Lincoln Senate Debate: April 2021

[OBD]

Hello folks, and welcome to the Lincoln Senate Debate for April 2021. This will certainly be a marquee race, and I'm sure the citizens of Lincoln are eager to hear from their prospective Senators. This debate will include opening and closing statements, debate questions drafted both by the moderator (me!) and the public, as well as a rebuttal phase. Now let's give a warm welcome to the candidates!

THE CANDIDATES:
Blair, incumbent Senator of the Labor Party
Oakvale, lawyer and former Supreme Court justice of the Independents
OSR (Write-In), former Representative of the Federalist Party
Lakigigar, former Representative and regional legislator of the Democratic Alliance

Now, candidates will give their opening statements. Additionally, I request that they answer the following introductory questions alongside their opening statement. The public are encouraged to submit questions for one or both candidates - just message me on the forum or on Discord to get your questions in the debate!

INTRODUCTORY QUESTIONS

As we all know, Atlasia has been ravaged by COVID-19, and thousands of Atlasians have perished to this virus. As the end of the pandemic appears near, how would you support transitioning back to normal life? What safety measures do you believe are still justified? What role do you believe the Atlasian government has in continuing to fight against the social and economic effects of COVID-19?

Recently in Lincoln, two controversial legislative initiatives - one introducing further restriction on late-term abortions, and one regulating 'diversity training' - both passed in a relatively low-turnout election. In your opinion, did the people of Lincoln make the right decision? How will you address these issues as a Senator?

With a recent bill recognizing Taiwan passing Congress, tensions with China appear to be once more increasing. What is your take on the China issue? How do you believe Congress, and Atlasia as a whole, should handle China? Are you concerned about further animosity between the governments of the two nations potentially encouraging anti-Chinese-American xenophobia?

Many in the center and right have accused Labor dominance of perpetuating legislative stagnation. Do you believe this take is correct? Is there a dearth of meaningful legislative activity? How will you, as Senator, address this issue, if it even exists?

Recently, there have been significant concerns regarding the onset of offsite recruiting. What's your take on this issue, and do you believe that offsite recruiting's increasing prevalence is a threat to the game's survival? Do you believe regulations on new registers should be passed, to combat this?

What is your proudest achievement in Atlasia?

To Blair: You've thus far had one of the more active Senate office threads, in addition to serving as Deputy PPT. Will you continue to be active in the Senate should you be re-elected, and what will be your primary legislative priorities?

To Lakigigar: You've had numerous political alliances during your time in Atlasia. What was your rationale behind joining the Democratic Alliance, and what political causes will you prioritize should you be elected Senator?

[OBD]

Before we start the debate, I'd like to respectfully request that only the candidates and the moderator (me) post in this thread. If we need a commentary thread for this debate I'd be happy to set one up though.

[LAKISYLVANIA]

Hello.

I want to welcome everyone who's checking / reading this debate, and i'm glad for your attendance. I also want to thank the debate moderator and everyone who cooperated or will cooperate for organizing this debate. And last but not least i want to thank Blair for agreeing to hold this debate, which i'm very grateful for, and I wish him a lot of good luck in the upcoming election. He's my opponent in the upcoming race, but I certainly do appreciate his work in the senate and respect him. Eitherway, after the upcoming race, Lincoln and democracy above all will certainly be the winner.

COVID-19 unfortunately has been a disaster. I think Labor so far did do a relatively good job concerning covid-19, esp. in terms of vaccination strategies. Extra-ordinary events demand extra-ordinary measures. I would continue to support the Labor vaccination strategy, and I also believe Atlasia has a vital role in rolling out vaccinations to other countries as well, ensuring their vaccination efforts can go fast as well. I also believe we need to lay out a roadplan into the future for how to easen the covid measures and how we should help build in a post-covid world, and what our position should be in a post-covid world.

I think it's vital we work on opening education fast, esp. when the new academy year will start, depending on how much of Atlasia will be vaccinated by than, but if older generations and people with more health risks are vaccinated, i think the least we can do is to offer young Atlasian students the opportunity to study normally again. The covid measures has unfortunately created rough problems for young students, who are missing the structure to go back to school, because of long-lasting school closures, and inevitably some will get a backlog because of that. I think Atlasia needs to work on reducing the backlog with students, and give them the opportunity to catch up again by funding additional lessons in certain important subjects like maths or languages for poorer students whose parents are unable to afford the costs of additional lessons for people who are in need of reducing the backlog that was created by covid-19. For many poor Atlasians, education is their way for a better future. And I believe since a future Atlasia will require more high-skilled jobs, we should do whatever in the realms of what is possible to ensure every Atlasian has that opportunity to study for whatever she or he wants, regardless of the COVID pandemic.

Another crisis that popped up is the mental health crisis. Many people are suffering because of covid and covid measures. Day-and-night structure got severely changed, there were and are almost no leisure activities anymore outside and people are increasingly isolated, lonely and depressive because of what covid has demanded of us. Since those issues were there already for some people before covid striked us, i think it's time for Atlasia to work out a plan to invest in our mental health wellbeing, and to increase the happiness of our people. And it's my plan to introduce a number of bills in congress if i get elected as a senator for Lincoln. I have suffered from some mental issues, and to me this is an important theme i want to work on.

Re-opening other aspects for Atlasia should go through phases. I don't think it's a good thing to do to immediately open up everything, but I think that there is a possibility we can loosen up some measures very slowly, and depending on how the covid evolutions goes from there, perhaps more will be possible, but it's important to make good judgments in what we can do and what we cannot do. Re-opening more parts of the economy whenever it is possible will be priority in that (esp. with regards to small businesses), as well as perhaps allowing more leisure activities that have social distancing and some other covid measures to ensure everything can go on pretty safely for as long the crisis will be at it's peak.

