Senate District 3 Special Election Debate

[Demrepdan]

Goodevening everyone. Goodevening PBrunsel. *shakes PBrunsel's hand*

[Demrepdan]

I'm not sure if I can honestly say I have ONE person who I admire most from American politics. I would probably say I have two, with one leading with slight precedence over the other.

The first person would be Abraham Lincoln. I man who was in essence a political failure, and a small town lawyer and was able to rise to greatness using his powerful intellect. He was elected to the Presidency in a time of great conflict, and the conflict only worsened when he became President, which ultimately cause the Civil War. He was able , in this dark time in American history, to keep the union alive and preserve democracy in America.

The second person I admire most in American Politics, would be Franklin D. Roosevelt. I man, who like Abraham Lincoln, faced conflict and war, however, he did not face the same dividedness that Lincoln faced. FDR was able to pull our nation up at a time of great depression and also lead our country through the worst war that history has ever seen, World War II.

[Demrepdan]

While either of you may reply to the other's previous answer, in the interests of time I shall pose the next question now.

2) I would like each of you to name an activity currently done by the government that it should stop doing, and an activity that it doesn't do that you wish it would.

I would ask the moderator if he would please rephrase the question, in order to resolve the confusion as to WHICH goverment he is referring to. (The US Government or Forum Goverment)

[Demrepdan]

Thank you for clearing up question 2, I would have had my question answered sooner but I was waiting for your response. Allow me to answer question 2 before I answer 3.

I would currently like to see the government release restrictions on stem cell research. I believe that stem cell research should be carried out to it's full potential. For those who say it may be unethical, they fail to see the good ethics that can result from stem cell research. There could be a possibility for a man who has been crippled most of his life, to finally walk again. Or a man who is suffering from Alzheimer’s disease, as the late President Ronald Reagan was, to be cured from his disease. Restrictions on this research will leave America behind in the modern world, while other nations push forward on medical research and medical triumphs, we will stay in a medical deadlock. And of course, stem cell research can be done in a completely ethical way.

Another activity that our government should invest more in, is alternative fuel research. If we invest enough in this research, we may possibly find a way to create a fuel from something that can be grown and grown again in this country. Such as the ethanol used in gasolene, that is from corn oil. Even work with hydrogen powered cars, that will emit no pollution. If we were able to produce our own environmentally safe fuel, we would prosper as a nation. We would no longer be able to depend on foreign countries for petroleum, nor would we have to worry about a fuel that may not be as abundant as fossil fuels. If we develop such a means, the world would come to us for their energy, which would boost the economy, and give chance for every American's life to prosper.

[Demrepdan]

Let me answer question 3 by first stating, I support the idea of Regions. I have ALWAYS supported the idea of regions. After having drafted the Constitution, I was a STRONG supporter of Article IV of the Constitution, which states that the regions shall always have rights. I do not wish to eliminate regions all together and give all power to the Federal government. Anyone who thinks regions should be eliminated, are simply thinking it would be SIMPLER to condense the government into on package. I believe the regions still serve a purpose. First, they organize different areas of the country and with a Governor in place over them, it allows the regions to have one voice to represent them. Governors, at one time, had the right to replace an empty Senate seat if it was within his own region, or a regional Senate seat. However, with elimination of Regional Senators which resulted in the number of district Senators to double, the Governor no longer has that opportunity. One of the jobs of Governor, and most important job, is that he help plan the redistricting whenever it occurs. Without the Governors in place, 5 persons elected by the people from different geographic areas of the country, who shall help in the redistricting? The Senators? An executive appointed body? The Governor is: However, they must have a Governor to govern the region and act as the Chief Representative of the respective region.
Lets also not forget how regions give more power to the people, by giving them positions of power regardless of how small. Each region has the right to govern themselves and carry out regional elections as they wish. They may have as many elected or appointed Regional Positions as they so choose.

Also remember my favorite amendment, the Fifth Amendment. The Amendment that these fantasy elections are ALL about, and are sometimes forgotten by the people. The fifth amendment states that everyone shall not feel left out of the fantasy election process. I believe with the elimination of Regions, people will feel smaller. As if they don't matter. The regions give them a sense that they are part of something. Without regions, people will be ruled by a council of 10, over lorded by a dictator.

[Demrepdan]

In response to question 4, sorry for my delay.

         There are several lessons to be learned from the invasion of Iraq. Not just ONE. First of all, we were told that there were weapons of mass destruction that Saddam Hussein had within his country. We were also told that Iraq had an Al-Qaeda connection. With these weapons, and with this connection, the Iraqi government could potentially give the terrorist one or more of these weapons of mass destruction. Which could mean that they might use it against American abroad, use it on our friends and allies, or possibly even sneak it into our country, and create a terrorist attack worse than 9/11. After we attacked Iraq, we later found out that Iraq had no weapons of mass destruction, or none to be found, and there was no Al-Qaeda connection. So that questions are reasons to be over fighting in Iraq and risking American lives.

