Debate: Prime Minister & House Elections, January 2020

[Renegalle]

Debate: Prime Minister & House Elections, January 2020

Candidacy Announcements close on January 7th at 11:55 AM EST.

Brief Overview

The Debate period is intended to be a time in which citizens can assess the competence of candidates running for office and make an informed decision in the voting period that follows. All citizens may ask questions to the candidates and while the candidates are not legally bound to answering these questions, it is highly encouraged. Candidates are however legally bound to answer all questions asked of them by the Founder.

Candidates for Prime Minister

Salibaic
Alemputo

Candidates for House of Representatives

Sumeka
United Nations of Colombia
Loomburg
Greatest Elysium
Libertatis Regalis
Lotria
Killashandra
Carropia

Relevant Law

1. As a candidate, you are required to answer all questions asked to you by the Founder (Renegalle) during this Debate or you will be automatically disqualified (§B.4.1).

Required: Founder's Questions for All Prime Ministerial Candidates

1. What makes you the best candidate for Prime Minister? What do you bring to the office which your opponent does not and why do you think you are better positioned to succeed in whatever you undertake?

2. How do you plan to address inactivity? Please provide a specific plan that addresses every aspect of government and community.

3. Who would you appoint to your ideal Cabinet (ex-members, people who would be ineligible, and people not necessarily willing to serve can be included)? Why would you choose these people and what specific things would they bring to each office that you consider to be most important?

4. If elected (or re-elected), how do you plan (if at all) to change the structure of the existing Ministries? Would you consider abolishing, creating, or merging any of them? Why?

Required: Founder's Questions for Salibaic

5. What has your biggest failure been this term? What caused it and how do you plan to avoid something similar from happening in future?

6. How do you plan, if re-elected, to pursue a more constructive working relationship with all areas of government?

Required: Founder's Questions for Alemputo

5. What, in your opinion, has the incumbent done well that you plan to expand on if elected?

6. As Founder, I find it very important to maintain a person to person relationship with the incumbent to discuss issues, ideas, and concerns. What would this relationship look like under your administration, should you be elected?

Required: Founder's Questions for All House of Representatives Candidates

1. Which House Bills do you plan to pass and/or repeal? Why?

2. In what ways should the Constitution be amended, if at all? Explain how the changes would improve the current system of governance.

3. What qualifies you to serve in the House? What makes this qualifying?

4. Do you think any changes should be made to existing House Procedures? If so, what changes should be made and why?

5. If elected, do you plan on running for Speaker? If so, what makes you a good candidate for this position and if not, who do you think would be a better candidate? Why?

6. Do you think the way in which impeachment works should change? Should the power to impeach rest with the House or should it perhaps be given directly to the citizens?

7. How do you plan to facilitate a better working relationship between the House and Cabinet? Why do you think this is the best approach?

[Libertatis Regalis]

1. Which House Bills do you plan to pass and/or repeal? Why? It depends on the needs of Force. It is hard to say what will need changed and for the reason.

2. In what ways should the Constitution be amended, if at all? Explain how the changes would improve the current system of governance. It should be and I am currently working on several new amendments.

3. What qualifies you to serve in the House? What makes this qualifying? I have served twice, both of which were the Houses most active. I also understand the Force Constitution, having helped write the document.

4. Do you think any changes should be made to existing House Procedures? If so, what changes should be made and why? Same as question 1, it would depend on the needs of the Region.

5. If elected, do you plan on running for Speaker? If so, what makes you a good candidate for this position and if not, who do you think would be a better candidate? Why? Yes. I was speaker during the 2 most active sessions and under my leadership, we can accomplish more.

6. Do you think the way in which impeachment works should change? Should the power to impeach rest with the House or should it perhaps be given directly to the citizens? I think the language in the constitution should be changed but I would have to think more on it before acting.

7. How do you plan to facilitate a better working relationship between the House and Cabinet? Why do you think this is the best approach? That would depend on the activity in the cabinet, in the past we have had some ministries become completely dormant. It would also depend on what the cabinet is trying to do, the House must remain independent from the other branches of government.

[TrueParanormal]

1. Which House Bills do you plan to pass and/or repeal? Why? I plan to repeal the useless House Bill 20 but besides that I want to work with the other House members to aid in the cabinet's push to repopulate Force and KEEP it populated. To put it simply, I'm doing this because I love Force.

2. In what ways should the Constitution be amended, if at all? Explain how the changes would improve the current system of governance.
It should be. I want to work closely on amendments with Sir Libertatis and other House members, in addition to clarifying what constitutes 'freedom of speech'.

3. What qualifies you to serve in the House? What makes this qualifying? I know how to write Bills, was part of one of the most active Houses in Force's existence, I work well with everyone no matter their political allegiance.

