Lumine & SJoyce - A New Course for Atlasia (Victory!)

[Lumine]

Another run for the White House!

September 15th, 2014:
Senator and PPT Lumine announced today his bid for the Presidency before a crowd of supporters and campaign team members in Salt Lake City, Utah.

My fellow Atlasians,

I come before you today to give one of the most important announcements in my career here in Atlasia. For a long time I have meditated about the state of nation and the future that may await us, and after much thinking I have finally made up my mind and taken a crucial decision. I come before you today to announce my candidacy for President in the October 2014 Election. It has been a year since my first run for the Presidency in October 2013, and many things have passed since then. I believe now is the right time to make a second bid, and I wish to ask for your support in this long road to the Presidency, as we have more than a month left until the election.

Of course, I will be the first to admit that I am not the perfect candidate, and I certainly have had my share of mistakes, defeats and controversial fights. Nonetheless, I remain convinced that every defeat and every event have taught me a valuable lesson, and for the couple of years I have been around this forum and Atlasia itself I have learned a lot and I have enjoyed many different experiences. Whether you agree or disagree with me, I am committed to this game and I want to work for it, because I really enjoy playing it. Today’s Atlasia is threatened by inactivity and other dangerous issues, and like in other moments it might seem some problems lack a real solution. But during its ten years of life Atlasia has prevailed before in times of controversy, and now more than I ever I believe we can continue to make progress and improve the game. A President and his Administration cannot solve all the problems, but they can make the difference. I believe we need a President who is willing to lead and fight for his agenda, an active President who is constantly in touch with the people, constantly being a part of the process. And shortcomings aside, I want to be that President.

As I was reviewing my old threads and my old speeches, I had the satisfaction of seeing my own evolution through the months. I have matured and many of my views have evolved, but deep down I am still the same young man who joined a game that he had come to admire and respect, a man with the same core views. Ever since my first race I have believed that Atlasia needs to strike a real balance of respect between the free market and government, that we need to strive for a greener country, and back on that first race I promised that I would try to seek a compromise with both sides of the aisle as long as it didn't mean betraying my core views, just as I promised to be active and to be independent in spirit. Events have passed and some views evolved, but those promises are still there. It has been a long road, and I want to take a moment to thank those who have made this possible, those people I have trusted and that I consider my friends. Mentors like Zuwo, Tmthforu and Maxwell, my colleagues from the Progressive Union, Flo, Superique, GAworth, Siren and PJ, close allies and friends like Cris, Riley, and so many others that I probably couldn’t name on a single speech. Some of them are not around here anymore, but I want to thank all them for their valuable friendship and for the lessons they have taught me.

We have many challenges ahead of ourselves, but we can succeed in finding reasonable and effective solutions to them. Yes, we can have a more effective and ambitious foreign policy, we can reform education and follow the legacy of Duke and Scott (to name a few), we can pursue a more environmental-friendly Atlasia, we can eliminate some of the more senseless regulations currently in place, we can amend the parts of our constitution that do not work anymore and thus achieve meaningful reform, we can go after urban renewal to solve many of the woes that thousands of people have to face every day, and I want to be a part of that effort. I plan to run for the nomination of the Federalist Party and be their standard bearer, but I want to work with the other parties and seek their support as well, so we can have a government who will take bold and effective actions while still having a broad consensus and base of support.

Certainly, I look forward to an active campaign and election, and I would like to think this will be the most fun election we have had on the forum since, perhaps, October 2013 (I don't think anyone can say that election was boring by any measure). I take my current job in the Senate quite seriously, but even if running a campaign and parts of the Senate at the same time can be very demanding (and will probably force me to abandon other minor ideas), I'm certainly up for the challenge. I plan to discuss the issues and release my platform during the month and a half left until the election, and of course I am always open for questions. And, of course, I have started to consider the potential running mates, which means that it won't be long before I reveal who will be the Vice-Presidential nominee in this ticket.

Thank you very much for your attention, and here we go!

Lumine.

_____________________________________________________________________________________________

PS: It's very hard to find pictures of Heseltine giving an speech, so please forgive for the curious parts of this one (like the British flag), I'll have to considering changing to another politician soon...

[Lumine]

The Campaign:

Index/Schedule:

September 15 - Announcement Speech
September 17 - The Role of the President and Campaign Theme
September 20 - VP Announcement
September 20 - VP Acceptance Speech
September 26 - Discussing Foreign Policy (Speech)
September 26 - Foreign Policy Platform
September 28 - Instant Government (Speech)
October 1 - Government Reform Platform
October 1 - Statement on the Terror Attacks
October 3 - Thursday Night Massacre (Speech)
October 8 - Back on the Campaign Trail
October 22 - Election Day Approaching

Endorsements:

-Federalist Party
-The People's Party
-Former IDS Emperor Dereich (Fed-SC)
-Former IDS Emperor PiT (Fed-LA)
-Mideast Senator Cassius (Fed-VA)
-Midwest Archduke Cris (Fed-CO)
-Northeast Assemblyman Rpryor03 (Fed-NJ)
-Former IDS Legislator Jack Enderman (Fed-FL)
-Former NE Governor and Presidential Candidate Winfield (Ind-RI)
-Former Senator and Governor Spamage (TPP-OR)
-GM and Former King in the North SirNick (TPP)
-Former SoEA and SoIA Superique (TPP-AK)
-Former SoEA and IDS Emperor SJoyce (TPP-NC)
-IDS Speaker Flo (TPP-MS)
-IDS Emperor and Former Governor and Senator Maxwell (DR-LA)

