[CAMPAIGN] Deledead: Back From The Dead

[American-Cascadia]

Hello everyone, I’m American-Cascadia, otherwise known as I’m Dead. I am running for delegate because I have been slightly disappointed with the direction of the region for a little while now, no fault of any singular person. I want to help lead our region once again towards prosperity, which will take a lot of work, and I am willing to do it if it’s for The East Pacific. I know I have not been very active as of late, but that is mostly because I have been focusing on real life since my last delegate term. If elected, I will be more active instantly, as I have a lot of availability throughout the day.

Here are my specific plans for the region if I get elected:

First, I should address the elephant, or hog, in the room. I believe that a Head of Government is a great idea, as it helps ensure the region’s safety. I also believe that this would lead to more people dedicated to leading the region since we would remove the goal of just being a GCR delegate. I believe that there is no need for the head of government to hold the delegate position in the game. People should run for delegate if they want to lead, not just to get a role in the game.

I am happy to help lead TEP to this new stage in its life.

Foreign Affairs is heading in a very positive direction under Lucklife’s leadership. The whole relations tour that they are doing is a great way to show our relations that we still care about the relationship between our regions. I believe after reconfirming all of our current relations, we need to go back and start to gain relations with new regions, as I feel like we have been slightly behind in gaining these useful relationships with new regions.

In AMOM’s term, we gained new relations with TWP and ended our treaty with NPO. I fully agree that both of these were great things. If I were elected delegate, I would keep building back our relationship with TWP, hopefully to the place it was before. I am excited for the opportunity to help lead this reconciliation after so long

Recruitment has seen a good revitalization under AMOM through the new bot that was implemented. Now that we have a good way to recruit, we need more people to actually go through and do this recruitment. This is by far the most important part of the region currently that I would like to focus on as the delegate. If we build recruitment up, it will help to build up every other part of the region as well.

I do not plan on bringing back the Minister of Recruitment position because, as AMOM said, it is the duty of all of the cabinet to help recruit for the region. I will admit that I have been lazy in this for a while, but as the delegate (and even if I am not elected), I will also help recruit, as it is important to get new people into the region and government.

I also plan on doing some personal recruitment, as Zukchiva has told me. This consists of reaching out to people individually to recruit them to roles that they have the skills for. This has a lot bigger effect than telegram recruitment, and is actually the way I was originally recruited to the role of Minister of Culture all those years ago.

The EPSA needs more soldiers. I know that sometimes it may have seemed like I did not care about our army, but it is actually quite the opposite. Other than recruitment, EPSA is the most important place currently to get active members. Our army is meant to be the cornerstone of the region, meant to help protect us and make NationStates a better place. I want to work hand-in-hand with the EPSA admiral to recruit as many soldiers as humanly possible. Of course, I will follow the lead of the admiral, as I do not want to step on any toes, but I will be willing to do anything they ask of me.

I believe that the RMB Council was one of the best decisions made recently. Raising awareness of the issues of the RMBers and bringing them to the government is a great way for their voices to be heard. If elected as delegate, I will put more focus on the RMB, as I did in my original terms, so that they may feel connected to the main region and feel like they are being heard and seen. The RMB is also a great place for recruitment, as there are so many people there who are not in the government. I feel as if RMB recruitment could help the region as a whole.

The Clerical Agency was a great idea that AMOM came up with. If elected as delegate, I will keep the Clerical Agency. Under me, they would focus on revamping our dispatches and helping to reduce dispatch clutter. I do not have much to say about this now, as I have to go through and see where the region needs help currently in this aspect, but with the help of the Clerical Agency Director, I will find what needs help and make sure it gets the help it needs.

Culture is heading in a good direction. From more interregional events to the continued success of the Hunger Games, Culture has prospered. Although I believe this, I also believe that Culture needs to do more to engage the residents of the region. More tournaments, more interregional events, more contests. As delegate, I would work side-by-side with the Minister of Culture and the Minister of Foreign Affairs to get them in talks with foreign contacts to raise our event cooperation with other regions.

