[Tagging] tagging for an office of the local representative to parliament

[Paul Allen]

On Sat, Nov 3, 2018 at 3:29 AM Allan Mustard <allan at mustard.net> wrote:

> Hmmm.  Reaching back to my bachelor's degree in political science,
> Parliament is also a government body, the legislative branch of the
> government, so even a member of the opposition is part of "government" in
> its broadest sense.  I would tag it office=government,
> government=parliamentarian or something similar.  Executive, legislative,
> judicial are all "government".
>
There's a can of annelids here, just waiting to be opened.

Over here in the UK, I have an MP (Member of Parliament) representing me in
the UK national
government.  There's also the House of Lords (upper chamber), some members
of which might
have unofficial offices outside of parliament buildings where they can be
contacted, but a quick
search shows no evidence of such.  Since I live in Wales, I also have an AM
(Assembly Member)
of the National Assembly of Wales.  And, for a few more months, I have an
MEP (Member of the
European Parliament).  Scotland and Northern Ireland have devolved
governments like Wales
(but different names for their assemblies and members) but England does not
(don't get me
started on the West Lothian question).

Other member countries of the European Union will have MEPs in addition to
representatives of
their own national governments and some may have (like the UK) devolved
assemblies in
addition.  The US has state and federal government.  Oh, and don't forget
that technically, the US
has three branches of government so we have to decide if we absorb the
judiciary into this
(does our definition of government differ from that of the US Constitution).

It's going to take some careful thought, and many postings here, to come up
with a scheme
with sensible terminology that works for all those situations.  It's going
to make the difference
between a consulate and an embassy seem like a walk in the park.

Do we really want to open this can?  Doesn't matter, somebody will anyway.

-- 
Paul
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