Office of Pericles

[Pericles]

I won't make a statement on the details of my own vote at this stage, but even if it's a tie there's still a case(not my own case I've been informed on this) that Wallace would still be elected. And lol at LT calling me a crook.

[Coastal Elitist]

I'd like to congratulate all 3 newly elected Senators; Adam Griffin, canis, and HenryWallaceVP. I'm very happy they won and that we have a left-wing Senate majority, all will be great Senators and I look forward to seeing what the new Senate does and working with the 3 new Senators.

You committed fraud and you know it. Lock him up. Lock him up. Lock him up.

[Pericles]

I'd like to congratulate all 3 newly elected Senators; Adam Griffin, canis, and HenryWallaceVP. I'm very happy they won and that we have a left-wing Senate majority, all will be great Senators and I look forward to seeing what the new Senate does and working with the 3 new Senators.

You committed fraud and you know it. Lock him up. Lock him up. Lock him up.

I acted with good intentions, and I don't appreciate those unfair personal attacks.

[Coastal Elitist]

I'd like to congratulate all 3 newly elected Senators; Adam Griffin, canis, and HenryWallaceVP. I'm very happy they won and that we have a left-wing Senate majority, all will be great Senators and I look forward to seeing what the new Senate does and working with the 3 new Senators.

You committed fraud and you know it. Lock him up. Lock him up. Lock him up.

I acted with good intentions, and I don't appreciate those unfair personal attacks.

Lol, How is changing an already cast vote considered acting with good intentions?

[fhtagn]

Let's not pretend your intentions were in any way, shape, or form "good".
No one likes a liar.

[Pericles]

My bill, the No Child Should Be Allowed To Live In Poverty In Atlasia Act, has passed the House.

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People's House of Representatives
Passed 7-0-1-1 in the Atlasian House Assembled

[/quote]


I think this post from the House debate sums up the case for the bill pretty well.

Frankly, the child poverty rate in Atlasia is disgraceful(all child poverty is disgraceful IMO, but Atlasia's rate is more disgraceful than most developed nations), at over 20%. By reforming the Child Tax Credit and extending support to families, millions would be lifted out of poverty. Irl, policies of a similar nature(these actually are more generous I believe), were projected to benefit 14.2 million people, "It would lift about 1.5 million people (including about 400,000 children under age 5) above the poverty line and lift another 9.4 million people (including about 1.9 million children under age 5) closer to the poverty line" and "It also would increase the incomes of about 5.2 million people, including about 1.1 million children under age 5, living in deep poverty, with incomes below half of the poverty line."(link). The CTC is already one of the most effective policies at lifting people out of poverty, but its benefits are limited for the very poor. Furthermore, when similar increased tax credits were implemented in the UK, child poverty was cut in half(while remaining largely stable in our nation).

These benefits won't be misspent, studies have shown it actually reduces spending on smoking and alcohol for instance(http://www.nber.org/papers/w21101). Instead they will pay off even more with longer-term benefits for society. If that still isn't enough for you, if somehow this is not a worthy use of money in your mind-I have added income tax changes to fund it. I am also willing to add other funding if necessary-I was thinking a 1-2% increase in the top corporate tax rate-though people are welcome to give alternative suggestions. This is a worthy bill to earn your support and will be beneficial to millions of Atlasians.

[Pericles]

Any Representative who is below 50% in fhtagn's activity tracker on final vote attendance, in the results released a week before the election, will have me either motion to expel them or support such a motion by another Representative. By any Representative, I mean any Representative. 50% will be barely tolerable, anything under won't be. Once those results are published I will leave 24 hours for appeal if there is a very, very, very good excuse. However after that timeframe, the motion will have my support(unless the appeal is extremely convincing). Currently 1 Representative-RFayette-is below 50% on the tracker, and Representative Peebs is on 50%. I discussed this with fhtagn and this is an area of common agreement. So please keep this in mind.

[Pericles]

I'd just like to wish good luck to both Haslam2020 and weatherboy1102 in the upcoming Southern Senate race. Hopefully the South gets high turnout for this race and no Fremont-style drama.

