Eblanca | The New Political Roleplay | [IC/CLOSED]

[Gordano and Lysandus]

Sen. Diego Kahurangi
@IakopaKahurangi

---

The situation in Iran is alarming and has come as a very sudden escalation of regional tensions. The PVC and I hope all Eblancans in the Middle East can be brought home, and is fully supportive of the Government in this particular time of crisis. The PVC will be suspending campaigning temporarily so as to not interfere in any way with the Government's activities to help protect Eblancan lives overseas. This is not the time for partisanship, but rather to acknowledge that Eblanca needs unity and strength in case the situation should get worse.

[The World Capitalist Confederation]

General John J. Burns
@GeneralBurnsc

To all those in Montgri: Please note that the protest has ended and that I had already left several hours ago. I wish to express that my intent was not to disrupt a response to the situation in Iran, but rather to the matter of government allies harassing critics. Me and the CNPE are fully dedicated to the safety and security of Eblancan citizens, no matter where they might be. We will suspend campaigning temporarily, as it is our full duty to rally behind our military and our flag in this time of crisis. After all, how can one call one's self a patriot if he undermines his own country?

[The World Capitalist Confederation]

General John J. Burns
@GeneralJohn

It is indeed an unpatriotic act to question one's nation and one's leaders at a time of crisis, no matter what they do. I am a conservative, yes, but I am also a patriot and an Eblancan, and as such I pray that this situation resolves as soon as possible, in order to ensure that our citizens are safe. It is not the time for pettiness nor partisanship, only unity.

[Granluras]

Elena Marquéz de Pedregón
Defence Ministry

"Has Burns' protest interfered with our ability to get the President out here?" Elena complained, evidently frustrated at being short staffed, as she directed defence officials to start drafting up the orders that President Estrada would need to sign off on. She thanked Jiro for firing off a reply to Burns for her, though she still hoped the EPF would give them a similarly bloody nose for the blind, selfish opportunism. She then turned to look at Diego, her Chief of Staff. "What time this afternoon can the national broadcaster fit the President and I in? And I need to release a statement now rather than later anyway."

Diego was stuck staring at Jiro with a pissed look. Jiro had gone ahead and done exactly what he said not to do, address the incident. There was no reason to respond, and now General Burns could scorn the government for something wrong it did. As a PR professional, it caused his blood to boil. The Prime Minister’s question broke his solemn gaze, and he turned to her.

“Well uh, you have a pretty open schedule. I’d suggest sometime between 4 and 6 in order to give a short statement. I’ll have a senior aide contact the national broadcaster’s office to set it up.” Diego informed her.

[Dentali]

Elena Marquéz de Pedregón
Defence Ministry

"Has Burns' protest interfered with our ability to get the President out here?" Elena complained, evidently frustrated at being short staffed, as she directed defence officials to start drafting up the orders that President Estrada would need to sign off on. She thanked Jiro for firing off a reply to Burns for her, though she still hoped the EPF would give them a similarly bloody nose for the blind, selfish opportunism. She then turned to look at Diego, her Chief of Staff. "What time this afternoon can the national broadcaster fit the President and I in? And I need to release a statement now rather than later anyway."

Diego was stuck staring at Jiro with a pissed look. Jiro had gone ahead and done exactly what he said not to do, address the incident. There was no reason to respond, and now General Burns could scorn the government for something wrong it did. As a PR professional, it caused his blood to boil. The Prime Minister’s question broke his solemn gaze, and he turned to her.

“Well uh, you have a pretty open schedule. I’d suggest sometime between 4 and 6 in order to give a short statement. I’ll have a senior aide contact the national broadcaster’s office to set it up.” Diego informed her.

The President bursts into the room with significant energy and concern "Good evening everyone... where are we at?"

[The World Capitalist Confederation]

Burns, seeing as the campaign had been suspended, had decided to attend to his business a little bit more than usual. He decided to do something which could perhaps benefit his campaign through his business, without being related to the campaign. But first, he needed a poll to see whether or not he would go ahead of it. He called up his Head of PR, and asked him to get a decently-sized poll to gauge the mood of the public regarding foreign policy, specifically on Eblanca-US cooperation.

[Granluras]

Diego was stuck staring at Jiro with a pissed look. Jiro had gone ahead and done exactly what he said not to do, address the incident. There was no reason to respond, and now General Burns could scorn the government for something wrong it did. As a PR professional, it caused his blood to boil. The Prime Minister’s question broke his solemn gaze, and he turned to her.

“Well uh, you have a pretty open schedule. I’d suggest sometime between 4 and 6 in order to give a short statement. I’ll have a senior aide contact the national broadcaster’s office to set it up.” Diego informed her.

The President bursts into the room with significant energy and concern "Good evening everyone... where are we at?"

Diego jumped slightly as Estrada came rushing in, but cleared his throat and recomposed himself.

“We’ve just gotten to deciding to evacuate all our citizens from Iran. Also, we’re gonna be setting up a broadcast at around 4 or 6 to deliver a statement to the nation on the situation.” Diego informed Estrada.

[Gordano and Lysandus]

The President bursts into the room with significant energy and concern "Good evening everyone... where are we at?"