I think it's in the interest of Atlasia and the government to fund small businesses some relief payment who have experienced major losses during the crisis, and who experienced near bailout or are in financial trouble. They are the backbones of our society, and so is the Atlasian worker. And when small businesses will disappear there will be more monopolies on certain goods and I don't think that's a good thing to do, since what we need is more balance in the market economy. I think we should create a better environment to start businesses again, and support that. At the same time, we should punish businesses that have forced workers to work under questionable circumstances and violated covid measures, demanding workers to get to work while home work is more recommended.

So in short we need a better roadplan for re-opening, giving people again more perspective and hope again, ensuring people that they're not alone in this fight and that we haven't abandoned them. But we need to realize covid is still alive and kicking, and some measures will be there for a time, like a mandatory mouth mask measure which is one I strongly support.

____

With regards to the two legislative initiatives, i both supported them and I don't see what is controversial about them, since existing legislation was quite flawed. Regarding the restriction of late-term abortions, I do believe the previous bill had it's flaws, since it basically multiple loopholes allowing abortion on demand up to the 9th month. I'm pro-choice, don't get me wrong, but pro-choice within limits. I think this initiative is still quite liberal compared to other nations. We still have a legal term of 20 weeks where abortion is legal. That's longer than in most other western countries, and if there are health problems or the patient's life is being threatened, abortion in that case to save the life of the mother or protect her health, is still allowed. With this initiative being passed, it won't affect a majority of abortions, and i'm not the kind of person who further intends to restrict abortion but this initiative closed the loophole that allowed the murder of unborn babies (and not foetuses).

I'm glad the second legislature initiative also got passed, because it bans the loophole that racist diversity training was possible. The passed initiative however doesn't ban diversity training, which I strongly encourage, but the current bill allowed racist diversity training, and from all sides. White supremacy training was possible, and i'm an opponent of that, and i'm disappointed in everyone who voted against that bill, including my opponent. I believe no-one should feel bad, for his / her origin, gender orientation, sexual orientation, race, origin and other things. I think we should above all be an accepting society, and I think to ensure that, we had to vote for this bill, and this is why I supported it. This bill will promote more racial equality, and i'm a strong believer of that.

_______________

Above all, we should know that we're talking about the Chinese government, not about the Chinese people. I know some Chinese people and they're very friendly people, just like us, so I don't think Chinese xenophobia or Asian xenophobia is legitimized, and we should strongly make that differentiation. The issue with the Chinese government is that it's an authoritarian state that is very controlling and spies on their own people, to keep itself in power. The recent events regarding Hong Kong and Taiwan troubles me, and are not in our interest. I'm unsure if China and Atlasia are going to be able to work well together if these issues continues to arise. I also want to highlight the currently ongoing genocide directed towards the Uyghur people and others minorities, but also the lack of autonomy from China for Tibet. I think we should continue to support our commitment to democracy and freedom in this world. And I believe China is a threat to those interests and those commitments. The values of the Chinese government differ from the values Atlasians believe in. In order to those is, i think we need more diplomatic efforts, but I also believe if cooperation at the end is not possible and China continues to be a threat, it will be time for a series of harder sanctions directed towards the Chinese government, and I also believe it will be necessary to guarantee Taiwan's independence, as well as recognizing it. But yes i'm concerned about China's evolution.

________________________________________________

I think the reason for the so-called perpuated legislative stagnation is that Labor lacks inspiration to know what has to be done in Atlasia, while there are a number of issues that have to be dealt with, not specifically the controversial ones, but there are a lot of things that can get done. The world keeps evolving & changing, and we shouldn't miss it. I'm seeing that a lot of legislative activity is minor, mostly amendments of existing legislations. I don't think there's necessarily a lack of legislative activity, and it requires certainly some effort to work on legislative proposals, something i'm prepared to do. I don't think my opponent Blair can be accused of not doing enough legislative work. The issue however I see is that we need more ambitious legislation that changes things in a broader way, mostly in terms of economy, development, infrastructure, the environment, space & science and mental healthcare. We also need a broader outline for how Atlasia is going to deal with foreign politics, since we need to get more involved. We also need more legislative activity in election & game reform, something all sides have been postponing so far, while i see it as a necessity to deal with this, and I propose a wider debate over the entire political spectrum and with all political parties on how we can change it.

_______________________

To understand the existence of increased off-site recruiting, we need to see it's origins. The reason why there's more off-site recruiting is because people feel like they're not able to win elections anymore, since one party is dominant federally and over two of the three regions. Atlasia is a pretty inelastic region, and even good candidates from the center and right have a hard time getting elected. But we should also note that this isn't a first, and that this is not exclusively the right that has done it in the past, perhaps more recently, but everyone has done it. If those people that are recruited off-site have shown activity on other boards and pass the existing requirements to vote in an election, i don't see the issue with off-site recruitment if they do meet the existing requirements.

I think if you want to handle off-site recruiting, you have to not look solely at the practice of off-site recruitment, you have to look at what drives it. I think the answer to deal with off-site recruiting is game reform, where there's less stagnation and more unpredictability. There are several ways to do this, but there's no consensus. I think it's important that all parties and all sides work together towards a consensus that will work best for Atlasia. Because this is what needs to done if you want to limit off-site recruiting. Creating a more fun and more engaging game and better election system and perhaps different region breakdown as well as limiting strategic region displacement is a way to do it, but i'm not the single individual who has to decide over this. We need to organize an open panel discussion, for the interest of all of us.

