NC Yankee For the People's House HQ: Main Street Priorities First! (Platform)

[Southern Senator North Carolina Yankee]

COH: Still $916 Million

Election
People's House of Representatives: December 8th - 10th

Experience
Southeast Regional Senator: July 03, 2009 - Mar 06, 2015
Senate President Pro-Tempore:  Dec 2009 - Mar 2010, Sept 2010 - Jan 2011, Mar 2011- Sept 2011, Mar 2012 - July 2014
Budget Revival Committee Member: Mid 2010
Government Oversight and Reform Committee Chair: 2012 - 2013  
At - Large Senator: May 01, 2015 - May 06, 2016
Southeast Regional Convention Delegate: Sept 2015 - Oct 2015
Senate Convention Delegate: Oct 2015 - May 06, 2016
South Judicial Overlord: May 24, 2016 - June 02, 2016
People's Representative: June 13, 2016 - July 14, 2016
Southern Judicial Overlord/Regional Associate Justice: July 14, 2016 - Dec 08, 2016
Vice President of Atlasia Dec 08, 2016 - Jan 06, 2017
President of the Atlasian Republic Jan 06, 2017 - Mar 03, 2017
People's Representative - Mar 03, 2017 -
People's Speaker - Mar 04, 2017 -

Issue Positions
Game and Government - Burkean Conservative "federalist"
Economy and Human Services - Center-right Libertarian-Populist/Main Street Federalism
Social Issues - Pro-Life with many libertarian tendencies
Foreign Policy - Restraint and Realism

Endorsements
Fmr. President Dfwlibertylover
President Fhtagn
People's Representative LouisvilleThunder
Secretary of Internal Affairs Young Texan
Dead0man
Delegate TheSaint250
Fmr. NE Governor and Lincoln AM RGN08
Fmr. Pacific Councilor IndyRep
Fmr. Representative Heisenberg
Deputy GM Encke

Events
Bicameralism - The Greatest Barrier to Socialism and Centralism!!!
Wheeling, WV AYA Townhall

[Southern Senator North Carolina Yankee]

I normally don't do position lists, in preference for campaign speeches. That said, I think it would be helpful at this juncture to compose such a list.


The Game -
I am a Conservative Reformer when it comes to the Game and its engine.

Welcoming Atlasia - Atlasia is best when it welcomes all participants, both new and old. The rise in discriminatory attitudes towards new members should be unequivocally opposed, just like the ageism that was being kicked up against older players two years ago. This is Atlasia's form of nativism plain and simple and I call on all Atlasian's to reject exclusionary attitudes and work to promote the growth and development of active and engaged participants regardless of how old or how young they may be. The Federalist Party was the first to add a plank embracing an open Atlasia, and for three years has strived to promote both internally and in terms of offices based on merit and engagement.

Interactive Atlasia - The most revolutionary thing that could happen to Atlasia would be an increase in the interaction of the organs of Atlasia's government with each other. While this is susceptible when links are broke (inactive SoIA, GM etc), it provides for a much more enhancing game play and a much more dynamic experience.

Reform
You cannot reform your way into people playing the game. Attempting to do so will only effect the dissolution of the game through constant downsizing to chase an elusive target, made even more so by the nativism described above. When reforms are necessary, like consolidation two years ago, they should be embraced but I am not fan of those who seek to solve all problems with a massive reform project, radical or otherwise. These are no better then DC "fixers" who think they can fix all problems with another piece of legislation.

The biggest area that needs improvement is fleshing out the interaction between the Game Moderator and the Administration.

Optimism - Unlike those who find it so easy to complain about how horrible and hopeless things are, I am going to talk about things that are working, things that could be improved and the limitless potential if we embrace an expansive player base, encourage interactivity, foster creativity and ideas based dialogue. Where some see hopelessness, I see a future potential. Where some see horrible situations, I see the possibility for improvement.

Federalism and Reform in Government
I am a proud Burkean Conservative on matters government structure and reform, which comports well with "small f" Federalism and the following principles are what forms its basis:

Checks and Balances - I am opposed to executive tyranny in any form. I strongly support having three branches of government to that end. Critical to that is an independent judiciary free of the political and partisan impulses that would come with the implementation of judicial term limits.

Regionalism - Tyranny can come in many forms, from the tyranny of the centralized state to the tyranny of the anarchic mobs. Government should therefore be balanced with some powers reserved for the Federal gov't, and many reserved for the regions (including to a large extent education and healthcare). That being said while regions can be better at implementing policy closer to the people, the Federal Government has long been necessary to support and restrain regions when necessary. This is especially the case on matters of equal and civil rights.

