Mcmasterdonia: Exploratory Committee

mcmasterdonia

mcmasterdonia

Just like a queef in the wind, so is life
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TNP Nation
McMasterdonia
McMasterdonia Exploratory Committee
2012​

I announce that I will be forming this exploratory committee to determine whether or not i should run for Delegate at the upcoming general elections.

I have served The North Pacific as a Vice Delegate, as the Minister for Defence under Delegate Blue Wolf II's term and still hold that office today after nearly 4 months in the position.

In that time I have worked tirelessly to restore the north pacific army, requiring significant time and effort. Focusing on getting the necessary infrastructure in place, as well as recruitment, and the general missions that we have been involved in.

As Vice Delegate I have worked to increase the Security Council membership, as I believe the more high influence/endorsements and trustworthy nations on the security council the better. I also made some reforms of the security council law, giving the regional assembly the ability to confirm SC applicants. I think this is an important step, we will however have to review these things to see if it operates efficiently and how we want it to.

As Vice Delegate I also acted quickly to stop the unendorsement campaigns against the Delegate Eluvatar during a brief period of inactivity. I kept the region informed of the threat ongoingly, and was able to quickly act on a counter-campaign and keep the region secure. I do not take full credit for this, obviously, as the NPA helped out and so did our allies.

I certainly acknowledge that I like any other human being, have made mistakes. I have always acted in what I considered to be protecting The North Pacific's security interests and its sovereignty. I think that under my leadership, The North Pacific will be prepared to forge its own clear destiny.

The North Pacific under my leadership will work hard to increase our diplomatic work abroad. We will increase our embassy intake, provided that we are kept with regular updates. I want our ambassadors out there, on our embassy's spreading TNP's good will and excellent reputation throughout nationstates. I have served as an Ambassador to the feeder regions (TEP, TSP, TWP, TP) and have a good inter-regional reputation. I also think that it is in our interests to focus on forming treatied alliances with regions that we have a proven connection to.

We also need to recognize the needs of the onsight community. There were plans for a regional message board guardian, but I don't think these have been seen through to fruition. I'd like for us to have very tough anti spam policies, and I will ban people who spam our regional happenings just for recruitment purposes. Furthermore I would like for us to keep the regional message board active and engaged, its great for us to have a forum community but we should also not neglect the onsight community either.

I will be making my final decision based on the response I receive from the region and from the Progressive Party primaries. I will take any questions/comments
 
Beliefs:​
I believe in open and transparent government. Government is formed by the people and it is important that they always remain to be a vital part of it. A government led by mcmasterdonia will conduct all its business in the most open way as possible, presuming that this does not relate to information that could compromise The North Pacific Army or our security. This may seem like a status-quo approach to government; however it is my view that at times government holds closed cabinet sessions for no particular reason or justification.

I value honesty and integrity both in others and in myself. As Delegate you can expect integrity and honesty in everything that I do. I vow to always hold to the highest standard of integrity, and will expect the same of my ministers.

I have the strength of my convictions. It's important now more than ever, that the Delegate of The North Pacific is strong and able to lead, and able to carry through and be prepared to fight for what they believe.

As Delegate I will expect to be held to a high level of responsibility for everything that I do (and indeed everything I don't). An important part of being Delegate is responding to the criticism and concerns of citizens, and I'll be sure to take all these on board. I'll also be sure that as Delegate, I take a responsibility for the actions of cabinet ministers, consulting with them all on a regular basis. It's important that a Delegate is able to celebrate successes and admit mistakes
 
The Army:
As I'm sure many of you have noticed, I am deeply passionate about The North Pacific Army. As Delegate I will continue to work to improve the army, focussing on recruitment and keeping the army active, fun and keeping with regional interests.

I've been Minister for Defence for quite some time now, and it'll be an interesting feeling taking that step back. If elected Delegate, I will consult with the Minister for Defence regularly, and give them significant autonomy to work on the army themselves.

The WA

As Delegate I will continue the work of having our region highly involved in the World Assembly. Continuing the WA Resolution reviews and maintains the high levels of involvement from non-forum users.

