McMasterdonia for Delegate

Why involve the Speaker, specifically?

Will you hold a public applications process for ministerial roles? If so, for some of them or for all of them?

1. As the presiding officer of the Regional Assembly, the body I'd like to engage more with the reports and actions of Ministries, as well as hold the Minister's accountable (in addition to myself), I think they are the most reasonable option.

2. At this stage, I intend to pursue direct appointments.
 
It is with great joy that I support the McMasterdonia campaign. The dedication, hard work, and general ability for McM to lead the region is unquestionable. I am very excited about the proposal of the RA committees as I have been pushing for a way to allow more communication between the Executive and Legislative branches of the region, and this is a fine way to accomplish that. Most importantly, McM is an honorable public servant who knows how to put region before self, and I know that this term would be no different if he were to win. I happily endorse McMasterdonia for the delegacy.
 
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1. Regarding your plans for Culture and Comms to bring authors in for seminars at TNP's university, do you have any plans to work with university administrators to reincorporate the university into a fully-fledged government program? If so, how would you rectify university sponsored non-NS content with the ongoing NS-content only NBS policy?
2. You mentioned waiting for the first week or so of office for determining TNL themes for the term. Do you have any preliminary ideas for what these might be?
3. In response to r3n's question earlier, you mentioned not having any specific plans for NS trading cards. Your personal impression of cards aside, do you think having our NS Card programs expanded to the NPA would be helpful to encourage membership and participation?
4. Do you have any thoughts for how Home Affairs can maximize the effectiveness of recruitment lists? Do you propose any changes to how these recruitment telegrams are written?
5. Following up on the previous question, do you have any plans to expand or standardize our current mentorship program? Would it reside within Home Affairs, or be shared with Gameside Affairs?
 
It is with great joy that I support the McMasterdonia campaign. The dedication, hard work, and general ability for McM to lead the region is unquestionable. I am very excited about the proposal of the RA committees as I have been pushing for a way to allow more communication between the Executive and Legislative branches of the region, and this is a fine way to accomplish that. Most importantly, McM is an honorable public servant who knows how to put region before self, and I know that this term would be no different if he were to run. I happily endorse McMasterdonia for the delegacy.
Thank you, Wonderess. I really appreciate your endorsement and support.

1. Regarding your plans for Culture and Comms to bring authors in for seminars at TNP's university, do you have any plans to work with university administrators to reincorporate the university into a fully-fledged government program? If so, how would you rectify university sponsored non-NS content with the ongoing NS-content only NBS policy?

At this time, I don't intend to bring it back under government control. So I would work with Marcus if need be. Essentially the main purpose would be for us to use the lecture hall.

I do have concerns though that if Marcus has activity issues or needs to step down in future then there is nobody there at the moment really steering the ship at the University. It's a lot for one guy.

2. You mentioned waiting for the first week or so of office for determining TNL themes for the term. Do you have any preliminary ideas for what these might be?

I think we'd need to map out our past editions to make sure I wasn't reusing old themes.

I think we could do one that offered different analysis on the competing NS ideologies available today (as in political and governmental ideologies, beyond simply R/D).

We could also do one on what I'd call NS 2030. Where people would like to see the game develop and change in the next 10 years. Thinking of those big initiatives that the NS Mods have proposed and put on hold for years and years. I'm sure we could get a lot of great authors for that.

Otherwise I'm not sure. I'm sure the Comms staff will have ideas they'd like to contribute too.

3. In response to r3n's question earlier, you mentioned not having any specific plans for NS trading cards. Your personal impression of cards aside, do you think having our NS Card programs expanded to the NPA would be helpful to encourage membership and participation?

My impression (perhaps incorrect) was that NS cards had already been expanded to the NPA in some form. I'm not really sure on this. I think a better first step to increase membership and participation would be to focus more on publicising the ops and celebrating the achievements of the NPA in-game.


4. Do you have any thoughts for how Home Affairs can maximize the effectiveness of recruitment lists? Do you propose any changes to how these recruitment telegrams are written?

