Labor Party June Convention -- NOW UPDATING THE PLATFORM!

[Blair]

i motion that we endorse hagrid for the southeastern senate seat

Who's he running against?

[SUSAN CRUSHBONE]

i motion that we endorse hagrid for the southeastern senate seat

Who's he running against?

pit

[TNF]

I second evergreen's motion.

[TNF]

Comrades -

To interject for a moment, I would like to propose that we undertake yet another modernization of the party bylaws and the party platform at this session, especially the latter. We have gone without anything resembling a coherent set of ideals for what Labor should be doing in office for the past year or so, and have, with the exception of the debacle that was the attempt at energy nationalization, failed to pursue an agenda, as a party, in the Senate or at the Regional level. I think that this is frankly embarrassing and that if we continue to not have any sort of unifying ideological or political perspectives, to say nothing of goals for what we want to accomplish, we risk pulling apart into hostile camps, be they consisting of those of us on the socialist left or the social democratic right.

We have not made any progress on expanding the welfare state, which should be our number one priority for chrissake. Atlasia still lacks single-payer health insurance, to say nothing of a profound lack of access to housing, employment (we suffer persistently high employment in the regions), etc., mostly for fears of an 'unbalanced budget,' or fears that we might have to actually fight for higher taxation in order to make these proposals bear fruit. I have spent the past two years in the Senate fighting for an active and responsive federal government, and have had only cursory support from my colleagues in this effort, let alone our party. With my retirement from the Senate, I am only asking that even the tepid efforts I was able to spearhead in the Senate are defended and expanded. The party needs an agenda or it needs to stop pretending that it has any goals beyond defeating the Federalists, Civic Renewal, the People's Party, or the Democratic-Republicans.

I fear that we are entering a profound period of inactivity and, perhaps, reaction, in Atlasia. The lackluster presidential race this time around, and utterly harmless pieces of legislation on the Senate floor, attest to that. We can stop that from happening, or at least, slow the process. But to do so means we must be active and bold. We can no longer afford to allow the political process to be dominated by the moderate heroes who would rather us not place demands upon the federal government for socialization of energy, workers' control of production, or expansive civil rights legislation.

It's time for the Labor Party to put up or shut up.

[Blair]

In my view, comprehensive healthcare reform should be our main aim. Does anyone even understand what the healthcare situation is in this country? We've got a mix of regional and federal laws that seem to place 101 different rules and regulations about the state of healthcare. When new candidates, like myself 6 months ago on the left they promise universal healthcare, and on the right they promise to repeal our socialist health system!.

I too fear the problems TNF speaks of, and I too wanted to make a Malaise speech. Our senate is very good at dealing with issues like my HIV/AIDs bill because frankly I'm extremely interested in HIV treatment (I study it for my health unit), but beyond small areas of policies and endless game reform we've failed to own the debate. We had a majority of 5 in the senate, that's now been pushed down to 3. We need a bold and radical statement that shows that the labor party is the only force behind social progressive in this land.

We need a joined up national policy-not just in the labor party but also in Atlasia

[Bacon King]

Universal Healthcare has been enacted probably a dozen times by now, and even if it hadn't, I don't believe the issue encompasses enough stuff to serve as a centerpiece for reinvigorating the party's ideology. It is imperative for our party to rediscover its purpose, lest we fade away into irrelevance. I believe there is only one policy goal that can serve as an ideological compass to guide our party to victory in the years ahead.

Fellow Labor Party members - the path is clear. We must stand united, make our voices heard, and demand the immediate implementation of ☭ FULL COMMUNISM ☭

[Adam Griffin]

I hate to be a by-laws buzz-kill and I haven't double-checked to be sure (and maybe we amended it at a past convention), but I am almost 100% sure that Bore/Nix are automatically endorsed. We revised our by-laws in Jan-Feb 2013 when it was rumored that Cathcon was going to pick a Labor VP to be on his ticket and contest our nomination; our ticket had a Labor P and a TPP VP (exact same scenario here). Unless something has changed, this is how it worked in past cycles:

Two Labor/Labor tickets = primary
One Labor/Labor ticket versus Labor/non-Labor ticket = Labor/Labor auto-endorsed
One Labor/non-Labor ticket versus Non-Labor/Labor ticket = Labor/non-Labor auto-endorsed
Two Labor/non-Labor tickets = primary
Two non-Labor/Labor tickets = primary

Basically, presidential selection always takes preference in a situation like this...unless of course, I have forgotten about any changes made.

[Bacon King]

If these bylaws from May 2013 are still valid then we must hold a primary

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Bore is a Labor Party member who is a presidential candidate on a cross-party ticket, therefore a primary is required.