I'd also like to increase the number of WA nations in our region, this could be done using an auto-telegram script encouraging nations to join the WA and in so doing greatly improve our regional security.

Cabinet/Council of 5
The Council of 5 has been a new and innovative way for the selection of cabinet ministers. The fact that it was elected did lead to far and wide ranging opinion, sometimes this worked well allowing different ideas to be pulled apart and fully analysed before a decision was made. Other times not so much.

I also consider it strange that the Delegate should be elected again into the council to vote in it. I understand the related mathematical reasoning, I do however think that it may be better to have wider representation in the council of five, with the delegate as the 6th member.

I will be consulting with citizens to see what they think about it before I ultimately make a decision on this matter.
 
The North Pacific University:
Another project I would like for us to tackle would be the start up of The North Pacific University. I understand that like the NPA it has existed in the past, from what I can see it appears that it largely failed due to inactivity and being overly complicated.
My vision for this is that it would not be something that needs to be adopted into the legal code, that we start it, keep it simple and go with the flow. As Delegate I would be appointing a Dean to lead the university, but I would also take an important role in its development myself.

It would provide greater opportunity for regional members to get involved. What I'd like to see the University take on active discussions on real issues, that the University staff would be responsible for bringing up. These things would cover real life politics, human rights, and other issues relevant at the time that could engage our citizens in civilised academic debate.
I'd also like for the University to take on an active role in the codifying of our region's history. I'm certainly interested in it, and what I've gathered from IRC conversations is that others are as well.

If you do not like this idea, then please tell me :)

This could be done in several ways, but the development of the TNP wiki could be a good option to consider.
 
You go, McMasterdonia! The hard work you've put in towards building the NPA and making TNP a more vibrant community is evident.

Did you just join NS this year, and if not, what other regions were you active in, and in what capacity?
 
Great Bights Mum:
You go, McMasterdonia! The hard work you've put in towards building the NPA and making TNP a more vibrant community is evident.

Did you just join NS this year, and if not, what other regions were you active in, and in what capacity?
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Thank you GBM :) That is very kind of you. I have only joined NS this year.

I'm active in Osiris/Taijitu now as well. I've been a Senator in Taijitu, and am currently the Vizier for Foreign Affairs for Osiris. Thank you for your confidence in me.
 
Would you be willing to also run for VD, so as to give people the option of voting for a continuation of the excellent Elu/MC administration?
 
Belschaft:
Would you be willing to also run for VD, so as to give people the option of voting for a continuation of the excellent Elu/MC administration?
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I'm glad that you have found our administration to be excellent :) I won't rule anything out at this stage, this is just to see what people think. That is something that has to be weighed up, of course, with the decision that I make in the end.
 
I like the Platform that you've set :)

It's really well thought out and makes a lot of sense.
 
I have great fondness for both you and eluvator but I would love to see you run for delegate. The time is right!
 
govindia:
What are your thoughts about bringing up more RP?
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I would totally support it. The question in response then should be, what is limiting it now? I guess that RP is really an individual based thing, we have all the forums in place for people to use. I guess something that could be useful is the establishment of some sort of guide, and maybe even role play advisors to get things moving. Scandigrad has done an excellent job with the map so far, and I know that he is very interested in roleplay. Anything that generates activity and a better sense of community I would support.

Scandigrad:
I would fully support your campaign for delegate.
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Romanoffia:
Nice platform, McM!
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Tim:
I like the Platform that you've set
It's really well thought out and makes a lot of sense.
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Thanks to you all. I will be adding slight changes to the platform in coming days.
 
King Durk the Awesome:
y u so mean to unibot
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I don't agree that I am mean to Unibot. We've had some disagreements, there is no denying that. I do think that I've always done what I thought was right, and certainly not with the intent of being mean to someone.
 
mcmasterdonia:
Haor Chall:
N00b. :P
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Why am I a noob? That kind of comment isn't really helpful and doesn't point out what you think is wrong with my campaign. Feel free to run again yourself :)
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I guess smilie was required for that to work properly...