The main issue I see is that there wasn't a lot of recruitment lists happening in the last term initially. However once they started happening it was very easy to see that HA staff were enthusiastic and interested in working through the lists. We also see noticeable increases in our citizenship applications whenever they do occur. So I am a strong advocate for them.

I think there sometimes needs to be more care not to target people who are obviously experienced TNPers. But even if the more experienced TNPers do get the odd telegram, it is basically harmless in the long run.

I do think it is wise to regularly review the telegram templates and make sure they are working. I'm a big fan of either doing short and sweet telegrams, or something more fun (i.e. like my song endorsement telegram). But ultimately I don't have specific plans in terms of what edits are required at this point.

5. Following up on the previous question, do you have any plans to expand or standardize our current mentorship program? Would it reside within Home Affairs, or be shared with Gameside Affairs?

I would first like to know from the current mentors how they'd rate the success of the mentor program. In my experience, these programs often don't work very well as the mentor relationships generally aren't required or taken up on that much. So that is my initial thoughts on the subject.

If it is deemed to be effective by the staff involved, I would imagine it would sit within Home Affairs.

I would add that I've not made a final decision about whether or not a separate GA Ministry is required.
 
6. Do you have any interest in bringing the AMA series back, or has that program been exhausted for the time being?
7. You mentioned the idea of a games week. What are your thoughts on the games 'dilemma' we've had in the past, wherein the main people interested in participating are those who almost exclusively spend their time on the RP server (and who are opposed to participating in TNPgen), and whenever games are hosted on the RP server, complaints are raised that we're diluting the purpose of that server?
8. When it comes to voting on WA resolutions, do you think you'll be able to stack/stomp effectively given that the major update is fairly early in the morning for you?
9. Will the Lennarts cover all the time that has elapsed since the last one ('18 and '19), or just the last year?
10. Why did you choose Thursday for themed discord events, as opposed to a more flexible timeline when people are more likely to be available, such as weekends?
11. What is the capital of Surda?
 
11. What is the capital of Surda?
Stop asking us about your homework Fiji :P
This applies generally too. I like to see the NPA as the leading army. Particularly given the huge number of troops we can contribute, sometimes I think our partner militaries treat us as an after thought.. like "btw thanks NPA" never mind that in most cases we contribute by far the largest number of operatives.
Do you have any plans on how to achieve that?
 
1. Recently, the WA minsitry promoted a poisiton on a resolution that was contradictory to the vote of the people. Should this situation happen again, would you vote with the people or the ministery? In what situations do you think the delegate should break with the vote of the RA?

2. TNP works to promote activity within the WA. Some nations have promoted non-compliance and creative compliance with WA Resolutions. If elected Delegate, what would be your position on this issue?
 
6. Do you have any interest in bringing the AMA series back, or has that program been exhausted for the time being?
7. You mentioned the idea of a games week. What are your thoughts on the games 'dilemma' we've had in the past, wherein the main people interested in participating are those who almost exclusively spend their time on the RP server (and who are opposed to participating in TNPgen), and whenever games are hosted on the RP server, complaints are raised that we're diluting the purpose of that server?
8. When it comes to voting on WA resolutions, do you think you'll be able to stack/stomp effectively given that the major update is fairly early in the morning for you?
9. Will the Lennarts cover all the time that has elapsed since the last one ('18 and '19), or just the last year?
10. Why did you choose Thursday for themed discord events, as opposed to a more flexible timeline when people are more likely to be available, such as weekends?
11. What is the capital of Surda?

6. No, I think we need a break from AMA's.

7. I do not agree with the assumption that the main people who want to participate are only in the RP server. The exception being if these games require voice chat. We used to have a lot of Werewolf games in the main server until the bot borked. I also think the TNP RP vs TNP server dichotomy is unhelpful.

If we have a special purpose games week, we'd have a special purpose server. The ideal result from that being the most popular games are integrated into TNP's server.

8. I can't do much about the timezone or my need for sleep :w00t:

I will do my best to be available for important votes, but I'm not going to make promises that I'll be here every time.

9. The last year.

10. I don't think there is much of a noticeable difference in activity on the discord between the weekend and weekdays. Particularly given that we have people from all over the world. The idea behind Thursday though was that it was something to break up the week, given that a lot of major events do fall on weekends.

