Vice Presidential Debate from Austin, Texas

[The Duke]

Welcome to the University of Texas here in Austin for the Vice Presidential Debate.  I'm your moderator, Lois Lane, and I thank you all for joining me here.  My thanks to the candidates.  I welcome John Dibble of Georgia, Emsworth of Nevada, WMS of New Mexico, Ebowed of South Carolina, MHS2002 of Virginia, and Ernest of South Carolina.

My first question is to each of you, and its an obvious one.  What do you think the role of a Vice President in our system, and how do you as an individual hope to approach the position if elected to it?

[MHS2002]

First off, I'd like to thank the University of Texas for holding and Lois Lane for moderating this Vice Presidential debate.

I've always felt that the Vice President should be an active member of Atlasia's Executive Branch and should work in concert with the President in forming the Executive's foreign and domestic policy. I don't subscribe to the belief that the Vice President is a "do-nothing" position and if elected, I'll work closely with Keystone Phil on matters that are important to all Atlasians.

On top of what I outlined earlier, as Vice President I will work closely with the Senate and act as a bridge between the President and the Senate. I hope to develop an excellent working relationship with each of Atlasia's ten Senators and I will relay their concerns and plans to the President while also keeping the Senate abreast of the Executive's aims and goals. 

[John Dibble]

What do you think the role of a Vice President in our system, and how do you as an individual hope to approach the position if elected to it?

The role of the Vice President should be that of the right hand of the Presidency. The Vice President should be a trusted advisor and confidant to the President, someone whom helps the President make the right decisions when he may not know what to do. The Vice President should also interact with the Senate, working towards the goals of the administration.

[Ebowed]

My first question is to each of you, and its an obvious one.  What do you think the role of a Vice President in our system, and how do you as an individual hope to approach the position if elected to it?

Thank you for hosting this debate.

Beyond presiding over the Senate and breaking ties in the Senate, the Vice President's most important job is to advise the President and stand by him, and be prepared to accept the higher office should anything happen to the President.  I believe that when a President is undecided about vetoing or signing a certain bill, his Vice President should be there to offer guidance and suggestions.  I believe I am prepared for this position.  If elected Vice President, I will not just break ties in the Senate; I will be there to be the right hand man of the President.  It is important for a Vice President to work in a bipartisan manner with the Senate, and I believe that I can do that well.

[Emsworth]

Ms. Lane, thank you for hosting this debate. I would also like to thank the other candidates for participating.

The Vice President's role involves advising the President. The Vice President must help the President in formulating policies, selecting a Cabinet, and making decisions on legislation. Moreover, the Vice President ought to help ensure that the Senate passes the President's proposals.

An equally important role of the Vice President is that of leadership in the Senate. A Vice President should not be a mere figurehead, breaking ties when necessary but remaining absent otherwise. On the contrary, a good Vice President negotiates with Senators, helping them reach compromises when necessary. The Vice President's intervention may become critical when one is attempting to avoid gridlock.

If I were elected to the Vice Presidency, I would certainly keep the above mentioned ideas in mind. In particular, I am interested in helping the President and Senate formulate and pass a tax reform plan, as I outlined in a previous speech. I would also aid in the formation of other proposals.

[WMS]

I would also like to thank the University of Texas for hosting this Vice Presidential debate and Lois Lane for moderating it.

The role of a Vice President in the current Atlasian system is to, first, consult with and advise the President on domestic and foreign policy, supporting the President to the fullest extent. Furthermore, the Vice President should assist the President in attempting to get the Senate's approval for any legislation supported by or initially sponsored by the President (since of course only a Senator may introduce legislation).

Also, the Vice President has a responsibility to maintain good relations between the Senate and the Presidency by presiding over the Senate in a professional manner and breaking ties as needed. An important part of this is being available as a communicator in case relations between the Senate and the Presidency get frosty.

Personally, if confronted with a tie vote, I would ask the Senate to reconsider their vote and would attempt to get them to compromise on the legislation in question, much as I did when I was a Senator. I would do this before breaking the tie, as I usually prefer compromise to confrontation on difficult issues.

[True Federalist (진정한 연방 주의자)]

The  job title is so obvious I'm surprised that one has to ask.

