The Office of Senator LumineVonReuental (A Farewell to the Senate)

[Lumine]

Lumine's Senate Platform (Part I)

Preamble:

January 20th:

I stand before the Most Serene Republic of the Midwest today, after spending almost eight months of my political career serving the citizens as an Archduke and Governor. It has been a tough campaign, and it probably will get tougher as time goes on, but I’m ready to fight. You see, one of the most important (probably the most important) parts of a political campaign is the platform, for people must know where the candidates stand, what they believe, what are they willing to fight for. My opponent has showed his plans for his next term few days ago in great detail and I commend him on that, as he has always explained his plans on the campaign trail. Personal or political feelings aside, this is something we should expect from all Senators. Now is my turn to do so, and I sincerely expect that the citizens of the Midwest will agree with me in most (you can never agree with all) of the issues I will speak about today.

I wish to be a Senator of the Republic of Atlasia so I can fight and stand up for four things. I wish to fight for my region, I wish to stand up for my constituents, I wish to fight for more compromise and for a genuine desire of cooperation between our political parties, and I wish to fight and stand up for my beliefs. People might very well think that it is impossible to achieve those things without sacrificing one of them, but I wish to prove them wrong. I want to show the innate differences between an At-Large Senate seat and a Regional Senate seat, and prove to critics that you can compromise without surrendering your views and without turning into an empty moderate hero. Sure, ambition, the extensive use of political rhetoric and the great challenge that is facing an incumbent Senator motivate me to do this, but I have a genuine desire to get to the Senate and start working in the federal level for what I believe.   Therefore, I am willing to make pledges and show my platform to set the record straight, for I believe the voters have the right to be informed by their officeholders.

In short, I decided that instead of focusing on a single area (like Environmental policies, which I strongly support) of policy, I plan to make changes on most areas, whenever I think I have an idea that could improve lives and make our government and our august legislative body more efficient and open. I have divided this platform on policy areas: Senate Style, Environment, Domestic Policy and Foreign Policy.

Senate Style:
For a more representative Senator:

One of the most interesting parts of the Senate is the division between seats that are At-Large and Regional Seats, for it provides a better balance and better representation of the issues. At least in theory, since this requires Regional Senators to actually represent their constituency (like Senators Yankee and Tyrion, for example). Therefore, I have always believed that the differences between a Regional Senator and an At-Large Senators are crucial, and that said difference is often forgotten. Many times we have seen Regional Senators that tend to ignore their respective regions, ignoring that their purpose is representing their citizens and their concerns. I can't criticize my opponent for pursuing his agenda, that's what all Senators do, but I feel that we need a Regional Senator that is more in touch with his region and that have a stronger connection with the constituency. This region knows me, I have been Archduke and Governor, and I have always worked hard for this region. I reformed the legislative system, the constitution and I fought for a responsible government that was able to work with the parties. I worked with Liberals, Federalists, Progressives and Laborites, and I never faced any trouble with them. Why? Because I respected them, despite our political differences.

I have always said that as a Senator I want to work with all parties to pass my agenda, and that’s not a sign of weakness. Moderation and bipartisanship are not terms to be demonized; those are the things that make Atlasia a better game, a functional game. We do not need bitter rhetoric and cheap remarks that will lead to gridlock, we need statesmanship. Granted, I’m no Winston Churchill, but at least my supporters seem to believe that I have what it takes to work with the rest of the parties. If I disagree with something, I’ll say it out loud as always, but I will never resort to personal attacks involving fascism, child abuse or corporate puppets. Some may think it’s amusing, I think it’s wrong. We are elected to lead with dignity as political equals, and intolerance is precisely the worst thing you can find in an officeholder, even worse than inactivity.

Now, one of the things that I found quite interested about the Senate a few months ago was the committees that the Senate used to have, and they were certainly interesting. I can still recall, for example, the detailed discussions on North Korea that surged in one of the committees (I believe Senator Clarence took a very strong position against North Korea), or the attempts at Social Security reform in a committee not long ago. I feel that our current At-Large Senators are all active, and I think we can expect the same of the future Regional Senators. Thus, I want to sponsor an attempt to return to said system in a more simplified version, with a foreign policy committee, a domestic policy committee, an ethics and game reform committee and special committees in case of need, like the already mentioned Social Security one. At the very least we should begin discussing if we are ready now for the use of such a mechanism, for I believe we are. The Senate has no problem passing bills, sure, but I feel that along with activity we should be concerned as to how interesting and attractive is our legislative body, and this is a tested method that works.

