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Post by Munditenens Tresplet on Nov 19, 2016 23:33:26 GMT -6
Foreword:The Free Democrats of Talossa, the true home of Talossan liberalism, were proud to be the first party in almost ten years to overtake the RUMP as the largest party in number of seats going into the 49th Cosa. As the interim leader of the Free Democrats, I’m honored to ask for your vote so that we may not only be the largest party, but we may also lead the government going into this historic 50th Cosa. During our last run, we promised that we would not enter into any coalition agreement that bound coalition members to votes in the legislature, but rather, we would ensure that any cabinet that we put together would be one that was active and worked efficiently. Unfortunately, we were unable to gather enough support to lead a government, and we therefore became His Majesty's Loyal Opposition. Nonetheless, we looked forward to seeing what the coalition government, comprised primarily of RUMP and MRPT, could get accomplished. I personally broke ranks with my party to support their proposed budget. However, despite the usual promises of coins, and the tantalizing thought of Talossan ID Cards, it seemed that the typical Talossan after-election activity level took a nosedive, and government plans never came to fruition. As voters, we deserve more from our parties than empty promises of activity that no one has yet to demonstratively fulfill. We deserve a government that will actually accomplish something, anything, and one whose parties give it the attention it deserves rather than focus on passing benign legislation in the Cosa. We also deserve a government that will listen to the people and operate with complete transparency at all levels. If you truly want a government that will work for the people outside of partisan politics, then you should cast your vote for the only party that has the capability to do so: The Free Democrats of Talossa. -- Munditenens TrespletOur Manifesto:Our Candidates:A shadow cabinet will be announced shortly.
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Glüc da Dhi
Secretary of State
Posts: 6,112
Talossan Since: 5-14-2009
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Post by Glüc da Dhi on Nov 20, 2016 8:23:09 GMT -6
Well it's good to see there is now more than one party actually campaigning. Some thoughts During our last run, we promised that we would not enter into any coalition agreement that bound coalition members to votes in the legislature, As far as I understood, no coalition government whatsoever, but no objections to compromising on legislation in exchange for support, right? At least I think that's what your party leader said last time. And TNC That sounds like a bad idea. You seem to write off important reforms passed to make Talossa more democratic as unimportant, but this really seems like the kind of bureaucratic thing that takes a lot of work, while distracting from more important issues. I mean, clarks already are publicly available. I mean, sure, I hope parties would look at the clark and see which parties actually represented their voters and which were absent, but I doubt spamming inactive citizens with this stuff every month would mostly just turn people off and maybe even get in the way of reading important mails like the election ballot. It's up to the SoS who gets appointed to the chancery, not the FreeDems. Don't make this a political issue Tax incentives? Isn't this a task for the Ziu? I thought the FreeDems were proud of finally reducing the number of ministries. I have some other questions, but I will post them in a separate thread. Anyway, good luck with your campaign!
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Post by Munditenens Tresplet on Nov 20, 2016 8:44:47 GMT -6
Well it's good to see there is now more than one party actually campaigning. We couldn't let the MRPT have all the fun of posting on Witt. But you're forgetting Mximo too.We did not wish to go into any coalition agreement. The concern about compromising on legislation was a big factor in why, at least for me. I can't exactly recall what my party leader said last time regarding compromising on legislation, but I can assure you that's why both myself and the majority of the Free Democrats took the stance to oppose coalition agreements. As I noted, primarily comprised of RUMP and MRPT. A tiny party which isn't even running this time around doesn't really qualify as primarily.I think that, on the contrary, it will be informative to some of these inactive citizens. There would also be an opt-out if they don't wish to be sent the monthly publication, though I'm sure most people receive a newsletter every month or more often, and this is essentially no different.I would disagree with you. Government can't overlook the staffing in the Royal Household, and while it may be up to the Chancery to determine staffing, a FreeDem government will do everything they can to ensure that the SoS has everything and everyone they need to accomplish their duties, same with any bureau or department in Talossa.Yeah, this one was a minor mistake on my part, I was focusing too much on the recent US election. It should just read incentives.The last government created the new position of Chief of Staff, so I hardly see why we can't have a position that is vital to ensuring any necessary legal reforms that may arise, including reforms of Organic Law, get written and passed. We continue to believe that the Royal Commission was the best way of accomplishing a multipartisan reform effort, and could have prevent the near mistake of OrgLaw Standing Comm Bill 2, the Minister of Law Reform in a FreeDem government would be tasked with reaching out to the other parties and authoring only the most necessary pieces of legislation. I might add that in no way will this Minister's duties overshadow or distract from the goal of an efficient, working, non-partisan government.Look forward to your additional questions, and wish you guys good luck as well!
