Here we are again. Once again, I am asking for your vote for Delegate of The North Pacific. In my defense, it’s been over three years! Nevertheless, I will tackle the elephant in the room head on: I have done this job three times before, and since my third term as delegate was completed, we went on to elect the legendary McMasterdonia an additional three times. Between the two of us, we served 40% of the delegate terms since the start of 2019. Before that, we did not have a former delegate return to office since summer 2015. I appreciate TNP’s proud history of providing opportunity to burgeoning new talent. As I have said on numerous occasions, I could not have been delegate in the first place without it. So, I know that seeking this office is no small matter. Just as I did over three years ago, I am putting myself forward because I believe that the state of the game, and the region, demands experienced leadership. Not only that, we are coming off a very solid 8 month period where our outgoing delegate has served as a leader not just to our community, but to the game at large. I was part of that government, and I want to keep that good work going.
TNP is being tested in ways it hasn’t been in a long time. Our commitment to our friends and allies, our independence, our democratic values, and our sincerity in defending and fighting for them, are all being challenged. For years our allies have known that when the chips are down, we will have their back. The world has always known how seriously we abide by our principles, and how strongly we advocate for them. Today we are asked to answer these challenges, and we must rise to meet them, and remind the world that our commitments matter, that we firmly believe in our ideals, and that when our allies need us, we will be there. We will respond in kind and ensure that there are consequences when anyone seeks to mess with our friends and our interests. Our army is refocusing its efforts both at home and abroad, strengthening its numbers while reorganizing itself in some very fundamental ways. The number of nations in the game has once again increased, but we cannot take that for granted and must be a beacon for them. Among their number we will find members of the new generation of talent that will continue to make TNP thrive and provide innovation and creativity that will make NationStates a better game. The balance of power in the world of R/D is shifting every day, and we can no longer sit contently in the middle of its respective sides. We are forced to confront actors who do not respect us pursuing our own interests and relationships if they respect us at all. We have new opportunities to befriend and expand on positive relationships with those we have previously disagreed, and in engaging with them, we have an opportunity to impart our own vision in the rapidly changing gamestate. The game does not stop just because we must elect a new delegate. These things will continue to matter and demand we adapt or be swept aside. I am confident my experience, my relationships, and my awareness of these events will make a difference in how our region navigates these exciting and potentially perilous times.
Looking outward is important, especially now, but a delegate must also be able to respond to the situation at home. You’ve seen me run for numerous offices over the years and serve in many capacities. I am happy to discuss any of those roles if requested, but I will focus on my time as delegate first and foremost, for obvious reasons. I wrote the book on optimistic diplomacy. I have always strived to bring TNP closer with the rest of the game world, if not through formal diplomatic relationships then with greater participation and involvement with the events of the day. And in my past terms as delegate, we saw a thawing of relationships with old enemies like the NPO, and uneasy neighbors like TWP and Osiris. My effort in putting together Uppercut and going on to get a NAP with Osiris was the culmination of that philosophy in that first time as delegate. Establishing the WA Symposium (which went on to be run two more times) in my third term was the most inclusive and substantive interregional project we had done in years. I’ve also worked to improve connections between the offsite and onsite communities. I established the Gameside Advocates, which every delegate after me has continued and expanded upon. I advanced legislation that modernized the regional officers and our ability to enforce admin bans gameside. We put together the handbook, encouraged more WA participation in votes and for endorsements, and started the card giveaway and lottery programs which persist to this day.
I am proud of what we accomplished during my last times as delegate and would love the opportunity to accomplish more great things with the awesome talent we have in this region today. Now is the time to build on the momentum we have gained under MadJack’s tenure. Naturally, I have some ideas for how we can do that.
Finally, I wanted to say a note about legislative action. Delegates in TNP have a spotty track record of putting RA votes on their list of priorities. I am one of the delegates who has advanced legislation, but it was typically a very specific thing in response to a sudden development, or a change that directly helped me execute my duties to the region. MadJack ran twice with major legislative goals on is agenda, and he saw them through. I was the public face of them in the RA and worked on the drafts as the debates went on and pushed them through to vote, but it was a team effort and those bills, the FoIA and Citizenship reform bills, were broad changes that the government as a whole wanted to see passed. I believe that as powerful as the Delegate is, the RA can move mountains. It’s something we often do not appreciate enough, but I see no reason why the Delegate should not have the imagination or the passion to find real policy issues that can be addressed by the RA and make the region work better for everyone.
