What I Believe

[Alcon]

Hey all.

When I joined KEmperor's ticket, I always expected that I would be out there in the field campaigning, convincing people to vote for us (or at least vote) and whatnot but I've found that I don't know how to. So I am going to be honest and say that campaigning isn't my strongpoint.

I've been dying to do this from day one, though. I'm not one for big barnstorming, but I do want to help the ticket I believe in. Which is why I am here.

I want to be your future Vice President, and I think you deserve to know more about my views before you vote for this ticket, and the views of the ticket in general.

I want this thread to be a good place for dialogue. I will accept and answer any fair question about my policy, my views, or the ticket in general. Although I do love a good debate, I'd like to keep this friendly and clean so a few standards to the questions I answer:

1) Please don't beat up on poor Alcon with unanswerable questions.

2) Please keep it civil.

3) I want to keep this to a question-answer-followup-followup answer format. Debate is great and everything, but if this thread gets unclean, I'll have trouble answering all of the questions.

4) My views on bringing light to the forum will forever be a mystery - I am not John.

Of course, anyone is invited, even those running against KEmp and I - as long as, of course, the questions are fair and don't involve confusing words (for this threads' purpose, if they are longer than five syllables, you may want to use a synonym.)

So...ask away!

[Alcon]

Could you please expand on your strategy for the desistance and cessation of partisanship between the veridical party groupings and others on this forum?

I was considering complaining that these words were too long until I realized they have fewer than five syllables. Translating:

"Could you please expand on your strategy for the stopping and stopping of partisanship between the truthful (?) parties and others on this forum?"

The truth is that there is not way too much that could possibly be done - some people will always be rabid partisans. However, owing to the fact that we have two different avatar colors on this ticket, I believe that the ticket itself is a good start.

Hopefully one day people will not vote on avatars, but rather on positions. That may mean they vote for all leftist candidates, but an informed decision is better than an uninformed one, even if it has the same result.

So, in all honesty, the answer to your question is pretty much nothing.

[Alcon]

What's your view on secret deals, Tammany Hall style politics and so on?

Politics is at its best when it is transparent. Although in cases where there is an imminent danger, secretiveness is obviously a necessity; however, I am fundamentally of the belief that the ends should never justify the means.

(I'm not quite sure I fully understood the meaning of this question, by the way. Feel free to correct me if I misinterpreted it.)

[Alcon]

What's your opinion on the Texasgurl v Fritz ruling?

I support it; I believe it was the right ruling to make in this case, even if the Activity Act was well-intended. I also supported the senate's explusion of Migrendel.

[Alcon]

Interesting. What is your opinion of the Fritz v Ernest ruling?

It was a fair ruling, although one that had a negative impact. The court did its job, which was in this case unfortunately destructive. It just shows how messed up our current Constitution is.

[Alcon]

Sorry for the delayed answers. I was sleeping for what I think is the second time this year.

What are the views of the KEmperor/Alcon ticket with regard to environmental regulations (e.g., the regulation of stuff like CO₂ emissions) and with regard to the environment in general?

I consider myself a semi-environmentalists; I support these measures, and environmental measures in general, as long as they do not cause significant job loss.

Will you vote for John F. Kennedy for PPT next session, if he gets re-elected, you get elected, and the vote is tied at 5 each?

Yes. I don't see why not.

This is similar to Akno's question, but if the Senate is tied 5-5 and KEmporer wants you to break the tie in a certain you disagree with, what will you do?

I will vote my opinion; KEmperor is not the President of the Senate. I want to be fair in my votes, but I will not be submissive.

An important question in my mind, Mr. San Croix, is, if KEmp either died, was incapacitated, or resigned from the office of the Presidency, how would you govern Atlasia? Would you support AFDNC policy positions or will you try to remain non-partisan? 

I won't kid you by saying that I could remaint totally non-partisan. I would do my best to remain nonpartisan, but at times when partisanship is a requirement, I would vote what I truly belief. I don't care what platform it's on.

Does your name mean that you're really Al in disguise?

[I am so bored. So very very boooooored]

Now I have to kill you.

I have the following questions:

1. Which of the following would you defend to your death (or at least in cabinet meetings and with your tie break vote):

i. The Present level of Federal Education Funding.
ii. The Marriage Equity Act (i.e. would you vote to stop a repeal)

The remaining questions are simply for my personal amusement, but do answer them.

2. If you had to spend the rest of your life with one of the following forum members on a desert island, which one would it be. Consider that God has placed a protective cloak around the individual so it is impossible to harm him and he will outlive you:

i. PD
ii. Opebo
iii. jFRAUD
iv. Bandit
v. AuH2O
vi. Philip
vii. Keystone Phil and Irish Dem[or his other aliases] (has to be together)
viii. BRTD

3. Should God domesticate the Queen?

4. What is your favourite piece of music right now?

1. I would defend it to the best of my abilities, but I will not be an impedement to progress - even if I disagree with it - if it is what is wanted for Atlasia. However, I will debate it tooth and nail.