[The world will shine with light in our nightmare]

Mr. Speaker, I invite you to advocate for your bill in Parliament.

[Pericles]

Mr. Speaker, I invite you to advocate for your bill in Parliament.

Thanks, just commented.

[Pericles]

On the subject of bills-your input would be greatly appreciated and I'd like to know what sort of issues you'd like me to address and what sort of bills you want to be written.

[Pericles]

The results of fhtagn's activity tracker are out, and every Representative has an activity percentage of at least 50%. Therefore, no Representative will be expelled. I was very relieved to see these results, and I'll be honest I was pleasantly surprised. While not all the results are splendid, it's good to see Representatives in this Congress are getting down and doing the job they were elected to do. And, it seems that this exercise ended up being useful and I think, if necessary, it may well be a good idea to repeat this test in the next Congress.

[Pericles]

Also, the House passed my criminal justice reform bill. This bill addresses racial inequalities in the criminal justice system and takes constructive steps to combat mass incarceration. Hopefully it is passed into law in a similar form and Atlasia can improve its criminal justice system.

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People's House of Representatives
Passed 8-0-0-1 in the Atlasian House Assembled

[/quote]

[Pericles]

I'd like to thank the Fremont Parliament for passing my bill, which will save lives and ensure good people aren't punished for doing the right thing. I got the idea from Lincoln's bill, and it's great that 2/3 regions have such a law on the books. I hope the South can also enact similar legislation.

With six votes in favor, the bill passes unanimously.

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Fremont House of Commons
Passed 6-0 in the Fremont Parliament assembled

Be it resolved, X Speaker of Parliament

X YE
[/quote]

[Pericles]

A Interview with Pericles:

Discussing the state of the left and the October Election:

Lumine: Good to have you here once again, Congressman. If I remember correctly your last interview for The Crusader was held about five months ago, a period in which we've had two mid-term elections, a presidential election and quite a few developments. Do what you do make of the state of the game during this period? Has it improved in your opinion?

Pericles: I think from a policy perspective we have made a lot of progress, the 13th Congress was by far and away(I believe it more than doubled the previous record) the most productive in history in terms of signed bills. However, policy isn't everything, and I am worried by the deregistrations we saw over the last term and you raise important points about interest in the game declining. The state of politics has also been tainted with the recent personality feuds and Discord scandals, which of course I have been a part of and that has been a mistake of mine. So it's sort of mixed, and right now things aren't dire but if we continue on with no changes then I think we could have problems down the road.

Lumine: One of the most cited factors in the recent drama surrounding the revival of the Labor Party has been the result of the mid-terms, which featured the Federalist Party taking back the House as the Progressive Union representation has crumbled. Considering the relative registration advantage of the left, how do you explain this?

Pericles: Well, we all know registration advantages aren't everything. However, I do think the left took these elections for granted, and we did not sufficiently communicate the benefits of a left-wing congressional majority. We had checked the Federalists when they went too far, such as on postal reform and the misguided Regulatory Process Reform Act, and we passed several progressive bills such as my criminal justice reform bill and child tax credit expansion. Also, we passed the HELIOS Act over a veto, but unfortunately this was just as the elections ended. This communication failure has fueled the Labor revival, as I've seen multiple people allege that PUP rolled over for Federalist deregulation, which is simply not the case. However, I don't think it's a structural problem with the party that caused this, and it won't be fixed by reviving Labor. It was a flawed campaign, and one that we need to learn from and then work together to avoid repeating in future elections.

Lumine: Perhaps one of the most controversial events of the past few days has been the allegations of Federalist involvement in the Labor revival, allegations which you have repeated and defended against Laborite and Federalist criticism. What do you believe took place behind the scenes?