4. Do you think any changes should be made to existing House Procedures? If so, what changes should be made and why? Not unless it perpetuates inefficiency and prevents us from helping Force as much as possible in these coming months. 

5. If elected, do you plan on running for Speaker? If so, what makes you a good candidate for this position and if not, who do you think would be a better candidate? Why? No, I do not plan to run for Speaker. I think we had a great Speaker last term and would like to let them keep their seat.

6. Do you think the way in which impeachment works should change? Should the power to impeach rest with the House or should it perhaps be given directly to the citizens?
I believe that everything in the Constitution should be scrutinized and rethought. This includes impeachment. Everything written is easy to take advantage of.

7. How do you plan to facilitate a better working relationship between the House and Cabinet? Why do you think this is the best approach? I would love for the House and Cabinet to work closely together. Even if a few ministries are inactive, there is no excuse as to why the House shouldn't even bother with the other ministers. I plan on personally contacting every minister and seeing what their agenda and goals are, then trying to make Bills to help the agenda if I think it will have a positive impact on Force.

[Sir Salibaic]

1. What makes you the best candidate for Prime Minister? What do you bring to the office which your opponent does not and why do you think you are better positioned to succeed in whatever you undertake?

I believe I am the best due to my experience as a member of government over Alemputo. As well as this I have always been thought of as a member of a revolution against establishment and I plan to continue that. Unlike Alemputo I have not been endorsed by old members of Force who dislike change as I am always putting my political career here on the line here for change. Alemputo is my friend but I don't believe he has the ability to make change for a better Force.

2. How do you plan to address inactivity? Please provide a specific plan that addresses every aspect of government and community.

My plan is this, we need to build a community feel of which people will enjoy and stay in our region creating activity and bringing new people in. I would do this by expanding our events programs and the culture department to do much more. New events will be competitions, debating and general encouraging of talking in our region. We also should require that new members are welcomed and shown what they can do in the Union but not to overwhelm them. We can introduce a better factbook to explain how to join Roleplay, join clubs, take part in our civil service, etc. We can also establish a team of people to make sure people are welcomed when they join the region right away to make sure they stay. We would have this team on a rotating basis so we can capture all time zones. We also need to expand our civil service as we lack members, I would introduce a fake currency into Force via the bot to give people an award for helping this region. With this people could unlock things such as special roles and being put in raffles for free. Which brings me on to the next point, I would like to start fundraisers via raffles and such in order to gain new revenue streams for Stamps as we cannot just rely on a few small group of people to fund this region as its unsustainable.

3. Who would you appoint to your ideal Cabinet (ex-members, people who would be ineligible, and people not necessarily willing to serve can be included)? Why would you choose these people and what specific things would they bring to each office that you consider to be most important?

I think my current cabinet is ideal although I would change some such as The Chariot. Each member has their own qualities.

Lashnakia is very skilled diplomatically and has been a great help in taking steps towards establishing relationships with other regions such as TNP.

Caduceo has done well even though he has not been around all the time and has given me new ideas that have really helped me.

Alemputo has been amazing as the RP minister and been a great Deputy Prime Minister even though he has ran against me. We still continue to be friends and run Force to the best of our abilities.

Azerubia has not had much of a chance yet to prove himself but I believe with time he can become a great addition to my cabinet.

Diabutuss has given good ideas. Although somewhat inactive, he has been doing well but I will be working with his ministry much more to provide a better Force

I believe the defence ministry should be given to FA as it has not been working well at all.

4. If elected (or re-elected), how do you plan (if at all) to change the structure of the existing Ministries? Would you consider abolishing, creating, or merging any of them? Why?

I would remove defence as its not been working at all. I said I want to create awards for being in the civil service. It will help create incentives to be in it. I would also like to make the Ministries be more Democratic with the citizenry in them voting on government policy to create activity and move towards direct democracy as that is what I believe is the best way for this region to be run.

5. What has your biggest failure been this term? What caused it and how do you plan to avoid something similar from happening in future?

My biggest failure? Not being as involved as I should of. I think I was naïve as a leader and had the belief that the cabinet could run without prompting, but I was wrong and will admit that. I plan, if I am re-elected, to take on a much more interactive and hands on approach to prevent it from happening again.

6. How do you plan, if re-elected, to pursue a more constructive working relationship with all areas of government?

Yes, I do think we need to work much better. I plan to work with the house on issues of democracy in our region and more. To pursue this, we need to come to an understanding and move past political rivalry and I will admit I am not the best at this but the way opposition has been attacking me and my lack of response has to stop and we need to move past that to build a Force that puts citizens before politics.

