fhtagn/PiT for President/Vice President of Atlasia! (THANK YOU ALL!)

[fhtagn]

Fellow Atlasians!

The time has come for you to consider who you wish to run our great nation, a wonderful tradition that gives everyone's voice a chance to be heard! Today I am here in hopes that you choose me to continue my work as your President, and my friend and colleague, PiT, for your Vice President.

One of the biggest issues we are currently facing in Atlasia is inactivity. It is impossible for elected officials to get the work done that that promised if they cannot commit to the positions they are running for. I pride myself in my record of activity, having consistently held many positions, and did everything in my power to do more than just sit and occasionally vote on legislation. The same can be said for my running mate, who is one of the longest playing members in the game. The accomplishments we have made, and the time and effort we have put into Atlasia speaks for itself.


Since becoming involved in the legislative process at the Federal level, I've taken a strong interest in efforts that maintain peaceful foreign relations wherever possible. As you all may know, we are currently in a very delicate situation with China and North Korea, and I've been working tirelessly since taking the oath of office to ensure that this conflict ends peacefully via negotiation, and to avoid unnecessary military action. For every decision being made in these negotiations, my first thought has always been, and will continue to always be: "How will this affect the people of Atlasia and our allies?". I can promise you that this will always be the first thought that comes to mind in my decision making process, not just in this situation, but in every decision I must make as your President.

Over the next few weeks, I will be rolling out specific plans I have in place for the continued success of our nation. Some of these ideas you may already know from my work in other elected positions, and some that have been developing as I've learned more about the issues most affecting our people. I look forward to having the opportunity for you all to learn more, and hope that come election weekend,  you will consider the candidates that truly have your best interests in mind!

Thank you all for your time, and have a wonderful night!

[fhtagn]

Offices Held

Southern Chamber of Delegates
November 2016 - January 2017
March 2017 - May 2017 (served as Speaker)
May 2017 - July 2017 (served as Speaker)

Acting Governor of the South
July 2017 - July 2017

Atlasia House of Representatives
July 2017 - August 2017 (served as Majority Whip)

Secretary of Internal Affairs
July 2017 - September 2017

Vice President of Atlasia
August 2017 - September 2017

President of Atlasia
September 2017 - Present

Endorsements

SouthernGothic
Congressman LouisvilleThunder
SoIA Young Texan
People's Speaker North Carolina Yankee
Wulfric
Congressman RFayette
Santander
Southern Delegate BlueDogDemocrat
First Degree Burns
Lincoln Assemblyman ReaganClinton20XX
West_Midlander
Congressman Haslam2020
Southern Delegate vern1988
Southern Senator ZuWo
Mumph
Former President dfwlibertylover
Southern Delegate celticempire
RGN
shua
Bagel23
Greedo the Hunter
Old School Republican
Lechasseur
The Saint
Enduro

[fhtagn]

Thank you very much for the questions, AZ! I have taken the time to think them over and answer them below:

1. As many here probably know you went under somewhat of a political transformation from a liberal Laborite to a centrist Federalist. Can you please explain what sparked what many would consider a significant shift? Also how do you respond to critics that have called your moves "cynical" or yourself "flaky" ?

There have been many factors at play for my shift in political views. While some saw it as mostly influence from other people, such as my personal issues with NeverAgain, or my friendship with dfwlibertylover, it was much more than just that. In fact, my personal relationships had very little to do with my ideological changes and party switch.

As far as political views, I used to be considered a very far left laborite, which is something I don't deny. But the truth is, my ideological shift was something that was slowly happening for quite some time already. Some of this had to to with the real life 2016 Presidential elections, and some of it was just a result of my real life experiences.

Over time, I started to feel that I couldn't agree with my far left friends on the issues anymore. While I felt we ultimately had the same end goals, we had major differences in how we felt we should get there.

