At Large Senate Candidate Q&A

[Marokai Backbeat]

Following the model that worked in the Mideast and Northeast regions, I am opening this Q&A session for the candidates.

Thanks for doing this, Napoleon.

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Why am I running? Why not! Atlasia is something I've, for better or worse, grown rather attached to over the years. I think I've shown myself a capable nerd in this game, and I mainly want to be in the Senate to serve as a pestering for the important causes and keeping the Senate relatively honest, rather than participating in the squabbles. I like detail and focus, and I don't like to dither and debate issues for weeks and weeks on end. If there's an issue, I like to tackle it, and move on.

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I consider myself a Democratic Socialist, but my ideology has never really been the thing that's guided me in my Atlasian life. I support efforts to reduce the burden on poor people, support public ownership of certain essentials within reason, and defend union rights, but beyond that, I tend to focus more on Atlasian-specific issues. Game reform causes, electoral reform, that sort of thing.

Aside from game reform issues, I'd like to rewrite a lot of general things, like our basic criminal statute, school flexibility, rewriting our general agricultural policy, re-evaluating our trading partners, and reintroducing greater public alternatives in electricity generation.

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"Meh" to "negative". I don't really like committees, and haven't invested the time to figure out how they even work, though it shouldn't take too long. Too much time has been invested passing rather insignificant Amendments or trying to dick around with the Supreme Court for apparently no other reason than "just cuz". This proposal was pretty depressing, as Redalgo's concerns wouldn't taken to account the way they should've been, and The Protection of Legal Regional Functions was just sort of pointless.

In general I think that this Senate hasn't really tried bringing themselves together to discuss bigger issues than their pet causes. The flurry of Amendments that don't really matter, or are outright silly (like the Supreme Court stuff) make it seem like the Senators aren't really communicating with each other to do anything. There need to be more lightning rods in the Senate's consideration that actually grab most Senators' attention.

[Marokai Backbeat]

Here are some more questions:

1. What are your areas of expertise? Do you have knowledge on particular issues that would be unique within the Senate?

Game reform being my area of expertise pretty much goes without saying, I think. For better or worse it's the issue I've dedicated most of my time to in and out of office. Other people have plenty of knowledge on game reform, I'm sure, but I doubt others have a zeal that matches mine when it comes to it.

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I suppose I would. I certainly don't have anything against the idea. I truthfully look forward to just learning how the damn things work. For a change, it's exciting to look forward to experiencing something new, rather than knowing things are the same rote old things.

I'm a firm committee skeptic, I never found them necessary, but they're established functions of the Senate now, and I intend on applying the skepticism into making sure they work as efficiently as possible. Do I think they can improve the business of the Senate? I still feel like that remains to be seen, to be honest. I think they can improve the quality of debate, at the risk of slowing down the overall rate of business.

I think implementing partisan quotas on committees would be a big mistake, though.

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Social & Economic Development Zone law (something I rewrote wholecloth when I was Vice President) has gone a bit ignored, unfortunately. Especially unfortunate because of how much of a bugger they were to get passed in the Senate in the first place. Were I in the Senate I'd very much like to work on SEDZ recommendations to and from the regional governments. Implementing them is a tricky process that was never really fully figured out in the "game" sense.

More direct and clear implementation of those Zones would be something to figure out, I think. Also tinkering with one of the restrictions that I disliked having to write in the first place, but that can be figured out in the legislating process if I'm actually elected.

We could also probably extend some of the credit loosening legislation we haven't followed up on in a couple years, and renewing some of the old programs from the 2009 Recovery Act.

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I think a sensible omnibus gun safety law is in order, to be honest. Closing gun show loopholes, enacting restrictions on clip sizes, cracking down on waiting time enforcement, tighter background checks, restricting the carrying of firearms into bars, supermarkets, publicly owned lands and buildings. Not really major stuff or anything that restricts the fundamental underlying right to responsible gun ownership.

Secondary to that though is making sure we have adequate mental health facilities and that we reduce the stigma to seeking even basic mental health treatment. Reducing the damage and potential scenes of disaster is one thing; preventing them before they occur is even more important.