Bicameralism - A byproduct of Federalism, the representation in the legislative branch should be equally divided between the Representatives of the people, like myself and the representatives of the regions. This requires diligence to maintain and reform when problems arise but for all the doubters and those who said it could not work I would point to this record.

Congressional Administration and the Vice President
Seven months ago I came to the people promising to overturn the chairs and throw them at the rostrum until the People's work was being done. I didn't expect to be Speaker, nor expect the outgoing Speaker, who for all his faults, to come to me and take a lead role in reforming the rules. Whereas previously the House and Senate worked as siloed entities with limited interaction, the leaders of both communicate with each other and the Vice President with the passage of every bill. Whereas before the VP was inactive by design, meekly protesting the inactivity of the Speaker and PPT, he is now an integral part of the Congressional apparatus.

Vice Presidency
Fhtagn has already had more bills signed in her first week then I was sent in my first month by the 4th Congress. The 5th Congress sent President Dfw over a dozen bills, whereas the entire 4th sent me one bill and reported out two Amendments for ratification. Goldwater-Fhtagn-PiT is the first string of active Vice Presidents we have had since the run of Duke-Windjammer in 2013-2014. Let us not repeat the same stupid mistake of cutting that up by misguided "reforms" more aimed at accomplishing personal vendettas than fixing the game. We took that path in 2014, and Atlasia paid dearly for it. Many said bicameralism was hopeless and that the VP was useless. The last seven months have showed that VP is essential to making bicameralism work and that bicameralism works when we interact, and reform unconstitutional and poorly constructed rules that get in the way.

NSC and DPC
Whether as officially existing and appointed entities or unofficial sessions of advisors, having organized meetings to discuss and deal with scenarios with all the involved people at once accomplishes several things 1) Improves efficiency and reduces the workload on the President of having to contact them individually, 2) Encourages activity and renders prompt resolution to inactive cabinet members a necessity, and 3) Keeps the President on schedule, moving towards objectives and thus better keeping the promises made to the People.

[Southern Senator North Carolina Yankee]

Economic and Human Services:
I generally consider myself a center-right, "libertarian-populist" on economic issues. I have come to call this Main Street Federalism.
 
Monopolies/Concentration of Wealth and the Free Market - It is my view that we should promote a competitive market to provide alternatives and lower prices. Sometimes regulations push towards monopolization with regulatory capture and these should be eliminated. Other times regulations are needed when the market easily falls victims to high concentrations of wealth and power in the hands of a few, who quickly seek to use such money to further distort the market with influence on politicians/administrators to pass favorable regulations.

Taxes - Taxes should be kept as low as possible while still keeping the budget close to or at balance. The tax code should be simplified and all loopholes, credits, deductions and exemptions should be eliminated, except I think for the Earned Income Tax Credit, which I would support expanding as an alternative to raising the minimum wage to $15.

Regulations- Yes, I borrowed from Elizabeth Warren to compose and pass the 21st Century Glass Steagall Act, and I am proud of having done so. At the same time we should eliminate complex regulations that have been "captured" by entrenched institutions and replace them with simpler requirements that 1) hold people accountable and 2) encourage competition as opposed to consolidation of firms, ending too big too fail and risk of future bailouts being needed.

Health care - I think regions should take the lead on health care regulations and determining the nature of their health care market. At the same time the Federal Govt', with its resources, should strive to provide access to said market to quality health care options regardless of income, and the Federal Government should consolidate its health care programs to reduce inefficiencies, provide better care and ensure more options. These were the guiding principles of the recently passed law.

The next steps will be to reign in related cost drivers like drugs, tuition inflation, torts, reforming of the delivery system and medical records, as well as to promote technology.

Education - The Regions should take the lead on regulating and organizing the education system, with the Federal Gov't only there to provide supporting resources.

Infrastructure - I think the government should invest in infrastructure to build for the future. That being said such funding should be done with a clear process and transparency to avoid corruption, pork-barreling and other unsavory practices that such gov't spending brings with it. This same approach was taken with the The Research Grant Process and Oversight Act, which I drafted with now Game Moderator AZ.

Energy Diversification and Independence - I think the best way is to increase production of domestic resources, coupled with investments in technology to make available more alternatives and more cost effective alternatives for working and middle class people. To that end I oppose a Carbon tax as I think it would be counterproductive to that end and make energy cost more for working and middle class. I am also not fond of a cap and trade system as I find it an invitation for corruption by hedge funds and others on Wall Street in a manner similar to Enron.

