Federalist Party of Atlasia: Policy Formulation Session (NOW OPEN)

[Southern Senator North Carolina Yankee]

I am going to leave this open for another week or so since I really got knocked off track by real life stuff over the past weekend.

[Potus]

The Way Forward for Social Conservatism

Social conservatives tend to take a beating in this world. The discussion on marriage was settled long ago and the cultural attitude toward drugs is arrayed against the philosophy. The left scoffs at the notion that things as ignorant and simplistic as "traditional values" could make or break our nation. However, those values are critical. We, as Federalists, ought to be a force in support of strong families and sound values. This means adopting a unique perspective, an Atlasian perspective to our cultural. I am going to be outlining the path forward for social conservatism in Atlasia step-by-step.

1. Embracing the Civil Society
     Our nation was founded with a robust civil society. I will be defining civil society as the institutions between the government and the individual. Our families, our churches, our business communities, and our neighborhoods. Civil society is entirely beholden to the people, not bureaucrats and political machines. It is a socially conservative position to hold that we should embrace locally and civilly controlled institution.

     During my time in the Mideast Assembly, I wrote and proposed a reform to a minor budget item but major social item. Foster care, while affecting a small portion of our budget and small portion of our population, was the tip of the ice berg in terms of our social issues. The real social issues of our time are not mindless squabbling over sexuality or abortion. The real issues are things that weaken our society and devastate communities.

     My foster care reform proposal strengthened the role of the child advocate, used our rich civil society to help kids, and held parents and society accountable for the situations that develop. While I support drug reform, we cannot ignore the social cost of addiction. We raised taxes on substances that were responsible for damaging families.

     The main mechanism of the reform was based around civil society. With the fully informed consent of the child advocate, a private organization could become the custodian of the foster child. This means that churches, businesses, charitable organizations, and communities can take  over the placement of the foster  child and could provide love and support. We sought to reform foster care in a responsible manner that gave kids a shot at a family.


2. Capitalize on the Emerging Family
     Gay marriage is legal in Atlasia, as should be the case. Social conservatives ought not concede and cower on the issue. We should embrace the emerging family by streamlining adoption and guaranteeing adoption is available to all married couples.

     Everyone agrees that adoption is, most of the time, a suitable alternative to abortion. That being said, it is impossible to be genuinely pro-life while not talking about adoption reform. That adoption reform has to protect every child's right to be in a loving family while making the system more expedient and work for parents.

     I propose, on the grounds of both decentralized power and the efficiency of the adoption system, that each adoption-eligible child be assigned a child advocate, like in a court cases, that composes their charter. The charter would be ratified by existing adoption agencies, etc. and would govern the advocate's philosophy of child placement.

     The adoption process would now be a network of child advocates that people apply to for adoption and they just have to execute their charter. It's fast, safe, efficient, and gets kids with families. It accomplishes all of the objectives of adoption reform and meets the demands of the emerging family.

Let's Talk About Poverty
     I'm hopeful enough to believe that our social conservatism is rooted, not squarely in dogma or religious faith, but also in compassion. That compassion drives us to protect the unborn, promote family, and instill our dearest values in the future of Atlasia. That same compassion should drive us to develop solutions to large-scale socioeconomic issues like poverty.

     We believe in free enterprise alongside our social conservative values. That free enterprise system can work for the disadvantaged. I propose the following policies to combat poverty:

                -Combine traditional welfare programs and put the majority into the Basic Income
                 Guarantee

                -Use a portion of the money freed up by eliminating traditional welfare to create a
                 negative income tax

                -Promote true comprehensive education reform(I'll get to that later)

                -Reintroduce national tax deduction for charitable giving

                -Contract social service programs to non-profits and utilize them for social
                 enhancement




This type of social conservatism wins elections and rebuilds society. It is important that social conservatives speak to the issues at hand and make our philosophy broadly appealing.

[Simfan34]

I like this talk about society. It's a concept that's fallen out of favour when I was gone, I think.

[Southern Senator North Carolina Yankee]

First off, is not the current income tax already negative for lower incomes?


Also, I would very much be interested in the specifics on education.

I like this talk about society. It's a concept that's fallen out of favour when I was gone, I think.

I must say, I was reminded somewhat of the Communitarian Party more then once in the course of this thread.

[Potus]

Educational Opportunity For Every Child

Education is key to combating poverty and attracting business. The principles of education reform need to be pro-student and support a high standard for our schools. Seeing as I am currently in one of our failing public schools, I will flesh out this proposal over the course of the day as time allows.

1. School Choice Guarantee



2. High Teacher and Administrator Standards



3. Curbing Excessive School Administration Costs



4. Devotion to a Rigorous College or Career Readiness Curriculum



5. Incentives for Successful Schools

[Sec. of State Superique]

I like this talk about society. It's a concept that's fallen out of favour when I was gone, I think.

What do you mean with that statement? Some structures can be tricky to understand when you are not a native speaker...