A new party - Manifest Destiny

[True Federalist (진정한 연방 주의자)]

The Manifest Destiny party's platform is straightforward.

The Manifest Destiny party seeks to annex Canada as the sixth region of the United States Election Atlas Forum.

The removal of the last shameful trappings of monarchy from our continent and bestowing the blessings of our republican form of givernment upon our brothers to our north is our sacred goal.

While we hope to acheive this union peacefully, we are aware that there may be those who will oppose it, to which end we recognize the need for a strong national defense and therefore we shall not leave the post of Defense Secretary unfilled as is currently the shameful case.

[??????????]

The Manifest Destiny party's platform is straightforward.

The Manifest Destiny party seeks to annex Canada as the sixth region of the United States Election Atlas Forum.

The removal of the last shameful trappings of monarchy from our continent and bestowing the blessings of our republican form of givernment upon our brothers to our north is our sacred goal.

While we hope to acheive this union peacefully, we are aware that there may be those who will oppose it, to which end we recognize the need for a strong national defense and therefore we shall not leave the post of Defense Secretary unfilled as is currently the shameful case.

The Southern Republican party has put the issue of this party into quorum. Can I get a response from you sir? What party do you side with more or less so I can get a idea of where you stand.

[KEmperor]

Well, this should be just silly enough to get attention.

[7,052,770]

If this were a caucus rather than a party, I'd join

[True Federalist (진정한 연방 주의자)]

I'd need to find out more about the various party platforms before I could consider turning this into a caucus within a existing party.  Depending upon what the parties here emphasize I probably would best fit on the other issues with  either the UAC or one of the Republican paries, but its not impossible fo me support the Democrats or the United Left depending on the issue, especially if they decide to support a Manifest Destiny plank and the center-right parties decided they couldn't.  Definitely pointers to the various party platforms need to be in the proposed FAQ thread.

[??????????]

I definately support the annexation of Cuba.

[Gustaf]

Here's a link to the party platform thread.

http://www.uselectionatlas.org/FORUM/index.php?board=13;action=display;threadid=3722

[Nym90]

The Democratic Party does not support the annexation of foreign nations against their will.

If they willingly want to join, however, we should accept them, provided that they would have a positive contribution to ours. Canada would certainly fall into this category.

[Gustaf]

Hehe...perhaps I should make clear that, like the president, I do not support forced annexations of other countries but accept if they want to join volontarily...I didn't think it was really necessary though.

[True Federalist (진정한 연방 주의자)]

I've decided to further expand the platform of the Manifest Destiny party as far as it can be extrapolated from John L. O'Sullivan's inspiring essay The Great Nation of Futurity.  (There's a link to it in my sig.)

Equal Rights - Every person should be equal under the law.  Afirmative action and similar schemes, while well intentioned, produce inequality under the law and therefore should be used only as a remedy for specific past wrongs, and not as an endless tool of bureaucratic mandarins to maintain their position in society as our arbitrators.  Our country should look forward to our glorious future and not dwell endlessly upon every flaw of our ancestors.

Voting Rights - A system of proportional voting provides protection for the rights of minorites within our great republic without requiring an ariistocracy of mandarins to enforce them.  Therefore we call for the senate to be chosen by the election of three senators from each district on a proportional basis.

Society - As a nation of all nations, most issues involving social institutions should be decided by the regions and not by the national government.  Therefore issues such as abortion, capital punishment, drugs, education, and marriage should be solely the province of the regions, with no law concerning these topics enacted by a region for the benefit of its citzens impingining upon the right of another region to decide what would benefit its citizens the most.

Budget - We are a rich nation established upon a bountiful continent by a beneficent divinity.  It is therefore shameful that we have placed the shackles of debt upon our posterity.  Therefore the Manifest Destiny party favors a series of budget surpluses to eliminate our national debt.