The Candidate:

Political Offices:

-One-term Mideast Assemblyman (March - May 2013)
-One-term Midwest Archduke (June - September 2013)
-One and a half-term Midwest Governor (September 2013 – February 2014)
-One and a half-term At-Large Senator (March 2014 - )
-President Pro Tempore of the Senate (September 2014 - )

Other Offices, Awards or Political/Media Roles:

-Chairman of the Institutional Caucus (June - July 2013)
-Spamage’s Vice Presidential running mate (September 2013)
-Presidential nominee of the Progressive Union (October 2013)
-Writer for the Record-Courier (December 2013 – February 2014)
-Shadow President for the Progressive Union (January-February 2014)
-Special Envoy to Ukraine (April 2014 – June 2014)
-Election and Political Tracker Director (May 2014 – August 2014)
-Silver Order of the Star of Atlasia (July 2014)

Political Parties:

-Independent (December 2012 – June 2013)
-Union of National Democrats (June-July 2013)
-Civic Union (July-August 2013)
-Progressive Union (August 2013 – March 2014)
-The People’s Party (March-May 2014)
-Federalist Party (May 2014 - )

[Lumine]

Well, thanks for the support and the good luck, gentlemen, I really appreciate it! Thanks to Flo the campaign now has a preliminary banner (to be updated once the running mate is revealed), so I will upload the picture to the second post.

You have my full and hearty endorsement, but that should've been obvious.

Endorsed wholeheartedly!

Lumine will make a great President. He's been a loyal friend and a great advocate for reason and sanity in Atlasia. You have my endorsement.

You'll be a wonderful president, Lumine. I'm happy to endorse you.

Obviously endorsed.

Thank you very much, my friends, I'm really glad to be able to count on your support!

Senator,

Good luck.

*not an endorsement*

Thanks, Mechaman!

You would and probably will undoubtedly be an awesome President and I won't and I don't know any other moderate Laborites who would want to run against you. You have my support for the time being, but I'll withhold an endorsement for now.

I really appreciate the support, Adam, I understand why an endorsement is not possible at the moment, but thanks!

I'm convinced that you will make a great president, we will surely miss you as a Senator, and I wish you the best of luck, but yet, you know, politics and such, I don't endorse you

Thank you, Cranberry, I think I will really miss the Senate as well, six months can leave a truly lasting impression!

[Lumine]

Endorsed whole-heartedly!

     Endorsed!

Endorsed!

Endorsed!

Endorsed!

Thank you for the endorsements, gentlemen, I really appreciate it!

Best of luck!

Best of luck for the campaign.

Thanks!

[Lumine]

You have my endorsement.

Am I late for the endorsement party?
endorsed

Thanks, I'm really grateful to count on your support!

You, sir, are a fascist.

Thanks for stopping by, Mr. President!

[Lumine]

The Role of the President and Campaign Theme:

September 17th, 2014:
Senator Lumine started his first tour of the regions, going to the Midwest and delivering a speech near the building site for the High Speed Rail in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

Good day, my fellow Atlasians:

First of all, I’d like to think all the support I've received so far in the days after my announcement, it has been truly encouraging! It does bring a bit of nostalgia from my first Senate run back in early 2014, and so far I am glad to see that there are people from all parties supporting this run. Running for President is no easy task, but it is invigorating, and I look forward to an extremely active race along with my fellow candidates. I would also like to publicly thank my campaign team for their valuable help and support: Cris, who has always been a good friend from the times in which I was Midwest Governor and whose advice and polling expertise has been invaluable; Flo, with whom I have shared a close friendship since the times of the Progressive Union no matter what: Riley, who has also been a good friend and a great supporter, even if right now he can't be as active as I know we would like to be; and, of course, Superique, my former running mate, who is currently helping with advice regarding the platform as a policy advisor. And I also want to thank all those whom I have asked for advice in the past days regarding a few key issues, the feedback I have received is truly invaluable.

I speak to you today from one of the building sites of the Midwest High Speed Rail, the achievement that I consider to be the proudest I had during my time in the Midwest. The High Speed Rail is a long term policy that will take a few years to come, but it's a living proof of what we can achieve in Atlasia with the right type of leadership: a long term plan that may prove decisive in the future, achieving lasting and positive results. Both as an executive and legislative officeholder I have often tried to follow that line on thinking, and it believe that long term planning is crucial as long as we're not dealing with an immediate crisis (which is why I have been so insistent regarding Ukraine and Iraq). But I digress, this address is scheduled to talk about what I think should be the role of the Presidency. There has been a lot of talk about what the President should or shouldn't do over the past months, and so striking a real balance can be difficult. But I think that over the past year we can consider Presidents Duke and Nix as a successful model: men who took advantage of the Presidency and combined the leadership that executive power brings with ideas and a legislative push for their respective agendas.

Being honest with you, I think that the Presidency should be used to provide leadership in a very active way, to be truly engaged with the public and the media, to have a legislative agenda and work with the Senate to pass it. Nobody can dispute that the Senate has the major legislative role, but as Duke proved with the Health Care Reform and other policies, the President can and should play a pretty major role there. And make no mistake, I have the intention to reform the way the White House works, I want to take a lot at what is working and what isn't and enact changes accordingly. We need to have a more defined role for the Vice-President (and it is my intention to give my running mate a good number of executive responsibilities to prove this), we need to reform the way the cabinet works in order to make the Departments more efficient and more engaged (and if enough people are interested in joining by the time the election is over I have the intention of appointing Deputies to make the job of the Cabinet easier and show that delegating power can have a positive effect if handled correctly) and I feel that introducing a dose of more realism into the game can actually improve things and make it easier and more friendly for the new players that have arrived or are soon to come. This is a game made for us to enjoy, and I feel that sometimes, we have crossed the line into things that either go too far or are too unrealistic, which in many ways hurts the game.

