Key Words

The following key words are found Italicized throughout the documentation and have the special meanings. These concepts are defined briefly in situ and here.

• Alternate
  • All Leadership Groups have a backup in case one official member should be removed. The Alternate serves for five years until the next Election Cycle when a new Alternate is picked.
• Ambassadors
• Appointed Personnel
• Aggregated Vote
  • This is a standard voting process to determine simple majority votes among a collection of leadership groups, where each group first votes and then that result equals one vote towards the final tally.

For example, if Group A votes (yes, no, yes) = YES, and Group B votes (yes, no, yes) = YES, and Group C votes (no, no, no) = NO, then the final vote is YES.

This method of tabulation is critical because if the total votes had been simply tabulated, it would have resulted in 4 votes for yes and 5 votes for no, with the final vote being NO, which is not accurate.

• Branch
  • The functional divisions of those specialized areas of expertise required for the functioning of a government, each lead by a group of three that have risen up from within the ranks of that Branch, and overtly guided by the Executive Group. Their singular purpose is to ensure that the citizens, now and into the future, are the primary beneficiaries when the government, businesses, citizens, and foreign interests operate and interact within their area of expertise.
• Branch Members
  • All Emancipated Citizens that work directly for a Branch. These do not include temporary or contract workers, probationary employees, or employees of contracted companies working with the Branch.
• Branch Elections
  • The elections that take place within a Branch to determine Department Heads and the Top Branch Officials.
• Branch Primary Election
  • The election within a Branch to select that Branch's candidate for the position of a new Executive Group member. Only Branch Members are permitted to vote in this election and it is held no less than one year prior to the General Election.
• Charging Department
  • In the unique situation where at least two Departments within a Branch are unhappy with the leadership of their Top Branch Officials, they may call for a No-Confidence Vote, in which those Departments heading up this effort are referred to Charging Departments.
• Citizens
  • Those people born or officially naturalized into the Liminal State.
• Contract Workers
  • Temporary workers that may be hired by the Liminal State for a specific period of time or to complete a specific project. These workers are not to be considered employees of the Liminal State, do not gain any additional voting rights, are not restricted in outside income (unless contractually stipulated), and do not necessarily get paid above-average wages.
• Contracted Companies
  • Any business or company that works with the Liminal State through a contract and are not to be considered a part of the Liminal State, nor are their employees to be considered employees of the Liminal State.
• Decision Basis
  • Every member of a Leadership Group is required to provide a detailed analysis of their reasoning behind their vote. This information is used to ensure voting diligence, for public consumption and judgement, and for posterity.
• Decision Votes
• Delegate Team
• Delegate Vote Method
  • In Lateral Branch votes, the Delegate Teams from each associated Intrinsic Branch and the Top Branch Officials of that Lateral Branch all vote using the Aggregate Vote Method.
• Demonstrable Cause
• Departments
• Department Head
  • One of the three leaders of a Department, each serves a 15 year term, staggered every five years.
• Direct Hires
• Elected Personnel
• Election Cycle
  • The five year period between elections. Leadership Teams are elected on a five year cycle, and within five years all the different Leadership Teams will have had the senior member depart, a new junior member join, and a new Alternate selected. The Election Cycle of of each Leadership Team also happens in different years, allowing for natural upper movement of the best.
• Eligible Voters
  • This is the group of people within the Liminal State that have the right to vote. In the case where the Liminal State uses the Empathy Test, Eligible Voters only include those that have passed the Empathy Test.
  • Most elections within a Branch allow all Branch personnel to vote, whether they have passed the Empathy Test or not. But if a Branch election explicitly specifies Eligible Voters, that means that that election is restricted to only those personnel within that Branch that have passed the Empathy Test.
• Emancipated Citizens
  • Emancipated Citizens are the group that we would currently call adults, and they would have all the rights and freedoms afforded adults, including complete bodily autonomy. Instead of an arbitrary age used to define an adult, Citizens of the Liminal State would take a test when they are ready to demonstrate their ability to make adult decisions and handle adult responsibilities.
• Embassy
• Embassy Unit
• Empathy Test
  • The test that Emancipated Citizens can take every five years, which allows the top 80% most empathetic the privilege of voting.
• Employable Citizens
  • This group of people includes all who have become Emancipated Citizens or have passed an Employment Screening.
• Employment Screening
  • A specialized test that anyone who has yet to become an Emancipated Citizen can take to be allowed to work. This screening wouldn't test job-related skills, but rather ensures the individual is capable of performing the eventual tasks required and meet other minimum conditions. This group would mostly include young adults, the mentally disabled, and Temporary Citizens.
• Enforcement Agency
  • A specialized Department that every Intrinsic Branch and some Lateral Branches have to investigate and enforce the laws and regulations pertaining to the expertise of that Branch.
• Executive Group
  • A five-member group that directs the Liminal State as a whole, elected into their positions by the Voters for staggered 25 year terms, which all have demonstrable expertise and leadership abilities within the Liminal State.
• General Elections
