***Politburo Elections*** Labor Party Fall 2013 Convention!

[Kitteh]

Comrades,

The departure of the DeleGAtion from this race is a very sad day for Atlasia. BK and AG are two of my closest friends here. As I've noted in the past I wouldn't even be in this game if it weren't for them; I found this place through a thread BK made and Adam was the one who first PM'd me asking me to run as a Labor candidate for the Mideast assembly election almost exactly a year ago.

This took most of us by surprise and not in a good way, and with the rapidly changing landscape of this race in the wake of their withdrawal it was necessary for me to make a snap decision. Looking at the other candidates in the race we have a Federalist, a power-hungry anti-reform VP/AG who has continually abused the legal system to block the will of The People and any change to the status quo, and uh well Snowstalker...yeah. I had never before considered a serious run for President, but looking at this field I feel like we need another alternative. That's why I've decided to run and seek the Labor nomination.

I haven't had time to put together a bullet-point list of all the policies that I'll enact as President, but that's not what we need right now. What we need is something different. As you all know, the status quo in Atlasia is unacceptable and unsustainable. But a number of people with vested interests in preserving the current setup have fought back against change and will continue to do so for as long as this place exists. That's why I believe I should be Labor's candidate for President. I'm the only person in this race with a record of fighting for reform, and as I'm sure you all can tell my administration would be very different from anything Atlasia has ever seen before.

My switch back to the Labor party for this run has been a change in label more than substance. I started this game as a member of Labor and helped our party become the most powerful force in the Mideast for a brief period, before the likes of ZuWo, Inks, JCL and loldiesfreak took over that region. I've always considered myself a part of Labor at heart if not on paper. The Movement and Labor make natural allies, as the only parties seriously interested in changing how this place works.

In short, I hope you will consider me for the Labor nomination in this election, as the only candidate who can bring the change that Labor wants and Atlasia needs.

Solidarity,
Kitteh

[Kitteh]

Oh and Snowstalker, I want you to know that I remember you voting against me for the Labor Party endorsement for Northeast Governor after I voted for you in every one of your miserable campaigns for anything. Just sayin.

Yes, that was a dick move of me. And yes, my presidential campaign last year was...miserable.

But aside my, ahem, occasional forum trolling, I think I've matured as a poster and hopefully as a candidate. I want to continue the service I've given to Atlasia in the past. I know the odds are against me even if I do win the Labor nod, but I want to run a campaign for an Atlasia by The People the people, for The People the people.

As for the VP pick, that is as of yet undecided (well it is kind of decided, but said pick is undecided on whether to join the ticket).

I think you need to step aside. You were the top of the ticket and lost by a 23 point margin. I don't want this election to be a repeat.

You guys remember when everyone had those "don't blame me, I voted for Snowstalker" signs in their sigs? lol

(for you newbies, that was in the bottom of Napoleon's presidency, when his approval was in the single digits)

[Kitteh]

Yeah I agree with everything that's been said here, for those of us who remember, Snowstalker coming in second was actually a bit of an upset. And I too am proud to have voted for him over the total failure that was Nap's 2nd term.

[Kitteh]

FWIW, if DemPGH wins the Labor nomination I will continue my campaign as an independent or NMAM candidate, and give Duke my 2nd preference ahead of him.

[Kitteh]

So snowstalker, who would your vp be?

A federalist ticket supported by the labor party, well .

If either of those happen, I'm sorry, I'll have to go to the Progressives. Especially the latter.

There's nothing "progressive" about the Moderate Hero Union. Duke's candidacy represents an opportunity for Atlasians to unite around one leader in a way we haven't seen for some time.

Progressives to your left economically:
Myself
Siren
Scott
Oak Hills
Tiver
Superique
Butafly
GAWorth
Yeahsayyeah
Kashifsikhan

Progressives to your left socially:
Myself
Scott
Tiver
butafly
Yeahsayyeah
Marnetmar

A majority of progressives are economically to your left and a near-majority is socially to your left. Not to mention that the Federalist party candidate is to your left in both economics and social issues. I'd hold off on calling people not progressive enough when they're to your left on the spectrum.

Yes, this would be a valid point if we pretend that one's positions on the "political spectrum" as determined by the Political Matrix test are in any way a meaningful indicator of progressivism.

So what is your definition of progressivism?

A meaningless buzzword invented because American conservatives have successfully demonized the word "liberal", which was itself a meaningless term invented to differentiate "mainstream" American leftists from socialism after socialism had become demonized in the same way.

Or, a historical movement of the late Gilded Age composed mostly of upper/upper-middle-class people who sympathized with the plight of the poor and wanted to fix the problems of their time but in a way that didn't challenge their own fundamentally privileged place in society; who left a mixed legacy, on balance positive but with many negative aspects that their modern-day admirers often overlook.

