Whig Party Convention, Bird-in-Hand, PA

[ZuWo]

I agree with what has been said. I'm fine with the first four sections of Simfan's amendment but not with the fift section. Also, we should fix the vice chairman vacancy problem.

[ZuWo]

What is the point of primaries then? There must be an enforcing quality. I'm open to removing the vice-presidential clause but there should be "sore loser" restrictions of some sort.

Aren't we the party that sort of promotes "personal responsibility" (at least on economic issues)? I think we can trust that the loser of a potential primary would be loyal enough to lend his support to the winner and not become his rival as a "sore loser".

[ZuWo]

If Simfan hasn't headed off to Ethiopia yet and still has internet access, I think this may be the time to hold a vote on the amendments to the bylaws our dear leader has put forward.

[ZuWo]

Aye

[ZuWo]

Due to TJ's announcement that he would not seek re-election we should try to find a second candidate for an at-large seat as soon as possible.

[ZuWo]

My thoughts as well!

In my opinion you should not be the Whig Party candidate. I don't say this because I don't want you to be Senator but because you have done a lot for the Mideast Assembly this session and it would be bad to lose you!

[ZuWo]

Franzl - aye
NVTownsend - nay
BaconKing - nay
Seatown - nay
Snowstalker - aye
MarokaiBlue - nay
Xahar - nay
Hashemite - nay
AndrewTX- aye
SJoyceFla - nay

[ZuWo]

OFFICIAL STATEMENT

I'm leaving soon for a three month summer vacation, and I will have a very rare access to Internets.
ZuWo will be acting chairman until my return.

Sincerely,

Whig Party Chairman, IDS Judicial Overlord Pingvin

I assume I can have my Chairman position back?

I'm afraid it's not so easy. If I'm not mistaken our bylaws don't include a clause which makes it possible for a chairman to resign for a while and return to the same position. You resigned as chairman because of your holiday, I took over because I was vice chairman at that time, then I resigned as well and we elected Simfan. Thus, I think if you want to become chairman again you will have to run for this position at the next convention.

[ZuWo]

I reccommend a bit of an uneasy alliance for this election. The liberals have swamped the race with centrist and socially liberal candidates; you hate Napoleon's army, and we've been marginalized by them. Therefore, I ask that both our parties avoid preferencing Liberal candidates at all.

The Labor Party is waking up, that's good to see! As I already stated in earlier discussions on this topic, the Labor Party is not going to survive in the long run if your main purpose appears to be to help the Liberal Party without getting anything in return. You need to emphasize your own identity and seek to distance yourselves from the Liberals.

As for the content of your plan I can't promise anything, nor can I speak on behalf of the entire Whig Party. I will actually preference one Liberal candidate who I think will make a fine Senator but I will also preference a Labor candidate. At any rate, I much prefer candidates who are outspoken about their views to moderate heroes who are afraid to say anything controversial and encourage the members of the Whig Party to value true conviction more than fake moderate heroism.

[ZuWo]

Our party should lay out some policy red-lines.

I believe it should be Whig Party policy to oppose the so called "Equal Rights Amendment" going through the Senate right now. I, for one, would also like to commend Senators Clarence and TJ for doing a bang up (aka good) job in the Senate fighting this 'politically correct' nonsense.

I wholeheartedly agree. The "Equal Rights Amendment" is completely unnecessary as it merely tries to tackle problems that don't even exist and opens the possibility to many legal uncertainties as has been pointed out by our Senators TJ and Clarence. We should not water down our constitution by adopting meaningless clauses since this only devalues our constitution.

[ZuWo]

Additionally, we should consider adding a plank to our platform which says that we are supportive of regional rights and as much independence of the regions from the federal government as possible.

[ZuWo]

Additionally, we should consider adding a plank to our platform which says that we are supportive of regional rights and as much independence of the regions from the federal government as possible.

How far does "as much as possible" go? Surely you're not thinking of making the regions completely independent?

No, that's not my intention. What I mean is that no new laws should be passed and no actions taken by the federal government that restrict our regions in any way. Rather, we should seek to find new ways to grant the regions more rights - but still within the federal state of Atlasia.

[ZuWo]

I understand all these concerns that you, Supersonic and Hagrid, have raised. There are things we must discuss and we obviously won't enter such a union without holding a vote after an extensive debate, and nobody will be forced to enter a new political group if they don't want to.