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Post by Tamoran Montagnhard on Nov 20, 2016 8:51:36 GMT -6
(...) but I doubt spamming inactive citizens with this stuff every month would mostly just turn people off and maybe even get in the way of reading important mails like the election ballot. Exactly! Maybe giving the option of recieving or not this emails is better, even this is a bad idea at all.
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Post by Françal Ian Lux on Nov 20, 2016 10:35:10 GMT -6
(...) but I doubt spamming inactive citizens with this stuff every month would mostly just turn people off and maybe even get in the way of reading important mails like the election ballot. Exactly! Maybe giving the option of recieving or not this emails is better, even this is a bad idea at all. I disagree. If part-time Talossans are not actively encouraged to actually pay attention to what's going on in the Kingdom, they will not find the motivation to. An opt-out option is a better solution to this than an opt-in.
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Glüc da Dhi
Secretary of State
Posts: 6,112
Talossan Since: 5-14-2009
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Post by Glüc da Dhi on Nov 20, 2016 10:48:37 GMT -6
Well its certainly a good thing that voters could see in their mailbox how well the MRPT represented them by voting on every clark and proposing bills in line with its manifesto. (I know I made this point a lot, but you know, elections... I hope I will be forgiven ) More seriously though, how would sending citizens lists of bills and pers and contras that are easily publicly available make it easier for people to get engaged. And I really do think we risk conditioning people into ignoring chancery mail, including the census and elections.
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Post by Françal Ian Lux on Nov 20, 2016 11:04:26 GMT -6
It's simply an act of transparency so that everyone's aware of what's going on. The accessibility of information isn't the problem here, it's the willingness of people to access them. By bringing it right into their mailboxes, they don't have anymore reason not to read them UNLESS they've already lost interest in what goes on in Talossa. For those who will read them, they might find a bill or a proposition worthy of their attention & that's what we are encouraging.
As for worries of conditioning people to be apathetic, I highly doubt anyone who's still genuinely passionate about the goings-on here would blatantly ignore emails from the CHANCERY labelled ELECTION or CENCUS. If they do choose to ignore these things, then, again, they've already lost interest.
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Post by Inxheneu Crova on Nov 20, 2016 11:20:35 GMT -6
The complacency of Glüc da Dhi has demonstrated in this post is extraordinary. It is however sadly typical of his party.
Talossa is not a law book with attached discussion forum. It is a country, and a community. And our people are starting to turn away from us.
The ModRad Ministers who have presided over this accelerating slide into apathy have made no apology, nor offered any explanation. They simply pat themselves on the back for "perfect attendance", and anticipate the next coalition.
The copy and pasting of their 49th Cosa manifesto in virtually all particulars is evidence of their complete dearth of ideas on this essential question. As is Glüc's frankly surprising resort to demagoguery about "spam" in relation to one of the (many) ideas in our manifesto.
An informative, low-effort digest of our political life, sent once a month on the same basis as political advertising (i.e., entirely under the control of the citizen)? If it helps even one alienated citizen renew their interest in Talossa, it will be worth it. But no, seems like too much work to S:reu da Dhi.