There was a period of time where I went back and forth wondering if I made the right decision with my party switch, but there came a time while I was getting to know my new colleagues that this quote really stuck with me, and has been something that I think back to in every election I've run in since:

For me, putting the people on main street first, means good jobs, good roads, good healthcare and a foreign policy that keeps our people safe, while only engaging in conflict as an option of absolute last resort. It means helping both small business and entrepreneurs, as well as ensuring that workers who work hard, have a chance at getting ahead and earning a decent living.

As for my opinions on what people think of the switch, or my views as a result? They're free to have their feelings. But the fact of the matter is, I made very clear that my decision to leave Labor for the Federalist Party was not personal, and I have never had any ill will towards Labor. In fact, I still maintain some close friendships with members of my former party, and have endorsed several Laborites for their election and re-election bids.

2. By most accounts you are known to be very close to former President dfwlibertylover, and certainly have been in agreement with much of his agenda. However what is one thing you disagree with dfw on and how would you have done that item differently?


Contrary to popular belief, there are actually many differences between myself and dfwlibertylover. Some of those differences being outright ideological differences (unless his position has changed, I do support background checks for gun purchases, just to give an example), and others just being a difference in where we place the most focus. For example, one of the biggest focuses in most of my campaigns has been clean energy, the environment, and energy independence. To the best of my knowledge, this has never been a focus of dfwlibertylover's in any office he has held and run for.

As far as actual actions I would do differently that he has done as President, one of the biggest disagreements I've had with him is abolishing the National Security Council. Given the delicate situation we have found ourselves in with other nations lately, I've been working towards trying to reinstate the NSC, at the very least for the purpose of handling difficult situations that may need more input than myself and Secretary of State Snowguy's, and to work towards completing the Foreign Relations Review, which was a task that was not completed under the dfwlibertylover administration.


3. If you could have one do over in Atlasia, what one item would you personally do differently and how would you do it differently?

I think one of the biggest do overs I would wish to take would be back in January of 2017. This was the time that I had lost re-election to the Southern Chamber of Delegates. There were many mistakes I made leading into that election: not declaring my run in time to be on the ballot, not running an actual campaign, not making much of an effort to PM voters who did not know who I was at the time. Knowing what I know now about running for office, I wish I had considered the advice I was given at the time, and had taken it more seriously back then. While it is one of my biggest regrets in my Atlasian career, I do think back to that time now and then because it was a very valuable learning experience, and it is one of those moments that keeps me pushing when I feel that I am falling behind on my activity in my elected positions.

I would also like to note that if anyone else has any questions regarding my personal views or policy that I am focusing on, I am more than happy to answer!

[fhtagn]

Endorsed

Proudly Endorsed!
Four More Months!
Please continue the good quality, well proven leadership, and please keep the North Korean situation from escalating further. The last thing we need is a war to ruin what we have accomplished so far. You have demonstrated an utmost commitment to putting the people of Atlasia first, and I'm proud of that.

Endorsed

Fhtagn has proven to be a dedicated officeholder in every capacity she has held and in the short time she has been President, she has shown a level of commitment and responsibility that by far makes her the best choice for President for a full term. 

I would thus encourage everyone to endorse and support her for President.

Endorsed!

Thank you all! I truly appreciate the kind words and support!

[fhtagn]

Best of luck, madam president! I suppose, technically, we're opponents and I should be blackening your name with a tar brush or whatever, but I really do wish you the best and look forward to an active and positive campaign!

I appreciate the kind words and commitment to keeping things positive!

May the best man, or woman , win!

[fhtagn]

Endorsed!  I wish you the best of luck.

Thank you!

[fhtagn]

President Fhtagn,

I think it only fair, engaged as we are in a struggle for the soul of the Federalist Party, that we have a proper debate on the issues before the party meets to decide who shall carry that proud banner forward, so that Federalists everywhere will have the chance to judge for themselves who best represents their values.

If this is acceptable to you, I am more than happy to entertain your nomination of a suitable moderator.

Yours cordially,

Oakvale
Candidate for President of Atlasia

I accept your proposal for a debate. The people in our party have the right to know where we stand on the issues and I trust that they will make the right choice for who they choose to represent them as the Federalist candidate.

