Special Bulletin from Militia Captain Robert, Commander of the Northern Liberation Forces

I was eager to reopen some of the issues from the first week, but Crysta was still putting it off. I can understand why she wanted to give as much time as possible to let our heads cool, but she couldn’t put it off forever. 

On the second day of the week, we were still dealing with new issues, and the one she picked for Tuesday morning was a major can of worms: the division of power between the national and regional governments. Pepe reminded us that we had given extensive defense and foreign policy powers to the national government already, and there was no obvious reason to change that. I had no objections to that. He also stated that we had established militias as independent from the professional army, without a clear source of authority over them. He recommended that we officially declare organization and command of militia’s to be a regional power.

Of course Oliphaunt stepped in with another attack on my northern brothers, calling the militias lawless criminals. I had high hopes, given how quiet he was yesterday, but Oliphaunt can’t pass up a chance to pick a fight over militias. He said the militias are not just a power but a responsibility, and regions must keep them under control and suppress rogue militias. I was annoyed by his attack, but I had to accept that it was reasonable for regions to take responsibility for the actions of the militias.

Our next topic of debate was economic powers. That trader Mira wanted contract law and property rights to be consistent throughout the nation, in order to promote trade. Pepe agreed and even suggested a broadly defined economic power, which might include Mira’s suggestions as examples to help guide the courts. I wasn’t too thrilled about giving all this power to the central government, but Emilia convinced me that a single system of contract and property law would be easier to teach the common folks compared to 5 different regional systems. Her argument made sense to me, so I relented.

Tessa was interested in labor regulations. She said many workers are in dangerous conditions and have unreasonable working hours. I don’t know exactly what their conditions are, but they have a right to fight for their rights. Mira balked at the suggestion, but Pepe pointed out that labor regulation would logically be within the broad economic power of the national government, exactly as she had just pushed for. Mira was furious, and appealed to the rights of business owners, but very few in the room were sympathetic, except perhaps Silas.

While I had agreed to give a lot of power to the national government, I wanted to know what was left for the regions. It was that wily professor Elias who had some good ideas. He said welfare, education and infrastructure could be the domain of the regions. He also suggested a split in criminal law, petty crimes for the regions and major crimes for the nation. Finally, he suggested that most actual enforcement of criminal law, of either type, would be done by the regions, but that large criminal organizations and pirates could be dealt with by the national government. I had to admit, his division of powers sounded reasonable.

Aguilo had a major concern, that we couldn’t imagine every possible power the government might need. He wanted a clause giving any unspecified powers to the national government. I appreciated his concern, but I wanted the opposite solution. Unspecified powers should go to the regions. Elias came up with a clause that powers of a “clear national concern” would be given to the national government, while other unspecified powers go to the regions. I was willing to accept this deal.

Crysta, at the last moment, recommended relief and aid for natural disasters or other national emergencies as a power for the central government, which we all generally accepted as reasonable. Despite reluctance from some members over individual provisions of this split, Crysta managed to get a consensus approval for the whole package as a reasonable compromise.

Internal Memo to Branch Managers of the Lora Coast Trading Company, from Chairwoman Mira

I have both good news and bad news to report from the constitutional convention. Yesterday’s sessions specified the creation of a Central Bank, which is likely to stabilize the economy. This will be good news for us. Trading abroad will be easier if our currency is managed properly, unlike the reckless minting of King Valerius.

I have also managed to secure broad economic powers for the national government. This means we can rely on one unified system of contracts and property throughout the nation, significantly reducing the complications of running our businesses. The days of hiring experts on various local customs and laws are now over.

One minor downside of all this, it was agreed by the other members that the broad economic powers would also include the ability to regulate labor. We might see safety regulations, limited working hours, or even something as destructive as a minimum wage. I argued against it, but the others were convinced a broad economic power necessarily included a right to regulate labor.

I should note that this is merely an option the legislature may choose to regulatute, it is not guaranteed. Before this constitution is even settled, we should begin developing a strategy to elect politicians that will resist such regulation. If we control the legislature, we have nothing to fear from this broad economic power.

