The Public White House: Constitutional Convention at FINAL VOTE!

[Vepres]

Announcement: Constitutional Convention

Calling all regional governors, lt. governors, speakers, legislatures and citizens,

The main plank in the Purple State/Marokai Blue platform was a constitutional convention to consolidate the constitution and refresh the game. The size and nature of this reform is such that I would like to begin almost immediately upon taking office and so I ask each region to consider and pass the following resolution as quickly as possible:

Third Constitutional Convention Petition

The (insert region name) Region formally petitions the President of Atlasia to call a Constitutional Convention for the purposes of consolidation of the constitution and/or legislative reboot of the game.

Your help with this is greatly appreciated.

~PS

So, is this done through referendum, or simply signatures?

[Vepres]

Hm, I still don't quite understand Winston's positions, but I'm sure he'll make a great SoIA.

It will be a Brave New World

[Vepres]

I don't trust Al to be impartial, unfortunately.

[Vepres]

I don't trust Al to be impartial, unfortunately.

Vepres, I like you, but hearing you speaking about impartiality is quite hilarious.

Hey, I'm not saying I'm impartial about anything

[Vepres]

I see fairness, balance, and respectfulness weren't on the list of criteria when you were deciding who to appoint.

I chose those who I believed would be competent. I chose those who I knew would be active. I did not take ideology or personality into account because that has nothing to do with how I plan to run my administration. I think the number of Atlasian political parties represented in the Cabinet can attest to that.

If all people focus on is personality contests and false ideological lines in the sand, this game is doomed. We need reform and we need it now. My administration has no time for ego trips and left/right debates.

Mr President Spectator and Society; you have nominated a noted forum apologist for Maoism and the extreme left (and it's excesses) for the post of SoIA. Would you ever be willing in the future to nominate a Falangist or apologist of the extreme right for a similar role if they were proven to be competent?

This is a game, and the SoIA is unable to make any policy on it's own. Winston is powerless as a policy maker. He is at best an advisor. All these picks are not based on policy or attitude or personality, they are made on their ability to improve the offices and make them more interesting.

And hearing you of all people complain about something so trivial is far beneath you.

if this is anyway a government sim, then no democratic government would propose to put a Maoist in a senior cabinet position. To not call out on that, or react to it as part of the game would be unusual. As for Al, I have every confidence in Al So much so I expect to hear quite alot from the GM in terms of the international response to Atlasia having a Maoist in cabinet

[Vepres]

Mr President, I ask that you replace Al as the GM. He hasn't had an update in almost three weeks, despite being active elsewhere on the forum. I know he had good intentions, but he has failed.

[Vepres]

Mr President, I ask that you replace Al as the GM. He hasn't had an update in almost three weeks, despite being active elsewhere on the forum. I know he had good intentions, but he has failed.

Yes, yes, yes, Vepres, we know how you're suffering out of an office...

If I was GM, you could expect monthly updates, optimistically

[Vepres]

     The will of the people was electing the more centrist candidate with a fully formed ticket. Trying to read anything more into the intentions of Atlasian voters is an exercise in frustration, really.

That's probably true, but it does seem as though apathy is unusually high at the moment. Though it may be that I perceive apathy as higher than I had previously because of my high level of involvement as president.

It just seems as though there is a divide between the Government and Election boards that didn't quite exist when I first joined the game, and that lively debates on politics and policy are no longer as commonplace as a result.

Rarely is something controversial proposed, and on the rare occasion it is, a compromise passes with seven or eight votes. Of course, this has been a problem the whole time I've been here (A healthcare bill that was only slightly to the right of single-payer passed 8-2, after all), but it has worsened.

[Vepres]

As a community, we've turned Atlasia into a country we are all comfortable with.

The reason things get personal is that there is no more ideology left to debate.

Half the problem is fear. Fear that if they push what they want, Atlasians left leaning electorate will forever destroy their future in Atlasia. When is the last time we had a Pro-Life President? Keystone Phil. Now without getting into all the things that made his administration not so good, why did he win while no other such conservative can get close?

Whatever the case there are many Conservatives who aren't comfortable with current policies but feal trapped. So I would have to disagree with your assessment there about everyone being comfortable where it is.

Which is why I won't make any effort to suppress even my most controversial views if I am elected to the Senate

You have made an excellent point. The Atlasian right never has influence (at least, not since I've been here and, from my understanding, for quite some time before then as well). After all, except for free trade agreements, I don't believe I have ever seen a truly conservative/libertarian piece of legislation pass, or even come close. The fact is, the right is not happy, but we cannot win unless we give in the center-left social democracy that has dominated this game for so long. In all my Senatorial campaigns, I have publicly expressed my ideas and views and did so much more so than many of my opponents, and still lost.

The other problem, which is very closely related, is that moderates aren't really moderates in office. How many people with 'E' scores in the low negatives or even low positives basically take a piece of socially democratic legislation, make a few tweaks to it, then all vote for it. The example I always give is the healthcare bill. It had lots of debate to be sure, but ultimately the final bill was single-payer minus the banning of private insurance. Franzl and afleitch, two self proclaimed moderates (actually, afleicth is a self-proclaimed conservative) voted for it.

Compare this to real life US politics. The moderates refused to vote for healthcare reform until many changes were made to it. The right, instead of quietly sitting on the sidelines mumbling to themselves like in Atlasia, was fired up and attacking the legislation all the time.

The problem is, most "moderates" are, when in the Senate, on the left. So, Teddy isn't far off, a majority (I'd guess 55%-60%) of voters are content with the status quo ideologically.

@PS and Dr. Cynic: With all due respect, I believe that our problem is the lack of ideological clashes and drama and scandal. People are too nice, too compromising, too pragmatic.

[Vepres]

Marokai, your whole post is deeply flawed.