"US and Iran are in open conflict, we're trying to shut down any further travel from Eblanca to Iran, and we're putting the Air Force on standby to evacuate civilians from the Middle East. We're trying to look at getting Eblancans out of the Middle East where we can, the Eblancan embassy in Tehran needs to be evacuated, and the remaining embassies across the Middle East need to be reinforced. I'm trying to get through to the US State Department, we need you and me on television somewhere between 4 and 6, we need to release a written statement sometime in the next half hour and we need to make clear to all parties that harm coming to any Eblancan citizens will be considered unacceptable." In contrast to Estrada's youthful energy, Pedregón's age was definitely showing. 88 was too old to be dealing with a situation like this, and it exposed the difficulty arising from someone like her filling this role. "Your Excellency, we need you to sign off on the orders for the Forces."

[Dentali]

The President bursts into the room with significant energy and concern "Good evening everyone... where are we at?"

"US and Iran are in open conflict, we're trying to shut down any further travel from Eblanca to Iran, and we're putting the Air Force on standby to evacuate civilians from the Middle East. We're trying to look at getting Eblancans out of the Middle East where we can, the Eblancan embassy in Tehran needs to be evacuated, and the remaining embassies across the Middle East need to be reinforced. I'm trying to get through to the US State Department, we need you and me on television somewhere between 4 and 6, we need to release a written statement sometime in the next half hour and we need to make clear to all parties that harm coming to any Eblancan citizens will be considered unacceptable." In contrast to Estrada's youthful energy, Pedregón's age was definitely showing. 88 was too old to be dealing with a situation like this, and it exposed the difficulty arising from someone like her filling this role. "Your Excellency, we need you to sign off on the orders for the Forces."

"Right... notify the United States and Iranian governments we are evacuating them, issue a travel advisory. The Prime Minister and I will make a joint statement... yes thats the right thing to do. Issue a strong statement of neutrality, we can't afford to piss off the United States right now... Maybe we can reach out to the Philippines and Indonesia to establish a more local alliance or relations, show we are not too heavily aligned with the US... thats a tomorrow problem."

"As for right now dispatch the evacuation forces, we need to make sure they aren't caught in the crossfire of the conflict though so inform the US and Iran they are coming and coordinate with their command. Also get in touch with the UAE, Oman and Pakistan. See if we can get help evacuating, some staging grounds for our forces."

"We can't evacuate the whole Middle East, start with Iran and then we can do the rest on a case by case basis, the state department can issue threat levels depending on the risk.

[Granluras]

Palacio de Republica, Montgri, Eblanca

---

Gathered in the morning hours in Diego’s office, a twenty-five-by-fifteen foot modernist room, were the senior staff of the Prime Minister’s Office. Diego was sat at his desk, a simple wooden desk that had a narrow draw below the tabletop and pull-out cabinet to the right of it. The desktop was fashioned with a four piece display of picture frames to the left, a government computer in the center, and a stuffed paper stand beside two upright binders on the right. In between everything were sparse scatterings or spent/trashed/disorganized paperwork and utensils. The several senior staffers in the room were sat in the three chairs Diego had in his office, or standing elsewhere. From the right to the left, the people Diego had gathered were: Violeta Manzanares, a slim and tall light brunette who served as the Press Secretary; Tomas Armando, the pepper haired and portly Director of Communications; Sebastian Atenas, the tall and tan Assistant Chief of Staff; Serafín Aguinalo, a dark brown and average height man who was the youngest of the team, and who served as Assistant Director of Communications; and finally, Gonzalo Navarro, a tan and brown haired middle-aged man whose role was Senior Adviser to the Prime Minister, a position which portfolio alternated between a specific duty that wasn’t bound to an office (cf. Communications), or a non-specific senior aide (under Pedregon, it was the latter). All who were missing were Vivian Fraga, the Prime Minister’s Chief Counsel, and Miguel Alcocer, Parliamentary Liaison (usually a senior staffer for a Senate officer who served as a mouthpiece between the Senate and Executive). Diego, his hands clasped and pressed against his mouth, was looking at a news article on his computer, before he turned to his staff.

“Buena manañas, todos.” Diego said, responded to with tired replies.

“Election season is upon us, mis amigos, aren’t we pumped!?” Diego added with faux enthusiasm, which was replied to with straightforward disinterest. “Heh, well, like it or not, it’s time to begin preparing. We got meetings, press coverage, polls, and strategies to formulate. We got a few months till the election, and we got to make this one count.”

Everyone shifted in their places. Then, Sebastian raised a dark finger.

“Uh, Señor?” He asked.

Diego turned to him.

“Eh?”

“You seem to be putting some emphasis on this election cycle. However, shouldn’t we expect this to be a pretty routi—”

“Ah, ah, al contrario, amigo,” Diego interjected, shaking his head with a smile, “this is a very different and critical election we’re approaching. For two reasons, that is. First off, Señora Pedregon is no longer simply a prominent backbencher or senior Senator, she is the Prime Minister. She is the incumbent head of our government, the face of our country, leader of the Senate. She holds a much more sensitive and integral position now, and she is no longer simply Sagrado Corazón’s senator, no no no, she is Eblanca’s senator. Second, la dama is nearly 90 years old, which has lead many people to believe she’s become too...oh how do I put this...eh, old to be an effective leader. Now, while not questioning her efficiency, I do acknowledge that the Prime Minister has began to move and talk slower, hears not as well, sees not as well, nor writes all that well.”

