Central Royalist Union Manifesto Introduction The Central Royalist Union is a political party. The Central Royalist Union, referred to as the CRU henceforth, was formed on 10 January, 2018 on the Identity RPG Forum by the current Party Secretary, Kenneth Summers. As a political party, the CRU wishes to form government at the island of Identity. The CRU is not a single-member party. This document consists mainly of the Manifesto of the Central Royalist Union. The following is a list of ideologies and philosophies upheld by the CRU. Kindly do not assume that they are in an order of significance. Equity and Egalitarianism: The dignity of every individual is respected, and each person deserves fair treatment in an equitable society. Thus, the CRU adopts and enforces a set of rights to maintain equality. This adoption of rights is explained in the next section of the document. Royalism: Our vision must not be confused with. We believe that monarchist is not the correct way of describing the CRU. Identity's Government mechanism necessitates timely elections that bring change. In that sense, Identity shall remain a democracy as the people will always retain the right to choose their leader. It must be understood that CRU does not wish to establish a monarchy. The CRU wishes to contest for the position of Governor and establish a Royalty that works along with the Government as a formal head of State and a symbol of absolute power, yet being strictly subject to the law. Thus, the CRU is a 'Royalist’ party that supports the idea of a Royalty that yields no effective powers, but remains a popular symbol, of power, nobility and divinity, and part of the Government. The functioning of the proposed government is dealt with in later sections of the document. Classical Marxism: The political ideals of Karl Marx are respected by the CRU. Greed and material desires will find their way into every society, and the island of Identity will be no exception. We fear that a proletariat mass will indeed exist in the form of industrialists and corporate giants that might exploit the economically weak, deprive them of their rights and dignity. One can easily foresee the situation where oppression of the working class is commonplace on our island, where people with less economic advantages are forced through hardships and paid insufficiently by their employers; a situation that will prove destructive to the welfare of a free society. We want to make sure that Identity forever remains a place where each individual gets the opportunity to prosper, free of any suppression by any upper class. The CRU may not endorse all of Marx's visions, but we believe in his idea of an oppression-less society where no class oppresses another. In summary, the CRU is comprehensively Liberal, uniquely Royalist and partly Marxist, as far as political philosophies are concerned. Rights of the People A government formed by the CRU will promise to guarantee the following rights to the citizens. The rights also form the basis of all policies of the CRU. (The following articles have been selectively adapted from the Universal Declaration of Human Rights proclaimed by the United Nation Organisation and edited according to the limitations of Identity RPG. There are a total of 21 rights recognised by the CRU.) Article 2: Everyone is entitled to all the rights and freedom set forth without distinction of any kind, such as race, colour, sex, language, religion, political or other opinion, national or social origin, or other status. Article 3: Everyone has the right to liberty and security of person. Article 5: No one shall be subjected to degrading treatment or punishment. Article 6: Everyone has the right to recognition as a person before the law. Article 7: All are equal before the law and are entitled without any discrimination to equal protection of the law. All are entitled to equal protection against any discrimination in violation and against any incitement to such discrimination. Article 9: No one shall be subjected to arbitrary arrest or detention. Article 10: Everyone is entitled in full equality to a fair and public hearing by an independent and impartial tribunal, in the determination of his rights and obligations and of any criminal charge against him. Article 11: 1. Everyone charged with a penal offence has the right to be presumed innocent until proven guilty according to law in a public trial at which he has had all the guarantees necessary for his defence. 2. No one shall be held guilty of any penal offence on account of any act or emission which did not constitute a penal offence at the time when it was committed. Nor shall a heavier penalty be imposed than the one that was applicable at the time the penal offence was committed. Article 12: No one shall be subjected to arbitrary interference with his privacy, family or home, nor to attacks upon his honour and reputation. Everyone has the right to protection of the law against such interference or attacks. Article 17: 1. Everyone has the right to own property alone as well as in association with others. 2. No one shall be arbitrarily deprived of his property. Articles 18 & 19: 1. Everyone has the right to freedom of thought and religion. 2. Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression. Article 20: 1. Everyone has the right to freedom of peaceful assembly and association. 2. No one may be compelled to belong to an association. Article 21: 1. Everyone has the right to take part in the government, directly or through chosen representatives. 2. Everyone is the right to equal access to public service. 3. The will of the people shall be the basis of the authority of government; this will shall be expressed in periodic and genuine elections which shall be held by equivalent free voting procedures. Article 22: Everyone, as a member of society, has the right to social security and is entitled to realisation of the economic, social and cultural rights indispensable for his dignity. Article 23: 1. Everyone has the right to work, to free choice of employment, to just and favourable conditions of work and to protection against unemployment. 2. Everyone, without any discrimination, has the right to equal pay for equal work. 3. Everyone who works has the right to just and favourable remuneration ensuring for himself and his family an existence worthy of human dignity, and supplemented, if necessary, by other means of social protection. 