[Lashnakia]

Sali,

I am going to ask you a follow up regarding your specific activity plan you mentioned in the last question, part of this is me cherry picking a bit, asking questions, and maybe some suggestions/ideas.

Am going to pick through this and address  each bit, and hope you address my concerns with each bit.

‘I would do this by expanding our events program and the culture department to do much more’

The events we have tried a few times, and they haven’t really worked in terms of attracting new people or anything much really, how would you specifically ensure the events program works?

The culture department isn’t exactly active at all at the moment, and with all due respect to the Minister of Culture, he has ideas but doesn’t really put many of them at all into force. He isn’t hugely active, at least within the ministry, so I’m not convinced the culture ministry is able to run events effectively and stay active at the moment, especially if you’re keeping the same Minister in. How would you address those concerns?

‘New events will be competitions, debating and and general encouraging of talking in the region’

Rather unspecific, you need to expand on that. We already have debating through debate night, admittedly it isn’t used a whole lot at the moment. Competitions we’ve done a few I believe, and as I said haven’t exactly been hugely effective, you need to find a way to make them effective. General encouraging of talking in the region is unspecific, how would you do that specifically, same with the others?

‘We also should require that new members and shown what they can do in the Union, but not to overwhelm them’

Agree with this completely.

‘We can also establish a team of people to ensure they are welcomed right away when they join the region’

Why a team of people? Why not encourage absolutely everyone to do it? There is potential for that idea, you could maybe even provide an incentive for the general populous doing it. Something for both candidates to think about.

‘We also need to expand our Civil Service as we lack members’

Correct. How do you plan to do that specifically, aside from encouragement of new members, welcoming etc?

‘I would introduce a fake currency to reward people for helping the region’

Helping the region is quite unspecific, so you need to define that? To give you an idea, you could potentially use it for the welcoming idea I mentioned earlier. My problem with this is while it’s a nice idea, it’s not particularly going to help us in this major spell of inactivity, unless you make this a huge thing, which I doubt you will, and if it fails it will have been a pointless waste of time if you make it big. Incredible gamble. How do you address these concerns?

‘I would like to start fundraisers via raffles and such in order to gain revenue streams for stamps’

Quite a nice idea actually, but I’m interested to know how it could work specifically? It’s an idea I like, I just would like a few more specifics on how it would work.

Sorry for this being so long, but I do have questions that need answering.

[glacieri]

1. What makes you the best candidate for Prime Minister? What do you bring to the office which your opponent does not and why do you think you are better positioned to succeed in whatever you undertake?
Although I have been endorsed by said old members of Force, I do not think that their ideas are backward at all. The fact of the matter is, these are still members of our region and we should still be listening to what they say. However its said, Salibaic has implied that older members of Force are less relevant than newer members, and that statement is absolutely false. I think that Salibaic, though he is a good friend of mine, likes to put progress in front of people, and that is visible in his administration. Sali has been working to bring Force "forward", although he is at a stalemate with the house and refuses to communicate with them, and recruitment has been an issue. I plan to bring order to the cabinet with specific outlines on what they need to do, I plan to work directly with the founder and the future speaker of the house to drive home issues which have been lingering since Salibaic was elected, including the stated recruitment problem, and the fact that Force is too divided to be a welcoming place for new members.

2. How do you plan to address inactivity? Please provide a specific plan that addresses every aspect of government and community.

Currently our region under Salibaic has two activities which can help maintain activity, Roleplay, which I am charging, and activity in politics. There is too much arguing from both sides for any new member to feel comfortable entering, and quite frankly, Roleplay is not for everybody. This is where the culture ministry comes in, because their job is to make people feel welcome and to engage the community. Roleplay in the last few weeks has had good ideas, however nothing has gotten past the idea stage and therefore nobody has any engaging activities.

Under my administration I want to push the culture ministry to be the greatest that Force has seen in awhile. Firstly, Roleplay should be underneath the culture ministry for best effectiveness. Roleplay should become a committee where each member is in charge of a single aspect, and this committee can comprise of members of the cabinet and the house.

Culture will be in charge of competitions with incentivising giveaways like Steam Games, 3D prints, etc. Culture will also be in charge of the Minecraft server, hosting events there.

3. Who would you appoint to your ideal Cabinet (ex-members, people who would be ineligible, and people not necessarily willing to serve can be included)? Why would you choose these people and what specific things would they bring to each office that you consider to be most important?
This is probably my toughest question as I have seen some effectiveness in all of cabinet, and many potential cabinet members are leaving for the house.

However, disincluding people who will be going to the house:
I would like to see Salibaic run culture, as under leadership he can be an extremely effective tool for hard ministries to run
I'd like to see Salibaic appoint Tigslarlowducken as a games and competitions Deputy
I would also like to see Salibaic appoint Sumeka to be one of the Roleplay committee members.
I'd like to see diabeetus in the ministry as well.

