SENATE STANDING COMMITTEE: Gov't Oversight and Reform (Game Reform/PC)

[Fuzzybigfoot]

hi I'm here

[Southern Senator North Carolina Yankee]

I should have figured the other members of the Council would be boring.

[TNF]

Might I ask my fellow members of the committee what the purpose of this hearing is? This seems like a distraction from the real issues facing Atlasia, which is why I voted against the list of folks presented before the committee.

[Southern Senator North Carolina Yankee]

Might I ask my fellow members of the committee what the purpose of this hearing is? This seems like a distraction from the real issues facing Atlasia, which is why I voted against the list of folks presented before the committee.

Could you have asked this sooner? I have been PMing you both and posting about it in here for a week.

The purpose is to use it as jumping off point for our discussion from the last Senate, namely how to reform the game. I figured getting both sides of the Rimjob crisis would help that discussion. That is the Reform aspect. We are also in charge of Government Oversight, and some of these people utilized a government aparatus to help plunge us into a recession as well as numerous other undesirable things, so we should be obligated to question them on the matter. On the other side you have inactivity leading up to the event and that too should be looked into, not to mention the actions taken by the IDS legislature that helped cause a steep rise in unemployment. I thought I stated this on the previous page.

Once the period for signing in and prelimary statements by the witnesses is over (tomorrow morning), then we will begin to press them on what they have said here, other things they have said and done on the matter and what the reasons for them were. As Daniel Day Lewis said in Lincoln, "Why is this thus, and what is the reason for this thusness?".

What would you prefer the Government Oversight and Reform committee to be focusing on instead of reforming the game and investigating the actions the led to us having 11% unemployment?

[TNF]

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Honestly? Probably looking into reforming the structures of the regions themselves. We have five regions and at best only a few of them are regularly active. This committee should be looking into the prospect of consolidating them into larger units, or at the very least, begin looking into reforming the Constitution so that we can have some kind of solution to the persistent problems of inactivity that plague this game.

[Southern Senator North Carolina Yankee]

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Honestly? Probably looking into reforming the structures of the regions themselves. We have five regions and at best only a few of them are regularly active. This committee should be looking into the prospect of consolidating them into larger units, or at the very least, begin looking into reforming the Constitution so that we can have some kind of solution to the persistent problems of inactivity that plague this game.

Eventually we will be doing just that, but we jumped into the discussions of such last time and it lasted like three days and then it sat dead until the end of the Senate for the most part. So this time we are going to get into that a different way.

[DemPGH]

On the contrary, I don't think it is pointless to engage in this hearing at all - in fact, I think this hearing gets at the heart of what's bothering Atlasia. And what bothers me is that people seem to be content to sit around and let certain people blow up regions and say, "What can we do?" So I wouldn't mind if the bickering over bills and amendments stopped for a couple days and we focused on this. I'm also disappointed that some folks called before this committee appear to be mocking it.

Perjury is a crime, as is contempt of congress. I will use both of them if given a reason to do so.

Moreover, I want an explanation from SOMEBODY as to what this means:

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[/quote]

Can I infer from this that a "Rimjob" style plan is underway for the IDS? Is that what this means? Look up what perjury is of you do not know.

Further:

No matter what happens in the Pacific in the future, Operation Pacific Rimjob will have been successful, because it has clearly demonstrated the fundamental failings of the regional system in existence today. Nobody now would argue that the regional setup that exists now is healthy; while some of our opponents might wish to revert the regional situation to the status quo ante, doing that would do nothing to fix the fundamental problem of there being nowhere near the level of participation in the game that would be necessary to support the amount of regional government that presently exists. Reasonable people will recognize this now that it has been forcibly brought to their attention.

The response of some people will then be to say that the process of addressing the problem of the regions should have been done the normal way, through constitutional amendment. That is an admirable attitude, but it is entirely naïve. I have been a citizen of Atlasia for most of the game's history, and in that tie I have seen countless attempts at reform, including reform of the regions. These attempts invariably fail because Atlasia has a sizable population of reactionaries who will never agree to any change, no matter how distasteful the status quo might be. The last time that reform was a politically viable option was during the Wixted administration in 2007. It should come as no surprise that there have been no substantial changes to the governmental structure of Atlasia in the time since then.

I know that I have spent enough time futilely trying to attempt to bring about change to fix Atlasia within the context of the system, and I am sure that others feel the same way; this is why we plotters have opted instead to take direct action. There has been enough idle sloganeering on the part of those who wish to do something to fix the game; it is high time for propaganda of the deed, and that is what has happened here. Disagree with the actions in the Pacific if you will, but know that they were not aimless terrorism; the purpose of our endeavors has always been to improve the game.

What is aimless terrorism? Are you admitting to carrying out a terrorist plan "with aim"?

