MCPR/The Porcupine: Mideast Assembly Debate

[Oldiesfreak1854]

Candidates, you may give your opening statements, then respond to the three questions below:

- How do you believe education can be improved in the Mideast Region? What steps will you take to reform the education system in the Mideast if elected to the Assembly?

Now, moving on to discuss the 2 amendments currently being debated in the Assembly...

- Recently, it has been discussed to bring back the Lt. Governor position in our region. Would you support this decision? If so, what responsibilities do you want the Lt. Governor to have? If you don't want to bring it back, why?

- Do you agree with the current way we elect Assemblymen, or would you support moving the number of Assemblymen at 5 permanently?

Candidates - you are allowed to respond to other candidates answers. If there are any questions with the format, please contact me via PM.

Thank you, Vice President tmth, for your introduction, thanky you to Captain Blood for an excellent introduction,  and thank you to all of my supporters at this point for your efforts to help lead us to victory.  I would like to wish all the candidates good luck in both this debate and the election, and if I am elected, I look forward to working with some of you in the Mideast Assembly.
I am running for the Mideast Assembly to spread my message and to hopefully make a difference in people's lives.  From the time I was a small child, my greatest aspiration in life has been to make the world a better place in whatever ways I can.  I hope that, if God is willing, that journey may lead me to the Assembly.  If I am so honored with that privilege, I hope to improve the lives of everyone in the region by working with my fellow legislators to work for the good of the people.
As for your questions, let me give you my response:
In order to improve education, I would support legislation that allows for more consolidation between individual school districts, allowing them to share more services with one another and saving money on education funding in the process.  I also support reforming the public schools by passing greater restrictions for tenure based on teacher performance.  I want to reform the current system rather than scrapping it altogether, and I will support measures that will improve the quality of education without breaking the bank.  While Captain Blood seems to have some good ideas that deserve consideration, I feel that turning education over entirely to the state and local governments would place an unnecessary financial burden on them that could lead to cutting and compromising vital services.  However I feel that many of his goals for education are very admirable.

I support bringing back the Lt. Governor's position and support making it one that presides over the Assembly/Senate and casting tiebreaking votes, as well as succeeding the Governor if he/she is unable to finish or fulfilled his/her duties for the remainder of the term.  This would simplify the legislative and gubernatorial succession processes in the easiest manner available to us.

I support the current system of Assembly elections because it seems to maintain a balance of allowing both well-entrenched and more experienced incumbents to keep their seats while allowing fresh faces like myself to win others.  However, I would be open to electing the Assembly by state (either proportional to their population or equally) while keeping the rest of the system intact.  Thank you for your questions, and I hope for a good, fun, and informative debate.

[Oldiesfreak1854]

If I may ask a question to both Oldiesfreak and Idaho Blue Dog Dem:

You both are newcomers to Atlasia. Neither of you have ever held public office. What qualifies you to be elected to the Assembly and what sets you above the other candidates in any respect?

I feel that I am qualified to be elected because I want to make a difference in other people's lives and am very much a politically- and civic-minded individual.  I will not always go along with my party when I disagree with them, and I hope to work with both sides to find solutions to the problems we face today.  If you're going to be in politics and work your way up in elected office, you've got to start somewhere, whether it's on your local school board or city council, your county Board of Commissioners, or any other office.  Simply put, if you never run for office, you can never get elected.  I also feel that it is important to have some new faces to balance out the older, more experienced ones and to encourage more debate between competing ideologies and opinions.  Power, after all, should not be concentrated in the hands of a few, or else tyranny may start to take hold.  We need a good balance of newcomers and longtime statesmen to make government the most effective for the people.

[Oldiesfreak1854]

1. I support tax reform to improve the economy by cutting taxes for all income levels and for all businesses.  While some people may argue that we may need to raise taxes on the rich in order to promote fairness, it comes at such a severe economic price that it is not worth it simply to promote one group's perceptions of what is "fair".  Although I believe unions have a place, I support right to work legislation but still will support legislation that improves the lives of workers in the region, union or otherwise.  As for energy, I believe we need to invest in alternative energy sources, but until we have enough access to those sources, we should continue to use what we have now.  Once alternative energy becomes available on a wider scale, the region should begin to diversify its energy sources.
2. Although I do not believe in compromising my own values, bipartisanship is very important to me in many ways because although I am a conservative, I do not always toe the conservative line on every issue.  I hope to work with both sides to create effective solutions to the problems facing the people of the Mideast without compromising my conservative values and positions.
3. I oppose abortion except to save the life of the mother.  If I am elected, I will work hard to pass any pro-life legislation that the Assembly takes up, with the ultimate goal of ending abortion altogether.  However, I support other steps to help prevent unwanted pregnancies, such as encouraging and increasing access to birth control and adpotion.  
4. I will fight for across the board tax cuts for individuals and businesses in order to spur economic growth.  While some regulation is necessary in a free-market system, I will support reducing government regulations in ways that minimize the risks of doing so.  I will also support welfare reform by amending social programs to encourage and reward work and higher education.  
5. I will make sure that our region attempts to balance its budget responsibly.  This will entail some of the proposals I have just discussed, but I also support taking some entitlement programs out of government control while establishing an emergency fund for them to ensure that their recipients will still be able to receive their benefits in an unforeseen crisis, such as an economic downturn.  Before we make any concrete plans to balance our budget, we need to take a look at what we are spending our money on and figure out how we can cut spending while minimizing the negative effects that might result from them.

