The Second Presidential Debate (API News) - Main thread

[Senator Spiral]

Thank you all for being here! Pleasure to speak to my fellow Atlasians about this important election coming up, and I thank the President and Senator Pericles for joining me on this stage.

This campaign is surely an unconventional one. I bet the average Atlasian didn't expect me or Adam Griffin to run, and, well, neither did we. Why did we end up pulling the trigger, though? The fact of the matter is that, while some people have benefited from the utter domination the Federalists have seen over many months, this isn't what will keep the game interesting, engaging, or even fun in the long run. We're here to change that.

Adam and I want to shake up Atlasia. We've been around for a while, and we've seen what comes in and out of style. The lesson we should gather from our history is this: While some may prop up some bills or party membership to show their strength, the true strength of the game comes from the Atlasian people and their spirit. This includes having raucous debates not just for those in elected office. This means having an active and engaged populace, not just a horde of zombie voters who arrive every election. Our administration would work squarely to achieve this goal. We'll engage with citizens, recruit new people to our great country, and leave the next generation prepared for challenges ahead.

This can't just be done with blanket Federalist control, though. It requires all of us, from every possible party and persuasion, to pitch in. We're running to represent the forgotten and the marginalized. This is a ticket not only of change, but with the experience necessary to implement our goals. Experience means recognizing that you've made mistakes along the way, and our records can surely be scrutinized. Under a President Spiral and Vice President Griffin, we'll be accountable to the people in public, not in chatrooms. That is our promise to you.

As we move forward, we'll get a better sense of where each of us stand on the issues. I welcome this opportunity and I'm happy to be involved in this debate. This is important for democracy and exactly what we need more of in the future. Thank you.

[Senator Spiral]

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I am personally pro-choice, but I totally sympathize and understand the motivations why someone would be unabashedly pro-life, having grappled with that issue myself. As I see it, the status quo for abortion is an acceptable one for me. We don't see many TNFs running around anymore talking about infanticide, so it isn't something pressing on my mind.

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In general, I'm for preserving the right for Atlasians to own guns. This is something unique to our culture that can't be replicated among other nations, and it's a source of pride among many. Certain measures for gun control can be necessary. I view guns in a similar way that I view drugs: when you must enforce regulations, go after the suppliers, not the individuals. That kind of philosophy would lead to better decisions overall in combating gun crime. We can tackle the issue without unduly punishing responsible gun owners.

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I will have to make a strong break here from President fhtagn. The universal basic income is a proposal that has a lot of promise for Atlasia. No one can deny that the nature of work itself is rapidly changing. In a few decades, if we don't act, we could see a major ripple in the labor market with millions displaced from technology. Not all of those low-skilled workers will be able to readjust to new roles, so what do we do with them? It isn't moral to leave them to die. Traditional forms of welfare won't be enough to address this in the future. We need to remain innovate in how we handle taking care of our fellow Atlasians. Basic income is an idea that can be argued from a libertarian, socialist, mutualist, whatever position, so there is plenty of discussion already about how to implement such a program on a grand scale. I believe it can be done with enough willpower.

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One thing we shouldn't do is raise sales taxes on the vulnerable people of society. I have stood firm on that throughout my time in government and no matter what political persuasion I've been. We should look for some new sources of funding that people don't always think about. For example, I was a big fan of legislation put out by former Senator Scott outlining a carbon tax, and I voted for it in the Senate. We can also levy some kind of financial transaction tax. We can also always find waste in existing programs. I tend to be flexible on where we can cut and where we can tax, but my biggest priority is making sure that the majority aren't screwed over. Unfortunately, that's a great tendency among politicians.

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I tend to believe that, while we can collaborate with other nations, build strong partnerships, and guide them toward common goals, we can't directly meddle in their affairs. To do so would raise a certain level of arrogance from us. We can't assume that what works here will always work best over there. That isn't to take a moral relativist position, it's just to highlight how we can't expect even our greatest allies to always agree with us or to stand for some basic fundamentals of our own government. People are different, cultures are different, and states are different.

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This is something I'm proud to say I've been involved in the debate of. In the Senate, I was one of two voices strongly opposed to the conduct of the entire Korean affair. When a treaty that granted huge favors to China was pushed out by the administration, I fought tooth and nail to give us better conditions. I had to vote no on that treaty, unfortunately, but that isn't to say I didn't want peace at all. Far from it. The entire affair from the moment we got in was regrettable. Moving forward, it's hard to say what our response will be. If such Loyalists got control and then actively posed a threat to us again, we may have to seriously consider taking some action (albeit well planned out and not randomly like under Goldwater). My general motto is that we should stay the hell away from killing any more innocent people there, however. The whole affair was just a tragedy, and I as President would do everything to prevent future mistakes like that.

