by Aldus Marius on Mon Aug 13, 2007 8:00 am
Salvete magistri! (that's everybody here, O Wise Ones)
I'll take the second question first; here's from our Regula Fundamentalis, Article IV: Officers...
a. The Comitia may elect officers to act on its behalf to administer the Societas, its website and the fora of the Societas. The individual titles of the officers and their individual duties shall be established by the Comitia.
. . .
g. The officers are authorized to establish administrative procedures to be used in the Societas and its Comitia, propose policies for the Societas, manage relations with persons and entities outside the Societas, and grant honorary titles to any sodalis and/or awards of recognition to its members or others. At the initiative of any sodalis, such decisions of the officers may be subject to approval or rejection by a vote of the Comitia.
It's like I've been saying: We have no real rules, no set procedures for much of anything. The Regula leaves the details of any such to be hashed out by the Comitia and/or the "officers" themselves. By that light, we'd just have to decide whether to treat any ideas for financial policy as "officers' duties" (to be defined by the Comitia) or as "administrative procedures" (to be exercised autonomously or submitted to the Comitia for approval). So, no, I don't think we need to amend the Regula...as with all else, we would just flesh it out by rogatio or decree.
As to assigning/dividing this responsibility, I'm not sure what other proposals may be floating around out there. But my own rogatio, described in extreme brevity in Comitia-->Rogatio Servilia de Legati, would have only one of each magistrate. Does the single Consul for each year get stuck with the whole bill, then? Would he split it with the Censor or the Aedilis? How 'bout spreading it around that itty-bitty Senate? Just askin'.
But noster Timavus raises an extremely relevant concern here:
> My only concern is whether such a system might discourage poorer members of the Societas, e.g. our university students, from seeking high office.
Absolutely. Not just the students either; anybody on a limited or fixed income. Military reservists and veterans, maybe? We do have older folks here, and probably some working poor. If anyone had told me in 2005 how much I was going to spend on this job, I'd have blanched. It's not a huge amount just to look at it...but I've felt it, and I didn't even spring for the whole thing. Well, I'm in for the duration now...I don't see anyone stepping up to take my place. But it's going to be next year before I can think of doing it again.
In fide,
Aldus Marius Peregrinus.