Of course, I will be far more specific than this when I unveil my proposals for Government Reform, but in the meantime I feel it's a great idea to start making the case and talking about the style I want to have as President: an active and engaged government, fighting for an agenda that will try to reduce excess in certainly policies while enacting positive reforms to improve the game. That's why the theme of this campaign is "A New Course for Atlasia", and while it does sound a bit moderate heroish it should be remembered that I take pride on the nicknames I already have (except, perhaps, for the countless fascism accusations, but at this stage I have stopped caring about those).

Finally, I have made significant progress regarding the VP choice, and a frontrunner seems to have emerged. I still don't have an specific date, but expect the full ticket to be revealed before the week is over!

ModerateVonHero.

[Lumine]

Endorsed!

Thanks, Superique!

[Lumine]

Press Release:
VP Announcement Tomorrow!

Ladies and gentlemen, after a long and exhaustive process my campaign team and I have finished the VP vetting process, and I have reached a final decision. As a result, the full ticket will be announced tomorrow night on a rally in Nyman, where I will introduce the running mate and he will talk directly to the Atlasian public. With the ticket ready, I hope to start unveiling our platform from next week on, there's a lot of ground to cover and this campaign is just getting started. Stay tuned!

Lumine.

[Lumine]

Lumine & SJoyce

A New Course for Atlasia:

September 20th, 2014:
After presiding over a Senate session Senator Lumine held a massive rally in Nyman (to be followed by a campaign party in his local HQ) in which he announced his running mate choice: Former IDS Emperor, SoEA and GM SJoyce (TPP-NC).

Good evening, my fellow Atlasians:

As the campaign moves forward I believe I stand a very good chance at finally reaching the White House in October, and needless to say I feel very encouraged by the recent developments and the support I have recieved thus far. Choosing a Vice-President is no easy task, since in Atlasia a VP can be many things and play many crucial roles: the second in command, the chief of staff, the political advisor, the link to Congress, a cabinet member on his own right, and so forth. There were several brilliant candidates for the position, and the process was long and at times complicated, but I reached a final decision and I stand before you ready to announce my running mate and thus the full ticket. Ladies and gentlemen, I have asked Former IDS Emperor, GM and SoEA SJoyce to be my running mate, and he has accepted.

SJoyce is a man with a long and sucessful political career in Atlasia, he has served in several key positions in the federal government under several Presidents, he has served in his regional government as both an executive and legislative officer, he has run a sucessful newspaper, and overall he has always showed a committment to the game and its improvement. I believe he will be a excellent choice to be Vice-President due to his experience, record and skills, and I will be glad to count on his advice. Now more than ever we will need an active and capable VP now that the office is undergoing a public debate over its powers, and he is the man for the job. Of course, SJoyce and I do not share the same views in every issue, but our ideas combined can provide the balance that Atlasia needs while also sharing enough common ground to form an efficient team. We both share a passion for foreign affairs and believe that many things can be done on that front, we both want to fight for the environment and a greener Atlasia, we believe in the need for reform to improve the game and make it more friendly to newbies and those who currently play, both of us have taken stands against extreme and harmful policies, and we both acknowledge that, while the challenges are big, we can overcome them as a nation with hard work and bold ideas.

This ticket combines elements from the Federalist Party and The People's Party, and I believe that building a large coalition to govern is possible and something with a lot of potential for the game and its own future. We have a month left until Election Day, and I certainly plan to be very active on the campaign trail. The platform is slowly improving and soon we will be able to post it over a certain period of time, and in the meantime I plan to tour the country along with my friends and supporters to make the case and convince the people of Atlasia that we can achieve a lot of progress over the next four months.

Thank you very much, and let us give a warm welcome to SJoyce!

Lumine.

[Lumine]

Oh, I also want to take the chance to unveil the formal campaign banner, made by Flo. He truly did an incredible job!

[Lumine]

A Ticket As Strong as Iron.

Thanks, Yankee!

And once again, thanks to Flo for his hard work on the banners!

[Lumine]

Where does this campaign stand on the Promotion of Marriage in Education Act, which recently passed the Mideast Assembly?

Thanks for the question!

Not a fan of it, to be honest. I'm usually conservative on several social issues, but I've always supported homosexual couples to have the same rights of heterosexual couples, including adoption (ironically, that's an issue that makes me a liberal in my own native country). And I'm not sure about the legality of the second clause of the bill as well.

It will be some time before I post the social platform, but personally I plan to stand for monogamous couples (as long as it doesn't involve incest) and I will seek to aid them with concrete proposaly as the base of a family, heterosexual or not.

[Lumine]

Endorsed by former Governor Winfield

Thank you very much, Winfield, I really appreciate the endorsement!

I apologize for the lack of movement here, I have been rather busy with college and running the Senate has the priority, but tomorrow I should have a speech on foreign policy and hopefully the whole foreign policy platform as well ready.