Firstly, you consider it bizarre that I am viewing the game through the American spectrum. You say that is "warped" and "not the norm". The vast majority of Atlasians happen to Americans, and all of us are posters on a website called the US Election Atlas.

You strawman the Atlasian right as all borderline anarachists. I could easily call the Atlasian left borderline socialist, and be just about as right (i.e.: not at all). Your argument is based on the whole premise that the right is "too extreme" because Atlasia is on a "European political spectrum". As long as you hold that fallacious premise, nobody can refute you.

You talk about water down legislation and stuff. True, that happens. The fact remains that that legislation is still left of center. You're describing the problem. The game is a tug o' war between the center and the left, while the right (which is probably 40-some% of players) sits on the sidelines.

I challenge you to find any piece of legislation passed since the summer of 2009 (when I arrived) that is truly right-wing (besides free trade agreements). I don't want some token tax cuts, as our tax system is still, on the whole, very left-wing. Name one piece of legislation that appreciably reduced the size of government. The debates here are about how much to increase government, not whether or not we should increase it at all.

The discussion was about why activity and enthusiasm was so low, I gave you an answer. The right feels it can't truly pass any legislation or win more than a handful of senate seats, and thus largely sits on the sidelines in most debates. Thus, they lose motivation in the game. The left then has no true opponent to debate, only moderates to "work with". That demoralizes them. The moderates become demoralized because they have no foils to themselves.

Imagine if the political norm is Atlasia was the reverse? Just think if every piece of legislation that passed decreased the size of government, that the so-called moderates ended up voting for legislation that, while watered down, still decreased the size of government. Just imagine that the last time a President who wasn't moderate or right-wing was a complete failure from over two years ago. Look at it from our perspective.

Now, I ask you, can you think of a better reason that interest is so low here besides things related to what I've laid out?

[Vepres]

Vepres, there is longstanding acceptance that Atlasia is more along the line of a European/Canadian political spectrum as opposed to the American one. You can deal with it or not, it's not my problem, but don't try to purport people like PiT or SPC as your charming examples of the poor beleaguered Atlasian right.

As for right-wing legislation, I couldn't care less. You would quibble over the definition of "right wing legislation" if I ever did get examples, anyway.

The only reason I'm responding is to point out the fact that you did a complete dodge of my biggest point, the idea that there is never close calls or rejected legislation in the Senate. It was one of the cruxes of your argument, and it is entirely unfounded. That is all.

I'll admit that there was a period of some three months where I stopped following the Senate, only recently getting reengaged.

[Vepres]

I'm very happy to see some legitimate discussion about this topic. I can't deny that it has been excruciatingly frustrating to spend over three months in office and see almost no legitimate debate. I could sense it during the election, when no credible opposition rose up, but I had hoped it would pick up again after the summer.

In the end, I tend to agree that the game needs partisan divides to thrive, whether that be right versus left, federalist versus regionalist or registration limits versus open recruitment. Issue-centric debates drive interest and enthusiasm and serves as the impetus for the rise of new parties.

The problem we face now is that the game has lost any ideological coherence and is now purely personality based. The RPP and Populares are not expressly pushing to roll back any statute, despite the general admission that current law in Atlasia is considerably left of center in the United States. The JCP is not based on defending the current laws, but rather on amassing political power. And the most controversial figures in recent Atlasian memory, including DWTL, Hamilton, Ogis, etc. were controversial because of how they acted, not because of what they believed. While these aren't necessarily bad things, it isn't generating excitement by any means and it only turns people away from the game.

Perhaps with the groundwork laid by my administration, there will be an opportunity for renewed debate under a considerably clearer and more efficient system. If that is my single accomplishment I will consider myself a success.

As I have stated (and Marokai responded with some self described hacker ), the issue is the right can only win on personalities. When we run on an agenda, we have a ceiling of some 45% of the vote, if we're lucky. Unfortunately, I believe Marokai's style (no offense intended), which is espoused by many JCPers to a lesser degree, is exactly why we don't want to roll back the government.

Again, the attitude of "I don't care that no right-wing legislation passes" is very destructive to activity and demoralizing. There are no major ideological shifts or shake-ups to either the left or the right of this center-left box we're in. No matter which individuals win, we are always moving in a center-left direction, and that has not changed at all since I've been here.

We just don't stand a chance, not because "the facts" are against us (as Marokai said), but because the environment is simply too hostile. And Marokai, you can argue against that, but the right almost universally perceives this to be true, and as long as that perception is there, the game will continue to be inactive.

[Vepres]

Of course, this is all because those issues have all been "solved" in Atlasia at the present moment. The game's status quo is a social democracy, most of us accept the role of strong regions and we have focused almost exclusively on non-controversial issues or game reform for a while. In the place of real issues, the game has become a test of personalities.

And that's why the game sucks. You all are the reason for it.

Well I'm going to try to undo that, but I can't do it alone. Broad popular support for a federal "reset" is needed to make it happen.

I think a determined opposition on the right would work just as well as a reboot. If elected (shameless plug ) I will help to organize a strong opposition to the status quo of vague social democracy.

Besides, without a strong opposition, a reboot would be rather pointless, as you'd essentially end up where we are now within a few Senates.

[Vepres]

Personally, my wet dream is to abolish the Vice Presidency, make President a ceremonial head of state, and hand the executive powers to a Prime Minister.

That would be great if Atlasia wasn't supposed to be directly based on the US.

[Vepres]

Personally, my wet dream is to abolish the Vice Presidency, make President a ceremonial head of state, and hand the executive powers to a Prime Minister.

That would be great if Atlasia wasn't supposed to be directly based on the US.

Vepres, who said we're required to stick forever with one model?

Atlasia is a fantasy US. Besides, this is a forum called US Election Atlas