I suppose the POSITIVE aspect of the war is that we defeated an enemy of the United States. A man who would NOT, if he had weapons of mass destruction, hesitate to use them. He also supported small terrorist organizations, by promising to pay money to the family of suicide bombers. Of course, after 9/11, President Bush stated that if you're a friend of a terrorist, you're an enemy of the United States. And I do agree with that. Another POSITIVE aspect is that we have liberated an oppressed people, we have freed people who could grow up hating the United States. "But what about the people who hate the United States more than ever because we invaded and are doing suicide bombings to U.S. soldiers right now?" you may ask. Well, I believe that in the LONG run, sometime in the not to distant future, we will earn the respect of most Iraqi citizens.

Now, *sigh* onto some negative aspects about the war. I did, myself, support the war. But I didn't support the way we went about doing it, and now my approval for how we proceeding going to war is even worse. I believe the Bush administration failed, diplomatically. We failed to work with other people and slowly gain more and more support as others see the potential threat that Saddam Hussein may be in a post 9/11 world. President Bush could have reached out to other nations, instead of turning a sneer of arrogance. The arrogance that we know what we're doing, so come alone whether you like it or not, because we are all in danger. I believe we could have slowly brought enough support to end the reseigm of Saddam Hussein. We rushed to war. Why did we rush? Because of the weapons of mass destruction, that were not there. Which brings  me to the point of intelligence.

There obviously must have been SOMETHING wrong with the intelligence given to President Bush to make him believe that there were weapons of mass destruction. Before you send nearly 900 American people to die to preserve and in the name of OUR freedom, you'd better make DAMN sure that all the evidence is correct, and not a BIT of it was faulty or questionable. And it's hard to argue that "Well, at the time it didn't seem questionable at all." To many it did, including me.

So I believed we failed diplomatically as well as in our intelligence. As far as our military success, I have no complaints of that. I believe we did a terrific job in quickly getting the job done, with minimal damage to our military. However, no we have terrorist bombings that kill as many as 10 U.S. soldiers every week. We have our military forces spread so thin across the globe, that we have to cut the salary to our military men, and call upon untrained, unprepared army reservist to fight war. Even top military officials have stated this, and have also stated that many people in the military or preforming duties for which they have no training. And ask people who's time in the military has already expired, to continue their service in the military.

Perhaps the war with Iraq was inevitable, and I did support the idea of the war. But I didn't support our quickness to a threat that we later find out was not there.

[Demrepdan]

Question 5:
I beleieve President Gustaf, who refuses to change his name to that, made good decisions for his cabinet. I'm sure Nym will make a good Secretary of State, having served as President for 4 months, he should do a good job upholding the diplomacy of the Forum. John Ford will make a good Secretary of Defense, and by Gustaf picking a former Republican, only shows that Gustaf wants to balance out his cabinet and keep it fair. Fritz is a rising star of the Forum. I can see great things in his future, and I'm glad that he will be one of my successors as Secretary of Forum Affairs.

One grievance I do have with the Gustaf administration, is that they REFUSE to obey the Constitution, and appoint 2 other cabinet positions. The Attorney General, who upholds the law in the Constitution, and the Secretary of Labor, who helps new members to the foru find work so they can contribute to the forum as best they can. I believe these two  cabinet positions are vital, and they ignored them. And I may seriously consider action of some kind against them, possibly severe, if they do not satisfy this simple rule.

[Demrepdan]

Question 5:
I beleieve President Gustaf, who refuses to change his name to that, made good decisions for his cabinet. I'm sure Nym will make a good Secretary of State, having served as President for 4 months, he should do a good job upholding the diplomacy of the Forum. John Ford will make a good Secretary of Defense, and by Gustaf picking a former Republican, only shows that Gustaf wants to balance out his cabinet and keep it fair. Fritz is a rising star of the Forum. I can see great things in his future, and I'm glad that he will be one of my successors as Secretary of Forum Affairs.

One grievance I do have with the Gustaf administration, is that they REFUSE to obey the Constitution, and appoint 2 other cabinet positions. The Attorney General, who upholds the law in the Constitution, and the Secretary of Labor, who helps new members to the foru find work so they can contribute to the forum as best they can. I believe these two  cabinet positions are vital, and they ignored them. And I may seriously consider action of some kind against them, possibly severe, if they do not satisfy this simple rule.

I appoligize for the mistake, the Attorney General position HAS been filled, but in place of the Secretary of Labor, comes the Secretary of Treasury. A Department of Treasury would be irrellvent for this government, since we have no money transaction, and our government is in essence, broke. We all agreed upon this LONG ago, that the Secretary of Treasury was a bad posititon, and Gustaf throws away the Secretary of Labor, a position which actually serves a PURPOSE, with a Secretary of Treasury, who is nothing more than a figurehead.