[Lumine]

Discussing Foreign Policy:

September 26th, 2014:
Today Senator Lumine started a minor tour of the IDS, giving a speech on foreign policy in New Orleans, Louisiana before unveiling his basic foreign policy platform for a potential administration.

Good day,

It’s great to be back in the Imperial Dominion of the South, a region that has many of my friends (and supporters) serving in its regional government. I come before you today to talk about foreign policy and my platform for Atlasia’s standing in the world, for I think this is a crucial issue. When one serves in a regional government as I did from almost a year there’s little time to do some work regarding foreign policy, but ever since I entered the Senate I happily discovered that I could finally get to work on the area of policy that I liked the most. And I pushed for several policies, most of them successful (although of course there were a few failures). I pushed for a more comprehensive relationship with Latin America and Southeast Asia, for support for the governments of Iraq and Ukraine against aggression, for the reform and enlargement of NATO, I attempted to reform the Constitution to clear up ambiguity in the way we waged way (and said amendment barely failed to pass the regions), and overall I have done my best bring realism and sanity into foreign policy, along with real experts like Superique, SJoyce, Polnut, Yankee, Nix and many others.

And I plan to follow the same views as President. I believe Atlasia has a very important role to play, a role that doesn’t involve apathy and it doesn’t involve warmongering. Propaganda might want to tell you a different story, but quite often the sources of said propaganda tend to show a lack of… “realism” (if you will) in their own approaches. There are many things we can and we should do, but there are limits to reality. I don’t feel it’s plausible to say we have a good foreign policy when we gut the defense budget, close up as many bases as we can, abandon our allies, and overall refuse to participate when we are asked to do so, because we could play a positive role. No, a potential Lumine/SJoyce administration will seek positive and reasonable reform of our foreign policy and the way it currently works, it will seek a more comprehensive relationship with many of our allies and potential friends, and it will fight to raise the profile of foreign policy and hopefully encourage a more open and active debate on it.

I have named this section “Adapting to the 21st Century” because I feel that is our objective, to leave behind the rhetoric of the past decades to move into this new world and act accordingly to its new challenges and possibilities. I’m personally sick of the conspiracy theories and the eternal debate on the ideologies that lost the battle for the 20th, Century, and I hope I am not the only one. With that out of the way, it’s time to see the specific proposals we will bring to the table!

Lumine.

[Lumine]

Foreign Policy:
Adapting to the 21st Century:

1.-  The Team:

The position of SoEA is a very demanding one, because while it only has two departments it has to handle all diplomatic and military affairs, and often it can be very hard to decide what to do first and what to wait for. I believe in delegating and splitting work to make it easier and more attractive to people to participate (especially in the case of newbies, as I would like to see some of them serving in the administration). I would ultimately like to see a potential amendment to change the SoEA back into Defense and State, but in the meantime I have envisioned a team that will include from two to four people (depending on the demand):

-Secretary of External Affairs: Strictly handling diplomacy and pushing for the Administration’s initiative's.

-Deputy Secretary for Defense: He would be handled the Defense Department to take care of military reform and potentially also handle the CIA and the NSA to give intelligence reports.

-Special Ambassador for International Reform: He will handle the three proposals for organizations that are to be reformed: the dissolution of the GTO, the creation of Asian NATO and the reform of the UN.

2.- Organizations:

-Dissolve the Global Treaty Organization: It has been inactive almost since it was created, it lacks a clear purpose with the countries currently involved and overall I feel we need a fresh start.

-Asian NATO: Originally I was supportive of just enlarging NATO, but as Simfan pointed out in a Senate debate, an Asian NATO has a lot of potential. We need more coordination with our allies like Australia, New Zealand, Japan, Taiwan, South Korea and others, so I want to see this organization created.

-UN Reform: Something promised by the current administration (and something I also suggested in October 2013) but not really attempted beyond TNF’s most recent foreign policy bill. It’s obvious that the constant Vetoes in the Security Council only force gridlock in the UN, so I want to push for enlargement of the Council (to include countries like Japan, Germany, India, Brazil and so forth) and eliminate the veto to replace it with a high quorum (not make it simple majorities).

-Latin America: I personally feel we need to be more engaged in organizations like OAS and the Pacific Alliance, and thanks to the South American/Asian Trade Reform Act we have a chance to do so. I also want to see closer ties to Brazil, Panama, Venezuela and Colombia, and it would be a good idea to act regarding Argentina, since they are currently in default and facing a major crisis. Atlasia made a lot of mistakes regarding Latin America during the Cold War, and we have a chance to redeem those mistakes.

3.- The Middle East, China and Russia:

-ISIS and Iraq: The key objective is to form an international coalition (probably including allies like Great Britain, France, Australia, Canada, Germany and other nations that wish to join in, along with coordinating efforts with Iran, Jordan and the Kurd fighters) with the Iraqi government to stop ISIS and help the refugees and the victims of the carnage they have created. The Kurds will also be supported with aid and we will try to secure more internal autonomy for them. In terms of assets to be used, the plan calls for the use of drones/airstrikes and a limited use of special forces to rescue hostages or provide humanitarian relief. We can make the difference here, we can help, but I don't have the intention to send troops on the ground.

-Middle East Plan: It's about time we change the way we look at the Middle East and they we treat the nations there. With the increased energy independence we do not depend on the region like the OTL United States does, and so we can afford to pursue a bold strategy to shift the balance. First of all, we need to seek more allies in the region, and we want to do so with economic investment to overcome the enormously high levels of poverty in some of these nations. We will seek closer ties to the governments of Turkey, Lebanon (where the plan calls for an ambitious initiative for development), Palestine (same case as with Lebanon), Iraq and, perhaps surprisingly, Iran. As others have pointed out Saudi Arabia is not a reliable ally, and it has a regime hard to tolerate in many ways, so we will seek a change in relationship regarding them.