Under Aivintis, the News Ministry has prospered. Under my delegacy, I would hope to keep Aivintis in the role. They are harsh about deadlines, make sure everything is done on time, and make beautiful EPNS articles. There is not much else to say. Aivintis is leading EPNS back to the spot it once held.

Similar to news, Cretox has been doing a great job in WAA since they were recruited for the role. Aurora and Cretox together have done great things to keep people engaged in the World Assembly. They work together beautifully, and I hope to keep both of them in their roles. Alongside this, I hope to work with Cretox to help and get a WA authorship workshop up and running to get more TEPers into authorship.

Once again, UTEP is doing great under Sammy’s leadership. UTEP Tea Time was a great idea and helps to get people engaged in UTEP and the region in general. I hope to work with Sammy to do more things like this to help raise engagement within the region and UTEP. I hope to see some good articles come out of UTEP.

Overall, I have some ambitious plans for this region, but even if I am not elected delegate, I hope to become more active and help the region become a better place in any role I am in.

[Aurora_Yukihime]

What are you disappointed in if everything you deemed worth mentioning in your platform is doing great? How do you plan to fix whatever that may be?

While not a TEP event, Cool Name Minecraft Server is the first Executive-promoted and TEPer-created event to enforce MGC Sanctions. This sparked a lot of political division. Will TEP be inspired to continue these sanctions in future events under your leadership?

TEP’s long-time N-Day partner, Anime Nations Against Liberals (ANAL), is managed by a former TEPer the Magisterium is deliberating stripping of the Order of the Golden Ocelot Award for, in reckless summary, alleged treason. N-Day is only on the first weekend of March: you don’t have much time to decide once elected. What do you think TEP’s N-Day plans should be?

[American-Cascadia]

What I am disappointed in is that, from my and others’ perspectives, the government is not getting much done. There have been good ideas, but a lot of them have not been acted upon, in my opinion. I plan to make sure things get done.

I will continue implementing these sanctions in future events, and will not announce sanctioned events again. The announcement was not meant to show it was a TEP event or to support it, but it was because Serge was one of the main creators, and we wanted to support them. This will not happen again.

Edit: After a discussion with Aurora and Zuk on Discord, I do not regret supporting Cool Name when it originally was announced to be coming back. We were supporting a TEPer for something they were passionate about and should not be ashamed of that. I do not believe thay TEP should support the sanctions, I believe we should all be free to have fun and do what we want as a region.

Edit 2: After further discussion I fully oppose sanctions and stoll do not regret announcing CN. Sanctions and MGC are not a good way to play this game, TEPers and everyone on NS should be able to participate in whatever they want to. I would rather nuke relations with MGC regions than support sanctions. Sanctions go against what makes TEP TEP, and what makes this region and the game fun in the first place. This is not saying I will nuke relations, but if it is one or the other, I stand with the sanctioned regions and people.

I plan on leaving ANAL, and I would like to try to join JEFF, as many of our other allies are in that same faction, and I believe it would be fun to join them.

Edit: I will let the region decide on if we stay in ANAL or not.

[Zukchiva]

@American-Cascadia

What I am disappointed in is that, from my and others’ perspectives, the government is not getting much done. There have been good ideas, but a lot of them have not been acted upon, in my opinion. I plan to make sure things get done.

While I can’t comment on cabinet affairs, I think it’s wrong to say “the government is not getting much done”. Your own campaign repeatedly states for multiple Ministries that things are going well, so you’re also contradicting yourself in this regard.

EPSA has been doing the best its been since Altae’s OOship
EPNS is pumping out articles
WAA is regularily holding votes and (w/ Aiv/Cretox) C/Cing TEPers
FA, as you mention, restored relations with TWP, and we’ve been lobbing a lotta invites to foreign events in our Discord

Really our main struggle areas seem to be Culture (in that we aren’t holding a lot of domestic events beyond Hunger Games based on a quick scroll of announcements, but feel free to correct me) and UTEP (which hasn’t really done much) beyond UTEP Tea Time, which hasn’t happened in a hot minute. Recruitment is also not doing too hot, but quite frankly when has it except whenever Altys was doing recruitment all by himself with mild help from Jo? And one CAN argue FA should expand relations, but one can also argue FA shouldn’t - so that’s really personal philosophy.