Pericles: From what I've pieced together, I believe it started as an attempt to unseat Ninja as Lincoln Senator. The Federalists recruited MB for this endeavor. I have nothing against MB-in fact as my deleted endorsement shows I would have endorsed him if it were an open seat(as I thought when I posted it)-but I do think the Federalists were pretty cynical in recruiting a candidate to the left of Ninja, just so they could claim a PUP scalp so to speak. This then escalated to discussions about reviving the Labor Party as a whole, idk exactly how YT and fhtagn talking to windjammer about it fits in but it's still a useful clue. The person I believe did the actual recruiting was Sestak, and oddly he seems to have run to the left of PUP which goes against his history as a Yankee ally and moderate. The situation then escalated and became a bandwagon effect with even people who weren't PMed joining because it seemed cool and then the entire PUP leadership but me defected, believing the party was dead.

Lumine: To follow up on this particular matter, that revived Labor Party is currently in control of the Senate and having a strong registration surge. Is this the beginning of the end for the Progressive Union? And does this Labor revival have any future?

Pericles: I don't think PUP has no hope yet, otherwise I'd have already left. We've been refilling our leadership, with JGibson taking on Vice-Chair for instance, and reaching out to our membership. There are serious problems with PUP, but I believe they can be addressed and over the next few weeks I plan on beginning the necessary changes within the party. PUP after all still has around 55 members, just a few less than the Federalists and more than Labor. Labor does have sizable congressional representation, but we can't assume this is going to be a permanent situation. Labor hasn't yet outlined its platform, or proven that it has staying power, so it's a high possibility that it will die off again.

Lumine: The Presidential race also started a few days ago as the President announced his intention to seek a second term, and a handful of challengers from the left have already announced their intention or interest in running. The question being, is there a candidate you're committed to supporting now? And who do you think would be the best candidate for the opposition?

Pericles: I'm currently undecided actually, and the field is still pretty volatile. President Yankee has been pretty effective and active, but I do disagree with him on a range of issues and I'm dubious about simply continuing with the status quo. Former Senator Wells of course is a great guy, and he seems to have gotten off to a good start, but on the activity issue he has to strengthen himself there. I think both Wells and weatherboy have the potential to be strong candidates, a lot really depends on the quality of their get out the vote operations, as well as prior campaigning.

Lumine: Let's talk predictions, Congressman. How would you rate Yankee's chances of re-election?

Pericles: Personally, Yankee has a very high chance of getting re-elected. Dfwlibertylover is on the ticket and so will probably have an excellent GOTV operation like in June and his two re-election campaigns, and Yankee has appeal to many swing voters. It's possible for Wells or weatherboy to win, but very difficult IMO. Atlasia polls, as always, should be taken with a large amount of salt.

Lumine: Lastly, I'd want to talk a bit about your future and how you envision it. Having risen as an unexpected candidate for President - and persistent rival to a now former President - and having served in Congress for the past few months, how exactly do you envision your political future? Is higher office on the cards?

Pericles: Right now, I'm planning on completing my term in the House, and staying on as PUP Chair to lead the party through this crisis. As stated previously, I won't be a presidential candidate this election. I'm also unsure currently on whether or not I'll run for re-election for a third term in the House. I haven't mapped out my plans after October. I may run for President at some point, depends on how things go. In the meantime I look forward to the coming term and presidential election and seeing how things go down.

Lumine: Thank you, Congressman, a pleasure to talk to you.

[Pericles]

I have an important announcement coming-it will be posted in around 24 hours.

[Pericles]

My announcement

I have decided not to run for re-election, and following the end of this congressional term I will take a break from active Atlasian politics. This decision has come about for a variety of reasons. I have been worn down a bit by the game and the drama of it, and at times it is unenjoyable. I don't mean this as an attack on anyone, just a statement that for me personally my enjoyment of the game has decreased recently and it helped persuade me to make this decision. I also want to give other players a chance to succeed-in particular JGibson and Matthew27, both of whom I feel would make great Representatives and are fine people, and I don't want to get in their way. Also, real life will be very busy for me in November and I know myself that Atlasia can be addictive. I didn't want to be a Representative that barely votes and is merely a seat-warmer, so if I return I'll do so when I know I am ready to give the game 100%. I'll admit I have been considering this for a few weeks, it's not an impulsive decision, and I discussed it with several people I trust-though their advice did not decide my decision, and I do appreciate them and their input-though some of their advice I chose to disagree with.

