Labor Party Standing Committee (10/12-6/13)

[Marokai Backbeat]

I get to appoint people to draft a platform? Power! I have power!

Just in the interest of fairness then, is there anyone else in the party that would like to assist in building a platform?

[Marokai Backbeat]

I very much like that idea, Barnes. What does everyone else think about that?

Oh and also:

I support drj's kitten idea.

[Marokai Backbeat]

Sorry for being MIA guys, but with a lot of the hubbub of the Atlasian elections and real-life elections over, I'm less stressed out after I get done with my normal Atlas rounds before I work my way down to Atlasia.

I support joining Socialist International. I'm not exactly sure about the logistics of that? But I support it either way.

I agree with crafting a "pillars" style of platform, with specific policy detail catered to each individual general election. We'll do that, I think.

I'll dig more in depth to the process later into the day and finally decide on who I'll pick to help me out in the process. I'm pretty sure I already have them in mind, but if anyone wants to pop in and doubly make their interest known before later on, now's your chance. Thanks for y'all's patience.

[Marokai Backbeat]

I would like to note, just an aside, I've asked Zanas and Barnes to join me in writing platform stuff, but Barnes would like a few days more of time for finishing up midterms, which I've no problem with.

[Marokai Backbeat]

I would like to note, just an aside, I've asked Zanas and Barnes to join me in writing platform stuff, but Barnes would like a few days more of time for finishing up midterms, which I've no problem with.

Ftr, Zanas has accepted, but has also asked for a few more days. Looks like we'll get to work on the platform after Christmas. Understandable.

[Marokai Backbeat]

I understand your concerns, but I firmly believe we as a party shouldn't force ourselves to stay within our own partisan boundaries just for purity's sake. My positions have been always been consistent with what I believe is the right thing to do, and for a President we should expect no less than that.

And the only reason we have a national minimum wage at all, I would like to remind everyone, is because of a bill I authored in 2009.

[Marokai Backbeat]

I nominate Boise, Idaho.

[Marokai Backbeat]

February 2012 Labor Party Convention Location (PLEASE SELECT ONE)

[X] Boise, ID
[  ] Fairbanks, AK
[  ] Honolulu, HI
[  ] Oakland, CA
[  ] Roseburg, OR
[  ] San Francisco, CA

[Marokai Backbeat]

Griffin, I adore you for writing that calendar.

[Marokai Backbeat]

I'm pretty sure I have a damn good record of being labor-friendly in my years here.

[Marokai Backbeat]

I will not seek re-election to Vice Chair of the Party, to put my full attention toward work as President. I'd rather not focus on the political scene when there's much work to do. I have no doubt that this party has an incredibly deep bench of suitable picks of leadership to replace unimportant me.

[Marokai Backbeat]

Chair:

1. Griffin

Vice Chair:

1. Snowguy
2. Gass

Gen. Sec:

1. Seatown

Sorry Gass, it was a tough decision.

[Marokai Backbeat]

Haven't there been just, like, 3 Nays or something? I'm skeptical of there being a vast conspiracy against this Amendment from Griffin when it's pretty early.

I will admit I'm having difficulty bringing myself to vote Aye, though. I supported it at first in a sort of "Hey, if this is a change people will agree to, I guess something is better than nothing" way, but seeing the activity of the Senate constantly fall off, and the near constant replacement acts we've been having to go through for the last few weeks, I'm skeptical of expanding the size of the Senate actually doing anything to help that.

I've tried to ask myself to take the long view; but what if it doesn't work out? When if we end up with a Senate just as inactive and high-turnover as now, but then we end up with no way to actually turn back the clock. Rolling back things like this is difficult to do when you'd be asking the people we gave jobs to to eliminate their own positions. What worries me is the permanence of something that is very much a gamble. The SoIA position is a good go-to for this fear; we created it, all saying to each other "If it doesn't work out, whatever, we'll just get rid of it in a year" and that was three and ahalf years ago now.

[Marokai Backbeat]

If the Amendment passes, I want it to succeed; I wouldn't wish for it to fail after being implemented obviously. If it fails, it would be good for us to rewrite it or wait for a better time and try it again. The ideas inside are sound, but I've always thought they were flawed. It wasn't until these vacancies occurred... and then kept occurring that it hit me that this is a pretty serious idea and if it's implemented, that's it, we have 14 Senators forever and we can't seem to reliably sustain 10.

I've shared my concerns with some people after chatting with folks from the IRC a night or two ago about it (at which point, the final vote was already on, IIRC), but that's it. I'm not out there tonight PMing for this to fail. I've said my pieces, and I'm letting what happens happen, and just hoping to God/Dave that it works.

[Marokai Backbeat]

I pop into the IRC, like, twice a month. Also, I'm not a Senator, and it was just a few days ago that I started having second thoughts about the Amendment because it wasn't until just a few days ago that we had two more Senate vacancies.

I don't know what you're getting all up in my face for about this, I talked to a few people about it and decided I was getting worried about it's implementation. I would probably prefer us to have a second go at crafting some more safeguards in this idea, but if it passes (as is, I'd like to remind you, pretty freaking likely regardless of what our alleged conspirators are up to) I want it to work right and sure as hell hope it does, if nothing else.

I'm worried about it, I voted Abstain, and that is literally all I can contribute to this at this point. You are, by the way, more than welcome to join the IRC. It's not like I'm the chatroom sort myself, you know.

[Marokai Backbeat]

Hell, I don't know why people chat on the IRC about random things, but it's not like anyone there had some sort of special power of persuasion over me and my weak constitution let me fall victim to their seduction. Like I said, I was already getting worried about it because of the (very) recent Senate vacancies.

I think I would've preferred some sort of safeguard mechanism like the Midwest passed in our regional legislature, allowing re-ratification or something like that to come up again in 8 months or a year to double check if it was a worthwhile investment. The problem was, by the time I was thinking about that, it was already more than most of its way to passing the Senate.

[Marokai Backbeat]

I agree with CK/drj: We need to focus on supporting Labor's candidates.

AT-LARGE SENATE:

[X] Alfred F. Jones (LAB-PR)
[X] MaxQue (LAB-CO)
[  ] Matt From Vt (FED-VT)
[  ] Mr. X (IND-OH)
[  ] Napoleon (LIB-CT)

IDS EMPEROR RACE:

[X] Zanas46 (LAB-AL)

[Marokai Backbeat]

Everything looks fine to me, now.