• Global Justice Branch Vote
  • The Justice Branch is special in that all Eligible Voters that work within the Justice Branch vote on the big decisions facing the Liminal State.
  • This takes the power away from the few at the top, like it is with the US Supreme Court now, and gives it to all the experts within that branch. This would be the equivalent of having all decisions facing the Supreme Court being decided by every adult working within the Judiciary Branch.
• Government Personnel
  • Those individuals that work directly within the Liminal State, and in any capacity, from janitors through the Executive Group.
  • Excluded from this classification are Temporary Hires, Contract Workers, and the employees of the Contracted Companies.
  • These Government Personnel are paid a premium to attract the very best and because they must sacrifice additional sources of income during their employ. Those that work within a Branch also have additional voting privileges.
• Impromptu Branch Vote
• Independent Branch
  • A Branch that works independently of oversight and direction from the Executive Group so as to not be influenced by politics.
• Independent Departments
  • A Department within a Branch that works independently of oversight and direction from the Top Branch Officials so as to not be influenced by politics.
• Independent Investigation
  • An investigational body spawned by an Enforcement Agency that operates independently of oversight and direction from that Enforcement Agency or it's Branch so as to not be influenced by politics.
• Informed Vote Archive
  • These are specific, encrypted online archives, only accessible by those with the specific right to vote on a decision, that contains all the requisite information necessary to make an informed decision. Regularly used by the Executive Group, Top Branch Officials, Department Heads, etc., but even used by the general voting population when it comes to General Elections and for decisions on new laws.
• Intrinsic Branch
  • One of the two basic Branch types within the Liminal State, specializing in one fundamental aspect of governance among all those required for a functional government. The Liminal State proposes 13 Intrinsic Branches, but the needs of state may require others or fewer.
• Justice Branch
  • A specialized Intrinsic Branch that operates Independently of Executive Group direction and is the final word on the legality of proposed directions, laws, and regulations. This is a critical and required Branch in the Liminal State.
• Judicial Branch Screening
• Lateral Branch
  • One of the two basic Branch types within the Liminal State, and which work in the area directly between the expertise of two Intrinsic Branches.
• Lateral Branch Delegates
  • Two Intrinsic Branches with a Lateral Branch between each send three delegates to that Lateral Branch to represent their expertise in those decisions to be decided by the Lateral Branch.
• Leadership Group
  • This is a general term for the top level leadership teams of Branches, Delegates, Departments, Embassies, and the Executive Group. These teams are comprised of three or five members.
• Non-Emancipated Citizens
• Non-Probationary Hires
• Official Removal Process
• Permanent Department
• Permanent Hires
• Probationary Employees
• Professional Objection
  • Whenever anyone
• Proportional-Rank Choice Voting
  • In this system, also referred to as Single Transferable Vote (STV), a person casts a single vote in the form of a ranked ballot, where candidates are optionally ordered from highest priority to lowest. At the conclusion of the initial count, the candidate with the fewest votes is eliminated and all those that voted for this person are then have their vote reassigned to the next candidate on their list. Any additional votes received by a candidate that reaches the electoral quota are also reassigned to that voter's next candidate, meaning that no votes are wasted. This mechanism is repeated over and over internally until the candidates are ranked in the only fair and logical way.
• Proposed Department No-Confidence Vote
• Record
  • Outside of a vote there are times when Liminal State personnel must provide justifications or supporting factors and documentation concerning a decision that should be entered into the official record for review and posterity. The action of inputting this information into the Liminal State official database is to Record, and that information then becomes a Record.
• Removal Paths
  • Any one of the various ways that elected officials can be removed from their seats.
• Restitution
• Sentient Life/Being
  • All self-aware and intelligent individuals that extol empathy, patience, wisdom, and non-violence. This currently only includes humans, but in the future may include self-aware general A.I, other intelligent life to arise on Earth, or life created or arising not of Earth. For simplicity, this documentation will use the term "people" when referring to Sentient Life.
• Special Projects
• Standing
  • This refers to those with with a direct and demonstrable interest in the issue.
• Temporary Citizenship
  • All people wishing for amnesty or naturalization into the Liminal State are first considered Temporary Citizens upon initial approval. This status lasts for a period of three years, at which point they become regular Citizens. This temporary status is used to ensure all new potential citizens are willing and able to accumulate into the Liminal State and be productive participants of society.
• Temporary Department
• Temporary Hires
• Top Branch Officials
  • Every Branch, whether Intrinsic or Lateral, is headed up by the three Top Branch Officials, each who serve staggered 15 year terms. They guide their Branch using a majority vote among the three, and these officials are elected into their positions by the Branch Members themselves.
• No-Confidence Vote
• Unlawful Orders or Requests
• Voters
  • Voters are the Emancipated Citizens with the ability to vote in general. The preferred mechanism used by the Liminal State is to allow the most empathetic the privilege of voting. They gain this extra right by being in top 80% after taking the Empathy Test.
• Year 0 Rules

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