“Mhm, I see.” Sebastian said.

“So, señor, what does that mean we have to do differently this year?” Violeta asked.

“Well, that’s a bit simple. Let’s say the factors that really define a strong election can be organized into four ambiguous categories. The one category we are slacking in this election is integrity and appearance. An elderly and slow Prime Minister does not make for an electable figure. She’ll become weak in her country and, as importantly, in her district. We’ve seen this take a statistical effect on her, as the confidence of her constituents has begun to falter recently. We need to find a way to boost the Prime Minister’s energy and speed, even if just for the election.” Diego answered.

“If you’d like Señora Pedregon to breakdance during a rally, then I think we need to further rethink our strategy.” Gonzalo said, drawing laughter from his colleagues.

“Jaja, Gonzalo,” Diego scoffed, “breakdancing is not the action we need the Prime Minister to perform to show her remaining energy. All we need is for her to be able to punctually and tirelessly attend a few campaign rallies and meetings so she shows herself as, yes, old but no, not decrepit.”

“She’ll be expected to appear at quite a few events. Rallies held by allies, perhaps rallies held by up-and-coming stars of the party, and of course she’ll be attending the National Convention. How do we schedule all that so it’s not exhausting?” Sebastian inquired.

“Quierdo mí, I feel like we should have invited in the Physician of the Prime Minister. Umm...for the moment, our campaigning strategy will be defined as limited. La señora will not be going on as many trips, except to very close allies and perhaps one or two other lucky guys. Additionally, if she has to meet with her constituents they can come to her, por ejemplo: she wants to meet with some ironworkers, she’ll simply hold a meeting here with some union reps in the Palacio de República, rather than her traveling a few dozen miles to their office.”

The senior team shared glances with one another, then nodded approvingly of the set up. Diego smiled with relief, and sighed, sitting up in his chair and cracking his knuckles.

“Bueno, bueno, this is good. We shall definitely be ready when the election comes in a few months.” Diego said.

“Do we have any duties? Responsibilities you’d like to hand out to us now?” Violeta asked.

“Hmm...well, Sebatian I’m going to task you with contacting the CREN and request a national and regional poll that highlights what the Prime Minister’s three strongest and weakest points are among the national and district populaces, and also to determine how big of an issue age is among the voters.” Diego replied, a firm nod coming back from Sebastian. “Then, Violeta, I want you to keep our strategy out of the hands of the press for at least the next week. Each day I plan on us solidifying more and more of our plan, and running it past the Prime Minister, too, so we know she can handle it. Thirdly, Tomas, I want you to go to Francesca and tell her to refrain from posting snapbacks nor commentary on any other politician and/or their campaign lest it goes by me first. Loose-mouthed and unsupervised comments not from the Prime Minister’s own lips should not be circulated lest we want a bit of hot air directed our way.”

Tomas curled his lips in a negative look, and he shifted his body language to a similar tone.

“Uhh, this isn’t going to sound good since I’m assuming she’s a subordinate of mine, but wh-who’s Francesca?” Tomas asked.

“Heh, she’s the Assistant Director of Digital Strategy.” Diego told Tomas.

“Ah, r-right.” Tomas said in a somewhat embarrassed tone.

“Anyone else want jobs?” Diego asked, looking at Serafín and Gonzalo. They both shook their heads. “Alrighty, then we’re good here. Dismissed.”

“Gracias, señor.” They all replied, turning to exit. Violeta remained behind, pulling out a folded page of a notepad from the thick Manila folder she was holding under her arm.

“Oye, Violeta, can I help you with something?” Diego said, noticing Violeta still standing in front of him.

“Nah, I just have this message to deliver to you. An email from someone, err...Milagros Cruz.” Violeta replied, handing the paper to him.

“Oh, Milagros!? Wow, that’s a name I haven’t heard of in over a decade. We were old college buddies; Mila was a political studies major. Damn, how long has it been now since Vantéra?” Diego exclaimed happily, taking the paper,

“Twenty-two years.” Violeta said.

“Wh-really? Maldito, I didn’t think it’s been that long.” Diego said, shaking his head in disbelief,

“Yeah, shocking. Hey, think about it! In another speedy twenty-two you’ll officially be a senior citizen.” Violeta cruelly reminded Diego, whose face turned sour.

“¡Ay, callate y sal!!” Diego shouted angrily. Violeta sped out of the office with a big grin and stifled laugh.

Diego sighed and opened the message. It was handwritten, likely transcribed from Violeta’s screen, which was something he didn’t particularly like as a pro-digital and environmental boss, but there was so little he could control to a totalitarian degree. He unfolded the paper and read its contents.