I am coming into this election as the most recent Chief Justice on TNP’s Court and I know well that we have a lot of work to do in our legal system to fine tune and improve it. As the person who brought the AGORA Act to the finish line, the (in)famous bill that abolished the office of the Attorney General, I am not blind to the growing pains we have had navigating our prosecutor system and the perceived challenges to filing r4rs with the Court. When the AG was abolished, we lost the universal standing that came from the office and allowed general question to be brought to the Court when there was otherwise no one to file an r4r who was also directly impacted by the question. I believe that we can find a solution to the most chronic problems that come from our lack of an AG, with very little actually changed. A bar exam or static pool of prosecutors has been bounced around a few times. Others have proposed reinstituting universal standing in some way. The first major legislative push I would like to make as Delegate is a bill that will tackle both things. We will professionalize and stabilize our prosecutors, while establishing a form of universal standing. It is only fitting that as one of the people considered to be responsible for breaking a few eggs for this metaphorical omelet, I be the one leading the charge to fix the mess.
I know change is exciting, and that TNP proudly forges ahead and typically does this with fresh blood in subsequent election cycles. NationStates is offering a lot of change and opportunities for new ways to engage with this game right now, and we don’t just need someone with a vision of how to navigate that. We need someone who has navigated choppy waters before steering the ship to make sure we get to our destination. I believe TNP has already changed a lot to meet this moment, and we’re only just starting to realize the new dynamics at play in NS and which players will define the game for the foreseeable future. We must continue to be part of those dynamics. Now is not the time to sneer at the state of gameplay, or to cynically write off its worst actors. We must reckon with it, embrace it, and leave our mark on it. I know I can do that, and I believe that many of you know I can do that too. Just as you trusted me to lead this region back then, in a similar but less pressing moment than the one we find ourselves in now, I ask for your trust again, and for your vote in this election. Thank you in advance for your support, and if you have any questions or comments, let me know and I will gladly respond.
TNP is being tested in ways it hasn’t been in a long time. Our commitment to our friends and allies, our independence, our democratic values, and our sincerity in defending and fighting for them, are all being challenged. For years our allies have known that when the chips are down, we will have their back. The world has always known how seriously we abide by our principles, and how strongly we advocate for them. Today we are asked to answer these challenges, and we must rise to meet them, and remind the world that our commitments matter, that we firmly believe in our ideals, and that when our allies need us, we will be there. We will respond in kind and ensure that there are consequences when anyone seeks to mess with our friends and our interests. Our army is refocusing its efforts both at home and abroad, strengthening its numbers while reorganizing itself in some very fundamental ways. The number of nations in the game has once again increased, but we cannot take that for granted and must be a beacon for them. Among their number we will find members of the new generation of talent that will continue to make TNP thrive and provide innovation and creativity that will make NationStates a better game. The balance of power in the world of R/D is shifting every day, and we can no longer sit contently in the middle of its respective sides. We are forced to confront actors who do not respect us pursuing our own interests and relationships if they respect us at all. We have new opportunities to befriend and expand on positive relationships with those we have previously disagreed, and in engaging with them, we have an opportunity to impart our own vision in the rapidly changing gamestate. The game does not stop just because we must elect a new delegate. These things will continue to matter and demand we adapt or be swept aside. I am confident my experience, my relationships, and my awareness of these events will make a difference in how our region navigates these exciting and potentially perilous times.
Looking outward is important, especially now, but a delegate must also be able to respond to the situation at home. You’ve seen me run for numerous offices over the years and serve in many capacities. I am happy to discuss any of those roles if requested, but I will focus on my time as delegate first and foremost, for obvious reasons. I wrote the book on optimistic diplomacy. I have always strived to bring TNP closer with the rest of the game world, if not through formal diplomatic relationships then with greater participation and involvement with the events of the day. And in my past terms as delegate, we saw a thawing of relationships with old enemies like the NPO, and uneasy neighbors like TWP and Osiris. My effort in putting together Uppercut and going on to get a NAP with Osiris was the culmination of that philosophy in that first time as delegate. Establishing the WA Symposium (which went on to be run two more times) in my third term was the most inclusive and substantive interregional project we had done in years. I’ve also worked to improve connections between the offsite and onsite communities. I established the Gameside Advocates, which every delegate after me has continued and expanded upon. I advanced legislation that modernized the regional officers and our ability to enforce admin bans gameside. We put together the handbook, encouraged more WA participation in votes and for endorsements, and started the card giveaway and lottery programs which persist to this day.
