Liberal Party Convention: Platform stuff.

[oakvale]

As interim Chair I'm pleased to officially open the inaugaral convention of the Liberal Party, held in the great city of New York, in the great region of the Northeast.

Members, please sign in below and we can start voting on platform ideas, leadership, and, hopefully, a Presidential endorsement or candidate.

[Senator Napoleon]

X Senator Napoleon

[Governor Scott]

X Speaker Scott

[Simfan34]

I am I allowed to ask, very politely, for a Senatorial endorsement, here?

[Secretary Polnut]

x Senator Polnut

[Odysseus]

X Ody

[MOPolitico]

X Senator MOPolitico

[oakvale]

I am I allowed to ask, very politely, for a Senatorial endorsement, here?

Sure.

[Teddy (IDS Legislator)]

X Darth Teddy

[Governor Scott]

I am I allowed to ask, very politely, for a Senatorial endorsement, here?

No one said you're not allowed to ask.

[Teddy (IDS Legislator)]

FTR, I *think* we need to have our presidential endorsements in within 10 days.

[Cincinnatus]

X Cincinnatus

[Reginald]

X Resident Noob Reginald

[Teddy (IDS Legislator)]

I propose the first order of business is to elect people to our three proposed positions. Chair, Vice Chair, and Co-Ordinator/Administrator. Next, we should vote on endorsements, as that has a deadline. Lastly, we should vote on policy issues.

[Snowguy716]

I am now a member of the Liberal Party... I think we have a fine group of gentlemen here.

xSnowguy716

I hope I can balance you guys out on economic issues.  Centrism for the sake of centrism tends only to lead to the center of a giant sh**t pit.  But if you veer left at key moments, you avoid the sh**t pit and enter the kingdom of utopia/heaven. 

[Secretary Polnut]

I am now a member of the Liberal Party... I think we have a fine group of gentlemen here.

xSnowguy716

I hope I can balance you guys out on economic issues.  Centrism for the sake of centrism tends only to lead to the center of a giant sh**t pit.  But if you veer left at key moments, you avoid the sh**t pit and enter the kingdom of utopia/heaven. 

I think the point of this party is that we have basic principles but will judge each particular issue on its merits. I wouldn't expect a strong leftist economic policy and certainly there will be some leftward slides on some occasions.

[oakvale]

Bumping this for another day to allow more people to check in and then we'll get down to business.

[Senator Sbane]

x Sbane

[Odysseus]

Bumping this for another day to allow more people to check in and then we'll get down to business.

Bumping this because it's been a day.

[oakvale]

Oh, yeah, this. Okay, everyone, throw everything and the kitchen sink in and we'll vote on it. Napoleon and Scott had a decent platform in the original thread, but I'm sure we can (quickly! ) hammer out some kinks if necessary.

Right, we'll be voting on operating procedure, a platform, endorsements, and party leadership. Anything else?

I think we can handle the mechanic of operating this party fairly easily - would anyone object to a simple structure with a Chair, Vice-Chair and Whip, with voting on endorsements and leadership done via the standard IRV?

But first of all, I'd like to just propose the following operating procedure, which we can clarify legally if necessary - if a by-law, platform or candidate for a leadership position, or an endorsement, is running unopposed they/it/he/she/whatever will be considered automatically elected without the need for a vote.

I understand this doesn't allow for write-in votes, but lengthy votes on foregone conclusions are a bit of a pain, IMO. Hence my proposal that we should be alllowed elect things by acclaimation in certain circumstances. Thoughts?

[Odysseus]

I think the Chair, Vice-Chair, Whip system works well, and everything else in your post seems good.

Now I guess the first thing we should talk about is the platform. These are obviously for the original caucus, but they are from the main thread and they seem to work well enough for a national party.

I'm just throwing some ideas out for discussion- don't take this as the platform of the caucus.

- Support for safe, accessible,  and legal abortion
- Generally supportive of free trade agreements
- Supportive of a compassionate and realistic immigration policy, including increased legal immigration
- Support liberalization of sex and drug policies at regional and federal level
- Pursue comprehensive environmental protection and restoration legislation
- Create a prosperous business envrionment by avoiding overregulation

THIS CAUCUS is hereby founded on the conviction that every Atlsasian has the opportunity to succeed, to prosper, and to live freely in this great society.  We resolve the debate over the role of government in our lives by demonstrating that it is neither the enemy nor the solution, but instruments to give our people the tools and conditions to make the most of their lives.

The Liberal Caucus, as it shall forever be known, holds the following:

-   That abortion is a woman’s right; we give our support to safe, accessible, rare, and legal abortion
-   That free trade agreements are the best way to create prosperity, both in Atlasia and foreign countries, as long as they do not infringe on the ability of one to succeed
-   That compassionate and realistic immigration policy expands economic opportunity and strengthens our nation
-   That the family and the community are the primary units of society
-   That the liberalization of sex and drug policies should happen at regional and federal level
-   That we ought to, on a regional and federal level, avoid overregulation on businesses
-   That welfare is a second chance, and not a second way of life
-   That government adopt as much of a non-intervention foreign policy as possible, while defending our borders against new security threats of terror, weapons of mass destruction, organized crime, and racial and religious conflicts, all without compromising our constitutional rights
-   That the death penalty is barbaric and violates human rights
-   That progressive taxation makes the tax code fairer, and creates the incentive for the top earners to spend and create jobs.  New taxes, if necessary, should never be applied to low and middle income homes.
-   That government should help the individual and the families, not corporations
-   That the common worker is the centerpiece of our economy
-   That LGBT citizens are entitled to the same rights and privileges as others, including marriage and child adoption
-   That substance and results, not ideology or partisanship, are what move us forward

I pretty much agree with all of this, and it makes sense to use the original platform IMO.

We might need to amend a few things, however, to transition this over to the Liberal Party rather than it's predecessor, the Liberal Caucus of the JCP.

Posting this stuff here so we have easier access to it - not an official entry to any vote on the platform, yet.

[Senator Napoleon]

Do we want to vote on each platform plank separately, or come up with an entire platform and vote on it at once?

[Odysseus]

Do we want to vote on each platform plank separately, or come up with an entire platform and vote on it at once?

I think we should probably vote on the entire platform at once, but I could see how voting on every plank separately could produce a pretty good platform. I'm fine with either way.

[Senator Napoleon]

With the JCP and RPP dissolved, we are now the only national party! We have multiple members in each region too. I hope we can continue to be a competitive force with wide appeal going into the future.

[Secretary Polnut]

Do we want to vote on each platform plank separately, or come up with an entire platform and vote on it at once?

I think we should probably vote on the entire platform at once, but I could see how voting on every plank separately could produce a pretty good platform. I'm fine with either way.

I think, if we want to do this right, we need to go through each plank.