The Innovator-in-Chief Speaks
EBC In The Loop - Inside The Goldenblock
Interview conducted by Kuramia
What do you envision when you imagine a Vice President. Do you see pictures of the greats Lyndon Johnson and Theodore Roosevelt standing opposite the not-so-greats Aaron Burr and Dan Quayle? Do you imagine the Vice Presidents of West Wing with their need to become the next President, their want for power that ultimately is their downfall, or the ones of House of Cards with all its backbiting and dramatic scheming?
Do any of these visions match Europeia?
We've had some great Vice Presidents to be sure, and all of them had to have ambition to place themselves on a ticket with the President, to campaign and then run their full term with all the promises they had made. Even if eventually that energy would wane, or real life would consume them, they still had to have that inner spark we often see in real life and media-inspired Vice Presidents that enable them to take a second seat to the lead player in the orchestra.
Europeia's Vice President works in slightly different ways than any real life or imagined Vice President (VP), if not just for the fact that there are limits to what a forum-run government and its citizens can do. While they maintain the same Line Succession that is normal for a VP, in Europeia they are also the voice of the Civil Service Officium and assist the Ministers in their own duties.
Our current VP, Calvin Coolidge, joined the region in July of 2014. That was merely a year ago, and yet, along with Writinglegend, he's managed to rise to Vice President and get re-elected to a second term. He's also been heavily involved with the Citizens' Assembly, works with the Ministry of Communications, and was the Minister of Foreign Affairs. From all of that experience, he worked hand-in-hand with Writinglegend to come up with a winning dual platform that won them the ticket two times in a row.
So we sat down with the re-elected Vice President Calvin Coolidge to discuss the state of Europeia, his feelings on his role in the region, and where he believes the Vice Presidency can develop.
Thank you for joining us, Calvin! Congratulations on getting a second term!
Let's break right into it! What made you join Europeia and become so involved in its politics?
I had been a member of Europeia, solely through NationStates, for about a year before coming on to the forum. I had just finished high school, and was looking for something to fill my time with, and figured I would check out this forum that I had heard so much about. Once I got here I was overjoyed by the amount of things to do, and the quality of all the different areas and contributors.
How did you and Writinglegend join forces for your first term?
Writinglegend and I have always been close, since we joined the forum at roughly the same time we essentially grew up together in Europeia. We've previously worked together in the Senate and in various Cabinets, so when Writinglegend told me he was running for President, his next statement was that he wanted me to run with him. I was happy to accept, and the rest is history.
Your platform for last term included goals aimed at invigorating the region. What area do you believe was most successful in doing that?
I think the area that got most invigorated (at least from my efforts) last term would have to be Culture. I worked with Cassy a lot on some Weekend Games early in the term, helping her and Carrot test them, and planning with the various festivals, including the cross-regional Murder Mystery one that I set up with Albion.
What was your greatest accomplishment last term with the CSO?
Last term the CSO saw a large number of applicants, with a burst of newcomers coming to our region and staying. I think the regional outreach we did, via dispatches, polls, and AMAs got enough people interested that we could build up the admirable crowd of newcomers that we have today.
What projects did you plan last term that you never completed and why?
I had a lot of activity problems last term due to illness and periods of change in RL. Due to that, there are a lot of areas I feel I could have helped more last term, but I think the one I'm most upset about would have to be an Ambassador Academy lesson that I was working on with Starstream for Foreign Affairs. It hasn't really seen the light of day, and with the new term coming around, it just sort of got dropped. If I could have done one more thing last term, it would be that.
What projects, for CSO and otherwise, do you want to accomplish most this term?
This term we've shifted the CSO to Citizen Integration, so I'm not as intimately involved there as the VP traditionally has been. This term I've been trying to be the best super AM that I can be, and when I look back on this term I want to be able to say that I've helped as many Ministries complete their projects as I can. I think I've made good progress so far, but I know there's more that I can do, so I hope the rest of the term sees this goal come to fruition.
There are some that say the Vice President's position and what it entails lacks visibility. Do you agree?
I definitely agree.
How would you want that visibility to be clarified?
I think the easiest way to lose sight of the VP is to just focus on what the Ministries are doing, and not see the VP's work in the finished product. That comes with the territory, and I've pretty much come to accept that. If people really want to know what I've been up to, they can just see what our Cabinet is doing, and know that I'm right there with them. That's why I find it hard to release traditional updates like I did when I was a Minister, because the work I do is different now, and not really something that can be reported on, since I'm mostly just an AM. Not that I'm complaining, but it's just something I find interesting.
You've been in Europeia for a year now. What are some of your best memories of your time here?
I really enjoyed my time as Minister of Communications, which I got into about a month after my arrival to the forum. Kraken had just had a string of inactive Communications Ministers, so for him to entrust me with that responsibility, to build the Ministry back up, was a very big moment for me. My two terms there taught me a lot about how this region operates, the people, and the sort of issues we deal with.
You came up with term "Innovator-in-Chief" in your platform for this year. What inspired that term and where do you intend to go forward with it?
That term was inspired by Malashaan's Ministry of Innovation, used when he was President a few terms back. I intend to go use the title to supplement my role as an AM when working with the Ministers, to see if there's a problem that they have, and the solution isn't forthcoming, what I can do, in my role as VP and as a citizen, to fix that problem.
How is the testing going on festivals, weekend games, recruitment/integration review, and mixlr?
A lot of the festival and weekend games work has been done masterfully by Carrot this term, and the same can be said for recruitment and Erebos. I've been involved in an unfortunately minor role in both of those so far, but there hasn't been a great need for assistance, either, since we have such capable Ministers. With mixlr I've been doing some work on my own to prepare some shows, and test a few things, but I haven't really talked about them, since I haven't really reached any firm conclusions yet. I hope to be involved in more mixlr as the term goes on, because we have great power in that medium, and I would hate to see it wasted.
You've stated that a weakness in your last term was not properly communicating what you were doing. How have you made moves to rectify this?
Unfortunately, there's not much I've done differently in terms of communicating with the citizens this term. My workload has increased since last term, but as I mentioned earlier, a lot of what I do is AM work, which I don't really feel mertis its own update. Regardless, I'll be releasing an update within the next week, and also hosting an IRC live chat shortly after, as promised in the platform.
There's been some great RMB activity given your polls and games game-side. Will this trend continue throughout your term?
I certainly hope so, and I've got a more polls coming up for this month (well, at least one
), so I hope that the RMB will continue to respond in the fantastic way that it has so far, and continues to make me look good.
If President Writinglegend's seat suddenly vacated, what would be the first thing you'd do/say?
I'd probably talk to all the members of the Cabinet before making any sort of announcement on what my plans are. I assume the plans we currently have in motion would continue to stay in motion, because of the wonderful Cabinet we have, but any shock like this would likely require some discussion. I know that Writinglegend is a supremely active and dedicated individual, and his departure would greatly impact this region, and that I would be a poor substitute for the remainder of the term, but I'd keep what we have going, and finish what we set out to do in the platform, guaranteed.
Thank you again, Calvin! We look forward to seeing the Innovation you've promised us in the coming term!
