Marokai Blue for Senator: Re-election time is-a comin'

[Southern Senator North Carolina Yankee]

In order to have true balance wouldn't we need a conservative to win?

As far as I can tell, the current senate is 8 conservatives and moderates, and only 1 liberal (though I still want tmthforu94 to win).

No, We have:

Four Libertarians: Franzl, DWTL, Afleitch and PiT
Four Liberals: BaconKing, Purple State, Happy Warrior and realisticidealis
Two Conservatives: Master Jedi and Smid.

I would hardly call HW and Realisticidealist liberals. Most of those are -3, -.5, basically. I wouldn't call that liberal. Baconking is a social liberal, but a centrist economically.

DWTL is now gone and Smid will be replaced by Heshmite(I am proabably spelling that wrong). realisticidealist is going to be reaplaced by MaxQue.

If things go the way the are now the RPP will have only 2 senators left(Jedi and myself, ironic that just a short time ago we were going for 6 seats and a majority.)  so I don't now how Vepres came up with 8 conservatives and centrists. The lack of substantive debate may be an unfortunate side effect of the rise of the DA and the subsequent relignment caused by it: division of the RPP-JCP alliance and its replacement with a RPP-DA alliance, The forced merger of the JCP-SDP. We got some unfamiliar bed fellows these days folks, combine that with a cadre of centrist senators and this is the result a bunch of gentleman fighting only over who should hold the door open for the other.

[Southern Senator North Carolina Yankee]

I would like to take the time to address a couple things here at my campaign office..

Another idea I can throw out there would be a weekly recap of what went on in the senate, written and published in the Atlas Fantasy Election forum so everyone can see which bill was voted on and who voted nay or yay. For the year and a half I've been in Atlas, I never knew for the life of me what was going on in the Senate. Sure, I was lazy, but I don't expect everyone to read through pages and pages of jibber jabber to find out answers.

Unfortunately that is the responsibility of the people who have newspapers, but they seem to have fallen behind through all the important events.

I think, though, that this could end up making the current problem worse, which is that the Senate is a little too hand-holdy and conciliatory all in an effort to pass as much legislation as possible and it results in minimal discussion and minimal debate. Truthfully, I don't care if each Senate only passes a half a dozen or so pieces of legislation if those bills were actually debated and discussed. We need activity, but we need to stop the cycle of "Make law -> Repeal law -> Repeal the repeal of the law -> ...etc" and actually focus on getting it right the first time.

The people have to know that they're not electing robots (some Senators aside!) that just offer the occasional suggestion and vote yea or nay along with the majority.

You have alot of neat ideas, but where were you all this time to follow through on all these wonderful gimmicks? When I tried to bring Atlasia together in a collective effort to work on our Wiki, where was your solution to that problem? When I was introducing legislation to Senators in private and lobbying President Bgwah to allow me to take the reigns on a new Introduction thread, were you try to make new threads to inform the people of Atlasia?

We need a Senator that has a track-record of following through on their ideas, not someone who comes up with grand ideas around election time..

It's hard to tell though because many bills pass with 7-9 senators voting for them, with little debate. As Marokai said, this is boring and bad for Atlasian elections and activity.

That is a key problem, as I said above, the Senate seems to try and come together all to often to form some broad support for a compromised bill just to get it to pass. We rarely seem to have dissenting/opposition voices that come from within the Senate. Some of the more recent arguments over bills have actually come from Ebowed or myself interfering with Senate business!

I'm not running to oppose everything, obviously, but I am running to represent an ideology that is underrepresented in Atlasian politics, and to hope to spark debate that is sorely, sorely lacking.

What got at lot of people moving was the Senators felt they lacked the necessary events to create meaningful legislation so thats when the focus turned to the GM. You have done well improving the wiki and I thank you for the hard work you did. The Introduction thread was a wonderfull idea as well. These two things though were just a start and much much more needs to be done, thankfully the Senate is almost completely on board now.  The problem with the Newspapers is that SPC is now basically inactive and Jas essentially has to pick and choose what to report and what to just ignore due to being overwhelmed. We could use a new paper or two.

[Southern Senator North Carolina Yankee]

In order to have true balance wouldn't we need a conservative to win?

As far as I can tell, the current senate is 8 conservatives and moderates, and only 1 liberal (though I still want tmthforu94 to win).

No, We have:

Four Libertarians: Franzl, DWTL, Afleitch and PiT
Four Liberals: BaconKing, Purple State, Happy Warrior and realisticidealis
Two Conservatives: Master Jedi and Smid.

