Marokai Blue/Purple State for Atlasia, Campaign HQ

[Marokai Backbeat]

Proposal: Making the Game Moderator more effective.

Purple State, Campaign Promise: This is what we mean...


Hello there, Atlasia, and Happy New Year!

I've spent alot of time thinking about this, since October; thinking about the state of the game, and my future here.

Under the Purple State/Marokai Blue Administration, we accomplished several critically important things.

• A regional government childboard was kicked off under our Administration.

• Massive and unprecedented amounts of wiki consolidation were undertook.
• We penned and fought for a broad legislative agenda that most other Administrations would shy from.
• Elections the process behind them were streamlined.
• And we fought tirelessly for and eventually got ratified, a brand new Constitution.

A great deal of things were done, but not everything we wanted to accomplish could have been done in our single term. Many things in Atlasia remain to be reformed, and many more things need the incentive to be as active as they need to be.

I am announcing that I will be running for President to try and finish that job.

Purple State joins me in this effort, and I've considered him a close friend in Atlasia after our time working together. He is hardworking, persistent, and needs no introduction. You all know the workhorse that Purple State is. His accomplishments speak for themselves, and I will let him speak on his own behalf.

You also know my experience, my efforts, my past. I have been Attorney General (twice, and during this time I took initiative to overhaul the intro thread), Supreme Court Justice (penning several lengthy opinions myself), Senator (passing alot of important legislation), and Vice President (remaining very active in the role). This doesn't factor in all my other small roles.

I care about Atlasia a great deal, and making this game work well and be more fun to play is one of my passions. I like to think that I've proven, time and again, that I'm up to the task, even when things get in the way. Like, say, my cat ruining my laptop after I was re-elected Senator last year in August, leaving me with nothing but a terrible computer that overheats after ten minutes.

I've quoted this paragraph from Lief alot in the past, and I'd like to do so again, because it really resonated with me ever since he said it, in early-mid 2009.

By refocusing the debate on real world economic and social issues and by working towards coherent policy, we will make the government side of the game more engaging; we will make campaigns more meaningful, shifting them away from personality contests or party-line votes to votes based on political and ideological issues; and we will spur greater political debate, as Senators and voters are forced to make real decisions.

Myself and Purple State are not running to take part on a personality contest. We are running to do hard work once again and fix the problems that plague Atlasia. It's not about silly little personal issues, nor should we be content with votes based on party or ideological lines. There are many problems and we've got to fix them without reacting in a reactionary or bitter way.

Over the next few weeks I will outline in detail, what exactly it is that I plan to do, if elected. On the list? Senate reform, alterations made to executive powers and responsibilities, amending the CCJA to allow for exceptions such as Mint, alternatives to the way we elect Senators now that don't step on too many toes, GM reform, continued Wiki consolidation, domestic policy proposals, especially in regard to further credit card laws, making our best effort to force the Senate to respond to the concerns and statements of the GM, and much more.

So stay tuned, and feel free to ask any questions you like.

Onward to February!

[Marokai Backbeat]

Oh, and happy new year everyone.

Your signature needs editing.

[Marokai Backbeat]

Thanks much, Sewer.

[Marokai Backbeat]

Thanks, Purple State.

Yes, as he said, these are consecutive term limits. It would be silly to conflate consecutive and non-consecutive term limits. There's a simple problem with the Senate: It elects much of the same people over and over again, and this ultimately leads in the long term to much more stagnation and inactivity and predictability than there would be other wise.

If people actually want the Senate to get more interesting, there are very few ways to do that, considering the reactions most people have to changing the way people are elected. One of the simplest solutions would be to just tell people that there's a two-term-consecutive limit. It cycles new people in consistently and keeps things more fresh. People talk and talk about the problem, but no one really wants to entertain how to fix it. We've just got to man-up and talk about the solutions, and that's one of 'em.