11. The Palestinian town? Otherwise I don't know a surda :|


Stop asking us about your homework Fiji :P

Do you have any plans on how to achieve that?

I think the main way is to be more assertive about initiating ops with our allies and taking on that leadership role.

1. Recently, the WA minsitry promoted a poisiton on a resolution that was contradictory to the vote of the people. Should this situation happen again, would you vote with the people or the ministery? In what situations do you think the delegate should break with the vote of the RA?

The RA doesn't vote on WA resolutions.

The World Assembly Ministry will provide their analysis on what the best approach is to take on an IFV. I don't think they need to foresee how the region may vote on a particular resolution, so much as provide their analysis on the resolution and it's quality. For the SC, they may also consider foreign policy impacts and that kind of thing. Otherwise they'd have to wait to see how people vote before they could write the IFV and I don't think that is necessary or wise.

I think the Delegate should only break with the vote of WA members on resolutions when there are clear and significant foreign policy implications. These should be articulated clearly to the voters in the resolution thread. I don't think this would occur often.

2. TNP works to promote activity within the WA. Some nations have promoted non-compliance and creative compliance with WA Resolutions. If elected Delegate, what would be your position on this issue?

I am completely against non-compliance with WA resolutions and my stance would be the same as that taken by our Executive Council earlier in the term (as evidenced by my signature on the statement).
 
Thanks for your responses. While I refuse to publicly endorse any candidate prior to all campaigns having been posted, I can say with confidence that I believe you'd be a fantastic delegate (once again).
11. The Palestinian town? Otherwise I don't know a surda :|
Surda was a reference to the fictional world of Alagaësia from the Inheritance/Eragon series by Christopher Paolini. The correct answer was: Aberon, which is significant because it was a symbol of freedom throughout the series.
 
Thanks for your responses. While I refuse to publicly endorse any candidate prior to all campaigns having been posted, I can say with confidence that I believe you'd be a fantastic delegate (once again).

Surda was a reference to the fictional world of Alagaësia from the Inheritance/Eragon series by Christopher Paolini. The correct answer was: Aberon, which is significant because it was a symbol of freedom throughout the series.

Thank you Fiji! Much appreciated.
 
1. As the presiding officer of the Regional Assembly, the body I'd like to engage more with the reports and actions of Ministries, as well as hold the Minister's accountable (in addition to myself), I think they are the most reasonable option.
Fair enough.
2. At this stage, I intend to pursue direct appointments.
Meaning you'll reach out to people you would like to appoint, and reach out to others should they decline?

To whom do ambassadors to the Court of St James deliver their letters of credence?

What is the capital of Eluvatar?

Jean is shorter than Brutus but taller than Imhotep. Imhotep is taller than Jean, but shorter than Lord Scotland. Lord Scotland is twice the height of Jean and Brutus combined but only one-tenth of the height of Millsy. Millsy is at a constant height of x − y. If Jean stands exactly one nautical mile away from Lord Scotland, how tall is Imhotep?
 
Fair enough.

Meaning you'll reach out to people you would like to appoint, and reach out to others should they decline?

To whom do ambassadors to the Court of St James deliver their letters of credence?

What is the capital of Eluvatar?

Jean is shorter than Brutus but taller than Imhotep. Imhotep is taller than Jean, but shorter than Lord Scotland. Lord Scotland is twice the height of Jean and Brutus combined but only one-tenth of the height of Millsy. Millsy is at a constant height of x − y. If Jean stands exactly one nautical mile away from Lord Scotland, how tall is Imhotep?
1. I will probably ask people about their availability first and then work out porfolios. Then I will make formal offers.

2. Queen Elizabeth II by the grace of god, Queen of Australia.

3. McMasterdonia City

4. 13
Would there be value is hosting AMAs for members of government who have not had an AMA yet?

To be honest, I don't think so. I get the sense the community was a little tired of them overall and there wasn't as much engagement as there was originally. I'll have to come up with a more creative way to introduce the new members of the government to the region.
 
Basing this question off the debate, would you ask your Cabinet picks to resign from any Deputy Minister position that they hold?
 