I have no complaints with your campaign platform.
 
Haor Chall:
mcmasterdonia:
Haor Chall:
N00b. :P
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Why am I a noob? That kind of comment isn't really helpful and doesn't point out what you think is wrong with my campaign. Feel free to run again yourself :)
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I guess smilie was required for that to work properly...


I have no complaints with your campaign platform.
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Oh well, in that case I'm glad :D
 
You certainly have the qualifications to run - not sure if I'd vote for you or not, but you are certainly worthy of the position with your track record :)
 
As some of you would have noticed, I was narrowly defeated by Eluvatar in the progressive party primary, in a tight vote of 8-7. This vote is clear indicative of the high calibre of both candidates involved. I am not going to make my decision to run (or not to) based on the decision of a political party, it's my belief that the office of delegate is above that of party politics. Furthermore I think that if I was to continue in this campaign, the election would certainly be very competitive, and in my view that is a good thing.

I appreciate the support that people have expressed for my election to the office of Delegate. I furthermore like the fact that some people have been willing to say, you were both an excellent team and encouraged me to recontest for the position of Vice Delegate. I'd like to make something clear, I will not be running for the position of Vice Delegate. I enjoyed working with the Security Council, expanding upon its membership, and becoming further aware about the various security threats that face our region from time to time. I have come to the view that I can better serve the region either as its Delegate, or as a deploying member of our regional army of which I have worked on for some time.

I believe that we need to move beyond the political self-interested that has plagued the last government and cabinet. We need to continue work on and to improve our regional infrastructure, this includes the North Pacific Army and the University I mentioned in the opening post. I think that at times things introduced to TNP are made overly complicated, and thus are at a higher risk of failure.

A key issue with this government, that caused the outburst of drama recently has been a fundamental lack of transparency. Cabinet meetings are sometimes held in secret, for no reason at all. Allowing cabinet ministers to undermine their colleagues without any accountability to the region. It makes it difficult as the cabinet is asked to vote on holding the secret meeting without knowing what is to be discussed.

The region needs to be given greater ability to hold it's ministers and other government offices to account. Current methods for doing things, do not allow this to occur. Resulting in the sudden public outbursts that have we have all dealt with recently. I appreciate the initiative that certain individuals are taking to improve the judicial system, as an example of this.
We need to have an active foreign policy, as the largest and most active feeder (In my view:P) in the game. As Delegate I would greatly encourage further co-ordination between External Affairs and Defence. While we have some new embassies and some new treaties, I think that our external affairs involvement needs to be expanded upon. As Minister for Defence, I have been in regular contact with the military heads of The South Pacific and Osiris.

We need to seek out regions that will be active and engage with us regularly. We need to increase our military collaborations with our allies. Recently The North Pacific Army has been doing independent liberations on its own, and often deploying more than one time at update. It has been excellent to see, and is due to the fantastic individuals we have in the NPA. The NPA is a community, as is our forum, everyone has a contribution to make and ideas to improve the region.

I think that we sometimes forget or even neglect the onsite community. While we have active forum goers, I would argue that very few of us would post on the regional message board all that often. I would expect the government to take a vital role in the onsite community as well. I would expect ministers to make use of the Nationstates forum, using it to keep nationstates updated with the goings on of The North Pacific and helping to spread the goodwill of The North Pacific Army.

I apologize for the wall of text. I am yet to make a final decision, I thought I would share some more ideas before I ultimately make that decision. I welcome any further input.
 
I think its the exact opposite problem plaguing our cabinet; the only times we were productive were when the doors were closed so that we could actually -talk-. When the cabinet meetings were open, you and Kiwi were on election-mode and basically did not say anything that didn't seem like it was scripted -- we couldn't get anything done when you two were stonecut figures with chiseled platforms and responses.

