The Atlasian Tribune - Mechaman's column

[Southern Senator North Carolina Yankee]

If Xahar wants to preference all the levels of Hell from Dante's Divine Comedy he should be able to too.

[Хahar 🤔]

I am totally going to do that.

[Antonio the Sixth]

No, like using proper formatting and voting for actual candidates (or just human beings). It's a hard request to deliver on, I know.

There is no need to answer Libertas, mate. He's a troll unable of any rational discussion, and just deserves to be ignored. And anyways, his posts are supposed to be deleted ASAP.

[k-onmmunist]

So, basically, you're criticising people for not voting for you.

Classy.

Uh, what?

I'd seriously love an explanation as to how you came to this ridiculous conclusion, Winston.

No need to quote yourself 3 times.

[Obnoxiously Slutty Girly Girl]

No, like using proper formatting and voting for actual candidates (or just human beings). It's a hard request to deliver on, I know.

There is no need to answer Libertas, mate. He's a troll unable of any rational discussion, and just deserves to be ignored. And anyways, his posts are supposed to be deleted ASAP.

Um, excuse me? I think you need to learn how to show basic respect toward other people, even those you might happen to disagree with politically.

[k-onmmunist]

No, like using proper formatting and voting for actual candidates (or just human beings). It's a hard request to deliver on, I know.

There is no need to answer Libertas, mate. He's a troll unable of any rational discussion, and just deserves to be ignored. And anyways, his posts are supposed to be deleted ASAP.

Um, excuse me? I think you need to learn how to show basic respect toward other people, even those you might happen to disagree with politically.

I'm afraid Libertas is right, Antonio. You need to stop insulting people for their beliefs.

[Obnoxiously Slutty Girly Girl]

No, like using proper formatting and voting for actual candidates (or just human beings). It's a hard request to deliver on, I know.

There is no need to answer Libertas, mate. He's a troll unable of any rational discussion, and just deserves to be ignored. And anyways, his posts are supposed to be deleted ASAP.

Um, excuse me? I think you need to learn how to show basic respect toward other people, even those you might happen to disagree with politically.

I'm afraid Libertas is right, Antonio. You need to stop insulting people for their beliefs.

I really don't know what I did to warrant being treated like absolute sh**t by Antonio on a regular basis.

[Filuwaúrdjan]

Ranting about the LNF is a little... old... don't you think? Its a sad fact, but it doesn't really exist anymore.

Though, given your position, I think its fair to say that there's a looming crisis hanging over the Court unless you're more careful about what you have published under your name.

[Antonio the Sixth]

No, like using proper formatting and voting for actual candidates (or just human beings). It's a hard request to deliver on, I know.

There is no need to answer Libertas, mate. He's a troll unable of any rational discussion, and just deserves to be ignored. And anyways, his posts are supposed to be deleted ASAP.

Um, excuse me? I think you need to learn how to show basic respect toward other people, even those you might happen to disagree with politically.

Except for the fact that my opinion of you has nothing to do with "political disagreements"...  But you probably know that as I do.

[AndrewTX]

I've got to say, that I think Antonio is doing a great thing here. There are so many people who have a column, and its great to see all these people with different views being able to express themselves in one paper, and not a paper that mainly express's'ssss's the views of just one party, or political position.

[Sam Spade]

(sigh)

[Purple State]

Ranting about the LNF is a little... old... don't you think? Its a sad fact, but it doesn't really exist anymore.

Though, given your position, I think its fair to say that there's a looming crisis hanging over the Court unless you're more careful about what you have published under your name.

That seems like a needless threat. Real-life, modern day norms for Supreme Court justices really have little bearing on how I view Atlasian Supreme Court justices. It's not as though Marokai tipped his hand on any constitutional issues, nor would I really care if he did. After all, it's a game.

[Vepres]

I've got to say, that I think Antonio is doing a great thing here. There are so many people who have a column, and its great to see all these people with different views being able to express themselves in one paper, and not a paper that mainly express's'ssss's the views of just one party, or political position.

I have to second this.

You have been a real positive influence on this game Antonio

[Antonio the Sixth]

I've got to say, that I think Antonio is doing a great thing here. There are so many people who have a column, and its great to see all these people with different views being able to express themselves in one paper, and not a paper that mainly express's'ssss's the views of just one party, or political position.

I have to second this.

You have been a real positive influence on this game Antonio

Thanks a lot to both. I'm very glad to see my idea is apreciated.

[Marokai Backbeat]

Ranting about the LNF is a little... old... don't you think? Its a sad fact, but it doesn't really exist anymore.