-Ukraine and Russia: I have always been supportive of the efforts of Ukraine to stop Russian aggression, and I will still do so as President. We will support President Poroshenko’s peace plan and his efforts to stabilize his country, and we would like to see Ukraine's entrance in NATO in order to protect them from Putin. Regarding Russia, it's about time we prove them that we will not stand for their blatant disrespect of international law, and we have the intention of taking measures like rejecting Russian visas  and using the US Strategic Petroleum Reserve (and our ties to oil rich countries) to drive down the prices immediately, thus helping Ukraine with the energy extortion exerted by Russia and proving, once and for all, that Putin leads a house of cards.

-China and Southeast Asia: The relationship Atlasia has with China has been very rocky for the past years, but overall I don't feel this is necessarily terrible. China is a nation that has also taken a lead in being aggressive to its neighbors, it has serious issues regarding human rights, currently sponsors stakes like North Korea and it has engaged in act of provocation against Japan and Taiwan without any regard for the consequences. The Asian NATO will try to contain the Chinese expansion in Asia without being aggressive, and we will support South Korea, Vietnam, Japan and Taiwan in their respective difficulties with China (including supporting a reform of the Japanese constitution to allow them to have an army, but only if the procedure to achieve this is fully democratic and transparent). I do not wish to antagonize China, but that doesn't mean we should just ignore them and some of their acts like the virtual sabotage.

4.- The Defense Sector:

-Sanity in Foreign Policy Act 2.0: I remain convinced this was a good proposal and it passed the Senate with a clear majority, so I was very disappointed when it was struck down by a veto. I will seek to introduce it again before the Senate and hopefully passing it this time.

-Reform of the Defense Department: The past months have seen dramatic cuts on Defense Spending, and I think many can agree with me in pointing out that it's not a wise road to merely gut the Defense budget without any regard for the consequences. Over an over we have closed bases and cut spending and in doing so I feel we have only weakened our military and our capabilities of reacting to threats. A Lumine/SJoyce administration will not triplicate the defense budget or form a bloated military, but we will fight for an increase in defend spending an the repeal of some pieces of legislation that go too far in reducing our capabilities. We will also fight for a reform of the army in terms of armament, seeking to upgrade current equipment.

These are the basic points of the foreign policy agenda we have envisioned, and while there are a few issues missing we will also seek to address them in due time and find solutions for them if elected. Thank you very much! (Next should be Government Reform, but that will take some time)

[Lumine]

"Instant Government" (Speech)

September 28th, 2014:
After several speeches and events, Senator Lumine delivered today his final speech for this IDS tour in Dallas, Texas, discussing recent events in the Mideast, the current message of the current presidential tickets and the concept he dubbed "instant government". He is expected to start a Pacific tour very soon.

Good day,

After unveiling the first part of the platform that this campaign plans to fight for, I think it's a good time for us to discuss political affairs, to talk about the state of the game. And first, I would like to publicly thank Governor TJ for vetoing the Mideast Promotion of Marriage in Education Act. Such a bill would have been offensive towards many of our fellow citizens and would have promoted a message of discrimination, something that we as politicians shouldn't tolerate. I know it must not have been an easy choice for the Governor, and I praise him for his pragmatism and the message he has sent to the nation. I think this and the similar situations we have seen over the past months indicate in a clear way what are the problems and the issues that are pushing Atlasia back and forcing a status quo that is, frankly, disappointing.

Even more that in real life, there is a tendency in Atlasia to consider “instant government” as the solution to the problems. Or even worse, to enact change for the sake of change, often with detrimental consequences to the game. Proposals like the energy nationalization bill, the recent Mideast debacle, the polygamy/incest laws in the Northeast, and so forth. They have their supporters and they have they arguments, but I happen to think that's precisely what we should avoid: instant solutions that disregard the consequences. I believe reform shouldn't be attempted just for the sake of ramming an agenda though with a total lack of pragmatism. Of course, with terms that are short some of the moves enacted will probably look like instant government, but I want to fight to achieve the reforms I believe Atlasia needs, not the reforms dictated by harsh and uncompromising dogma.

For all the initial hopes, it's clear the current administration failed to achieve the success that we saw under Nix and Duke. It's not just my opinion; all kinds of polls show the unpopularity to the administration in a way that makes it obvious that the polling is not manipulated. What's more eloquent to me is the fact that there's no interest in defending the current legacy of the White House. I have followed Former President Marokai’s campaign with a lot of attention and I truly appreciate the fact that has been very civil and has talked at length about the need for communication, but I believe most of us expected Labor to run candidates who have been involved in the game over the past few months, figures that the public can easily recognize and that would provide a clear link to the current administration (for better or worse), people that we know have been actively interested in becoming President, at least going by past events. I welcome the opportunity of an active and competitive race, but you will have to understand my relative surprise, mostly because Marokai has not been actively involved in Atlasia since his presidency and Antonio has not been visible over the past two or three years. That on its own right is a concern when you take into account that Atlasia needs to focus on the precise problems we have right now and requires a good knowledge of the, but more strange is the fact that, somehow, we only need a change in attitude, as if the last three months have not happened at all.

