Leinad For Southern Legislature!

[Leinad]

Information
Candidate: Leinad
Office Sought: Southern Legislator
Home State: Georgia
Party: Federalist
Election Date: July 17th-19th

Campaign Timeline
Announcement Speech in Atlanta, GA, July 6th
Speech on the Constitutional Convention in Dallas, TX, July 8th
Five Promises announced in Nashville, TN, July 14th
Town Hall in Charlotte, NC, July 16th

Endorsements
Senator PiT (Fed-SC)
Midwest Rep. Maxwell (ANS-OK)
Senator North Carolina Yankee (FED-NC)
AUCC General Secratary Classic Conservative (FED-TX)
Fmr. Northeast Rep. JoMCaR (FED-ME)

[Leinad]

Leinad making his announcement at an event in Atlanta, GA

Hello, fellow Atlasians! I'm here in Atlanta to announce my candidacy for the Southern Legislature. Why? Because we need people with the right vision for this nation. A vision of sensible solutions to the problems we face, and responsible governance. We need fresh policy-makers along with the old, to find solutions that are best for all of us.

We need to find things we can agree on, and start from there. We can all, hopefully, agree on the problems that face us as a nation. A lack of activity and enthusiasm for the nation. Some people, such as the fellow just appointed to the office I'm running for, think we should just dissolve our nation immediately. This Doomsday ideology is fundamentally opposed to our core values: consent of the governed, careful and responsible decision-making, and peaceful discourse.

And civility is badly needed. Personal attacks are being brought onto people, including slanderous accusations of criminal offense. This is not okay, and until we solve this problem from the bottom-up, making this nation exceptional once again will be hard. Is government legislation needed for this? Hopefully it can be solved without it, but if civility guidelines need to be created, I'm someone who will make sure it solves the problem without encroaching on our inalienable right of liberty. One thing that we don't need is for the government to stand for civility without laws. Appointing people who make reckless accusations to people they don't like, and refuse to even try to make things better, isn't a good start.

What we need is reform. An Atlasia 2.0 will have much of the same problems as the current one does. We need reform, whether that's from a Constitutional Convention, normal governmental laws, or simply a change in the attitude of the people, we need reform, and we need law-makers who will help guide that reform.

What kinds of reform? Well, I've heard the idea of merging the Pacific and Midwest either entirely, or simply their legislatures. While I wouldn't be against that idea, necessarily, I must stress that no region should be forced to consolidate, especially if they're doing alright. The Mideast, Northeast, and oh yes, the South, deserve the right to go on without border change if we so choose, and if I have a say, I will choose to retain sovereignty. We must retain consent of the governed as our guiding principle, and none of these "3-regions or bust" mentalities do so.

While I'm on regions, I think that devolving more powers to them, or at least drawing clear lines on what is federal or regional powers will help this nation. If the good people of the South decide to elect me as Legislator, I will be a voice for regional control and clarity on the jurisdictions of different levels of government.

What have I done so far, regarding solutions? I've sparked a conversation on Wiki reform that was endorsed by all 4 of the recent Senatorial candidates. I think that we need a National Archivist, and that we need to start a thread to lay down clear ideas on what this person's job would entail, and the best ways we can keep our nation's archives up-to-date as they should be.

And while we do need to spend time on the government's concerns, this is not an excuse to neglect the people of this nation who aren't involved with the government. We need to continue making this a more perfect union, and one way to do that, as now Senator PiT has suggested, is by amending the Small Business Growth Act so that it only provides tax credits to new employees who are citizens or permanent residents of Atlasia. This is just an example of the common-sense approach I will be taking to legislation.

In fact, my approach to governing is one of transparency. I will make sure to be active in not only crafting and perfecting legislation to improve the South, but I will make sure to be active in discourse with the region's citizens, and I will try to explain the decisions I make and ensure that sensibility will prevail in this region.

Regarding the role of government, we need a limited government, that governs by the constitution, not by the whims of it's leaders, and a government that recognizes the consent of the governed as the fundamental source of power. I don't believe in limited government because I think that government is bad, or that any specific people will abuse powers; I believe in limited government because, naturally, throughout history, government has expanded to unruly sizes, and all this often does is take away the liberty of the people.

I'm not here to work against Governor Flo, I'm here to work with the Governor, and the rest of the Legislature, to make the South a leader in the advancements of our nation. We need to get past the politics of partisanship that resemble the hallways of a high-school more than the chambers of an effective governing body, and we need to foster an environment of civility, and provide common-sense solutions to our all-too common problems.

If elected, I will work diligently to find these common-sense solutions, to make this nation great, because this nation deserves to be great!

Thank you, and Dave Bless Atlasia!

[Leinad]

     You'll be great in the Legislature.

Thanks!