So in other words you have decided based upon your own criteria that participation standards are not up to par, and so you decided to act in Rebellion to shut down a region, and you plan to do so again? Is that what we can infer? That because you personally have decided that you do not like the way business is being conducted in the regions as a whole that you are going to take "direct action" to shut them down?

[Southern Senator North Carolina Yankee]

I was hoping to give the full 48 hours before we started that phase of the hearing. I fully anticipate those questions posted by the AG/VP to be asked and then answered, if not here and then somewhere once this process has run its course (sometime by the weekend hopefully).

[Dereich]

Moreover, I want an explanation from SOMEBODY as to what this means:

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Can I infer from this that a "Rimjob" style plan is underway for the IDS? Is that what this means? Look up what perjury is of you do not know.
[/quote]

Let me assure you that no such crisis will be created by our region. The IDS is a stable and responsible region. To say there is some kind of "revolutionary cell" in the Imperial Militia is just hot air. The Imperial Militia exists to provide regional security and disaster relief, just as any region's national guard does. If the name bothers you, will we soon see a court case saying that our Imperial system is illegal as well? I mean no offense to our fine legislator who stated what he did, but his words on the matter should not be taken as a gold standard; it has been a longtime goal of his to abolish the Milita. The actions which we in the legislature requested of the Militia which the Emperor rejected fell under the purview of disaster relief. As I said in many other places, we never intend to "annex" the Pacific, only to provide government services and a measure of authority to the region until they were capable of self-government or until the Senate had provided its own answer to the crisis.

[Hash]

Acknowledged.

My point of view is naturally the same as Xahar, and I additionally fully agree with Senator TNF's interventions. I hope that the Senate intends to use this little thing to think about game reform in a serious and non-partial manner, but given the Senate's makeup and the nature of the current administration, I fear that there is very little hope of that.

[Southern Senator North Carolina Yankee]

The forty eight hour period is now over.

I direct my first question to Xahar, and to the other members of the Pacific Council members at the time of the incident.

Is not a possibility that decreasing the total number of Atlasian officials beyond a certain point, lets just call it point X, could result in negative impact as opposed to a postive impact on activity?

[Southern Senator North Carolina Yankee]

Dereich, do you also acknowledge that some people may have viewed your actions as equivalent of how you describe what everyone else was doing in your eyes?

[TNF]

This is just a general question to the members of the National Movement, but would you describe what has gone on in the wake of your actions in the Pacific as a political witchhunt, a sort of nonsensical, faux outrage on the part of those in government, who had up until the Operation, completely ignored the decaying situation in the Pacific?

[Dereich]

Dereich, do you also acknowledge that some people may have viewed your actions as equivalent of how you describe what everyone else was doing in your eyes?

Of course. I don't really see why though. My actions weren't meant to permanently change the framework of the game, like those perpetrating the Rimjob intended. Hell, what we did isn't even that far outside normal IDS policy; we have a long and cherished history of disagreements with the Pacific which involve the Militia in some form. Our actions were always meant as temporary, and at every point I emphasized our deference to the Senate and Supreme Court on making a final solution to the Pacific Crisis. The Restoration of Pacific Order Act was explicitly a temporary measure, built as a nimble stopgap measure for the period of lawlessness that would come between the "Final Constitution" and the slower moving Supreme Court and Senate. The only time I can think of that I ever said we were actually annexing the Pacific (which WOULD be equivalent to what the NM-AMs were doing in the Pacific) was in one provocative thread title where I said there were "now 4 regions" but even there I emphasized in the thread that it was nothing more then a temporary measure to prevent anarchy and the thread title was there to stimulate discussion.

I still contend that we did the responsible thing, and am only here being questioned because we were better and faster in our attempt than the Northeast: https://uselectionatlas.org/FORUM/index.php?topic=175220.0  and the Midwest: https://uselectionatlas.org/FORUM/index.php?topic=175432.0 which were trying to do similar or worse things. Those bills might have even passed if the IDS hadn't moved quickly and showed the backlash to that kind of action. If our actions are equivalent to what they were doing, I don't see how all the other regions except the Mideast aren't just as guilty.

[Хahar 🤔]

Yes, DemPGH, that is exactly what happened. Congratulations on reading in correct order the words that I posted in public in order to ascertain their correct meaning. Do you want a gold star of Atlasia for that?

[Хahar 🤔]

This is just a general question to the members of the National Movement, but would you describe what has gone on in the wake of your actions in the Pacific as a political witchhunt, a sort of nonsensical, faux outrage on the part of those in government, who had up until the Operation, completely ignored the decaying situation in the Pacific?

Absolutely, and I think this is demonstrative of the issues in Atlasia about which I have spoken at length in the past. Actual problems in the game go entirely ignored, but any attempt to fix them is met with the harshest retribution.

[Napoleon]

What problem were you trying to solve and how was your solution supposed to be an improvement?

[LastVoter]

What problem were you trying to solve and how was your solution supposed to be an improvement?