I am proud of what we accomplished during my last times as delegate and would love the opportunity to accomplish more great things with the awesome talent we have in this region today. Now is the time to build on the momentum we have gained under MadJack’s tenure. Naturally, I have some ideas for how we can do that.
As I said, these are challenging times. The days ahead will demand the strongest presence we have shown in the game in a long time. We must be prepared to speak out and speak often, and with actions to back up our words. We will rely even more on cooperation with our allies, but also forge stronger relationships with our neighbors. There is an opportunity to build on the shift in our outlook on R/D with defender regions that did not exist prior to MadJack’s delegacy. I wholeheartedly support the approach MadJack has taken and would like to see us build on it by strengthening our ties with defender regions. Many of our allies are established members of this sphere or work closely with them, so engaging with them would be no different from focusing on strengthening our relationships with existing allies. But doing so in this area would give us new areas of common ground we could not capitalize on before and could lead to fruitful partnerships with regions they work well with, such as fellow democracy Thaecia.
We are at odds with the primary raider regions these days, no point in pretending otherwise. In the past we had fruitful cooperation with the likes of TBH and LWU, and I believe that can be true someday in the future. I will never close the door to diplomacy if both parties can come together in good faith and find common ground. That being said, the raider sphere is largely united and defiant in their recent activities and operations, and it is difficult to see how working with them will be possible in the foreseeable future. I really do not see this as being a result of us undergoing a change so much as us aligning ourselves outwardly with what has been happening within, just as the On Alignment statement asserted at the start of MadJack’s second term. But I will not promise to reverse course or try to reset relations, especially after what has transpired in the last few months. Some of our closest allies who share our ideology have been doing much the same. We must adapt when the state of the game changes.
We are at odds with the primary raider regions these days, no point in pretending otherwise. In the past we had fruitful cooperation with the likes of TBH and LWU, and I believe that can be true someday in the future. I will never close the door to diplomacy if both parties can come together in good faith and find common ground. That being said, the raider sphere is largely united and defiant in their recent activities and operations, and it is difficult to see how working with them will be possible in the foreseeable future. I really do not see this as being a result of us undergoing a change so much as us aligning ourselves outwardly with what has been happening within, just as the On Alignment statement asserted at the start of MadJack’s second term. But I will not promise to reverse course or try to reset relations, especially after what has transpired in the last few months. Some of our closest allies who share our ideology have been doing much the same. We must adapt when the state of the game changes.
I am well-known for my interest and knowledge in this area, and perhaps more importantly, my ability to cast votes in the WA more or less immediately as they go to vote. You can rely on this again. Having just become a WA author myself, I have hands-on experience and rapport with authors that can help us keep alive our ongoing goal to foster more WA author talent in our own region and also in the regions that make up WALL. We will also utilize this area as another front in our diplomatic and defensive operations, whether as a sanction or as a means to enhance our relationships with other regions. I have always believed that our tools can aid the passage and enhancement of resolutions written by players in a wide variety of regions and can serve as an incentive for better formal and informal relationships with their respective regions. I have also watched the ministry’s gameside vote pilot project with interest. I hope to expand it and eventually develop it into another piece in our WA voting policy, so that more voices can be heard and greater engagement with our residents on WA voting and membership more generally will result.
WALL has seen major inroads in the past few months, and it is commonplace for us to work together on IFVs and respond to every vote that comes up for queue. This is more communication and engagement than I have seen in a long time, and I expect that trend to continue. I will continue to keep an eye out for potential new partners who can join our group, though I must caution that this is unlikely to happen any time soon. Expanding blocs in general just isn’t as easy as it looks, especially for WALL given our adherence to the independence of each signatory’s WA vote. But we do not need to admit new partners to WALL – there is room for informal coordination and if it goes well, it can serve as a base where eventual admission to WALL can be the end result. The first time I was delegate I tried to get second tier of WALL membership to lead into eventual full membership, but it was impossible to manage because until some common ground and history exists, there is not enough to unite the signatory regions behind a new member. We have to start small, and local, using our workshops, guides, and promotion tools for authors and regions, so that our respective regions develop trust, a common understanding, and enough rapport that we can seriously consider them a partner in WALL. Even if they never join, this experience will enhance our diplomacy and be another area where we produce results and benefit in the game that people outside our region can enjoy too.
