The San Diego Convention Center
San Diego, CA
Saturday, October 8th, 2016 9:04 PM EST
I have worked on various aspects of foreign policy ranging from trade with then newbie Senator Tmthforu94 and veteran Senator MasterJedi during the Lief administration, to various situations including that of Iraq during the course of the Duke administration. That said with game reform dominating for the past year and with the economy being not only a problem but an ever present reality for a decade, foreign policy has been neglected both as an issue and as a critical element within the game.
I have worked with various people including now Vice President Lumine, fmr, National Security Committee Chairman and Mideast Senator Benconstine and former Mideast Senator HappyWarrior and many others who over the years sought to make foreign policy a greater focus of the game. As far as the game is concerned, I have been all for the increased focus on foreign policy as a game issue and dealt with reforms to both the Secretary of External Affairs (now the Secretary of State) and the Game Moderator dealing with this issue. This fits in well with the speech I recently gave in Anaheim talking about responsiveness and the SoIA. While the SoEA/SOS has historically been far more active and responsive, it too has in the past suffered from inactivity and therefore my desire to keep/obtain an active Secretary would apply to that post as well. For a long time we had the SoIA and SoEA/SOS serving as mini Game Moderators within their areas, a decision that I think. Instead having both serve as the executive response to the stories generated by the GM is a far better system than having them generate and then respond to their own creations.
It is time for a greater degree of integration of foreign policy into the Atlasian discourse and the best way to accomplish this would be to integrate the consequences and impacts directly into domestic policy areas such as economy, budget and so forth. A great deal with this rests with the Game Moderator, but substantial influence also rests with the Congress as they consider policies that are impacted by various foreign factors be it the price of oil or exports going or up or down or any number of other interconnected areas. And I will veto any legislation that fails to account for relevant and significant foreign based impacts in their composition. Finally, it comes down to a leadership role and setting the agenda not just in congress but in the public at large. By speaking to these issues more, they will become more a part of the consideration and the discourse.
I have had the pleasure of working with everyone from neoconservative Democrats to Isolationist Libertarians and everyone in between on this issue in the Senate. I understand thus were multiple viewpoints are coming from but when it comes to me, the best way to describe my foreign policy is one of restraint. I understand the motivations behind foreign policy idealism and compassion, but on the other hand we can sometimes cause more damage when we are not careful. I certainly believe in maintaining a degree of strength and power necessary to protect ourselves, our allies and our interests, but it is most certainly the case that we derive our biggest strength on a long term basis by not overextending ourselves, and by not depleting ourselves especially when we face having inherited such large deficits and debt post reset. These desires are not mutual exclusive and therefore it is my view that we can combat against radical terrorism, and yet remain humble on the world stage and avoid unnecessary conflicts that deplete our strength and provide opportunities of such enemies to strengthen and expand their reach. Several speeches could be made on the topics of the Middle East, on how to protect the Ukraine without getting into World War III, and China and so many others and I will strive to touch on as many of those topics as I can, as well as Latin America and other areas over the course of this campaign.
I think it is also essential to invoke a certain amount of Bismarckian realism when it comes to many foreign policy questions. Take the UK Brexit vote for example. This vote produced divided opinions not only in the UK but also here in Atlasia. Many wanted them to stay in, some wanted them to leave, some now want Scotland to break off and Northern Island to join Ireland. While I understand, appreciate and respect the opinions of all the difference voices on this subject, from a realistic standpoint we face a UK independent of Europe, but still united as of this time. The UK is a great ally of Atlasia and therefore it should be our desire, while not to impose our will, but to pursue mutually beneficial policies like the Common Market, that will serve to preserve and strengthen the United Kingdom. There are critical details in regards to the formation and implementation of such a common market and I will detail my opinion on that later on.
This is not the end of the discussion on foreign policy, but I hope it is in fact the beginning and that as we pursue A More Welcoming Atlasia, we are also more welcoming to considering not only ideas, but issues that previously were of little interest but that can be of the utmost importance and also have a dynamic impact on the game. I plan to address far more on this topic in the days in weeks ahead, but plan for this serve as a general statement of my guiding principles as well as the roll that it can serve in an enhancing game play.
