February 2018 Vice Presidential Cage Fight! (Debate)

[Wells]

I’d first like to take some time to thank Louisville Thunder, Las Vegas, and the Thunderstruck Casino for graciously hosting this debate and putting some exciting spin on it. I think it’s great that this debate is happening, so props to you. I’d also like to thank the Atlasian people for giving this campaign a huge amount of support so far. And of course, I would like to thank my running mate Pericles for the amazing campaign we’ve run so far.

I believe that my ticket is the most promising ticket for the future of Atlasia. We have strived to turn this election into a serious debate about the issues - from activity in Atlasia to game reform, our noninterventionist foreign policy to free college education, programs aimed at expanding and supporting the middle class and most recently a plan to raise the minimum wage. We provide a firm ideology and consistency within our ticket.

A few months ago, after a year of being in office, I took a break from Atlasia. But little more than a month later, I wandered back in and decided to ease my way back in. Of course, upon getting caught up again, I realized that the Lincoln Assembly hadn't yet produced a budget. In IRC chat there happened to be two members of the Assembly, so I immediately notified them of this and got the Assembly to now make a successful budget. In this instance, like so many others, is one where I saw an issue and immediately strived to fix it.

Now I realize that the office of Vice President has changed since a year ago. I believe that I am more than capable of taking the position. I have always been a staunch supporter of activity in every office I have been a part of. While I was Lincoln governor, I was always the most vocal in getting the Assembly to be active - and they needed the encouragement more often than not. The same was true when I was the Speaker of the Assembly.

Pericles and I have hope in the future of Atlasia and we will work hard to make sure that the Atlasia we envision is the Atlasia that we experience. I believe that we can give Atlasia a bright future - if Atlasia gives us the chance.

[Wells]

Activity, and more importantly the problem of inactivity, is one facet of Atlasia’s politics that has existed as long as I've been here. Everyone can agree that Atlasia needs to be more active, and most people try to find solutions to the problem. However, one thing I've learned from my time in office is that you can PM people about votes, encourage debate, and publicly shame people as much as you want, and sometimes they will still be inactive. I'm not at all saying doing all those things and more are bad ideas - Presidential and Vice Presidential leadership can absolutely make a difference. They do work most of the time, but when they don't work it can create a problem. There's no magic wand that I can wave to make people active. The best that we can do is to mitigate the problems that stem from inactivity, through rule changes or getting a more active player to pick things up, and recalling the officeholders.

The other part of the question, making the game more exciting, is something that I really care about. Increasing activity is one way to make the game more exciting, but making the game more exciting will also increase activity. It's a two way street, and I believe the latter has the strongest causation. My creation of a table tabloid-style/satire newspaper were efforts to create interesting aspects of the game, and did generate some discussion. It follows that I believe the GM department has a role to play in increasing this game's levels of excitement. It has been said that real life policies are reactive while Atlasia's policies are proactive. I think that the proactive nature of Atlasia's policies can lead to difficulties in activity. With a GM department that creates more stories and is more informative in general, Atlasia's politicians can work to solve problems with a greater sense of urgency, increasing excitement and pushing somewhat active legislators to higher levels.

That is just one example of the ideas that our ticket envisions i order to change Atlasia for the better. Our ticket is a ticket of reform. We have thrown support behind some proposed game reforms, and we plan to make sure that they are enacted when we are in office.

[Wells]

Pericles and I have been very critical of Atlasian involvement in foreign wars. As president, Pericles will tak a strictly non-interventionist approach to foreign policy. Our platform's view is that nation building at home is better than nation building abroad. We want substantial cuts to military spending (which would also help combat the deficit) because of this. However, we simply have a dovish foreign policy and are not opposed in being active on the global stage without using our military, through maintaining humanitarian aid and the like. For these reasons, we are currently poised to take the endorsement of the Peace Party, with 80% of the vote right now.

On the Korean War, Pericles has proposed setting up a special prosecutor to look into the circumstances surrounding the start of the war, which has proved to be controversial. I believe that this is not a bad idea, since it will be Independent from politics and just plainly look at the facts of the case before making a decision. A similar plan has been endorsed by the current Attorney General Oakvale. We don't plan on getting involved in the Korean War any further abroad.

[Wells]

Economic issues are central to the campaign we've run so far. I'm proud of the many policies this campaign has pushed forward. Attacking unemployment, which is currently at 7%, has always been a major part of our campaign. Therefore, Pericles has proposed an immense infrastructure bill aimed at increasing employment massively. This also leads us to the deficit issue, and angle which has been used to criticize some of Pericles's economic policies such as that one. But we plan on being fiscally responsible with our policies, financing them with reasonable tax increases on the highest earners and reducing the budget in other areas, such as with military spending. The deficit can certainly be reduced while at the same time increasing spending in some areas.

In general economic policy, Pericles supports more job training and a $14 minimum wage by 2020. Another policy supported by Pericles is the model employer executive order, which Pericles plans on signing during his presidency. The basic idea of this is that the federal government will show preference in federal contracts to businesses which pay their workers more and only give contracts to businesses which affirm the right to unionize. Additionally, while being contracted, the union will be in a no-strike pledge. This provides incentives for businesses to do those things. I wholeheartedly support this policy as a means to benefit every worker in Atlasia.

Pericles himself believes that free trade is good for the economy, but he also believes it needs to be done the right way in order for it to be a truly great thing. We are deeply opposed to outsourcing however, and we absolutely want to re-examine and renegotiate some of the trade deals that have been made in order to better protect the manufacturing jobs in Atlasia. I must admit that I am a touch more protectionist in my leanings, but working together Pericles and I will be able to accomplish some good things with that diversity combined with an ideological cohesiveness that is greater than any of the other tickets available. A Pericles presidency would be a time of greater prosperity and true economic reform that benefits every Atlasian.

[Wells]

Once again Louisville Thunder deserves commendation for such a well run debate. It has been good to hear the various ideas and policies offered by all the tickets in this debate. As we conclude, I would like to reiterate the main point of our policy, that we want an Atlasian government that works for everybody. We plan on doing this through political reforms, as has been stated many times in this campaign. 

The truth is that the current system is not working for Atlasians, and most of them find themselves of the opinion that Atlasia is moving in the wrong direction. We need a system that does work for the people and will move us in the right direction. With our presidency, you will find a commitment to effective reforms - from less sweeping ones such as a neutral Supreme Court to game changing proposals like Lumine's Sulla Plan. Pericles and I are the best people to vote for if you think Atlasia needs reforms - we have real ideas to better Atlasia. 

This brings us to economic and social reforms. Pericles and I have been outspoken in support of policies that would directly benefit low-income Atlasians. Policies such as a higher minimum wage and free college education have been proposed by this ticket. Unemployment is the largest part of our economic platform, where we propose more infrastructure jobs in order to significantly reduce current 7% unemployment. The current administration has not done nearly enough to tackle this issue, which is why unemployment has changed minimally during the past few months. Meanwhile, our policies will really change the numbers of the employed. 

Every piece of our platform is based on our faith in an Atlasian government that works to help its citizens. Our supported political reforms solve the current problems that make the current government so distant from Atlasians. Our economic reforms provide aid to all who need it. We truly will have a government that works for Atlasians under a Pericles presidency. The polls open very soon, so remember to vote!