| Cabinet Accountability |
Bringing a discord conversation to the forums.
The Cabinet's discussions and dealings need to be more open. Outside of security dealings (and, along those lines, MoD planning), there isn't really a need to have discussions behind closed doors. General Cabinet and ministry conversations should take place in the open. We, the Assembly, should demand more openness of the Executive. We should be in the know when the MoFA is attempting to hammer our a treaty and with whom. We should know what projects the MoC, MoM, and MoE are working on. Those projects don't need to be worked on in a back ally discord channel - they should be open for Legislators to see. This will keep the Cabinet as a whole accountable to the Assembly.
"...if you're normal, the crowd will accept you. But if you're deranged, the crowd will make you their leader." - Christopher Titus
Deranged in NS since 2011 One and ONLY minion of LadyRebels The OUTRAGEOUS CRAZY other half of LadyElysium
I agree with Rebeltopia. I think that most cabinet discussions should be public, and ones that need to be secret take place in a secret channel.
Republic of Lansoon (Pacifica)
A public channel on discord, viewable to legislators, but only able to be posted in by cabinet members would work, imo.
-Griffindor/Ebonhand
-Current Roles/Positions -Legislator 2/24/20- -High Court Justice 6/7/20- -South Pacific Coral Guard 11/17/20- -Minister of Engagement 6/17/22- -Past Roles/Positions -Legislator 7/3/16-4/10/18 -Secretary of State 4/3/20-2/24/21 -Chair of the APC 9/24/16-5/31/17 -Vice-Chair of the APC 6/1/17-4/10/18 -Local Council Member 7/1/17-11/17/17 -Citizen 5/2012-12/2014 and 2/26/16-7/3/2016
I agree with Rebel. Most discussions that take place behind closed doors are about things that don't need to be behind closed doors.
"After he realizes this newfound power of his to override the hopes and dreams of republicans, he puts all of the united provinces under his control."
one time minister of culture ![[Image: rank_trainee.min.svg]](https://github.com/TheSouthPacific/tsp-graphics/raw/master/mod/spsf/150w/rank_trainee.min.svg){kind=icon} ![[Image: updates_lifetime_1.min.svg]](https://github.com/TheSouthPacific/tsp-graphics/raw/master/mod/spsf/150w/updates_lifetime_1.min.svg){kind=small} ![[Image: detags_lifetime_2.min.svg]](https://github.com/TheSouthPacific/tsp-graphics/raw/master/mod/spsf/150w/detags_lifetime_2.min.svg){kind=small}
Well I originally wanted us to have a separate executive server just to open the non opsec channels out without cluttering the main server. Have a channel for non opsec cabinet talks viewable by legislators is a good idea.
Tbf, the actual.work happens in the ministries rather than joint cabinet channel these days though.
Chief Supervising Armchair
We could potentially have an opt in role for any legislator who wants it that's like "Observer" or something and with the role they can view any non-secret ministry channel (as determined by the ministers) and also comment in #moc-general/the equivalent channel for each ministry. That way, anyone who doesn't want to have the channels there doesn't have to mute them or whatever.
Honestly, and I mean no offense to anyone, but this is one of the worst ideas I've ever heard.
The Cabinet space is a place for people to get on the same page and, ideally, should be a place where the government forms of collective stance on issues. This is especially relevant to treaties and proscriptions (among other things) where the implications are not just for this Cabinet, but for the region as a whole. Even other things like Culture, Engagement and Media (especially media!) why do we want to watch the sausage get made? Do we need to get ideas that are pitched and then scrapped? Or do you want to read new stories and releases before they come out? Practically speaking, this would just push all conversations to PMs and DMs giving us even less accountability.
-tsunamy
[forum admin]
While I understand where Tsu is coming from, my thoughts on this are informed by the amount of times I’ve seen ministers misrepresent or completely just lie to the rest of the region about what they’re doing, how active they are, etc. Should there be a private area for sensitive Cabinet discussions about security or FA? Yes. Is there an imperative that the public see boring planning discussion? No, yet there’s also no imperative that those be confidential.
I’ve seen too many people over the years say things in public that don’t match what they’re doing, or even *who they are*, behind closed doors. And there’s rarely any accountability for it. There’s been a culture of confidentiality and secrecy in the Cabinet for a very long time now, when 90% of executive governance in the region doesn’t actually need to be done in secret. (And given how we would punish people for revealing what’s said/done/not done in private ministry areas, even if doing so doesn’t imperil anything, “secret” really is the way I’d describe it.) So I don’t see the harm in the idea. I actually see quite a bit of merit.
So, to be clear, I'm not advocating for secrecy here and I do think the Cabinet should be as forthcoming as possible for all information. And, I understand the concerns as Glen is explaining them.
But, I don't think it's feasible to expect all (or even most?) of the Cabinet's work to be done in fishbowl. In fact, I'd argue that opening the Cabinet up in such a way would likely make it even slower to respond and more dysfunctional than it is now. To approach this a different way, who do we think is going to be reading a Cabinet forum or Discord channel for the purposes of saying, "Looks good! Nothing to see here!"? And, again, to come back to the media-related things, if the Cabinet decides to release a statement about something and we watched it all be assembled ... which version is the "proper" version? The one that was finalized and released "publicly" or all the individual pieces that were publicly put together? And how do we — or our allies and enemies — tell the difference if we can see all the splintering behind the scenes? To offer a slightly modified suggestion, what about opening the Discord channel in the manner being discussed, but leave the forum alone? This would have the ability of giving people insight into what's being discussed, but also give the Cabinet a private area for drafting and voting purposes and the like.
-tsunamy
[forum admin]
I don't know how worthwhile it would be, but the APC (long ago) released logs of its private discussions on the forum and discord every month for the sake of transparency and to show off that we were an active party. Perhaps the cabinet could release monthly logs of its discussions at various points during the term so that the region can see the activity that is happening but isn't seeing the (potential) splintering as it happens.
-Griffindor/Ebonhand
-Current Roles/Positions -Legislator 2/24/20- -High Court Justice 6/7/20- -South Pacific Coral Guard 11/17/20- -Minister of Engagement 6/17/22- -Past Roles/Positions -Legislator 7/3/16-4/10/18 -Secretary of State 4/3/20-2/24/21 -Chair of the APC 9/24/16-5/31/17 -Vice-Chair of the APC 6/1/17-4/10/18 -Local Council Member 7/1/17-11/17/17 -Citizen 5/2012-12/2014 and 2/26/16-7/3/2016 |
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