Kind friends, North Pacificans, countrywomen and men, lend me your ears!
This month has brought a new dawn to our region. For nearly one hundred days, our community here on z13 was in danger of being supplanted and phased out of relevance. Our democracy and constitution, everything we had worked for was in jeopardy. Now that the Crimson regime is no more, we can look forward to a safe return to what we almost lost.
But wait! How can we speak of "looking forward" to a "new dawn" when we are just returning to old values, and discarding the single most drastic change to our region this past year as a dangerous aberration? Is that not looking backward?
That is not what we are doing. We cannot undo the past. The best we can hope for is to continue to learn, to take only the good parts and to convert our mistakes into experience. So, willing or not, even as we are undoing the events of the past months, we are taking good ideas from it, and learning from its mistakes. The good idea: Spark participation and activity! The mistakes: To grant extra-legal powers to the delegate, to treat WA nations (actual, human players) as tin soldiers to be ejected at will in the name of the Almighty Endoranking. This must not happen again.
It is in this spirit that I will run for the delegacy of the North Pacific in the elections next week.
My qualifications are not obvious, but strong. I joined NationStates in 2003 and the North Pacific during the height of Pixiedance's reign in March 2005. Since then, I have rarely been in the center of attention, but have watched from the sidelines and played my part. My technical contribution in the form of EndoSpider scanned the endorsements first in April 2005, and has continually served the delegates of the North Pacific since August 2006. It has helped Great Bights Mum in her exhausting campaign over the past month, and but for her continual pressure against the endorsement gap, neither Gatesville nor the Crimson regime might have been convinced to cease their efforts. My own endotarting ability is clear as well. Within the past month, I have been able to rise from barely 25 endorsements to 173 without breaking a sweat (I am endorsing only around 300 nations, and have never spent more than half an hour a day on endotarting), by simply endorsing those nations most likely to return the endorsement.
But there are other qualifications that this position requires. It requires, first and foremost, trust. What you are doing when you vote for a delegate is to place disproportionate power into the hands of a person and expect them to use it well.
If elected, I promise to obey the laws of the region. I will treat our constitution as sacrosanct, and likewise the democratic process that amends it and that elects my successor. I will not eject or ban nations without the approval of the Judiciary. Endorsement caps do not and will never exist, favoring instead a case-by-case security protocol that evaluates and warns potential usurpers individually.
Yet I will not stand as an idle tool, using my delegate powers when the government orders me to. The delegate is the Executive, not the Executioner. The delegate's job is to serve as the public face of our region. I will diligently present our region to the world of NationStates, protect it from undemocratic takeover, and contribute and participate in the governmental process. I will take an active part in the World Assembly, and be prompt and swift to start and follow referenda for every resolution.
There are only some here who understand the true nature of the delegate's role. I know Great Bights Mum does, as does my esteemed opponent Eluvatar. This nature is thus: The delegate is not the first citizen, but the last. All the delegate's power flows from the people's vote. The delegate does not rule the region, but serves it.
If you will have me, I am willing to serve. I thank you.
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The best of luck in the upcoming election.
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