[fhtagn]

Endorsed.

I endorse Frank the Hammer Tagn.

Absolutely endorsed!

I believe that you will do an amazing job as President and will serve the people well like you have in your past offices. I look forward to your presidency and I wish you the best of luck on your campaign. 

Thank you all!

[fhtagn]

Endorsed!

Thank you!

I apologize, but I will not be endorsing any candidate at this moment for the General Election, though you have my primary endorsement against AG Oakvale.

Understandable, thank you for the primary endorsement!

[fhtagn]

President Fhtagn,

I think it only fair, engaged as we are in a struggle for the soul of the Federalist Party, that we have a proper debate on the issues before the party meets to decide who shall carry that proud banner forward, so that Federalists everywhere will have the chance to judge for themselves who best represents their values.

If this is acceptable to you, I am more than happy to entertain your nomination of a suitable moderator.

Yours cordially,

Oakvale
Candidate for President of Atlasia

I accept your proposal for a debate. The people in our party have the right to know where we stand on the issues and I trust that they will make the right choice for who they choose to represent them as the Federalist candidate.

Tremendous! Any thoughts on a suitable moderator?

Would you have any issues with 1184AZ?

[fhtagn]

You can count on my vote!!

Well, this is one of the best tickets I've ever seen! Fhtagn and PiT are both superbly awesome, not to mention extremely capable to succeed in Atlasia (which they have already proven), and any ideas on the contrary are frankly hilarious. I wholeheartedly endorse this ticket, and encourage everyone else to get out and vote for it during the election!

I endorse this ticket.

Thank you all!

[fhtagn]

You have my full support. Endorsed!

Thank you!

[fhtagn]

Endorsed.

Thank you!

This election offers some great choices, I might have to come back in a few weeks if I feel like I have the time.

Fhtagn has been an active member of Atlasia since she joined the game and you cannot find a single inactive streak since she was returned to the Assembly several months ago, she has been one of the most active members of the House of Representatives, an active Secretary of Internal Affairs, and now an Active President. There is literally no one (and that includes me) more qualified to be President than our President, Fhtagn, and it would be a grave and disastrous error for the country to elect anyone else as President other than Fhtagn next month. If we want to keep the game afloat, if we want to make the game funner and more active than it is now, and have someone who has proven to be active in office, then we need to elect Fhtagn for President in October, the choice has never been more clear than this. So, Obviously endorsed!

Thank you!

[fhtagn]

I have a question , when you are in office are you going to fight for conservative economic policy such as lower taxes, getting rid of regulations which hamper job growth , and balancing the budget?

Thank you for your question!

I want to first address that fighting for conservative-leaning economic policy isn't something that takes priority for me when I take office in the future, but is something that I have a long history of defending, even when I was a member of the Labor Party.

In my first term as a Delegate in the Southern Chamber, I voted in favor of eliminating the death tax, as well as eliminating the regional income tax. I later defended my vote (as someone who was no longer a voting member), and argued against the majority of the Southern Chamber when they attempted to repeal the elimination of the regional income tax.

One of the biggest things I want to ensure gets tackled by the end of this term can be found in my support for The Budget Process and Control Act. Atlasia has not had a budget since 2014, which is something that I find completely unacceptable. Without the budget, our government cannot pay it's bills or function properly. This is why I've taken the time to carefully get to know my choices for who I appoint for Secretary of Internal Affairs, as they will also play a major role in The Budget Process Committee to establish and balance the budget. My goal with tackling this very serious issue is that this lays the groundwork and sets an example for how this process should be taken care of each year going forward.

[fhtagn]

Endorsed.

Thank you!

[fhtagn]

I recognize that neither ticket fully shares my views on life, but I know that fighting back against Labor's plan to liberalize abortion laws is an important part of this primary campaign.  Can you tell me more about your track record on life in comparison to Oakvale's?

Thank you for your question!