But they have happened, and we have seen gridlock, dubious actions, bitter rhetoric on both sides, disregard for arguments and a lack of agenda, and so forth. It's not only the discourse and the approach that was taken; Atlasia has been going on the wrong track over the last couple of months. I feel it's time for a new administration with different people to reach the White House, correct the course, and enact necessary reform, not merely changing things for the sake of changing them. I want to offer a possibility of genuine reform and efficient government to this nation, and I want to do so by working with and talking to people, by building coalitions, by taking action and not hesitate to act or speak when necessary. To govern is to serve, and if the people of Atlasia decide that the next administration should be formed by this coalition for sanity, then I will be proud to enter the White House and serve this nation, as I have tried to do during my career.

Thank you very much.

Lumine.

__________________________________________________________________________________________

tl;dr version:

I praise Governor TJ for his pragmatism/message, the nation is on the wrong track and doesn't need more "instant government", we need candidates and a new administration truly involved with the issues, and I want to bring a government of reform and sanity, a government that will effectively serve the interest of the nation and the people.

[Lumine]

Candidate Lumine, I have a question.

In the two news coverage pictures of you, one where you are giving a speech, announcing your candidacy, and the other where you appear to be on your way to a meeting or campaign event, in both pictures, there are only men, absolutely no women.

Can you explain why?

Thanks for the question, Winfield! As a politician I can assure you that this is just a very curious coincidence, which might be related to the regrettable fact that the male politicians in Atlasia outnumber the female politicians by quite a margin.

Now, as a private citizen, it's mostly because the Heseltine pictures with women often include Margaret Thatcher, and that either looks as a major anachronism or causes some distress among potential supporters, xD

Presumably, those are all his husbands.

Well, not really... It might be argued I seek to continue the proud tradition of being a single politician, something that seems pretty common in our beloved Republic.

[Lumine]

Tomorrow I should be able to post the Game Reform part of the platform, which I have been discussing with my advisers over the past few days. There's a lot of ground to cover and some comments to answer as well, so I really look forward to it.

I also plan to release a statement on the recent crisis that is affecting Atlasia, but you will forgive if I take the time to see more developments and get a clearer idea of what's going on. In the meantime, my prayers are with the victims and families of the attack on the White House, the Frankfurt bombing and all the victims of ISIS.

[Lumine]

Government Reform: Game Renewal:

1.- The Cabinet:

It has been said that the hardest challenge for a President is to put together a cabinet, and I want to take chance to change the way the cabinet works and push for some innovation here. I believe one of the reasons for the positions to be so unappealing is that they involve too much responsibilities that make it hard to know where to start. I seek a two phase plan that involves a early experiment with the cabinet through the first half of the term and a potential constitutional amendment in the second half depending on the results.

The current system, I feel, focuses too much on reducing the number of portfolios without any regard for how complex the tasks are, which is traduced on SoIA having… (drum roll) eleven departments. Phase One involves an expansion of the cabinet to split up the tasks, delegate, and make the jobs easier. It involves a huge risk since with a greater number of offices it might hard to fill them, hence why this is experimental and not a fully official amendment. To elaborate on the positions and my thoughts on them:

-Secretary of Internal Affairs (Renamed as "Interior and Treasury"): Essentially, focused on “problem-solving” in several domestic issues and especially in implementing the administration's agenda in a very active way, along with coordinating with the Regional Executives when possible.

-Deputy Secretary for Energy, Technology and Environment: To make the SoIA’s job easier and put emphasis on our commitment to reform in these respective fields,, this position will be in charge of overseeing the environmental proposals, create long term plans for energy and research and start the planned expansion of the space program.

-Secretary of External Affairs (Renamed as "State"): There's a lot to do on this area, so the SoEA will focus on his role as the nation's top Diplomat, travelling around the world to meet with foreign leaders and lead the efforts to solve the various crises ahead (the Ebola virus, ISIS, Ukraine, etc.)

-Deputy SoEA for Defense: He will gain the powers of the Defense Department, CIA and NSA, and he will focus on reforming the army and focus on its modernization, along with the potential reform of the intelligence sector of Atlasia.

-Ambassador At-Large: As of now I envision three key objectives: First, to pursue the dissolution of the GTO, second, to implement NATO reform and create an Asian-Pacific version of NATO, and third, to initiate efforts for reform of the Security Council of the UN.

-Attorney General: More than just merely reacting to cases, I want the AG very involved with the job of the administration, and so far I envision several areas for him to act, including the need to fight cyberterrorism, the recent surge in terrorist organizations and so forth.

-Deputy Attorney General: Not many changes here, I have envisioned the position as a "Wiki Secretary" that will help with the necessary updates.

Granted, they are many positions and most likely it will be impossible to find enough people interested in all of them, but I feel the experiment is worth a try and in the worst case scenario it will help us to realize the limits of activity in the Executive branch and the cabinet itself. I believe the Registrar General and the Secretary of Federal Elections are currently working in an excellent way, so no changes there. While the GM position does need reform, Dr. Cynic’s recent efforts in the Senate and SirNick’s proposals seem very interesting and I approve of them, so as of I now I want to see what happens over the next weeks before committing to an official road regarding the GM.

Now, should the experiment work, I would consider pushing for an amendment that could be based on ideas like:

-Moving CIA and NSA into the Attorney General.
-Rename SoEA into “State”. Specify the use of ambassadors and special envoys. Creating a Defense Secretary is also possible.
-Divide SoIA into “Treasury” (focused on handling the economy and perhaps providing economic data if necessary) and “Interior” (focused on domestic policy).
-Optional: Make it possible for the cabinet members to hire deputies to handle some of the departments and responsibilities.

