Official Vice Presidential Debate: June 2007

[TheWildCard]

Let me begin by saying that debates are a corner stone of Atlasia’s great and cherished history. I’d like to thank Senator Ebowed for setting up this debate as well as all the Atlasians attending and my fellow candidates for Vice-President of Atlasia. Together we have brought back this great tradition that somehow was neglected during the last general election cycle.

Why am I running for Vice-President? Well when Brandon H came to me and asked me to be his running I knew right there and then that I had to say yes. Brandon H is one of our greatest and most hard working elected leaders and a stern supporter of our Presidential system. I knew that he and I could move Atlasia forward into a new era of are history that is greater than the old. There are also many things that I’d like to accomplish as Vice President which brings me to the second question.

If I am so honored by the Atlasian people to serve I will be a very active Vice-President working with every part of the Senate, from folks like BRTD to my old friend Lewis to DWTL, in order to move forward the legislation that is best for the Republic. I think that my track record as Pacific Governor shows that I can work with everyone in the Senate. I ran and served with people with such diverse ideologies as Lewis Tronheim,  Immy, King and John Ford as my Lt. Governors. I also look forward to working on new ideas for Atlasia. As Governor of the Pacific I wrote the first ever regional constitution and hopefully together we can come up with more innovative ideas for the Republic.

[TheWildCard]

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I believe that in the Senate the Vice President is the representative of the nation as a whole as well as the President. If elected I plan to have an active role in the Senate to make sure that the voice of the people as well as the President is made clear in congress.

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In such a situation there are many variables to consider, how the Atlasian people feel about the issue, how the President feels about it and what the Vice President's own personal experience and logic tells him. I do feel that most social issues should be left up to the regions. So on social issues my vote would break toward regional rights.

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I think that the President's power should be increased. The Renaissance Caucus and The Heritage Caucus have provided many good ideas on how to do this and I favor many of their proposals. Personally, I also would be for discussing the possibility of some sort of line item veto. I do feel though that even if the President’s power is not increased there is still a lot of room for a President to be a strong executive and take the bull by the horns and fully execute his powers by commenting on legislation and pushing for his own legislation as well as regularly addressing the nation and fully utilizing the media exposure that the office provides. In short I feel that the office like anything else in Atlasia can be improved to make it so anyone elected to the office can have good executive authority but if no reforms are made the right individual can be a strong executive and I feel that Brandon H would be one of our greatest Presidents under either of the aforementioned cases.

[TheWildCard]

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I would not have even considered taking the position if I was not able to do so. I was Governor of the Pacific for over a year, during that time I wrote a lot of legislation and worked actively with the diverse ideologies of the Pacific so I am more than capable of fulfilling my duties in such a situation.

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Off the top of my head I can’t think of any issues that we completely disagree with. I can say that if such a situation were to arise I would do the same thing that I said I’d do with tie breaking votes. I’d look at how the Atlasian people feel about the issue, I’d consider how the President feels and then after critically looking at the information presented on the topic I would come to a final decision.

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I personally believe that balancing the budget should be a priority. I, myself, wouldn’t take anything completely off the table but I would not consider raising taxes on middle class Atlasians unless there was a severe crisis. A lot of this would also depend on what our budget actually looks like. I believe that it has been pointed out in the Senate that we have not had a budget presented, at least based the research I’ve done.

[TheWildCard]

Do you think it should be legal for voters to edit their ballots in federal voting booths?

I think it would be fair for them to edit their ballots inside the first 5 minutes after they post their ballot. This way if there is a mistake or typo they will notice it quickly and be able to change it. I think this is a good middle ground since you can't have people editing their ballot throughout the election. since people will edit their votes for strategic reasons and to not have the option to change it at all seems a little unfair to me.

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Yes I think this is a very good and fair way to expand the President's power and make sure that the people of Atlasia are heard clearly.

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If it was my call I personally can't say that I would have nominated Mr. Naso. I think Naso is a decent human being but there were other choices out there.

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I'm very glad that you asked this question since it is one that I'd like to clearify my position on. I'd of course first gage the people in the region to see what they felt, if it was a 50/50 split between pro-choice and pro-life voters I would go a pro-choice route. I believe in a woman's right to choose. I'd only ban late term abortions when the mother's life is NOT at risk. I also think we get far too involved in the debate of the extremes on this issue. What we should try to do is have the proper education and programs in place to lower the number of abortions. To sum it up I agree with President Clinton on this issue when he says "abortion should not only be safe and legal, it should be rare."

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It depends on the circumstances surrounding the case. I can say that if the individual was a refugee from a fascist undemocratic country I would say that we should not hand the individual over. On the other hand if a person committed terrorist acts against a democratic regime I'd generally say that we should hand over the individual.

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I'll keep this short and sweet, I think that regardless of an individual's sexual orientation, gender, race, ethnicity or religion no one should be discriminated against in the work place. Whether you are straight or gay, black or white, Mexican or Canadian, male or female the rules should be the same for everyone.

[TheWildCard]

Fmr. Governor Wildcard,
1.) You stated that you believe the President's power should be increased.  You mentioned the line-item veto as one possibility that may be explored.  Would you like to elaborate on some other ideas to increase the President's power, and why these might be beneficial?

For one, as mentioned earlier, the ability for the President to call for a referendum on legislation would be an excellent way to increase the position’s power. This not only would increase the authority of the Presidency but it would also help to strengthen the voice of the people. In the end I believe it creates a more balanced power structure between the Executive, the Legislature, and that often neglected invisible wing of our government the people.

I also support most of the ideas put forward by the Heritage Caucus and the Renissiance Caucus.

[qoute]2.) Your running mate has stated that one of his main goals is to increase voter population.  What strategies will your ticket be implementing to see this happen?[/qoute]

Well one of the best ways to recruit members is to advertise both here and abroad. Atlasia is a great place and I'm sure that members of other political forums on the internet would gladly chase and join the Atlasian Dream of the ultimate Political Sim. The internet is not simply "a build it and they will come" place it is a mountainous domain of information. Thus, advertising is one key example of how we can increase our population.

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I view the future of Atlasia as a place better than it has ever been. I can easily see how through a marketing plan a Brandon H Presidency can bring us the largest population we've ever had. And we all know what a larger population means. It equals more competitive elections, more diverse view points, perhaps more parties and thus, a better more enjoyable game for everyone. We can’t just sit here and hope that somehow, someway we will be able to make a U-turn and go back to the old days, the “Golden Age” of Atlasia. For any administration to be effective they must not be so close minded as to adopt this reactionary way of thinking.  The administration must realize that Atlasia’s best days are not behind it, rather its best, most splendid, most glorious days are ahead of it, I know both Brandon H and I believe the latter to be true. Together with the people of Atlasia behind us we can enter a Platinum Period in Atlasia and make our Republic better than it has ever been before.

[TheWildCard]

As this great debate comes to a close I’d like to thank all of you who have taken the time out of your busy lives to view this debate. By doing so you have educated yourselves as voters and have done a great service for Atlasia, since the more voters who know who they’re voting for the better off Atlasia is as a whole.

Brandon H and I have a vision and a plan to make Atlasia better than ever before. We invite the Atlasian people to join us on the path to a larger population, the road to a more active government and the journey ahead towards Atlasia’s Platinum Period. This can only be done with your support. Vote for the future, vote for Brandon H/TheWildCard and move Atlasia forward!