I would like to combine the Internal Affairs ministry with Defense as those are our current most inactive ministries. I would also like to pass a bill which removes Defense. I will put Elysium in charge of these two ministries.

Lashnakia will be Foreign Affairs minister, as he is doing amazing at rebuilding our relations.

I'd like to see Caduceo and Azerubia co running Communications. Who would run that is still up in the air, but both should be involved.

Otherwise, I would like to see how the House election goes before I finalize my decision.


4. If elected (or re-elected), how do you plan (if at all) to change the structure of the existing Ministries? Would you consider abolishing, creating, or merging any of them? Why?
It would take some considerable effort and working with the house. My ideal structure would be as follows

Culture - with a department of Roleplay, a department of Games and Competions, and one solely devoted to Minecraft.

Communications - Force Flyer, perhaps announcements to members on Discord of big news in single paragraph briefs

Foreign and Internal Affairs combined

and finally a dissolution of Defense.

5. What, in your opinion, has the incumbent done well that you plan to expand on if elected?
I've seen good ideas from the culture ministry, but those need to be implemented.
I've seen a move to Disboard, but we need a crew that also goes out and gets partnerships to non-Nationstates servers, as well as continued recruitment in Nationstates. We need to remove the Nationstates Citizenship requirement but that may not be my term.
I've seen powerful voices for the progression of Force. We need to implement those ideas whilst still maintaining a balance of ideas with the older members.
6. As Founder, I find it very important to maintain a person to person relationship with the incumbent to discuss issues, ideas, and concerns. What would this relationship look like under your administration, should you be elected?
I would communicate as much as possible with the Founder and the Speaker of the House. I wish their assistance for a new Prime Minister as I am new to this particular job, but see myself completely able to do it. I would make sure my activities in cabinet are well saw over with the Founder and be sure to keep him involved with activity.

[Sumeka]

Required: Founder's Questions for All House of Representatives Candidates

1. Which House Bills do you plan to pass and/or repeal? Why?

House Bill 21 due to its ability to better define the powers of the House of Representatives. It is definitely a bill I would push to pass.

2. In what ways should the Constitution be amended, if at all? Explain how the changes would improve the current system of governance.

I think the constitution is too broad in some areas and some things should be better defined. I have seen the constitution's broadness be a subject of argument both inside and outside of the house, and as such I think such things should be amended.

3. What qualifies you to serve in the House? What makes this qualifying?

While I have not held any government positions as of yet, I do believe that I can contribute with my extensive language skills as well as with my objective look on things. I try to remove the bias and see something for what it really is.

4. Do you think any changes should be made to existing House Procedures? If so, what changes should be made and why?

I think perhaps the Procedures should be sped up to allow the passage of more bills. While obviously some deliberating should be had, I do believe house bills should have a more streamlined pipeline to go to a vote.

5. If elected, do you plan on running for Speaker? If so, what makes you a good candidate for this position and if not, who do you think would be a better candidate? Why?

No, I do not. I would trust Libertatis Regalis for that position, as he has much experience and he has done a great job so far with the house, even with it's small size, many bills were drafted and passed.

6. Do you think the way in which impeachment works should change? Should the power to impeach rest with the House or should it perhaps be given directly to the citizens?

I believe the House should be able to call a vote to impeach, and if it passes in the house, it should be passed to the citizens for a vote on the matter, so as to preserve the Democracy of Force.

7. How do you plan to facilitate a better working relationship between the House and Cabinet? Why do you think this is the best approach?

I plan to facilitate a better relationship by directly communicating with the Cabinet on issues in Force and to ensure what we can do on the matter. This is the best approach because direct cooperation will lead to matters being resolved within the house and will allow for the passage of more bills.

[Lashnakia]

1. What makes you the best candidate for Prime Minister? What do you bring to the office which your opponent does not and why do you think you are better positioned to succeed in whatever you undertake?
Although I have been endorsed by said old members of Force, I do not think that their ideas are backward at all. The fact of the matter is, these are still members of our region and we should still be listening to what they say. However its said, Salibaic has implied that older members of Force are less relevant than newer members, and that statement is absolutely false. I think that Salibaic, though he is a good friend of mine, likes to put progress in front of people, and that is visible in his administration. Sali has been working to bring Force "forward", although he is at a stalemate with the house and refuses to communicate with them, and recruitment has been an issue. I plan to bring order to the cabinet with specific outlines on what they need to do, I plan to work directly with the founder and the future speaker of the house to drive home issues which have been lingering since Salibaic was elected, including the stated recruitment problem, and the fact that Force is too divided to be a welcoming place for new members.