[Leinad]

Endorsed!

Enthusiastically Endorsed.

Thanks to the both of you, as well!

[Leinad]

What is your position on a Constutional Convention??

Thanks for the question!

Well, if you mean a Constitutional Convention to reform the way the government works, then yes, as long as it actually does help.

If you mean a Constitutional Convention to immediately dissolve the Republic of Atlasia, then I'm against it. A decision like that can't be made just because some of the elites are bored. We need sensible, responsible reform before we do something drastic like that.

And either way, we need reform. An Atlasia 2.0 will have much of the same problems as we do now. I suppose it will be better if the Convention also delivers reform, but that accomplishes little that reform without a reset accomplishes.

Short, painfully simplified answer: I'd support it, with reservations.

[Leinad]

Would you sign the petition for a Constutional Convention???

Honestly, I don't feel like I can sign something in a thread explicitly calling for a restart. I don't like that idea. I'd sign a petition for a Constitutional Convention in general, but I'd rather avoid having a hand in the nation's demise.

We need to solve problems with caution, and find a sensible middle-ground. This need for drastic-action-or-else will do nothing to find solutions--it will just divide us further.

[Leinad]

Information
Candidate: Leinad
Office Seeked: Southern Legislator
Home State: Georgia
Party: Federalist
Election Date: July 17th-19th

I hope you have sought help regarding your spelling & grammar.

That actually took me a while to attempt to find a less-awkward way of saying "office I'm running for." As you might can tell, avoiding awkwardness isn't always my best quality, per se...

1. What is your position on the legalization of bestiality?

Animals can't give consent, so bestiality should remain illegal.

2. Do you think that the current meat production methods used by Atlasian meat producers should remain legal?

I must admit that I'm no expert on meat production, although I'd be happy to learn more and then work together to craft a bill to fix any glaring problems in the current system.

Thank you and good luck!

You too!

[Leinad]

You have my endorsement!!!

Thanks!

[Leinad]

The past participle of seek is sought.

THAT'S the word I completely forgot the existence of! Thanks!

Thank you for your interesting and detailed response.

To clarify for the second question, do you think that it should be legal to kill animals for food in general?

You're welcome!

Well, I think that it's a moral decision for individual people to make (whether they're okay or not with eating food that came from killed animals) and I don't think it's the government's position to make moral decisions for people, unless it's something that they objectively need to stop (bestiality is an example). There isn't a large enough consensus on the matter to warrant a law, I don't think.

I wouldn't, in general, be against a bill to help the treatment of animals. Perhaps I haven't looked close enough, but I can't find any animal-related bills in our region's laws. I think animal rights is an important thing we can all find common ground on, regardless of ideology or party affiliation.

[Leinad]

Wasn't there some bill during the Dirty South era (2008-2010) that embraced like several misspelled words for things?

Is this what you're thinking of?

I remember somewhat recently I think someone was trying to get one of the Midwestern states be named "Fidelty."

You have my most enthusiastic endorsement.

Thank you!

[Leinad]

Speech on the Constitutional Convention

At an event today in Dallas, Texas, Classic Conservative (right) explains why Leinad (left), recent signer of his Constitutional Convention petition, is the best candidate for the Southern Legislature.

Ladies and gentlemen of Dallas, the South, and the rest of Atlasia, I have signed the petition for a Constitutional Convention.

This isn't a flip-flop, or a contradiction: I explicitly stated that I'm signing the petition with the intent to reform Atlasia, not to dissolve it. I in fact received assurance from Senator Cris and Classic Conservative, the latter of whom you just heard speak, that this is not to restart Atlasia, and the title of the post was changed accordingly. I have always supported reforms, and I think everyone knows we need some. I'm just against this "radical or bust" attitude that will cause the same inaction that it's followers express such disdain for.

It's often a self-fulfilling prophecy with these guys, isn't it? When you claim to not like the way things are, but you're rude to people, unwilling to agree to moderate reforms because they aren't radical enough, and have no solutions of your own except "watch it burn," you might as well be in denial that any problems exist, or in fact encourage them.

I think a lot of people need to ask where they're priorities lie: making Atlasia great, or just blaming those who disagree with you and encouraging the nation's demise. If it's the former, you and I can work together to achieve that goal; if it's the latter, I'd question why you're even here.

There is a difference between compromising and abandoning your principles. Sometimes compromise is the only way to get anything done. Dissolution of Atlasia requires consensus, anything else is called "tyranny." Only Dave himself can dissolve this nation without full, expressed consent of the governed.

If you're not willing to work together with others to get sensible reforms passed, even if it means not doing exactly what you want to do, you won't succeed on anything. If we want solutions, and we all do, we need people in government who understand that, and I'm one of those people.