Taxes - The change in our tax code that is most urgently needed is a system of tax simplication.  Our tax code places an aristocracy of unelected accountants and lawyers above us.  Therefore we call for a requirement that any new addition to the tax code must also eliminate at least twice as many words.  However, our tax code must not be dependent upon any single source of revenue lest any segment of our economy be overburdened and so that our government has a predictable revenue to call upon to provide for the common welfare.

Expansion -  We must expand our system of liberty to include more territory.  This expansion should begin at home, so we call for our possessions of Puerto Rico, and the Virgin Islands to be added to the Southeast Region, and for Samoa, Guam, and the Northern Marianas to the Western region.  As aristocracy and privledge are the true enemies of our democracy, we call for the removal of the last vestiges of the British aristocracy from our hemisphere that tried to harness our native bounty to their benefit.  As such we should pursue a foreign policy that aims to establish true republics in The Bahamas, Canada, and Jamaica that could join our Great Republic in place of the so called commonwealth that serves but to provide a link in the chain that binds them to an antiquated aristocracy.

[MAS117]

make this a cacusus not a party, ill join

[Platypus]

Lol, i'm a moderate monarchist, so I don't think i'll be joining.

(As in I think that a powerless head of state is the way to go. I'd prefer a powerless President to a powerless Queen, but that won't happen-it's either US style of UK style :S)

[True Federalist (진정한 연방 주의자)]

make this a cacusus not a party, ill join

Since at this time the Manifest Destiny Party is mainly a single issue party, it would be willing to support Fusion ticketswith like-minded individuals, and if it so happened that a majority of our members happened to be within a single major party, I could see the MDP joining that party.  Based on the platforms given in the platform thread, fusion tickets with the Democratic, Southern Republican, and UAC are possible., but not with the ANP, CPP, or the UL.
If a single issue party fits your definition of a caucus, then by all means I would welcome you joining my party and doing so would not require (as far as the MDP is concerned,) your leaving the UAC.

[True Federalist (진정한 연방 주의자)]

I have been working to develop a more detailed platform for the Manifest Destny Party and create a website for it.  However, given that there is an official thread now for such things to be linked from, I wished to place the current draft platform here.  It is a moderate, but not a centrist platform.  The MDP is strongly into devolving decisions to the regions wherever practical.  The platform is rather long so it will have to be split into several posts. Sorry!

[True Federalist (진정한 연방 주의자)]

Governmental Policy

Affirmative Action
Every person should be equal under the law. Affirmative action and similar schemes, while well intentioned, produce inequality under the law and therefore should be used only as a limited tool to remedy specific past wrongs, and not be used by bureaucratic mandarins as an unending tool to maintain a position in society as our arbitrators. Our country should look forward to our glorious future and not dwell endlessly upon every flaw of our ancestors.

Capital Punishment
The Manifest Destiny Party is opposed to any constitutional amendment that would prohibit either the United States or the several States from using capital punishment.

Federalism
As a nation of all nations, most issues involving social issues should be decided by the states and not by the national government. Issues such as abortion, capital punishment, drugs, education, and marriage should not have a mandate imposed upon them by the national government. The role of the national government should be limited to ensuring that the decisions made by any region on such issues do not impinge upon the right of other regions to make their own decisions. While the Manifest Destiny Party may take specific stances on social issues, it is with the understanding that they are to be implemented at the state level (or for the forum, regional level).

Three Strike Laws
While we support having punishment more severe for repeat offenders, “three strike” laws have proven counterproductive and should be reformed or abolished.

Voting Rights
A system of proportional voting provides protection for the rights of minorities within our great republic without depending upon an aristocracy of bureaucratic mandarins to enforce them. Therefore the Manifest Destiny Party calls for the legislature to be chosen using three member districts with elections decided on a proportional basis in each district.

District of Columbia
The Manifest Destiny party favors the passage of an amendment granting the District of Columbia representation in the House of Representatives so long as its population is at least as large as that of the state with the smallest population.

Hawaii
The unicorporated US territories of Johnson Atoll, the Midway Islands, and Palmyra Atoll which were claimed by Hawaii before Hawaii was annexed by the United States should be added to the territory of that state.