WALL has seen major inroads in the past few months, and it is commonplace for us to work together on IFVs and respond to every vote that comes up for queue. This is more communication and engagement than I have seen in a long time, and I expect that trend to continue. I will continue to keep an eye out for potential new partners who can join our group, though I must caution that this is unlikely to happen any time soon. Expanding blocs in general just isn’t as easy as it looks, especially for WALL given our adherence to the independence of each signatory’s WA vote. But we do not need to admit new partners to WALL – there is room for informal coordination and if it goes well, it can serve as a base where eventual admission to WALL can be the end result. The first time I was delegate I tried to get second tier of WALL membership to lead into eventual full membership, but it was impossible to manage because until some common ground and history exists, there is not enough to unite the signatory regions behind a new member. We have to start small, and local, using our workshops, guides, and promotion tools for authors and regions, so that our respective regions develop trust, a common understanding, and enough rapport that we can seriously consider them a partner in WALL. Even if they never join, this experience will enhance our diplomacy and be another area where we produce results and benefit in the game that people outside our region can enjoy too.
The NPA is growing again and must continue to do so. Reforms have borne fruit and I will continue them all. When we announced our shift in alignment, I anticipated a boost in our numbers from both returning players and new players who would consider the NPA to be a good home for them when it wasn’t before. That did not play out quite how I imagined, so I will see what I can do to make it a reality. Recruitment is always talked about in these elections, but I believe we finally have a team in place with vision and ideas to make it happen, and I want to set them up to succeed. I will let the experts decide which ops are viable and what our capabilities are, but I want to see some full-throated defensive ops in the future, ones that NPA can lead or do alone rather than tag along. We were always able to do that with raiding, and if we can do it with defending then hopefully we can showcase to the world what we’re capable of and win over new soldiers in the process.
It is important to remember, however, that TNP is not a defender region. Raiding will still happen, as outlined in our recent alignment statement. We will be judicious with its use and only deploy it when it serves our interests, not for casual purposeless operations. But against fascists, against those who make themselves our enemies through war, as a tool to disrupt their WA policy goals through the use of quorum raiding, or to sanction some act taken against us through a simple delegate tip or tag raid, we will absolutely utilize raids. Should our allies engage in a raid for similar reasons, they can count on our support if it is requested. Raiding is a tool that we will deploy as deemed necessary and appropriate. As I said earlier, this does not preclude us from possibly working with raider regions in the future. With those who engage largely in the most destructive forms of raiding, there will likely never be a bond, but with those who are more restrained, and who respect the boundaries we expect from any potential partner, there is room for cooperation down the road. I will not allow any of our fine soldiers to participate in destructive or purposeless raiding, and I will continue to insist on the one army policy that we have held firmly all these years.
I will also note that I expect a swift transition should I win, so the NPA can rest assured that they will be able to get right back to doing what they do best before long, rather than park here and keep their endorsements on me while they wait for the transition to be completed.
It is important to remember, however, that TNP is not a defender region. Raiding will still happen, as outlined in our recent alignment statement. We will be judicious with its use and only deploy it when it serves our interests, not for casual purposeless operations. But against fascists, against those who make themselves our enemies through war, as a tool to disrupt their WA policy goals through the use of quorum raiding, or to sanction some act taken against us through a simple delegate tip or tag raid, we will absolutely utilize raids. Should our allies engage in a raid for similar reasons, they can count on our support if it is requested. Raiding is a tool that we will deploy as deemed necessary and appropriate. As I said earlier, this does not preclude us from possibly working with raider regions in the future. With those who engage largely in the most destructive forms of raiding, there will likely never be a bond, but with those who are more restrained, and who respect the boundaries we expect from any potential partner, there is room for cooperation down the road. I will not allow any of our fine soldiers to participate in destructive or purposeless raiding, and I will continue to insist on the one army policy that we have held firmly all these years.
I will also note that I expect a swift transition should I win, so the NPA can rest assured that they will be able to get right back to doing what they do best before long, rather than park here and keep their endorsements on me while they wait for the transition to be completed.