And really, it's the least directly impacting and inconvenient, when you think about it. A Senator has a term of 4 months. Setting the consecutive limit at 2 means that Senator can hold office for 8 whole months. I really don't think that's so unfair given the nature of Atlasia. They set out of office for a term and then they can get back in the game, if they can prove to people they deserve to be in over the people that replaced them. It's good for keeping the wheels moving and deserves discussion, I think.

(And thanks for all the support from the people who've endorsed us. And I take delight in Yankee's distress )

[Marokai Backbeat]

Term limits? Bleh.

My thoughts exactly.  Atlasia's population is too small for term limits; after a few elections we would run out of people to replace the good 'ol boys.  Especially when one takes into consideration what percentage of this citizens are active and willing to run for federal office.

Well, they could be put off by just joining the game, then having to face off against this established poster. While the population is small, i'm sure theres something that would work.

     The beauty of regional offices is that they allow newbies to start off at a lower level, getting their sea legs & gaining crucial allies that will give them a real shot at winning a Senate seat.

I guess I'm a bit of an anomaly. My first real position was Attorney General, and I went from there. I was never very involved at the regional level.

[Marokai Backbeat]

God, the term limit policy is threatening my job security, and I don't want to become unemployed during these economic times. How can this ticket support such a job killing measure, and what benefits will I receive when I'm forced to leave office? Did we extend unemployment?

If cushy unemployment packages for ex-Senators is the compromise we'll need to make, I'll consider it.

[Marokai Backbeat]

The point is that it's definitely possible to make it without ever holding office on the regional level, but it's far more difficult & highly luck-based. It's easier if you are established on the forum at-large, but I don't think that should be a requirement to starting a political career in Atlasia.

Certainly not.

[Marokai Backbeat]

     As for the term limits proposal, there's a fifth-term Senator right now who happens to be the primary reason the Senate is even functioning at all at this point. Sounds great on paper, slightly less so in practice.

Yankee is moving the Senate along because he's Yankee. It has nothing to do with him being a fifth-term Senator. You and I both know he's the exception. It's impossible to make the Senate more interesting and functional, and get new people in the game at all, when the same people dominate the positions of the game time and time again.

Consecutive term limits alone won't solve that problem, but they're one of the crucial pieces in doing so. I think serving 8 months is plenty of time for someone to be a Senator. Hell, I was PPT and passed a ton of legislation as Senator, and I didn't even serve 8 months myself.

I mean, the way I see it, we either do something to actually change the way the Senate operates and the people in it, or we just stop complaining altogether. People lose alot of credibility when their rallying cry is "The Senate is inactive and sucks!" but when people brainstorm, they just sort of quietly mumble "But I don't really wanna do anything about it and stuff.." It's hard to take direct action and change people's behavior, but we have no room to talk if we do nothing beyond crossing our fingers.

[Marokai Backbeat]

     As for the term limits proposal, there's a fifth-term Senator right now who happens to be the primary reason the Senate is even functioning at all at this point. Sounds great on paper, slightly less so in practice.

Yankee is moving the Senate along because he's Yankee. It has nothing to do with him being a fifth-term Senator. You and I both know he's the exception. It's impossible to make the Senate more interesting and functional, and get new people in the game at all, when the same people dominate the positions of the game time and time again.

Consecutive term limits alone won't solve that problem, but they're one of the crucial pieces in doing so. I think serving 8 months is plenty of time for someone to be a Senator. Hell, I was PPT and passed a ton of legislation as Senator, and I didn't even serve 8 months myself.

I mean, the way I see it, we either do something to actually change the way the Senate operates and the people in it, or we just stop complaining altogether. People lose alot of credibility when their rallying cry is "The Senate is inactive and sucks!" but when people brainstorm, they just sort of quietly mumble "But I don't really wanna do anything about it and stuff.." It's hard to take direct action and change people's behavior, but we have no room to talk if we do nothing beyond crossing our fingers.

