Caliland Election Town Hall/Debate

[Caliland]

This is where the general public can ask the candidates questions on their policies, and get a better idea of who supports what.

Here are the candidate's basic stances:

Luke Williams: pro-gun (only handguns, no concealed carry), pro- environment (popular with those who want to run an experimental eco-utopia), minimal bureaucracy, proponent of a national ferry line, expand business opportunities, invest in sports and gyms.

John Baker: anti-gun (except hunting rifles, must be locked up), wants to invest in public transport options, increase local government powers, green energy, expand jury system, avoid becoming an off-shore tax haven, no planned HOA communities.

Charles Goode: no guns (except hunting rifles, must be registered and locked up), experiment with welfare or Universal Basic Income, some taxes, supports extradition of criminals back to US, national police force, pollution regulations, possible addition of representative legislative chamber.

Dean Carter: some guns (only handguns and hunting rifles, must be registered), invest in local industries, lifting of fishing regulations, invest in innovators and science and education, supports extradition, supports SNAP or EBT-style system, more local jurisdiction, wants to invest in parks and green spaces.

Joey Mitchell: no guns (except Nerf and water guns), reduce teacher salaries, reduce school hours and increase vacation days, subsidize video game industry, remove "junk food tax", invest in roads and public utilities, jail time for not picking up your pet's droppings, anti-litter program, expand recycling, minimize traffic congestion, ban corporal or capital punishment.

Feel free to ask questions for the candidates, (that is kind of the point of this forum) and don't forget to vote and/or endorse a candidate in this forum:
viewtopic.php?f=4&t=503419&p=38577970#p38577970

[Nordeslund]

A man steps up to the mic in the debate hall, he taps the microphone and cringes when the feedback is loud, he then asks: "what are the candidates policies on international diplomacy?"

[Caliland]

A man steps up to the mic in the debate hall, he taps the microphone and cringes when the feedback is loud, he then asks: "what are the candidates policies on international diplomacy?"

Williams's stance: since Caliland is already a part of the DEA (Democratic Equality Alliance), they should get more support, and other nations are probably much too busy to care.
Baker's stance: we need to branch out from our little bubble and expand our international connections to back us up in case of war.
Goode's stance: our primary partner should be the US, since we are close and highly dependent on imports from America.
Carter's stance: our focus with diplomacy should be trade, and finding new markets for our products, and raw materials.
Mitchell's stance: other countries are not likely to take Caliland seriously, so just stick with the ones that work with us.

[Caliland]

next question please

[Caliland]

Alright then, I will ask the next question: do you believe that Caliland should have a military?

[Caliland]

Alright then, I will ask the next question: do you believe that Caliland should have a military?

William's stance: yes, but only a small one, no international intervention
Baker's stance: no, except for a coast guard
Goode's stance: no, it would seem like we are threatening the US
Carter's stance: yes, only for defending the nation
Mitchell's stance: no, because quote: ''war is bad"

[Caliland]

next question?

[Caliland]

Do I have to ask the next question?

[Caliland]

The debate will be moderated by interim president Procter. It is being held in the capital city, Wilsonville. And now, we go live to the national auditorium for the first presidential debate!
(News intro music)
"Good Morning to our national and international audience. If you're just joining us, I'm Bob Harper, chief political correspondent at KWLN-TV, and I'm joined by Sue Miller, the political reporter from the Wilsonville Times, and Jim Brookes, political blogger.
Sue: "Thanks for having us"
Jim: "It's exciting to be here, at this historic occasion"
Bob: "So, what can we expect to be the hot topics today?'
Sue: "Well, I think the economy wasn't discussed enough at the town hall, so that's a big issue"
Jim: "From what I've seen, one of the things weighing most heavily on the voter's minds is whether we can trust social media as a voting platform"
Bob: "Those are certainly major issues, but one of the biggest things about this whole becoming-another-country thing is that many people see this as a chance to start over, many people want to persue their vision of an ideal community. I think that the 'Calilandian Experiment', or the future of our young nation, is really gonna be the spotlight issue"
Sue: "So true"
Bob: "Ok, we are going to go to a commercial break, and when we return, the candidates will take the stage and begin their opening statements, we'll be right back"

[Caliland]

