Talk:President of the United Federation of Planets

From FEInfobase

Veep and other setup

According to this edit, Spock introduced the role of Vice President. Are we seriously saying there were no VPs before the war? What would have happened if the sitting Prez died? We'd just throw together a quadrant-sized election over the weekend to see who'd become the boss? What if the President was assassinated during a time of war? Who'd be calling the shots diplomatically and militarily? A committee? There's a reason you vote for one guy to lead the country. Even in the UK today where we don't really care about the line of succession, we've still got a position clearly defined as #2 in Deputy Prime Minister (He of the mistress, Prezza).

Also according to this edit, something something about the Senate. I thought we were doing away with it.

This page also claims that the President must oversee all sessions of the Council. These sessions being led by the Veep. So why is the President forced to sit in when a)#2's taking care of it and b)he could be planning wars for dilithium. Unless I'm mistaken, George Bush doesn't sit in on Congress for the most part, (which more and more it seems this is being based on), and Tony Blair doesn't usually sit in on Commons sessions unless it's PMQs or a hefty announcement like the Budget. It also seems to give a lot of the Speaker of the House's duties to the President, and breaks down his abilities to veto something. The Council sends him a Bill, he vetoes it, and then the Council overrides his veto.

The article says the Prez can't declare war without a unanimous agreement from the security council. Who's on that?

The article also says he can lead the proceedings in a legal setting involving politicians? What's to stop him inventing charges against political opponents, presiding over the trial and sending them to jail? This is not something that would be allowed in the original Federation Constitution and any attempt to alter the Constitution to such a degree would be jumped upon by the Press and then by the public. I mean this is Stalin-esque (or Palpatine if you prefer) stuff.

Finally, the article touches on something I've seen elsewhere and haven't been sure on. We know Spock was a Federation Ambassador and Jellico is stated as being the same before the Vice Presedency, but I've also seen other characters tagged as such. Federation Ambassadors are there to represent the Federation to non-member worlds and organisations. Other Ambassadors will be from non-member worlds or organisations representing those groups to the Federation. Chakotay is a good example; he was appointed to the Federation Council as an Ambassador. Well an ambassador for whom? The Federation doesn't need Federation Ambassadors to represent anyone to them - that's what Councillors are there for - and Fed Ambassadors should be out on other worlds.

The extra details presented in this article are an appreciated effort from my seat, but they have to make sense. - theChris 15:05, 29 April 2006 (EDT)