Labor Party Spring 2014 Convention - New Orleans, LA

[Dr. Cynic]

x Dr. Cynic

Good to be here with honest Labor folk!

[Dr. Cynic]

IDS SENATE:

[  ] Maxwell (Democratic-Republican)
[X] North Carolina Yankee (Federalist)

MIDEAST SENATE:

[X] Benconstine (The People's Party)
[  ] DC Al Fine (Federalist)
[  ] MadmanMotley (Democratic-Republican)

[Dr. Cynic]

Fall 2014 Labor Party Convention Location

[  ] Honolulu, HI
[  ] San Francisco, CA
[ X ] Seattle, WA

[Dr. Cynic]

I will be posting the revised platform at some point today, but I want to know if it is possible for us to revise the bylaws to prevent Labor from being used as a vehicle for election by certain persons, and then being dropped the minute Labor is no longer convenient to that person. Flo has joined and left Labor twice now, and is now conducting a campaign against Tyrion, who has already been endorsed by the party. I think that, given his total blatant disregard for our party, it's rules, and it's structure, Flo should not in any future race be allowed to use our ballot line, but that's just me.

If it's clear that Senator Tyrion loses his seat to Superique because of the spoiler third party, Labor candidate, then I would back that idea. If Tyrion loses, the Labor majority in the Senate is history. TBF though, this would only be Flo's second strike and he only technically left the party once to face another Laborite (he's technically running a write-in campaign, but the Census still labels Flo of the Labor Party).

I'm actually running a real campaign, not a write-in campaign

Have we ever expelled a party member before?

[Dr. Cynic]

Nay.

Game reform ignored entirely and I do disagree with some of the foreign policy planks.

[Dr. Cynic]

I'll wait for you to lay out your game reform proposal. If it would largely overlap my ideas, then it would be a waste to say things twice.

[Dr. Cynic]

Chair:

[X] Adam Griffin
[  ] Write-in:

Vice-Chair:

[X] TNF
[  ] Write-in:

General Secretary:

[X] Barnes
[  ] Write-in:

Attorney-At-Law:

[X] Write-in: Bacon King

[Dr. Cynic]

I'll wait for you to lay out your game reform proposal. If it would largely overlap my ideas, then it would be a waste to say things twice.

The holiday wil delay me in posting my ideas, and in any rate I'd love to see what you have in mind, so feel free to post what you propose as well.

My internet is spotty at the moment, so I'll try to sum up quickly while I still have a free hour on xfinity...

In order to really reform this game, we need either a new constitutional convention to clean up some of the messy bits or we need a more radical alternative, one I've been endorsing... That is a complete restart. It would mean all laws, offices, etc. would be vacated and we would essentially be creating a new Atlasia, in whatever form that would take. Ideally, I'd like to see a parliamentary government. I don't know if it would be official party policy to go that drastic (in spite of what I think) but at the very least, we need a ConCon endorsement in the platform.

[Dr. Cynic]

I personally support a "two out of three" approach, in that we move toward consolidation as a short-term solution (with hopefully some elements of bicameralism), then either pursue a ConCon or reboot to take care of the statute-related stuff (while carrying over a 3-region plan and/or bicameral system). The ConCon thread has a decent number of signatures, but they're not distributed geographically as evenly as we'd like.

This is really the path that I would like to see taken going forward.  By achieving success in the short-term with some reforms, we can help to grow a consensus for a more comprehensive change.

And Cynic, I share your desire to see a parliamentary system, though I don't think including it as official party policy would be the way to go.

Don't mistake me there, I never said that the adoption of a parliamentary system should become party policy. I merely stated that was my own preference. What I do wish to have happen is for Labor policy to advocate having the debate and if necessary a referendum campaign on it.

At the very least though, we need a new ConCon to fix the issues we're facing.

[Dr. Cynic]

I can offer a general endorsement of TNF's Game Reform statement. I haven't fully decided if I support Party-list PR as my preferred method of election, but that's something I'd like to have debated when the time comes.

I'd be very excited if that works out the way it is hoped with a Government and Opposition frontbench. All we would need to decide would be how many backbenchers to accept, etc. Again, that's something I feel should be taken up as the time comes. I don't know if we should fully commit to anything apart from that, but up to that, I'm definitely behind it 100%.

