Dereich for Emperor: Endorsement of PiT

[Dereich]

Hey y'all, it's your beloved and all knowing speaker! I will be running for the Emperor of our fair Southern lands. While you can expect more detail out of me later, I can pledge this right now.

Activity. I have been the most active member of the legislature for much of my tenure and pledge to continue this as Emperor. We need an active and engaged Emperor who will work with the legislature as Sjoyce and PiT did to prevent the region from falling into boring decay and inactivity. I am the candidate of activity. I will not let the region get to the state the Pacific ended up in.

Bipartisanship. In my time as speaker only one bill ever passed without support from at least two parties. As Emperor my job will not be to reject anything Labor or NM-AM creates out of hand, but to see if we can make anything and everything better. I also believe you can compromise and still have fun as well. In Zanas and SJoyce's battle across the forum on nuclear power while they both took up the extreme positions I worked with other legislature members to change the bill to something that finally passed. I'll work to preserve both fun and bipartisanship in a game that is lacking in both at the moment.

A Plan. Recently I have been writing a revision to our fair Constitution to change our name to The South, move our capital to Charleston, SC, and change our flag to anything that isn't this:

Do I believe in it all? Not 100%, but I think that arguing over it will be fun. THAT is what I want for the region, us to all enjoy ourselves. I hope to involve the public as well; with each part of the revision public ideas will be solicited on the main board to involve non-legislators as well as those already elected. I tried this earlier in the year and it went well; with a solid framework to work on I think we can get lots of public involvement in the decision for a better region.

Thank you, and God bless the South.

[Dereich]

Does this mean there is going to be an open seat in the legislature or are you going to run again, but for both offices?

I'm up in the class A seats while that is the class B election. If I win I would appoint my successor in the legislature. The tradition in the past has been to try and find someone of similar ideological opinion the replace the departing legislator. If BaconKing wins I will remain in my current position.

[Dereich]

Thank you Maxwell and Jack Enderman for your endorsements

Our current capital is Memphis, TN. A lovely city, of course, but I know that not everyone is happy with it being where it is now and Charleston is the previous capital. This is exactly the kind of activity I'm hoping to foster! Getting people out from the sidelines and into discussion is where we need to go!

[Dereich]

All suggestions are welcome! I'm happy people want to participate!

[Dereich]

Welcome to the race homeslice how bout a debate?

Let's do it Lincoln-Douglas style, no moderator, just you n me and questions from the audience too

Sure, sounds great.

[Dereich]

In keeping with the theme of my campaign, I want to both ask for public ideas and present a few of my own on a new opportunity. Our wonderful interior secretary, Superique, has opened a thread where each region must decide how to spend the stimulus money allotted to it. We in the wonderful IDS have been handed $15 billion to use and I know many people have interesting new ways on how we should spend it. I want to spend part of it on something I have always cared about: Ports


At an earlier time I had hoped to propose a port expansion bill in the legislature, but money was always short. Now with our stimulus is the perfect opportunity for putting our region in a dominant position for years to come! The Panama Canal's expansion (Panamax) will allow huge new ships to bring cargo to ports on the East Coast that are now forced by the size of their ships to stay in ports in California and Washington. With this new expansion, these huge ships will be able to travel much closer to where their customers are, but NONE of the ports in the IDS are prepared to handle this influx of trade and goods. THIS IS A TRAVESTY THAT MUST BE CORRECTED. A report by the Army Corp of Engineers (http://www.iwr.usace.army.mil/Portals/70/docs/portswaterways/rpt/June_20_U.S._Port_and_Inland_Waterways_Preparing_for_Post_Panamax_Vessels.pdf) put the cost of expansion for Southeast and Gulf ports at between 3 and 5 billion dollars. Much of this goes to dredging ports to allow for large ships to fit into harbors, creating new facilities to handle the expanded trade and buying the huge "super post Panamax" cranes that are in the photo I showed. International trade accounts for almost 30% of Atlasia's GDP and we should have more of that money flowing to us! And for the TNF types, jobs based around foreign imports pay almost $50,000 a year on average; higher than the average wage, and definitely a living wage in the IDS. We could always do with more high paying jobs!

That's my idea for how to spend part of the money, but it shouldn't just be the legislature and the Emperor who decide how the money is spent! I'd like to know how everyone in the public thinks we should spend our windfall; tax cuts, checks in the mail, infrastructure improvements all ideas are welcome! I feel like there are many opportunities for public involvement like this that we usually let pass us by; getting everyone involved is what I believe in and will work for if you elect me as your next Emperor.

[Dereich]

Hey y'all, the election's getting closer and I thought I should address something that has been getting a lot of attention recently that would change our fair Imperial Dominion: Reducing the number of regions.

The movement to reduce the number of regions has been gathering steam and several prominent posters, including our President, have suggested that regional executives should be the ones to decide the new boundaries. If that were to happen and I were to be elected your Emperor I'd fight for a version of the South to be one of the new regions. Regions should be more than lines on a map; from Texas to Georgia, from the Carolinas even down to Florida we southerners have a unique identity. Our region is culturally distinct from the rest of Atlasia in a way no other region can claim to be. I think that this constitutes reason enough to do our damnedest to keep the current IDS states in one of the new regions, undivided. Aesthetics, partisan concerns, and other worries are all exaggerated or are actually helped by maintaining the South as a singular entity.

Oh, and on another note: we still have stimulus money left over! If anyone has any suggestions you can post them here!

[Dereich]

Hey guys! Its election day in the IDS! Let's all get out and vote!

[Dereich]

I want to thank all of those who supported me; I won't let you down. I will continue the fine traditions of the South and will do my best to see that our region continues to be the best in Atlasia. I will do my best to fulfill my pledges and get average IDS voters involved in our region's activities.

I want to thank BaconKing: he is a shining example of the talent our region has to offer. And while he was unable to fully commit to the campaign this time, he still made the race one to watch. BK, I hope you continue your fine service to the IDS.

I'd also like to thank Velasco. Even though he only entered at the last minute he still added new twists into an interesting race. His contributions to debate in the legislature are second to none and it is sad to see him go. I wish him the best of luck in his future endeavors.

Finally, I'd like to congratulate Zanas and Supersonic. Congratulations on your victory guys! I hope we'll be able to work together in the future!

[Dereich]

Over the last few weeks the IDS has been slow. This is fine. A temporary slowdown at the start of the school year isn't a sign of a dying region. I myself have had real life impose on time that would otherwise be spent in Atlasia. However, in this case I have made a serious mistake. By not paying the due amount of attention to the election dates, I have allowed harm to come to my region. This is not acceptable behavior for the Emperor of the IDS. From today onward, I swear to be vigilant and to do my region right. However, I feel that this could end up being a positive. A mistake of this caliber can rejuvenate a region, and knowing the quality of my subjects I KNOW we'll use this as a shot in the arm to get us back and better than ever.

Since the booth DOES need to be opened, I'll be doing that at 6 EST to allow any last-minute entries into the race.