The Independent Vice Presidential Debate

[The Artist Formerly Known As and Now Again Known As Ogis]

Thank you Yelnoc for hosting this debate. Sorry for being late; I couldn't get on until late last night and I wanted to devote more than just my late-night skull rummaging time for this debate.

Opening Statement:

I have a large amount of experience on this forum, having been around since January 2009 in some capacity or another. Throughout my time, Atlasia has seen its ebbs and flows in activity. We have done much to try and minimize the ebbs and maximize the flows, per se, but we haven't made the strides necessary to keep the general population of Atlasia interested and invested in the government. As a government, the basis of the people's legislative power at the national level is the Senate; thus, Atlasia would be well served to have an active legislature to keep an active public. We all know that the Senate has fallen far short of this goal in recent weeks, and we need to do everything we can to keep the Senate active. As the head of the Senate, it is the Vice President's responsibility and civic duty to keep Senators in line, and I will hold myself responsible for maintaining the lofty standards to which we have grown accustomed.

At the same time, Atlasia has been mired in domestic issues and hasn't taken the initiative to move more toward foreign policy issues, such as Chinese lending, which I will address as part of my answer to Yelnoc's question. I believe that a way to combat this international nonchalance is to create a specific legislation slot for foreign affairs, bringing to the foreground the state of affair's with Atlasia's peers. This slot can be used at the PPT's discretion, but its general necessity is dictated by the supreme lack of internationally-applicable legislation coming from the Senate. Perhaps a more active Senate would be willing to take such a nascent Atlasian are of policymaking under their collective wing, but the new Vice President needs to facilitate the expansion of foreign policy legislation in the Senate.

Thank you for letting me enter this opening statement a little late, and let's get this debate started. I humbly wish all the candidates good luck, and I encourage the general public to provide their input.

[The Artist Formerly Known As and Now Again Known As Ogis]

Chinese Lending Answer:

From my understanding, the Chinese are worried by the fact that the Atlasian economy is struggling mightily, and that the outstanding loans are already extremely difficult to pay back. The Senate has been content to merely increase the deficit, and by extension, the national debt to mirror our loan payments. The Chinese and the Ben/Ogis ticket recognize the danger of this slippery slope. The Atlasian economy is a measurement of the world's collective economy, and debt-increasing tactics leading to massive inflation do not bode well for the repayment of loans. Thus, the Senate needs to write a long-term plan to balance the budget, proving to the Chinese that repayment is not, and will never be, a large issue. Atlasia needs to be the champion of economic prosperity. The Western would was built on long term planning, and we, as a nation, need to embrace this logic and come up with a future system for the budget, transcending the year-to-year system which we implement currently. 

Furthermore, the Chinese are likely miffed at our lack of communication and lack of legislation to combat this issue. Our administration would appoint an ambassador to the Chinese nation to alleviate their concerns and assure them that we are serious about addressing their worries and crafting a long-term solution to rid the Atlasian economy of any perceived shortfalls.

[The Artist Formerly Known As and Now Again Known As Ogis]

Keeping the budget under control would be an important goal of our administration, but the year-to-year deficit is not as important as a long term plan to eventually eliminate the overall national debt, as doing so would improve Atlasian credit in the eyes of foreign nations. This may seem to be self-contradicting, as reducing the deficit is the first step in eliminating the national debt, but the deficit is already under control. Therefore, our sights should be set to the future elimination of the debt while keeping the current system in place to maintain and improve upon the deficit, as outlined in the Fiscal Responsibility Bill, which the peanut gallery so controversially pointed out.

[The Artist Formerly Known As and Now Again Known As Ogis]

New Member Recruitment

Our administration will not focus on off-site recruitment because it encourages zombie recruitment, and it turns the election process into a farce. Instead of voting for the best candidate, political parties would be motivated to recruit people who would vote for their candidate every couple of months, making debates such as this one trivial and obsolete.

The far more pressing issue is that of welcoming newbies, and the lack of respect they receive from the general community. We should not be inclined to judge so quickly the nature of every new registration. Instead, we should attempt to accept every new member as a part of our community. Even if there are inklings that the new person was "recruited," that is something that should be taken up with the alleged recruiters without alienating the new member any further. Furthermore, our administration would champion a new system in which no posts are allowed in the New Register Thread except registration, state/party changes, and official RG business. Any constructive advice could easily be addressed to the new constituent via PM. Thus, we can reduce the RG's headache of having to read through pages of garbage and bickering while also discouraging negative comments to newcomers.

Employment:

Federal employment incentives are a necessity to keep Atlasians in the workforce. As Purple State previously stated, the Social and Economic Development Zones initiative should continue to be utilized by the federal government, along with a restructured Hiring Incentive Acts. Meanwhile, our administration would also champion work-related education programs at colleges, giving students the opportunity to map a course directly based on the jobs available to the public. An informed student is more likely to succeed in such a cutthroat work environment.

[The Artist Formerly Known As and Now Again Known As Ogis]

Thank you for consenting to host the debate, Yelnoc.