Firstly, let's put this idea in a broader context. In fact, this union proposal is based on the CDU/CSU model in Germany. I guess most of you are at least superficially familiar with this concept: The CSU is only politically active in Bavaria, the CDU is the party of the rest of Germany and does not exist in Bavaria. Both groups - the CDU and the CSU - have separate identies but because of their political similarities they make up a political union. For example, the current German Chancellor, Angela Merkel, is a member of the CDU, but the previous candidate for Chancellor, former Bavarian Prime Minister Edmund Stoiber, ran on a common CDU/CSU ticket in 2002. In fact, it has been a tradition in Germany that if in an election year the CDU/CSU candidate for Chancellor is a CDU member, the next candidate will be a CSU member.

Now the proposed Whig/IB union is very similar: The Whig Party and the Imperial Bloc shall enter a union and, despite retaining their separate identities and names, are essentially one political group. Thus, I don't think the Whig Party would lose anyone if all Whig members in the South joined the IB because, according to this proposal, the Whig Party and the IB are one. Likewise, those members of the IB outside of the South (I think there's at least one if not two) would not really leave the IB because we will be one and the same political group.

Let's face it: The Whig Party and the IB have cooperated a lot in recent elections. Candidates of the Whig Party have no shot at winning an election without IB support and vice versa. We in the Whig Party owe the IB a lot; our Senators TJ and Clarence (and - hopefully - our future Senator Hagrid) have been successful in part thanks to our friends in the IB. Our last two presidential tickets consisted of a Whig and an IB member; I had the honor to run on a ticket with Jbrase in February and Clarence ran with Yelnoc in June. What this proposal wants to achieve is nothing more than a logical extension of the current political reality in Atlasia. We can and certainly should debate the language of this union proposal, but I stand behind the main concept of this idea. While the IB is less homogeneous than the Whig Party - we are a center-right party whereas the IB is a bit of a mixed bag - we have one important principle in common: The protection of regional rights and our belief in an economic system which values personal responsibility. This is our common base, and this is why such a union makes sense.

[ZuWo]

I've already envisioned Emperor PiT as our Atlasian Edmund Stoiber and had a few ideas of who could be our equivalent to Angela Merkel.

[ZuWo]

If the preliminary Senate results are certified we can say that this election has been a huge success for the Whig Party. Not only did we manage to retain our two at-large seats, which was quite a challenge due to the large number of good candidates and the high turnout, but we also have a new Whig Governor, spamage, who I think is someone who can help turn around the Pacific with his enthusiasm and willingness to do his gubernatorial duties.

This was overall a fun election and a sign that Atlasia is not quite dead yet.

[ZuWo]

I would like to capitalize on this success of our party and encourage all fellow Whiggers (sorry if that sounds strange) - especially those who are registered voters in the Mideast - to help me in my re-election battle for Governor. Help me to continue my work for the region. We can win this race and with your help we will make sure that we can celebrate another successful election in September!

Thank you.

[ZuWo]

A special welcome to our latest member, TrueConservative of Virginia. Have fun and feel at home in the Whig Party!

[ZuWo]

A special welcome to our latest members, TrueConservative of Virginia and koenkai of Hawaii. Have fun and feel at home in the Whig Party!

[ZuWo]

That Simfan missed the last election and has hardly been online in the recent days even after his return from Ethiopia is a bit strange. I hope he's just busy and it's nothing serious.

But indeed, we really need an active leader at this point so I support the motion and also agree with what Supersonic said about the union proposal - we shouldn't hold a vote already.

[ZuWo]

I think both of you would do a good job. Supersonic has already proven his leadership abilities during this convention and 20RP12 is a strong asset to the Whig Party with his enthusiasm (IF he actually remains a member of the Whig Party for a couple of weeks or months this time ... ).

[ZuWo]

I think both of you would do a good job. Supersonic has already proven his leadership abilities during this convention and 20RP12 is a strong asset to the Whig Party with his enthusiasm (IF he actually remains a member of the Whig Party for a couple of weeks or months this time ... ).

I'll be sticking around this time

Good to hear! Now do me a favor and vote for me, please.

At any rate, with Clarence we have a competent and universally accepted leader. If he wants to do the job for a longer period of time I support that.

[ZuWo]

1. 20RP12
2. Supersonic

[ZuWo]

Thanks a lot for doing this, Cathcon!

[ZuWo]

I believe this plank needs more debate and clarification. Sorry for not having contributed anything to the discussion, I was way too busy with other things. So, while I agree with the main idea of this plank I vote

NAY

just because we need more debate on the issue.

[ZuWo]

Nay - for the reasons that have been stated above, not because I am necessarily against a Whig/IB union