I would hardly call HW and Realisticidealist liberals. Most of those are -3, -.5, basically. I wouldn't call that liberal. Baconking is a social liberal, but a centrist economically.

DWTL is now gone and Smid will be replaced by Heshmite(I am proabably spelling that wrong). realisticidealist is going to be reaplaced by MaxQue.

If things go the way the are now the RPP will have only 2 senators left(Jedi and myself, ironic that just a short time ago we were going for 6 seats and a majority.)  so I don't now how Vepres came up with 8 conservatives and centrists. The lack of substantive debate may be an unfortunate side effect of the rise of the DA and the subsequent relignment caused by it: division of the RPP-JCP alliance and its replacement with a RPP-DA alliance, The forced merger of the JCP-SDP. We got some unfamiliar bed fellows these days folks, combine that with a cadre of centrist senators and this is the result a bunch of gentleman fighting only over who should hold the door open for the other.

Social conservatism isn't really a widely held view here in Atlasia, honestly, so It makes sense that there is a lack of that particular ideology in the Senate. But HappyWarrior, Purple State, and Bacon King are pretty much moderate Senators, not counting the solidly Libertarian PiT and the outgoing solid Conservative Smid.

Who the hell said anything about Social Conservatism? Even when we were at our height with Five Senators two were libertarians: PiT and SPC, Two were Conservative: Jedi and Smid, and I am not sure what DWTL is, probably a libertarian conservative . I don;t know where social conservatism or the lack thereof in Atlasia fits into the picture. The RPP is a collection of right of center people including Libertarians, Conservatives and Populists. So I don't see how the RPP's recent decline has to do with that.

[Southern Senator North Carolina Yankee]

Fantastic ideas. All three candidates, at least on this issue, are really good. Yeah, I think they take their "I will compromise" positions in the campaign to heart, and then go overboard. A more active GM would help create debate as well.

Which brings me to something else. Do you support the senate or Ebowed in the current supreme court case over the removal of the GM act (think that's the name)?

That is a complicated matter.

While I don't personally believe it is the proper place of the Senate to remove Game Moderators since they are like every other Presidential appointment, I do think we need a new Game Moderator that takes a more active role in shaping events for the legislature to react to (in fact, in the Constitutional Convention, I floated the idea of electing a Game Moderator instead, so the people have the say in determining who discuss foreign affairs and publish economic affairs, like tax revenue, population stats, and unemployment rates, and so on) so I do not support Ebowed remaining as GM.

So, in short, I support Ebowed's case that the Senate is violating the spirit of our constitution and the separation of powers, but I do think that the President should get rid of him.

What is your opinion of President Bqwah's decision to not fire Ebowed?

[Southern Senator North Carolina Yankee]

In order to have true balance wouldn't we need a conservative to win?

As far as I can tell, the current senate is 8 conservatives and moderates, and only 1 liberal (though I still want tmthforu94 to win).

No, We have:

Four Libertarians: Franzl, DWTL, Afleitch and PiT
Four Liberals: BaconKing, Purple State, Happy Warrior and realisticidealis
Two Conservatives: Master Jedi and Smid.

I would hardly call HW and Realisticidealist liberals. Most of those are -3, -.5, basically. I wouldn't call that liberal. Baconking is a social liberal, but a centrist economically.

DWTL is now gone and Smid will be replaced by Heshmite(I am proabably spelling that wrong). realisticidealist is going to be reaplaced by MaxQue.

If things go the way the are now the RPP will have only 2 senators left(Jedi and myself, ironic that just a short time ago we were going for 6 seats and a majority.)  so I don't now how Vepres came up with 8 conservatives and centrists. The lack of substantive debate may be an unfortunate side effect of the rise of the DA and the subsequent relignment caused by it: division of the RPP-JCP alliance and its replacement with a RPP-DA alliance, The forced merger of the JCP-SDP. We got some unfamiliar bed fellows these days folks, combine that with a cadre of centrist senators and this is the result a bunch of gentleman fighting only over who should hold the door open for the other.

Social conservatism isn't really a widely held view here in Atlasia, honestly, so It makes sense that there is a lack of that particular ideology in the Senate. But HappyWarrior, Purple State, and Bacon King are pretty much moderate Senators, not counting the solidly Libertarian PiT and the outgoing solid Conservative Smid.