______________________________

I think this shouldn't be about proudest achievements. I'm merely a single individual who wants to mean something for our people and our workers. This is not about my proudest achievement. This is about what we can achieve for all of us, how we can make life a bit better for all of us. Rome isn't built in a single day, so don't expect any miracles, but we should be able to ensure that we all live freely and happy in this country, and if elected, i'll be a fighter for Atlasian's people. I can ensure you that. And if i can achieve something for Atlasians, that will be meaningful to all of us, and that's what I plan to achieve and what Atlasians can achieve.

______________________________

I've had numerous political alliances in the past - yes. But I don't see that necessarily as a bad thing. It shows that i'm rather independent-leaning, and that i'm a valuable asset to many political parties, as i'm able to criticize my leadership and the ethics of some parties, which is important to me. I don't want to be bought by a single party. I however have chosen for Democratic Alliance, as I think this party suits me best right now, and as I want to be a team player that respects my fellow members and our chairman. Democratic Alliance is commited to preserving democracy and as the name says is an alliance of many liberal-leaning members scattered over the whole spectrum. With this reasoning, i think there was certainly room to identify with this party. There are lots of legislative priorities i want to introduce, mainly to improve Atlasian worker's circumstances after the covid crisis, as well as relief for Atlasian's small businesses, laying out a roadplan for further covid measures and possible phased further re-opening of the economy and more sectors. I want to focus on game & election reform too, and open a debate about that. And I want to introduce further legislation regarding mental healthcare. I also want to focus on relocating a small part of the military budget to space missions, as we should continue to be a big player in the discovery, exploration & study of the universe. On top of that, i'm also a proponent of a single-payer healthcare system as the covid crisis have shown us this is necessary. I want to focus on introducing some legislation mainly around protection of the environment, as well as being better prepared against some environmental disasters. We should work on modernizing our infrastructure & increasing affordable public transport in Atlasia. I also want to work on affordable housing and affordable education, and I want to explore the possibility of introducing a reduced work week, starting with the active older populations. To simplify the taxation system and the burden on our social security measures, i also want to experiment with a basic income starting it with the non-active working population to combat poverty and financial uncertainty. I also want to increase efforts to decrease unemployment, and I believe the reduced work week will be part of that solution.

[Blair]

It's great to be at this debate- I'd like to thank OBD for kindly agreeing to moderating and for Laki joining me in this debate. Democracy is certainly the winner from these debates and hope that everyone enjoys reading them.

As we all know, Atlasia has been ravaged by COVID-19, and thousands of Atlasians have perished to this virus. As the end of the pandemic appears near, how would you support transitioning back to normal life? What safety measures do you believe are still justified? What role do you believe the Atlasian government has in continuing to fight against the social and economic effects of COVID-19?

Covid-19 has been absolutely devastating for families across Atlasia and including our own region of Lincoln. It's impact has touched so many areas of our lives; from families forced to bury loved ones, businesses forced to close, entire industries left with uncertainty over their survival and millions of people gripped by fear.

We need to be guided by the science and we need to be guided by what works in the long term- as my opponent Laki said our vaccine program has been a huge success and offers much needed hope.

I want to see us do more though both to encourage people to get the vaccine and to ensure that  people around the world can also access the vaccine- we can do this by changing rules around patents and by working with partners across the world. If we fail to ensure high global take up rates then we're at risk of new vaccine resistant strands emerging & we'd be back at square 1- it makes common sense to do this, and I'll be introducing legislation in the senate to do so.

I also believe that it's vital that the Atlasian Government works to gives families and workers across Lincoln the economic support they need- which is exactly what Labor and myself have been working hard to do. Successive Presidents from Pericles, to MB, to Sestak have been working hard to ensure that families, workers and businesses have the support they need.

Whether that's through expanding social security, providing direct financial support, helping to cover funeral costs or providing support for small businesses I'm proud of our record that the Government, the House and the Senate have played in providing direct support- especially to those who've been impacted by this virus the greatest.

In the Senate I've been proud to support legislation that has increased the minimum wage and I've introduced legislation which has stopped companies from firing & re-hiring workers on worse terms and conditions.

I've always been clear that my priority in the Senate is protecting the rights of workers and ensuring that they're protected throughout this pandemic- whether it's transit workers, delivery drivers, healthcare staff or many others, they've been the ones who've kept this country moving.

Recently in Lincoln, two controversial legislative initiatives - one introducing further restriction on late-term abortions, and one regulating 'diversity training' - both passed in a relatively low-turnout election. In your opinion, did the people of Lincoln make the right decision? How will you address these issues as a Senator?

I will be honest; I've always found regional referendums low turnout affairs which have often led to results like these. I've supported the Governor having a hard veto, whether that's a Labor or federalist Governor, and if the Assembly has a super-majority they should be able to overturn it.

However I don't think it's right for me, as the regions senator, to cast papal like assertations. I voted the way I thought was right personally, and other people voted another way. Some people in my own party voted a different way on this to me, especially on the issue of abortion, which for many people in the game is an issue of their conscience.

I've always been clear that I believe that a women's right to access abortion services is a right- back when I was a member of the House I worked with members of the federalist party to expand rural healthcare and reproductive services, and have always worked to protect this right.

On the second referendum as the Governor said about the second bill it gave a $10,000 reward for those who whistleblowing- I support the rights of whistle-blowers, and support all protections and support for them- but I'm not sure it's necessary to mandate that they should receive a fixed sum of money.