     I did not mean to suggest that the length of his tenure was at all relevant. Rather, I meant to suggest that any change that would deprive the Senate of his continued leadership would be unfortunate. I sort of doubt that this change would be that crucial to making the Senate more active, though, as opposed to just creating a reasonable activity requirement for Senators that actually has a basis in the requirement.

I considered some sort of activity requirement when I was brainstorming a few weeks back, but there's no activity requirement for a Senator that I could think of that could be both reasonably implemented to have a real impact, and that would be realistic. What would we do, make people introduce a minimum amount of legislation, post a minimum amount of times in the Government board? It doesn't really get to the heart of the problem and you really can't just force people to debate if they have no desire to do it.

The only requirement I could think of would be some sort of Amendment that would expel a Senator if they miss x number of votes. But it's a pretty harsh idea that would either end up being so weak it doesn't actually make a difference, or it would expel people who were away for the weekend, or some sort of equivalent.

Any solution has to keep in mind that Atlasia can't be made to be someone's second job. Things should be tough, but still fair and give room for people to actually enjoy being a Senator. I don't want to make the job hell for people.

[Marokai Backbeat]

Perfect ideas or no, I'm actually kind of proud that the first thing that causes argument and pages of posts in our campaign thread is one of our proposed ideas. That's exactly the sort of reaction I wish we had more of around here.

[Marokai Backbeat]

     As for the term limits proposal, there's a fifth-term Senator right now who happens to be the primary reason the Senate is even functioning at all at this point. Sounds great on paper, slightly less so in practice.

I think the point of the proposal is that if it were implemented, you wouldn't need someone like Yank to keep things going in the first place. The Senate as a whole would become more active because players wouldn't burn out. So while you may lose someone like Yank (for a few months), you also have no need for his ability to keep the Senate scraping along.

I can think of at least 2 regional senate elections where active candidates or incumbents were kicked out for less than active replacements. That certainly didn't help the game at all. Imagine if that happened everywhere, and Yankee also was barred from running, what would happen then? I don't think this proposal would work as flawlessly as it sounds.

There are a bunch of other possibilities we have locked up for discussion in the campaign that still address this problem, so highlighting the strong and weak points of each individual idea is exactly the sort of thing in a contest of ideas that we want to do.

Regardless, ignoring the merits of the idea entirely and just saying this generally, we just can't have it both ways here. At some point, something's gotta change, and people can't say that they wish new people were involved in the game and that we had more people doing things while at the same time trying to protect the job security of the old guard. If we actually want to solve problems, we need to make the tough and challenging decisions to actually solve them. We can't just always pay the idea of being newbie-friendly lip service without putting our money where our mouth is. (I never understood that saying.)

[Marokai Backbeat]

TPTTAA:
Marokai. Given what's come out in the recent "brawl" between you and Oakvale, do you feel you are qualified to be President?

(nothing personal)

Nothing personal taken, Teddy.

The decision for Oakvale to run on his own was very personally upsetting, for many reasons that I've outlined today several times over. I reacted in a way that I would expect anyone to act. And really, I didn't do anything too crazy or out of line for anyone that knows me.

I remember you asked me a question about tact the last time I was running back in May-June. This was my response:

Being aggressive around these parts is probably not healthy all the time, but I have no problem with it as long as the person actually contributes to the game and does their job(s) well. I'm not the most polite person in the world and I'll never win any sort of pageant with "I want world peace" questions, but I like to think that over the course of my time in Atlasia I've done alot to get respect.

I was an active and competent Senator, and I like to think I did a pretty good job of running the Senate as PPT. I'm an aggressive and politically active Justice, but I've written detailed opinions and my two colleagues can attest to the fact that I give a great deal of consideration to cases and try to build consensus in private. I remain an active member at large, participated in the ConCon of yore, wrote an Intro thread, etc etc. I've done alot of work and dedicated probably far too much time than I should've to Atlasia, but I did anyhow.

