Cao for Great Lakes Senate – Ain't No Mountain (We'll Be Back)

[The world will shine with light in our nightmare]

Congratulations on reelection, and as I said in my PM, congratulations on your ascension to PPT for the rest of the term!

[At-Large Senator LouisvilleThunder]

Congrats on holding the best seat in the house!

[Joseph Cao]

Thank you both, Mr. President and Mr. Governor!

As Ishan has regrettably had to step down as PPT, I will be assuming the title for the remainder of this session. I will say there is a slight disadvantage to doing it right this moment given I am also not entirely free from personal RL issues to settle, and while I can be online at my usual schedules my main focus for the immediate short term is mostly handling the votes and whatnot. A full noticeboard post and a decision on appointing a Deputy PPT will therefore be up in a few days.

[OBD]

Glad to see Cao taking the helm for the remainder of this term. The Senate is in good hands.

[Joseph Cao]

Bloomington–Normal, Illinois

Good morning, Lincoln! It’s no less of a pleasure than ever to be able to talk to you all, particularly after a good night’s sleep in my own bed. As time goes on one does come to appreciate these things far more acutely when they come by.

You folks know fairly well, as I’ve mentioned before, that the traveling from here to Nyman takes up quite a bit of time even outside of all the extra trips around the nation that I took when I was representing you at-large – and I still try to take them as often as I can. Those are advantageous in and of themselves. I find it gives me time to think and reflect on the business that you send me up to Nyman to do. And to write, of course; but as concerning as it is, my logorrhoea isn’t the subject today. No, as most trips tend to be I find myself anticipating some more work to do in the Senate – this time, advocacy for a particular bill inspired by conversations with several constituents of mine over in Michigan which will hopefully shed further light into the state of our post-COVID agricultural industry and the vulnerabilities in our food supply chains. It’s quiet work of this kind that occupies a lot of my time serving the good people of the Great Lakes as your Senator.

I bring all this up by way of expressing some of those thoughts and reflections relating to recent events in Congress. Simply put, I can only assume that my good friends the Senators from Oregon and California have gone on additional trips of their own in addition to suffering through all those redeye flights out of the West Coast. It’s the most charitable explanation for displays on the Senate floor which mock their job descriptions as members of a deliberative body, one that I believed and believe is still the world’s greatest. I cherish the role it gives you folks as electors to a body better suited to the role of governing than most others in existence today, thanks to a system which works on the public trust and the many, many safeguards against our natural pettiness which were put in place to preserve it.

Yet natural pettiness has been carrying the day throughout this session, and believe me when I say that this is conduct that reflects poorly on everyone involved. My constituents are not a single party or single group, never have been; they are granular and idiosyncratic to a fault. It’s the same with the Senate as a whole, as I have consistently expressed through my actions. And importantly the impulse to common courtesy which has suffered reckless abandonment this session is still there to be used on behalf of the Atlasian people in a space where it genuinely matters. This place doesn’t get enough people willing to treat others in good faith, to legislate with an eye to the consequences, to treat the regions and their inhabitants as places that matter, to see politics as anything other than a zero-sum game to be won only when everyone else loses. Maybe such people don’t get as far as Congress to begin with. But having gotten in here and tried – and led this place multiple times to boot – I intend to continue trying on behalf of the folks here in the Great Lakes and all across our country who have actual issues to deal with: our farmers and food suppliers, our children and teachers, and everyone whose wellbeing and security is a concern no matter what walk of life they come from.

I’m running for reelection because it has been your considerable welfare and business that has occupied my very first campaign, my first trip to Congress, and all the intervening trips since then. It’s not my own self that matters in the Senate – it’s yours. And as long as I’m there I’ll fight to make sure that is the case.

[West_Midlander]

Absolutely endorsed! Senator Cao has always been a dedicated public servant. I have complete confidence in him due to his sense of duty and his integrity as he carries out his duties as a Lincoln Senator.

[Archon]

Endorsed

[At-Large Senator LouisvilleThunder]

Heartily endorsed!!!!

[Shaula🏳️‍⚧️]

Endorsed.

[Zenobiyl]

I endorse Mr. Cao

[Vice President Christian Man]

Endorsed

[Deep Dixieland Senator, Muad'dib (OSR MSR)]

Endorsed

[wxtransit]

Not sure why I haven't yet, but endorsed!

[Utah Neolib]

Endorsed!

[GM Team Member and Senator WB]

Endrosed

[OneJ]

Congratulations on the win.

[Joseph Cao]

[Bloomington–Normal, Illinois]

All right!

There's a lot of them, so let me get the thanks over with – to, first and foremost, the voters of the Great Lakes and the folks of all parties who came together to drive this campaign, and for their trust in what we did and still do for Atlasia, you are some of the best this game could hope for. I want to thank my fellow Illinoisan OneJ, who has sadly left and who I personally hope will be back soon, for running a great race. Folks all over the country also ran fantastic races, and if I may shout out a few who have flown under the radar: my good friend and fellow island-dweller Tack who can now retire in peace (for now), theflyingmongoose out in the Pacific, Spark in the South. Successful or unsuccessful, the game is driven forward when people push to overcome the odds against them.