A main job of a Vice President is obviouslyto be  in charge of Vice.  To support this I will undertake a junket to examine first hand world vice so as to ensure that Atlasia remains among the best in the world in this vital industry.  While my itinerary is at present only tentative, I expect I will visit the Netherlands, Russia,  Nigeria, Southeast Asia and Colombia within my first month in office.

[The Duke]

As you all know, we face a budget deficit in Atlasia that must, under our Constitution, be cut.  How should we go about doing this?

[Ebowed]

As you all know, we face a budget deficit in Atlasia that must, under our Constitution, be cut.  How should we go about doing this?

There are several ways that we can achieve this goal, while still having room for other expensive projects.  Persuing the decriminalization of possession of hard drugs is one way; targetting the dealers or ending the 'war on drugs' period would empty jails (meaning that the government no longer has to pay for prisoners' clothes, food, and other living expenses).  Cleaning up the education spending by gutting unncessesary and expensive high stakes standardized tests, which can cost tens of thousands of dollars per question on each test, and eliminating extra and inefficient posts in the school system would allow for teacher salary raises, and provide more money for other projects.  If money is managed responsibly, you can achieve great things without worrying about a deficit.

[The Duke]

As you all know, we face a budget deficit in Atlasia that must, under our Constitution, be cut.  How should we go about doing this?

There are several ways that we can achieve this goal, while still having room for other expensive projects.  Persuing the decriminalization of possession of hard drugs is one way; targetting the dealers or ending the 'war on drugs' period would empty jails (meaning that the government no longer has to pay for prisoners' clothes, food, and other living expenses).  Cleaning up the education spending by gutting unncessesary and expensive high stakes standardized tests, which can cost tens of thousands of dollars per question on each test, and eliminating extra and inefficient posts in the school system would allow for teacher salary raises, and provide more money for other projects.  If money is managed responsibly, you can achieve great things without worrying about a deficit.

I have ton interject, but Federal prisons and the costs of the NCLB program (which is the only Federal standardized test system I'm aware of) accounts for only a fraction of the needed budget cuts.  Where would the rest of the money come from?

[Ebowed]

I have ton interject,

No problem.

but Federal prisons and the costs of the NCLB program (which is the only Federal standardized test system I'm aware of) accounts for only a fraction of the needed budget cuts.  Where would the rest of the money come from?

The War on Drugs and standardized testing are only two problems that are adding to the deficit.  There are other ways we can get and/or save money:
- Increased taxes on cigarettes;
- Stop and prohibit any socialization of any unncessary health care and medicine, such as Viagra; allow prescription drugs to be bought from neighboring countries so that we don't have to pay (at a higher price) for other people's medicine;
- Allow churches to provide welfare services, which ensures that the government can spend less on welfare, as well as other welfare reform;
- End/don't start any missile defense programs

[True Federalist (진정한 연방 주의자)]

As you all know, we face a budget deficit in Atlasia that must, under our Constitution, be cut.  How should we go about doing this?

To begin with, we should properly incentivise our Senators by providing performance bonuses in their pay so that if we run a $100 billion deficit their pay is cut by 20% and if we run a $100 billion surplus they would receive a 20% bonus.  This should offset the current system of kickbacks, bribes, and campaign contributions that serve to encourge our Senators to spend more and tax less.

However, if these measures should not serve to solve our fiscal problems, we need only print several more trillion dollar bills and the problem will be solved!

[John Dibble]

As you all know, we face a budget deficit in Atlasia that must, under our Constitution, be cut.  How should we go about doing this?

Cut unnecessary programs. Sheesh Ford, that was an easy question, can't you do better than that?

But seriously, once you get the answer above, you need to ask which programs need cutting. But before I get to that, I would say that raising taxes is not an acceptable way to do it, at least in most cases. Taxes should only be raised when money can't be found for the most necessary of programs.