I'm not going to be Prom King of Atlasia anytime soon though, that's for sure. Being partisan, fiery, and intentionally poking the fire from time to time is, in my opinion, a healthy activity personally and for the game. It keeps things a little interesting, and makes people pay attention. I've attacked plenty of people and plenty of people have attacked me over the years. Hell, I started a newsletter directly for the purpose of pissing people off

But in all that time I know that there's a time to fist-fight and scream and a time to build consensus and compromise to get what you can. In the Senate I fought like hell for whatever I liked and probably insulted a few people along the way, but when voting time nears I tried to build consensus and get people on board for whatever I could.

In short, if someone has done alot in Atlasia and they have a good record, fighting and saying a few uncomfortable things from time to time won't get me distracted from their record. Someone who pretty much only stokes the fire however, is a little different. With that in mind though, I'd still agree with what I said. As long as the person has a history of being accomplished, active, and fair, I can easily look past what I consider to be little things, like someone's attitude.

And really, that's still my response today when it comes to attitude. I feel very strongly about that.

But when it comes right down to qualifications, purely on an objective level, I like to think I'm far and away the most qualified and experienced individual in the race. I've been Attorney General (twice), ConCon delegate, SDP Leader, JCP Vice-Leader, and UDL Founder. A Senator, PPT, Supreme Court Justice, Budget Committee member, and Vice President.

I've written and gotten passed countless pieces of very important legislation. During my time on the Court I accumulated a great deal of (honestly very fun) experience with law and wrote detailed opinions. I revived the Intro thread from it's wasting away, and have published countless pieces of platform ideas and legislation in the past. I work on the ConCon of nearly two years ago and helped Purple State write part of the draft that became the Constitution we have now. I have loved pretty much everything I've done in Atlasia, and I like to think I've succeeded in most of what I've tried to do.

I remember making this post in December of 2009, summing up just what I had done as Senator.

In short, to answer your question, yes, I believe I'm firmly qualified, and have demonstrated my abilities of working hard by myself and with others countless times in the past.

[Marokai Backbeat]

Enthusiastically endorsed !

Merci.

[Marokai Backbeat]

Thanks for handling that question for me in my absence, PS. I'm feeling a little under the weather, and we've been moving, so I'm extra tired on top of that. I'll be back on top in a day or two, and will quickly begin posting platform planks in greater detail and explanation as PS and I have done in the past.

Thanks everyone.

[Marokai Backbeat]

I'm confident the legal issues surrounding the idea could be worked out in some fashion. What concerns me more is the court's idea of what is someone's "identity." The court would have to establish, at some point somehow, that when someone deregisters and reregisters later, that they are the same individual. It's been implied at times that when someone is deregistered they cease to exist entirely and the slate is wiped clean. It's a bit of a grey area that I wish I could've resolved when I was a Justice, but never got the opportunity.

That's really my only concern.

[Marokai Backbeat]

Acting Nice vs. Being Productive

I was thinking about some things today about "bipartisanship" and "including everyone" in process. This is really what caused me to want to write about this:

Q:   Assuming you win, are you willing to pledge that your cabinet will not be hyper partisan and that you will look past ideology in you selection?

A:  I can promise you right now, JBrase, that I have no intentions of a hyper partisan cabinet, and I will not be running a hyper partisan government, either. At the cabinet I'm currently looking at placing, I have a member of each major party represented. My number one requirement for anyone who wishes to be in my cabinet is activity. After that, follows experience and political ideology., But activity is #1. My goal is to have one of the most active cabinets in Atlasian history.

First of all, I'd like to comment on the irony of the question. It asks if Tmth will "look past ideology" referencing how Fritz and, according to some Purple State, had left-wing cabinets. Tmth then says that yes, he will look past ideology.. by including that as one of his judging criteria for cabinet officials.