When talking about the differences between At-Large/Regional I mentioned my constituency, and I pledge right here to keep my office open at all times to take any bills that my future constituents wish to send to the Senate, even if I disagree with them. I am perfectly willing to let their voice be heard (unless of course we're talking about something that amounts to serious trolling, but I don't think it will ever come to that), and we should do so as Senators. Some Senators have worked very hard on Wiki Reform and keeping the wiki up to date, and I am more than willing to help on that effort to keep our records up to date and perfectly accurate. We also seem to lack positions on the Senate that go beyond President Pro-Tempore and Dean of the Senate, so I was thinking about introducing real life offices like Majority/Minority Leaders, or Chief Whips, or Senate Caucuses. Granted, this depends on the parties and not me, but I also want to work with other Senators to see if this works, especially if two or more Progressives enter the Senate next month.

I think the people can expect me to be a good Senator for various reasons, many of them listed before on one of my ads or in my opening speech. I don't feel bipartisanship is overrated, I feel it's necessary for a fully functional democracy. Otherwise a majority pushes legislation, and then another majority comes and destroys those bills. What is left for the future if we ever end up going that road? I have been critical of many individuals, and yes, my attacks towards TNF get out of hand sometimes, but nobody can say that I haven't worked with other parties. I did so in the Mideast Assembly, and I did so as Archduke and Governor. I have always been an independent or in a political minority in all of my offices, but that never proved to be a problem nor was I the source of gridlock. I always managed to build a few bridges, some of them lasting until today. That's why I'm proud of my endorsements, for example, for that proves that there several individuals who (I hope) think positive of me and think I can perform a decent job.

Sure, I'd like to be the first Progressive Senator (Napoleon doesn't count for me), sure I'd like to make history as the man who managed to unseat a formidable opponent, and sure, I'd like to be known as the man who used YouTube to get elected. But more than that, and as clichéd as it may sounds, I would prefer being just "the Senator from the Midwest". And that's what I am going to be. I think I can win this election, I think the voters are behind me, and I think I will give a very eloquent surprise to Atlasia in a few more weeks. And that will be the beginning of the true challenge: proving that my message is not empty, that my rhetoric is not useless, and that I can be a truly active and efficient Senator.

In short:

-Open Office Pledge: As a Senator I will be open to take my constituent bills to the Senate (except in cases of trolling).
-Bipartisanship: Again, I pledge to work with all parties and act like a statesman instead of trying to organize a witch hunt.
-Returning Committees to the Senate: Foreign, Domestic and Ethics/Game Reform (along with special ones) to make the Senate more interesting.
-Official Positions: Although this one depends on the parties, I wish to seek the possibility of adding more political offices to the Senate.

[Lumine]

Lumine's Senate Platform (Part II)

The Environment:
Fighting for a Green Atlasia:

(Special thanks to Superique for all of his help in this issue)

As everybody is aware, one of my biggest concerns in Atlasia (perhaps the biggest one) is the environment. I have always tried to fight for more environmental friendly legislation and energy reform, and as a Governor and Presidential Candidate I tried to give further impulse to such causes. I am aware that this might bring some damage to our economy, but it is my belief that there is no point in a strong economy if our environment is destroyed and finished thanks to the lack of ecological conscience. Thus, I wish to lead that charge for massive reform on this area as a Senator, and I want to do so with the ambitious goal of making Atlasia more and more green as time passes, both with long and short term proposals that seek to accomplish this goal. The current problem with our energy approach is that we talk about green energy as the energy of the future, and said future never comes. I think green/alternative energy should be the present and the future, and if we focused on that instead of energy "independence" (which only makes us slaves of our own oil), we could actually take a lead in the world, and we would stop depending on the Middle East, thus having an actually positive effect on foreign policy.

First things first, we need to choose the right kind of energy source to replace coal and oil. In that spirit I have chosen a short-term replacement and a long term replacement. It’s painfully obvious that we cannot jump right away to clean sources, given that wind power is not completely reliable, hydro power tends to harm ecosystems and solar energy, despite its massive advantages, does not have the enough amounts of research required to sustain our energy demands. Short term answer?  Nuclear power. There are many concerns about this kind of energy, most of them related to accidents and to how clean is it. Nuclear energy won’t last forever, that’s for sure, but it is more clean that oil and coal, and a good number of nuclear power plants (that we can actually build) could sustain our economy (or a big part of it) in a progressive way to give us enough time to complete research and introduce solar power. Many will want to bring up Three Miles Island, Chernobyl or Fukushima, but those are exceptions. Chernobyl was poorly managed, Fukushima was built in a bad location and Three Miles Island happened thanks to a human accident that would not happen today.

The long term answer is obviously solar energy, considering both solar thermal energy and photovoltaic panels. What I aim to do is increase funding on solar energy research (and focus on geothermal and biomass energy as well) and then start using a good example to prove that it works. One of my proposals in the Midwest involved making all government buildings run on green energy, and I think it would be good to send this to the national government. What better than seeing our White House or our Congress as an example of a good use of alternative energy? With further use of Nuclear and Solar Energy we can change our economy for the better, and we will not only be energy independent, we will also be a much more clean nation. Of course, I want this to be done in a progressive way so we don’t destroy jobs, which while not being a big concern for my constituents; it is a genuine concern for states like West Virginia or Texas.