[Senator Spiral]

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The first thing I would do is take high priority with communicating. This is so important. I would be transparent to the people whom I represent. If we have that public debate, and we have disagreements (because we can't always agree), then we'll see activity organically increase in one regard. Another initiative I would take is constantly reach out to potential newcomers, tell them about the wonders of Atlasia, and invite them over. If we're lucky, a good number will stick around and make an impact on the dialogue. We see contemporary examples of this right now. DFL, of my own party, came in December but has already become Fremont's prime minister and belongs to the Alliance leadership. Kudos to him! I would encourage other newbies in much the same way, hoping that they'll mature into more responsible roles and then bring this game to new places once we're all tired of this sh**t. It's a beautiful thing.

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I have immense respect for Lumine, and his ideas deserve much consideration. I personally would be interested in dabbling with a parliamentary system, for example, if we see that we are truly in a rut with our current constitution. People are naturally fickle, however, so current preferences may not always stay true in the near future. Regardless of what ideas are necessary to implement, what we need more than anything is that debate to take place. From there, we would have a better idea of where to advance. We can't just put our fingers in our ears and pretend everything is okay the way it is now when it clearly isn't. That kind of experimentation from folks like Lumine would be something I encourage from Atlasians of all parties and beliefs, even if I don't always agree.

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Here, I must differ myself from the President once again. She has asked multiple times to provide an example of where this has actually been detrimental. It's a fair question, but we must look at it a different way: is it right to do to begin with? That is, is it the most ethical approach we can take? One blatant conflict of interest recently came up when Secretary of State Reactionary briefly became Southern Governor when he just so happened to also be suing the Southern government at that time. I'm thankful we have active people in some of our Cabinet positions currently. For example, Peebs and wxtransit are two folks who are doing a fine job. We can point out these people and compliment them for their performance, but we can't assume that everyone appointed will be the same. Atlasia's had a long and crazy history with plenty of interesting characters. You never know what can happen when you give someone just too much power. We should take the ethical approach to this and lead by example. When we can, avoid conflicts of interest, and encourage newcomers to be involved in elected office as well. That is really what we should aspire towards in government.

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If it was, I wouldn't be running! I'd just be happily marching along to retirement now. Despite what some may tell you, there is a clear feeling of discontent among many people in Atlasia. That includes officeholders and regular citizens alike. This doesn't just come from out of nowhere. It could be institutional or cultural, but people just aren't having as much fun as they can. Part of the reason has been the year-long Federalist dominance at the top. When big-ticket elections aren't competitive, that rush of excitement goes away among many. Sure, you could be debating big bills and writing big speeches, but does that really measure success in a game like this? I argue that you must captivate the people in order to be a true leader in Atlasia. People expect fhtagn to win, and then what? We get four more months of milquetoast governance that will make Jeb! look like someone worth clapping to. My administration's informal motto might be "keep sh**t interesting." If we can do that, despite it all, we''ll have done what we set out to do with this campaign.

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I agree with Senator Pericles that infrastructure is a big thing we can focus on soon. My administration would also recognize that as we shift to a green economy, there is a plethora of potential jobs out there that we could facilitate with programs and adequate funding. Training people and getting out in the workforce for these kind of labor-intensive, high-paying jobs will benefit us all in the long run. I am also quite fond of the notion of some kind of federal jobs guarantee. There are enough studies out there that show that people feel valuable when they have something to work on and make a livelihood out of. Temporary makeshift jobs can do a lot not only to bring unemployment down, but to stimulate demand and also raise morale among the population. While unemployment is part of the business cycle and we can't pull all the levers of the economy, taking such steps will keep us much better structurally in the long run.

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It's a fair question. As I've said before, I recognize I'm far from perfect. There are plenty of things to nitpick over my record, and I fully expected those when I entered the race. To bring a personal side of things, I've currently struggling with ongoing personal issues that have impaired my ability to be here as often as I could have otherwise. It's regrettable, but I'm trying my best with what I've been offered in life right now. With that said, while Adam and I haven't been the loudest voices here lately, we have been around long enough to know what works and what doesn't in Atlasia. We've both had accomplishments we can be proud of. More importantly, we care enough about the game to jump back in the fray even when we could have continued to stay quiet. We're running because we're the ticket that will address the question: why are people unsatisfied with the current state of the game? We have the credentials to make good on our promises, and we're coming in this with no other agenda of career advancement or whatever. We've already been through it all. Now we just want to make one last effort to make Atlasia better.

