I have a few ideas that I hope will revitalize the government we use in this new demogame.
First of all, land = votes. For every tile one person owns, he gets one vote in the monthly national election. This represents the landowner's ability to influence the peasents that works his lands.
Of course, if you owned no land you would (for fairness sake, and to make things interesting - see below) get one vote. If you had pledged your allegience to another lord, you would be expected to vote the same way he does.
My hope is that that the above will revitalize political parties. I can see a few people with lots of land uniting, and a larger group of small landowners working together.
Second, financial incentive for elected office. Call it a salary. This would encourage peope to run for office in the first place.
Third, a parliament, or something to that effect.
The 'House of Commons' consists of everybody, something like the NewCon's Senate. They vote on all game matters, and on the creation/amendment of rules.
The 'House of Lords' is a more exclusive body. Let's say our civ has x number of tiles. For every y tiles (where y is a fixed number), rounded down, there is one member of the House of Lords. Of course, y is a fairly high number, say 50 . To become a member of the House of Lords, you need to have y tiles. Of course, since y is a larger number, it would be difficult for one person to have that many tiles. You can either own the fifty tiles,
or have a group of people who have y tiles between them. Once chosen, you will remain a Lord, no elections. However, if you displease those people backing you, or somehow end up with less than y tiles, you lose your spot in the House. The Lords only vote on matters involving creating/amending new laws.
The House of Lord would be another encourager of political parties. To become a Lord, you would probably have to gather a group of people to use their tiles, along with yours, to back you.
Another key: both houses create the laws. They could create laws to discourage other political parties, thus making the political arena just a bit more interesting.
Lastly, one more position, something like a God. To keep people on their feet, this neutral God could come in at random points and screw around.
For example, the God could come in and, through some twist of fate, say, kill/discredit/incite revolts against a major landowner. This landowner loses everything he owns. He was a member of the House of Lords, which gives someone a chance to take the spot. He loses his office, forcing a special election, etc.
Any thoughts on this odd rant caused by a lack of doughnuts?