[Adam Griffin]

If these bylaws from May 2013 are still valid then we must hold a primary

You must be logged in to read this quote.

Bore is a Labor Party member who is a presidential candidate on a cross-party ticket, therefore a primary is required.

I checked the most recent ones, too, and that is the case...I've finally lost it, everyone. Put me out to pasture. I remember we added something to the section - and I think that was it - but memory behind why we did may be faulty. It appears we have since altered the language but the substance still remains.

[Adam Griffin]

And not that it'll likely do any good...but why exactly would we want to endorse the guy who ran the Federalist Party for ages and more thoroughly than anybody else tried to destroy the Labor Party throughout 2012, 2013 and into 2014 (Hagrid)? He was literally our ideological opponent - the bizarro me - and for the love of God, I can't figure out why so many people are suddenly willing to believe that he did an abrupt political 180. I don't buy it, and even if it is true, it's not exactly as if he's an ally of ours on practically any major policy initiatives. I actually was able to work with PiT on policy even when we were embroiled in a bitter feud during Operation Cottonfield. I have literally never been able to work with or get anything done with Hagrid.

Also (unless I am again losing my mind and/or we've changed it), he'll need to request the endorsement, two will need to approve it, and then 60% of the party (including abstentions) must vote to endorse him.

[Associate Justice PiT]

     I'd like to ask for y'all's endorsement. We may not agree on a whole lot, but I care about promoting the flow of ideas and working with people to get things done wherever possible.

     Recently, I pushed for and passed a bill in the Southern Legislature limiting the ability of the police to abuse asset forfeiture to rob the accused of their possessions. It is things like that that I think will appeal to many in Labor, and as Senator I would be interested in working to advance issues where we can agree.

[Adam Griffin]

I reviewed our by-laws about the endorsement procedure and I misspoke again: it only takes one second from a party member for an non-Labor endorsement request, not two.

5. In order to be eligible to receive the endorsement of the Labor Party, the candidate from the other party has to declare that he or she wishes to receive our Party’s endorsement before the endorsement vote begins. The candidate must also have a Laborite second the endorsement nomination in order to be placed on the endorsement ballot.

I second PiT's request for endorsement.

[Blair]

Shall we open up the votes on endorsements?

[Lief 🗽]

I second rpryor03's request for endorsement.

We still have about an hour before endorsements end (72 hours). I'm inclined to put Hagrid and Turkisblau on the ballot, even though they have not requested the Party's endorsement (which the bylaws require), since they seem to have Party support. Would people be opposed to this?

[Blair]

I'd be happy with them both being on the ballot

[Lief 🗽]

ENDORSEMENT VOTING HAS NOW BEGUN

You have 72 hours. Please keep in mind the rules while voting:

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President
[ ] Bore/Nix
[ ] BaconBacon/Bacon King
[ ] No endorsement

Northeast Senate
[ ] Talleyrand
[ ] Rpryor03
[ ] No endorsement

South Senate
[ ] Hagrid
[ ] PiT
[ ] No endorsement

Pacific Senate
[ ] Turkisblau
[ ] No endorsement

[TNF]

1. Bore/Nix
2. BaconBacon96/BaconKing

1. Talleyrand

1. Hagrid

1. Turkisblau

[Barnes]

President
[1] Bore/Nix
[2] BaconBacon/Bacon King
[ ] No endorsement

Northeast Senate

• Talleyrand

[ ] Rpryor03
[ ] No endorsement

South Senate

• Hagrid

[ ] PiT
[ ] No endorsement

Pacific Senate

• Turkisblau

[ ] No endorsement

[bore]

1. Bore/Nix
2. BaconBacon96/BaconKing

1. Talleyrand

No endorsement in South

1. Turkisblau

[SWE]

bore/nix

Talleyrand

Türkisblau

PiT

[Blair]

Bore/Nix

Talleyrand

Turkisblau

[DemPGH]

Woops! Sorry, guys, hope it's not too late to sign in

X DemPGH

----

I'll endorse Presidential and my region's Senate seat:

President:

1. Bore/Averroës Nix

Northeast Senate:

1. Talleyrand

[Clyde1998]

President
[ ] Bore/Nix
[ ] BaconBacon/Bacon King
[X] No endorsement

Northeast Senate
[X] Talleyrand
[ ] Rpryor03
[ ] No endorsement

[Dr. Cynic]

Bore/Nix

Talleyrand

[Lief 🗽]

President
[ ] Bore/Nix
[ ] BaconBacon/Bacon King
[X] No endorsement

Northeast Senate
[ ] Talleyrand
[ ] Rpryor03
[X] No endorsement

South Senate
[X] Hagrid
[ ] PiT
[ ] No endorsement

Pacific Senate
[X] Turkisblau
[ ] No endorsement