence and adding more would adversely affect the speed of the forums. To create a new SCC mask, so it seems another must be sacrificed.

With that said above, the current WGC masking would seem to be a valuable piece of forum real estate. Therefore, to facilitate community outreach and improve the Supreme Court of eCanada, as WGC President I would investigate ways of merging the “Behind the Scenes” masking with the public folder on the WGC. Essentially, this would be removing the WGC Member masking from the forum, but more importantly, it would enable the rest of eCanada to equally share in WGC activities. What someone once called “the Ivory Tower of the media elite” will be turned into a community space available to all. The guild will essentially become community property available to all. In the WGC, it should not only be about the media excellence we have, but also the media love we can share.

On that note, I would like round things of with my clichéd format of ending in somehow-relevant song. In the media this week, I noticed in an article containing song lyrics an expression of deep feeling, so this inspires me to do the same. I’ll open up my heart to the community of eCanada and express my undying love for this “Imagined Community”:

Steel Panther’s “Community Property”
(click here for the gratuitous girly shots and to listen along) – credit to Dade and Bill for opening my eyes

“'Cause my heart belongs to you
There ain't nothing that I wouldn't do, for you.
My heart belongs to you,
But my court is community property.

I wanna make it clear,
So you retain it
TemBC’s a free spirit
And you can't restrain him
No, you just can't chain him down.

I love you so much it hurts
From my head to my feet.
I think of you and I can't
Help but fondle my CAD.
I see your face every time
That I go out and cheat.

'Cause my heart belongs to you
There ain't nothing that I wouldn't do.
My heart belongs to you
But my guild is community property."

The tl;dr version

Click here to enlarge.