Indeed I think I can speak for everyone in my party when I say that if the ModRads are short on inspiration, we are happy for them to steal a few of our ideas, if only for the sake of debate. We have plenty!
We FreeDems, on the other hand, are not prepared to simply wait for the cycle to run its course, amusing ourselves in the Ziu while Talossa crumbles. We have to prepare now to ensure that there will be 50 more Cosas!
In fact we FreeDems know a bit about rebuilding after a bust. As Glüc was positively eager to point out, the months since the Summer have been difficult for our party. Any reader of ETT's coverage will have attested that I myself, sympathetic though I was to the FreeDems, was frankly sceptical of their ability to survive.
In the Summer, we lost our party leader Miestrâ Schivâ, exhausted by her relentless commitment to speaking truth to power in this country. Our acting leader, Dr Txec dal Nordselvă, and the Senator from Fiovâ, CCX, were both forced by personal and professional circumstances to abandon politicking in Talossa. The FreeDems were, in short, decimated.
But we have rebuilt. Our leader, Dien Tresplet, is ready and eager for the responsibility of leading the next government.
His drive and example have drawn old friends back to the party- Françal and even Miestrâ have returned. When I and Viteu Marcianus wanted to join a party serious abourt reform and ready for power, we both chose the FreeDems.
We have a well-manned Cosa list and are contesting three of the Senäts seats-even challenging the ModRad leader on his home turf.
In the gloomy context, virtually single-handed, and unaided by the stasis of the ModRad-RUMP coalition, Dien Tresplet has already pulled off an exploit.
And the trick in Talossa, in my view, is not in avoiding the dips, because that's impossible. The trick is knowing how to climb out again. Dien has already proven he can lead through adversity. Let's see what he can do as Seneschal!
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Post by Inxheneu Crova on Nov 20, 2016 11:51:04 GMT -6
. As for worries of conditioning people to be apathetic, I highly doubt anyone who's still genuinely passionate about the goings-on here would blatantly ignore emails from the CHANCERY labelled ELECTION or CENCUS. If they do choose to ignore these things, then, again, they've already lost interest. Precisely. A casual citizen might take a look and be intrigued enough to visit Wittenberg. It really feels like Glüc da Dhi has given up on this country a bit. He seems to assume that the little people are grateful to his party for Perfect Attendance, but simultaneously so horrified at the thought of reading one single, rather relevant, new email from their country that they will consign it to the Junk folder. Of course, a party that simply wants to remain perpetually in government without responsibity, regardless of the election results, wouldn't care much about a shrinking population, since their only goal is to amuse themselves (and not the rest of us). I hope that's not the case. Perhaps the ModRads can reassure us on that point, and describe some of their ideas not only for keeping existing citizens, but finding new ones. And explain why they didn't implement those ideas during the past term?
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Glüc da Dhi
Secretary of State
Posts: 6,112
Talossan Since: 5-14-2009
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Post by Glüc da Dhi on Nov 20, 2016 12:15:53 GMT -6
The complacency of Glüc da Dhi has demonstrated in this post is extraordinary. It is however sadly typical of his party. Empty rhetoric, with nothing to back it up but a lighthearted slightly pretentious comment you happened to stumble upon. Nonsense. Sure we advertise our good side during election season. But you really think we've given up on trying to do better everytime? If so, you're wrong. And pretty cheap coming from a party that's been mostly absent and only shows up halfway through the election to campaign. We have a fully transparent process by which we come up with our manifesto. And yes, many of our points are long term projects, like things like removing the ban on micronational citizenship and mandatory candidate lists used to be, so we keep them in, but we don't stop fighting for them. But it's not true there arent new points in there. I'm taking the time to respond by discussing the policy. Feel free to actually discuss the details of our manifesto anywhere. Seems like extra bureaucracy to me. We've had a lot of similar proposals and laws, government reports, chancery reports, ziu reports. Not all of these were bad ideas, but sadly many have never in practice been executed. This one seems a bad idea because Im pretty sure most inactive citizens arent waiting for this. If you want to make a newsletter sure, but many MCs cant even be bothered to read bills. Do you really think a list of those and pers and contras make for an engaging read? Sure, we have never been afraid to admit when someone has a good idea. But I dont think this is one of them. ... to be continued, because sadly, I have to go for a bit
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Glüc da Dhi
Secretary of State
Posts: 6,112
Talossan Since: 5-14-2009
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Post by Glüc da Dhi on Nov 20, 2016 12:18:31 GMT -6
To just one more question before I go. S;reu Crova, how often do you talk with inactive citizens outside your direct circle of friends, but new citizens as well. I dont mean send your political propaganda, but you know, just chat?