Basing this question off the debate, would you ask your Cabinet picks to resign from any Deputy Minister position that they hold?

I’d go with the usual approach in that all appointments require reappointment after the election. So nobody would resign, they just wouldn’t be reappointed.
 
You can choose any region in NationStates to join with TNP and be governed by it.

What region do you choose?
 
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You go rogue, who’s the first person you’re kicking from the region and why? (The answer cannot be GBM)

I'd kick Siwale. I think he'd enjoy it the most and would be the least offended by being kicked.

You can choose any region in NationStates to join with TNP and be governed by it.

What region do you choose?

Hm. Interesting question. I'm not sure I'd ever choose that, but if I had to... I'd probably pick The South Pacific.

What would your nightmare cabinet look like ?

Oh, this is a fun one.

To be honest, any combination of the 2012 cabinet of Unibot etc, recreated in today's age would be nightmarish enough.

What is your stance on the AGORA Act?

I think it makes sense to me. I think a lot of the time there isn't a lot for the Attorney General to do, aside from I guess giving general advice to the government. The other factor is that we tend to get a lot of inexperienced people trying for AG, which isn't exactly an easy job... when you do have to do something. It is also an incredibly thankless task. So I can see merit in the AGORA Act.. though it appears to have been mostly forgotten about at this point.
 
Suppose your plan was to coup The North Pacific. How would you go about executing that plan?

Given my experience in the Security Council and as a diplomat/observer, I've thought about this and how TNP can guard against such matters.

The very first step in a successful coup would be to undermine the strength of the existing institutions in The North Pacific, this would involving undermining the Security Council and its membership, and the Court and other officials but to a lesser extent. I would make people afraid of what these organisations were doing and how they were the real threat to our democratic institutions.

Mistakes would need to be amplified to such a significant level that they receive significant public attention and those responsible are derided on the strongest possible terms - either to the point of recall or a resignation. I'd question their loyalties and ability to do the job, as well as their motivations - suggesting ulterior motives and external masters as reasons for any criticism or action they try to take against the government. As the relationship between the Security Council and the elected government begins to break down, I would assert the Delegate's right to be invited as an observer to Security Council proceedings. Any attempt to segregate the Delegate from the SC would be strongly condemned as an attempt to install a shadow government by stealth and influence, that is clearly acting against the elected government of the region (see Blue Wolf 2012 re: oligarchy claims).

I would make sure the cabinet was full of loyalists, who above all else were hard working and delivering for the common citizen. Their actions would be clearly understandable, perceivable and measurable for voters. I would focus strongly on this and contrast it with the Security Council, which operates in secret, makes grand claims of activity and prosperity, and insist that nobody was able to accurately measure it.

I would continue to build rapport within the NPA higher ranks including officers and generals and encourage talk that questions the ability of the current constitutional government to deliver the best outcomes for the region and the military.

I would ensure that as many of the high influence nations on the Security Council were on my side as possible, highlighting to them the threat of these external influences and the undemocratic tendencies of the Security Council members who oppose the elected government.

I would build rapport amongst allies and regularly update them on the instability within the region and the failure of our institutions to work effectively. I would make sure that our cabinet was outwardly portraying an image that we must do what needs to be done, even if it was painful.

I would procure the support of TNP administration to make sure that our vast infrastructure and networks of scripts were firmly on my side when I overthrew the government. Ideally it would be so bloodless, that nearly all would see it as a re-establishment of authority and democratic control, and not a coup at all.
 
Fiji established two goals for his Ministry of Foreign Affairs:

1. cross-cultural activities and events (see Culture/WA)
2. keep the Civil Defense Service up to date

On point number 1, how has the Ministry performed over the past term?

Tangentially related, I am glad to see more people are including KPIs in their platform.

I am also quite happy to see that reports from the Ministers will be continued to be published. Are you open to offering flexibility in how frequently they update the public (eg. a minimum of once a month)?
 
