Not so bad
Compared to the last election the situation has significantly improved: there is some competition for the office of chancellor, which is great, and we have enough candidates to staff the Representative Assembly at the first push by acclamation, which is not really good, but could be worse.
Worst case
Do we need to take precautions for the day we do not find enough candidates to fill the seats of RA? This scenario has several solutions. It surely does not mean we would have to close down. But we would be under severe pressure to find a solution how an interim legislative could be set up to have an ongoing check on the executive. Maybe we should occasionally discuss this to be prepared.
Weak branch
The 18th RA worked more or less fine as a check to the executive this term. And it helped to legitimate Sim design improvements at Neufreistadt. But it did not enact any law during this term. Oh well, we really have a lot of laws, of very different quality, some are outdated, some are not followed, some contradict each other. What do we expect from an ordinary citizen who serves at the RA? To be a skilled builder with a qualified opinion on content quality? A talented event host? To know everything about Estate management? To know the constitution and the code of law by heart? Isn't this absolutely unrealistic?
Way to go
Men can embark in few civil partnerships without risking a portion of their possessions; […] They are less reluctant, however, to join political associations, which appear to them to be without danger because they risk no money in them. But they cannot belong to these associations for any length of time without finding out how order is maintained among a large number of men and by what contrivance they are made to advance, harmoniously and methodically, to the same object. Thus they learn to surrender their own will to that of all the rest and to make their own exertions subordinate to the common impulse, things which it is not less necessary to know in civil than in political associations. Political associations may therefore be considered as large free schools, where all the members of the community go to learn the general theory of association. (Alexis de Toqueville, Democracy in America, 1835)
Predictable agent
I have served as a tier system synchronizer during the last term and found myself being an estate manager sitting at RA. A little bit of something. Enough now! I will drop this executive job and focus on the duties of being a member of the 19th Assembly in the spirit of the quotation above. And I will not run a third time, but make an application to work for the Chancellor of the 20th term, whoever it will be.
Fundamental questions
I want to understand our legal system better and find possibilities to reduce its complexity. Life in CDS has become overly complicated in my opinion. I would not be able to explain how our community works to a newcomer. We do not pass the "grandma-test" any longer. Do we need reform? A manual? And are we really a state or rather a land-cooperative as Pat said some time ago in relation to the citizenship reform? What does good governance mean to us? Can we do without economy, a nation living from money transfers from "abroad"? Are we choking citizens' activity? How can we deal with the phenomenon of underutilization? I will dedicate my time to find out and look forward to discussions.
Again: Locus Amoenus
We have spent a lot of time with this topic during the last term. I see no gaugeable results. If nothing happens, I will remove my holdings on that sim by no later then first quartile 2014. I will ask the chancellor of the new term to hold a regional meeting to discuss a controlled exodus. This would not be the end of the world. Population of the remaining Sims would be improved. And we would see some manpower turning to the development and improvement of structures that still work quite fine