Small Business and Entrepreneurship - Many things go into promoting new business creation, we need simply tax code and regulations. We need education that focuses on critical thinking and other skills. We need to make loans more available to new small businesses and improve their ability to compete against the bigger firms. Small business creates most of the new jobs and yet most small businesses fail. Small business also seek to expand the market and provide alternatives to monopolies and other similar business practices that we should avoid.

Where small business absolutely cannot compete, I favor the creation of non-profits and co-operatives to restore competition in those sectors, including power distribution. These also can play a role in certain aspects of health care and other areas as well.

Minimum Wage - I would support the minimum wage being at  $10.10, but no higher. Instead, we should expand the EITC to improve living standards without imperiling the ability of small business to compete with larger firms.  

[Southern Senator North Carolina Yankee]

Social Issues:


Protecting the Unborn: I am pro-life, and I have been for over ten years now. I would eventually like to see us move towards ending abortion with exceptions for rape, incest and health (the big 3 exceptions). But for right now, we are not ready for that move. I support and applaud the regional action on ending late-term abortion that has occurred over the past year. I supported and helped to pass the ban on late-term abortions pre-reset, that was sadly overturned by the Supreme Court in the Roe v. Zuwo decision, and while I welcomed the move towards regionalization of the issue, there was no ground swell in favor of regional bans and so the practical effect of the ruling was to legalize late-term abortion in Atlasia for up to two years in some cases until regional laws post-reset were passed.

We should also take steps to reduce unplanned pregnancies so that it does not reach the stage of needing abortions and therefore I am in favor of ensuring access to women's health and I am proud that recently passed Healthcare law will help with that as well. I am also supportive of contraception and expanding adoption, as well as other steps to make those abortions that are legal, as rare as possible.

Equality Under the Law: I believe that the basic fundamental principle, behind a Constitutional-Democratic Federal Republic is that all citizens are equal before the law, regardless of wealth, origin, nationality, ethnicity, culture, gender, sexual orientation, religion and association. This underpins my support for Judicial independence as well as the system of a federal republic, as I believe it is the system that best upholds that principle. Where the nation has not lived up to that promise, it has been the constant re-assertion of that principle that has motivated everything from ending slavery, to women's suffrage, to civil rights and finally LGBT rights. And while it is easy to bad mouth the Fourth Constitution, the Bill of Rights is the First Article and Equality Before the Law is the first Section in that Article.

Guns - I am supportive "Section 7" rights (Atlasia's Second Amendment equivalent). While do think there are reasonable limitations and universal background checks that are necessary, the general right to keep and bare arms should be preserved. I also think that most bans on weapons based on class typically do so based on appearance rather than firepower and therefore misguided, as well as unconstitutional. Accessories that transform semi-automatic rifles into automatic weapons should be banned.

Death Penalty - I would only support reinstating the death penalty for treason at this point. There must be tough standards and the toughest crime to prove is treason. Too many innocent people have been put to death only to be exonerated afterwards.

Drugs and Prison Reform - the model of mass incarceration has failed. We should move towards decriminalizing and reform as opposed to throwing everyone into jail where they get into worse crimes and worse drugs. I support the moves that have occurred in this direction and while I am fundamentally against the use of weed by people, I support its having been legalized.

As for prisons, we have turned it into the Harvard for organized crime, people go to prison and rather getting reform and education, they are being trained and connected with more violent criminal elements. The biggest impact has been on the poor and minority communities. Rather then sending out heavily armed agents just "to throw a bunch of people in jail", we should move forward with prison reform and dismantling the incarceration state.

Police Reform - We need to support and protect our police, but incumbent in that is also the preservation of honesty and integrity. We need to have more community policing and greater cooperation between the policy and the communities they are policing. We should not have the police be seen as an alien force coming into a community, creating distrust. They should be a part of the community. We also should have all police activity be filmed for the legal protection of the officer as much as the protection of civil rights for those being arrested.

[Terry the Fat Shark]

Endorsed

[fhtagn]

Endorsed, of course

[Southern Senator North Carolina Yankee]

Foreign Policy
I am a firm believer in a strong defense, but within the guidance of a foreign policy based on restraint and realism.

War - is the absolute scourge of humanity and should only be pursued as an absolute last necessity, but once engaged it must be waged successfully and vigorously.

Second Korean War - I am strong opponent of the decision by President Goldwater to preemptively strike North Korea, but I strongly approve of the successful conduct of the war and the Fhtagn administration's handling of the conflict since taking office.