When we talk about energy and environment we are led towards the cities as well, and we have to do some serious amounts of reform there. My proposal is to craft legislation to pursue urban renewal of the cites with the help of the SoIA and the Regional Executives, trying to introduce more green areas and parks, and more cycling infrastructure to try and tackle many of the problems that cities are currently facing with transport. We also need to increase the level of public transportation to make it more efficient, and we can do so with the previously proposed High Speed Rails to move across the states and more efficient Buses into the cities, which should be submitted to speed limits (as all vehicles should). I considered using the Brazilian model of alcohol cars, but quick research shows that the production of Ethanol had very negative effects in the food industry, so while I will fight for further research (the way I see it, this is better than other sources of energy, I choose to give further subsides to electric cars instead.

In short:

-More Nuclear/Solar Energy: Increasing research for those types of energy, fight to build more Nuclear Power Plants and make the government buildings run on solar energy. Also increase research and investments on biomass and geothermal energy.
-Fracking: I oppose fracking, but I’m willing to wait three or four years until further research proves that it is possible to do this without harming the environment.
-Urban Renewal: More green areas, more bicycling infrastructure, High Speed Rails, more public transportation and subsides to electric cars, along with speed limits.

[Lumine]

Lumine's Senate Platform (Part III)

Domestic Policy:
Achieving Efficiency:

Domestic Policy as a term involves many different policies, so it would take pages to talk about all possible issues. I choose to focus on a few instead, but I am of course open to further questioning of any issues I will not mention here. While I don’t have an specific pet project here (not like the one I have in the Environment), I will focus on Gun Control, Social Security Reform, Immigration and Education, will small reforms that (I hope) will help us to increase efficiency, hence the title of this section. I think that we could be far more efficient on those policy areas than we are not (I think most people agree on that), but unlike my opponent, I won’t be making unnecessary calls for nationalization of everything. Simple reforms will suffice for me, for I plan them to be for the long term.

First goes Education. I really like the system we have now, and I can say that I’m proud of our public education, especially in comparison with our neighbors. That said, public education is not everything. True freedom means that you have a choice, and making our current system the only mandatory choice is not the answer. I am referring of course to the Rational Education Act, and I pledge here and now that I will never send a bill like that to the Senate. I already defended homeschooling back in my thread, and I am willing to do with private education as well. What I feel we should reform is two things: infrastructure and subjects. Infrastructure is really simple, we are currently facing a health care reform that involves more digitalization, and I feel we must do the same with education. We should be investing to bring more technology to schools and colleges so we can reap the benefits later, for an educated and efficient workforce is the key to success. That as a common sense proposal, for my next one might not enjoy similar levels of support. There are two things that we lack in our current system, or at least that we do not have in enough levels: Environmental Education and Civic Education. I wish to address the first with an interdisciplinary approach, trying to get subjects like Chemistry, Biology and History closer to the environment and its conservation. Civic Education could easily be made as a normal subject, but I feel our citizens should be better informed about the system, and what better way than starting with the future voters and officeholders?

Gun Control is also a polemic issue, often associated with crime. For example, my opponent believes that the police should go unharmed, but that there should be no Gun Control on liberty grounds. I understand that, and I will never restrict the right that our citizens have to own a gun, for that is their prerogative. But I am worried about certain types of guns and some of the people who can buy a gun. Mistakes on that often lead to tragedies, and we need change there. How? By proposing magazine bans and more strict background checks. That way normal citizens won’t be really restricted on their rights, but we will be able to stop the wrong people from owning a gun. I am also considering an Assault Weapons Ban, but that is sometime that I want to discuss before the Senate before jumping to conclusions.

Immigration is an issue that we do not often discuss, but I feel there’s a lot of ground to cover. I think immigration (legal immigration) has a positive effect on our economy, but we can’t say the same from illegal immigration. I am no friend of being an extremist on deportation, but we must also prove to the world that the people will be better if they come here legally. Therefore, I want to propose a small series of reforms that will attempt to increase legal immigration and provide a decent path to citizenship without going too soft. The obvious thing to do is strengthen to border with more patrols, but I want to do beyond that. One of my domestic policy advisers (to be named later at his request) had a good series of proposals that caught my attention, and they involve small modifications to the DREAM Act (four years of service in the armed forces or institutions of higher learning for citizenship), citizenship after 5-6 years and increased HB-1 visas (to be reformed to allow for better salaries for those workers). Granted, immigration is not my best area and therefore I want to find a co-sponsor to discuss and push forward this potential reform, but why should we act as if immigration was not a real issue? To do so is a big mistake.