Cuanto tiempo, mi amigo,

Man, it feels like it’s been ages since we last talked! In fact, I do know how long it’s been since we were last together: ten years, at the 2009 Vantéra Class of 1999 Reunion. I suppose we didn’t have an impetus to stay in touch, especially as you had moved to Montgri while I had moved back to Viamara. However, I believe we might have an impetus to get back in touch. Let me give some exposition first.

After we graduated I took several short jobs as a junior staffer for three senators from Viamara and a more high-profile one from Sagrado Corazón. I was then hired to be a senior legislative aide to Senator Antonío Acosta from 2005 to 2009. In 2010, I decided to stretch my political muscles some more and ran in a threeway election for Vice President of the Viamara Department NLC. I lost it, unfortunately (39.7%-35.5%-24.8%), but due to how well I did for a first-timer and due to my credentials I was made Policy Coordinator of the group. After growing my influence within the party, and kind of outgrowing what my position was for, I ran again in the 2014 election for President, and won a plurality (36.6%-34.7%-28.7%), and I’ve kept that position to the present. I’ve now wanted to go further, and four months ago I launched an exploratory committee into a run for my Senate constituency. I’m looking for some good brawn and brain for when I go official with my campaign, and having been following your career since you started working with Señora Pedregon, I decided you’d be the best person to work with for that. Who better to be seen affiliated with than the senior deputy of the head of government?

I don’t want this to seem like I’m coming out of the woodwork for favors from you. That’s why I’d be willing to spend the next week or two reminiscing before we got down to professional matters. I’ll be available for two hours at 3:00 PM tomorrow, or at 12:00 PM this Wednesday; I’ll be in Montgri all week. We have some time till the elections, and I’m not particularly worried about the primaries (since I’m the local president of the NLC in this district), so I don’t need help with that. Hope to hear from you soon, Diego. I can’t wait to see us back together again. Que pases un buen día, amigo.

Sincerely,
Milagros Cruz.

“Huh, interesting.” Diego said, pondering his old friend’s message. It was an interesting prospect. Recollecting with an old friend? He liked to do that. Getting people elected? He loved to do that. Getting an old friend elected? ¡Él encanta! He lifted the phone that was on his desk and entered a four-digit extension. “Hey, María, can you send an email to Milagros de la Cruz, he’s the President of the NLC in Viamara, and tell him: ‘Señor Garrido would be delighted to meet with you. A meeting at Café a ^c/Roméro at 3:00 PM on Wednesday the 15 shall be arranged.’? ...okay, gracias.”

Diego hung up the call with a smile on his face, enthusiastic about this little reunion. Perhaps if he muddled up his record trying to re-elect Pedregon he could use Milagros as a fall back. “N-no, no, don’t think that,” Diego thought to himself with a self-disappointed shake of the head.

[Agarntrop]

EBLANCA NEWS CHANNEL 3: THIRD NIGHT OF AIR OFFENSIVE ON IRAN. 14TH JANUARY.

A series of thunderous explosions rocked Tehran as U-S and Israeli forces pressured a punishing air offensive on Iran for a third night. Reporters in Tehran saw fiery streaks descending from the sky in what appeared to be Tomahawk cruise missiles spreading across the sky in descending arcs and landing in giant fireballs. The sound of warheads exploded a few seconds late, lighting the pre-dawn horizon in a red glow that silhouetted palm trees against the dark sky.

Iranian anti-aircraft gunners opened fire, filling the sky with booms and bright red flashes. Bright orange tracer bullets streaked across the night sky. When the attack ended, ambulances and fire trucks with sirens blazing were speeding away. The attack appeared to be the most severe and dramatic on Tehran since U-S and Israeli forces began the airstrikes two days ago to punish Iran for its alleged involvement in the killings of American servicemen.

Before last night's attack, the United States fired nearly 300 cruise missiles from ships in the Gulf or from B-52 bomber aircraft. The missiles carry warheads of up to 1,365 kg (3000 lbs). Iran says 25 people have been killed and 75 injured in the last two nights. Last night's explosions were not preceeded by air raid sirens, implying for the first time the strikes eluded Iranian air defences.

The Pentagon reported yesterday that initial bomb-damage assesments indicate only a small number of targets were destroyed or severely damaged even though Iran put up virtually no resistance. For example, of the 27 Iranian surface to air missile facilities attacked, only one was destroyed and eight suffered no damage. The Iranian military claims its anti-aircraft batteries have shot down 77 incoming missiles so far.

[Gordano and Lysandus]

"Right... notify the United States and Iranian governments we are evacuating them, issue a travel advisory. The Prime Minister and I will make a joint statement... yes thats the right thing to do. Issue a strong statement of neutrality, we can't afford to piss off the United States right now... Maybe we can reach out to the Philippines and Indonesia to establish a more local alliance or relations, show we are not too heavily aligned with the US... thats a tomorrow problem."

"As for right now dispatch the evacuation forces, we need to make sure they aren't caught in the crossfire of the conflict though so inform the US and Iran they are coming and coordinate with their command. Also get in touch with the UAE, Oman and Pakistan. See if we can get help evacuating, some staging grounds for our forces."

"We can't evacuate the whole Middle East, start with Iran and then we can do the rest on a case by case basis, the state department can issue threat levels depending on the risk.