But that's not my beef, my comment here is in regard to what an effective cabinet is. Has Badger done poorly as Game Moderator? Nay, one can only realize he is a worthy successor to Purple State, and has done a good job.

Has Teddy done a poor job? No, as his mistakes have been negligible and he is clearly the most passionate of the entire cabinet for his position and cares for it deeply. His activity is almost unparalleled among the other cabinet members, including myself.

Is Hashemite a poor SoEA? Not at all, as he knows his stuff and cares deeply about actually making people care about foreign affairs. Is Hans a poor Registrar General? Unless someone considers constant updates to party numbers and voter rolls "poor," one could assume that's a flat "no."

When Purple State was President, he and I both decided that appointing Winston would be a great idea for SoIA. He was active, controversial enough without being a detriment to his effectiveness in Atlasia. He wanted the position badly and had ideas. He was also a communist and that generated a fair amount of controversy. The fact of the matter is, his ideology wasn't a factor to our decision either way. We believed he was the best person for the job and we went with him.

To expect anything different from a President is, in my opinion, irresponsible and silly. Effectiveness and competence is always going to be my top criteria. I will always try to include as many people as possible, but that will not take priority over actually getting things done unless enough people stand in the way that I need to woo them because passage would be impossible otherwise.

When PS and I proposed a restricted Constitutional Convention, we did so because the last ConCon did alot of good for making everyone feel involved and appreciated, but it didn't do a whole lot of good for actually making things happen. This is the sort of counter-proposal our progress in the redesigned ConCon got in October when it was nearing it's end:

Constitutional Convention
The Atlasian Constitutional Convention, while a novel idea with good intentions, once again failed to achieve its designated mission. It was poorly planned, poorly communicated, and poorly run. AndrewCT will assume the role of presiding officer over the ConCon and hold a vote. If the delegates vote to suspend, the administration will implement their new reforms. First, a new vote will be held. If the voters request another ConCon, AndrewCT/Duke believe the citizens of Atlasia should decide when and how the constitutional convention should be run, not a select group of politicians. In the event of another constitutional convention, the ticket supports the relocation of the convention to the Atlasia Fantasy Election forum as opposed to being tucked away in an obscure board no one ever checks. It must be an open process to everyone, and it demands everyone be involved to truly make the process worthwhile.

It's very easy to play politics with serious Atlasian issues and trot out the Populist card of "what the people want, make the people involved, make the people feel in charge," etc. It's alot harder to charge ahead with a vision and get stuff done. Had we gone ahead with this sentiment, we wouldn't have passed a consolidated Constitution. Should we go ahead with Tmth's vision for how cabinets should be made, you'll get alot of people that feel happy and included and Tmth will look nice from it, but you'll be neglecting people that are the best for the job.

Style and smiles are inferior to substance and progress.

[Marokai Backbeat]

The Cut Through the Smoke Game!!

 

Can YOU decipher a straightforward message from the following post?

I oppose off-site recruiting because members who are recruited off-site are often looked down upon, and aren't given much of a chance. If members of Atlasia as a whole began to accept off-site recruiting and had a more favorable opinion of it, I'd support it in a heart beat. This isn't about what I specifically want. It's about what I think is best for the game, and right now, I don't think off-site recruitment would be good for the game.

See if you can figure out a stable and not-at-all-waffly principle from the above post! If you can find a message that makes sense, you WIN!*

*Note: Winners do not win any actual prizes.

[Marokai Backbeat]

I'm afraid I don't really completely understand your problems with what PS said, Yankee. You wanted others to step up so you wouldn't be doing it all yourself. You wanted help to get the people moving. PS has now stepped up to that challenge, and if past is any prologue, he can definitely do it. Is that not the sort of thing you wanted? It's okay to admit when your political opponents have the right idea.

[Marokai Backbeat]

Making the Game Moderator more effective.