Bob: ''Welcome back to the debate, the candidates have taken the stage, and we now go live to the stage"
Procter (Debate Moderator): "Good Morning gentlemen, you all should know how this works, you each get 30 seconds to introduce yourselves and your agendas. Mr. Williams, you have 30 seconds"
LW: "Thank you Mr. Procter. You all know me, I've campaigned in just about all of the islands, I've spoken to many people who believe in our new nation, we believe that the great Calilandian Experiment will work, and the people only want what's best for them and their families."
JB: ''Good Morning everyone, a month ago you may never have heard of me. Yet now, I'm running for president, and I speak to you today, not as a politician, but as a fellow citizen, I want to stand up for the average Calilandian. That's why I'm running, because I believe government should be for the people, by the people and of the people.''
CG: "First of all, I want to thank all of those who made the time to come here, or took a little time out of their busy schedules to watch this debate. It shows that the average person can still take an interest in shaping the future of their community, and have a meaningful say in their government. That is why, I am no longer a proponent of a representative chamber, because I have seen that the Calilandian public is worthy and deserving of being trusted with the responsibility of governing ourselves."
DC: "Hello, everyone, I just want to say thank you to all of you for this opportunity. Before this, I could only dream of achieving something greater, but now you have given me the opportunity to work for something bigger than myself. And I would also like to say, that even if I lose, I will come out of this experience a better man than I was before. And again, thank you."
JM: "Hi, I'm Joey, and I know what you're thinking, but if you will just hear me out today, you can see that anyone, no matter what their age, can make a difference, and I'm here to prove that."
Procter: "Thank you all for those introductions, we will begin the actual debating *coughs*finally*coughs after this commercial break.''

[Caliland]

Procter: "Who has a topic they'd like to start us off with?"
DC: "I think we could start with infrastructure, my policy on infrastructure is simple, build roads where they are needed, why should the big cities have their fancy trains, when the roads in rural areas are woefully undermaintained?
JB: "He has a good point, I've driven on some very crummy roads, but the part where is disagree with him is the necessity of urban public transport, what is suggest is a system to evaluate the needs of each area's transportation and allocate funding accordingly"
LW: "Sounds good in theory, but in real life that would require a tremendous amount of bureaucracy, and only slow the whole process"
CG: "Infrastructure doesn't mean only roads and trains, it also means air and sea transport, ans seeing as the nation is literally a bunch of islands, we need to invest in those areas nationally and let the rest be taken care of locally"
LW: "Yes, that is a good idea, the cost would be significant, but worth it if we are to progress as a country"
JM: "I dunno, I get seasick, and around 15% of the population does too, maybe airplanes are where it's at. If we modernize the airports we already have, and build new ones, we could avoid barfing into the Pacific and cut travel times while we're at it"

[Caliland]

JB: "I think we're ignoring the elephant in the room here, taxes"
JM: *gasps* "He said the T-word!"
CG: "What T-word, taxes? There is absolutely nothing wrong with taxes. Taxes are the prices we pay for an orderly society"
DC: "If that isn't the most dystopian thing anyone ever said"
JB: "Well, we have to make money somehow, and we can't risk becoming an off-shore tax haven which would stain our reputation. So, maybe if we only tax incoming transactions, we can make some money and avoid becoming a hide-out for serial tax-dodgers"
LW: "You do realize the no-taxes thing is one of the biggest draws to living here right?"
DC: "Aside from the pristine beaches, mountains, and friendly coastal towns, which reminds me, don't we want to be attracting tourists to comme and spend their money here"
JB: "I mean too many tourists would ruin the place, but they are a major economic driver."
CG: "Thank you Captain Obvious"
LW: "Oooh, wait a minute, wait a minute, did the Doc just trash-talk?"
DC: *chuckles* "Haha, but seriously Baker's got a point, tourists are the new life blood of the country, ever since Bananagate.
JB: "Don't even get me started on Bananagate"
JM: "What's Bananagate?''
CG: "Long story, kid"

[Caliland]

LW: "Can we talk about something important now, like, oh, I don't know, the environment?"
DC: "Oh please, not this again"
JM: "Save the environment!"
DC: "You don't even have a plan"
JM: "Do you?"
DC: "As a matter of fact, *pulls out cardboard display*. My comprehensive Environment-Economy Balance Plan covers all the bases, green energy, wildlife habitats, green spaces,"
LW: "Your plan doesn't do enough to tackle the problem"
CG: "You're just saying that because you listen to those hippies to want to run an "Eco-utopia", here"
JB: "More like "Eco-dystopia""
CG: "While I agree on the importance of this issue, I don't think that going to the extremes is necessary"
JM: "While we're on the subject, I should point out that some of the northern channel islands were wildlife preserves before they became part of Caliland, and now that people are moving there the animals are in danger''
DC: "Actually my plan has a part in it about keeping some areas of those islands as national parks"
CG: *flipping through the plan* "Only the areas which cannot be developed due to unsuitable terrain"
DC: "See, win-win"
Procter: "I hate to interrupt but we are now at the half-way point of this debate so we will now go to a commercial break, and when we come back, it's the Presidential Debate Half-Time Show! Starring some of music's biggest names"

