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If you force everyone to, for example, sign in with their Facebook account (which would be tied to some form of citizen ID, like your SSN in the US), or enforce that everyone has a single account on their government website, then that problem vanishes.
I don't mean anything like voting machines, where you just walk somewhere and pick which candidate you want to represent you; I mean wholesale government constructed of and by the people, where everyone who is qualified votes for their solution, can construct their own legislation, and so on. To ensure maximal participation, some rules would need to be thought up and enforced; stuff like 'more than one failure to vote that is not an abstention would eliminate you from the rolls', which would force you to re-qualify.
How very...flexible of you.
Switching back and forth between alliances simply because it suits you.
The only countries that get away with that are usually Great Powers, and I'm not sure Danceria qualifies.
Or I may just straight up declare neutrality, since neither side will wholly accept my nations views. I am too nice to be a Tyrant, too conservative to enter ADDO, so the best path is the third one.
I would like to point out that I am a free an independent power, who has spent a ridiculously long time lurking in Ainur and Nationstates at large and have only recently began to pay attention to regional politics,and I believe FLOAT to be the inevitable conclusion of this power vacuum.
This is a great idea for for a futuristic dystopia. Citizens are hooked up to computers and forced to spend every waking hour voting and re-voting on endless proposals. I can't think of anything worse than everyone doing politics. It's bad enough that the politicians do it!
I don't mean that you have to. If you're not interested in government, then dissociate yourself from it. That's the whole point of having a test to qualify, and a means of taking voters off the rolls in the first place.
I'd be interested to know whether such a system would have a constitution or not, or would you simply go along with whatever the majority voted?
If there is a constitution, how do you entrench it and stop it being savaged by the majority?
Go on the forums and see how many nations are ADDO members. You're all bark and no bite for RP purposes, amigo.
The Thalasian Parliament has made Nargothond illegal. Bombing begins in three hours.
This would set your debts right...
I would imagine that there would be a constitution to form the basis from which the rest of legislation grew; there needs to be a fundamental code of laws from which you can grow the rest of the legal code.
As for how to entrench it; require a supermajority for any change.
If you can get 67% of people to agree on anything, it's probably worth changing.
Really? I'm pretty sure you could get 67% of Saudi Arabians to agree to kill all homosexuals in that country... Or, less hyperbolically, what happens if 67% of people vote to install a dictator and forever remove the right of voting?
I'm taking a break.
I know that some of you are dedicated to being in character, but I'm getting sick of being referred to a lawless savage when I did my research and tried to base my civilization on as much realism as I could. I'd really rather not deal with another day of being told what to do by someone bigger when it directly contradicts the culture I created. I don't care if I'm an idealist or not. It's my nation and I thought it would be fun, something new from the drag of regular nations. I'm dreadfully sorry that it didn't meet any of your standards.
I'd love to try and explain, but sadly, my patience has been worn thin. I'm done for now.
Saiyonara. I'll come back eventually.
If I'd thought through every possible outcome of this hypothetical system of governance which I'm not advocating for the immediate introduction of, I would probably already be being praised as the Martin Luther of democracy, and about 30 years older.
That said, there's equally nothing preventing a coalition of congressmen and senators totaling 67% of each house from doing either of those things. They don't do it because it's very difficult to get people to agree on things.
Illustrative example; hypothetically say that 70% of US citizens favor a constitutional amendment which renders homosexuality a crime punishable by death, and they are perfectly represented in both state and federal legislature. They can demand a national convention, because they will have hypothetically proportionate representation in each of these legislatures (or, if the 30% live solely within Texas, California, and Florida, basically 100% of the legislature in the other 47 states). This national convention will send this amendment to the states to ratify, which, since they are all 70% controlled by representatives favoring death for homosexuality, they will all ratify. America will become a nation in which homosexuality is punishable by death. Since they are also perfectly represented in Congress and the Senate, these could independently create this legislation, then send it on to the states for ratification, which they will then do.
By assuming literally the same scenario, of 70% of people agreed on something, as well as a guiding principle of the system of governance (that the representatives perfectly represent their people, which we know to be nonsense, but whatever), a system designed for checks and balances has allowed unthinkable legislation to pass.
However. Because you made a good point, here's an alternative.
