I don't know who this "we" is.
Spoilers Star Trek: Discovery 3x02 - "Far From Home"
- Thread starter Commander Richard
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Sahil is more familiar with this time period but Burnham has the vision. So it would make sense for Burnham to run for President but if the UFP is anything like the USA, then it requires that you live in the nation for the past 14 years. Which Burnham hasn't done. So I guess technically, Burnham shouldn't even be running for VP. And she's not biologically 35 yet, even though she's chronologically over 900. But this all just a fun thing.
For the record: I voted for Hillary Clinton in 2016 and have an "I'm Still With Her" T-shirt that I bought after she lost.
Burnham 3202 I'm all for.
To @PiotrB: I assume a Presidency because ST6 and DS9. Vice-presidency seems a logical extrapolation.
I do not assume the existence of an Electoral College. Federation electoral logistics, even before the Burn, have to have their own challenges given the nation in question has a jurisdiction measured in tens of thousands of cubic lightyears/parsecs/whatever your preference as a UFP citizen is.
I do not assume the existence of an Electoral College. Federation electoral logistics, even before the Burn, have to have their own challenges given the nation in question has a jurisdiction measured in tens of thousands of cubic lightyears/parsecs/whatever your preference as a UFP citizen is.
Truth be told, many democracies today have a president one way or another (in Italy we have three!), but their powers can vary a lot...We know that the federation has a president and a council, can’t remember if any other political body is ever cited, but we don’t really know what powers do they have exactly.
As for a vice president being implicit, that is not necessarily so. In Italy there is a president of republic but no vicepresident.
The Federation Supreme Court was mentioned once https://memory-alpha.fandom.com/wiki/Federation_Supreme_Court
You assume that, as in the US, the Vice-President exists in the Federation and is such an important function that his or her name is on the electoral material. However, it is usually a typically clerical function if it exists at all. Also, if it is already elected by some form of parliament, although often the President simply appoints. Moreover, such a person or persons are not second in line. This is usually the role of the head of parliament.
Someone has to be next in line if the Federation President gets assimilated, beamed into space, or turned into a space lizard. Whether that person is called Vice President or Vice Chancellor or Assistant Prime Minister or Number 2 Person of the Fed doesn't matter, nor if s/he is a glorified coffee person or the Section 31 power behind the Presidency. The fact of the matter is there has to be someone who takes over if the Fed president is unexpectedly incapacitated or killed. In that sense, the position has to exist.
The Federation Council seemed to answer to the President directly, no head of Council was seen, in Star Trek 4.
Which probably means the council would name an interim president in the event of incapacitation.
Good to know, thanks!
Even the president is not elected directly in many current forms of democracies...In fact all this fuzz on the presidential office is a typically USA quirk.
for sure, but it’s not necessarily a position relevant in an election or in the political foreground.
good point. But of course why exactly the federation council was acting as some sort of tribunal for Kirk and co. in what’s supposedly strictly a Starfleet matter is a question up for taking. Perhaps it’s all because of the huge interplanetary importance genesis ended up having, especially after the incident with the Klingons.
Again, a very Americentric view. Not all presidents exercise enough immediate decision making power to require an immediate replacement on their death/incapacitation, and not all governments even today have such plans in place. When Boris Johnson had coronavirus and things looked touch and go, it was pointed out that there is no contingency in place in British law to fill his function. It doesn't necessarily follow that the Federation would have a succession chain because the US had one. Maybe it's like the Pope.
Exactly.
ie: a figurehead?
The Boris Johnson example seems to literally prove the Federation should and would have such a succession system in place. The Fed would fix the shortcomings of old Earth governments, not continue them.
I will concede that a succession plan isn't necessary if everyone just did things the Klingon way: https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/KlingonPromotion .
Hmm, that still doesn't cover diseases or other causes of incapacitation though.
Book: Our last president died of irumodic syndrome. Ever since we incorporated the Klingon way of life into the Federation, irumodic syndrome has been president of the Federation ever since.
Burnham: Wait, what?! :O
Governments don't automatically do things they "should" do. The Fed sometimes corrects things, and sometimes still gives in to bad habits. It's not an automatic that the Fed will be better in all cases.
Tone is a huge problem with how they're handling Georgeau. Putting aside if DSC should be "didactic" or use a "sledgehammer," she's quippy and clearly intended to be funny and "kewl" every time she's on screen, even when she's doing horrible things that the other characters (and the show itself, maybe?) disagree with. So it becomes, like, are we supposed to root for this shit or not?
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