DDNN 1st Presidential Debate

[Joseph Cao]

Right then, hi Wulfric, hi everyone, apologies for being late – had a bit of a dustup at work last night. Thanks for hosting this.

I want to make it very clear from the outset that this campaign of mine is focused on the game's situation and gameplay issues/strategies above all else. From my current vantage point a lot of the other stuff on the regions' domestic issues or climate change or the budget or whatever which I could be talking about is window dressing around that overarching issue, and while I'm fair game to address them as I've done before, that's not really why I'm running to begin with.

Think of the game as a car – good build, has a cool eighteen years' worth of mileage on it, but in the past year or so it's been billowing smoke out of the hood and emitting sparks and unusual things like that. Obviously we all want to get the car somewhere: maybe we can make a hard left turn or trundle down to the town center or have a revolution around the traffic circle like other candidates have indicated. Maybe the old driver wants to come back and try to drive us off a cliff again. But what I really want to do, before we consider any of that, is fix the problems with the car. Everything else is secondary. That's why I ran in the first place and that's why I'm here with you all.

[Joseph Cao]

Question for Cao: You have served in a variety of offices and have had lots of time to try to enact your ideas. Given the current fairly depressed state of the game, why should voters go for more of you rather than voting for someone who has not had as much influence?

Look, before we continue I’m going to have to correct one thing – I’ve only ever held one office before and that has been congressman. If by change you’re referring to trying to keep the game from going belly up, one, that’s not something you can control from a seat in Congress even when you end up running the chamber, and two, to the extent that a single representative or senator can help with that by being active on AFE and a mediating presence and whatnot, I’ve been doing exactly that my entire time in Congress. I just posted in my campaign thread covering that precise topic. Everyone in this game has exactly the same amount of influence over this as I do. It’s not a panacea for the rest of the Senate or the rest of the game being less active, but my record shows quite well that it sure isn’t for a lack of trying on my part.

The broader point I’m trying to get at in my thread is that while the game doesn’t revolve around the president per se, it won’t go anywhere if the president is absentee or actively malignant or even just sits there content with making speeches about green tax credits into the void. If I didn’t think we were otherwise in danger of getting yet another president of that kind, I would be doing exactly what Spark suggested and continue to run the Senate daycare indefinitely.

1. Lots of candidates talk about activity, but fail to deliver. Perhaps because of a general lack of care for the game, or perhaps because it is more pleasant to deal with an inactive legislature of supporters than an active legislature of opponents, many have ended up only managing the decline rather than actually making a difference. What assurances and evidence can you give the public that you actually still care about the game and will work to make it more reliably active?

As for this, what I can do to make the game more reliably active, beyond me ragging on people to post more, beyond the juice box and naptime routine we have going on in the Senate right now? That’s not the make-or-break question for the game. Every president can focus on some halfway decent issue if they put their minds and energies to it. That’s one thing, right off the bat, they can do that nobody else except the GM can do. But the real $64,000 question is what each person reading this, and everyone not reading this, can do about their own activity levels. What good is a storyline or issue if nobody else cares enough to engage with it?

2. COVID-19, while in a weakened state, remains a potential threat to Atlasia in the coming months. Do you believe our nation is currently mounting an effective response to the virus, and are there any additional measures, such as a vaccine mandate, that you believe should be enacted?

We have a nice long period as the vaccine mandate winds down for anyone who has not gotten vaccinated to do so, everyone has been and will be protected to the fullest extent practicable. I don’t doubt that scientists worldwide are working to develop whatever it takes to eliminate COVID as an epidemiological threat. When that time comes, it’s going to be just the same type of medical defence we have against the average respiratory disease. If people want to wear masks they’re free to do so of their own accord but the time for mandates is clearly over.

3. Should the next administration seek to reinstate the assault weapons ban or enact other gun legislation? If not, how should we respond to mass shootings beyond offering our condolences?

I don't buy that 1) mass shootings are the big problem du jour in light of all the other types of gun violence that claim more lives, or that 2) the AWB did anything to solve either problem. Plenty of regulations are on the books here in Atlasia that already keep weapons out of the hands of those most likely to do damage to themselves or others with them. If we are to tackle gun violence without infringing on basic constitutional rights then the obvious answer is to eliminate the factors that tip people toward violence – mental health, living standards, the legal and prison system that has historically kept people trapped in that cycle. I've been honored to work on legislation tackling many of these factors and it's a good fight that must continue to be fought no matter how far down the line we are.

4. In the event of a vacancy on the Supreme Court, what standards would you use in evaluating who to nominate? What weight would ideological consistency hold as compared to fitness for the role? Would you condition your decision on an agreement to vote against any current precedent of the court?

If the issue comes up obviously I’m going to consider first and foremost a nominee with a good grasp of Atlasian legal precedent and argument who can be active as often as the Court demands it. I’m sure there are plenty of people both on the left and the right who fit that bill.