2.- The Voting System / Elections:

Things have been a bit quiet on this front, especially after the failure of the bicameralism proposal. We have kept the same system for elections for several years, and while it has worked so far it can perfectly be argued that a new system or a return to old proposals might create a better one, or one suited to the moment.

Secret Balloting: The idea has been proposed several times and this campaign embraces it as an idea with a lot of potential to improve the way the game works and make elections far more exiting, eliminating most of the negative consequences of "strategic voting". However, I would be lying if I said that I have found a perfect solution to this, so if elected I will form a "Presidential Commission for Secret Balloting" formed by elder statesmen of Atlasia in order to discuss and come up with a concrete proposal.

An end to At-Large Senate elections: At this stage many have complained about the At-Large elections and how they make the game a bit stale by having predictable outcomes most of the time (although the past one had a good number of surprises). I feel it's time to seek a replacement of the At-Large method, and one of the proposals that seem to have a lot of merit is a return to District races like the early days of Atlasia.

3.- State of the Union/Constitutional Reform:

State of the Union: As many of you know, I have always supported having politicians speak to an address the voters in order to explain their proposals, so we can increase transparency in government. The State of the Union speech is no exception, and I introduced a bill that would have made them mandatory and monthly. Alas, the general consensus in the Senate was that such a proposal was unenforceable, and so it was dropped. While I will not be pursuing an amendment here I plan to make full use of the State of the Union and I plan to deliver at least once per month, in order to explain the agenda for said month, the progress made so far and overall the message the administration wants to send to all Atlasians.

Constitutional Review: It's no mistake that our Constitution faces major trouble. Through the past months we have seen many examples of the ambiguity that the Constitution contains, and I have myself tried to correct some of them (mainly with my War Powers amendment, which sadly failed to pass the regions). Overall, a Lumine/SJoyce administration will seek to review and then address most of this contention points and amend the Constitution so we can improve the way the game works and avoid the usual lawsuits. I would advise President Marokai to do a bit more of research, since I indeed signed the petition for a new Constitution in May 2014. I feel we need changes here because the Constitution is clearly not doing a good job in some aspects, but as my opponent pointed out this doesn't depend on the President. Thus, instead of merely waiting for enough signatures to appear, we pledge to get to work and start correcting the major weaknesses with the Senate through Constitutional Amendments as soon as possible.

4.- Consolidation, Bicameralism and the overall theme of Game Reform:

When I ran for President in October 2013 I was an enthusiast of Game Reform, and I pledged to fight for consolidation of the regions because at the time I believed it was a good idea despite major weaknesses. Yet, the debate soon turned into the proposal of merging the Midwest and the Pacific (which I have always opposed) and the proposal itself was defeated by the public. I was even more supportive of Bicameralism, as I saw a chance for invigorating the game, but said proposal was defeated once again. I say this without a doubt: I have no plans to pursue consolidation of the regions when it's clear that a majority of Atlasians is opposed to it, so a Lumine/SJoyce administration will indeed not focus on that particular issue. Overall, what we want is to shift the debate on Game Reform into making reforms that are more swift and easier to achieve, considering all the focus has been on bicameralism and consolidation and both, for better or worse, were rejected by the public. There are more than one or two days of improving this game, and surely there are many other proposals out there that could really help this game improve.

I have already talked at length about the role of the Presidency, but this serves to put emphasis on the fact that an active administration can do a lot of good for Atlasia. It won't be easy, it most certainly will be something full of stress, but I do have the confidence that it can be achieved. The commitment and the proposals are there, and it's worth a try. As always, this ticket is open to questions and happy to receive feedback. The Conventions are coming soon and we are going through a terrible moment right now thanks to the disaster in the White House, so I plan to make a statement/speech on that very soon. Thank you very much.

[Lumine]

Statement on the Terror Attacks:

The past day has certainly been a frightful one for many. We and our allies faced open attacks and saw terrible losses, including hundreds of deaths in the utterly despicable attack in Germany, the beheading of one of our soldiers in the Middle East and the attack on our very own President in the White House. There are no words to describe the mix of outrage and horror that many have faced, a horror that has been translated into a downturn in the stock market and concerns about the role of politicians.  

Without enough information I feel it's irresponsible to place any kind of blame or talk about the course to follow, but I want to express my formal and sincere condolences to all the victims (and their families) of these senseless attacks, and I sincerely hope that those who are responsible will be caught and brought to justice as soon as possible. Horrible as this day has been for this nation, I want to assure you that the politicians of this nation are not standing idly or ignoring such a crisis, for we have already seen the swift and efficient reactions of Senator Cynic and Governor Talleyrand, and I am confident that more will come as soon as more information is released.  

I personally want to encourage Atlasians not to lose faith and not to give in to fear, for I am sure our country will do everything that's necessary to deal with this crisis. One way or another, Nyman will continue to work, the economy will remain strong, and the resolve that has characterized our people for so many years will not be broken by acts of terror. We are a strong nation, and I know very well that will be able to overcome the crisis and the challenges that fate bring to us.

[Lumine]

"Thursday Night Massacre" (Speech)

October 3rd, 2014:
Right in the middle of the controversy over the dismissal of Game Moderator SirNick, Senator Lumine joined other prominent Atlasians in the criticism of the actions of the President, speaking at length about the situation and pledging his support for SirNick.