2. How do you plan to address inactivity? Please provide a specific plan that addresses every aspect of government and community.

Currently our region under Salibaic has two activities which can help maintain activity, Roleplay, which I am charging, and activity in politics. There is too much arguing from both sides for any new member to feel comfortable entering, and quite frankly, Roleplay is not for everybody. This is where the culture ministry comes in, because their job is to make people feel welcome and to engage the community. Roleplay in the last few weeks has had good ideas, however nothing has gotten past the idea stage and therefore nobody has any engaging activities.

Under my administration I want to push the culture ministry to be the greatest that Force has seen in awhile. Firstly, Roleplay should be underneath the culture ministry for best effectiveness. Roleplay should become a committee where each member is in charge of a single aspect, and this committee can comprise of members of the cabinet and the house.

Culture will be in charge of competitions with incentivising giveaways like Steam Games, 3D prints, etc. Culture will also be in charge of the Minecraft server, hosting events there.

3. Who would you appoint to your ideal Cabinet (ex-members, people who would be ineligible, and people not necessarily willing to serve can be included)? Why would you choose these people and what specific things would they bring to each office that you consider to be most important?
This is probably my toughest question as I have seen some effectiveness in all of cabinet, and many potential cabinet members are leaving for the house.

However, disincluding people who will be going to the house:
I would like to see Salibaic run culture, as under leadership he can be an extremely effective tool for hard ministries to run
I'd like to see Salibaic appoint Tigslarlowducken as a games and competitions Deputy
I would also like to see Salibaic appoint Sumeka to be one of the Roleplay committee members.
I'd like to see diabeetus in the ministry as well.

I would like to combine the Internal Affairs ministry with Defense as those are our current most inactive ministries. I would also like to pass a bill which removes Defense. I will put Elysium in charge of these two ministries.

Lashnakia will be Foreign Affairs minister, as he is doing amazing at rebuilding our relations.

I'd like to see Caduceo and Azerubia co running Communications. Who would run that is still up in the air, but both should be involved.

Otherwise, I would like to see how the House election goes before I finalize my decision.


4. If elected (or re-elected), how do you plan (if at all) to change the structure of the existing Ministries? Would you consider abolishing, creating, or merging any of them? Why?
It would take some considerable effort and working with the house. My ideal structure would be as follows

Culture - with a department of Roleplay, a department of Games and Competions, and one solely devoted to Minecraft.

Communications - Force Flyer, perhaps announcements to members on Discord of big news in single paragraph briefs

Foreign and Internal Affairs combined

and finally a dissolution of Defense.

5. What, in your opinion, has the incumbent done well that you plan to expand on if elected?
I've seen good ideas from the culture ministry, but those need to be implemented.
I've seen a move to Disboard, but we need a crew that also goes out and gets partnerships to non-Nationstates servers, as well as continued recruitment in Nationstates. We need to remove the Nationstates Citizenship requirement but that may not be my term.
I've seen powerful voices for the progression of Force. We need to implement those ideas whilst still maintaining a balance of ideas with the older members.
6. As Founder, I find it very important to maintain a person to person relationship with the incumbent to discuss issues, ideas, and concerns. What would this relationship look like under your administration, should you be elected?
I would communicate as much as possible with the Founder and the Speaker of the House. I wish their assistance for a new Prime Minister as I am new to this particular job, but see myself completely able to do it. I would make sure my activities in cabinet are well saw over with the Founder and be sure to keep him involved with activity.

I'm also going to do a follow up on this too, if you could answer. Sorry if it is rather long.


"
Under my administration I want to push the culture ministry to be the greatest that Force has seen in awhile. Firstly, Roleplay should be underneath the culture ministry for best effectiveness. Roleplay should become a committee where each member is in charge of a single aspect, and this committee can comprise of members of the cabinet and the house."

We pretty much tried that for several months with the RP committee. It had no success. Since we've brought back the ministry it has worked pretty well, and there isn't much point in reversing it back to a commitee. Why are you so intent on doing this, what difference do you think it will make, and how do you answer my concerns about the idea?



"Culture will be in charge of competitions with incentivising giveaways like Steam Games, 3D prints, etc. Culture will also be in charge of the Minecraft server, hosting events
there."

 As I said earlier to Sali, I'm not sure how equipped and active enough the culture department is to do these things. You have to be really instructive with them, which i'm sure you can do.. Plus, those things alone are not a specific plan to address the inactivity crisis, and will not alone solve the crisis. There's more to this crisis than Culture. Can you think of any other solutions outside Culture, and be more specific?