Main point: The current administration has its struggles, but most administrations have a few things they’re lacking in. Your entire stated rationale for running is that the administration “is not getting much done”, but your own campaign and the general situation says otherwise, which I don’t think is fair.

We were supporting a TEPer for something they were passionate about and should not be ashamed of that. I do not believe thay TEP should support the sanctions, I believe we should all be free to have fun and do what we want as a region.

It’s your right to support that decision, but I will say I staunchly oppose any Executive promoting ANY MGC-sanctioned event, regardless if a TEPer is involved in hosting it or not. The Executive should only promote events the vast majority of TEPers can participate in. That’s my take.

[American-Cascadia]

I apologize for my take that “the government isn’t getting much done” I guess I should have said “I don’t feel like the office of the delegate is getting much done”. I feel like the rest of the government is working perfectly, but I haven’t seen much done from the delegate during this oast term. I’m sorry for pushing this on all the government instead. The government has done great things as a whole this last term and I didn’t mean to look over that.

Although I do not regret the announcement and do not prefer the sanction, I do not plan on announcing a sanctioned event again and will not be going against the sactions, as TEPers would not be able to enjoy the events anyways.

[Dremaur]

I would like for you to expand upon the “Office of the delegate not getting much done” portion of your last statement.

If you’re discussing my acting term I will not run from the fact there is not a lot of concrete things “done”. But I have signed laws, worked on recruitment, and the major push in my limited time was getting into the seat. I’ve also discussed HOG and have tried to be a voice towards getting that sorted out. But I’ll accept the overall criticism.

If you’re talking AMOM prior, all of those ministries you outlined had direction from the delegate, and those new relations/ severed relations were at his directive, so I think it’s a bit unfair to generalize his delegacy to “not much done”

[American-Cascadia]

I was more referring to right before AMOM gave you the Delegate position, AMOM did good things for a while, but things kind of went silent later on, I’m not blaming anyone for this, AMOM got busy, you got thrust into the role. I didn’t mean anything by it, it was just kind of meant to be an observation. Things just have been pretty quiet for a while.

[Zukchiva]

Alrighty, thank you for your answer!

[Mangegneithe]

So the statement “I’m unhappy with the direction of the region” became “I don’t think much is getting done” which became “I don’t think the Delegate is getting much done” to “I don’t think AMOM was getting much done when he stepped back.” This contradicts your earlier statement that it was not the fault of any individual in particular but I get not wanting to call someone out explicitly. I just would prefer a less misleading statement. I’d also note that AMOM’s perceived inability to reliably perform as Delegate is precisely why he stepped back, in violation of strong tradition for the betterment of the region. Isn’t that good? I have a feeling you’ll agree, and perhaps offer some other correction of your message. So I will push the inquiries of my peers one more time and ask you to describe your discontentment and to please be as specific and clear as possible. Please deliver it as one well thought-out statement that you can and will stand by. Take all the time you need — preferably before the voting period.

I will further ask what more you think the Delegate should be doing because although I did not read too closely, I gathered that most of your campaign revolved around Ministers and Ministries and not individual Delegate action.

And in addition to what you think the Delegate should be doing, I’d like to know if you ever mentioned it to AMOM or Dremaur; since you stated that you’ve felt that way for some time.

I think we deserve clear and direct answers on this matter, since it implicates mishandling of the highest role in the region to some degree, and it would be a very unwelcome tragedy to see an incomplete or unclear message be misinterpreted to the end of a big fight about government officials’ reliability or performance.