While I do not have a long standing record on the issue of abortion (not to say that it isn't an important issue, it's just simply not something that has come up too often in my political career), I do oppose late term abortion, and have expressed it publicly when it has come up . When the Lincoln Assembly was debating on the Reasonable Limitations Act of 2017, there was a point in the debate where they attempted to move the cutoff from 20 to 22 weeks. I came out in support of the 20 week ban as long as safeguards were in place to ensure the safety of the mother and baby, and praised the intent of the bill as "a wonderful start to reducing unplanned pregnancies and unnecessary abortions."

In my own personal research, and a better assessment of my feelings on the issue, I feel that 20 weeks is a more than fair cutoff, and will do everything in my power to ensure that this does not get pushed farther and farther back to a later point.

[fhtagn]

give me three reasons why I shouldn't vote for you

1. If you want someone who isn't going to be honest about the type of person they are and what they stand for, I suggest not voting for me.
2. If you want someone will not take the job or the game seriously, I would highly suggest not voting for me.
3. If you want someone who would rather give up on something because it's "useless" than to put everything they have into making things better, you should absolutely not vote for me.

[fhtagn]

hi, potential voter here, I'd like to know what is your opinion on the "Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions Movement"?

In a nutshell: I think it's anti-Semitic and not something we should be supportive of in Atlasia. Whether most like it or not, Israel has been a very valuable ally to us, which is something that should be protected. One way I've recently tried to do this is by introducing the Avoidance of Conflicts of Interests Act when I was in the House, to avoid some of the issues we've seen with the BDS movement, as well as protect our relations with other allies in the future.

[fhtagn]

The Real Fhtagn - and The Real Federalist Party

Many folks mistake the Federalist Party to be a party for only the "true, far-right" conservatives (which we do still have and appreciate), but they fail to realize the beautiful diversity we embrace in our members' ideologies. We are a party that goes beyond the beliefs of a simple "left vs. right", and instead place our importance on where we feel decisions should be made, and how we feel the government should run. We are a party that places more importance on how someone's views align with our mission, more than we care about how one labels themselves.

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This is one of the many reasons I found myself interested in the party upon joining. Many folks have even gone as far as to question where I stand ideologically, given my past as a member of the Labor Party, and admittedly, a former far leftist. As someone who grew up poor in real life, I have personally found that many far-left economic policies were actually more insulting, and weren't necessarily to fix existing problems, but to place a band-aid on them. Rather than support policies that bring back jobs, encourage people to work, and make the playing field more fair, I found that the policies on the left worth hailing were along the lines of "the government provides you with everything you need". While I am no fan of leaving the people who truly need the assistance in the cold, I do not feel that providing everything is something that benefits us long-term. I am a very strong supporter of policies that represent the American Atlasian dream: where you can work hard to make a fulfilling life for yourself. Where your success is measured by making realistic goals and achieving them. As we look at where Atlasia stands financially while the Budget Process Committee gets to work on balancing our budget, we need to ensure that we are electing officeholders that are mindful of this, who aren't willing to throw money at every cause, that while very respectable, simply cost more than we can afford and can be achieved in other ways.

When my party's Chair, North Carolina Yankee, asked me if I was willing to step up and run the Federalist Main Street Partnership, I was unsure of how I would go about this. At the time, I still had my doubts that I truly fit in with the Federalist Party message, but it was this quote during one of his campaign speeches about Main Street Federalism that really hit home, and made me realize that I am exactly where I belong:

For me, putting the people on main street first, means good jobs, good roads, good healthcare and a foreign policy that keeps our people safe, while only engaging in conflict as an option of absolute last resort. It means helping both small business and entrepreneurs, as well as ensuring that workers who work hard, have a chance at getting ahead and earning a decent living.