I have always believed that Home Affairs is one of the most important engines that keeps our community going. Engines need maintenance. We have to retool and revisit old methods and patterns to make sure we continue to produce the best results. Home Affairs lets promising newcomers show us what they can do, whether it be their organization of tasks or the speed in which they complete them. I feel the time has come to bring Home Affairs back to the basics, to rely on experience to remind the staff what tricks have worked best before, and ore importantly, how to coordinate with the other ministries. Since this is a ministry that promotes everything we do in this region, and tries to replenish our numbers, and since replenishing our numbers is directly relevant to what I aim to do his term, it’s crucial that Home Affairs is aware of every project, every initiative, and has the space to get the word out and highlight those things. I’m not saying anything new, delegates before have envisioned just the same. But it's easy for Home Affairs to run on autopilot, to generate lists and send out TGs, in the absence of anything pressing or when the other ministries are too busy to plan together. In general, I hope to foster grater communication between members of the cabinet, and really lean on them to be equal parts of the decisions we make. I hope that this will make it easier for Home Affairs to add its value to whatever project the other ministers work on.
I will remark on the Gameside Advocates here. Obviously, I will continue to utilize them. They have changed a great deal from how they were utilized when I started them, but under MadJack we saw a return to form, GA’s that were essential in spreading the word and informing the gameside community of what was happening on the forum or in our various events and activities. They did the promotion, and sometimes even the recruiting. With HA TGs added to that, it could be a potent weapon. But I fear the two sides have become quite disconnected. Gameside Advocates have a lot of independence, which was by design, but it’s gotten to the point where they’re in a completely different orbit. We need to see unity and coordination between the GA’s and the HA leadership. I do not want to miss a single opportunity to keep the RMB informed of what we’re up to, I want them to hear important news from us, and I want the GA’s doing in person the same kind of invitations and recruitment that HA does from afar with TGs. If it’s feasible for GA’s to mentor people on the RMB, we will do that too.
I will remark on the Gameside Advocates here. Obviously, I will continue to utilize them. They have changed a great deal from how they were utilized when I started them, but under MadJack we saw a return to form, GA’s that were essential in spreading the word and informing the gameside community of what was happening on the forum or in our various events and activities. They did the promotion, and sometimes even the recruiting. With HA TGs added to that, it could be a potent weapon. But I fear the two sides have become quite disconnected. Gameside Advocates have a lot of independence, which was by design, but it’s gotten to the point where they’re in a completely different orbit. We need to see unity and coordination between the GA’s and the HA leadership. I do not want to miss a single opportunity to keep the RMB informed of what we’re up to, I want them to hear important news from us, and I want the GA’s doing in person the same kind of invitations and recruitment that HA does from afar with TGs. If it’s feasible for GA’s to mentor people on the RMB, we will do that too.
This is an area that has always gone well for me in the past, but it is where I am possibly taking the boldest action I ever have when it comes to organizing my government. Now more than ever we need to build our bench of talent and find ways for members of our community to get involved, to provide valuable content to the wider world. The trouble is, over the past few years, as we have experimented and built out these ministries to showcase our creativity and provide output for the game to enjoy, we have stretched ourselves too thin. Too often our staffs in these ministries have relied on one or two (if we’re lucky) people to try to carry the weight of the ministry on their backs. It is unfair to ask that much of someone, and to try to keep plates spinning for the sake of keeping busy. TNP is renowned and sometimes ridiculed for its bureaucracy. I hate to see that bureaucracy be empty and hollow when the reason it exists is to facilitate a complex, bustling engine of activity and product. We must curb that excess from time to time, and this strikes me as one of the times this is necessary. I love the work our Radio and Comms ministries have done over the years. Comms was an early success when I was first delegate, and I believed in what it could do even when it was frequently cited as being worthy of the chopping block. But we do not have the manpower or the spark to keep these things going as they are now.
I acknowledge this may be one of the biggest swings I take if elected, but I would continue what MadJack started when he consolidated comms and radio into Media. I would move the various projects that make up the Ministry of Media and place them squarely in Culture. There is a lot to be said for specialization, and when you have the interest and the numbers doing the work, these specialized areas absolutely need their own space and significant role in government. But neither our radio nor our publication projects have had much to show as of late. That looks bad, but I believe it looks worse when these are singular ministries given a whole term to produce. There is significantly less pressure for these projects, and less of an issue with their delay, if they are part of the larger Culture ministry. Culture is an important part of a region’s identity, and perhaps one reason TNP isn’t often lauded for its culture is because we are too stratified. Another is that too often the people involved in our Culture ministry don’t always seem to know what to tackle, and while we have utilized frequent weekly events and planned festivals as in past years, their creative aspirations and abilities often go unrealized because the team they are on does not always need to make use of them.