2
i. Never really knew him, but no.
ii. He would probably spend the entire time talking about the Christian right's control over the deserted island.
iii. He would probably claim the deserted island was carried by voter fraud.
iv. He would probably claim the deserted island was carried by voter fraud and has been since 1960.
v. No.
vi. He would probably claim that being placed on the deserted island violates his 16th amendment rights.
vii. PLEASE NO
viii. He would probably complain that the island was too suburban. So him I guess.

3. With haste.

4. I mostly listen to alternative rock. Lately I'm not into much of anything. Whatever's on.

[Alcon]

Bump - I welcome any more questions.

[Alcon]

What reasons would I, a fairly liberal person in both social and economic senses, have for voting for your ticket as opposed to the Lewis-TD ticket?

The ticket is an attempt to unite Atlasia. KEmp is a right-of-center guy, and I am left-of-center. The fact that KEmp chose me was a risk alone; he risked alienating the right. However, I like to think he has made a choice that shows that he wants to run an administration not of partisan bickering, but one that includes liberals and conservatives alike.

Lewis is a great guy, but is running on a ticket of just being liberal. That's not reason enough to run in my eyes. He hasn't provided many alternatives nor explained why he is running. He may fit your politics more than this ticket, but unlike the far-left ticket, our ticket was made to get something accomplished, not just run for the sake of running.

I do hope we will get your vote.

[Alcon]

The ticket is an attempt to unite Atlasia. KEmp is a right-of-center guy, and I am left-of-center. The fact that KEmp chose me was a risk alone; he risked alienating the right. However, I like to think he has made a choice that shows that he wants to run an administration not of partisan bickering, but one that includes liberals and conservatives alike.

This sounds remarkably similar to the reasoning behind the Gustaf-Supersoulty ticket of last June. Gus provided the Centre-left and Super the centre-right. In his resignation, Supersoulty said that "I never really felt a part of this administration.  Nothing against those involved, I just never felt a connection with those that I served with."

He stated that "[t]he reality is that the UAC has become everything that they were founded in order to oppose.  They brought partisanship to a new screaming high."

Those of us aged enough to remember those days know that is for the most part true; I'll put it bluntly: Non-partisanship, whilst always enterred with the best of intentions, has yet to work here.

Why do you believe it will for you and what do you believe you can learn from the mistakes of the past?

Thank you for asking this question -  believe it or not, I was sort of hoping to anwer this, as hard as it is to answer.  I'll do my best to express what I know.

I do not reasonably expect any administration to function entirely on non-partisanship. I will not even bother pretending that the entire senate will suddenly say "hey, let's cooperate to make things better!" They may, but what does that mean? Nothing.

The difference between a non-partisan administration and a non-partisan ideology is different; our intent is not to remove the politics from politics, but make changes that are simple, needed, and cross party lines.

Politics is about debate, yes, and there are conflicts in every administration. However, that should not mean that we should ignore necessary changes and not take opportunities to resolve something in the most non-partisan way possible when possible.

I hope that answers the question to your satisfaction.

[Alcon]

Alcon, I truly wish that you were on the top of the ticket.

Thanks, Gabu, although I am glad to be on a ticket with KEmperor - he really is a great guy, and I think he is the best leader for Atlasia.

[Alcon]

Peter, at the moment, I'm barely able to type words out, so I'd rather sleep on this and give you a good, comprehensive answer tomorrow than give a stupid, generic answer now that doesn't actually address any of your concerns.

Al, if you have any specific question or example or anything of that sort, I'm willing to take a shot at it, but otherwise I'd appreciate if we kept this whole thing clear of that kind of off-comment that is impossible to reply to. I hope you'll understand.

Good night, all.

[Alcon]

Before I go to sleep - really, I'll do it eventually - I want to reply to a few things here:

Lewis is a great guy, but is running on a ticket of just being liberal.

Thanks.
But where have I even called myself "liberal"?

You're welcome.

You have not, but that is really the main reason you are running. You haven't found much of an issue beyond being a leftist candidate, nor said what you bring to the table other than your agenda. It's nice to have a platform and all, but a platform is not the only thing you need to get elected. Your administration would be one of the most gridlocked in history in my eyes.

You have stated a preference for practical and needed changes, presumably on the level of forum affairs.

Beyond a Constitutional Convention which you have already stated,

...and which is already under way, and to which both I and True Dem will be delegates.

The Constitutional Convention was a good start and all, but we need more than just that. Again, I will get into specifics when I am better able to type "specifics" with fewer than four tries.

(By the way, I'm not sure if you saw it Lewis, but the Constitutional Convention forums are now up. I don't think you've registered yet - you can find them here. Hopefully you and the remaining delegates will register soon and we'll get that off to a quick start.)

[Alcon]

You have stated a preference for practical and needed changes, presumably on the level of forum affairs.

Beyond a Constitutional Convention which you have already stated, I'd like to hear a few more ideas, because frankly, between you and Kemp, you've been rather quiet on this front. What sort of common sense proposals can we expect? (Yes I want speciifc examples)

There's a lot of things that we hope to do here to streamline how the government works, which will hopefully result in less clog and delay in changes. This includes getting rid of unnecessary positions (i.e. Chief of Staff), streamlining the cabinet, cracking down on governmental inactivity, making sure everyone who has a position is actually doing something, and appointing a new GM.