With a recent bill recognizing Taiwan passing Congress, tensions with China appear to be once more increasing. What is your take on the China issue? How do you believe Congress, and Atlasia as a whole, should handle China? Are you concerned about further animosity between the governments of the two nations potentially encouraging anti-Chinese-American xenophobia?

I was proud to sponsor and lead the work in the Senate in standing up for the rights of those protesting for democracy Hong Kong. I was equally pleased that this legislation passed along bi-partisan lines and had broad support- it shows the difference we can make if we have an experienced and trusted senator.

We need to stand up for basic human rights; democracy, freedom of speech, the right for religious assembly and many others. I will always support these rights and will continue to work in the Senate to ensure that Atlasia is a beacon for these values across the world- we cannot return to a foreign policy of old, which ignored these values in a ruthless pursuit of profit.

I absolutely condemn any and all anti-chinese bigotry, hatred or attacks- and also that against Asians, and Atlasian-Asians. We need to condemn this and recognise that anti-Asian hatred has a long history in our country, but equally we need to accept that we've seen a shocking rise in this.

I'll be working on introducing legislation in the Senate to set up a taskforce on this issue to ensure we join up local, state, regional and national bodies to both improve data collection but also ensure we have rapid, urgent and much needed action to tackle this hatred.

Many in the center and right have accused Labor dominance of perpetuating legislative stagnation. Do you believe this take is correct? Is there a dearth of meaningful legislative activity? How will you, as Senator, address this issue, if it even exists?

Well it's just not true. Let's look at legislation I've introduced in my last two terms- I've introduced a bill to expand broadband provisions across rural areas, I've passed legislation to tackle the opioid crisis by ensuring that life-saving drugs like naloxone can be accessed by everyone, I've expanded the protections for our arctic wilderness, I've stopped companies like Facebook from being able to track your every click, I've worked towards an aim of ending HIV/AIDs transmission and I've passed one of the biggest reforms to workers rights.

On the issue of foreign affairs I passed a landmark bill that would have ended arms sales to brutal & thuggish regimes that imprison political prisoners, commit acts of genocide or other awful human rights breaches. It was a landmark bill and one that I was proud of.  

Recently, there have been significant concerns regarding the onset of offsite recruiting. What's your take on this issue, and do you believe that offsite recruiting's increasing prevalence is a threat to the game's survival? Do you believe regulations on new registers should be passed, to combat this?

My fear is that the eventual extension of mass off-site recruiting is we're going to one day reach the stage where somebody basically devout their life to getting off-site people to register on Atlasia, and god forbids starts going to stupid lengths to get people signed up.

I disagree with Laki who says this is the logical extension because Labor generally does better at election because this hasn't always been the case.

When I ran for the President Labor did not have a clear majority on the voter rolls at all. Adam won an election where the right was dominant because he was a good campaigner, DFW won a campaign where the left was dominant because he was a good campaigner- neither of them resorted to off-site recruiting.

Yankee didn't do it when he ran against me, and I didn't do it when I ran against him because we both knew it would have ended up in an arms race which would not have been good for the game, and which would not have made it a fun, enjoyable and welcoming place- which Atlasia should be.

I don't want to pass new laws that make it harder for genuine new players to get involved and get stuck into the game, however I do worry about the adequacy of the old status quo, which was pretty much a gentleman's agreement so I will take each new proposed piece of legislation as it comes and focus on the merits.

What is your proudest achievement in Atlasia?

Reforming our laws so that workers have the right to democratically and freely organise for better pay, terms and conditions.

Strong unions help build a strong economy and a strong society for everyone- I was proud to name my bill after Walter Reuther, who showed that workers rights, civil rights and environmental justice all goes hand in hand.    

You've thus far had one of the more active Senate office threads, in addition to serving as Deputy PPT. Will you continue to be active in the Senate should you be re-elected, and what will be your primary legislative priorities?

Yes I will! It's very easy in Atlasia to campaign with grand ideas and slogans, and to talk about what you want to do... but it's a lot harder to actually do it.

Lincoln needs a senator who has a proven record commitment to our region and to working hard on the long slog that is often required for legislation to get passed through the Senate. It's so important that we have a senator who knows not only how to write important pieces of legislation, but also someone who has a proven record of working across the aisle to do so and to keep plugging away even when its hard.

My main priorities will be building back a better, healthy and greener society from the coronavirus. We've had to radically re-think the shape and role of society over the last year- it has always been out of crisis and chaos that the big political movements have grown in our country.

We can build a better society by continuing to eradicate poverty, homelessness and other evils. I want to focus on looking at expanding the safety net for the most vulnerable people.

We can build a healthier society by focusing on the future pandemic risks and ensuring we have the vaccines, the PPE, the healthcare system and the national infrastructure to protect ourselves if we're back in this situation.

We can build a greener society by ensuring that our investment projects are based on the needs for the next 50 years and focused on protecting our planet, our climate and our wildlife. I want to work on passing legislation to ramp up the international effort to tackle the climate crisis and to support countries around the world in this effort.

I also really want to focus on the future of work for Atlasians- not just ensuring that we have well paid secure jobs, but also making sure that we have jobs in sectors and industries which will play a huge role in the society we want. If we know that we need to improve our rural broadband & bridges we'll need young people trained and skilled in these areas.

I want to fundamentally focus my next term on ensuring that we build a better future for Lincoln after the awful year that we've faced because of the coronavirus- we do not have to accept a return to the old ways, a better and brighter future is possible and I hope to keep working towards that.  