[Caliland]

Procter: "And, we're back to the Presidential Debate after that brief Half-Time show, the candidates will now resume debating"
JM: *still waving phone flashlight in air* "Oh, huh" *puts phone down* "Umm, what are we talking about?"
DC: *mouth full of popcorn* "Iflink ve ver tlkng ubt the flnflglrdnt"
CG: "Or, we could talk about the fact that voting by social media is ridiculous and isn't even secure"
LW: "Ok, first of all, this is the 21st century where people have record low attention spans so this is the best way to reach them, second of all we use a special app, which can be accessed via Twicher, SnapGram and InstaChat.
CG: "No FaceSpace?"
JM: "nobody uses FaceSpace anymore, just old people"
CG: "That is deliberate disenfranchisement of the elderly!"
JB: "No, it's optimizing voter turnout, if no-one uses a platform anymore, it costs the government money to link the voting app to that platform"
LW: "As for security, we use literally every firewall there is, and I believe they hired a bunch of Russian hackers to try and find any vulnerabilities, then fixed them, then got new hackers to see if there were any more. And if that isn't enough, they have a special server center in a location only Procter knows"

[Caliland]

JB: "Wouldn't it be cool if we had our own Area 51"
LW: "Firstly, there is no place remote enough around here for that, second the government shouldn't be keeping secrets, and third there is no such thing as aliens, fourthly, we have no military and fifthly, the is no such thing as aliens"
JM: "You said that twice"
CG "This does bring up the point of whether or not we should have a military"
DC: "Didn't we already discuss this in a town hall, or something?"
JB: "Yeah we did, so let's talk about something else"
LW: "Well, here's the thing, we sort of all agree that we only need a coast guard"
JM: "No, I disagree, we need no military"
All: "Then who's gonna protect us?"
JM: ''The US''
DC: "And have them leverage protection in exchange for our freedom, I don't think so"
LW: "I'm not against having a military, I'm against using intervening in far-off conflicts"

[Caliland]

CG: "That brings me to an interesting point, the DEA"
JB: "Ah, yes the DEA, I think we should work with other countries as well"
CG: "And risk getting roped into a conflict that isn't ours to fight"
LW: "This is why we need to stick with the DEA, they will only call upon us if absolutely necessary"
DC: "We're a direct democracy, right? Maybe the people should decide if we go to war, just like any other measure"
JM: "It would stop one guy from becoming a tyrant"
JB: "But in a crisis, decisive leadership is important, and if the people are split on weather or not to go to war, someone has to make the final call.
CG: "True"
DC: "Well, in any case, diplomacy isn't all about war, it's also about trade"
LW: "We don't exactly have abundant resources, we could import more from other countries"
JB: "And sell our goods to those countries"
JM: "And make jobs"
CG: "I think Bananagate showed us what happens when we try to compete in business"
JB: "Bananagate happened because of mismanagement, not because we are innately bad at marketplace competition"
LW: "Also, the farms are worker-run now, which means they get good pay"
JM: "Think of the workers"

[Caliland]

CG: "Which reminds me, nobody has said anything about welfare programs"
DC: "Too big, there, I said something, my plan is for a simpler version of a food allowance for struggling families, also there is too much bureaucracy with your system"
JM: '"Free money"
All: *glance at Mitchell*
LW: "The point is, people come here to escape the overreaches of a big government"
JB: "You mean criminals?"
LW: "No, I mean people tired of having to fill in a form for everything"
CG: "People should come here because they want to, not because we're goading them with little bonuses"
LW: "In that case no-one will move here"
JM: "That's why I propose a mosquito eradication program"
JB: "A what?"
LW: "You do realize that is impossible right?"
JM: "It's worth a try though"

[Caliland]

Procter: "Ok, we are nearing the end of the debate, so if you could please make your closing arguments"
LW: "In conclusion, I would like to say, thank you for listening to my ideas, I just want to make this country a better place to live"
JB: "I would like to thank all of my supporters and all of the citizens of this nation, thank you and have a good day"
CG: "All of my ideas are focused on one thing: you, the people. If elected I promise that I will work for you, for this great nation"
DC: "I've lived here my whole life, and I can't think of anywhere else that I'd rather live, and I know all of you, both longtime residents and newcomers, will enjoy our little piece of paradise here, and work to make it better"
JM: "I said I wanted to prove that anyone can do anything, no matter what, and with your support, we can make that happen, and prove once and for all, that age is just a number"
Procter: "Thank you for your arguments, and thank you for tuning in, and don't forget to vote."
(News outro music)