"I would like to combine the Internal Affairs ministry with Defense as those are our current most inactive ministries. I would also like to pass a bill which removes Defense. I will put Elysium in charge of these two ministries"

"Foreign and Internal Affairs combined

and finally a dissolution of Defense."


I am very confused on your position here, as you've just said two different things, but i'll address it anyway. I think merging Foreign and Internal Affairs is a bad idea. I don't particularly see any reason why. I agree IA is hard to run but merging it with FA is a wishy-washy and an idea I can't make much sense of. Would you care to explain that in more depth?

Also, with all due respect to Elysium, considering he's been fired from his only two positions I don't think he's the best person to put in Internal... Would you care explaining why?


"
Culture - with a department of Roleplay, a department of Games and Competions, and one solely devoted to Minecraft."

I yet again think we should just keep RP in its current form as a ministry,

This wasn't as long as Sali's follow as there wasn't as much substance to comment on, not being biased here.

[Lotria]

1. Which House Bills do you plan to pass and/or repeal? Why?

I plan to write and help pass bills to clear up grey areas in the constitution, as well as bills that will improve the overall well being of force. Including a bill that will
make it so that Connecting RP to Force politics ( IE: someone makes you mad in politics, you take it out on them in RP) to keep the separation between the two.

2. In what ways should the Constitution be amended, if at all? Explain how the changes would improve the current system of governance.
We really just need to clear up grey areas and any contradictions, as well as make things in the constitution less vague. This would improve relations between House and Cabinet,
Because of the many arguments about Cabinet violating the constitution. Clearing up the constitution would also make it easier to for the Judge and Prosecutor, As they don't have to think if this violates that because it only half does, ETC.

3. What qualifies you to serve in the House? What makes this qualifying?
I have served 1 successful term in house and I have many ideas to bring to the table in the form of bills and amendments. I believe that this is qualifying as people now know who I am and what I stand for, as well as the experience in the house before.

4. Do you think any changes should be made to existing House Procedures? If so, what changes should be made and why?
No. House works fine as is

5. If elected, do you plan on running for Speaker? If so, what makes you a good candidate for this position and if not, who do you think would be a better candidate? Why?
If I am elected, Depending on the other house members, I might run for the speaker of the house. If I decide against running, Libertatis Regalis would be a very good candidate because of his experience and heavy knowledge of force and the constitution.

6. Do you think the way in which impeachment works should change? Should the power to impeach rest with the House or should it perhaps be given directly to the citizens?
No, I do not think the impeachment system should change. It should rest with the house.

7. How do you plan to facilitate a better working relationship between the House and Cabinet? Why do you think this is the best approach?

Communication is key. Through VC, Text, PM, Communication and knowledge of one another would greatly improve the relationship so everyone is on the same page and generally friendly to each other, making the working environment less stressful.

[Sir Salibaic]

The events we have tried a few times, and they haven’t really worked in terms of attracting new people or anything much really, how would you specifically ensure the events program works?

I think the main issue is that most of the time it's not well advertised and the fact it's their normally held on independent discords to the main discord. Meaning people never see it or people don't want to join another server. It's also hard to encourage people to join loads of different servers.

I plan to combat this by making sure all events are well-known before they begin by sending adverts via telegram, discord announcements and posts on the forums as well as Twitter. I will also host all events from the main discord like debate night. Which failed due to lack of secdual and adversement. I think the main thing is to make sure everyone knows about it and it's easy to access allowing people to be interested and get involved creating activity.

The culture department isn’t exactly active at all at the moment, and with all due respect to the Minister of Culture, he has ideas but doesn’t really put many of them at all into force. He isn’t hugely active, at least within the ministry, so I’m not convinced the culture ministry is able to run events effectively and stay active at the moment, especially if you’re keeping the same Minister in. How would you address those concerns?

I will be working much more with culture taking a much more leading role to make sure activity is there. I will also be on lookout for new faces as a replacement minister due to signs in the Current of lack of activity.

Rather unspecific, you need to expand on that. We already have debating through debate night, admittedly it isn’t used a whole lot at the moment. Competitions we’ve done a few I believe, and as I said haven’t exactly been hugely effective, you need to find a way to make them effective. General encouraging of talking in the region is unspecific, how would you do that specifically, same with the others?

I would do that by making people feel welcome in this region and that Force is a place they can enjoy being in. As with the previous, I think we need to have them be on the main server rather than other servers. Debate night requires a schedule which we provide which I am sure will make it be way more successful.

Why a team of people? Why not encourage absolutely everyone to do it? There is potential for that idea, you could maybe even provide an incentive for the general populous doing it. Something for both candidates to think about.

I would encourage everyone to do it but I believe a dedicated team can make sure we always have someone on hand to welcome someone to region is the most ideal. But I do wish to encourage everyone to do it. I don't think we can provide incentives except maybe rewards like being entered into raffles for free.