Who the hell said anything about Social Conservatism? Even when we were at our height with Five Senators two were libertarians: PiT and SPC, Two were Conservative: Jedi and Smid, and I am not sure what DWTL is, probably a libertarian conservative . I don;t know where social conservatism or the lack thereof in Atlasia fits into the picture. The RPP is a collection of right of center people including Libertarians, Conservatives and Populists. So I don't see how the RPP's recent decline has to do with that.

I just assumed you were talking about Social Conservatives since the Senate isn't really a bastion of economic liberalism

I was refering to the decline of the RPP in terms of Senate membership from 5 members in April to the possibililty of just two in July.

[Southern Senator North Carolina Yankee]

Fantastic ideas. All three candidates, at least on this issue, are really good. Yeah, I think they take their "I will compromise" positions in the campaign to heart, and then go overboard. A more active GM would help create debate as well.

Which brings me to something else. Do you support the senate or Ebowed in the current supreme court case over the removal of the GM act (think that's the name)?

That is a complicated matter.

While I don't personally believe it is the proper place of the Senate to remove Game Moderators since they are like every other Presidential appointment, I do think we need a new Game Moderator that takes a more active role in shaping events for the legislature to react to (in fact, in the Constitutional Convention, I floated the idea of electing a Game Moderator instead, so the people have the say in determining who discuss foreign affairs and publish economic affairs, like tax revenue, population stats, and unemployment rates, and so on) so I do not support Ebowed remaining as GM.

So, in short, I support Ebowed's case that the Senate is violating the spirit of our constitution and the separation of powers, but I do think that the President should get rid of him.

What is your opinion of President Bqwah's decision to not fire Ebowed?

I disapprove, of course. But I do think there are better ways of showing our disapproval. (We could start a petition, or the Senate could have drafted a non-binding resolution denouncing his decision to keep him.)

Though I support PS in the court case there are many other options and I expressed my desire that this to see this dealt with and question the reasoning behind the Senate move. In your view does the Senate have the authority to regulate the position of GM as regards to GM's duties? That would not violate the objections you have expressed which deal with checks and balances and removing a person from office.

[Southern Senator North Carolina Yankee]

Unfortunately the Senate probably does have the authority to mess around with the position of GM a bit, since that position is not mentioned in the constitution. The Senate, having created the position, probably has the power to abolish the position as well, or tinker with it as they see fit, even if I think this is a rather immature and improper way to deal with the problem.

I shouldn't really comment too much on the issue, since I'm still Attorney General and I don't want to interfere with the ongoing case before the Supreme Court.

I don't want to abolish the position. I want to regulate and require that certain specific info be provided from the GM on a regular basis. In reality Ebowed may not have to go if he were to follow these new Guidlines I am proposing the issue of removing the GM would become irrelevent.

If you're interested, Yankee, I dug up one of my more coherent posts on the issue from the Government board.

This is one of those "letter of/spirit of" situations, in my mind. Unfortunately I'm unsure if this is truly unconstitutional (although the fact that you were concerned about it enough to propose a Constitutional Amendment to give yourselves power in this area raises questions), however, it's still an unprecedented overreach of legislative power, and the same justification can be made for wanting to remove any cabinet member, and talking about the "voice of the people being heard" is silliness, since the President is elected far more directly than the Senators here.

Another of my concerns isn't just that the Senate is sticking it's nose in what was granted as an executive decision, but that you're essentially instituting something that allows the legislature to go back in time an dethrone a GM that was selected by the President according the letter of the law, simply because you don't like him.

Thanks for this info. Even if Ebowed is removed either by the Senate or by the new President I still would introduce legislation in regards to reforming the type of info to be released and how often it would be released. We should know exactly what GDP, Unemployment, Trade Deficit, Tax Revenues, and Consumer spending is at any period in Atlasia. Are we in a recession or Expansion? I have been wondering that for months. Ebowed's intial posts indicated the economy was declining but the dearth of info since then means we could be in a Great Depression and not even know it. Even what he did post lacked enough info to gives us a broad economic picture.

[Southern Senator North Carolina Yankee]

Ebowed's intial posts indicated the economy was declining but the dearth of info since then means we could be in a Great Depression and not even know it. Even what he did post lacked enough info to gives us a broad economic picture.

Well, you would rather expect so, given the Senate's propensity to ignore the majority of my articles when I was writing them.  I never did see any response by the Senate to address the failing automobile industries.  And there's no point making the situation worse if no one is going to bother addressing it.