Aides at desks at the sides of the room would bring draft orders over to President Estrada to read and sign if he was happy with them, and Elena set about making a series of phonecalls for plans. She turned to her Chief of Staff and asked him to help prepare both the written statement to be imminently dispatched and the verbal statement she would give after the President's statement later that day. Pinching the bridge of her nose, she exhaled harshly before continuing. "I am probably panicking about wanting to evacuate the whole Middle East but yes, if we can get everyone out of Iran at least, that would be a godsend."

[Sao Nova Europa]

Professor José Mariano Gerardo, Chairman of Social Democratic Party, has posted a new post on his personal blog (JoséSocialDemocrat). He has shared it on his Twitter and Facebook accounts: the professor maintains an active and strong presence on social media to bypass traditional media and reach new, mainly young and educated, audiences.

A Case for Eblancan Social Democracy

In our campaigning, both I and fellow party members and activists have made our case for why people should vote for the SDP. In this post, I want to reach out to those of you who are receptive to our policies and message but who are not yet persuaded to entrust us with your vote. I also want to reach out to those of you who are looking for a party beyond the traditional, established political forces do not know much about our party.

We are at a critical point in our nation's history. The far right is on the rise and the mainstream center-right seems unable to stop its rise; in fact, it is in many ways responsible for the rise of far right populism as its economic policies, despite their success in fostering GDP growth, have not benefited the entirety of the population, instead leaving large parts of the populace outside the prosperity that our nation generally enjoys. Those people are rightfully angry as they see on the one hand the economy growing but on the other hand they do not see any personal material benefit; they feel left out.

What we need is an economy that works for all; both the few and the many. It is possible to combine a high-growth economic agenda with policies that promote solidarity and social justice. This is not an empty latitude; we have comprehensive policies to propose: a combination of a smart tax policy and a reform of our public administration.

Tax policy should not penalize innovation and entrepreneurship. However, simply lowering the tax burden is not doing any good for the economy and, most importantly, the average Eblancan man and woman. We need a smart tax policy that affects the behavior of corporations and engineers our economy towards the direction we want to take it. We shall implement an increase of corporate taxation to 20%. Do mind you that the US has a flat federal corporate tax of 21% and the UK has a tax rate of 20%. Both are countries that are generally, and rightfully, considered right of center and have conservative governments. As such, raising corporate taxation to 20% is not a radical measure by any degree - unless someone considers the GOP and the Tories to be left-wing.

Raising corporate taxation has two goals: increase state revenues to invest in our public education and healthcare and to affect the behavior of corporations. Corporations will get cuts in their corporate tax up to 8%, which means some of them will pay only a 12% corporate tax, in accordance to the proportion of native Eblancans they hire each year. The more people they hire, the less tax they will pay. That is a smart policy; by tying the tax burden to employment policies, we ensure that corporations behave in the way we want. Instead of hoarding money, they shall invest it in expanding their operations and hiring new employees in order to lower their tax burden.

We are also looking forward to cutting taxes for the working and middle classes, while retaining the same tax rate for higher incomes. $5,000-$10,000, we shall lower from 2.5% to 1%. $10,000-$15,000, from 5% to 3%. $15,000-$20,000, from 7.5% to 6%. $20,000-$25,000, from 10% to 9%. $25,000-$30,000, from 12.5% to 11.5%. $30,000-$45,000, from 15% to 14%. $45,000-$65,000, from 20% to 19%. Those rather modest tax cuts are meant to benefit the vast majority of Eblancans.

Our economic policy is export-oriented and investment-oriented. We shall create an Office for Investments that shall have a high budget and will advertise abroad our country, in order to attract foreign capital and create new jobs. We shall sign free trade agreements with the United States, the European Union and our neighboring countries in order to increase our exports abroad. We need to be focused on exports, the surest way to make our country competitive, innovative and rich. Free trade and economic globalization have the greatest anti-poverty policies mankind has seen. Social Democrats are the party of trade and entrepreneurship.

The second aspect of our reformist agenda is to reform the public administration to make it more friendly to the average man and woman. We shall establish Annual Evaluation Reports for all civil servants. Depending on their performance, they will each be seeing every year a slight increase or decrease in their wage. Tying wage to performance shall ensure that the state offers the best services to its citizens. We shall also institute a new body of technocrats and police & financial agents, the Anti-Corruption Investigative Body, to monitor the public sector for any signs of corruption and to be an advocate of public interest. We shall examine carefully all regulations and cut the ones that do nothing to protect consumers and workers but instead add only red tape. We need smart regulations, not complex and anti-business ones.

But our greatest bet is the complete digitization of all public services, allowing Eblancan citizens to have all services they need available in an app on their smartphone - no more red tape and long waits. This shall greatly reduce the cost of our services while dramatically enhancing their quality. In order to make this a reality, we shall undertake an ambitious program of updating our cyber infrastructure to 5G and ensuring broadband connection to all parts of the country.

