View Topic

If we could foster a political environment without all the fighting, I might agree.

That said, people voted, sure, but they didn't care to debate. People will always vote. That doesn't mean they're interested in politics, though.

The community was even founded on the principle of not allowing politics to divide us.

Technically it was founded on the principal of holding Wintermoot's puppets while he decided what to do in the game. It was turned into a serious region with that principal a few days later

If we could foster a political environment without all the fighting, I might agree.

That said, people voted, sure, but they didn't care to debate. People will always vote. That doesn't mean they're interested in politics, though.

The community was even founded on the principle of not allowing politics to divide us.

I however value the voter.

Me too. It's just impossible to have a proper political region when people don't debate, though.

My drive is to improve that, I suggest you join that if you think it is beneficial.

Whoa, hold your horses, partner. I do believe we need to think of a way to manage all the fighting that arises in political debates first.

A number of people voted, but only a fraction of them participated on the long debate and discussion beforehand. That exception notwithstanding, our political side has been very inactive, which you would expect from a region that prides itself on not engaging in politics and the the negative things that come with it.

What we are though is a meritocratic society, which means that we should expect Citizens to prove why they deserve to be a part of government before entering into it, not the other way around. As has been pointed out here, with only a few exceptions Citizens can do just about anything a member of the government can, and this is something that we should encourage, because there's always going to be a limit to just how much a few people in government can do, including myself. And I think you will find that most people in the Executive government started contributing to the region before they became a part of it. To answer each of your suggestions specifically:

I ask that all relevant parties spread out the word of the Underhusen Elections. We are living interesting times since the Constitutional Convention took a severe setback, perhaps this would be worthy situation enough to highlight the elections even via our embassies? Having a notification of it in the Region Page would be generally beneficial and specifically helpful boost for recruiting.

I agree that there are issues with how we announce and promote things in general...our announcement box on the top of the forums and our region page are often out-of-date, and these days it's rare that I have the time to compose a telegram to all nations in the region. However, I would encourage anyone that wants to announce something they're doing or just anything that's going on in the announcement forum. That would make it easier for those of us with the ability to update the announcement box and region page to know what needs to be updated.

I'm also looking into creating or updating a position so that someone is directly responsible for reaching out on our region page and making sure that the page is up to date and that we're doing everything we can to keep it active, such as always having regional polls. Right now that will probably be the delegate, but it could also end up being another Cabinet-level position.

I would also suggest looking into possibilities of revisioning a precision crafted recruiting telegram for this instance. The Keepers of the Call isn't practically all that active so if anything is to be achieved in this matter, perhaps someone in the government could temporarily take the reins? For the common good.

I'm not sure it's appropriate to recruit people into the region by saying we're having elections right now, since that wouldn't be a great reason to join a region, but to discuss ideas on how to update the recruitment message in general, see this topic. The purpose behind guilds is for people to be able to become more involved with areas of the region they want to contribute to, take the initiative, and discuss ideas without government prompting, hopefully leading to a more empowered community. It may be that the powers that be won't always agree with everything suggested, but I hope that people would agree that suggestions are discussed and fairly considered.

I also ask for the government to put in some official effort to push candidates into active campaigning and help build the election period into a coherent event instead of a scattered and half assed periodical compulsion. Innovate!

I don't believe the government should be taking pushing candidates to do anything, since that seems counter to having a more democratic portion of government. If the people feel that campaigning is an issue, they should make clear that they will not vote for a candidate that does not campaign or discuss their positions to the voter's satisfaction. I never vote for a candidate that hasn't campaigned, and if more people do that, those who care about getting elected will respond to that.

I had feared for Wintermoot's response and clearly for a good reason. Since this happened I'm happy that I did not bring this up in the Election subforum. I will keep on pushing in the name of getting elected even if not all aspects are all that reasonable. Hopefully anyone who stumbles across this understands and even agrees.

*takes cover from the backlash*

I didn't mean it to be backlash =/, but the truth is there's only so much we in government can do. As a government we should take care of the important and urgent things (and I agree that in some cases we're not), support others initiatives to grow the region and make it better, and uphold the values and principles of the region, but we're only a few people, and if everything depended on us the region just wouldn't be able to grow.

It doesn't take a government, it takes a community, and that's how it should be.

You've just been schooled. *grimaces*

In all honesty though, I don't think there's any "backlash" to speak of. You've given your opinion. I've given mine, Wintermoot gave his, and Point Breeze gave his. This is debating.

I don't think anyone's head got bitten off or anything.

I can't take an aggressive stance against the community, I can only point fingers at the current government to help get me elected.

Ah, but that confrontational approach could well stand in the way of getting elected.

Ah, but that confrontational approach could well stand in the way of getting elected.

True, but if anything I can do to disturb the unquestioned votes ends up dividing the votes, it will only be beneficial. We have had elections with barely any campaigning and somehow people still get elected. I'm doing what I feel is necessary. Even if I'm not what the community wants, I will have forced the strong candidates to speak out and expose themselves with aspects that might just give the voters something to grasp on and make those decisive changes.

In short, if anything my goal is to challenge everyone from getting votes just for who they are.

This over-reliance on government and the few individuals who make it up is exactly what got us into this mess.

That said, are you appealing to the Storting, or to the Executive?

Everyone. If I'd play it dirty, I would have posted this in the election subforum and ended with "Why aren't I doing any of this myself? Well vote for me and I will".

As it stands right now, I find it only reasonable to ask our government to go an occasional extra mile. After all, they are supposed to be the finest and have chosen to work to improve the region.

Why do you have to be elected before you do something? You pretty much have the exact same power to do something about this particular appeal as the Storting does. The Executive is another story.

Honestly, the government did go above and beyond, and then they got crucified for it when people saw what they came up with.

That sounds like Nancy Pelosi's line of "you have to vote for it to know what's in it" when asked what the specifics of the Affordable Care Act aka Obamacare were.

I even came close to encouraging Govindia to actually do something in this election to show his resolve. If that's the stance you're choosing over the whole discussion that has happened since, you can forget any support from me in your campaign.

It sounds petty, but you might want to for once focus in your own effort. I entered this election with extremely open mind, and it's still not too late for you to at least try. Give it a good effort and maybe, just maybe you wont be automatically dismissed at every chance. Show us you're serious. Standing against me is a good start, but you really should take that to the Election subforum to gain as much benefit as you can.