You could very well win this election, but what the electorate doesn't seem to understand is, you were very much apart of the problem of the dysfunctional nature of our cabinet. More publicity of private conversations in the Cabinet only will fuel your attack ads and divisive political techniques to back-stab cabinet ministers that don't share your political positions. I expect you're pushing for more publicity because it serves you well, you know how to keep your mouth tight to please the electorate -- but make no mistake, nothing gets done with the mindset and words of someone in election-mode. We need someone with some backbone, not afraid to say stuff that might be controversial and a pragmatist. You're nothing but a populist ultimately, who will drag the region down into inactivity, the output of your government: mediocrity which pretends to be in the region's interests, but serves only your popularity and approachability.

I'm glad to see the Progressive Party chose the better candidate, Eluvatar, who has served his region well and been comfortable working with different parties and compromising for the betterment of the region without the need for political drama and burning those who disagree with you or likewise labeling them as "people who aren't looking out for the region's interests". The notion that you could be wrong about what's better for the region and someone else who disagrees with you could actually genuinely care about the region and its interests, is a notion so far removed from you that I fear it would take a rectal examination to find it.
 
You have expressed some great points here. I also think that you should run for Delegate! Go for it!
 
I'm not going to argue with you Unibot, we have displayed that across enough threads as it is. Your criticism of me is unjust and incorrect. The private cabinet meetings allowed you to let lose with personal attacks and abuse. In cabinet meetings you were just as willing to criticise and abuse Eluvatar, as you were to abuse me. I do not consider myself to be a populist, I am willing to make decisions that I believe are the right ones. Lastly the fact is that the region has been asking for more transparency and involvement in government for some time. Eluvatar greatly assisted in this with the council of five, but it needs to be expanded and improved upon.

Thank you for your support Kiwi.
 
mcmasterdonia:
I'm not going to argue with you Unibot, we have displayed that across enough threads as it is.
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Of course not, this is your Campaign thread where we should only be posting positive, re-enforcing posts about how great you are.

Your depictions of me as an angry, abusing person are the output of cold, political posturing. You don't care about the cabinet being functional or coming to the right conclusions, you care about making your opponents look unreasonable and you, popular.

I really couldn't care less about this campaign, you're going to be delegate someday and a month later, the region's status? Mothball-inactive; Your supporters? Unenthusiastic and neutral about your candidacy; the people who have to work in your cabinet who have different political positions than you? Pissed off and marginalized.

The voters who are supporting you haven't had to be in a cabinet while disagreeing with you and your "vision" for the region. Maybe it's time for them to be in a region under your helm (not just a cabinet) whilst disagreeing with you and see how it feels. The minority will probably just lose interest in a Mcmasterdonia TNP altogether. Sometimes, sticking around to deal with individuals like you, isn't worth it and trust me, I've stuck around and overcome some insane drawbacks to pursue lofty and idealistic goals -- I've spiraled through a drug addiction to maintain my defending career once, pursued my WA authorship career while being bullied and mocked by the WA Old Guard, tried to do my best as FRA head while dealing with rampant corruption, but I sure as hell couldn't be bothered to continue my duties as a Minister in the North Pacific while I had to deal with such a spineless windbag as yourself. Good god, self-punishment shouldn't be reserved for people like you that are only going to pay attention to the North Pacific for a few months anyway until the novelty of being a feeder delegate wears off.

Furthermore, you have me entirely wrong. You presented the image to the public of me as just another 'defender' walking into the region without caring about it, pushing for defenderism without the region's interests at heart. I joined the region a few years ago because I owed my success in NationStates to a player called Sydia and from what I heard, he made a great TNP delegate and that wouldn't surprise me. I was just a newbie when he picked up my (admittedly) crappy WA proposal and helped me draft it properly and gave me the confidence to submit it enthusiastically -- I went onto passing that resolution and twenty-one other resolutions and it helped launch my career elsewhere across NationStates. There was no doubt in my mind which feeder I wanted to join and contribute to, when I set my sights on getting involved regionally beyond my small home UCR. I don't see the same virtues in you as I saw in Sydia and I don't think the region will be better off under your leadership but I'm sure the electorate will be blinded enough sometime to give you that chance and when they do, I hope you take some criticism to heart, but I sincerely doubt you will when its much easier to discredit your opponent's positions as hyphenated citizens (i.e., "defender-TNPers").
 
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