Imagine a Culture ministry that includes our radio and print publications, with access to the full Culture staff, on Culture time, to contribute their splashes of color or design to the final product being crated by the technical and writing wizards who write the articles or record and host the radio shows. We have staff members who, if they were all working together, could generate more content and make it better. There is a stigma about being part of too many ministries, and sometimes the hyperfocus on one aspect alienates people. A united, beefy Culture ministry could allow staff to participate in small doses in more projects, could align better with schedules, such as when one ministry wanted to highlight something in the middle of a cultural event. Communication is easier when there are fewer places for the message to be lost. And this more muscular, substantial Culture ministry is one that could go toe to toe with other regions and show how crucial these areas are to who we are and how TNP expresses itself. That is the Culture ministry I want to put forward.
The coming term also affords us a chance to celebrate and remember, on Manumission Day and on Democracy Day. We started the Democracy Day distribution of free constitutions in my first term, and we will do it again. I also hope to leverage our games server again and organize local events through Culture, with the assistance of the Gameside Advocates. This was part of the original effort the GA’s did in my first term, and largely fell by the wayside while they focused more on enforcing rules in the RMB. That is important, as is their messaging in general, but we need to use their connections to the gameside community to drive more engagement in fun and games that brings both communities together.
I acknowledge this may be one of the biggest swings I take if elected, but I would continue what MadJack started when he consolidated comms and radio into Media. I would move the various projects that make up the Ministry of Media and place them squarely in Culture. There is a lot to be said for specialization, and when you have the interest and the numbers doing the work, these specialized areas absolutely need their own space and significant role in government. But neither our radio nor our publication projects have had much to show as of late. That looks bad, but I believe it looks worse when these are singular ministries given a whole term to produce. There is significantly less pressure for these projects, and less of an issue with their delay, if they are part of the larger Culture ministry. Culture is an important part of a region’s identity, and perhaps one reason TNP isn’t often lauded for its culture is because we are too stratified. Another is that too often the people involved in our Culture ministry don’t always seem to know what to tackle, and while we have utilized frequent weekly events and planned festivals as in past years, their creative aspirations and abilities often go unrealized because the team they are on does not always need to make use of them.
Imagine a Culture ministry that includes our radio and print publications, with access to the full Culture staff, on Culture time, to contribute their splashes of color or design to the final product being crated by the technical and writing wizards who write the articles or record and host the radio shows. We have staff members who, if they were all working together, could generate more content and make it better. There is a stigma about being part of too many ministries, and sometimes the hyperfocus on one aspect alienates people. A united, beefy Culture ministry could allow staff to participate in small doses in more projects, could align better with schedules, such as when one ministry wanted to highlight something in the middle of a cultural event. Communication is easier when there are fewer places for the message to be lost. And this more muscular, substantial Culture ministry is one that could go toe to toe with other regions and show how crucial these areas are to who we are and how TNP expresses itself. That is the Culture ministry I want to put forward.
The coming term also affords us a chance to celebrate and remember, on Manumission Day and on Democracy Day. We started the Democracy Day distribution of free constitutions in my first term, and we will do it again. I also hope to leverage our games server again and organize local events through Culture, with the assistance of the Gameside Advocates. This was part of the original effort the GA’s did in my first term, and largely fell by the wayside while they focused more on enforcing rules in the RMB. That is important, as is their messaging in general, but we need to use their connections to the gameside community to drive more engagement in fun and games that brings both communities together.
I am pleased that this ministry is still able to stand on its own. I hope that the talent we have there can continue to sustain itself in the upcoming term. It’s certainly not on death watch, but it’s easy to see how cards can shrink and warrant the same fate as Comms and Radio. I see the next term as the latest in the series of tests the cards ministry has undergone, and I am confident that we can pass that test by strengthening the activities and programs that exist now. Should the staff shrink further and these programs slow down in a significant way, we can look at a similar move to Comms and Radio. I do not believe that is called for quite yet. And even if that were to happen, not much would change since the Cards Guild would continue to exist and have an independence much like that of the gameside advocates.