I also beleive the nomination for Mr. Fresh as Attorney General is just a political move, in order to appease Republicans. I'm sure Mr. Fresh will do his job well, however, he has no legal experience of any kind. Especially with our forum constitution. To my recelection he has not made any attempts to question the constituion. And besides he did not even SIGN the constitution. So it questions his ablitlies, and makes someone wonder if he truly KNOWS the constitution.

[Demrepdan]

Secretary DemRepDan, if I remember right Mr Fresh was appointed Attorney general.

A Secretary of Labor is needed though. The Gustaf Administration may have already appointed one, but he or she has not accepted yet or is not informed on the decison.

I corrected my mistake in leaving Mr. Fresh out of the cabinet as Attorney General, PRIOR to you making this post. And I also made my comments about him.

[Demrepdan]

Secretary DemRepDan, if I remember right Mr Fresh was appointed Attorney general.

A Secretary of Labor is needed though. The Gustaf Administration may have already appointed one, but he or she has not accepted yet or is not informed on the decison.

By the way, my correct title is ATTORNEY GENERAL Demrepdan, not Secretary, since it was the office of Attorney General that I last held for 2 months.

[Demrepdan]

Attorney General DemRepDan,

The Atlas Forum Independence Party states in it's platform that, " A Balanced Budget should be one of our first priorities." Do you think we should have a Balanced Budget Amendment?

Yes, I share this opinion with my party. That a balanced budget should be one of our first priorites. Balancing the budget helps improve the economy, making the budget break even, if not creating a surplus in the which of course makes the government earn money. So I do think we should have, and would support a Balanced Budget Amendment.

[Demrepdan]

Note, I addressed you as "Attorney General."

lol, Thank you

Now I have my own question for PBrunsel.

Do you support giving public unversal healthcare to all Americans? and why or why not?

[Demrepdan]

I'm sure PBrunsel has already seen my question on page two of this thread. However, I did jump the gun with asking my own question before given permission from the moderator, so I apologize.

I will now state my question again, for formality's sake, as well as the chance that PBrunsel did not see my question since it jumped to page 3. 

  Do you support giving public unversal healthcare to all Americans? and why or why not?

[Demrepdan]

I oppose universal healthcare. Universal healthcare, known in Europe as Socialized Medicine, will create a mess for doctors. As was sated in the 1992 Presidential Campaign, Universal Healthcare would lead to massive cuts in Medicaid and Medicare. it would cost 7,000 Americans who work in hospitals there jobs. In Canada this was tried, and it failed, so now they have no more Universal Healthcare. The government does not need to interfere with private doctor's offices. If Universal Healthcare was initiated, it would cost the government more than $2 billion to run, and this will lead to an unballanced budget. Universal Healthcare is a step towards socialism, and for that I oppose it.

I choose not to respond to his answer to my question, and for the sake of time I am now ready to end the debate if PBrunsel in indeed ready as well.

Moderator?

PBrunsel?

[Demrepdan]

I oppose universal healthcare. Universal healthcare, known in Europe as Socialized Medicine, will create a mess for doctors. As was sated in the 1992 Presidential Campaign, Universal Healthcare would lead to massive cuts in Medicaid and Medicare. it would cost 7,000 Americans who work in hospitals there jobs. In Canada this was tried, and it failed, so now they have no more Universal Healthcare. The government does not need to interfere with private doctor's offices. If Universal Healthcare was initiated, it would cost the government more than $2 billion to run, and this will lead to an unballanced budget. Universal Healthcare is a step towards socialism, and for that I oppose it.

I chose not to respond to his answer to my question, and for the sake of time I am now ready to end the debate if PBrunsel in indeed ready as well.

Moderator?

PBrunsel?

This was not my closing statement by the way......as indicated in your post before mine....I guess we're ready....so.....here  is my closing remarks...*ahem*

[Demrepdan]

I'd like to, at this time, thank Ernest, PBrunsel, and the listeners and watchers of this debate.

I believe that this forum faces a slump. I believe that there is too much disregard for the law, and strong selfish partisanship, that only leads to people winning a seat of power due to his or her POPULARITY alone. If we ever stoop to that level, where we elect members of our government simply as a beauty contest, then that is not the Fantasy Elections I want to participate in, that is not the Fantasy Elections I wanted back in January when we started them. When our forum is turned upside down by tyrannical leaders of political parties, or our forum is in shambles due to a revolution where extremist rebel against the government instead of stating their arguments against our great democracy in a civil way. When all FUN is taken out of the Fantasy Elections, the Fantasy Elections will die. This is the purpose of these Fantasy Elections. It all boils down and ultimately results in FUN. We can't put on a resume for a job application, that we were elected Governor, Senator, or President of a political forum. These elections are all to be in FUN and should never be taken to the extreme. They should have the illusion of real politics, but not the real life essence. As a Senator of this forum, a member of the legislative body, I will propose and support any bill, any amendment that helps our forum and helps YOU. I will not allow the injustice that was aforementioned to EVER take place. I will insure your God given liberties, and be sure to uphold freedom at the forum. And with your help, I believe we can do this.

Thank you.