4. Everyone has the right to form and to join trade unions for the protection of his interests. Article 24: Everyone has the right to rest and leisure, including reasonable limitation of working hours and periodic holidays with pay. Article 25: Everyone has the right to a standard of living adequate for the health and well-being of himself and of his family, including food, clothing, housing and medical care and necessary social services and the right to security in the event of unemployment or other lack of livelihood in circumstances beyond his control. Article 27: 1. Everyone has the right freely to participate in the cultural life of the community, to enjoy the arts and to share in scientific advancement and its benefits. 2. Everyone had the right to the protection of moral and material interests resulting from any scientific, literary or artistic production of which he is the author. Article 28: Everyone is entitled to a social order in which the rights and freedoms set forth here can be fully realized. Article 29: 1. Everyone has duties to the community. 2. In the exercise of his rights and freedoms, everyone shall be subject only to such limitations as are determined by law solely for the purpose of securing due recognition and resurrect for the rights and freedoms of others and of meeting the just requirements of morality, public order and the general welfare. Article 30: Nothing here may be interpreted as implying for any group or person any right to engage in any activity or to perform any act aimed at the destruction of any of the rights and freedoms set forth herein. Basic Laws and Policies This section consists of the official policies and the formal laws the CRU will potentially bring into effect. According to the Central Royalist Union, there is distinction between laws and right only in a real society, since fundamentally rights are the regulations people deserve and laws are the regulations they get. In an ideal society, the rights are the laws in themselves. Most of the our basic laws are outlined in the section dedicated to the Rights. Yet there are a few things that require attention since they are more important to the Manifesto. (Please note that the following prospective laws are exclusively subject to change, especially once the mechanics for politics become solid, which is also a reason why these regulations are not written in the form of Rights.) Drug Use Laws: The CRU believe that use of drugs that are highly addictive and have high potential for abuse should be prohibited. The rest of the reasoning will preferentially be kept a secret. The CRU will make the following statement only. Use of Schedule I drugs^ (as described by Controlled Substances Act enacted by U.S. Congress) is prohibited. ^ Includes marijuana Tax Laws: To maintain financial equity, the CRU wishes to use tax brackets to be levied on different income classes. Taxes will be low for the working class and high for the wealthy. Additionally, we believe in levying a Corporate Tax on most corporations operating on the Island. Corporations that hold a royal status certificate granted by the Royal Government will be the only ones which will be exempted from the Corporate Tax. Same rules apply for Business Tax. A low Sales Tax will be levied as well. The CRU will make the following statements only. All citizens will pay 10% of their income as Income Tax. 5% will be deducted from all sales that are carried out as Sales Tax. Arms Laws: Possession of fixed-term licensed firearms by civilians will be considered legal by the Government. The possession of the following firearms by civilians will be generally prohibited. Fully-automatic or semi-automatic weapons, rockets, mortars, firearms disguised as another item and any weapon designed for the discharge of noxious substance. For now, the CRU will not make a statement. Laws on Emergency Services: Articles 22 & 25 form the basis of our Healthcare Laws. In addition to that, we believe that emergency medical services should be rendered free of cost, along with other emergency services. The CRU will make the following statement only. All emergency services are free of any cost. Government Structure This section of the agenda deals with the CRU's idea of a government and its structure. The Government will consist of six different offices and roles, one of which will not hold any direct administrative power. They are discussed in detail. Please note that with the exception of the position of Governor, all offices and roles will be unofficial, but absolutely formal. All the Offices command respect since they will be a part of the government and will be treated just as respectfully as the Governor, though they may not be officially a part of government. Governor: The Governor acts as the head of the government and executive. He has the following roles. Signing or vetoing regulations proposed by the Secretariat, which consists of three Secretaries and the Auditor General. Convening sessions of the Secretariat. Delivering a regular report on the condition of the state to the citizens. Granting reprieves and pardons upon the recommendation of the Secretary for Justice and revoking conditional pardons. Extending formal invitations to representatives to form the Secretariat and to fill vacancies. Secretary for Financial Affairs: The Secretary for Financial Affairs oversees formulation of policy and implementation of financial, monetary, and economic matter. He has the following roles. Preparing the government's fiscal budget for approval by Secretariat Attending Secretariat sessions Laying the government's estimates of revenue and expenditure before the Secretariat in a report Acting as the government's treasurer and managing the government's financial assets Managing debt and coordinating financial activities for the other Secretaries Receiving, securing and accounting for all disbursements of public funds Overseeing legislation pertaining to the Corporate, Business and Public Finance sector Providing advice to Governor on economic and financial matters Secretary for Home Affairs: The Secretary for Home Affairs is responsible for the internal security and welfare policy. The Secretary also has authority over the Armed Police Forces. He has the following roles. Preserving, maintaining and enhancing security and public order against any threat and combating insurgency Attending Secretariat sessions Coordinating development activities such as industries, agriculture, fisheries, health, social welfare, urban and rural development and transport Enforcing regulations pertaining to possession of firearms Making efforts to stop the supply, distribution and abuse of drugs Managing and modernizing Armed Police Cadres and overseeing their operations Maintaining relations between municipal administration and the