Atlas Star:Presidential debate thread

[Unconditional Surrender Truman]

I thank you, Mr. Game Moderator, for hosting this debate; my friends and opponents, for your presence here; and all those at home, reading these words, who in eight short days will decide what course our republic will take in the next four months.

I have come here this evening, have placed my name before the Atlasian people, because we need proactive and progressive leadership in Nyman, and we need it now. For nearly a year, we have waited in vain for federal action on the issues closest to the plight of the common citizen: infrastructure, wages, and unemployment. We have watched our nation withdraw from the world stage only to be dragged back by the threat of terrible war — a war that none wanted, and none seem able to explain. Now, in this election, the time has come to take matters into our own hands and make a change.

My tenure as prime minister of the Commonwealth of Fremont has seen a renaissance of activity, development, and economic growth — even as our sister regions to the east have struggled against persistent malaise and rising unemployment. We have passed legislation to adopt a sustainable and local living wage; we have worked with (not against) the markets to encourage investment in renewable energy; we have retaken the reigns of public education with smaller class sizes, increased funding, and a reformed and relevant curriculum; we have built our nation's first high-speed rail network, creating new jobs and economic activity in the process; we have continued the battle for full equality for transgender citizens with a historic civil rights law; we have made law enforcement more transparent and doubled the number of public defenders. All this we did, not on party-line votes by strategically-placed zombies, but by an active and bipartisan program that has involved citizens of all backgrounds and ideologies in a region that only ten months ago had no government to speak of. Our unemployment rate is 2% lower than that of either Lincoln or the South and 1.5% lower than the national unemployment rate, despite the war raging across the Pacific that has disproportionately penalized the western states.

Friends and citizens, this is the kind of leadership we need in Nyman — this is the kind of leadership I pledge to bring to the next administration.

No doubt, in the coming days, you will be hearing quite a bit about me from less-than-reputable sources: about how I am a communist after your guns, or a fascist Nixonian chess master lusting for power, or a long-winded idiot who just won't shut up. I ask you, rather than be deceived by these falsehoods, to look to my record — nearly two years of consistent, honorable, and active service in national and regional office — and ask yourselves whether you do not deserve as much from a president.

I look forward to this opportunity for a true contest of ideas, and am honored to do battle against such worth opponents. This should be fun.

[Unconditional Surrender Truman]

1. Abortion is considered by some to be a particularly important and divisive issue; with all three regions taking different practices with regulating abortion. On the issue of Abortion do you in general consider yourself pro-life or pro-choice? Would you attempt to further regulate the process at the federal level this can be either through as an example a partial ban, waiting period, parental notification ect?

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2. Drug policy has been a controversial issue and the subject to much debate over the last few months on the federal level. With that in mind do you feel the current legislation of recreational Marijuana as being a success or a failure? Would you support the decriminalization or legalization of harder drugs? Is their any other reforms you would pursue in respect to illegal substances?

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3. The issue of gun control has recently become a major issue among many voters and politicians, with that do you support an assault rifle ban? Mandatory back ground checks? Gun registry? Are their any other major gun control proposals you would support?

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4. Do you support the recent attempt to repeal of the Taft Hartley Act? What role should unions play in Atlasia?

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5. Some Atlasians have complained about Atlasias current welfare system and the amount of other benefits granted to Atlasia. What major changes if any would you make to reforming welfare? Would a universal basic income be something that you support experimenting with? If so what type of setup would you select?

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6. What actions would you take to balancing the budget while respecting both affordability, access to essential social programs and economic development?

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[Unconditional Surrender Truman]

7. As President do you support continued development of coal to overseas countries? Would you support a carbon tax to encourage green energy development?

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8. What role should human rights play in deciding which countries we do business with? Is it appropriate for Atlasia to try and dictate other countries domestic policy even when it doesn't directly effect Atlasia? To what degree?

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9. What actions would you take to attempt to cool the Russian-Ukraine Crisis? Do you support Russia's claim to Crimea?

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10. What actions as President would you take to ending the Korean War with an Atlasia victory and the least amount of damage to Atlasia either militarily and diplomatically?

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11. What steps if any would you take to increasing game activity?

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12. Are their any changes you would wish to make to the Fourth Constitution?

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[Unconditional Surrender Truman]

I am incredibly grateful for the opportunity to be a part of this debate; and so I offer my sincere thanks to my fellow candidates, and to the good Game Moderator, for making this dialogue possible. The answers we have heard these last few days, the visions for the future that have here been aired, paint a very clear portrait of the choice before the nation, and I can ask for no more than that.

I am in this race because I believe this choice matters — and it is a choice we make, not in a month, or in a year, but now. The times demand more than mere activity; they require nothing more or less than direct, concerted, and determined action to achieve all that is possible, but not inevitable. We must rebuild our infrastructure, pass the local living wage, address the challenge of gun violence, restore the common market with Canada, throttle the deficit, and build an economy that is both free and fair to all people. This I may honestly say I will do, because I have done it before; in two years' faithful service to my country, I have never once broken a promise I made to the people, and I would sooner forfeit what little shred of power and privilege I possess than break my word now.

To quote from Eliot:

"And so each venture Is a new beginning, a raid on the inarticulate, With shabby equipment always deteriorating In the general mess of imprecision of feeling, Undisciplined squads of emotion. And what there is to conquer By strength and submission, has already been discovered Once or twice, or several times, by men whom one cannot hope To emulate —but there is no competition— There is only the fight to recover what has been lost And found and lost again and again: and now, under conditions That seem unpropitious. But perhaps neither gain nor loss. For us, there is only the trying. The rest is not our business."