The Yachting Party (YP)

Some preliminary notes:

I intend to produce at least four documents.

The first is a charter outlining the structure of governance. My aim is to keep it simple. There will be one leader (the Skipper), elected by a simple majority of all members, who shall serve until resignation or removal. And the removal from office is by a vote of no confidence, a simple majority of the members being sufficient. Membership is by declaration; Ejection from the party is by a super-majority of two thirds of the members. To run for any IFU office with the party's endorsement, a candidate must be a member of the party and have 2 members or 20% of the membership approve his candidacy, whichever is greater. Members may freely be members of other parties if they wish. Proposed by-laws are brought to the Skipper, who may (or may not) present them to the membership for a simple majority vote. (The vote of no confidence is a check on the Skipper's powers.) I want to keep it loose, like pirate captains electing a pirate king; each is captain of his own ship.

The second is a platform for the party. The overarching goal is to permit the greatest possible freedom of action for all IFU states. Laws in a one government, majority-takes-all system tend to compel obedience. My philosophy, which I hope you share, is that laws should be voluntary and naturally persuasive so that reasonable sovereigns are convinced that adherence is in their best interests anyway. Laws which cannot persuade but must compel under threat of enforcement do not encourage the free voluntary association we seek. Moreover, the tree of laws must from time-to-time be pruned, sometimes severely, to ensure the best growth and fruits remain, so this is a party that will repeal the unnecessary and burdensome norms that will arise. Where a court precedent is sufficient, I see no need to add a law to address the very same concern.

The third is a body of by-laws to govern the party internally. In keeping with our platform, I hope it emerges as a small corpus, concise in meaning, plainly worded and reasonably interpreted. Its contents will be determined by you, the members of the Yachting Party.

Finally, there will be a roster list of members. At present there is only the Cat. I hope you will change that by joining the Yachting Party, Captain...

>^,,^<
Alunya