Take your pick. 

[Kitteh]

FWIW, if DemPGH wins the Labor nomination I will continue my campaign as an independent or NMAM candidate, and give Duke my 2nd preference ahead of him.

But you think we should give you the Labor nomination of DemPGH for what reason exactly? Balls to that.

It is occurring to me with ever increasing alarm that this party will be completely torn apart and that the Federalists will get power anyway.

Duke isn't some scary evil conservative-he was on our ticket just 2 elections ago ffs. I'm not excited or terrified about the idea of him winning, but I'd take him over someone who's entire career has been built on incessantly filing frivolous lawsuits against anyone working for change. This isn't about left vs right, there's only a small difference there btw Duke and DemPGH anyway.

[Kitteh]

FWIW, if DemPGH wins the Labor nomination I will continue my campaign as an independent or NMAM candidate, and give Duke my 2nd preference ahead of him.

But you think we should give you the Labor nomination of DemPGH for what reason exactly? Balls to that.

It is occurring to me with ever increasing alarm that this party will be completely torn apart and that the Federalists will get power anyway.

Duke isn't some scary evil conservative-he was on our ticket just 2 elections ago ffs. I'm not excited or terrified about the idea of him winning, but I'd take him over someone who's entire career has been built on incessantly filing frivolous lawsuits against anyone working for change. This isn't about left vs right, there's only a small difference there btw Duke and DemPGH anyway.

Then do what you want to do. Why should this party endorse the ticket of our party's chief competitor? What you do is fine, but I don't feel that's the sort of change I want.

I never said I want the Labor party to endorse Duke. If I did I wouldn't be asking them to endorse me, obvs . I just said that in the case that the party endorses DemPGH I (and a very large contingent of this party) would break with them and support Duke over him.

I'm pretty sure this is a hypothetical though because the chances of DemPGH winning the labor nomination are extremely small. Look at this poll, for example, Laborites would prefer Duke to him, and only 30% of Labor would even vote for DemPGH! This is entirely confirmed by private polling I've done. The president aside, there really isn't support for DemPGH in Labor. He should have realized that he can't rely on the party for support sometimes, stab them in the back others, then come back begging for support again and expect people to be receptive.

[Kitteh]

I hate to keep self-advertising, but remember which of the possible Labor candidates was actually a party member before yesterday.

Not really a fair accusation, I started off as a Labor member, I've held more offices under the Labor banner than any other, I've voted for the Labor ticket in every presidential election (including over the NMAM ticket once) and I've always been an ally and supporter of Labor from the outside or the inside.

[Kitteh]

I mean no attack on the platform or bylaws committee, they're doing fine work and working as fast as reasonably possible, but we really don't have time to wait for this. We have 11 days until this election, if we wait another two or three to vote and then a day or two for voting we're going to have barely a week or less before the election with a nominee. Ending this chaos should be this party's #1 priority right now.

I believe, though, that the party's bylaws do not strictly require us to conclude the platform and bylaws revisions prior to endorsement voting. The relevant section:

III. ESTABLISHMENT & MANAGEMENT OF CONVENTIONS
3. Each convention will have the following agenda:
   a. Updating and amending the Party by-laws
   b. Updating and amending the Party platform
   c. Endorsements for the upcoming Atlasia Federal Elections
   d. Special and irregular business put forward by the Politburo
   e. Establishing the date and city for the upcoming convention

It does not specify that those items of business must be undertaken in that order. In fact, in the last convention, they weren't:

[END] Seeing as how the platform committee is still working on the final pieces before proposal, we will now be moving straight to our Presidential endorsement.

There is precedent for holding an endorsement vote while the platform and bylaws are not yet completed, and I believe it is in our party's interest to do so.

[Kitteh]

Snowstalker's very own paternalistic leftist ideology.

I just ran a search, it seems he deleted that thread sadly.

[Kitteh]

Dr Cynic, if you win the nomination, do you intend to continue to run, against DemPGH? Or will you drop out and endorse him after the convention? I'm confused by what your candidacy is trying to achieve, if you'd rather have DemPGH than yourself then why run?

[Kitteh]

Comrades,

I'll be honest, I had no idea I would be in this situation even three days ago. But the events since the withdrawal of the DeleGAtion have forced me into this race to defend what I love about our Party.

This race is about more than just who will be our Party's candidate for President. This is a fight for the very heart and soul of the Labor Party. I have always stood by the Labor Party because I believe we are a different kind of party, fundamentally nothing like the "Progressive Union" or these other parties of the "left". Time and again Labor has shown itself to be the only party dedicated to real reform, the only party willing to stand up against those who will come out frothing at the mouth to denounce anyone fighting against the status quo. That's why I have voted for Labor candidates in every election since I joined this game.