Having an effective Game Moderator has become a necessity in Atlasia as of late. Spoiled by Purple State's effective tenure as GM, we've become used to getting constant reports on employment, population, poverty, debt and revenue, news reports, evaluations of policy proposals, and more.

There is, however, a common problem since Purple State's departure from that office: the load on the individual has become too great to bear alone. Badger has done a very respectable job at handling the responsibilities, but more can always be done, and when Al was briefly GM, there was great difficulty in handling it alone. And that is understandable, it's a heavy load.

That's why I believe it is time for the implementation of "Game Advisors." Two GM "assistants", if you will, that assist and periodically perform the duties of GM themselves when the Game Moderator himself is unable to do so. This will allow people who do not want to or are not able to do the entirety of the duties themselves, to still participate in running the game. Considered the "Junior Game Advisor" and "Senior Game Advisor", these two individuals will be directed by the Game Moderator himself.

For example, the Game Moderator himself could divide duties between himself and the two Game Advisors, by allowing the Junior Game Advisor to handle foreign affairs, the Senior Game Advisor to handle Economic Affairs, and the GM himself handles Misc. news stories and legislative analysis. Such a division of duties, or any combination thereof, could allow a much lighter load shared by the three. By sharing the burden, I believe it is possible for much more effective and frequent updates from the office of the GM.

Badger has done a very good job, all things considered, of being Game Moderator. But more and more help could always be used.

And of course, I'm happy that something I scribbled down in notepad 4 months ago or so and circulated privately a few times, has finally become so openly accepted by the other two major nominees:

(In a PM to Fritz, Bgwah, and Kalwejt, after Fritz privately asked for ideas on proposals in the October campaign, I sent this as part of the partial platform I drafted for myself (screenshot if someone wants absolute proof) before I backed out of the race officially.)

Abolish Secretary of Internal Affairs and possibly create two new positions entitled "Game Advisors" or something like that. Consider them "Junior" and "Senior" advisors that could take over in the even of the GM leaving or being unable to perform his duties. Let them all work together to post.

Everyone coming around to the general idea of more GMs is a very welcome thing indeed.

[Marokai Backbeat]

Or, alternatively, you can change the law so that it wouldn't apply in this case.

Both should certainly be done, of course.

[Marokai Backbeat]

I really don't see why you didn't just shoot Mint a pm advising him to de-register quickly, or he'd be banned. I know you were ordered by Fritz, but I think it would have been fine if you would have at least waited more than 3 minutes to give Mint a chance to de-register. Would of saved a lot of people a lot of time.

Tmth, dear.. People can't de-register.

[Marokai Backbeat]

Also: https://uselectionatlas.org/FORUM/index.php?topic=34355.msg2748235#msg2748235

Someone had already quoted his registration. I couldn't have asked him to just delete his new registration if I wanted to.

Now, will you move on with your transparent attempt to make political hay out of a non-issue?

[Marokai Backbeat]

I really don't see why you didn't just shoot Mint a pm advising him to de-register quickly, or he'd be banned. I know you were ordered by Fritz, but I think it would have been fine if you would have at least waited more than 3 minutes to give Mint a chance to de-register. Would of saved a lot of people a lot of time.

Tmth, dear.. People can't de-register.

He could have done what NiK did, though, to be able to stay on without being prosecuted.

If I recall correctly, NiK had lost access to his original account. Mint voluntarily changed his account.

You know the one person who seems to not actually care about this issue? Mint himself. He's already been pardoned apparently (although I personally think that's inopportune timing) so move on and stop looking for something to try and distract people with.

[Marokai Backbeat]

I should note that I also have the idea of adding on a GM: the GM for Foreign Policy.  It'll make the job of GM easier, and allow for more stories to be released.

I'm just glad that, additional GMs, a proposal I came up with 4 months ago (and shared with Fritz), now enjoys commonplace acceptance.

[Marokai Backbeat]

Hey folks. Go check out our awesome platform.

All questions and comments welcome!