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He would have. There are two things about Adam based on his record (which is quite extensive) that I believe are evident. First, he says what's on his mind. He's unadulterated and he can become quite passionate about any given topic, either to his benefit or detriment. The second thing is that he's had a long history of supporting measures for gender equality. Not only that, but he's called out quite a few others for sexism in the past. That isn't to say he's been perfect, because none of us are. While he made a lapse in judgment in that particular instance, he's recognized that it was wrong to say and he owned up to it in public. That takes a good deal of humility to do, and I'm glad he did. There are far more pertinent issues to bring up in this race, which is why I'm happy to be involved in this debate.

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Meritocracy on balance is a good idea when you consider who to appoint to the Cabinet, for one example. If you look at people's records and determine who has the highest success and potential for growth, then you can elevate them and hope they continue to do great things in new offices. That means that party doesn't matter, nor does how long you've been around. I would love to see a system where we reward new players who show great promise so they can receive the fruits of their labor in due time. Under a President Spiral, when I look at who to serve under my administration, it doesn't matter if you're from the Federalists, Labor, Alliance, PUP, or Peace--you're all just Atlasians with different resumes and different skills. As someone who has been involved with multiple parties over the years and have forged alliances with both left and right, I believe I'm uniquely qualified in this race to attract the best talent across the political spectrum.

[Senator Spiral]

Ms. President, I thought I did try to answer your question in my statement. To be even more clear, here's my answer about whether dual office-holding has harmed the game: Not yet.

Why do I say that? We can only look back a few years to a much different time in Atlasia. Summer of 2015. We had what was essentially a constitutional crisis. We had multiple revolutionary groups calling for secession or dissolution. Our president then stood back and did nothing while our republic was burning. Members of the Cabinet were scheming in their own ways to bring chaos. It got so bad that my running mate was elected President to clean up that mess.

You must admit, it's quite unprecedented to have virtually your entire Cabinet hold dual offices at once. You say that's because if we didn't rely on those individuals, we'd face an activity crisis. But, I thought the game was going in the right direction under your leadership! Does it inspire a lot of confidence when the administration must rely on the same pool of talent yet claim we're making steady progress on activity? Dual office-holding not only facilitates an environment for cliques to form, but it's also unfair to other players, many of whom could be up-and-coming beginners who are just ambitious enough to give it a go.

Why don't we focus on these people instead of the same old faces? You criticize me for being an old-timer, but I recognize that the game survives through enough new blood in the mix. I've been the strongest voice in this race for representing other players--players who aren't talked about, but who could be if they're given a chance. My presidency would be all about creating genuine, lasting activity so we can take this game to new places. The current leadership hasn't proven it can do that, or even recognize the fundamental problem.

[Senator Spiral]

I'd like to thank wxtransit for hosting this wonderful debate, and I'd also like to thank President fhtagn and Senator Pericles for joining me on this stage.

This election is not about personalities. It isn't even about memes, as fun as those can be. It's about vision. Who has the vision to actually make a difference in Atlasia? Who wants to see this game reach new heights? Who will support the next generation of Atlasians to move us forward?

This campaign is not about an ego trip for myself. I've already checked all the boxes on political office for two different regions in my time. The reason why I decided to step my foot out, withstand the storm of criticism, and offer an alternative was because I knew we could do much better than we are right now. If it'll take this old geezer to point it out, by God, we need that in this day and age.

The President claims that everything is hunky dory in Atlasia--as long as she remains in office for the next four months. After those four months, though, what do we really expect to see? She has been as guilty as anyone of offering platitudes to voters. While she goes on about the bills she's signed, she has become increasingly out of touch with the regular Atlasian. Holing yourself up in chatrooms isn't communicating with average voters, it's the online equivalent of frequenting the local country club. That won't be what you'll see out of me as President. I will fight for you, and you'll know exactly where I stand and why I do what I do--because I'll talk directly to you.

The Federalists may have controlled government for the past year, but I want to be clear: When I talk about uniting this country, I'm talking about reaching out to regular Federalists as well. It's this current administration that's part of the problem. A Spiral administration will fight for all voters. I have seen all sides of party politics and built unlikely alliances with many. This vast experience that Adam Griffin and I have built up over the years will be put to the final test as we seek to revitalize this great game. It won't be just us, though: it will require all of you too.

Isn't it time we mixed things up for a change? I humbly ask for your vote this weekend. Thank you all.