Puerto Rico
The subsidies that Puerto Rico receives ahould be ended and its citizens offered the choice of statehood or independence.

[True Federalist (진정한 연방 주의자)]

Economic Policy

Balanced Budget
We are a rich nation established upon a bountiful continent by a beneficent divinity. It is therefore shameful that we have placed the shackles of debt upon our posterity. Therefore the Manifest Destiny Party favors a series of budget surpluses to eliminate our national debt. Once the national debt has been eliminated the Manifest Destiny Party favors maintaining balanced budgets. However, because the government should be able to respond flexibly to the needs of the republic, which may not match the revenues of the government, the Manifest Destiny Party does not favor amending the constitution to require balanced budgets.

Tax Simplification
The change in our tax code that is most urgently needed is tax simplification. Our tax code places an aristocracy of unelected accountants and lawyers in charge of our economic vitality. Therefore the Manifest Destiny Party calls for a requirement that any addition to the tax code must also eliminate at least twice as many words.
In simplifying our tax code, our government must not be made dependent upon any single source of revenue lest any segment of our economy be overburdened or that our government has unpredictable levels of revenue to call upon.

Corporate Taxation
So as to simply the computation of taxes and close a large number of current loopholes, the Manifest Destiny Party favors shifting the basis of corporate income taxes from net income to a lower rate on gross income.

Minimum Wage
The Manifest Destiny Party calls for the abolition of the job destroying minimum wage, but favors an expansion of the Earned Income Credit to help the working poor.

Energy Policy
   Nuclear Energy
The deaths caused by pollution from fossil fuels far exceeds those caused by nuclear power, even including those caused by Chernobyl, an unsafe design operated in an unsafe manner. The economic infeasibility of nuclear energy is due to the effects of potential lawsuits, and not the actual operating costs of the plants themselves. Therefore, the Manifest Destiny Party calls for the creation of a Nuclear Power Authority in the Department of Energy modeled on the example of the Tennesee Valley Authority. The NPA would absorb the legal risks of a series of new nuclear power plants that would be built by the government at the rate of 50  gigawatts of nuclear generating capacity per year for the next ten years. This would be sufficient, assuming that electric demand continues to grow at a the same rate as it has since 1990, to enable most fossil fuel generating plants involved in the production of non-peak electicity production to be shut down by 2015.For technical reasons, petroleum and gas have inherent efficiencies when it comes to the production of peak load electricity, so a goal of using no fossil fuels in electricty production by 2015 is not feasible.
   Hydrogen
Hydrogen shows promise as a fuel which could replace the use of petroleum and gas in many applications. It has two significant obsticles at present to its widespread use. These are the lack of infrastructire and the cost. Since hydrogen infrastructure can piggyback on that of the electric grid, we can prepare now for the day when hydrogen becomes cost effective by taking steps to ensure that the electric transmission grid is capable of meeting the increase in electricty demand that a transition to hydrogen would create. Helping the electric industry to secure the rights of way and to gain pre-approval for the construction of additional transmission lines now will facilitate their installation later. Even if the goal of switching to hydrogen should prove elusive, the contining increase in electricity demand from other sources is such that planning for improvements in the transmission grid should be done now.
   Biofuels
Biofuels have the twin advantages of being a domestic energy source and of not releasing   additional carbon dioxide into the atmosphere from the consumption of fossil fuels. The technical problems associated with biofuels have been solved, but such fuels are currently more expensive to produce than fossil fuels. In order to promote the use of biofuels, the Manifest Destiny Party calls for excluding biofuels from half of the taxes that are levied on equivalent fossil fuels, but we do not favor the use of direct subsidies.
   Coal
An unavoidable side effect of our party’s nuclear energy policy is that it will cause a massive decrease in coal consuption in our economy, as approximately 90% of our domestic coal production is used to generate domestic electricity. To ameliorate the effects of this policy, the Manifest Destiny Party proposes the following steps. First of all, we should ensure that our port facilities are capable of handling exporting coal. The developing economies of the Asia can serve as a buffer on falling prices of US coal by providing new demand sources. Also, lower domestic coal prices will reduce the costs of  producing steel in the US, thus providing a minor increase in coal demand. Even with these offsets, we recognize that full implementation of our party’s policies will likely see a 50% reduction in US coal production by 2015 with close to 50% of US coal production being exported.  However, the Manifest Destiny Party opposes any form of targeted assistance, believing that it would be better for the effects of a market economy to decide whether new jobs go the people there or the people go elsewhere to new jobs.