[Oldiesfreak1854]

3. I oppose abortion except to save the life of the mother.  If I am elected, I will work hard to pass any pro-life legislation that the Assembly takes up, with the ultimate goal of ending abortion altogether.  However, I support other steps to help prevent unwanted pregnancies, such as encouraging and increasing access to birth control and adpotion.  

You don't support abortion in cases of rape or incest?

No, but I do have reasons for that.  Allowing abortion in cases of rape suggests that men can sexually abuse women without consequences, which to me is one of the greatest exploitations of women.  Since incest is ether voluntary or involuntary (rape), it inevitably falls into one of those two categories (voluntary sex or rape.)

[Oldiesfreak1854]

3. I oppose abortion except to save the life of the mother.  If I am elected, I will work hard to pass any pro-life legislation that the Assembly takes up, with the ultimate goal of ending abortion altogether.  However, I support other steps to help prevent unwanted pregnancies, such as encouraging and increasing access to birth control and adpotion.  

You don't support abortion in cases of rape or incest?

No, but I do have reasons for that.  Allowing abortion in cases of rape suggests that men can sexually abuse women without consequences, which to me is one of the greatest exploitations of women.  Since incest is ether voluntary or involuntary (rape), it inevitably falls into one of those two categories (voluntary sex or rape.)

So you think women should have to pay the price for being exploited if they're raped? And usually cases of incest are rape or something along the lines of the female being involved is not old enough to consent, therefore it is also rape. With all due respect, your position seems to say that women should have to either be raped and deal with the resulting pregnancy or try not to get raped. That's a very radical position.

That's not what I mean.  I feel that allowing abortion in cases of rape is an exploitation of women (along with rape itself) because it suggests that men can sexually abuse women without consequence.  I realize that rape is illegal, but still, as someone who sympathizes with feminism and equal rights for women, I think that it encourages a sexist view of women and their sexuality.

[Oldiesfreak1854]

New questions:

What do you believe can/should be done to increase activity in our region?

When casting a vote on a bill, would you go of your personal beliefs, or rather the will of your constituents?

What do you personally believe would make you a better Assemblyman than any of your opponents?

1. I believe we need to encourage more people to become active in politics, especially the civic-minded.  That's why I'm running, and although people can make a difference in many different ways, I hope some of our more engaged citizens will decide to work for their causes and possibly run for office themselves.  And most importantly, we need to encourage more people to vote.  Simply put, my motto is, "it's your life; have a say in it."

2. Very good question.  I believe it is important for all legislators to have a balance of their personal beliefs and those of their constituents when they cast votes on legislation.  If I am elected to the Assembly, I will try to achieve this balance when I cast my votes.  I hope to serve the people as both a delegate and a trustee and promote the good of the people, whether they agree with my solutions or not.

3. I believe I bring something new to the table because I'm a fresh face.  I can represent views that may not have been previously considered and work with the other side when I support their solutions.  You may not always like what I do, but I will try to serve you to the best of my ability and do what is best for you.  I want to give a voice to those who haven't had one in their government yet and represent them without losing site that I represent ALL the people.  I am unashamed to be conservative, but I will put my constituents first and foremost rather than my party or ideology.  Together, we can shape a brighter future for everyone. 

[Oldiesfreak1854]

I've got a question for all candidates: The work of the Assembly hinges on pieces of legislation that are introduced by the members of the Assembly; if there are no bills to discuss there is nothing to do and the Assembly becomes a boring place. So, if you are elected to the Assembly, what are your legislative goals? Do you have any issues or even concrete bills in mind that you want to introduce as an elected member of the Assembly?

As a member of the Assembly, I hope to introduce the following pieces of legislation:

1. To reform welfare programs in a way that incentivizes work and education and makes people independent rather than dependent (such as welfare-to-work).
2. An across-the-board tax cut for all individuals and businesses.
3. Privatizing various government programs/agencies and establishing an emergency fund for those programs to allow recipients to keep their benefits in an unforeseen crisis.
4. Limits and reductions in government regulations that maintain basic protections while establishing a more business-friendly climate.

I also hope to do some work on social issues, but for me, economic issues should be the top priority. 

[Oldiesfreak1854]

My question to all candidates is this.

What will you do, if anything to preserve LGBT rights in the Mideast?

Excellent and very valuable question.  Though I oppose legalizing gay marriage, I believe that homosexuals should be allowed to have civil unions that provide equal benefits as a heterosexual, married couple.  If the current laws do not reflect this, then I will fight to pass legislation that would make this possible.  I also support allowing homosexuals to serve in the military as long as they aren't required to be open about their sexual preferences, and I support allowing visitation rights for homosexual couples.  Simply put, I believe in giving homosexuals all the rights of heterosexual couples without redefining the religious definition of marriage.

[Oldiesfreak1854]

Do all the candidates acknowledge that without the budget passing any and all tax cuts/raises and fiscal issues are more or less worthless until there's actual numbers signed into law?

*Note I would not have made this comment/question if we didn't not have a near finished version of a budget and planned to continue running our region without a budget

Therefore...

What changes, if any, would you suggest be made to the current version of the regional budget?

Yes, I acknowledge that actual numbers will be necessary.  I will reiterate my support an across-the-board tax reduction for all individuals and businesses to whatever level will make us more competitive with the other regions for businesses.  I also wouldst like to repeat that I support privatizing various programs and establishing an emergency fund for them so that recipients will be able to keep their benefits during a major crisis.  I'm not sure I can give you any concrete numbers at this point, but I will try to reduce spending responsibly if I am elected.