[OBD]

Thank you both for your commentary. We now proceed to a rebuttal phase.

I'll be pretty flexible with this - if a candidate takes object to something their opponent has said, they are invited to make a rebuttal statement. Also, if a candidate wishes to make a more general rebuttal statement addressing multiple opponent points, that is also welcome. Take your time.

Also, I sadly haven't received many public questions for our candidates. I'd like to reiterate that that door remains open, and that I'd be happy to field questions from citizens to Blair and Laki.

[LAKISYLVANIA]

I don't think that a governor should have the right to veto something that people have decided to implement, regardless whether they have a supermajority or not, or whether how high the turn-out was to be. Low turn-out probably means that it mattered to some people, and that it didn't matter to other people. If the will of the people that did vote is not respected, i don't see a point in holding (regional or even federal) referendums. If the results of those referendums matter that much to them, perhaps the party in that case that wished a different outcome should have campaigned more for a result they like more. If you don't campaign, don't be surprised because there is a low turn-out from your side. But everyone had the chance to vote, and if they didn't, well it probably was of no interest of them, but people had the chance to vote and decide. We should not overturn those referendums, and we should not give more executive powers to the executive branch. What we want is more transparency and a more engaging society in which civilians are able to have some influence in the political process. I'm in favour of direct democacy and participatory democracy. Giving executive branches (or legislative branches) even more powers is flirting with violating the separation of powers, which is why i'm already not a fan of veto power rights for an individual. We make decisions after discussing it within group and reaching a consensus, we don't make decisions because a single high-placed individual doesn't like it for whatever reason or even worse is told not to like it.

I understand - senator Blair - you want to stand up for human rights and protect democracy in Hong Kong. I like the intentions of your message. It's what I want to do. But what i'm unsure off is how you plan to do this and implement this, especially if China keeps violating human rights and the independence of Taiwan as well as continue to integrate Hong Kong while removing it's democratic traditions. How do you plan to prevent that outcome, if China is not willing to change their attitude towards them.

With regards to off-site recruiting, i don't think post-reset there has ever been a period where one party has dominated two regions (of 3) and the federal level so dominantly for over 2 years. Federally only presidential candidate YT came close to winning, but didn't do it as well. I also don't think there's a lot of off-site recruiting since the last presidential election, and i'm not sure whether the ones that were recruited off-site continue to be active. I'm generally not in favour of extensive off-site recruiting but i do think the problem is situated somewhere else, there will be other loopholes that will be explored whenever off-site recruiting is more restrict. A more broader game & election reform is what i'm running on, and if elected, that's what I will focus on, on opening the debate and looking for a bipartisan consensus on how to make the game more fun again.

[Blair]

I’m stuck on my iPad until tomorrow so giving a short response for now (the crowd cheers)

I did not mean that the Governor has a right to veto referendums- I meant the Governor should has the right to veto a Bill, rather than have to send it to a referendum.

I basically think the old system that we had in Lincoln in the past and the current one we have federally works; there are of course opportunities for ballot measures and constitutional amendments to be voted on by everyone and I fully support that.

  But what i'm unsure off is how you plan to do this and implement this, especially if China keeps violating human rights and the independence of Taiwan as well as continue to integrate Hong Kong while removing it's democratic traditions. How do you plan to prevent that outcome,

The bill that I wrote gave citizenship rights to pro-democracy protestors and their families to come to Atlasia- this is a much needed step and shows that Atlasia will stand up against these sort of awful attacks on democratic rights. It has always been a very powerful tool in standing up to oppressive regimes and will fundamentally send a clear message.

We also need to support our democratic allies who are standing up for human rights and who are facing blowback from China; there’s been a tendency to target and bully countries who tried to stand up about Hong Kong and we need to make clear that we stand with our allies who are standing up for human rights too.

[OBD]

Hey, uhh, if the newcomers to the debate want to answer the general questions that would be cool.

[OSR stands with Israel]

Hey, uhh, if the newcomers to the debate want to answer the general questions that would be cool.

Will do by today night

[Oakvale]

As we all know, Atlasia has been ravaged by COVID-19, and thousands of Atlasians have perished to this virus. As the end of the pandemic appears near, how would you support transitioning back to normal life? What safety measures do you believe are still justified? What role do you believe the Atlasian government has in continuing to fight against the social and economic effects of COVID-19?

I am in broad agreement with my opponents on the response to Covid - our vaccination programme has been a success and provided a path - the only path - back to normal life. Likewise I am supportive of the federal government stepping in an emergency situation to provide the necessary  financial firepower to address the worst impacts of the pandemic on our people. When our vaccination targets have been met it is similarly in our best interest to share our surplus supplies with other countries.

I am not in favor of any federally mandated public health measures when our vaccination program is complete, but would view this as fundamentally a responsibility of the regions.

There are two points I would highlight as central to our response as we emerge from the pandemic period: first, I am in agreement on the urgent necessity of keeping schools and, to a lesser extent, universities open by whatever means necessary, and, second, over the longer term, the need to restore the Atlasian public finances to a credible position. There is a role for the state in any economy, but if we want to enter into a new era of unprecedented public expenditure as the new normal then this will, inevitably, have to be funded. I would be wary of the implications for this on our tax burden: too often in Atlasia we have viewed businesses and the very wealthy as a limitless source of free dollars from whom extracting funds has zero negative consequences.

While a broad-based economic recovery, when we have brought this crisis to an end, will, yes, do much in restoring the public coffers to health, we will need to take a cold, hard look at where efficiencies and, indeed, privatizations can be implemented to shore up our fiscal buffers for the next black swan event.