A few other good friends of mine had the regrettable idea to liven up the game, at least for themselves if for nobody else, by initiating the violence and lawlessness of the past month. I'm not certain whether they still believe I'm an encumberment on the game as some have claimed. I am however fairly sad that it came to this, and wouldn't think likewise of them for a second. As we go on from this I hope they'll still come with us and share their thoughts on where Atlasia is going. It cannot be stressed how much you folks were a factor in this turnaround: what this stunt would have meant for Atlasia itself was a darker nation, one where nobody gets to have fun if they couldn't, and this weekend you told them and told us in no uncertain terms that you don't want that.

I will not pretend to have all the answers, or much of them really. I will not pretend that the danger in conditions that drive people to suspend civil liberties and thumb their noses at the law is extinguished by any means, and I will not pretend that whatever inspired this long national nightmare is over. Nor, even, that all those other little domestic and foreign flames have been put out: Kansas, the economic updates, the Taiwan situation, a whole lot of other knotty questions. The solution isn't handwaving things away, or taking one's ball and going home, it is staying and making your voice heard – most especially for me the voices of everyone here in the Great Lakes from Moline to Medina, from Lower Philly to the Upper Peninsula. We've got here a new President, several new General Court members in Lincoln, one or two old veterans at this electioneering business, hundreds of thousands of folks like you. I think the Great Lakes will provide those voices and help toward those answers just fine.

No matter who the dealers or people in power are I will be here playing the game as I would like best to play it – working with others to help make it better and more fun for everyone. We all travel lightest when everyone helps to share the load of these questions, all the unfinished issues to tackle. And I want last of all to thank you all for letting me continue to share that on your behalf. We'll make progress. We must go on and we shall go on.

[Utah Neolib]

Congratulations!

[Peanut]

Congrats from this old nut!

[Joseph Cao]

Bloomington–Normal, Illinois

Good afternoon, Atlasia! Fine day to be able to talk to you all again. And before I start, I want to thank a few people: the staff who have kept this office well cleaned and running in my prolonged absence; my friend Liz for getting me here against my usual schedule on very short notice; and most importantly Senator UNL, who has served just over a year in this seat and in Senate leadership with distinction. It's a tough nut to tackle. I wish you all the very best.

Through two successive national crises, through the long struggle that preceded them and the difficult times that we have today, the Federalist Party, its members, and its allies in other parties have stood firm for the fundamental principles to which we hold. For me, at least, two of them are most relevant now. I am a Federalist because I believe firmly in the wisdom of my fellow Atlasians on the ground to understand their own circumstances, and the trust and respect we have for each other to come up with ways to change those circumstances. I am a unionist because I value this nation and its people and the best governing system in human history; we have grown into the greatest nation in the world because of the people who moved within that system of governance and all that it offers them.

With these in hand I have spoken out and fought for the families, for those struggling at the edge of society, for all the average Joes and Janes regardless of their views or partisan affiliation, for our great natural resources and wonders, for the education and innovation that powers this land, because it is you the people who lie at the heart of every issue of governance. That should never be obscured. That is the record I stand on as a former president, a longtime senator of this region, an itinerant administrator of two different congressional chambers.

It would be very easy to look at that record and think I know best what the country needs. It would be very easy to look back on my win % and get an inflated opinion of my own abilities. But I have never done that, as president or as congressman or as PPT or speaker, because all those positions were created to serve the ordinary folks who put me in each of them. I did everything I could to keep you folks foremost in my mind with every bill I signed or debated or brought to the floor. I remember, with every constituency visit and post to keep civic organs running on AFE, who I owe my career to. And I work with everyone as circumstances arise. I worked with WD; I worked with Spark. We do what we must.

On the strength of that commitment we have pulled multiple sessions of the Senate out of critical dysfunction, codified budgets and defense laws and energy provisions to keep Atlasia running, and presided over one of the most involved and productive presidencies in recent memory. I don't talk tough or bulldoze others or even act the part of a natural leader. But I serve the people first and foremost, and that can accomplish great things. It still can; we still can. We can continue the record of UNL and others, and we can build on what the Federalist Party has done and can still do for Atlasia. And yes, there is a budget to pass which can and must be made a priority for the coming session.

I am running for the Great Lakes seat to do as much of that as humanly possible: to put you the people first. And like all barely humanly possible tasks I won't get it done on my own. Let's take this to Nyman and get the job done, together.

[Esteemed Jimmy]

Endorsed!

[Sirius_]

Endorsed

[LAKISYLVANIA]

Endorsed

[Utah Neolib]

Endorsed

[Joseph Cao]

Bloomington–Normal, Illinois

Thank you, folks!

If my initial calculations are correct, pending official certification of course, this is the highest percentage I've ever gotten in an Atlasian election, and my sincere, overflowing thanks go first to the people of the Great Lakes who have expressed this vote of confidence in my candidacy. And to those who voted against me or didn't vote at all, I will do my best to serve you just as diligently. Every representative of the people has this opportunity, not all of them take it. But I have taken it before and I am looking forward to take it again.

We have a budget to introduce and debate. We have plenty more bills that need to be scrutinized, and I applaud the SNP for dedicating some of their efforts to carrying out this vital role in the Senate alongside our Federalists and DAers. We have gathering clouds on the economic and geopolitical horizons to join the gathering smoke from our wildfires. At all of their roots are the people who will be affected, who need help, who may be able to hold themselves up in their day-to-day but ultimately have their lives shaped for the better or worse by what we do in Nyman.

At the core of this nation, and this game, are the people involved in it. Let's make sure their lives are shaped for the better in everything we do.