The Atlasian Sentinel Presidental Debate, October '09

[Vepres]

I would like to welcome viewers to the October '09 Presidential debate. I ask that the audience refrain from asking questions until the town hall portion of the debate. I am Vepres, and I will be moderating this debate.

Let's meet the candidates. *Applause*

Here we have, from left of the stage to the right, incumbent President Lief, Former President Al, Senator Franzl, and Former Senator and Presidential candidate PiT.

Candidates, you may all make an opening statement, after which I will begin questioning you four. You are allowed, and even encouraged, to rebut and question other candidate's responses, though keep it civil please.

To the audience, I reiterate that I ask you all to remain quiet until the town hall portion of the debate.

Now, on to the opening statements, good luck gentlemen!

[Vepres]

At this rate we'll be done by February

Anyway, Franzl has 24 hours to post his opening statement, then we'll move on whether or not he has posted it.

[Vepres]

As I'm sure you all know, the ANSE has not been doing well of late. In just a few months, it has plummeted from 1000 to 892. That's more than a 10% drop in the total value of large Atlasian corporations. That Atlasian dollar is losing value, and the unemployment rate has become very high, with the Midwest, Dirty South, and Mideast rates in double digits. To what do you attribute this problem, and how would you go about solving the problem?

[Vepres]

Moving on. Many in the country believe that the President should take a more active role than the holders of the office have historically taken. Often past Presidents have taken a passive role when it comes to the government's legislative agenda. Indeed, some would even veto legislation without giving reason *cough*bgwah*cough*.

So, what role do you believe the President should have? Should he be passive, or use the bully pulpit to advance his agenda? Should he

@ PiT, Franzl, Al: How would you be different from Lief as far as activity is concerned?
@ Lief: How well do you think you've done as far as activity is concerned? Is there anything you wish to improve on in a second term?

[Vepres]

Could you all summarize your general foreign policy beliefs, and a few issues in foreign policy you would address as President? What would you look for in a SoEA?

[Vepres]

     I am something of an anti-interventionist on foreign policy. I oppose us getting involved in things that do not directly concern us. On the other hand, I would not call myself an isolationist. Dealing with other nations is a duty whose importance cannot be denied.

     With that said, I would not take action to end our support for Colombia and Israel. While I do think we have put ourselves at some risk by supporting them, we need to prove ourselves to be honest and trustworthy allies. Part of that is backing up the people who we have agreed to back up. Of course, we do need to show discretion in what we back them up in. I am not advocating that we invade Iran should Israel wish to do so.

     Otherwise, I think that we need to continue working with the world's other nuclear powers to continue scaling back our arsenals and dissuade other nations from gaining nuclear arsenals, so that we may put the fear of nuclear weapons behind us. I would also be interested in establishing free trade agreements with any allies of ours who we don't have an FTA with yet, though I would also make sure there existed sufficient support for it to pass, so that I do not waste the Senate's time in doing so.

     As for a SoEA, I want someone who considers among their highest priorities the continued safety of the Atlasian people. Towards this end, my ideal SoEA is someone who would avoid war unless necessary, aggressively search out peaceful solutions, & not choose courses of actions for personal reasons. As long as we are not talking about someone who is outright belligerent, I am rather flexible as far as potential SoEAs go.

What about human rights abuses in foreign countries that don't directly harm Atlasia?

[Vepres]

Answer the question guys, polls open in less than two days.

[Vepres]

Well, as voting starts tonight, I'll have to cut this short. I would like to thank the candidates for participating.

We are now in the town hall portion, any citizen may ask these candidates questions. Please keep them intelligent and relevant.

[Vepres]

So yeah, I cut this short because I though the election was on the third Friday, not second to last, so here's another question

Strategic voter registration and by extension regional Senate seats has become a hot issue in the past few weeks. What do you think should be done, if anything, to combat strategic voter registration?

[Vepres]

I think a problem like, so detrimental to the working of the game, requires an outside the box solution, rather than tinkering out with registration laws (though strong registration laws are important as well). That's why I've taken a stand and called for the abolition of regional senate seats. Regional senate seats have been broken for a long time, and it's time we discarded them. Even this election, in which supporters of regionalism claim that we are seeing active regional elections, really only three are being contested. Sixty percent, though better than the twenty or forty seen in the past, is not good enough.

I would also be willing to look at restrictions on moving, either making it so that voters cannot reregister in new states or increasing the wait time between moves to half or a full year. What I do not support are any plans to "redistrict" the regions or complicated schemes to shrink the number of regions. A problem like this can be solved with a simple solution; there is no need for needlessly complicated ones.

What would you replace regional Senate seats with?

[Vepres]

@ Lief and Franzl: Would you push for a Senate election reform as President?

[Vepres]

Well, since voting has started that concludes the debate. I would like to thank all the candidates for participating.

Lief, you may answer that follow-up if you wish.