Recently in Lincoln, two controversial legislative initiatives - one introducing further restriction on late-term abortions, and one regulating 'diversity training' - both passed in a relatively low-turnout election. In your opinion, did the people of Lincoln make the right decision? How will you address these issues as a Senator?

I voted against both these initiatives and would rather they had not passed.

I was sympathetic to the aims of the regulations on 'diversity training' - I have little patience for the cult of hyper-woke race science nonsense that has become fashionable in HR circles in recent years. But the bill included what seemed to be an excessive reward for 'whistleblowing' that would have, ironically, awarded money to people who claimed their feelings were hurt. What could be more in tune with today's HRification of society than that? Had this clause not been present I would likely have supported the legislation.

People can disagree on the abortion issue in good faith. My own view was that the legislation was ill-conceived and would have little practical impact - a case of signalling. I would note that my own personal views on this matter have not prevented me from, in Roe v. ZuWo, ruling that the federal government has no jurisdiction in abortion (a decision that has been to an extent reversed, in my view, erroneously).

With a recent bill recognizing Taiwan passing Congress, tensions with China appear to be once more increasing. What is your take on the China issue? How do you believe Congress, and Atlasia as a whole, should handle China? Are you concerned about further animosity between the governments of the two nations potentially encouraging anti-Chinese-American xenophobia?

China is the single most significant bad actor on the world stage, and an opponent of basic Atlasian values. Our predecessor state fought Soviet communism for decades and was a shining light of freedom and opportunity for oppressed peoples throughout the world. Our moral imperative is to do the same today. Of course, the economic power of the Chinese Communist Party is vast. Its tendrils are intertwined with many of our businesses. We have all witnessed the dismal displays of professional athletes and Hollywood producers bowing to Beijing.

This is to say nothing of the criminal act that China committed in its willful misleading of the world on the current pandemic. It is not exaggeration to say that the present misery we have found ourselves in is the fault of the Chinese state. I fully support the Congress' actions in recognizing Taiwan and condemning human rights violations, most notably the ongoing holocaust against the Uighur people. I am confident that, in the unlikely event that I were to prevail in this election, I would find allies in the Senate on further sanctions against the Chinese state and businesses who deal with our geopolitical enemy.

To be as clear as possible: any decent person is repulsed and horrified by xenophobic discrimination against Asian Atlasians. But we cannot let this frankly tenuous correlation, which is promoted by the Chinese disinformation media, to prevent us from taking action. I would finally note as an addendum that I am skeptical of the utility of Senator Blair's suggestion of a federal task force on this issue. This should be dealt with on a local, regional level, as with any local crime.

Many in the center and right have accused Labor dominance of perpetuating legislative stagnation. Do you believe this take is correct? Is there a dearth of meaningful legislative activity? How will you, as Senator, address this issue, if it even exists?

This is correct, objectively correct. But, to be fair to Labor, this would happen - indeed, has happened - regardless of the specific ideological hue - any time one party drains the life out of the game like some blood-sucking wraith by - if you will - gaming the system to ensure total systemic dominance. There is simply little incentive for people to participate when the natural party of government, inevitably, runs the country like a low rent mafia family.

I am optimistic that the plan proposed by the President et al. will provide a framework for discussing how to address this issue.

As for how I would address this issue were I to be elected to the Senate: people have accused me of many things - some of them true - over my long career in Atlasia. One thing I don't think anyone can accuse me of is being a party line man. The activity question, the "economy of Atlasia", as I have called it before, has been the issue most important to me for many years.

To quote myself, I have said on many occasions that the problem with our concept of 'activity' is that we as citizens tend to see it as a moral, individual failing, rather than what it really is - which is a fundamental structural flaw in our system of incentives, not character defects on the part of anyone who lapses into inaction and sloth. The dominance of one party is a structural problem that needs to be addressed. I hope we can make some progress in doing so as we debate the current reform proposal.

Recently, there have been significant concerns regarding the onset of offsite recruiting. What's your take on this issue, and do you believe that offsite recruiting's increasing prevalence is a threat to the game's survival? Do you believe regulations on new registers should be passed, to combat this?

I have been thinking about this a lot in recent weeks. We have entered into a grotesque situation whereby the electorate has been massively inflated by brutal mathematics, on both sides, yet the proportion of 'active players' has remained largely stagnant.

In most countries, the 'active players' and the 'electorate' are one and the same. This is not the case in Atlasia. Let us refer to the electorate - the voter rolls - and the citizenry - those who are at least somewhat involved with Atlasia and are aware of the issues and personalities of the day etc.

This perverse development means that the electorate has been detached from citizenry. It was ever thus, and this has been a fundamental structural problem that Atlasia has struggled with since its inception. "Campaigning" in Atlasia, in the sense of making lapel-clutching speeches or participating in debates such as this, has never mattered so much as the ability to send dozens of PMs to your legion of wiling zombies. This has meant that bad, inactive people get elected while credible and talented people are consigned to electoral irrelevancy.

But the shameful activities of those who recruited masses of meaningless, empty vessels to our voter rolls has made the problem spiral out of control. The size of the "zombie" electorate is now, quite simply, a danger to the sustainability of Atlasia as a meaningful and worthwhile democracy.

Win or lose this race, I will not stop fighting this problem. We must analyse our response with the urgency that it merits, and we must respond. If we don't, this will be how things work from here on out. People will win elections by recruiting five hundred gomers off Stormfront and shipping them to Lincoln. And our debates and policy discussions will mean precisely nothing.

What is your proudest achievement in Atlasia?