Making our administration smoother is just one part of our reformist agenda. Another is to increase spending for our healthcare and education systems. We need to hire many new teachers for our public school and ensure smaller classes with fewer students each; this shall benefit the students who will not be ignored and their individual needs and attributes will be noticed by their teacher, allowing them to adjust classes to their benefit. We shall increase the number of teachers by 15% and increase their salary by 7%. We shall also invest in our healthcare system, increasing the number of doctors and nurses by 10% each and increasing their salary by 10%. Our investment shall be financed by the raise in corporate taxation and the reduction of waste that our reform of the public administration shall bring.

But our greatest social agenda will be to institute a Minimum Guaranteed Income. It shall be paid by partially replacing some of the unemployment benefits and by the increased revenues of corporate taxation. It shall target low income individuals - we need to ensure that no one in our nation lives in poverty. We cannot call ourselves a developed, prosperous nations when they are little kids that go hungry at night because their parents are not able to afford a good meal. We cannot allow hard-working people to work for hours upon hours for little material benefit. A Minimum Guaranteed Income is the greatest anti-poverty policy. Unlike other welfare programs, it gives money directly to the hands of the people it wants to help. This grants them economic freedom - they choose what to do with that money, not bureaucrats. Because we trust low income people - we do not view them paternalistically.

My post has so far focused on our economic agenda, but perhaps the most important part of our Social Democratic agenda is our policy to tackle climate change. We are an island nation and rising sea levels as a result of man-caused climate change is a danger to our national security and way of life. We cannot afford middle of the way policies and we cannot afford inaction on the part of our political elites. We shall pass stringent environmental regulations to stop the pollution of corporations and protect our wildlife and natural environment. We shall implement a tax of 2% to airplane tickets and spend that money on investing on public transportation. We shall ban use of plastic by government agencies and implement a tax of 1% on the use of plastic.

We shall raise the carbon tax to 8% for individuals and 10% to corporations instead of the current flat tax of 6.5% we have. We need to become carbon neutral. The revenue raised by the carbon tax shall be used to offer job training and welfare benefits to people affected by environmental regulations. While we care about the environment, we also cannot afford to leave anyone behind. People who will be affected by such regulations need our support and will have it. We shall also offer corporate tax cuts of 2 to 5% to corporations that invest in renewable resources and electric cars, thus creating thousands new jobs in green industries. People who have been affected by environmental regulations shall be the ones who will be hired in such new jobs. We shall decrease VAT on electric cars and environmentally conscious products from the current 15% tax to 12%. We need climate action and climate justice now!

We also need social justice! We cannot allow communities to feel marginalized in our country: we need legal equality for everyone. All peoples of Eblanca need to feel at home in our great country. We shall liberalize abortion laws and ensure free reproductive healthcare for all women. We shall ensure ensure equal rights for our LGBTQI+ community and make them feel safe to be who they are. We shall increase the participation of women in the workforce by offering up to 1% cut in corporate tax for corporations in proportion to the women they hire. Women who work and have a stable source of income do not have to rely on abusive partners, can be independent and can be truly equal to men. We shall offer tax incentives, up to 1% of corporate tax cut, to corporations in proportion to the number of indigenous people they hire. We need to make sure our indigenous peoples are truly equal and have the same opportunities as everyone else.

We shall bring highly-skilled and educated immigrants to our nation by offering them tax benefits and a quick path to citizenship - we need bright men and women from across the globe to make Eblanca their home. Last but not least, the Social Democrats shall legalize marijuana for recreational use. The war on drugs is a failed reactionary and socialist, as Milton Friedman stated, experiment. We support individual freedom and we do not want to ruin the lives of young people over something that is legal in many advanced countries with no negative impact whatsoever.

With regards to policing and crime, we need to increase our police force by 5%. We need to increase the salary of our men and women by 4% and we need to buy them new equipment. We need to create new Motorized High-Speed Units to patrol our streets and be able to intervene quickly. We need regular patrols on all streets. Rich people have private security and can afford to be safe; it is the working and middle classes that most need a strong police force and an enforcement of law and order. We shall also institute an Investigative Police Body to examine all accusations of police abuse/brutality. We need to be tough on enforcing the law but we should also be tough on defending the rights of the individual; we cannot allow abuse of police power.

We shall also institute a Workers' Rights Inspectors team, made up of police and financial agents, to ensure that corporations adhere to proper regulations and do not violate workers' rights. We are pro-corporation, pro-business and pro-market but we are also pro-worker. We want an economy that does not exploit our workers. We need an economy that defends the dignity of our hard-working men and women and does not exploit them. We also need to ensure that first-time criminals on lite sentences can get job training in prison in order to integrate successfully in society upon exit from prison. A kid who gets jailed for a small-time theft should not see his life destroyed before his eyes; he needs to get training, so that upon exit he can become a productive and law-abiding member of society who benefits his fellow men and women.

On foreign policy, we need to maintain close ties to liberal democracies, mainly the United States, the European Union, the UK, Australia, New Zealand, Japan and South Korea. Eblanca needs to align itself with nations that share our values of liberalism, democracy and human rights. We should not deal with authoritarian dictatorships that violate human rights and human dignity. We need to be a beacon of liberty in the world. We need to shine brightly! On China, we shall pursue a pragmatic agenda of rapprochement and economic ties but making sure that they understand that our place is with liberal democracies. On our military, we need to maintain the current defense spending with only slight increases over time. Those increases should mainly focus on buying new high-tech equipment for our brave armed forces.