Since joining the Federalist Party, I've come to realize that many of the things I have been working on: bills I have sponsored/supported, arguments I have made on specific legislation (even in bodies I am not a member of), and my general stance of putting the people first IS in line with the party. For those of you with your doubts, I'll provide you with some examples:

- Worked out deals with Russia and China to avoid further conflicts and imminent war as a result of airstrikes on North Korea ordered by my predecessor.
- Drafted the Avoidance of Conflicts of Interest Act to aid in protecting our relations with our allies
- Worked tirelessly with my Secretary of State and National Security Council to finish and submit the Foreign Relations Review to determine our relationships with other nations, which will not only give us a better current assessment, but will aid in the negotiations of future deals.
- Co-sponsored the Reforming and Regionalizing Public Healthcare Act of 2017, to not only give more flexibility to the regions on how they handle healthcare, but to ensure that more people have access to affordable, quality options that work best for them.
- Supported and later signed the Budget Process & Control Act, which will finally allow us to take a look at where Atlasia is financially, as well as offer opportunities for us to balance the budget (something that hasn't been done since 2014!) so that we many consider future legislation to help our people.
- Co-sponsored the Euthanasia Ban Repeal Act, where my reasons for supporting this were simple: the government should not have a say in how people's lives are lived and ended, and we should not stand in the way of someone who wishes to die on their terms, rather than be forced to suffer.  
- Fought against the Repeal of the Elimination of the Income Tax Act to protect the Southern taxpayers from additional financial burden that was deemed not necessary due to an existing budget surplus.
- Sponsored the Establishment of the Southern Regional Medical Center, which was drafted to be a state of the art center  to research conditions including cancer, diabetes, viruses, Alzheimer's, ALS, etc., as well as the home of the South's largest drug and alcohol treatment center.

So in summary, while my opponents want to pick apart whether or not I am "Federalist" enough for the Federalist Party, or whether or not I have the experience or skill to hold this office, I am going to keep doing exactly what I do best - fight for what is right for the people.

This October, don't let false assumptions lead you down a road there is no turning back from. Throw your support for the candidate that has a proven record of fighting for today's Atlasia, and has proven that the people truly come first. When you look at the records, and not propaganda, the choice is clear.

[fhtagn]

Endorsed!

You have my endorsement.

Many, many thanks!

[fhtagn]

Endorsing my fellow avatar and her great VP.

Many thanks

[fhtagn]

endorsed!

Endorsed

Endorsed

Endorsed

[fhtagn]

100% endorsed!

(Very sorry that I did not do this sooner, but my vote was always going to go to you)

Thank you!

I don't think I did this publicly yet, but I whole heartedly endorse fhtagn.

[fhtagn]

We're Almost There!

In just a few short hours, the polls will open, and the people of our great nation will decide on who they wish to lead Atlasia to continued success. Regardless of who you choose, it is my hope that those of you who vote feel at peace with your decision, and it is my hope that if I am blessed to be chosen to continue leading, that we can continue the amazing work we have been doing so far, and that you all look past false narratives and truly look at what the candidate of your choice has done, what they plan to do, and their recent level of commitment to Atlasia.

I truly hope that after this weekend, I will be given the honor of continuing to serve you all. So let's get out and vote, and have some fun!

[fhtagn]

Thank You!

Words cannot express the amount of love and appreciation I have for everyone who supported me this weekend and helped lead us to victory! From the bottom of my heart, I want to give you all the biggest thanks I can possibly give!

I would like to take the time to thank a few other important folks who deserve just as much appreciation this weekend: my dear friend and Vice President, PiT, who has been a wonderful source of support and encouragement that our ticket would be successful, who has been an amazing team player when it came to discussing policy positions we both stand for, and for being there to defend those positions when called into question. Former President dfwlibertylover, People's Speaker North Carolina Yankee, and Governor Leinad, for being huge contributors to my campaign in more ways than I can count, for their words of encouragement and valuable advice based on their own experience, and for helping me realize I was truly representing the values of our party.

I also want to thank Truman, LLR, and Lumine for being a part of this and making this a truly competitive and exciting race, and helping provide the voters many options to ensure their voices have been heard. I hope that this isn't the last we see of all of you, and that we can work together in the future to come up with solutions that work best for the people.

Regardless of who you voted for this weekend, my job is to represent the people of Atlasia, and I hope that in these next four months, we can continue working together as we have, and turning this nation into something we can all be proud of!