Truman said if you can't fix a problem make it bigger. Have one of the Auto Makers go bankrupt and not like we have seen in RL I mean chapter 7 the bastards. Post updates headlined "UNEMPLOYMENT SOARS TO NEW RECORD HIGH AFTER CHRSYLER DECLARES BANKRUPTCY". The Senate would have to address that especially now, with all the newbies running around asking questions to practically every Senate candidate, that would definately come up. Yes I might have gone a bit over board on how specific the info is, But Unemployment, and the others are pretty easy and it don't take a rocket scientist, just a basic understanding of economics and a bit of an imagination.

[Southern Senator North Carolina Yankee]

As always I'd like to address something here at my campaign.

     That aside, I decided to run for President because while partisan bickering is lots of fun, we are facing a genuine crisis in Atlasia, & have been facing one for a long time. This crisis relates to the fact that Atlasian voters tend to be very inactive outside of election time. While I am proud to say that we are making progress in this regard, Atlasian activity is a mere shadow of what it once was. If elected President, I will dedicate myself to finding solutions to this problem.

Admirable, Senator, truly admirable. I am absolutely in agreement that bickering and debate can be alot of fun (and I pledge that fiery discussion and passionate debate where necessary if I am elected), and that we have a terrible problem of people only popping in when absolutely necessary. It's the same problem we face in the Constitutional Convention, and in the Senate.

Unfortunately, that doesn't seem to add up to who you're supporting for DWTL's seat. Duke has openly admitted to being woefully inactive until, suddenly, he wants to run for the Senate, then he comes up with a bunch of poorly thought-out gimmicks and makes grand promises about activity.

Perhaps if you want a solution to your problem, voting for the candidate with consistent activity and a track record of keeping promises and working hard in every area he can, would be your first step!

College is not an easy thing to handle, especially when your college is nicknamed "Work Forest." I have stated time and again that it is completely on me for my inactivity, but I'm not sacrificing my real life for an internet game. I will say that for the next three months, I will be home, unemployed, and completely available for a term in the Senate. I would not be running just to become inactive. When I start school in September and I find I am too busy to adequately keep up, I will retire. Simple as that.

Duke has typically gotten pretty active in the summer(just look at last year) and guess what this seat is up again in August, so he can retire while still in summer if he fears he will be innactive again. As far as I am concerned Duke's level of activity is no longer an issue.

[Southern Senator North Carolina Yankee]

Notice: Marokai's cat has just ruined his laptop completely and utterly. Thinking about killing it. Shouldn't affect my activity but it pisses me off immensely. More updates to follow.

Since I love irony, imagine how funny it would have been if had made it impossible for you to post and you ended up like DWTL. Has Atlasia ever had to have two special elections right after another for the same seat? I should research that.

[Southern Senator North Carolina Yankee]

I'm not really used to this laptop, but it shouldn't my activity to any noticeable degree.

It already affect your activity, you forgot to put a verb in your sentences.

Your sentence isn't much better.

[Southern Senator North Carolina Yankee]

I'm not really used to this laptop, but it shouldn't my activity to any noticeable degree.

It already affect your activity, you forgot to put a verb in your sentences.

Your sentence isn't much better.

     But he has the excuse of not being a native English-speaker.

Yes I realise that. Jus thought I would have a little fun with him.

[Southern Senator North Carolina Yankee]

Congrats Marokai. The Senate seat is in good hands with you. I look forward to the substantive debate you will bring to the Senate.

[Southern Senator North Carolina Yankee]

A quick question, Senator. In your opinion, what issues could the JCP, the DA, and the RPP cross partisan lines and work together on?

Just check out the stimulus bill and free trade agreement currently being debated. Both are looking at broad support. The stimulus is especially subject to some good, tri-partisan compromises.

It's very good that the three parties can work together on such major issues like the economy.

On some economic issues, such as that, we have come together and broadly supported it, but the more consistent support is often among the JCP and DA, as both parties seem to work together very closely in the Senate and many of my proposals have enjoyed supported from some DA members. The health care bill being debated, for instance, enjoys the support of at least two DA members.

Pursuing a vendetta so publically is not very healthy for the game.

Please take your own advice

Disagreeing with you or not supporting you does not equal a vendetta. Nevertheless, I'd appreciate it if this scuffle was taken out of my election thread, lest we lose sight of what I'm trying to do here.

That won't do it. You have to get tough with these intruders, show them the bayonet as Stonewall Jackson would say.

[Southern Senator North Carolina Yankee]

I encourage all the Senators to support the Atlasian economic recovery bill currently up for a final vote.