Excerpt from Crafting the Constitution, by Professor Elias

The division of powers between the regions and the nation as a whole is a most delicious puzzle. It seems to me that the nation ought to only handle matters that concern the entire nation, or at least most of it. Those matters which are local should be handled locally and those that are regional should be handled regionally.

The group decided on their own that defense, foreign policy, and even most economic matters, should be national. I couldn’t fault their instincts. Perhaps there was a case to be made about dividing up economic matters more carefully, but the elegance of broadly handing over most of it to the central government was not a bad idea.

But one of the brave farmers, who had fought against centralized tyranny, wanted more powers for the region, but he lacked a clear concept of what they should be. I came up with some ideas. Welfare, education, infrastructure. These are matters close to the people. The central government doesn’t know where to build a local road, or which group needs the most assistance. The regions, delegating some authority to local governments, can decide these matters.

I also considered whether criminal law could be divided between petty crimes and more serious ones. It is self-evident that something like treason ought to be illegal in the entire country, and carry a uniform punishment. However, the actual work of policing should be handled as locally as possible, to build the trust of the communities. Only criminal acts beyond the purview of a single region, like piracy on our coasts or criminal organizations across multiple regions, should be handled by the central power.

General Aguilo brought up a matter of great importance. No matter how carefully we construct our constitution, there will always be some power needed that we won’t think to specify. He wanted a clause to give unspecified power to the central government, while the farmer Robert favored giving it to the regions. I carefully crafted a provision that unspecified matters of “clear national concern” would go to the national government, and all other unspecified power goes to the regions. The courts can apply common sense if there is a future dispute, but this should be an adequate solution.

Our leader, Crysta, came up with a last minute suggestion that I wholeheartedly approve of, which is to make the nation responsible for emergency and disaster relief. It is true that many disasters crossover regional lines and so the nation as a whole should take responsibility. It is also true that some regions may be ill equipped to deal with disasters, even local ones, if they are extreme enough, and it is our duty to assist our fellow citizens. 

This final idea was embraced, and we finalized our division between the regions and the nation. I consider this list well thought out and well constructed. It should provide proper balance, and ensure that each level of government is directed toward issues that it is best equipped to handle.

From the Office of Chancellor Pepe, Acting Head of Civil Service

Day 7 - Morning - Division of Powers between Regions and the Nation

Oliphaunt complained about militias attacking nobles, as he did in the very first meeting, and demanded regions take a stronger role in regulating them and suppressing rogue militias. We accepted his proposal, but the room is beginning to lose patience with his complaints. I try to maintain my professionalism, but he is testing even my restraint.

A major point of dispute was over economic powers. Mira was in favor of a very strong economic authority in the central government, to create consistent laws for businesses to follow. However she tried to backtrack when it was pointed out that this power could be used to regulate labor. I insisted on consistency, and agreed that a strong economic authority would allow for labor regulation.

Robert had much broader concerns about the economic powers, his general fear of centralized authority rearing its head again. I must remark that Emilia showed surprising insight in observing that a unified system of contract law and property rights would be easier to teach to the masses than 5 different regional ones, and actually persuaded Robert to change his mind on that one. If only she was willing to give me as much credit as I give her.

My old professor also stepped in to reassure Robert, by mentioning several other powers that could be handled regionally. He also came up with a clever clause to deal with unspecified powers, which largely left it to the courts to decide if certain issues were of national concern or not. Despite some minor misgivings, Crysta managed to get the group to accept this block of powers as a reasonable compromise. She also added a power for the national government to handle emergency relief, showing her concern for the plight of disaster victims.

Result - Consensus reached on regional/national power split.

National Powers: Defense (including wartime militia command), contract law, property rights, labor regulation, broad economic power, major crime legislation, disaster/emergency relief, plus unspecified matters of “clear national concern” (court-defined).

Regional Powers: Welfare, education, infrastructure, petty crime legislation, militia regulation and command(peacetime), plus unspecified powers not deemed nationally critical. May delegate these powers to local governments.

Shared Enforcement: Criminal law enforcement mostly regional/local, national government can deal with pirates and criminal organizations crossing regional lines.