Correct. How do you plan to do that specifically, aside from encouragement of new members, welcoming etc?

I plan to provide awards for doing it so there is an incentive to do it. This would be done via a fake currency which you can buy items from the bot and unlock roles and chats to talk in as well as being put into award giveaways.

Helping the region is quite unspecific, so you need to define that? To give you an idea, you could potentially use it for the welcoming idea I mentioned earlier. My problem with this is while it’s a nice idea, it’s not particularly going to help us in this major spell of inactivity, unless you make this a huge thing, which I doubt you will, and if it fails it will have been a pointless waste of time if you make it big. Incredible gamble. How do you address these concerns?

By helping I mean helping taking part in the civil service or running events for us ext. I will work my hardest to make it work as well as making sure that people are involved.

Quite a nice idea actually, but I’m interested to know how it could work specifically? It’s an idea I like, I just would like a few more specifics on how it would work.

The raffles would be a $1 and entry and you might win like a steam game or something and we would keep the profits to fund events and stamps to keep this region running.

[glacieri]

We pretty much tried that for several months with the RP committee. It had no success. Since we've brought back the ministry it has worked pretty well, and there isn't much point in reversing it back to a commitee. Why are you so intent on doing this, what difference do you think it will make, and how do you answer my concerns about the idea?
This RP committee will however be overseen by a Prime Minister which knows how to run RP. There will be four committee members, each of which will run a specific aspect of RP. I agree to do the map, however I need a person to do updates on the forum and approval, events in the game, updating stats, and policy votes. I remember as a RP minister that all four of those was overwhelming for me and I wish to see it change.

As I said earlier to Sali, I'm not sure how equipped and active enough the culture department is to do these things. You have to be really instructive with them, which i'm sure you can do.. Plus, those things alone are not a specific plan to address the inactivity crisis, and will not alone solve the crisis. There's more to this crisis than Culture. Can you think of any other solutions outside Culture, and be more specific?
I put Salibaic in the culture ministry as I can, from his previous positions, be assured he will be active. Activity in any server is a combination of recruitment and in server activities and right now we are lacking. Every week I will be posting an agenda and REQUIRING that they do AT LEAST one activity per week. Because right now there is nothing.

I am very confused on your position here, as you've just said two different things, but i'll address it anyway. I think merging Foreign and Internal Affairs is a bad idea. I don't particularly see any reason why. I agree IA is hard to run but merging it with FA is a wishy-washy and an idea I can't make much sense of. Would you care to explain that in more depth?
Much of what the internal affairs duty is involves communication with people. If those were combined into Communications and the rest was put into Foreign Affairs I see no problems from both ends as it would split the little work there is to do.

Also, with all due respect to Elysium, considering he's been fired from his only two positions I don't think he's the best person to put in Internal... Would you care explaining why?
I hardly see Internal Affairs do anything at the moment, and Elysium has been fired from all of his positions. I think it is perfectly fine to put him here, they both are ministries I plan to throw away and move remaining Internal Affairs responsibilities to Communications and Foreign Affairs.

I yet again think we should just keep RP in its current form as a ministry.
No, we shouldn't, the only reason it was working is because I put 4 hours a day into it over winter break.

[Empire of Elysium]

1. Which House Bills do you plan to pass and/or repeal? Why?

Mostly bills in order to take out the various loop holes of the constitution and better defining parts of our constitution. Like stuff on voter fraud. I want to focus on these because it’s became clear due to recent events that we need to start working on various bills which will patch up these loopholes and prevent confusion.

2. In what ways should the Constitution be amended, if at all? Explain how the changes would improve the current system of governance.

Well I think my first statement says a little on this subject so I will give a specific example.

Free speech needs to be better defined, in particular how it relates to campaigning and how it relates to political comedy.

3. What qualifies you to serve in the House? What makes this qualifying?

Well first of all, I am a former minister twice in the history of force and have been in the civil service for a long time. Furthermore I’ve over all been in force for about 2 years off the top of my head. These qualify me due to them showing I have experience with the government, and just from watching as a citizen I know the in’s and outs.

4. Do you think any changes should be made to existing House Procedures? If so, what changes should be made and why?

I think that as of know house procedures are fine.

5. If elected, do you plan on running for Speaker? If so, what makes you a good candidate for this position and if not, who do you think would be a better candidate? Why?

I will not be running for speaker of the house, if elected. Loomburg,  due to him having experience

6. Do you think the way in which impeachment works should change? Should the power to impeach rest with the House or should it perhaps be given directly to the citizens?