I am not deregistering, I will still vote-I suppose you could call me a zombie voter though I'll try and keep informed. If people want advice they can feel free to contact me, I won't disappear off the face of the earth but at the same time might not be available 24/7 once my term ends. I'll also serve out the rest of my current term and do my best there. I'll remain PUP Chair until after the October elections, at which point I'll hand over to new leadership and see what the future holds. I don't know when exactly I'll return to active politics or what I'll do, but I think a break will be healthy and I'll see what happens. Thank you very much to those who elected me to 2 terms in the House, the many great players in the game, and to my fellow Representatives. I'd like to also thank President Yankee in particular for his help during my Speakership and I'm grateful that all of us in congressional leadership worked together to make it by far the most productive Congress in history(more than doubling the previous record for signed bills). Thank you very much, and have a great evening!

[Sirius_]

Thank you for your service Representative.

[P. Clodius Pulcher did nothing wrong]

Thank you for your service Representative.

[Southern Delegate matthew27]

Thank you for your service and I hope you come back soon.

[Esteemed Jimmy]

Thank you for your service and I hope you come back soon.

[Lechasseur]

Thank you for your service and I hope you come back soon.

[Wikipedia delenda est]

Thank you for your service and I hope you come back soon.

[Pericles]

Good morning Atlasia. This is an exciting time, the polls are now open for the October elections. I have attached links to separate elections below. I hope all Atlasians, regardless of party, get out and vote in these elections and make their voices heard. I also hope both PUP candidates-Matthew27 and JGibson-are elected to the House, as they are fine regional legislators and people and I believe will make a positive impact on Atlasia. I am still evaluating the presidential tickets, both of whom are fine people, and will make a decision later as to which one to support. In Lincoln, I hope Lincolnites have the good sense to elect Zaybay to the Senate, in Fremont incumbent Senator canis deserves re-election, and in the South I hope Governor tmthforu94 is re-elected resoundingly and that Tim Turner, PragmaticPopulist and Filinovich are elected to the Chamber of Delegates. Ultimately though it's your choice-I am only one vote-and you should vote your conscience.

October 2018 Federal Election
October 2018 Fremont Elections
October 2018 Lincoln Elections
October 2018 Southern Elections

[Pericles]

I'd like to thank President Yankee for signing into law my bill-the Missing Alzheimer’s Disease Patient Alert Program Reauthorization Act. Here is the final text of it. I believe this bill will help combat this problem. Here's my explanation of the bill from the House debate.

Thanks. This reauthorizes a previous program that helps combat the problem of wandering Alzheimers patients. According to some estimates, more than half of patients wander at some point. Wanderers are vulnerable to many dangers, and it is not uncommon for some to become seriously injured or die. And millions of Atlasians have Alzheimers, so this is a pressing issue for us. What this bill does is it helps communities and law enforcement locate these individuals and reunite them with their families and prevent harm. It strengthens the protections we have for these patients and better enables us to combat this problem. The funding, I expect, will make this bill revenue positive and so lead to deficit reduction and a reduction in income inequality along with the benefits of the program that is the main intention of this bill.

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2. in subsection (b)—
a. by inserting competitive after to receive a; and
b. by adding at the end the following new sentence: The Attorney General shall periodically solicit applications for grants under this section by publishing a request for applications in the Federal Register and by posting such a request on the Web site of the Department of Justice.
3. by amending subsection (c) to read as follows:
(c)Preference
In awarding grants under subsection (a), the Attorney General shall give preference to national nonprofit organizations that have a direct link to patients, and families of patients, with Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias.
Section 3; Funding
1. $6,000,000 is authorized for this program.
2. The top marginal rate of estate tax is increased to 45%.
Section 4; Implementation
1. The $6,000,000 authorized for this program are authorized for the next five fiscal years.
2. The estate tax increase shall take effect in the first fiscal year after the passage of this legislation.
[/quote][/quote]