TNP was a pioneer in utilizing cards for rewards and incentives to boost regional activity and continues to possess a great deal of knowledge about that aspect of NationStates thanks to our dedicated cards experts. We are still quite resource-rich in this area, and must continue to wisely deploy those resources, but there is still room for innovation. I believe we can increase the use of our cards pool for prizes in regional events, and as a way to foster trade and goodwill with other regions. I hope to evaluate the state of our cards inventory and explore ways we can shake up the usual lotteries and giveaway program so that we can offer value to other regions the same way we utilize our WA vote and author support. Just as we can boost relationships in the WA or with defender regions, I hope TNP can be a friendly face and a crucial member of the cards community, as we were in the early days of the cards subculture. The cards symposium is great, but there is still untapped potential for cultural collaboration and smaller impromptu get togethers with the other cards players.
TNP was a pioneer in utilizing cards for rewards and incentives to boost regional activity and continues to possess a great deal of knowledge about that aspect of NationStates thanks to our dedicated cards experts. We are still quite resource-rich in this area, and must continue to wisely deploy those resources, but there is still room for innovation. I believe we can increase the use of our cards pool for prizes in regional events, and as a way to foster trade and goodwill with other regions. I hope to evaluate the state of our cards inventory and explore ways we can shake up the usual lotteries and giveaway program so that we can offer value to other regions the same way we utilize our WA vote and author support. Just as we can boost relationships in the WA or with defender regions, I hope TNP can be a friendly face and a crucial member of the cards community, as we were in the early days of the cards subculture. The cards symposium is great, but there is still untapped potential for cultural collaboration and smaller impromptu get togethers with the other cards players.
Finally, I wanted to say a note about legislative action. Delegates in TNP have a spotty track record of putting RA votes on their list of priorities. I am one of the delegates who has advanced legislation, but it was typically a very specific thing in response to a sudden development, or a change that directly helped me execute my duties to the region. MadJack ran twice with major legislative goals on is agenda, and he saw them through. I was the public face of them in the RA and worked on the drafts as the debates went on and pushed them through to vote, but it was a team effort and those bills, the FoIA and Citizenship reform bills, were broad changes that the government as a whole wanted to see passed. I believe that as powerful as the Delegate is, the RA can move mountains. It’s something we often do not appreciate enough, but I see no reason why the Delegate should not have the imagination or the passion to find real policy issues that can be addressed by the RA and make the region work better for everyone.
I am coming into this election as the most recent Chief Justice on TNP’s Court and I know well that we have a lot of work to do in our legal system to fine tune and improve it. As the person who brought the AGORA Act to the finish line, the (in)famous bill that abolished the office of the Attorney General, I am not blind to the growing pains we have had navigating our prosecutor system and the perceived challenges to filing r4rs with the Court. When the AG was abolished, we lost the universal standing that came from the office and allowed general question to be brought to the Court when there was otherwise no one to file an r4r who was also directly impacted by the question. I believe that we can find a solution to the most chronic problems that come from our lack of an AG, with very little actually changed. A bar exam or static pool of prosecutors has been bounced around a few times. Others have proposed reinstituting universal standing in some way. The first major legislative push I would like to make as Delegate is a bill that will tackle both things. We will professionalize and stabilize our prosecutors, while establishing a form of universal standing. It is only fitting that as one of the people considered to be responsible for breaking a few eggs for this metaphorical omelet, I be the one leading the charge to fix the mess.
I know change is exciting, and that TNP proudly forges ahead and typically does this with fresh blood in subsequent election cycles. NationStates is offering a lot of change and opportunities for new ways to engage with this game right now, and we don’t just need someone with a vision of how to navigate that. We need someone who has navigated choppy waters before steering the ship to make sure we get to our destination. I believe TNP has already changed a lot to meet this moment, and we’re only just starting to realize the new dynamics at play in NS and which players will define the game for the foreseeable future. We must continue to be part of those dynamics. Now is not the time to sneer at the state of gameplay, or to cynically write off its worst actors. We must reckon with it, embrace it, and leave our mark on it. I know I can do that, and I believe that many of you know I can do that too. Just as you trusted me to lead this region back then, in a similar but less pressing moment than the one we find ourselves in now, I ask for your trust again, and for your vote in this election. Thank you in advance for your support, and if you have any questions or comments, let me know and I will gladly respond.