Everyone has the right to vote, but given certain areas of legislation, they can designate other individuals as their representative. They may designate different individuals for different areas of legislation; someone may designate a...rocket scientist, or a physicist, for legislation about NASA, and a merchant banker for legislation about trade. These individuals may further delegate their voting rights, carrying all the votes delegated to them with them; perhaps the broadly-designated area is 'energy policy', and someone is an expert in oil production, but doesn't understand nuclear power. He may delegate his votes to someone who does understand nuclear power, specifically in that area.
This way, you don't have to spend any of your time looking at legislation; you have a representative (or a thousand representatives) to do that for you. Because you can revoke your designees at any time, this stops them from making votes that they know will harm you.
It removes the negatives of direct democracy (Joe Schmoe having the same role in legislation as Einstein, having to devote a large portion of your time to governance) and representative democracy (you're stuck with your choice until the next voting cycle, not agreeing with someone on every policy area), leaving only the positives.
Unfortunately, it's still only useful with an e-democracy system, because having to have everyone in the same room for a quorum just won't work for some issues, and there's no other easy way to have an accurate tracker of how many votes someone is carrying in what areas at all times without it.
(I'll note that the people calling you lawless savages are FLOAT; I've been trying to stay within the bounds of...well, being a decent person, really, but if that has slipped up I'm deeply apologetic.
I suppose a major problem with this game is that most people here are thoroughly possessed with the spirit of realpolitik, which lends itself to aggressiveness in foreign affairs, and leaves little room for idealism.
I fully understand your decision, and I hope you return soon.)
Thalasus and Nargothond
Post self-deleted by Thalasus.
I hope you come back soon, Fem.
FLOAT and ADDO are the two alliances of nations in the RP of this region. While there are independent nations, such as myself or Gunslinger girl, the majority of the rest fall into these two camps.
FLOAT is the Far-out League Of Advancing Tyranny (or something like that), which has the goal of advancing dictatorial or despotic rule.
ADDO is the Ainurian Democracy Defense Organization (or something like that), which has the goal of advancing democracy throughout the region.
Both squabble a fair amount in the RP here.
Thalasus, Nargothond, and Mariganja
Here's the rundown on Ainurian geopolitics:
There are two major organizations in Ainur. They are as follows:
-The Ainurian Democratic Defense Organization (ADDO). Basically a NATO analogue, it is a defense organization comprised of various democratic nations dedicated to preserving the values of human rights and democracy. Led by yours truly, ADDO has eight nations in it's ranks, nine if you count Feminamia (a nation of Amazons), who has an unusual relationship with ADDO due to her status as a Thalasi protectorate, her refusal to build a proper armed forces, and her less than stellar civil rights record. Aside from Thalasus (the language, people, culture and crime rate of Brazil mixed with the island geography and people of Indonesia, plus the freedom, wealth, power, and politics of the USA) who founded and is currently leading the coalition, other major players include The morovenian dawn (???), Silangan (basically a more powerful version of the Philippines), and Klugerland (enthusiastic German capitalists).
-The Far-out League Of Advanced Tyranny (FLOAT) is a organization dedicated to political oppression. No, I am not exaggerating for propaganda purposes. When it was founded, Escanthea said it was literally founded to fight against democracy and freedom. The best Real Life analogue for FLOAT would be a non-communist Warsaw Pact. Members include Escanthea (Byzantine Putinists, the founder of the alliance) and 
Nargothond (a nation whose policies would make Hitler say "Woah man take it easy"). Oh, and Danceria (a well-meaning, recently industrialized medieval nation.... damn traitor).
Notable non-aligned nations include 
The Bermudan Pentagram (Switzerland and Singapore had a love child that got fabulously wealthy by selling weapons to ADDO and FLOAT) and 
The Gunslinger Girl (a PMC sniper that puts fear into the hearts of all the leaders of Ainur who haven't yet decided to swallow their pride and wear a helmet).
So, there you have it. That's the state of Ainur. Any questions?
I know that I'm asking a lot of questions, sorry about my newbie tendencies, but how does one gain influencial power in a region?
OOC: Please accept my apologies if I offended you. I didn't mean to drive you away from the region but as you know, I am always very heavy on the propaganda. If you had asked me to, however, I could have toned it down a little, in the interests of not hurting your feelings. Sorry once again.
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