Fiji established two goals for his Ministry of Foreign Affairs:
1. cross-cultural activities and events (see Culture/WA)
On point number 1, how has the Ministry performed over the past term?
I'll take this one for McM. I had three main interregional events planned for this term.
1. RP Event with GD. It's in the works, and we got pretty far, but not all the way. It should be seen within the next few weeks.
2. Comms Festival. When organizing this one, it became clear it would be best paired with another festival - perhaps the RP event? Reason being that without something to talk about, there's little reason to have VCs.
3. A WALL-focused event that promotes WA resolution authorship and sponsorship. This idea never took off due to a lack of enthusiasm and interest from allies abroad.

In my opinion, after initial talks, these factors were out of McM's control. If there's anyone to blame for why they didn't occur last term, it's me, and I take responsibility for it.
 
I have a question!

Zombie Day will occur during the upcoming term. In prior years, TNP has generally treated meeting its prior benchmarks as the standard for success, since we are a very large region and it is basically impossible for us to attain high survival rates. Obviously, this has gotten more difficult as game admins have continued to increase its difficulty year over year, but we have so far managed to surpass expectations every time.

This year there will be a new challenge, as neither COE nor I will be available to help prepare for Zombie Day, nor to manage the regional response when it actually occurs. Speaking just for myself, you'll be lucky if you can get me to even log in and choose an option.

Do you have a plan for how to ensure Zombie Day remains a fun and exciting event? Are there people you plan on asking to step up and run the event this year? How will you and your government approach preparation in advance, and will you anticipate needing any early training or advice from either of us?

Do you plan to stick with prior years' approach of going for the cure, or will you deviate from that and advocate for extermination or total zombification instead?
 
Fiji established two goals for his Ministry of Foreign Affairs:

1. cross-cultural activities and events (see Culture/WA)
2. keep the Civil Defense Service up to date

On point number 1, how has the Ministry performed over the past term?

Tangentially related, I am glad to see more people are including KPIs in their platform.

I am also quite happy to see that reports from the Ministers will be continued to be published. Are you open to offering flexibility in how frequently they update the public (eg. a minimum of once a month)?

I'll take this one for McM. I had three main interregional events planned for this term.
1. RP Event with GD. It's in the works, and we got pretty far, but not all the way. It should be seen within the next few weeks.
2. Comms Festival. When organizing this one, it became clear it would be best paired with another festival - perhaps the RP event? Reason being that without something to talk about, there's little reason to have VCs.
3. A WALL-focused event that promotes WA resolution authorship and sponsorship. This idea never took off due to a lack of enthusiasm and interest from allies abroad.

In my opinion, after initial talks, these factors were out of McM's control. If there's anyone to blame for why they didn't occur last term, it's me, and I take responsibility for it.

To add to the above, we've also been in discussion with an event with Balder involving our respective universities. 10KI also approached us in the last week of the term about an event, which I've committed to in my platform.

I've provided advice to Prydania when he has required it on the GD event, but given he has worked with them on several prior occasions, there was not a lot I was required to assist with.

Regarding the second question: given that I intend for the committees to be involved in interpreting and questioning the report, I would expect that the reports will need to be substantive. In that respect, I imagine doing so once per month would be the best option.

I have a question!

Zombie Day will occur during the upcoming term. In prior years, TNP has generally treated meeting its prior benchmarks as the standard for success, since we are a very large region and it is basically impossible for us to attain high survival rates. Obviously, this has gotten more difficult as game admins have continued to increase its difficulty year over year, but we have so far managed to surpass expectations every time.

This year there will be a new challenge, as neither COE nor I will be available to help prepare for Zombie Day, nor to manage the regional response when it actually occurs. Speaking just for myself, you'll be lucky if you can get me to even log in and choose an option.

Do you have a plan for how to ensure Zombie Day remains a fun and exciting event? Are there people you plan on asking to step up and run the event this year? How will you and your government approach preparation in advance, and will you anticipate needing any early training or advice from either of us?

Do you plan to stick with prior years' approach of going for the cure, or will you deviate from that and advocate for extermination or total zombification instead?

I intend to poll the populace and go with that option. I don't have a strong preference so will defer to that judgement.

Regarding who I would approach, I intend to group users into teams based upon their timezone and nominate a team leader who will lead the efforts in that section of the day.