Spending is crucial to help get our economy back on it's feet, and I intend to put forward another measure aimed at the economy either now, or after the election. This bill is a solid one trillion of critical investment and thoroughly researched for prime economic efficiency, and losing this bill would truly be a devastating blow to an economy that desperately needs a surge of jobs, and an injection of money.

Wouldn't it be wiser to address the Credit or Housing market next? The Private sector will never recover untill credit markets unfreeze and we didn't exactly have a TARP here, and we don't know what actions have been taken by the Fed since no provision was made for the GM to report its action.

[Southern Senator North Carolina Yankee]

I'm having some family tragedy/crisis issues right now, just so everyone knows. It's gotten me stressed out and emotionally exhausted, so I may be come-and-go for a day or two. I'm sorry.

I am sorry to hear that. Don't let the stress get to you, a similar situation happened to me. Beleive me stress related illnesses are no fun and everyone reacts differently to stress so be carefull.

[Southern Senator North Carolina Yankee]

Dude! Take a few days off from here.  Everything will continue to function as normal, I assure you.

I'm going through a personal crisis myself (but I'm not sharing what it is).

Fritz is right, Marokai, RL problems are much more important than this dumb game.

[Southern Senator North Carolina Yankee]

Good god, I have to work with you for another four months .

Just kidding congratulations on your victory.

[Southern Senator North Carolina Yankee]

We must all work together for our common economic interests, DA, LNF, JCP, and beyond. We can all be allies in this fight.

Let's make it happen.

Are the ARC and RPP not worth mentioning or something?

Oh sure, I just don't think they'd support my legislation,

cough...Stimulus... financial regulations... cough cough. 


Sorry, I think I am catching something.

[Southern Senator North Carolina Yankee]

We must all work together for our common economic interests, DA, LNF, JCP, and beyond. We can all be allies in this fight.

Let's make it happen.

Are the ARC and RPP not worth mentioning or something?

Oh sure, I just don't think they'd support my legislation,

cough...Stimulus... financial regulations... cough cough. 


Sorry, I think I am catching something.

Weren't you targeted by your party to some extent for being too liberal, though?

Actaully I pushed DWTL to run against me. Then I went temporarily insane and blew him out of the race with a bang in public. At first I was being sarcastic but then the insanity set in.


Since you didn't respond to my PM what is your opinion of this part of the the my financial overhaul?
https://uselectionatlas.org/FORUM/index.php?topic=98481.105

[Southern Senator North Carolina Yankee]

We must all work together for our common economic interests, DA, LNF, JCP, and beyond. We can all be allies in this fight.

Let's make it happen.

Are the ARC and RPP not worth mentioning or something?

Oh sure, I just don't think they'd support my legislation,

cough...Stimulus... financial regulations... cough cough. 


Sorry, I think I am catching something.

Weren't you targeted by your party to some extent for being too liberal, though?

Actaully I pushed DWTL to run against me. Then I went temporarily insane and blew him out of the race with a bang in public. At first I was being sarcastic but then the insanity set in.


Since you didn't respond to my PM what is your opinion of this part of the the my financial overhaul?
https://uselectionatlas.org/FORUM/index.php?topic=98481.105

Yes, apologies for not being a PMing sort.

I did actually read that though and have some thoughts I never got around to posting. First of all, just as a random idea, I'd prefer a permanent strengthening of the amount the FDIC insures. Anyway, about your ideas, they look fine to me of course, but I'd prefer the SoIA not be involved in the process, with no offense to the current SoIA of course.

When we created the Secretary of Internal Affairs, it was more of a "trial run" than anything else, with several members having some concerns about the position being redundant, so I'm not sure it'd be wise to entrust something like that in that position given the possibility of it being removed in the future. It should probably be left up to the President, or some fictional non-playable position that the President would be the de-facto player/decider of.

Other than that I have no serious complaints as of now. (Aside from not being a fan of encouraging merging.)

As I said, its incomplete. There should be guidlines established so that few companies would ever get put into conservatorship. Its not my intent that every failed bank got put into this program just the most critical ones.

I will be adding a section for the FDIC but I want to keep it protecting tradtional bank deposits nothing more.

I will also add sections dealing with CDS's and leveraging.

I might be willing to add a consumer protection agency similar to the one being discussed as the focal point of the Obama's proposals. But I am at a loss as to how to construct that part.

I could make it so its the President's responsibility primarily and he can delegate the authority to the SoIA. The President will still be involved in the process no matter what.