I spoke earlier about the Social Security Committee, and I plan on participating on Social Security Reform as well. While I’m not that much of an expert in the American system, I have learned a lot from the Chilean pension system (quite famous around the world), and I have been able to find strengths that we could easily adapt into our system, the same way TheRileyKeaton drafted his Health Care reform (which, for the record, I support). A few weeks ago the Social Security committee was trying to calculate how sustainable our social security is. Most of the actual discussion is centered around the payroll taxes, and while I had the original idea of lowering said tax and balance the cut with different increases, I decided to talk with Assemblyman DC al Fine (who has a great lead of knowledge and understanding of this issue), and he had a series of proposals that I found perfect to begin the reform. One the roads to lower payroll taxes was changing the investments on government securities (low return, low risk) into higher earning securities. Canada did this a few years ago, and it has significantly helped to reduce the amount that these payroll taxes have to rise. The Canadian model is certainly known by being quite stable and efficient provided that future conditions are reasonably factored in, which is certainly possible to do here. The other alternative involves targeted and reasonable cuts, like a change in the payouts. The best example DC provided me was to slightly decrease the payouts for, let’s say, the top level. This alternative would allow for money to be saved, and it also achieves the target of lowering the payroll tax. Thus, I believe that this answer should involve a truly sensitive and reasonable way of fixing the problem. We can also find alternate ways to do this, and many economists have suggested that decreasing unemployment and encouraging legal immigration (like I did a few lines back), would help to give renewed strength to social security as well.

Now, to go into further details, I spoke about the change in investments, which I also want to explain better. The system in which I live allows people to choose between funds that are named by letters, going from the one with a bigger risk and the one with a lower risk, from A to E following that order. Therefore, our system might guarantee you a very good pension if you manage to do well with your investments, but it can also lead to a horrible pension. Not wishing to see Atlasia facing that kind of experience, my attention went to the Thrift Savings Plans, which enable government workers to save money for their retirement by having the government invest mutual funds in five different assets. Sadly, we cannot guarantee the full investment, as it would lead to people taking too many risks, but by using the Canadian example and running Social Security as a corporate pension plan we could solve many of the issues we face now.

In short:

-Education: Introducing Civic Education (as a subject) and Environmental Education (through an interdisciplinary approach), and investing on more digital technology for our public education. Guaranteeing freedom in education as well.
-Gun Control: Support for magazine bans and stricter background checks. Open to Assault Weapons Ban, and yes, the police should go armed, that’s common sense for me.
-Immigration: Support for reform involving more strength in the border, DREAM Act reform.
-Social Security: Decreasing payroll taxes with sensible cuts for top level payouts, investment switch (government securities to higher earning securities), expanding the Thrift Savings Account plan.
-Other Issues: Oppose the death penalty but support for life imprisonment. Despite Pro-Life views, I am willing to compromise on this, and I am interested in reasonable policies to reduce abortion, like the one proposed by Cris before the Midwest Althing.

[Lumine]

Lumine's Senate Platform (Part IV)

Foreign Policy:
Adapting to the 21st Century:

We live in a strange world, a world that is harder to understand after the demise of the Cold War paradigm. Sometimes people act and think like we still lived in that old world and that is something we have to address. We have to stop looking at the world in the old terms, for the rise of communications and the new complexity in politics makes this a world of grey, not black and white. What I want to achieve in foreign policy is pursue an agenda reform so we can adapt better to this world, and acknowledge that our focus should be elsewhere. We spent decades focused on Europe and Latin America, and we neglected Africa and Asia while causing much harm in Latin America. That, I believe, belongs to the past, which is why I propose changes like the following:

I think we should reform NATO. I won’t do something as ridiculous as calling for the organization to be put down, but the truth is that Russia is currently a house of cards, and we shouldn’t focus on a continent that has most of their issues solved and that is unlikely to see war in decades. NATO should remain as a US led alliance, but we should switch the focus from Europe to Asia and Africa, continents that remain unstable or that have a lot of tension right now. We have to reform to include new members that share our viewpoints, and our efforts should be directed into providing assistance to some of our allied governments (economical, logistical). We should involve Japan and South Korea, and some of the Latin American governments into this, so we can help them to solve certain issues while at the same time increasing cooperation. That said, I don’t want NATO to replace the UN, and I am perfectly willing to increase our cooperation with said organism. I feel that sometimes we dismiss the UN as irrelevant, and that is a dangerous position to hold. It’s of course not up to me, but I would like to see more countries included in the Security Council and more transparent methods in the UN.