I don't think any training will be required as for many of us this is not our first rodeo. If you disagree though and think there is some complexity that I've not considered, then by all means let me know. But otherwise I think given the tools we have available, it seems pretty straightforward to me.

I think you and COE take it the most seriously of anyone in the region, so I expect it will be quite different this year, no matter how much we prepare. My focus will be on encouraging the fun of the day as best I can.
 
An excellent campaign, which has my wholehearted support. I particularly like the RA committees idea, which is a long overdue shot in the arm for the RA I think.

Unless my memory is failing me (always a possibility), I think your last term as Delegate happened after I left TNP, so I look forward to being here this time around!
 
Given my experience in the Security Council and as a diplomat/observer, I've thought about this and how TNP can guard against such matters.

The very first step in a successful coup would be to undermine the strength of the existing institutions in The North Pacific, this would involving undermining the Security Council and its membership, and the Court and other officials but to a lesser extent. I would make people afraid of what these organisations were doing and how they were the real threat to our democratic institutions.

Mistakes would need to be amplified to such a significant level that they receive significant public attention and those responsible are derided on the strongest possible terms - either to the point of recall or a resignation. I'd question their loyalties and ability to do the job, as well as their motivations - suggesting ulterior motives and external masters as reasons for any criticism or action they try to take against the government. As the relationship between the Security Council and the elected government begins to break down, I would assert the Delegate's right to be invited as an observer to Security Council proceedings. Any attempt to segregate the Delegate from the SC would be strongly condemned as an attempt to install a shadow government by stealth and influence, that is clearly acting against the elected government of the region (see Blue Wolf 2012 re: oligarchy claims).

I would make sure the cabinet was full of loyalists, who above all else were hard working and delivering for the common citizen. Their actions would be clearly understandable, perceivable and measurable for voters. I would focus strongly on this and contrast it with the Security Council, which operates in secret, makes grand claims of activity and prosperity, and insist that nobody was able to accurately measure it.

I would continue to build rapport within the NPA higher ranks including officers and generals and encourage talk that questions the ability of the current constitutional government to deliver the best outcomes for the region and the military.

I would ensure that as many of the high influence nations on the Security Council were on my side as possible, highlighting to them the threat of these external influences and the undemocratic tendencies of the Security Council members who oppose the elected government.

I would build rapport amongst allies and regularly update them on the instability within the region and the failure of our institutions to work effectively. I would make sure that our cabinet was outwardly portraying an image that we must do what needs to be done, even if it was painful.

I would procure the support of TNP administration to make sure that our vast infrastructure and networks of scripts were firmly on my side when I overthrew the government. Ideally it would be so bloodless, that nearly all would see it as a re-establishment of authority and democratic control, and not a coup at all.

This is a scenario of which my nightmares are made. The level of detail is truly frightening. Clearly, you have spent some time contemplating the perfect coup d'etat.

Full support!
 
Previous Delegates have invited the Vice Delegate to partake in Executive Council discussions. What level of involvement will the Vice Delegate have in your government?

Do you see it as a good idea to have regular communications between yourself (as Delegate), the Vice Delegate, and the Speaker? Should other elected officials such as the AG and/or the Justices be a part of these communications as well?
 
If elected, do you plan on seeking a second consecutive term as Delegate?
 
Previous Delegates have invited the Vice Delegate to partake in Executive Council discussions. What level of involvement will the Vice Delegate have in your government?

Do you see it as a good idea to have regular communications between yourself (as Delegate), the Vice Delegate, and the Speaker? Should other elected officials such as the AG and/or the Justices be a part of these communications as well?

I would involve the Vice Delegate in executive council discussions. I would encourage them to participate in executive council projects and seek their input.


Of the others, I don’t anticipate any need to speak with the justices in my capacity as Delegate.

For the AG and Speaker, there may be some consultation with related work (seeking legal advice or the committees project) but not to a level that there would be involvement in executive council discussions.
If elected, do you plan on seeking a second consecutive term as Delegate?

Too early to say. Depends how successful the term is and if I anticipate changes to my schedule in the first quarter of next year.
 
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