Russia and China Deals - Having had a front row seat throughout the negotiations and while deeply unfortunate I support the President's have made these difficult but unavoidable deals with Russia and China as the best that could have been achieved, and I strongly most emphasize to all critics that these were the best and last options to prevent a wider conflict.

Military Spending - I do believe in a strong defense, but I am firm opponent of wasteful spending in the Pentagon. I think the Pentagon should be audited yearly and that wasteful spending be eliminated and put towards more body armor and other necessities to protect our troops in combat. I also support reform to the procurement process and the utilization of competitive bidding for all government contractors.

Trade - At this point in history, trade is the reality and the expansion of trade and the access of our exporters to restricted markets, must be a top priority. On this note we must also pursue reforms to the tax code, education reform with regions taking the lead and targeted investments into infrastructure and technology. We must also work to further reduce health care costs by reforming the delivery system and implementing further reforms in areas where health costs are rising (see healthcare above) to further reduce this impediment to competing.

[Southern Senator North Carolina Yankee]

I have posted an in-depth platform, which I just finished with foreign policy. I have cataloged all four posts into the OP along with summary descriptors.

If you have any questions, please feel free to ask.

[Southern Senator North Carolina Yankee]

Except from most recent speech -

As a Conservative, as a Federalist, as a Regionalist, as an Atlasian, and as the longest Serving Senator (20 Terms) in the history of the Unicameralist Old Atlasian Senate, for the love of god, for the love of crap, for the love all that is decent in the world, do not set us back on the path to ruin by abolishing bicameralism. It is a trojan horse for centralism, for socialism and for the ruination of Atlasia. I saw it first hand from serving 80 months in the unicameral pre-reset Senate. It is the height of madness for Conservatives to embrace this in a short sighted quest for "nominally smaller government now" that will be paid for with socialism the world over in the months and years to follow. The path to hell is paved with good intentions and bad judgement. Atlasians stand up, reject this path, demand accountability for those whose inactivity broke the system before, and do not let this barrier be torn down!

[At-Large Senator LouisvilleThunder]

Proudly endorsed!

[Southern Senator North Carolina Yankee]

Time to get this back to the main page.

[President Punxsutawney Phil]

Experience
Southeast Regional Senator: July 03, 2009 - Mar 06, 2015
Senate President Pro-Tempore:  Dec 2009 - Mar 2010, Sept 2010 - Jan 2011, Mar 2011- Sept 2011, Mar 2012 - July 2014
Budget Revival Committee Member: Mid 2010
Government Oversight and Reform Committee Chair: 2012 - 2013 
At - Large Senator: May 01, 2015 - May 06, 2016
Southeast Regional Convention Delegate: Sept 2015 - Oct 2015
Senate Convention Delegate: Oct 2015 - May 06, 2016
South Judicial Overlord: May 24, 2016 - June 02, 2016
People's Representative: June 13, 2016 - July 14, 2016
Southern Judicial Overlord/Regional Associate Justice: July 14, 2016 - Dec 08, 2016
Vice President of Atlasia Dec 08, 2016 - Jan 06, 2017
President of the Atlasian Republic Jan 06, 2017 - Mar 03, 2017
People's Representative - Mar 03, 2017 -
People's Speaker - Mar 04, 2017 -

You swamp creature!

[Southern Senator North Carolina Yankee]

Experience
Southeast Regional Senator: July 03, 2009 - Mar 06, 2015
Senate President Pro-Tempore:  Dec 2009 - Mar 2010, Sept 2010 - Jan 2011, Mar 2011- Sept 2011, Mar 2012 - July 2014
Budget Revival Committee Member: Mid 2010
Government Oversight and Reform Committee Chair: 2012 - 2013 
At - Large Senator: May 01, 2015 - May 06, 2016
Southeast Regional Convention Delegate: Sept 2015 - Oct 2015
Senate Convention Delegate: Oct 2015 - May 06, 2016
South Judicial Overlord: May 24, 2016 - June 02, 2016
People's Representative: June 13, 2016 - July 14, 2016
Southern Judicial Overlord/Regional Associate Justice: July 14, 2016 - Dec 08, 2016
Vice President of Atlasia Dec 08, 2016 - Jan 06, 2017
President of the Atlasian Republic Jan 06, 2017 - Mar 03, 2017
People's Representative - Mar 03, 2017 -
People's Speaker - Mar 04, 2017 -

You swamp creature!

I like to go where the shootin is the heaviest.

[Southern Senator North Carolina Yankee]

Its time to do some old fashion campaigning.