We have to do something about Israel, for I believe their treatment of Palestinians is shameful, and those Apartheid-style policies couldn’t be more wrong. However, we must be mindful of Israel being one of our most loyal allies, which means that I’m not willing to break all ties with them right away, which would only cause more instability. No, what we should do is cut military and logistical aid in a progressive period so they understand that we stand committed to a definite solution, and they must go to the negotiation table willing to compromise and accept a decent solution. We must also remind Palestinians that this is no excuse to send rockets into Israel territory and commit terrorist acts, for both sides needs to be in a real truce before conducting the actual peace talks.

To be honest, Latin America is a part of the world I am particularly interested on, given that it is my birth continent after all. Some of our previous actions during the Cold War have led to resentment in Latin America, and it’s time for us to step in and try to achieve a better relationship with them. We have to be more participative in organisms such as OAS and APEC, and we have to increase our economic and cultural ties to those countries. For far too long we have looked down on that part of the world, and I wish to work with the SoEA to see some of those changes in action. Most of Latin America is democratic now, thus making this easier to accomplish. Some private doubts remain in Venezuela and Cuba, of course, but this is the time to make things in a different way.

In short:

-NATO Reform: Include South Korea, Japan and other Asian, African and Latin American nations; focus on more cooperation between governments and assistance to some of the most troubled nations.
-Israel: Force Israel/Palestine to begin discussions on a peace settlement, slowly cut military aid to Israel to motivate them to continue the talks.
-More focus on Latin America and Africa; focus on trade and international organisms like OAS and APEC.

[Lumine]

And that is my basic platform, to be complemented with a few economic proposals in a few more days (given that my opponent was not patient enough). I apologize if there any mistakes of things that I might have overlooked, and my campaign team will recieve due credit for their help in a couple of days, once the Althing election ends.

[Enderman]

...dang...

[Sec. of State Superique]

Beautiful! Congratulations Lumine!

[Lumine]

Beautiful! Congratulations Lumine!

Thank you, Superique! My opponent is certainly not pleased (and I might have made a few mistakes, but I guess that's what happens when you're asked to release it before time), but I am pleased with this platform.

[DemPGH]

Lumine, you did a fabulous job. It's very articulate. Now you just have to plow through the withering b.s. that's been ramped up over the last few days and just keep on the issues! Nice job.

[TNF]

Why do you support ending Social Security?

[DC Al Fine]

Why do you support ending Social Security?

[citation needed]

[Lumine]

Lumine, you did a fabulous job. It's very articulate. Now you just have to plow through the withering b.s. that's been ramped up over the last few days and just keep on the issues! Nice job.

Thanks, DemPGH! I for one have grown tired with the negativity...

Why do you support ending Social Security?

I support reforming it to make it more efficient and to introduce a small free market element, Senator, to end Social Security would be irresponsible and extremist.

[Potus]

Why do you support ending Social Security?

[citation needed]

[Хahar 🤔]

Why do you support ending Social Security?

[citation needed]

Thanks for your contribution. Maybe next time consider adding actual content.

[ZuWo]

Why do you support ending Social Security?

[citation needed]

Thanks for your contribution. Maybe next time consider adding actual content.

In the short time he has been part of the game Riley Keaton has already contributed more to Atlasia than you have during the last few years.

That's an impressive platform, Lumine. The people of the Midwest will be extremely lucky with you as their regional Senator.

[Potus]

Thanks for your contribution. Maybe next time consider adding actual content.

Former Senator, I'd invite you to view my growing library of Atlasian and Mideastern legislation. They include topics ranging from environmental protection and education reform to job growth and fighting poverty. One piece of legislation I wrote, the Federalist healthcare reform, has already been proposed to the Senate and probably would have passed by now if radical Laborites weren't busy clogging the Senate with airport-renaming and nationalization of hospitals. I've written emergency legislation to address the concerns of those affected by the water disaster in my home state of West Virginia and reform the tax structure of the Mideast. I've kept a regularly updated office thread with my opinion on things and contributing to the discussion. Call me young. Call me inexperienced. Call me idealistic. But do not accuse me of lacking in contribution.

[Хahar 🤔]

Chill, bro. You're not an actual politician. Nobody talks like that. Don't empty-quote.

[Potus]

I'm just saying, you can call me a lot of things but not contributing isn't one of them. I'm not saying I'm an "actual politician." I'm making a point.

[Хahar 🤔]

Does that point involve empty-quoting?

[Potus]

TNF trolls using *citation needed* a lot. It's funny. Point made.

[Lumine]

Lumine Team on the offensive!