My fellow Atlasians,

Tonight we have witnessed a series of events that have shocked Atlasia and have brought widespread condemnation of the actions of the President of Atlasia. In an event already dubbed “Thursday Night Massacre”, we have seen the dismissal of an active and capable Game Moderator on purely personal motives, just because he was doing his job; a job that was not recognized by the White House as lawful even it's clearly stated it should be. I wish to join Former Presidents Polnut, Cynic and Marokai in expressing my clear disapproval of this action, and I wish to state as well that SirNick has my full support on this. 

I deeply believe SirNick is the right man for the position, and as far as I'm concerned I recognize his recent work as a series of real and very plausible events, unlike past controversies regarding the office of the Game Moderator. I hope the rest of Atlasia will continue to acknowledge the reality brought by these events. I also hope that the President sees the error on his handling of this situation, although the dismissal of SirNick is, sadly, already a legal reality, and as a Senator I join my colleagues on stating that the Senate has to consider what is to be done, because we as a collective body have a responsibility to help the game work in a better way.

There are other things that must be said as well. One event after another, we have seen again and again a lack of judgment on many issues and many events and to be frank this is not what Atlasia voted for in June of 2014 and it's certainly not what was promised to the voters. To be frank, when 90% or so of Atlasia makes it clear that we are going through the wrong road and seeing the wrong decisions coming from the White House, I believe the accusations of supposed conspiracies and plots are something that lack credibility of any kind. We have the financial market on a crisis and several Atlasians dead over the past events, and yet it seems the inevitable response will end up being: “Crisis? What Crisis?”. But as we have seen so far political figures of all sides and all parties have moved against this abuse, and beyond party politics I am confident that all of us will do our best to help our nation recover from these terrible days.

Thank you very much,

Lumine.

[Lumine]

Back on the Campaign Trail:

Good night, my fellow Atlasians,

With such a difficult time for so many people it seemed awfully improper to continue to campaign, which is why I conducted all affairs and statements from my Senate office. Now, with President Cranberry leading a stable administration and Attorney General Bacon King prosecuting the rebel leaders, things are bound to improve a lot, hence why I have decided to return to the campaign trail and continue to tour Atlasia while administering the Senate. The election will come in two weeks from now on, and it's bound to be an interesting affair, one that might be a lot closer and more exiting that some people think. On that regard, I never had the chance of thanking SirNick for his endorsement shortly before the resignation of DemPGH, so I want to thank him for his words and his support.

The crisis that we faced shows that indeed we have things that are not working in Atlasia, and we need to improve the game in several areas, just as we need to make sure that such a situation cannot happen again. I have meditated a lot and I have gone through several phases (ranging from sadness to exasperation to enthusiasm), and overall it's very clear that the next administration, whether is led by Marokai or me, will have a lot to do in order to fix the disaster of the past few months. In terms of specifics, this encourages me to put further consideration on my plan to make some reforms to the Constitution, and I believe a key idea is (as one of my friends proposed) guaranteeing effective leadership in the event of a succession crisis. We are going to need improved mechanisms, and we might even have to pursue a reform to prevent the cabinet from being vacant at a time of crisis.

On a personal level, I think this crisis has showed that I care a lot about the future of the game, not from the point of view of mere gameplay, but because I don't want to see it weakened and in decadence. Admittedly, the recent proposal regarding Senator Deus in the Senate is an unpopular one and is bound to cost me a lot of support, and I know some people might feel very disappointed on that (and others have already used the chance to demonize me once again). Naturally, I felt my actions were born out of a genuine desire to contribute to solving this crisis and prove that our actions have consequences, not because I wanted to censure political views (as some have implied). Heroics aside, I make mistakes from time to time, and if my views or my approach were indeed wrong regarding this issue I'll be glad to take responsibility for my actions. In the meantime, I will continue to tour the nation, I will resume work on my platform, and hopefully we will be able to see a debate as well before the election begins.

Lumine.

[Lumine]

I'm disappointed you went as far to try the expulsion tactic for Senator Deus, but nevertheless, I continue to fully support your campaign.

Thank you Maxwell, I'm really glad to still count on your support.

[Lumine]

I honestly think the Cabinet re-do is fantastic. Although I have not decided who to support, you are my preferred candidate so far.

Thanks, GAworth! This is one of the ideas I'm most enthusiastic about (and I really look forward to see the results if elected), as things stand I think it's a great way to make the cabinet more attractive for people while also helping to make the job easier for those working in the administration.

[Lumine]

I honestly think the Cabinet re-do is fantastic. Although I have not decided who to support, you are my preferred candidate so far.

Thanks, GAworth! This is one of the ideas I'm most enthusiastic about (and I really look forward to see the results if elected), as things stand I think it's a great way to make the cabinet more attractive for people while also helping to make the job easier for those working in the administration.

I certainly support the Split of the Secretary of Internal Affairs. As a previous SoIA, I wanted to largely be what you have carved out as the Deputy Secretary. Really it is two different hats for that job.

Indeed, it's ridiculous to give the SoIA so many Departaments and then just expect him to handle to many aspects of Domestic Policy. If we weren't having some activity problems I think I would have been happy to propose a three way split in SoIA (Events and Domestic Policy), Deputy SoIA for Treasury (Economic policy) and the already proposed Deputy SoIA for technology, energy and environment. I might even do it if there's enough interest, but that will have to wait a while, xD