There's currently a bill on the Senate floor that will dissolve Atlasia. Not only is there not a Constitutional basis for that, but it doesn't solve anything. What these people hate is us kicking the can down the road--I don't want to keep doing that either, but this "solution" is just them moving the can to another road, and kicking it down that. Drastic action for the sake of drastic action is absurd.

The choice is not whether we dissolve Atlasia or do nothing. This is a false narrative; don't believe it, and anyone who tries to sell that narrative has probably made up their mind on our nation's fate.

Classic Conservative and Cris may not agree with me on everything, even this issue, completely, but we can certainly agree that we want positive change, not negative rhetoric. You know who else agrees with us on that? The Atlasian people. This is merely the bored elites wanting to kill it off, Neros tuning up their fiddles in case they successfully burn Atlasia to the ground.

We need candidates who will offer solutions to problems, not peddle fear and finger-pointing. Whether it's in the problems that face our nation, or the problems that face the individual citizen--the parents, the business owners, the students, and everyone else--I am a candidate that will offer solutions!

[Leinad]

Five Promises

Leinad has discussed his campaign on several television shows in the week since his announcement.

July 14th
Nashville, Tennessee

It's important for voters to know what they're going to get before they vote. It's not smart to buy a car without first looking it over. Likewise, why vote for a candidate without an idea of what they'll do?

Thus, I'll make it clear how I'll legislate. I will make 5 promises for how I'll conduct my business if you so choose to elect me to the Southern Legislature:

Promise #1: I will not vote for a bill that gives too much unchecked power to the government. To me, the role of government is to ensure the rights of it's people and little else. All power comes from consent of the governed, and individual liberty is the foundation of this country. Government should be restrained, not because it's bad, or because the people in it are bad, but because a large government without checks and balances often tramples on people's rights.

Promise #2: I will not vote for a bill without hearing both sides. Sometimes I've found myself leaning in one direction, but then changing my mind upon hearing the alternate viewpoint articulated well. It's hard to determine what's right or wrong in an echo-chamber, so I'll do my best to ensure both points of view are heard.

Promise #3: I will work with my colleagues at the capitol. I will try to find common ground and work together with others to find solutions to our problems, instead of becoming part of the problem with stagnant partisanship. Now more than ever, we need to collaborate to find the best bills possible for the Atlasian people.

Promise #4: I will not vote against Atlasia. Those who clamor for dissolution-or-nothing are ridiculous at best. I will stand for sensible solutions, a positive, bottom-up approach, and a Constitutional Convention to let the people decide what our reform should be, not beltway elites who want to watch this nation burn.

Promise #5: I will not vote against the South's regional sovereignty. While I do think consolidation might be a good idea sometimes, it should NEVER be done without explicit consent of the people. As long as the people of the South oppose consolidation or a redrawing of borders, so will I.

If you elect me to the Southern Legislature, rest assured that I'll follow through on these promises to the best of my ability to further this nation and this region to the bright future we all know it can have.

[Leinad]

Town Hall

Leinad, here seen answering questions from the press

Hello, people of Atlasia, I'm here in Charlotte, North Carolina to answer people's questions. I recently announced my 5 key promises in Nashville, but just in case anything else needs to be addressed or clarified, or anyone has any questions whatsoever--preferably in regards to my candidacy--this is where they can ask me.

So, without further ado, ask away!

[Leinad]

Election Day!

Hello, everyone! The voting will be opened up shortly, and it is up to the will of the people what 3 Atlasians they will choose to be in the legislature.

As you know, I have ran an active campaign, speaking all across the region including tonight in Jacksonville, and as I prepare to board my flight home to cast my vote, I hope you will cast yours for the candidate who has consistently stood for protecting individual liberty, working together to further our region, and looking for solutions to the problems we have.

Now, this election isn't what it can be. Only two candidates have declared. But there will surely be write-in campaigns to find the 3rd member, or maybe even pull an upset on one of us official candidates. Make sure that the right people get in with your vote, because now more than ever, it can change the future of this nation.

Vote Leinad!
The Candidate for Liberty.
The Candidate for Solutions.
The Candidate for a Brighter Future.

[Leinad]

Mr Leinad,
Will you be beholden to special interests including your own party or will you vote for what the people want?

Thank you for the question!

I'm elected by the individual people, not groups, so the interests of the individual people and their unalienable rights to life, liberty, and property would be the most important factor in my actions if I'm elected.

[Leinad]

I'd like to thank everyone who voted for me, it's certainly good to be listed as either #1 or #2 on on over three-quarters of the ballots!

Now it's time to work on fixing this nation. It won't be easy. Most people have already given up. But for those that still have hope, we need to work together to find solutions, and I will be active as Southern Legislator in finding those solutions. I've already set up an office where we can have an open dialog on what we need to do. I hope to hear from you!