January 22nd, 2013:

Well, leaving charges of trolling aside, it looks like we're doing pretty well. With the Althing election over and with new population entering the Midwest, it looks like our region won't face troubles with activity as I originally feared, which only makes me more willing to go all out on this race. I do regret seeing this race become one of the most negative in recent memory, but then again, I am going to fight until the end! As I promised, today I will introduce the "Lumine Team" to the Midwest, for I have to thank them for their great help on this race. As you know, the purpose of such a team is to receive more input on my ideas and get different viewpoints for some of the issues. I could have assembled a Progressive-only team, sure, but I choose to ask members of several parties. All of them important Atlasians, and while most of them are new, I feel that working with out new and more enthusiastic members is the key not only to victory, but to progress.

Without further introduction, the original Lumine Team is comprised by:

Midwest Representative Cris: (As pollster and domestic policy advisor) A Federalist, Cris swore in today for his second term in the Althing with renewed activity on his behalf. He is nationally known for his work as a great pollster, and his center right views have been very helpful on the campaign, giving me a good example of policies that can reduce abortion without making things harder for women.

Midwest Representative Elect Brewer: (As domestic and general policy advisor) A Laborite, Brewer has quickly become an active member of the Midwest, and his upcoming term in the Althing holds a lot of promise. As a moderate member of his party, his input in immigration and gun control was incredibly relevant for the platform, and he is a proof that I'm more than willing to work with Labor, despite a few disagreements once in a while.

Secretary of Exterior Affairs Superique:  (As environmental advisor) The only Progressive of the team, the newly confirmed SoEA has been the most active SoIA in years, and he is known for being a strong environmentalist advocate. His help was decisive for me to make my environmental ideas more plausible, and he could be very well be considered the leading environmental in Atlasia (at least from the Atlasians I know).

Mideast Assemblyman DC al Fine: (As domestic policy advisor) The recently reelected Assemblyman from the Mideast once voiced his surprise at the lack of discussion on Social Security, and that comment motivated me to attempt a reform of said system. His both conservative and moderate points of view were crucial for the Social Security proposals, and I thank him for his patience.

I also have to give special thanks to one of my best friends in the party, Flo, whose political advice has also been very important to me during the entire race. Same goes for Senator Tmthforu, who was one of those who motivated me to take on this challenge, and for citizen TheRileyKeaton, who is expected to join the team as an Economic Advisor, providing a good point of view to complement an area in which my opponent has quite a bit of strength and experience. And of course, many thanks to the endorsers across this nation! You're one of the major reasons as to why I am willing to go until the end!

Some people sure like to boast that I am only going to fight for the 1%, and that my opponent is the man of the people, the man of the 99%. I could point out to approval ratings and such, but what I want you to consider is the following: one way or another, people from all political parties are behind this effort. That's what a simple and not necessarily successful attempt at statesmanship does for you. It's not pandering and it's not moderare heroism, because otherwise I would get flak from all sides.

As I continue my tour of the Midwest and as I keep working as Governor of our Most Serene Republic, I tell you this: This campaign is growing stronger each day, and I'm ready to win!

[Lumine]

Speech on Drug Policy and absence from the trail:

February 9th, 2013:
Midwest Governor LumineVonReuental has finally returned to the campaign trail after several days, touring small states like Nebraska and the Dakotas and pushing forward his High Speed Rail project. Today he spoke about the recent events in Canada and the sense of apathy that seems to engulf Atlasia.

"I guess some may have wondered why I have been absent from the trail for some three weeks. In all fairness, I guess the negative phase of the campaign took it’s toll on all of us, and you can trust me to be honest when I say that I don’t want to win in a bitter and divisive contest. I would betray my own belief in cooperation by engaging on the attack game, and given that Atlasia entered a small “slumber mode”, I figured that it was my time to do so as well. Naturally, that led to some mistakes in my position as Governor, and I sincerely apologize the region for those. But as I was thinking today, I realized that what I was doing was not a positive thing, specially in terms of the game. We have faced issues with a lack of interest of apathy, but whenever said apathy showed it’s face we immediately casted that on a negative light, and we vowed to fight apathy back and regain our enthusiasm. There was a short-lived caucus for activity a few months back, and regardless of how good or bad the idea was, there was actual interest to the goals.

But now, I see many of us falling into real apathy, and there seems to be a lack of concern. With the exception of the Senate and the President (who are doing a good job, and that has to be said), we are currently facing a very inactive Presidential election (regardless of Duke’s great performance, it’s too inactive), many uncontested Senate races and more disregard for policy than usual. I do not have the solution, so I’m not talking about this to cast blame or score political points, but I am seriously concerned, and I will do my best to recover said enthusiasm.

Going into subject, and with my platform ready, I thought the only important thing left was the debate, although we were still unable to set up one (I hope we can have it next week), and yet the international situation provided me with a good theme to discuss with you. All of you must be aware of the ongoing situation in Canada, and I must say that while I’m sincerely relieved that those criminals who assaulted our citizens are in jail now, and while I’m also glad to hear that negotiations with the Canadian government have worked to a certain point, we as a nation have done something wrong. Our lack of interest in the rest of world and our very own lack of concern for nations that are not Israel and Palestine often leads to this kind of oversight. Atlasia leads the free world in many things, and sometimes I believe we may we going too far without considering potential consequences.