Dead region, delegation of power to a working legislature.

[Napoleon]

What problem were you trying to solve and how was your solution supposed to be an improvement?

Dead region, delegation of power to a working legislature.

How does that solve a problem? It would appear that's just shoving a problem on to someone else without asking if they were willing to take care of it. That's beyond rude.

[Southern Senator North Carolina Yankee]

This is just a general question to the members of the National Movement, but would you describe what has gone on in the wake of your actions in the Pacific as a political witchhunt, a sort of nonsensical, faux outrage on the part of those in government, who had up until the Operation, completely ignored the decaying situation in the Pacific?

Did I not send a PM to you and Napoleon offering you the ability to add anyone you wanted to the list of people called before us and the chance to ask for their removal?  Did I not specifically call the Governor and then reference "the inactivity prior to the Rimjob" in one of my statements, to therefore provide an opportunity to probe thatas well? Did I not state that we may call others later if a majority desires to do so?

This is not a witch hunt, this is an inquiry, TNF. If you are supportive of Rimjob, why not grill Dereich and Spamage about their reactions to it?

[Southern Senator North Carolina Yankee]

This is just a general question to the members of the National Movement, but would you describe what has gone on in the wake of your actions in the Pacific as a political witchhunt, a sort of nonsensical, faux outrage on the part of those in government, who had up until the Operation, completely ignored the decaying situation in the Pacific?

Absolutely, and I think this is demonstrative of the issues in Atlasia about which I have spoken at length in the past. Actual problems in the game go entirely ignored, but any attempt to fix them is met with the harshest retribution.

Oh, is that why you ignored the one question pertaining to that issue and the first one asked in this phase of the hearing?

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You were saying something about ignoring the actual problems in this game...

[Southern Senator North Carolina Yankee]

Also Xahar, do you not acknowledge the impression created by actions like the previous one highlighted and others like some of the specifics of the Final Constitution such as the amendment ratification process, that your goal is not reform but destruction?

[Hash]

This is just a general question to the members of the National Movement, but would you describe what has gone on in the wake of your actions in the Pacific as a political witchhunt, a sort of nonsensical, faux outrage on the part of those in government, who had up until the Operation, completely ignored the decaying situation in the Pacific?

Absolutely. As we have said countless times, the near entirety of the major parties, representing the pro-status quo reactionary ruling elite, opposes reforms and willfully ignores the actual problems in the game. They feed us with small tidbits and nuggets every now and then to insist that the game is strong, that everything is fine and that no reform is needed. Look at the current administration; certainly any commitment to real reform that they might have had has gone flying out the window, and it will go down to be one of the most reactionary administrations in living memory at this point. Those who try to bring about real reform are the victims of a multiparty witch hunt and face harsh retribution. For example, instead of any serious discussion about Rimjob and why it was necessary, the focus has been on branding us "terrorists", figuring out how to drag us to court to sentence us in various ways and stale discussions which totally ignore the fundamental issues.

[Southern Senator North Carolina Yankee]

If you want to get people to listen then quit beating up on strawmen and engage.

The reason you feel like no one is listening to you, is because a majority either firmly or at least to some extent thing you are detached from the real course of things. The constant use of strawmen (most of which are mischaracterizations and falsehoods), the attacking of opponents, and demeaning of proposals that fall short of your perfect outcome, are the exact reasons why nothing is getting done, especailly in the realm of what you want. As people mostly on the left, it is hard to believe you don't see the downsides of a Reaganist "Us vs Them" mentality. For comparison you have copied the exact political strategy used by enviromental movement on global warming, with the same predictable results.

Yet another reason why your motives are suspect and many think you want destruction instead of reform.   

I didn't seek to bring you up here to put you on trial. I did it to investigate some areas of concern and to have a nice civil discussion about reform. The very first question asked by a member of this committee concerned a potential area of concern about the number of offices in the game and bares directly on any proposal to consolidate or eliminate the regions, which has been conveniently ignored to facilitate more strawmen.

[Хahar 🤔]

This is just a general question to the members of the National Movement, but would you describe what has gone on in the wake of your actions in the Pacific as a political witchhunt, a sort of nonsensical, faux outrage on the part of those in government, who had up until the Operation, completely ignored the decaying situation in the Pacific?

Absolutely, and I think this is demonstrative of the issues in Atlasia about which I have spoken at length in the past. Actual problems in the game go entirely ignored, but any attempt to fix them is met with the harshest retribution.

Oh, is that why you ignored the one question pertaining to that issue and the first one asked in this phase of the hearing?

You must be logged in to read this quote.

You were saying something about ignoring the actual problems in this game...

It goes without saying that there is such a point, but it is also obvious that that point will never be reached until every office in Atlasia is active and heavily contested and there are still a multitude of people who lack office who would be interested in holding office and active if they were elected.