I think that due to the houses small and inconsistent size we should change the system so that the house must approve an impeachment with a 2/3rds vote, and then much like an amendment the citizens must vote with a simple majority in favor of the impeachment.

7. How do you plan to facilitate a better working relationship between the House and Cabinet? Why do you think this is the best approach?

I think that it should be the goal in order to have the House and Cabinet communicate more. Due to Cabinet Ministers not being in the house, it is important that both sides communicate so that Ministers can give insight to the House members in their departments and possible issues Force is facing. This should hopefully in turn allow for a more productive house leading to major problems Force face finally being solved.

Note: By Communicate I mean meet

[Carropia]

1. Which House Bills do you plan to pass and/or repeal? Why?
Currently I’m fine with all the bills passed, but I do there is still more room to improve. More laws that outline government responsibility. More events and culture added to Force. I want to work closely with the future prime minister to increase Force activity.
2. In what ways should the Constitution be amended, if at all? Explain how the changes would improve the current system of governance.
I’m going to be honest, reading through the constitution I see quite a few errors which of little or no affect on interpretation. I do see room to improve upon in terms of clarification as well as touching up on Prime Minister obligations.

3. What qualifies you to serve in the House? What makes this qualifying?
I have a lot of experience being a government official. I spent almost a year as a House Rep. and have authored and passed more than 5 laws. I also spent time as the Minister of Culture and was an author for the Force Flyer. All in all I have the experience necessary to understand and be able to write and pass bills efficiently.

4. Do you think any changes should be made to existing House Procedures? If so, what changes should be made and why?
While I have not refined the idea I believe House Bill ideas should be submitted in a deprecate House channel, then during a session a Rep. can second one of the bills and the bill can go to vote after revision. I also believe that a lot of the time during a session there is overlap: overlap meaning that more than one person posts a bill during a session while only one is able to pass and be revised. I would like to streamline this process and maximize efficiency in the House.

5. If elected, do you plan on running for Speaker? If so, what makes you a good candidate for this position and if not, who do you think would be a better candidate? Why?
I do not plan to run for speaker.

6. Do you think the way in which impeachment works should change? Should the power to impeach rest with the House or should it perhaps be given directly to the citizens?
No it should rest in the House to vote and then draft articles of impeachment. Then the judicial branch charges the President with the whatever is presented in the articles.

7. How do you plan to facilitate a better working relationship between the House and Cabinet? Why do you think this is the best approach?
I think that the cabinet should approach House Reps on changes or laws that could be beneficial for them or other ministries. This is the best approach as Ministers know best what can be improved on in their ministries, while Reps can contact Ministers for feedback and ideas, I still believe that it rests on Ministries to present ideas and problems to the House.

[The UNC]

United Nations of Colombia debate answers:

1. Which House Bills do you plan to pass and/or repeal? Why? As of right now, I plan on supporting bills 15 and 21. I believe both bills provide valid points on regulations and duties for members of the regional government, allowing for better communication and effectiveness during debate periods or legislation.

2. In what ways should the Constitution be amended, if at all? Explain how the changes would improve the current system of governance. As of right now, I fully agree with the constitution, but I will always be open to suggestions for ideas that could help reinforce it.

3. What qualifies you to serve in the House? What makes this qualifying? I have a lot of previous experience in areas regarding lawmaking, politics and foreign relationships, I have participated in many models and exercises that practice situations similar to those that take place in the house, and many relations with members of the community and force government. i believe that, by using ideas, models and projects used in real-life situations, into force's problematics, while also testing new solutions, a lot can be achieved

4. Do you think any changes should be made to existing House Procedures? If so, what changes should be made and why? As of right now, I agree with all house procedures.

5. If elected, do you plan on running for Speaker? If so, what makes you a good candidate for this position and if not, who do you think would be a better candidate? Why? As of right now, I'm going to focus my first period on learning about the house and its different elements and depending on my conclusions, I might consider running during the second term.

6. Do you think how impeachment works should change? Should the power to impeach rest with the House or should it perhaps be given directly to the citizens? I feel like it should depend on voting results. Initially (and ideally) it should rest on the house, but in the event of a tie happening, i believe a public vote should be held.

7. How do you plan to facilitate a better working relationship between the House and Cabinet? Why do you think this is the best approach? I think one of the best approaches would be to allow members of the cabinet to participate in house sessions (providing viewpoints or recommendations), while at the same time allowing house members to become "advisors" to members of the cabinet, to assist projects or resolutions, while also allowing both groups to keep each other's power in check. additionally, the house or members of the cabinet could organize off-work activities to better relations (Minecraft sessions, debates, etc). All of this would help create a better environment and allow for more cooperation.

[Renegalle]

The debate period is now closed.

Killashandra has been disqualified for failing to answer the debate questions.