[American-Cascadia]

AMOM did step back because he wasn’t able to perform to his highest ability, which is good, I will agree with that. I guess I was just nervous to share my true thoughts. AMOM did great things with the ministries, I won’t discount that, but there are a few things I’d like to touch on. Which are: I was and still am unhappy with how the Cordone situation was dealt with, I don’t like how AMOM was going about restructuring the Discord (like deleting chatnouncements before ultimately bringing it back), I didn’t like how he dealt with other certain situations, and a bunch of other little things that are not important to mention, but made me unhappy with his direction for the region. When Dremaur took the Delegate spot I was happy and I was excited to see what they would do, but nothing much came from it, which was disappointing, but not suprising because they were thrust into the spot.

From my perspective, I don’t remember much from the AMOM delegacy, I don’t really remember a lot of what he did, which is why I said “he didn’t get much done”, which was very misleading, and I apologize.

I’m sorry for changing my wording so much, I didn’t want to push blame onto anyone in particular, but that just made my statements misleading and confusing. This is my final statement on the matter.

[Ladona]

What are your plans on how to make TEP a safer place for everyone to engage in, both new and established, noting that there have been several instances in the previous delegacy timeframe of rampant toxicity and outright abusive behaviour that have been swept under the rug? Happy to reach out to you in DMs if you need specifics as my goal here is not to incite drama, but to see what your plan for establishing better internal culture, not just external.

[Mangegneithe]

I’m also curious as to the answer for the above since rampant toxicity in your own administration drove myself to resign, which crippled UTEP. I say this not to brag but because even if you do not care about my feelings you cannot deny that driving me out hurt the region’s productivity. Although, to be true, it’s disappointing that I now feel the need to justify ending toxicity with a pragmatic argument precisely because I can’t count on anyone caring about my feelings.

[American-Cascadia]

The mod team usually can deal with those kinds of things, but when it involves someone higher up it can be tricky. Under my delegacy I will make sure to punish people accordingly if the moderation team cannot for any reason. This would especially include people in my cabinet. I will give warnings, and if needed, remove their role in my cabinet/the government if problems persist for a long time. I will listen to people’s problems, learn both sides, and act appropriately.

[American-Cascadia]

To be honest, I do not believe that there was rampant toxicity in my government. There was one or two incidents, but you cannot say that it was solely the people in my government causing the issues, there are two sides to each argument. When it did involve people within my government I punished them accordingly. My administration was not “rampantly toxic” and I will stand by that.

[Mangegneithe]

You know what they say: The first step to solving any problem is pretending that none exists. Not the answer I was hoping for

[Cretox]

Before I ask the candidates some generic questions, I have a few specific ones for you. You were very recently Delegate for a year, making you the most experienced currently declared candidate at actually being del. This term, and especially Dremaur’s interim delegacy, have been a blip relative to that. You expressed disappointment in this thread about AMOM and Dremaur ostensibly not accomplishing much and promised “to make sure things get done,” but you opened your last reelection campaign in June by saying that you yourself maintained the status quo and not much else. How would you make sure this time is different, what have you learned from your long tenure, and how would that shape your fourth term should you win? And above all else, why run again right now?

[American-Cascadia]

Since then I learned not to be afraid of doing things that I believe are right. During most of my tenure as delegate I was just afraid to do things because I was concerned about what people would think about it. I now know that’s just part of the job, you can’t please everyone, and that’s okay. I know it seems hypocritical because I did just go with the status quo for most of my tenure, but I promise not to be like that this time. I am running now because as I said, I am somewhat concerned about the direction of the region, and that mostly comes from some decisions made by AMOM regarding foreign affairs and certain individuals. I want to serve the region and I feel like I can do that well.

[Aurora_Yukihime]

Voting is underway. Election season is an ideas expo from many qualified folks for the Delegacy. Legally only one of us can be elected, but everyone’s goals could still be achieved.

• If you are elected, what in the other candidates’ proposals do you wish to additionally accomplish?
• If you are not elected, how do you wish to personally see that your platform gets accomplished as a Minister given the opportunity?

[American-Cascadia]

If I am elected I will go through the other campaigns and see what aligns with my vision of the region. I currently do not have any specifics, as I would wait until I am elected. I will then go to the person and ask for permission to use their ideas.

I would personally like to be either the MoFA and MoC so that I can work with foreign leadership to form new friendships and strengthen our friendships with our current friends and allies.