Now, on to which programs are not necessary. Ebowed is correct in mentioning the drug war, which while not the only program area that can be cut is one that should receive cuts. Another area to cut would be farm subsidies, which I personally would like to have halved in increments of 10% of the current rate per year for five years(to minimize the effect, quick change would probably be bad for the market) - this would also be best done if we could get our foreign trading partners to agree to do the same, so the international market remains balanced. I am also for Medicare and Medicaid reform - these two programs are extremely expensive and I feel they cover too much, like Viagra and whatnot. Reducing the coverage of these programs to only necessary drugs and treatments should result in a reduction in costs. I am also considering other reforms to propose to these, but I have not come up with anything solid yet. Last but not least is pork barrell spending. Now, we haven't had much pork under the Atlasian government, but we do have it(becayse we inherited all laws and programs of the United States), so it must be found and eliminated.

Surely, there are other things that can be cut, but the above are the most prominent in my view.

[Emsworth]

As you all know, we face a budget deficit in Atlasia that must, under our Constitution, be cut.  How should we go about doing this?

In order to reduce the budget deficit, the federal government must restrain spending. For too long, the government has irresponsibly frittered away taxpayer money.

Firstly, discretionary spending, which has risen rapidly in the last few years, would be reduced. In particular, pork barrel projects would cease as soon as possible. Furthermore, the level of discretionary spending, in real terms, would be frozen; increases would only occur in exceptional circumstances (for instance, a national emergency). I believe that spending cuts should be phased in over the next few years. A sudden decrease in funding would produce too draconian an effect.

Secondly, farm subsidies need to be reduced. The Farm Subsidy Limit Act has made a good start, but more needs to be done. The federal government estimates that about 78% of farm subsidies go to just 8% of farmers. Currently, each farm may technically collect up to $360,000, but there are several loopholes and exceptions. I believe that there should be a strict limit (that is, a limit with no loopholes or exceptions) of approximately $250,000 per farm.

[WMS]

Admittedly, this is not the easiest question in the world to answer. The simple part is to stop new spending, and then cut old spending. How exactly to do that is the tricky part, since every cut will affect somebody. A tax increase at this point would damage the economy, so I do not favor that - in general, it is better to save tax increases for when there is no other choice.

Back in my Senate term, I voted to approve a series of cuts to the budget. So did everyone else, a sign of the pragmatism of the Sixth Senate. I also voted for the Waste Reduction Resolution (also a unaminous vote ), the Budget Amendment (ditto), and to repeal the Education and Care for Children in Poverty Act - not without controversy, but the financial situation was dire. So I do have a record of working to bring the deficit under control in a responsible manner (e.g., no 'bring the deficit under control by eliminating the entire government', as much as some people would like that ).

Now that I've tooted my own horn, some specifics might be nice. Given that by far the largest chunk of government spending is on Social Security and Medicare, these simply have to be reformed, and at the least we can keep future benefits at the same levels as today's recipients get, although I see that raising the wage cap will very likely be required as well. I fully support reforming the farm subsidy system so that it is both leaner and targeted to actual family farmers and not large agribusinesses. All this must be done carefully, as the raucous Senate debates on these issues indicate. The current Senate has moved in this direction, although there is still work to be done, else this question wouldn't have been asked, now would it?

Discretionary spending should be cut where possible as well, but it doesn't make up the bulk of the budget so that by itself wouldn't be enough.

As Vice President, I would support any rational efforts to get rid of the budget deficit, and would throw what influence I have toward that goal.

[MHS2002]

As you all know, we face a budget deficit in Atlasia that must, under our Constitution, be cut.  How should we go about doing this?

I don't know if there is anything I would say that hasn't been said already, but to reduce the deficit Atlasia first needs to get rid of the wasteful and unnecessary spending that plagues our government, such as pork-barrel projects carried over from the U.S. system. As far as specific areas that would see a reduction in spending, I would like to echo the sentiments of some of my opponents who have called for spending cuts in farm subsidies and Medicare. I would also take a close look at areas such as corporate welfare and Social Security as targets for spending cuts. Right now, I don't see tax increases as a viable option.

[The Duke]

Now would be the time for a closing statement, thank oyu all for attending.

[Ebowed]

I think that most of the candidates running in this exciting race, both for president and vice president, are qualified and well-meaning.  However I hope the voters will give a first preference to Harry/Ebowed, or at least a preference somewhere on the ballot, because I think Harry has demonstrated in this campaign that he is able to unite voters from all political spectrums.  However, no matter who wins this election, I'm sure that the result will be satisfying.