[dead0man]

endorsed of course

[TheSaint250]

Endorsed as my first choice!

[Former Lincoln Assemblyman & Lt. Gov. RGN]

Endorsed!

[Heisenberg]

Enthusiastically endorsed!

[Former Senator Haslam2020]

Enthusiastically endorsed!

[Fmr. Representative Encke]

Endorsed for a high preference.

[Southern Senator North Carolina Yankee]

Well normally, I would create a new thread, but since this election is so early (we are only like 4, 4.5 weeks into the 9th Congress and though the election is this weekend, the 10th won't take office until the first week in January, so almost a month later).
 

The platform above contains my general positions on issues. I still stand by the pledges we made in October and my desires is to see is complete all of them in the 9th, but with the holidays some of them might not occur.

One of the min particular concerns the powers of the President to strike unilaterally, my desire is to pass legislation to make this contingent upon consultations, which as my limited knowledge of the situation in question being I came on after the sh**t hit the fan (happens all too often it seems), the primary aspect of the decision was unilateral action without consultations.

[lekmanin]

Hello. What would you say have been your best achievements so far as speaker?

[Southern Senator North Carolina Yankee]

Hello. What would you say have been your best achievements so far as speaker?

My best achievement would have been last Spring. During my term as President, the Congress only passed 3 things through both chambers and both chambers went through long periods of inactivity with frankly nothing moving at all. When I was elected to the House, my priority was to basically overturn the chairs and throw them at the speaker until stuff got moving, but fate intervened, the Federalists won a majority and I was elected as Speaker.

We worked on a bipartisan basis to reform the rules, brought the Vice President into the process in both chambers as the Constitution stipulated I would note, and now there is a constant flow or bills, and a constant chain of communication between the Speaker, PPT and VP over passage of bills.  

In just over a month since this session started , we have passed I think seven pieces of legislation out of congress, which is double what was passed in the entire 4th Congress (from Jan through March), and this occurred despite Thanksgiving being in that period. The House, where I am Speaker, has passed 12 bills or resolutions over that period.

[Southern Senator North Carolina Yankee]

The other big one occurred on policy, and that was on reforming Public Health Care, which took much of the Summer and Spring.

Working again with members on the other side, we accomplished all of our mutual objectives. My desire was to move regulatory control to the regions in terms of the nature of a region's market, ensure that access to health care was not limited by financial means and that preventative care is covered and to consolidate and shrink the number of federal gov't agencies and programs to save money and ensure a better quality of care. I have long felt that denying preventative care now in the name of "fiscal Conservatism" is most counterproductive thing one can do and guarantees high costs for senior health care down the road.  

The bill we passed accomplished all of those objectives. It consolidated all the federal gov't programs into one, replaced Medicaid and ACA with a sliding scale subsidy that follows the consumer, and to which the various providers and that one federal gov't program have to compete for on regionally regulated exchanges. The regions are thus empowered to select the nature of their system and can select between a competitive market, or a monopoly for this gov't program.

When you look at health care, you basically reach the first stage of consideration where you have to determine whether or not you are going to ensure access to care to all or none. We had for years determined that seniors would receive care through Medicare, and that Emergency Rooms had to treat people regardless of money, this meant that we already had an unfunded, poorly delivered and horribly administered universal health care system by the back door, or the emergency room door if you prefer.  It is actually cheaper in the long term to make sure preventative care is available, and we still pay the costs when we don't either through Medicare, unfunded hospital emergency room costs being spread to other patients, hospital shutting down because they aren't getting paid for such visits, or the tax payers who have to subsidize these unfunded costs to keep the hospitals open. Denying preventative care, ensures that we get hit with the most expensive emergency room bills, Medicare costs and take a hit on lost productivity, work hours and disrupted and destroyed lives. In that sense we already have the death panels and wait lines, but they are determined by financial ability.

That is we did have them in Atlasia, until we passed the Reforming and Regionalizing Public Healthcare Act of 2017., which solved these problems on a basis of preserving choice, federalism and avoiding centralized control and avoiding the shift from denying care based on financial ability to denying care based on some random system determined by an agency facing limited resources and too many patients. 

This bill set the stage for the Congress and the Regions to turn their attention towards addressing the drivers of health care costs and there have been bills on drug prices for instance since then. That is an important priority, but we also have to address shortages of doctors, expanding access and training to technology and other reforms to the delivery of care, electronic medical records and addressing the raising cost of tuition which serves as barriers to entry into the medical profession.

[fhtagn]

I feel like it should be obvious, but in case it wasn't, obviously endorsed!