I am, of course, referring to our drug laws. I don’t doubt the good faith of the previous Presidents and Senators when it came to decriminalizing drugs and relaxing existent legislation, for they probably believed it was the best for the nation and I respect their position. But it’s becoming increasingly clear that we have come too far in allowing dangerous drugs in Atlasia, and we payed the price with an international scandal. We need tougher laws here when it comes to substances like cocaine, which is why I fully support Senator X’s attempt to recriminalize cocaine. We should not return to the “War on Drugs” as we knew it, we must retain our current system that allows rehabilitation, but we need much harsher punishment, and we must ensure that our borders are safe to us and to the rest of the world. As a Latin American who is aware of the strength of drug dealing across my native continent, I wonder if our current legislation has helped traffic in a substantial way, thus complicating existing situations in countries like Panama, Colombia, Bolivia, or even my native Chile.

I’m sure some people might want to brand beliefs like this as an assault on personal liberties, but should be really allow our citizens to use such dangerous substances? I understand it when it comes to alcohol or marijuana (although I support high taxes for those), but nobody can honestly argue that being soft on cocaine is a positive thing for our nation. I respect Senator TNF's stand on the grounds of personal liberties, but I sincerely believe that we must not allow thing like this to happen when there's a reasonable alternative. Do we really want to open our society to such dangers? That concern allows me to assure that if I get elected to the Senate, you can trust me to support attempts like the one the Senate is debating right now, for I sincerely believe that we must not remain uninterested in such a crucial issue for Atlasia and the rest of the world."

[Lumine]

Three Days Left!

February 17th, 2013:
As Senator TNF's presidential campaign goes under fire for his platform, and with the major parties almost ready to conclude endorsement votes, Governor Lumine is very optimistic about his chances. Today he appeared at Des Moines, IA, where he spoke about the state of the race, the endorsements going forward and some thoughts for the future.

"Hello, Midwest citizens!

I speak to you in the middle of the decisive week, the week in which not only we will see the results of this fantastic race, but we will also choose our next President and quite a number of extra offices. In case you missed it (although I can't see how), the esteemed Senator decided to be the Labor Party nominee for President, and I want to congratulate him for running an active campaign. I wish he would use that time to campaign here instead, thought, but as a former Presidential candidate I might as well keep that to myself. I started this race under many disadvantages, given TNF's popularity in the Labor Party, the high number of leftist voters in the Midwest, and my commitment to leave the voters take their own choice instead of flooding them with private messages, a practice that I never liked since I started running for office.

And despite that, I feel optimistic. Since the very beginning, I enjoyed the support of many prominent Atlasians from all parties, who sincerely believed in me as the right choice to be the Senator. I will never me able to express how thankfull I am to them, for they proved to be that this race was the most important one during my life here. As the race went on I assembled a team, I talked to people, I welcomed many new faces to the region, and I tried to withstand the vicious attacks on my character as best as I could. I lost my temper many times, but I tried to run a good campaign, and despite making mistakes (as we all do), I will state it again: I feel confident. The endorsement votes from the parties will end later, but so far the count has me ahead with the Democratic-Republicans and winning a landslide in the Federalist Party, the Radical Gay Party and the Progressive Union, and I would like to thank the Atlasians who chose to vote for this effort.

I will deliver special thanks today to those who where the most important people in this campaign, for I feel this should be acknowledged before victory or defeat. Senator Tmthforu deserves my highest gratitude for his support convincing me to run, and I can only hope that he will return soon and in great shape to continue to be a great officeholder. SoIA GAworth and Maxwell (whom I also hope will return) were also decisive in their early support, and the same can be said of those whom I asked for advice, like TheRileyKeaton and Flo, people that I can call friends here in Atlasia. I want to thank my team for their help in the platform, Superique, DC and Brewer were really patient with me. Same for Cris, but he has had to be much more patient, and sometimes I fear I might drive him insane (I hope that's not the case). Those Atlasians and many more have made this possible, and they have my most sincere gratitude.

I will take the time to thank another man today, a man who took a particularly courageous stand a few minutes ago. Governor SirNick chose to endorse me despite being one of the most loyal members of Labor, and I can thank him enough for his kind words. From experience I can tell that it is never easy to go against a member of your own party, and the Governor's loyalty to his party can not be doubted in the least. Many members of Labor have chosen to support this campaign, and I'd like to think that they chose not to believe the esteemed Senator's incendiary comments and attack, and that they took the time to look at this campaign and see a reasonable choice for the Midwest.

