Talk:President of the United Federation of Planets
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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)
Some Answers
Ok first thing first – if the President resigns, is murdered, dies, (whatever) the Federation Council would elect a President Pro Tempore who stands in as the president of the UFP until a new one is elected in to office. This was how it was done before the War.
Vice President
Now in canon we’ve never actually seen a Vice President of the United Federation of Planets. Even after reading Articles of the Federation there is no mention of a Vice President or a running mate when Bacco runs for president which I can understand as the Federation Council is seen as the “true� governing body of the Federation. All decisions have to be passed by the Council.
So introducing a Vice President would be a logical action to take – Federation is involved in a massive conflict, millions of new people are joining the Federation so a senate is assembled to house them all and give them a voice in the governing of the Federation – so the Vice President to a certain degree runs the Senate, while the President oversees all Federation Council sessions. It also brings in how manipulative Jellico has got because he’s “dissatisfied with the state of affairs on Earth and the massive alien presence in Sol.� He got Spock to introduce the role to give him more political power. The whole idea is that Spock as President dealt with external matters (i.e. the Borg War) while Jellico had control of the internal matters (the senate, etc). With the Vice President also now introduced it means that if Spock went off world or was injured then Jellico (or whoever is Vice President) would take over.
Senate
The Senate is being removed – Dan and I are working on it and that’s why I’ve been working on this article, touching it up so it works alongside the story of removing the Senate.
Presiding President
Why does the President oversee the all Council sessions – simple because this isn’t entirely 100% based on the House of Commons or Congress. The Council as I’ve said is the government of the Federation. The President yes is the leader, and does have final say on a lot of issues regarding the running of the Federation but any major changes or new laws, policies, etc must be ran by the Council first and agreed by them (so in some way similar to the House of Commons or Congress but not entirely). The President in some ways when overseeing Council Session can be seen as the “Speaker of the House� – as the president decides and chooses on which councillor can make their voice be heard on the “speaker’s floor�. The president literally leads the session.
Security Council
The Security Council would be similar to the United Nations Security Council – the founding members of the Federation would have a permanent sit on the council (Earth, Vulcan, Andoria, Tellar, Alpha Centauri) with eight other elected member states sitting in on the council. All of whom are councillors on the Federation Council.
Legal Involvement
The President can lead the proceedings in a legal setting – now remember this happened in Star Trek IV with Kirk and the gang all brought up on charges of stealing the NCC-1701, destroying the NCC-1701 and then saving Earth from that whale probe thingy. Those proceedings were lead by the Federation President in the Council chambers. What's to stop him inventing charges against political opponents, presiding over the trial and sending them to jail? Well the Federation Constitution and Federation law wouldn’t allow the president to invent charges against a political opponent without evidence, and a fair trial. Also if the Federation President was pressing the charges then they would sit in as the prosecute – also the president wouldn’t be the only person presiding over a proceeding. The Federation Judiciary Council is the highest legal authority in the Federation so in any proceeding the president sit in on you wouldn’t just have them, but the members of the Judiciary council as well as a number of assistant judges and legal advisors.
Does that help clear up some things? I will include these in the next time I edit the article if it helps. - MJ