[True Federalist (진정한 연방 주의자)]

Social Policy

Abortion
The divisive issue of abortion rests upon the how a human life defined.  Since the qualities that make up a human life do not depend upon the circumstances of conception, the Manifest Destiny Party is opposed to applying a different set of laws when incest or rape were involved. Otherwise, the Manifest Destiny Party takes no position on this issue, leaving its members free to decide for themselves.

Drugs
The so called War on Drugs has been a costly failureon many points. First of all, the provision of drug rehabilitation is a cheaper way to reduce drug use than incareration of drug users who have otherwise not been engaged in criminal activity. In addition, the criminal activities associated with the selling of drugs would be muted if the illegal methods used to obtain market share were replaced by legal methods. Reliable drug poiencies would reduce the health costs incurred by society that are associated with overdoses. Also, as with all wars, the prosecution of the War on Drugs has eroded our civil liberties.

Education
It is in the interests of our great republic to ensure that its future members have the skills necessary to contribute productively to it. Therefore, the state should provide support for education. However, the choice of education should be made by the persons legally responsible for the upbringing of the child rather than by bureaucratic mandarins. Therefore, the Manifest Destiny Party favors the use of vouchers to support education. In addition, in the tradition of our great president, Theodore Roosevelt, we favor promoting a system of simplified spelling that will make literacy a more easily obtained skill.

Health Care Equity
The biggest problem facing our health care system today is the shifting of costs from the insured to the uninsured. Therefore, prohibiting setting the price of medical services based upon the method of payment is our party’s fundamental health care plank.

Basic Health Care
The basics of health care: preventative care, acute care, dental care, and vision care, should be provided free of charge to the citizenry, as such services are desirable to all and reduce the economic impact upon our society caused by increased levels of preventable sickness. However, the treatment of chronic conditions that are not a threat to the public health, or the provision of levels of covered care that provide non-medical benefits such as the cosmetic benefits of ceramic fillings compared with amalgam fillings should be left to the individual to pay for, either directly or through the use of insurance.

Marriage
Historically, marriage has been a unique combination of church and state in the history of our great republic. This combination was made possible by the equivalence between the unions that church and state wished to foster. This is no longer the case in our nation of all nations, and hence the Manifest Destiny Party believes that the institutions of church marriage  and civil marriage should be separated.
In its broadest interpretation, civil marriage is a method by which adults express their devotion to each other and to their progeny and enter into a standardized civil contract which gives each of the parties certain rights and obligations as a result. Which types of contracts a state shall provide for is wholly a matter for that state to decide, and the Manifest Destiny Party takes the stance that the full faith and credit clause of the United States Constitution should only be interpreted to mean that a civil marriage contracted in one state shall be regarded as valid in any other state that would allow the participants to contract a civil marriage between them in that other state., but that a civil marriage contracted in one state between parties who would not allowed to contract a civil marriage in another state, need not be recognized by that other state.

[True Federalist (진정한 연방 주의자)]

Foreign Policy

Manifest Destiny
We must promote our system of liberty, based on the principle of individual liberty thruout the world. The best method of promotion is by our shining example.

Free Trade
Free trade is always beneficial to all countries that engage in it. However, our interest in free trade does not mean that we should abandon other important principles to engage in free trade with those nations that oppose them.