With that said, I would like to announce a few endorsements before giving a few final words for this speech:

I take pride in endorsing President Duke for reelection, and I have talked extensively about this in the Progressive Union Convention. I have a lot of respect for Gass, Spiral and Dallasfan, but I feel that right now, Duke is the President Atlasia needs. Our Senate elections are not as competitive as anybody would like, but that doesn't mean that we don't have great candidates. I endorse Senator North Carolina Yankee (the heart of the Senate), Senator DC Al Fine (a friend and a capable man), Senator Tyrion (I might disagree with him from time to time, but he is a great Senator) and the Northeast challenger Poirot (who could do a fantastic job in the Senate). Same goes for my inevitable successor, Archduke Windjammer (I spoke about this in my office thread, but I'm not sure I actually gave him a formal endorsement). Those men are great Atlasians, and I trust them to continue to be great Atlasians in the future, regardless of the result.

The way it looks right now, we might end up with a Senate with a clear division between Labor and the Federalist, and up to three "alternative" Senators with Shua, Poirot and myself (if both of us win, that is). As a result, we will have a Senate that I believe won't be bitterly divided or with a radical split between left and right. I see a Senate that will continue to do a great job, but with much more potential to achieve more diversity and even greater levels of activity. If I manage to win this hard fought battle, trust me when I say that it will be my pleasure to work with the Sixty Senate of the Republic of Atlasia.

Thank you very much."

[Lumine]

Well, the election is near, and I have to admit that this has been a tough campaign so far. I look forward to see the results, and I remain confident in going to Nyman by the time March arrives. I won't give a speech until the election has been decided, but I want to take the time to thank once again the Federalist Party, the Democratic Republican Party, the Progressive Union and the Radical Gay Party for their respective endorsements.

To the voting booth, here I go!

[Lumine]

Epilogue:

Good night, ladies and gentlemen.

I began this effort to get into the Senate back on December 31st, after many weeks of consideration. I believed that I was ready to be a Senator, and I believed that it was time for the Midwest Region to have a new Senator. I announced, and I fought. Ads, debates, a campaign team, I decided that this race was worth the time and the effort, for I saw it as decisive. The campaign was amusing at times, frustrating at some points as well, and I kept going. I held the deep belief that in the end, and despite the odds, I could win this race and represent the Most Serene Republic on the Senate of Atlasia. Alas, the Senator will be reelected, and ModerateVonHero will go home. In all seriousness and with the dignity I have left after this race, I formally concede the Midwest Regional Senate race and I congratulate Senator TNF after such a hard fought race, and I wish him the best of luck on his next term on the Senate. I have already sent him a private message, and he gave what I consider a very gracious reply. As I already stated before, if a tie is certified I will not fight for a runoff, and this campaign ends tonight, with this very speech.

Some may feel frustrated seeing that I do not wish to keep going into a runoff, or even brand me as a coward for wanting to concede this race right away, but I will not be a part of a partisan and legal fight in such a context just for the sake of political gain. It’s unbecoming of any officeholder to attempt to win a seat in such conditions, and I wish to end this with as much dignity as possible. It has been a long road for me, and regardless of what may have happened in the past two months, I won’t blame anybody but myself for this political loss. Yes, perhaps I could have done one or two things in a different way, but at this point to look back is also useless, for all we have left is the future.

Because of that, I will use this opportunity to talk about my political future as well. You see, I am deeply worried about the current state of Atlasia. We seem to be surrounded by the dangerous dualism of apathy and doubt, and the game and the players are currently paying that price. I am of the opinion we can get rid of that, but it will require a massive effort from all Atlasians if we want this nation to thrive. It’s not easy to make the effort, but it can be done, and despite some of things that I’m about to do I’ll keep on fighting, as always. Now, regardless of what political dignity dictates, I do found myself to be somewhat disappointed on the past event (from December on, I guess). Not only have I lost this race, but I can see my beloved party in ruins. Two months invested running for Senate, six months invested in the Progressive Union, and right now all of that seems to have been in vain. You will have to forgive me if I feel just a little bit discouraged at this point, but it is true.

Today I will enter a new process in Atlasia, a process of meditating about what’s best for my future in this game. I guess I wish to start anew, and return to almost a year ago, when I had an interesting future ahead of myself, and I have a lot of choices to make and things to do up until my successor as Governor, Windjammer, is sworn-in. I know all of this may sound awfully pessimistic in some way, but I remain defiant despite what I see as a big setback to my hopes and goals in Atlasia. I wish to thank the voters and my friends for putting their trust on me and for supporting me during these past weeks, which is something I will never forget. I enjoyed the support of people from both sides of aisle, and that remains as a positive spot on this page of my own history.

All that’s left now is to think about the future.

Thank you, and good night!

Lumine.