The choice we face here is between sticking with our unique, proud, radical, independent tradition and becoming yet another party of piecemeal "reform" and boring campaigns. If we nominate DemPGH or his stalking horse, that is the road we will head down. I don't mean to sound melodramatic, but it would make me extremely sad to see that happen. The NMAM is and always will be a minor force in terms of numbers, but the one thing that I felt we could count on is the support from our friends in Labor in our fight for change. Labor has always been the engine of change in Atlasia. I can't bear to see that end, which is why I feel compelled to fight so strongly for this nomination.

I know a lot of you are pessimistic about our chances in the next election. Privately there seems to be a sense of "Duke inevitability" among members of our party and others. This isn't all that misguided. It seems that both sides in this fight have alienated a large segment of the party to the point where presenting a "united front" in this election will be next to impossible. I recognize that, but I don't think that means we must give up. As I said earlier, I'm in this for the long game, not just this next election. I was a member of this party when Labor was a struggling opposition force just barely able to manage a distant second in elections. But if there's anything the history of this party has shown it's that Labor grows stronger in opposition. I believe that frankly we needed a bit of a wakeup call-after two terms of Labor there were more than a few (myself included sometimes, tbh) who had become complacent, and our party has fallen behind on recruitment and outreach. I know that we can come back from a defeat in this election. But what would be a fatal blow is losing the soul of our party. If we nominate DemPGH or his ally in this election, I'm afraid that the Labor that comes back from this defeat won't be the Labor that we had before it, the Labor that I love and that I've been proud to be a friend and member of.

Comrades, we can and we must win this fight. The fate of our party is at stake. Together I'm convinced that we can save this party. Nothing in this game is more important than that right now.

Solidarity,
Kitteh

[Kitteh]

President:
[1] Kitteh
[2] Snowstalker
[3] Write-in: the DeleGAtion lives on 5evar

ME Senate:
Talleyrand

[Kitteh]

I have always stood by the Labor Party because I believe we are a different kind of party, fundamentally nothing like the "Progressive Union" or these other parties of the "left". Time and again Labor has shown itself to be the only party dedicated to real reform, the only party willing to stand up against those who will come out frothing at the mouth to denounce anyone fighting against the status quo.

You and everyone in Labor has a big penis.

Are those the words you've been waiting to hear?

lol, I like mine small, tyvm

[Kitteh]

I have always stood by the Labor Party because I believe we are a different kind of party, fundamentally nothing like the "Progressive Union" or these other parties of the "left". Time and again Labor has shown itself to be the only party dedicated to real reform, the only party willing to stand up against those who will come out frothing at the mouth to denounce anyone fighting against the status quo.

But you registered as a Laborite a few days ago and the NMAM (I believe due to the political views of its members) is a leftist party that you have been registered since before I came into Atlasia..

Its clearly satire, she is mocking Labor.

But if she is, then why is she running for your party's nomination?

For the same reason she does everything in this game.

I'm guessing none of you remember when drj joined. She was recruited by me not too long after I joined and joined the Labor Party from the get-go. She served admirably in the Mideast Assembly and was the Labor nominee for Governor in the Mideast at one point (and did fairly well considering the make-up of the region at that time). She didn't join NM-AM until late May or June. Most people who are now or were in the NM-AM were Laborites at some point before that - which explains why we are so defensive of them. We remember our own.

Lots of people grow tired of being serious in this game. Drj's serious spirits were most likely crushed by that asshole Senator who is apparently too much for anyone to handle. Xahar at one point was a "Serious Person", too, until a bunch of assholes in the Pacific finally cockblocked him enough in the Pacific way back when. Between people like that, Napoleon, Hagrid, myself and plenty of others over the duration of the game's history, lots of people's dreams have been crushed and shattered. I can only hope that some of you will ultimately know dhese feels.

This is actually a great summary, thanks. The only thing I have left to add is that I've always considered myself a "fellow traveler" to this party-as evidenced by the fact that I've supported Labor candidates always if not in the first round than in the second and that I've helped plan and act out Labor strategies, on the IRC and elsewhere. To suggest that I'm mocking or have in any way a negative opinion of Labor is ridiculous.

One point that Adam made which is really important imo is the oft-repeated truism that everyone in this game long enough either quits (see the many now inactive in Atlasia but still very active in other places former Presidents and former Atlasian icons) or turns to loonyism. The only people who manage to dodge this trend are, um...special cases like Inks and Yankee. You'll notice that the PU is extremely disproportionately composed of newer members, while the NMAM is composed entirely of people who have been here at least moderately long. For all the talk of NMAM people not really caring about holding offices, the Movement has the highest average amount of time/number of offices served of any party in Atlasia. It's not that we (we being the collective less-than-soopr-srs coalition, not any one party) don't care, not one of us started out here as "trolls". It's that we've been here so long that we've gotten tired of all the bullsh!t.