Though, given your position, I think its fair to say that there's a looming crisis hanging over the Court unless you're more careful about what you have published under your name.

That seems like a needless threat. Real-life, modern day norms for Supreme Court justices really have little bearing on how I view Atlasian Supreme Court justices. It's not as though Marokai tipped his hand on any constitutional issues, nor would I really care if he did. After all, it's a game.

Thanks for the defense, PS. And I agree.

If someone has a problem with the job I am doing then let it be known. If someone has any concern they can point to that my judgment has been compromised or that I'm unable to perform my duties, then let it be known. However, this is, in the end, a game. I take my job as a Justice seriously, but not seriously enough to go into a cave and only come out when summoned by the rest of the Justices because this is not a real life position.

I've been perfectly capable of separating my duties from my personal political involvement and my personal opinions. Even when I could've been cruel to Hamilton, when he was most definitely out of line in the courtroom, I simply let him off with a warning to knock it off when I could have done much worse. I gave Giovanni, someone I don't agree with politically and not someone I always like concerning his political attachments in Atlasia, a very light punishment when the jury was unanimous and I could've given him a much harsher sentence.

I do my duty, I do it well, and I do it fairly. If anyone's got a problem with that, then I eagerly await your reasoning.

[Marokai Backbeat]

I should also add that since I've become a Justice I have not commented on a matter of law/constitutionality.

[Vepres]

Is Hashy's column gonna be up on schedule? I'm looking forward to it.

[Hash]

Is Hashy's column gonna be up on schedule? I'm looking forward to it.

I ought to write it, but I have a novel to write by Thursday.

[Antonio the Sixth]

The President
by Hashemite

I advocated during the Constitutional Convention for a parliamentary system of sorts and the reduced power of the Presidency. To absolutely no avail in a convention dominated either by delegates who were downright hostile to talk of change, or by delegates supportive of presidentialism. I was realistic, and I knew that a parliamentary system would not pass either the delegates and even less the voters in the regions. I, like other supporters of change, settled down and found our places in the old system. If the chance arose again and I had the votes to push for parliamentary Atlasia, would I? Yes. But I don't think I have the votes.

What does this useless crap bring me to? Well, I could say that part of my search for a parliamentary regime has been vindicated. We have a legislature, the Senate, were a vast majority of the legislation passed is written by the Senators themselves and at their initiative. Rare is the legislation that is proposed for a constituent or for the executive. The legislature has become the focal point of Atlasian governance and policy.

Yes, we do have an executive. But unlike most executives, it does comparatively little policy-making and day-to-day governance. The President has the power to do lots of stuff, and he uses remarkably very little of it. In the past months, legislation which was introduced by a Senator but written or largely co-ordinated by the President or at the direct request of a cabinet member can be counted on one hand. Atlasian Presidents have seldom led policy-making, some have led forum affair reforms or electoral reforms, but very little have actually done major policy-making. To his credit, President Lief did lead the charge for the healthcare and stimulus bills, but compared to other Presidents, the Atlasian President leads very little policy-making.

If we are to have a presidential system, then so be it. But let it be a real presidential system. That means an executive which is a united executive leading the charge for specific policy and specific reforms. Atlasia has been governed in the past year or even more by a perpetual Coalition of National Unity or a semblance of it between the President and the Senate. The President has specific constitutional powers, and he must use them to the benefit of the game and the benefit of Atlasia. However he sees fit, be it by really leading the charge, not just for the first week of his tenure, for policy changes and political reforms. It's time for a President who's really active, a President who uses the pulpit and takes a stand for what he believes in. Not a President who does little policy-making and only chimes in on certain important Senate business.

[MASHED POTATOES. VOTE!]

I'm so angry I'm about to explode, Hash, because I was intendind to write on this topis from the same position for my second column

Good piece, anyway

[Vepres]

Good column, though I don't think it is necessarily unrealistic. After all, as I'm sure you know, the Presidency was a very hands-off office at least until the civil war and possibly until the 20th century.