Immigration
Any immigrant able to contribute to the general welfare of our society should be allowed to enter our great republic and contribute to it greatness and diversity. However, we should limit the provision of social benefits to non-citizen residents, lest we encourage those who would seek to merely take advantage of our society to come to our country.

Foreign Aid
Experience has shown that direct government to government economic aid has not been of much benefit to the people it was intented to assist, but has been subject to considerable amounts of graft and corruption.  In addition, free makets and free trade have been far more beneficial in assisting the economies of other nations. However, in two vital fields, humanitarian assistance, and medical assistance, our great republic can and should do more than it currently does. Expansion of current programs to combat AIDS, malaria, tuberculosis and yellow fever would be of great benefit. The campaign to eradicate polio worldwide looks like it will soon be a success. We should follow through on this success, by engaing in programs to eliminate other viral diseases transmitted promarily by human contact for which vaccines have already been developed.

British Commonwealth[/b]
This so-called commonwealth serves to perpetuate the institutions of British aristocracy in our glorious hemisphere These lands share our common heritage but are held back by the chains of nostalgia to a system that is not in the interests of their people. We should offer the advantages of political union to those portions of the Commonwealth in our hemisphere, namely: Anguilla, Antigua and Barbuda, The Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, Bermuda, the British Virgin Islands, Canada, Cayman Islands, Dominica, Falkland Islands, Grenada, Guyana, Jamaica, Montserrat, St. Helena, St. Kitts and Nevis, St. Lucia, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Trinidad and Tobago, and the Turks and Caicos Islands. We are confident that such an offer will case many of them to repent of their lords and take their proper place in our great nation of many nations.

Antarctica
The Antarctic Treaty has proven successful, largely because the territory it covers is of no economic importance beyond the fishing rights of its waters. However, the recent influx of trawlers and tourists show that this situation cannot last. In order to preserve this natural treasure, the issue of its ownership must be determined. As the first men to set foot on Antarctic were Americans, it only right and natural that the entirety of Antarctia and its coastal islands should be claimed by the United States of America. In addition, we feel that the United States should acquire Bouvet Island and Peter I Island from Norway and Ile Amsterdam, Ile Saint-Paul, Iles Crozet and Iles Kerguelen from France while also obtaining their recognition of our Antarctic claims.

Cuba
The Manifest Destiny Party feels that the Cuban Embargo has been counterproductive. The embargo can not be justified on the grounds of any threat that Cuba poses to the United States and it provides an excuse that Castro uses to maintain his power. Embargoes were not responsible for the collapse of European communism and are not needed to end the Cuban variety.

Mexico
Our most important foreign relationship is with our sister republic, los Estados Unidos Mexicanos. Our policies, both foreign and domestic should be designed to aid our sister republic, so that the economic and social ills of our younger sibling can be cured. However, her progress will also require internal reforms of the Mexican economy, for which we can only provide advice

[True Federalist (진정한 연방 주의자)]

And finally, last but not least, the MDP's position on issues that arise solely out the details of our fantasy government.

Forum Policy

Existing Territories
Those territories that are owned by the United States should become parts of the Regions.  Navassa Island, Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands should be attached to the Southeast Region American Samoa, Guam, Howland Island, Jarvis Island, Kingman Reef, and the Northern Mariana Islands should be attached to the Pacific Region. In the event that Canada should agree to annexation, we favor creating a sixth region to which the Canadian provinces and territorries would belong.

Senate Apportionment
In accordance with our plank on voting rights, the Manifest Destiny Party calls for the Forum Senate to be chosen using three member districts with on a proportional basis.

[??????????]

Can I join this party?

[True Federalist (진정한 연방 주의자)]

Yes, altho until I get the website and forum up, it'll be difficult for you to have much effect on the platform.

[??????????]

Yes, altho until I get the website and forum up, it'll be difficult for you to have much effect on the platform.

Yes, but with me as a member you effectively have a senate seat in which we can pass measures that favor our party.