[Joseph Cao]

Thanks for the updates, Wulfric, I'll have answers to the rest of the questions up soon.

1. The Neolib Administration has presided over an expansion to the presidential cabinet, namely the reinstation of the Secretary of Internal Affairs and separating the offices of SOFE and RG. Do you agree with these changes? If so, would you seek to further expand the cabinet by say adding back the national archivist or adding a deputy GM?

I wouldn’t call SoFE and RG being separate people an expansion necessarily, but certainly we’ve been long overdue in bringing back the SoIA. But before we go adding any more I want to make sure we’ve got a full Cabinet – we still haven’t got a replacement for Transit and it’s clear Lumine won’t be serving longer than absolutely necessary to get a new GM on the team. That needs to be addressed on day one. Assembling a good and reasonably active team with good and reasonably engaging storylines to tackle needs to be the first priority. As I’ve said: fix the engine first, then decide where to drive.

We definitely should have a national archivist though, that's one area where it would be prudent to appoint one immediately given their relative independence of function from the rest of the cabinet team.

2. Was Politics Fan vs The South, which says there is a right to abortion in the Atlasian Constitution, correctly decided?

Yes. I’ve mentioned before that I am unquestionably pro-life but from a gameplay and federalist perspective it is far better to have these matters decided on a regional level with an eye toward proper implementation. We’ve gone over this many times in Atlasian history – a federal government empowered to decide these issues can just as easily allow partial-birth abortions as cut off all practicable avenues for the practice. Keep it with the regions.

3. Do you believe Atlasia is currently doing enough to fight climate change and develop renewable energy? If not, what additional measures would you enact?

We’ve still got plenty of opportunity for more wind and more hydroelectric facilities as alternative means of energy generation in addition to the work we should be doing with establishing energy security through our existing reserves – and yes that includes nuclear, which as MB mentioned is one of the bigger and more reliable sources we have. What I want to ensure though is that the regions and states take an active participation in this area as they are the primary parties concerned with the facilities in question as well as the beneficiaries of the energy and jobs. Obviously from a gameplay perspective that means I want actual regional players involved and being kept in the loop on ongoing climate and energy developments, a sort of unofficial climate council being part of the communications between Nyman and the regions I’ve talked about at length, as well as whatever federal legislation the Senate proposes on the matter.

4. What reforms, if any, should Atlasia enact for its police force to help prevent events of "police brutality"? Is it appropriate to "defund" the police (figuratively or literally)?

I’m not familiar with whatever “defund” is supposed to mean in this context, but I view the police as an institution that was conceived in order to serve individual communities and needs to do everything it can to maintain that connection between the force and those it serves. We did just that in Chicago with a number of policies that lessen the gap, and we did that at the federal level with legislation signed by Federalist presidents. Both of these approaches come down to giving the people in the force whatever room they need to tailor their strategies for stabilizing communities and keeping the peace. You want to maximize trust in the police and the jobs they do, you have to start from the bottom up and give people the space to work things out.

[Joseph Cao]

A closing statement will be up when I'm not rushing out the door on six hours of sleep.

1. Do you see our society as systemically racist? To what extent, if any, is it appropriate to teach "critical race theory" in schools? If so, define the term and how you would want it to be taught.

This is the second time there’s been a question about “critical race theory” and I’m still fuzzy on what exactly it’s supposed to refer to.

Like I’ve said before, you don’t have to explicitly make an educational curriculum to teach children about the importance of treating other people right. That’s a very basic life lesson which kids will naturally pick up from their role models. To the extent that it’s our job to impart values like these then certainly public school teachers have a role to play, but that needs to be done through their actions as well as their hypothetical words.

2. In light of the challenges faced by students during the COVID-19 pandemic, do you support any measures to forgive student loan debt? If so, how much would you forgive?

Over the past few years through legislation like the HELIOS Act we’ve provided a broad swathe of students with the financial support they need for not just regular college, but for those attending trade and community colleges as well. We recently added an extra layer of help specifically for those affected by COVID. I’m not sure what else is possible at this point, frankly.

3. What focus, if any, would you put on expanding space exploration? Is it appropriate for us to be funding this while we are still running a deficit?

It costs a drop in the bucket to continue funding NASA at its current levels. I’d have to see how much interest there is gameplay-wise in making an expanded space program an administration priority before proceeding with that, but since we’re more or less past COVID we’ve got plenty of opportunity to start focusing on an area of policy with immense scientific and national security returns. I don’t think an expansion will contribute much to the deficit in comparison to other points of focus I could name.

4. Generally speaking, to work towards a balanced budget, should we be looking at tax increases, changes to entitlements, cuts to defense spending, or cuts to discretionary spending? Why?

A serious look at tackling the deficit would focus on all of these options to varying extents. Personally I’m going to do my best to avoid cutting anything that endangers Atlasian lives or livelihoods. But I very much need to see the budget before I say anything definite about it.