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Post by Tamoran Montagnhard on Nov 20, 2016 13:18:15 GMT -6
Exactly! Maybe giving the option of recieving or not this emails is better, even this is a bad idea at all. I disagree. If part-time Talossans are not actively encouraged to actually pay attention to what's going on in the Kingdom, they will not find the motivation to. An opt-out option is a better solution to this than an opt-in. And do you think that part-time Talossans will find the motivation to read an e-mail with the whole Clark every month? If the party proposed a newsletter with which topic resume and external link I would agree with tour argument, but not a copy of the Clark.
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Post by Inxheneu Crova on Nov 20, 2016 13:42:54 GMT -6
If you want to make a newsletter sure, but many MCs cant even be bothered to read bills. Do you really think a list of those and pers and contras make for an engaging read? I think you may have misunderstood the point of the measure, which explains things a bit. I freely admit I lost my temper at the word "spam", which I read as a slur on a measure that is emphatically not "junk". The communication (not necessarily a mail, because it is 2016) would be: -the list of bills on the Clark *to be voted on*. Just links to the text on talossa.ca, I should think, though maybe the text in collapsable form. -the terpelaziuns answered in the period, since these are usually buried in the Ziu boards, when answered at all. - an opportunity for political groups, through the statement, to put the Clark into context for voters, particularly those who don't have time or energy to wade through Hopper threads. (i.e., "we are really supportive/opposed to Bill X, for these reasons, and we'd like you to know that") I find it odd that one the one hand you vaunt your party's record in the Ziu, insisting that voters will be mightily impressed, and simultaneously denigrate the idea that voters might be vaguely interested in what is done there. And I repeat even if a handful of people find it useful, it will be worth doing. I think the pejorative use of the word "bureaucracy" says a lot. This is an extension of what the Chancery already does, not the brainchild of some Gosplan. And it might actually help, even at the margins. I would also suggest that the Balloting Period only started 5 days ago, and our party leader was off giving his person to the democratic process in the great state of North Carolina before then. We didn't want to start without him, simple as that, and our manifesto isn't as, er, "long-term" as yours. When's your party leader showing up?
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Post by Inxheneu Crova on Nov 20, 2016 13:52:33 GMT -6
To just one more question before I go. S;reu Crova, how often do you talk with inactive citizens outside your direct circle of friends, but new citizens as well. I dont mean send your political propaganda, but you know, just chat? Thats an interesting question. None of your business is my answer. Is there a quota for bugging complete strangers on the internet that I have to fill? I can only assume the "political propaganda" is a reference to ETT. The ModRads have had no reason to complain about the generous coverage they have received its columns, including your recent Congress.
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Post by Françal Ian Lux on Nov 20, 2016 13:54:22 GMT -6
I disagree. If part-time Talossans are not actively encouraged to actually pay attention to what's going on in the Kingdom, they will not find the motivation to. An opt-out option is a better solution to this than an opt-in. And do you think that part-time Talossans will find the motivation to read an e-mail with the whole Clark every month? If the party proposed a newsletter with which topic resume and external link I would agree with tour argument, but not a copy of the Clark. You're welcome to make recommendations on how the format should be & what the scope of its contents should have, but the inclusion of the clarks & the briefs of specific bills is nonnegotiable.
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