Some of the decisions I had the opportunity to author while I was on the Supreme Court had profound ramifications and were based in a fair and objective understanding of the Constitution - which resulted in many of them being unanimous rulings despite an ideologically diverse Court. So I would have to say that part of my career is my proudest accomplishment.

[OSR stands with Israel]

Hello I’d like to welcome everyone who has attended this debate and want to thank you for doing so.

As we all know, Atlasia has been ravaged by COVID-19, and thousands of Atlasians have perished to this virus. As the end of the pandemic appears near, how would you support transitioning back to normal life? What safety measures do you believe are still justified? What role do you believe the Atlasian government has in continuing to fight against the social and economic effects of COVID-19?

As we all know the COVID 19 pandemic has ruined the lives of many families across our nation, and it is critical that we do all that we can to ensure it doesn't ruin the lives of many more . The best way we can ensure that is by continuing to vaccinate more and more Atlasians, and for the people who have not received the vaccine yet and are eligible to do so, I want to encourage you to get vaccinated as that is the best way we can finally move on from this pandemic and return to normal.

Now, given how much of our population has already been vaccinated, I believe it is time we fully reopen our economy to make sure the livelihoods of people across Lincoln don’t further deteriorate but I also believe we should do it in a safe way . A Safety precaution I am in favor of keeping for at least the next few months is the mask mandate for indoor areas for the next few months to make sure we can reopen our economy in the safest way possible , and while I understand maks are inconvenient, that is the best way we can ensure that small businesses across Atlasia can reopen.

Fully reopening our economy in a safe manner such as I outlined just a few seconds ago is the best action our government can take to fight against the economic effects against COVID but it isn't the only one. To fully rebuild our economy, it is critical we make investments in infrastructure such as :our roads, our bridges, our airports, in expanding broadband access to rural communities who dont have access to them. This along with investing in energy sources of both the present and the future will not only create jobs in the short run but also create an environment which can lead to many more businesses being created thanks to the investment which will lead to jobs being created for the long run as well.

Pairing this with tax reform that would cut tax rates for businesses while implementing a border adjustment tax to incentivize businesses to create jobs here in Atlasia is the best way we can not only help our economy fully recover but make it greater than it ever has been in our history.

Recently in Lincoln, two controversial legislative initiatives - one introducing further restriction on late-term abortions, and one regulating 'diversity training' - both passed in a relatively low-turnout election. In your opinion, did the people of Lincoln make the right decision? How will you address these issues as a Senator?

As someone who voted for both measures, I absolutely believe that Lincoln made the right decision in voting for them. The first one which implemented a 20 week ban on abortion in my opinion is a common sense restriction and something that absolutely should be implemented . For all the controversy over this measure, Lincoln will still have more liberal abortion laws than many nations in western Europe have which ban abortions at an earlier date which is another reason why this measure is a common sense restriction .

 As a senator I would work to end all funding for Abortion which is a position that Senator Blair has supported in the past , and given the answers he has given in this debate, is a position he seems to support today as well and in my opinion is absolutely the wrong position on this issue.

As for the measure that regulated diversity training, keep in mind that the measure doesnt ban all diversity training but only ones that promote racist concepts and any similar concepts which again is something that not only should be implemented in Lincoln but nation wide as well.  

With a recent bill recognizing Taiwan passing Congress, tensions with China appear to be once more increasing. What is your take on the China issue? How do you believe Congress, and Atlasia as a whole, should handle China? Are you concerned about further animosity between the governments of the two nations potentially encouraging anti-Chinese-American xenophobia?

Dealing with China is the most important foreign policy issue of this generation, given how blatantly they have disregarded human rights, and act as an imperial power. I believe that not only we should recognize Taiwan , but arm Taiwan as well to ensure they can defend themselves from a potential attack from China.  As a senator I will also work to pass sanctions and tariffs against China to punish them for their human right violations, their imperialistic actions in the Pacific and to limit their power in general.

In addition to sanctions and tariffs, we also need to increase our economic and diplomatic ties to India, the Pacific nations , Latin America, and nations in Africa to not only counter China's influence in the various regions but also so we can shift our economic ties from China to nations all across the world, and also to show that our nation just like our predecessor during WW2 and the Cold War is the greatest proponent of expanding liberty and prosperity across the world and I am certain we can do it again.

In addition to all this , I want to make it clear to people who want to use this situation to be racist and xenophobic against Chinese-Americans that their actions are completely unacceptable and repulsive in every way possible and we will not tolerate such behavior in Atlasia at all. Chinese-Americans are a valuable part of Atlasia and represent the values that make our nation great far far better than any racist ever does. Immigrants throughout our history have been demonized as not really being really American or Atlasian when in fact many of the times they are among the most patriotic people in our nation and it is time to recognize that.

Many in the center and right have accused Labor dominance of perpetuating legislative stagnation. Do you believe this take is correct? Is there a dearth of meaningful legislative activity? How will you, as Senator, address this issue, if it even exists?

I absolutely believe Labor dominance in the game has perpetuated Legislative stagnation as it has led to many long time users of the game getting discouraged while in comparison during our time in office in 2017 and 2018 we saw lots of activity in Atlasia from formations of multiple parties, to many actual reforms made to Atlasia such as increasing transparency which is something the Labor governments since then have repealed. As a senator  I would work on making reforms to increase transparency in the game and would support the    New Unicameral-Subregional Plan Proposal as well.

Recently, there have been significant concerns regarding the onset of offsite recruiting. What's your take on this issue, and do you believe that offsite recruiting's increasing prevalence is a threat to the game's survival? Do you believe regulations on new registers should be passed, to combat this?

