14. On Legislation:Citizens Should Retain Legislative Power

Whoever holds legislative power is the master of the state. Since citizens are the masters of a democratic nation, legislative power in a democracy naturally belongs to the citizens. As for how citizens exercise this power, the prevailing practice worldwide is representative government. Citizens first elect legislators, who then enact laws on behalf of the people. While this system aligns with the logic of citizen participation in lawmaking, it can only be considered complete if every citizen has an equal opportunity to become a legislator. Clearly, most democratic nations have yet to achieve this standard even today.
Moreover, even if the representative system were perfected, it still harbors a significant flaw: controlling a majority of legislators effectively seizes legislative power, thereby stripping citizens of their legislative authority. To resolve this, citizens must retain the power to legislate. If representatives can enact laws on behalf of citizens, why can't citizens directly create laws themselves? Only by retaining legislative power can citizens truly be the masters of the nation.
When citizens retain the power to enact laws themselves, beyond merely authorizing representatives to do so, it not only prevents interest groups from manipulating the legislative process but also fulfills the ideal of equal opportunity for all to become representatives.
Citizens' legislative power encompasses veto power, amendment power, repeal power, and creation power. Veto power means citizens can veto newly enacted laws by parliament, preventing them from taking effect. Amendment power means citizens can modify existing, effective laws. The power to repeal means citizens can abolish existing laws. The power to create means citizens can establish new laws.
How are citizens' legislative powers exercised? The specific steps are as follows:
Step 1: Initiate a legislative proposal.
Any citizen has the right to initiate a legislative proposal through the political participation platform to veto, amend, repeal, or create laws.
Step 2: Secure citizen support.
The citizen initiating the legislative proposal has the right to seek responses and support from other citizens to meet the required threshold for parliamentary deliberation of the proposal.
Step 3: Obtain a deliberation vote.
When the number of citizens supporting the legislative proposal reaches the statutory threshold, the parliament must convene to deliberate on the proposal and ultimately vote on it. If the parliament does not pass the legislative proposal, the citizen-initiated legislation fails.
Step 4: Presidential Approval
After the parliament votes to pass the bill, the president has the authority to decide whether to sign it into law. If the president approves, the citizen-initiated legislation is successfully enacted. If the president refuses approval, the citizen-initiated legislation fails.
Step 5: Re-proposal Restrictions
Regardless of whether the legislative proposal is rejected by the parliament or not approved by the president, once the bill fails to pass, it cannot be re-proposed for a specified period. After this period expires, the bill may be re-proposed.
Through this process, citizens retain their legislative authority while pooling collective wisdom to enact laws better aligned with societal needs. In democratic nations, every citizen holds both rights and responsibilities. Exercising legislative power is a vital manifestation of social accountability.



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