shua for Mideast Senator!

[shua]

Conscription

I am an opponent of the draft. I believe that if a war is sufficiently important to fight, and if we as a nation believe in our cause, then people will volunteer, and a volunteer military is more committed, more skilled and more effective than a forced one.  Some people are capable of fighting, and others are better suited to serving our country in better ways, and each person should be able to make that decision.

There is an amendment being voted on in the Senate that limits the application of conscription to use by the regions in case of an attack on Atlasian soil by a foreign government. I am not sure that is the best way to make an exception, but the greater problem I have with this amendment is who is exempted from conscription and who isn't. I do not believe it is right to put into our constitution greater rights for people in higher education than people who are involved in raising a family or doing other important work. This bias makes no sense to me in the context of an invasion by a foreign power, and would shift the burden of war to fall even more greatly upon the educationally and economically disadvantaged. 
In times of existential crisis, our forces are best voluntary, and our burden best equally shared. I believe we should have an anti-conscription amendment, but this one is not it.

[President Marokai]

Just wanted to say you have my endorsement from the Midwest.

[Diabolical Minds Think Alike]

Endorsed!

[President Marokai]

Endorsed!

Double endorsed?

Endorsed!

[shua]

Just wanted to say you have my endorsement from the Midwest.

Endorsed!

Thank you!

[Cincinnatus]

Endorsed from the NE

[shua]

Endorsed from the NE

Ah, much appreciated!

now that I have all these great endorsements, the one thing I really need is . . . an opponent!

[shua]

I'm interested in a debate.
All I need is a host and an opponent or two.

[Proud Lieberal from Northeast]

Just reaffirming my endorsement. I'd love to serve with you again

[ZuWo]

I'm interested in a debate.
All I need is a host and an opponent or two.

Everyone seems to be afraid of running against you ...

[Senator Napoleon]

I'm interested in a debate.
All I need is a host and an opponent or two.

I have felt the same way for a while myself. Possibly we could debate if no one steps up to challenge us.

[oakvale]

I'm interested in a debate.
All I need is a host and an opponent or two.

I have felt the same way for a while myself. Possibly we could debate if no one steps up to challenge us.

Isn't Rowan running against you?

Nominally, at least, he hasn't got a campaign or anything.

[shua]

Just reaffirming my endorsement. I'd love to serve with you again

Thanks !
I'd be interested to serve with you as well.

[shua]

The Senate is currently considering allowing a political party to appoint a Senator for the entirety of a term in the case where the elected candidate chooses not to serve.  This goes against the spirit, if not the letter, of our constitution, and should be opposed.

[shua]

So, does everyone in Mideast want to vote for me? If there is anyone who doesn't want to vote for me - who are you going to vote for?

[TJ in Wisco]

As my first act as a candidate, I would like to call for a debate between the candidates to be hosted as soon as possible.

Sounds good. Welcome to the contest.

If the two of you don't mind, I'd like to host it.

I'll open a thread shortly, ask a few questions and open it up to the public for more questions. You may respond at your leisure.

[shua]

As my first act as a candidate, I would like to call for a debate between the candidates to be hosted as soon as possible.

Sounds good. Welcome to the contest.

If the two of you don't mind, I'd like to host it.

I'll open a thread shortly, ask a few questions and open it up to the public for more questions. You may respond at your leisure.

very good. thank you

[Proud Lieberal from Northeast]

Kulak Shua,

You have been endorsed by Pravda

[CathKhan]

Endorsed!

[shua]

The Comprehensive Social Security Act is being voted on in the Senate. Several Senators, including myself, have worked on this bill to make it better over the past few months. However, without a report on the cost and taxes of the final version of this extensive bill, I believe it should not pass.

[Communists For McCain]

Not sure if I have done so yet but I thought it necessary given your recent appeal for endorsements in the convention thread:

Endorsed.

[shua]

I thank Pravda for their endorsement. Spasebo!

I'd also like to thank Mecha for his kind words, along with others who have expressed support for endorsing my candidacy at the JCP convention.  Meanwhile, I also appreciate the endorsement of fmr. assembliman Cathcon and expressions of support from other members of the RPP.

As we move forward into the future, we must consider ourselves united in our interest for a better Atlasia. We may have different ideas of how to achieve this, but we are united in our mutual need for a free and just society. Parties are useful, an expression of our great freedom to peaceably assemble, but they do not encompass the fullness of our life together or the meaning of our freedom. They do not replace our individual consciences.
Likewise, we cannot let ourselves devolve into a struggle between those who are well off and those who are not. When the poor are despised or looked down upon, when the rich are resented, we are all diminished. Let us seek enfranchisement for all, with policies based on human dignity, rather than the empty rhetoric of hostility and contempt. Let us be our best selves. Let us be 100%. There is no leadership in demagoguery. There is leadership is listening, and seeking solutions, and expanding liberty for all.

[shua]

Our Constitution

If elected, I will work to ensure the Senate follows the Constitution in it's creation of laws.
I fear we have seen the passage of too many laws and establishment of programs giving the government more power to regulate and to tax, without any constitutional basis for that power. For example, it is dubious whether a nationalized healthcare system is constitutional.
If there is a deficit in our constitution, that does not allow us to do what we believe we should as a nation, then let us amend the constitution, or write a new one. But let us not ignore the one we have, for that results in chaos and confusion, and in an abridgment of liberty and civic duty.

Neither the law being voted on, to leave conceded vacancies up to the parties, nor the law passed by the Senate to keep regions from managing their own conservation projects, are constitutional in my view.  My initial sense was that the Right to Treatment Act should be constitutional, but I cannot find any warrant for this either. The Constitution allows the Senate to create all sorts of programs for research in various areas, but as far as I can tell doesn't state any right to treatment, either in the sense of positive or negative liberties. 
Our Constitution has some strengths, and it has some deficiencies. If we attend to it, we can see what enhances our liberty and common good, and what detracts from it. But if we ignore our Constitution, we risk losing those liberties, while leaving the imperfections to make our compact obsolete.

[President Marokai]

I don't see how the national healthcare Act is unconstitutional at all, nor the Right to Treatment Act. Especially considering the former doesn't actually outlaw private care or anything, it just creates distinct public programs. But that environmental bill proposed by Napoleon? Man. I would certainly argue that's unconstitutional. Though admittedly in a very fine legal line that doesn't quite agree with the argument Jbrase proposed.

[shua]

The Post Office provides a valuable service and is one of Atlasia's major employers. As it deals with fiscal troubles, we need to be careful when cutting services and delivery.  We need to find a way to save it, not demolish it.  Yes, there will need to be some cuts, some closures, some downsizing. But if the Post Office no longer is able to continue to serve us in the way Atlasians have come to expect, it's operation will become even less viable. Our focus ought to be on examining some of the regulatory burden on the Post Office, and on major reform to it's pension system.  We should also look at ways to encourage competition in mail delivery besides just making postal service horrible. But in the short term, the Post Office may need some help. If the Senate can spend tens of billions on new programs, it ought to be able to spend just a little to keep a program people have been relying on for generations.