Thank you, and Dave bless you all.

[Emsworth]

I would like to thank Lois Lane for moderating this debate, and Attorney General MHS2002, John Dibble, Ebowed, WMS, and Justice Ernest for participating. I would, furthermore, like to wish them all the best of luck during the upcoming election.

My fellow citizens, it is crucial that in the next three days, we elect an effective and experienced leader. In the history of our great nation, many Presidents have been largely weak, inactive, and ineffective. The notion that there exists a weak presidency is not a mere myth devised to attract more votes. It is not an illusion formulated by spin doctors. It is not a phantasm created to mislead the voters. Too many Presidents have merely genuflected before the will of others, failing to provide real leadership.

I would submit that my running mate, Siege40, would be a great leader. He is an experienced candidate; he has served not only as Secretary of State, but also as Lieutenant Governor, Governor, and Senator. Indubitably, his extensive experience will certainly aid him in his relations with both the Senate and the regions. I strongly urge you to vote for him during this election.

If we are elected, Siege and I will do all that we can to ensure that Atlasia remains enjoyable for all voters. In particular, we would ensure that the bureaucracy does not grow too large, nor the rules too labyrinthine. The true strength of Atlasia does not lie in the bureaucracy, in the government, or in politicians. It lies in the stout hearts and minds of the people. It is the voters who are the true strength of this republic. Regardless of party and regardless of ideology, every voter must feel welcome, I believe that Siege40 would be a very effective leader, for he would certainly ensure that, while certain basic rules are in effect to keep everything fair, the rules do not grow so overwhelming as to drive away citizens.

My fellow citizens, I therefore strongly urge you to vote for the ticket of Siege40/Emsworth during this election.

[MHS2002]

First off, I'd like to again thank my opponents for participating in the debate, and for UT-Austin and Lois Lane for their efforts in making this debate possible.

In just a few short hours, Atlasians will go to the polls to select our nation's chief Executive officer. It is a responsibility not to be taken lightly and I urge every citizen to reflect deeply on the merits of each candidate before making their decision. That said, it is my belief that the Keystone Phil-MHS2002 ticket is the best for an ever-changing.

We need a candidate that understands that the government that governs best, governs least. We need a candidate that is not afraid to tackle the tough problems, at home and abroad. We need a President that is active and will work tirelessly to improve the lives of all Atlasians. It is my firm belief that Keystone Phil is all of these things and more. I strongly encourage all voters to preference the ticket of Keystone Phil-MHS2002.

[True Federalist (진정한 연방 주의자)]

Soon, you will go the polls because you find being here entertaining.  My running mate, JFK, and I have tried to make this an entertaining race.  Unlike the real world where it is just a flippant phrase, love it or leave it, is a real condition here in Atlasia.  I hope that those of you who love it will vote to keep Atlasia entertaining by selecting me as your next Vice President and thus keep others from leaving it.

[WMS]

I would like to thank my opponents, the Loyal Opposition of Ebowed, Emsworth, Attorney General MHS2002, John Dibble, and Justice Ernest, for participating in this debate. I would also like to thank the University of Texas and Lois Lane for hosting and moderating this debate.

The election is nigh, and I would like to ask the voters of Atlasia to strongly consider the ticket of Supersoulty/WMS. I believe that we can offer Atlasia the right mixture of moderate, pragmatic, compassionate, responsible, visionary leadership. If I didn't think that, why would I be here tonight? I believe that we are the best choice to lead Atlasia to a brighter future, welcoming everyone who wishes to join in this grand experiment and keeping the sinews of the Republic strong.

May Dave bless you all, and Dave bless Atlasia.

And on a more serious note folks, have fun this election! I look forward to the Write-Ins.

[The Duke]

Thank you all for attending, and best of luck.  This debate is adjourned.

[True Federalist (진정한 연방 주의자)]

Don't tell me that this debate is adjourned.  I paid for this microphone!

[The Duke]

Don't tell me that this debate is adjourned.  I paid for this microphone!

Since the election has begun... well, if the roadies don't mind, and the union don't mind, then we'll take a little time just to leave it all behind and hope that Jackson Browne doesn't sue me.