State Managing prisons and reformatories Overseeing protocol functions Supervising of provision and swift functioning of all emergency services Secretary for Media & Justice: The Secretary for Media & Justice has two major functions. He has overall responsibility for strategy and policy across matters of culture and media and the organisation of the justice and legal system. He has the following roles. Curating the arts, music and culture and the respective creative industries and managing libraries, museums and galleries Overseeing of Radio or Television broadcasting services Attending Secretariat sessions Protecting creative rights of publishers and handling entertainment licensing Overseeing gambling services Maintaining and regulating press freedom and news publishing outlets Constituting and organising the court system Advising on appointment of court judges Collecting data on institution, disposal, pendency of cases in courts and monitoring the status of under trial prisoners Proposing various schemes to the Secretariat to facilitate development and modernization of infrastructure for judiciary Dealing with matters like grants of pardons and remissions Kindly note that the roles of the three Secretaries are mostly advisory and legislative. Their principal function is to provide as a means of division of power and the sharing of responsibilities. Actual power lies in the hands of the Governor and only he can make the final decisions by choosing to act on the proposals introduced in the Secretariat or not. Secretariat Ombudsman: The Secretariat Ombudsman has the duty to investigate complaints and attempt to resolve them through recommendations or mediation. He has the following roles. Receiving, investigating and resolving complaints about the administrative decision making and practices of the Royal Government Improving public administration for the benefit of all citizens through own motion investigations and liaison programs with the Secretariat Investigating cases of corruption, negligence, inefficiency and misbehaviour not only against the government officers but also against judges of the courts The King and the Royal Family: The King, once the CRU forms government, will become the unofficial but formal Head of State. As Head of State, he and the Royal Family will serve as a symbol of absolute power for the Government. Among the filth of temporal politics, the Royalty will be a divine example of nobility to the common people. The Royalty will act as a model to strive towards, so that people can rise from their daily lives. With its sacred nature it will set itself apart from the other governments. Along with symbolic purposes, the King and other members of the Royal Family will also have the duty of making regular speeches to the citizens and being a part of various public events and ceremonies. The Royalty will have little to no effective governmental authority. The King has the right to be a part of and only observe Secretariat sessions. In an event where the three Secretaries have declared no confidence in the Governor, the Monarch may take a special role of resolving issues of the Secretariat or publicly declaring his own no-confidence as a Head of State. If the CRU loses elections, the Royalty will exist as a normal family. They will still be considered a Royal family, but they will not act as Head of State. A brief note on the functioning of the Royal Government. The Invitation process: In accordance to procedures, the CRU will propose its gubernatorial candidate. On the election of our candidate, the Invitation process will begin. The Governor will choose any four individuals and invite them to take the roles of Secretaries and form the Secretariat with him. The invited individuals will usually be the four politicians who secured consecutively less number of votes than the CRU, but the Governor has the right to invite anyone. He may choose to invite persons from the CRU itself to take the roles, or invite different politicians from different parties. The invited individual definitely reserves the right to reject, and the Governor may look for an alternative in that case. In this way, the people indirectly elect the Secretaries. Once the Secretariat is completely formed, the Royalty will be (re)instated to power. The Governor will convene regular sessions of the Secretariat and each member will perform their respective roles. The Confidence motion: In a Confidence motion, the government is divided into five. A vote is carried out among the Secretariat Ombudsman, the Finance Secretary, Home Secretary, Justice Secretary and the Royal Monarch. Each individual has one vote. If 3 out of 5 votes or more state no confidence, then the Governor will be considered no longer deemed fit to hold his position, either because he is inadequate in some respect, is failing to carry out obligations, or is making decisions that the citizens and/or Secretariat feel detrimental. In this case, a public statement will be made to the citizens. The Secretaries will resign and the Secretariat will be dissolved. The Monarch may or may not choose to resign and/or abdicate as Head of State. The Governor will continue to stay in power without the support of the rest of the government until the next elections or early election are held. Conclusion The Central Royalist Union promises one of the most comprehensive and extensively planned system of government. A truly democratic government, and a government truly sacred and ideal. As Identity RPG is set to become a very immersive and highly interactive MMORPG, there is a need for an in-game entity that enforces rights and obligations that each citizen abides to. The CRU's Royal Government is not about a single powerful Governor. The Governor's power is shared by mostly directly elected representatives of the citizens and is an institution in its whole. The CRU's Secretariat acts as a miniature multi-party parliament which can make the law-making sensible. This government structure is one of the main and unique features of the Central Royalist Union, along with the idea of establishment of a Royalty. To build this Identity, the Central Royalist Union and its members, seek your vote so that our vision comes to life. Let’s embrace this dream of creating an ideal and noble society. An Identity that is free, fair and dynamic. An Identity that protects the rule of law. An Identity that promises of a strong, righteous society An Identity that protects its citizens against threats like terrorism and organised crime. An Identity that defends businesses. An Identity where everyone can succeed. The CRU's Identity!