As those who read this post can see, we have precise policies on all issues. We do engage in petty arguments with other political parties nor do we focus on meaningless slogans and platitudes. We are the party of rationalism, humanism and reason. I ask for your vote if you want a moderate, progressive alternative. If you believe in the market economy but want everyone to share its benefits. If you want legal quality for every Eblancan and cannot tolerate racism, sexism, homophobia and transphobia. If you care about climate change and want to do something about it before it is too late. If you care about ending inefficiency and corruption and making the state work for you. If you want a tough enforcement of law and order but without excesses and brutality. If you want change but reject the extremes of the far right and the far left.

We are a new party. We are a movement that was founded only in 2018. We do not have the baggage that other older parties carry. We are here to change politics, not upkeep the status quo. We have many bright people in our party, prominent professors and fiery activists. We want to fight for you.

We are the change!
We can bring Hope and Change!
For Justice, Freedom and Change!

Vote for the Social Democratic Party.

[Sao Nova Europa]

Social Democratic Party Press Office:

The Social Democratic Party fully supports our government's efforts to bring back safely from the Middle East Eblancan citizens. We are fully in agreement with the calls of other political forces that this is not the time for partisanship and that we need national unity.We shall not engage in pointless critique and shall instead trust our government to do its best for our citizens. We pray for all our citizens to return home safely.

[Agarntrop]

EBLANCA NEWS CHANNEL 3: IRANIANS CELEBRATE HALT TO BOMBINGS. 15TH JANUARY.

Iranians in Tehran have been celebrating the end of the U-S and Israeli airstrikes that have raided the city for four consecutive nights. Most people welcomed the decision to stop the strikes and called it a victory for their country.

The U-S President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netenyahu simultaneously announced their descision to halt military action against Iran after a 70 hour campaign. In the capital Tehran there was a feeling of relief that the strikes were over. The country has been plummeled in an air offensive intended to punish the Iranian regime for having links to Kataib Hezbollah, an Iraqi paramilitary organisation that has been accused by the U-S of killing their servicemen during riots in Iraq just over two weeks ago, accusations Kataib Hezbollah deny.

[Sao Nova Europa]

With the bombings in Iran coming to an end and the situation in the Middle East, at least temporarily, stabilizing, Professor José Mariano Gerardo was able to continue his campaigning, which he had put to a halt due to the Iran crisis. The professor knew that he had to campaign far more than other political leaders and be more energetic and active since he was lagging behind; his campaign so far had attracted rather below average media attention and while his rallies were alright for a small party, José knew he could do better.

José was anxious about how the new polls would show the SDP doing. 'I must make an impact now,' he thought as he walked inside the crowded hall. He had managed to gather more than two hundred people in this rather spacious hall in Montgri. The rally was going to be broadcast online on his YouTube channel as well as on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.

After the customary greetings and mentions of the names of various organizers and activists, whom he thanked dearly, the professor began in earnest the main part of his speech.



"We need 21st century solutions to 21st century problems. This might seem a banal statement but one only has to look on our left and right to see that it is not. Both the right and the left think in 20th century terms. The right seems to think that the market can self-regulate and that cutting taxes will magically solve all our problems. The left, on the other hand, proposes large scale nationalizations that are reminiscent of an older era and that have proved to have failed. We need market-based solutions but with the decisive intervention of the state to engineer socially desirable outcomes."

"Taxation is an important tool that can help shape market outcomes. Overtaxing corporations is not the answer; it will simply drive way job-making corporations from our island and cause economic hardship and job loss. Undertaxing corporations and granting them huge tax cuts is no the way to go either; it will simply starve our public services of the necessary resources. It will lead to underfunded schools and hospitals. Our proposal of a 20% corporate tax rate is a reasonable one that is low enough so as not to drive away corporations but high enough to ensure a decently funded welfare state."

"Our proposal of reducing that tax rate up to 8%, in proportion to the number of native Eblancans they hire, is an example of a 21st century solution. We are influencing the behavior of the market through the decisive intervention of the state; in this case through taxation. This is a market based solution to the problem of unemployment but one that is made possible by the state. It rejects both the heavy-handed interventions of the left and the negligence of the right."

"We need large scale investments in our schools and hospitals. Education and healthcare are vital for our country and economy. What does a healthy market economy need? Well-educated, healthy workers. Neglecting those social services harms the market. We need to hire more teachers, nurses and doctors and raise their salaries. I have already stated the relative percentages, both in posts & speeches and on my website. In this speech, I shall focus on how those interventions shall make peoples' live better."

"Smaller classes with fewer students will allow better learning for our students. When there are too many students, with variety in performance and skills, many are not able to adjust well in the class and teachers do not have the time to focus on the students as much as is needed. Smaller classes will mean teachers getting to know better their students and adjusting the classes to better enhance their performance and learning. More nurses and doctors in our hospitals will mean less waiting time and more available health-services. We need a healthy population."