[Dr. Cynic]

I don't know if further debate of the nationalization question will achieve anything, unless anyone else has anything to say. At this point I think that the best solution would be to hold a vote on whether to include it in the final platform proposal. (Maybe using IRV if we want to select from several options? I like TNF"s counter-proposal better than what we currently have in the platform, but I'd prefer to remove the nationalization plank entirely.)

I like it as well and I'd vote for it.

[Dr. Cynic]

I second the motion...
                                                                                                                                               


Should the Labor Party platform include an executive summary of the contents inside prior to the body of the document?
Select only one option.
[X] Yes
[  ] No

Do you support the Industry section of the platform as is currently written?
Select only one option.
[  ] Yes
[X] No

If you answered 'no', what changes would you like to see made?
Select all that apply.
[  ] Removal of the plank calling for nationalization of power and fuel companies.
[ X ] Clarification or modification of the plank calling for nationalization of power and fuel companies. (This essentially means that you support the idea of power and fuel company nationalization, you just want to see the plank re-written in the interests of coming to a consensus within the party as to what that means, exactly)
[ X ] Removal of the plank calling for nationalization of transportation.
[  ] Clarification or modification of the plank calling for nationalization of transportation.
[  ] Removal of the plank calling for nationalization of iron and steel.
[  ] Clarification of the plank calling for nationalization of iron and steel.
[  ] Removal of the plank calling for federal chartering of corporations.
[  ] Clarification or modification of the plank calling for federal chartering of corporations.
[  ] Removal of the 'Policy for Exports' plank.
[  ] Clarification or modification of the 'Policy for Exports' plank.
[ X ] Removal of the 'Production for use' plank.
[  ] Clarification or modification of the 'Production for use' plank.
[  ] Removal of the 'Modernize collective bargaining' plank.
[  ] Clarification or modification of the 'Modernize collective bargaining' plank.
[  ] Removal of the 'Industrial democracy' plank.
[ X ] Clarification or modification of the 'Industrial democracy' plank.
[  ] Removal of the 'Promote cooperative industry' plank.
[  ] Clarification or modification of the 'Promote cooperative industry' plank.
[  ] Removal of the 'Streamline the state' plank.
[  ] Clarification or modification of the 'Streamline the state' plank.

Do you support the Agriculture section of the platform as is currently written?
Select one option.
[  ] Yes
[ X ] No

If you answered 'no', what changes would you like to see made?
Type all suggestions below.

I don't support government planning of food production.

Do you support the Housing section of the platform as is currently written?
Select one option.
[ X ] Yes
[  ] No

If you answered 'no', what changes would you like to see made?
Type all suggestions below.

Do you support the Education and Leisure section of the platform as is currently written?
Select one option.
[ X ] Yes
[  ] No

If you answered 'no', what changes would you like to see made?
Type all suggestions below.

Do you support the Health and Children section of the platform as is currently written?
Select one option.
[ X ] Yes
[  ] No

If you answered 'no', what changes would you like to see made?
Type all suggestions below.

Do you support the Social Insurance section of the platform as is currently written?
Select one option.
[ X ] Yes
[  ] No

If you answered 'no', what changes would you like to see made?
Type all suggestions below.

Do you support the Peace section of the platform as is currently written?
Select one option.
[  ] Yes
[ X ] No

If you answered 'no', what changes would you like to see made?
Type all suggestions below.

I oppose adding Mexico to the North American common market and I also oppose removing all Atlasian troops from foreign soil as this would make us and our allies extremely vulnerable, though I would support scaling down the number.

Do you support the addition of a section to the platform concerning Game Reform?
Select one option.
[ X ] Yes
[  ] No

If you answered 'yes', what would you like it to call for?
Select all that apply.
[  ] Bicameral federal legislature.
[  ] Open party-list proportional representation.
[ X ] Closed party-list proportional representation.
[  ] Mixed member proportional representation.
[  ] FPTP
[ X ] Referendums at the federal level.
[ X ] Single thread, SoFE administered referendums for the approval of all constitutional amendments.
[  ] Selection of a percentage of officeholders by lot rather than election.
[  ] Write-in: _______________________________________________

[Dr. Cynic]

Nay

[Dr. Cynic]

I see what you did there