[Antonio the Sixth]

Monthly electoral/poll analysis

January 2010 Mideast General Election

With a surprisingly large margin, Swedish Cheese has been elected Governor of Mideast Region, defeating relatively popular incumbent Inks.LWC.
While the election was generally seen as competitive, both candidates having a pretty good image of competence and integrity, a similar defeat was certaily unexpected. Only 4 persons eventually cast their ballot for Inks, all of them being staunch conservatives (notwithstanding the fact that several moderate Midwesterners have expressed sympathy toward him). We can assume that these electons don't express any particular disapproval of Inks, but rather a greater preference toward Swedish Cheese. Why didn't Inks benefit the privilege of incumbency ? Maybe it's just that he has been in office for too long, and that people wished a change. Swedish Cheese, a quite recent member (he's almost of my generation), moderate in his political views and friendly in every occasion, could have been seen as "new blood", a healthy renewal to make the region move.
However, there are also national trends that shouldn't be ignored. Inks' defeat comes after about eight months of periodical defeats of the Regional Protection Party/Progressive Conservative Party. In June 2009, Pit lost an extremely close election after having been expected to get a clear victory. Two months later, the party was expected to gain two or even three Senate seats ; they finally elected only RowanBrandon. The infamous former RPP leader DWTL has failed three successive attempts to get back into the Senate after having been expelled for inactivity. Finally, the temporary upsurge of Hamilton's right-wing populist movement seriously harmed the party's situation. Meanwhile, numerous members have left the RPP/PCP to fnd new places to express their political thought. RPP/PCP Chairman, North Carolina Yankee, seems determined to give his party a new impulse, and started by removing old and inactive members (a quite healthy measure that should, in my opinion, be taken by the JCP as well) and giving back the party his old name. Will this be sufficient ? Only the future will tell us.


Poll #1 : NE Governor race

Date	January 03
Question	If you are a Northeast Citizen, which candidate are you most likely to vote for ?
Results	AndrewCT : 12 (55%) Hamilton : 7 (32%) Neither of those : 3 (13%)

This poll seems totally obsolete, now that Hamilton is "over" (good riddance). Anyways, still very comforting to see AndrewCT leading by a strong margin. The Northeast used to be Hamilton's stronghold, with ARC getting 36% of the votes in last legislative elections. However, this poll, along with several others giving the same results, clearly shows that an universally repected candidate can manage to gather the sanes' vote against any zombie army, regardless of its strength.


Poll #2 : Party identification

Date	January 04
Question	Which party are you registered in ?
Results	Jesus Christ Party : 12 (26%) Democratic Alliance : 9 (20%) Progressive Conservative Party : 8 (17%) Atlasia Reform Coalition : 6 (13%) Leipist National Front : 4 (9%) Independent : 4 (9%) Other Party : 3 (7%)

The representativity of this poll is quite limited, since only 46 people out of about 150 Atlasians voted in it. However, its main results seem blatant : The DA is tied with the PCP, even getting one more vote. This seems to confirm my initial thought about the PCP : the party is, currently, in a very bad shape, and will need a serious boost to get out of it. While the JCP still leads, it gathers less than one third of the vote and appears seriously weakened too compared to other times. The main surprise comes from the DA, which seems to contraddict its disappointing performance in december. The party is still strong, and, what is even more evident, gathers far more active voters, proportionnally, than every other party. One of the main reason of this good showing is that zombie voters are generally unlikely to vote in these polls, so that parties whose scores are overinflated by zombies now appear as they should be (hence the poor score of the official zombies' party, aka ARC).


Poll #3 : Opinion of the HAEV

Date	January 05
Question	Do you approve or disapprove the High Authority for Ethics in Voting ?
Results	Strongly Approve : 4 (24%) Somewhat Approve : 1 (6%) Neutral : 2 (12%) Somewhat Disapprove : 2 (12%) Strongly Disapprove : 8 (47%)

The results of this poll make me quite skeptical, and that's why I don't see how I could really comment it. The turnout was extremely low, so I don't think the results can really be seen as significative. What does this show us ? That 10 people actually disapprove of the HAEV ; these people can be whoever you want, but not necessarilty a majority of Atlasians.
The Tribune will probably conduct a new poll about the same topic in February of March, when we'll have seen how the HAEV does his job, and the result will be more meaningful.


Poll #4 : RPP/PCP name

Date	January 07
Question	Which name would you prefer for the party currently known as PCP ?
Results	Among RPP/PCP members : Regional Protection Party : 6 (60%) Progressive Conservative Party : 2 (20%) Other : 2 (20%) Among non RPP/PCP members : Regional Protection Party : 7 (41%) Progressive Conservative Party : 3 (18%) Other : 7 (41%)

Even though its subject may seem trivial, the result of this poll is quite interesting for the divide between PCPers and non-PCPers.
The movement to give the RPP his original name back was started by its "old guard", and mainly the new chairman North Carolina Yankee. By this poll, he has the assurance that the party's base stands behind him, and that the return to "the good old day" is mostly seen as a healthy thing. This is probably a result of the association of this name with Hamilton and Pit, at the time when they planned to take over the party through dishonest practices. The party's grassroots clearly mean some nostalgy for the time when the RPP was a strong party which managed to impose hadcore regionalism thanks to a strong leadership and good political alliances.
However, what about other Atlasians ? Obviously, the decision of a party name belongs to the party members, and it would be senseless to organize a national referendum on the issue. However, the opinion of "Atlasians of the outside" still deserves to be considered. And the result is very different than for the PCP members : only 42% of non-PCPers want to call the party "RPP". The same percentage wishes the party to take a new name, more appropriate to what it really is. So, should the PCP listen to them or not ? The decision doesn' belong to me.