I do not believe this is a problem given the minimum posting requirements we already have to be eligible to vote in Atlasia. Being eligible to vote on atlasia is not as simple as creating an account on this forum and then instantly having the ability to vote so I dont think further restrictions are required.

What is your proudest achievement in Atlasia?

As a former members of the house some of my proudest achievements are working with Mr.R and Fhtagn to get rid of many of the bad regulations that were in place and I look forward to passing comprehensive regulatory reform if given the opportunity.

Some other achievements im proud of is passing legislation that would streamline our immigration system, make reforms to our game even if they were later rolled back by Labor, and passing a bill that would audit many of our agencies .


I believe my record in the house will give me the experience needed to be an effective senator for Lincoln. Thank You

[OBD]

Thank you to Oakvale and OSR for answering the questions.

We now proceed, once more, to a rebuttal phase. Blair, Oakvale, OSR - feel free to address responses from any of your competitors (preferably not Laki as he dropped out).

Noting that due to the sudden change in candidates that this is not mandatory at all.

[Oakvale]

I wish to respond to my opponent's comment on the electorate crisis.

Recently, there have been significant concerns regarding the onset of offsite recruiting. What's your take on this issue, and do you believe that offsite recruiting's increasing prevalence is a threat to the game's survival? Do you believe regulations on new registers should be passed, to combat this?

I do not believe this is a problem given the minimum posting requirements we already have to be eligible to vote in Atlasia. Being eligible to vote on atlasia is not as simple as creating an account on this forum and then instantly having the ability to vote so I dont think further restrictions are required.

I don't see how one can believe that these two things are objectively true:

1. The Atlasian electorate E - primarily "zombie voters"- has expanded massively
2. The Atlasian citizenry E_c - "active players" - which is a subset of the electorate, has remained broadly static

where E_c is reliant the votes of E and believe there will be no consequences for the game at-large because we have an absurdly lax posting requirement - indeed, one obvious very simple method of fighting back against this looming disaster would be to significantly strengthen voter activity requirements.

It is quite simple - the Atlasian citizenry, in practice if not in theory, consists of a few dozen people. Those of us who are active in the game. We know the personalities, the policies, the debates. We follow the developments and understand what we're voting on. You could, add a stretch, add maybe a dozen or so former players from E who are still up-to-speed on Atlasian politics.

The electorate is an increasingly large multiple of the citizenry.

It has always been the case that the electorate and the citizenry are distinct, and that the majority of the electorate has little interest in or thoughts on Atlasian affairs. This has been, at its heart, the fundamental issue with Atlasia for the entirety of its history.

And, indeed, "solving" this issue in principle would likely be neither possible nor desirable. The Atlasian electorate always has and always will consist of many non-active citizens, and that's not an issue.

But the scale of the present divergence is unprecedented and requires action.

I posit the following hypothetical. Suppose I, in advance of this Senate race, were to recruit thirty new voters from among friends of mine on, say, a different political forum. These posters would have an interest in politics and make the occasional post on the various other boards of Atlas Forum, and comfortably meet our lax activity requirements. They would, however, have no particular interest in Atlasia but would duly agree to vote for me when the election arrived.

I would therefore be likely to win the election because of an amorphous blob of Votes who are pseudo-exogenous to Atlasia Proper. I would then be effectively democratically unaccountable since the citizenry and the electorate have diverged so dramatically. Why would I care at all what the active players think if I could rely on a bloc of empty votes come the next election? What is one's incentive for activity in such a scenario?

This is the exact same principle as what is actually happening right now, before our eyes, just - mildly - exaggerated.

One could make the argument that both "sides" have been guilty of this, and therefore the gluts of new voters perhaps broadly balance out. This is hardly the point - such large blocs discourage independent thought and promote party-line hackery, while smaller parties and independents, already on electoral life support and reliant upon their campaigning among active players for any chance at success, suffer disproportionately from this mindless arms race.

How is this not a crisis?

[OSR stands with Israel]

My response to Oakvale concerns about Zombie voting/Offsite recruiting :

I disagree about the prevalence of zombie voters becuase while it is true there are many voters who don't post much on the Atlasia boards , that doesn't mean they aren't involved. Now days, much of the Atlasian community spends time on Atlas based discord servers and participate using those servers , and while they may not post on this forum’s Atlasia boards as much , I’d argue that it counts as those servers are basically part of the Atlas community now .

Furthermore Conservative Atlasians have trended more towards using the discord servers to talk to other members of the Atlasian community so if you make the requirements more strict than it would mean many prevalent discord  posters may not be able to vote in Atlasia and that in my opinion is unfair . It also would be bad for the game as it would result in less competition and make the crises this game faces a lot worse .


A rebuttal to one of Blair’s posts :

I also believe that it's vital that the Atlasian Government works to gives families and workers across Lincoln the economic support they need- which is exactly what Labor and myself have been working hard to do. Successive Presidents from Pericles, to MB, to Sestak have been working hard to ensure that families, workers and businesses have the support they need.

I fully disagree with that given how much Labor governments both at federal and regional levelsv have raised taxes tremendously which have stifled economic growth and refused to even consider giving small business and regional sized businesses tax cuts that they need . Another drawback is under successive labor governments we have seen the regulatory reforms we made under federalist governments rolled back which I believe has stifled economic growth .

My belief is we need to fundamentally change our tax code where investing here in Atlasia and hiring more Atlasians is incentivized  which is why I’d cut taxes for businesses here while at the same time implementing a border adjustment tax as well which was another thing Labor blocked