[Kitteh]

I have always stood by the Labor Party because I believe we are a different kind of party, fundamentally nothing like the "Progressive Union" or these other parties of the "left". Time and again Labor has shown itself to be the only party dedicated to real reform, the only party willing to stand up against those who will come out frothing at the mouth to denounce anyone fighting against the status quo.

But you registered as a Laborite a few days ago and the NMAM (I believe due to the political views of its members) is a leftist party that you have been registered since before I came into Atlasia..

Its clearly satire, she is mocking Labor.

But if she is, then why is she running for your party's nomination?

For the same reason she does everything in this game.

I'm guessing none of you remember when drj joined. She was recruited by me not too long after I joined and joined the Labor Party from the get-go. She served admirably in the Mideast Assembly and was the Labor nominee for Governor in the Mideast at one point (and did fairly well considering the make-up of the region at that time). She didn't join NM-AM until late May or June. Most people who are now or were in the NM-AM were Laborites at some point before that - which explains why we are so defensive of them. We remember our own.

Lots of people grow tired of being serious in this game. Drj's serious spirits were most likely crushed by that asshole Senator who is apparently too much for anyone to handle. Xahar at one point was a "Serious Person", too, until a bunch of assholes in the Pacific finally cockblocked him enough in the Pacific way back when. Between people like that, Napoleon, Hagrid, myself and plenty of others over the duration of the game's history, lots of people's dreams have been crushed and shattered. I can only hope that some of you will ultimately know dhese feels.

This is actually a great summary, thanks. The only thing I have left to add is that I've always considered myself a "fellow traveler" to this party-as evidenced by the fact that I've supported Labor candidates always if not in the first round than in the second and that I've helped plan and act out Labor strategies, on the IRC and elsewhere. To suggest that I'm mocking or have in any way a negative opinion of Labor is ridiculous.

One point that Adam made which is really important imo is the oft-repeated truism that everyone in this game long enough either quits (see the many now inactive in Atlasia but still very active in other places former Presidents and former Atlasian icons) or turns to loonyism. The only people who manage to dodge this trend are, um...special cases like Inks and Yankee. You'll notice that the PU is extremely disproportionately composed of newer members, while the NMAM is composed entirely of people who have been here at least moderately long. For all the talk of NMAM people not really caring about holding offices, the Movement has the highest average amount of time/number of offices served of any party in Atlasia. It's not that we (we being the collective less-than-soopr-srs coalition, not any one party) don't care, not one of us started out here as "trolls". It's that we've been here so long that we've gotten tired of all the bullsh!t.

That's actually a very good response, but do you plan on becoming a laborite for a while, or will you run with the NMAM as a candidate if you lose the primaries? (sorry for going a little bit off topic)

np, I haven't yet decided. I know I won't be supporting DemPGH, but I'm not sure if that means I'll be running independent/NMAM or just supporting someone else.

[Kitteh]

 Well I lost, I kinda expected to, so I'm not really sad (also I'm happy for unrelated reasons and sorta drunk so hard to give a fyck x3). I'm not sure who to endorse now or what to do and I'm gonna save that till I'm sober. But since I'm not rly gonna be here next week i won't be running independent. Thanks to my supporters, you guys are awesome,

[Kitteh]

Actually, after a little more thought, f**k it, I endorse Dr Cynic and Adam. Labor needs to show the other parties we've still got some fight in us, after this clusterf**k, and i would love to beat DemPGH and the potato union into 3rd, and Adam is on the ticket and he's cool. So yeah. Go vote Labor everyone

[Kitteh]

Actually, after a little more thought, f**k it, I endorse Dr Cynic and Adam. Labor needs to show the other parties we've still got some fight in us, after this clusterf**k, and i would love to beat DemPGH and the potato union into 3rd, and Adam is on the ticket and he's cool. So yeah. Go vote Labor everyone

lol i should be high right now, "i love you guys, no probs, labor unity 5evar (1 moar than 4evar)" etc

More proof that marijuana is a superior drug than alcohol. But I'll take the latter too

[Kitteh]

Should North Carolina Yankee (FED-NC) receive the Labor Party endorsement?

[  ] Aye
[X] Nay
[  ] Abstain

Automatic Endorsements:

Mideast Senate:

[X] Talleyrand (LAB-KY)

Midwest Senate:

[X] TNF (LAB-MT/WO)

Northeast Senate:

[X] Bore (LAB-RI)

Pacific Senate:

[X] TyriontheImperialist (LAB-NM)

[/quote]

[Kitteh]

[wow much speech such post wow]

[Kitteh]