Poll #5 : Ideological divide

Date	January 10
Question	Which ideology do you most identify with ?
Results	Social-Democracy/Radical left : 7 (16%) Liberalism/Center-left : 10 (22%) Conservative libertarianism : 2 (4%) Moderate libertarianism : 1 (2%) Radical libertarianlism : 3 (7%) Moderate conservatism/Populism : 4 (9%) Hardcore conservatism : 6 (13%) Centrism : 5 (11%) Loonyism : 3 (7%) Game reformism : 1 (2%) Other : 3 (7%)

With a quite good representativity (45 voters), this poll gives us important data to examine. While many right-wing Atlasians have repeatedly pointed out the domination of the left on Atlasia, this poll will probably give them some statistical basis. 38% of Atlasians define themselves as either "radical left" or "center-left", while only 22% of them consider themselves as "conservatives" and 13% as "libertarians". This domination is, however, far less massive than one could imagine : libertarians in Atlasia tend to be strongly right-wing, as the only issues which are really subject of debates are economic ones. That's what leads me to the conclusion that left and right are, in fact, rather equilibrate in the Atlasian political spectrum : 38% for the first, 36% for the second. Hardcore conservatives will point out Atlasia's ultraliberalism on social issues, but, frankly, few people really care about that. What about those who don't fit either with left or with right ? They're quite numerous comapred to other countries, representing more than one fourth of Atlasian citizens. Most of them are centrists, while loonies only poll 7% and game reformers only 2%. The last two, which we could call "Altasian particularisms", don't look so widespread as one could think : Atlasia remains based on a traditional divide.

[k-onmmunist]

Biased.

[Marokai Backbeat]

Poll #5 : Ideological divide

Date	January 10
Question	Which ideology do you most identify with ?
Results	Social-Democracy/Radical left : 7 (16%) Liberalism/Center-left : 10 (22%) Conservative libertarianism : 2 (4%) Moderate libertarianism : 1 (2%) Radical libertarianlism : 3 (7%) Moderate conservatism/Populism : 4 (9%) Hardcore conservatism : 6 (13%) Centrism : 5 (11%) Loonyism : 3 (7%) Game reformism : 1 (2%) Other : 3 (7%)

With a quite good representativity (45 voters), this poll gives us important data to examine. While many right-wing Atlasians have repeatedly pointed out the domination of the left on Atlasia, this poll will probably give them some statistical basis. 38% of Atlasians define themselves as either "radical left" or "center-left", while only 22% of them consider themselves as "conservatives" and 13% as "libertarians". This domination is, however, far less massive than one could imagine : libertarians in Atlasia tend to be strongly right-wing, as the only issues which are really subject of debates are economic ones. That's what leads me to the conclusion that left and right are, in fact, rather equilibrate in the Atlasian political spectrum : 38% for the first, 36% for the second. Hardcore conservatives will point out Atlasia's ultraliberalism on social issues, but, frankly, few people really care about that. What about those who don't fit either with left or with right ? They're quite numerous comapred to other countries, representing more than one fourth of Atlasian citizens. Most of them are centrists, while loonies only poll 7% and game reformers only 2%. The last two, which we could call "Altasian particularisms", don't look so widespread as one could think : Atlasia remains based on a traditional divide.

Beautiful, Antonio. Truly. I've said for a long time now that Atlasia (and the forum at-large, really) is not nearly as left-wing as people say it is. It is socially left-wing, quite broadly in fact, but economically it remains rather split down the middle.

You're dead-on about the Atlasian libertarians. When have they ever voted for the JCP or other left-wing candidates? They may occasionally preference more moderate members, but the libertarians of Atlasia remain solely committed to their economic conservatism. Social issues don't even matter at all in Atlasia, and we've long determined "left vs right" in Atlasia on the Econ category. Even social conservatives, like Inks or MasterJedi, don't make their social conservatism that big of an issue for them.

It's all economic divisions. Because of that, Atlasia is fairly split and any whining about how left-wingers dominate Atlasia is nonsense. Representation is another issue, but even so, things are balanced.

[k-onmmunist]

How can you not say it's biased towards the left? Until recently, when a new opposition has formed, it was. Now though, people have a real choice.