"Another issue I want to raise is our plan to combat poverty. The far right and the populists are on the rise, and this can be explained by the far that large segments of our population have not been able to share the prosperity we enjoy. We need to make sure everyone sees the benefits of market economics. We have three powerful tools in our disposal to combat poverty: more investment in healthcare & education, tax cuts for the working and middle classes and instituting a Minimum Guaranteed Income."

"A Minimum Guaranteed Income is a policy that will help eradicate once and for all poverty in Eblanca. Low-income individuals shall be able to get in hand cash and have the freedom to spend it. We want to help poorer people, not dictate their lives through bureaucracy. Studies have shown that such schemes increase health, both physical and mental, happiness and aid people in escaping poverty. They also revitalize the economy. Most of that money will be spent on purchases from local shops, helping small businesses and recycling money back into the market, thus helping the local economy."

"We need 21st century solutions to our problems; that includes updating the 'software' of our public administration. Annual Public Evaluations shall ensure that all civil servants are performing to the top of their ability. Anti-corruption investigations shall cleanse our state from such practices. Digitizing all of our public services will mean that every one of you will be able to access state services through an app on your smartphone. No more lines, no more clerks, no more waiting, no more red tape. You can be on your bed and doing all your businesses with regards to the public sector on your mobile phone."

"21st century solutions also means tackling climate change, a 21st century threat. We need to place tax on airplane tickets and plastic and invest that money on free public transportation for all. We need to increase carbon tax, especially on corporations, and become carbon neutral. With that money, we can aid our workers affected by the transition to a green economy. We can give them temporary benefits and job training needed. We can also create thousands of new jobs by offering tax cuts to corporations investing on renewable resources and electric cars and lowering the VAT rate on environmentally-friendly products."

"21st century solutions means accepting that all our citizens should have legal equality. Marijuana should be legalized for recreational use and all non-violent offenders be pardoned. This will happen on day one if you vote for us. The abortion law should be liberalized; what a woman does with her body, is her choice. We will defend free access to reproductive healthcare. Our tax policy will be adjusted to encourage corporations to hire more women and indigenous peoples. We need more of them in the workforce. Other parties talk about how to help about indigenous people; our proposal is to create jobs for them with smart tax policy. Jobs are the best way to ensure equality and end discrimination. I am sure that the indigenous peoples, more than a few of whom are members of our party, shall support us in that effort. We shall also fight for the members of the LGBTQI+ community to feel safe in Eblanca. We shall not allow the bigots of the far right to terrorize them. That's a promise."

"Security has been a need since ancient times, but we need 21st century solutions to ensure it. We need to increase the number of police officers and their salaries. With motorized police units, we can ensure patrols on all streets and speedy interventions. A new body of Workers' Rights Inspectors shall protect the rights of workers and ensure that corporations too abide by the law. Law and order will be enforced across the country. With a new body, though, we shall make sure that all complaints on police violence and brutality shall be investigated. We shall ensure that the rights of all shall be respected. With job training programs in our prisons for first time lite offenders, we can ensure their proper integration in society after release. We can thus prevent repeating crime. With the eradication of poverty and good education, we can deal with the root of crime."

"We live in a globalized and connected world. The world is all one 'village', as one author wrote. We cannot pretend to be a Hermit Kingdom, away from the rest of the world. Closing our borders to the movement of goods and peoples shall only impoverish us. We need free trade agreements to export our products and create new jobs. We need a more liberal migration policy, to ensure that bright, educated and highly-skilled individuals can come to Eblanca and make it their home; with their talents, we can create many new jobs and wealth."

"Reject the failed policies of the right and the left. Reject outdated notions of isolationism, statism and neoliberalism. We need 21st century solutions. We need a market economy that works for all, not just the rich few. We need a dynamic economy that innovates and exports. We need a modernized public administration that serves the people. We need to tackle the climate crisis and fight against the bigotries of the past. We need security but also liberty."

"For 21st century solutions, vote for the 21st century party: the Social Democratic Party!"

[Agarntrop]

Eblanca news 24/YouGov poll 12-14 Jan (sample size 2500)
CNPE - 32% - 29 seats (+4)
NLC - 31% - 28 seats (-12)
EPF - 20% - 18 seats (-1)
PVC - 13% - 11 seats (+6)
SDP - 4% - 4 seats (+3)

[The World Capitalist Confederation]

CNPE HQ, East Carina, 13th of January 2020

Burns, reading the YouGov poll as he arrived early in the office with few to organise anything with, took a short sigh. He grabbed the paper and threw it across the room, albeit lightly. He began to quietly pace, muttering several angry things to himself as he walked around the room, pacing angrily.

"Those bastards. We've lost our momentum. It's time to strike back."

He waited about half an hour, drafting a few proposals for his staff. Once they arrived, he got his 12 people (the previous 10 plus the Head of PR and Director of Online Engagement), and presented them the plans. The plans were simple: the Head of PR and Director of Online Engagement would run cheap, easy but calm anti-SDP campaigns whilst also hitting the NLC at the same time. They would call the NLC "a mockery of the CNPE" which "took safe harbour to homosexuals and to degenerates, using CNPE economic policy to drag in intelligent and well-meaning people.", noting that the Estrada-Pedregon administration only continued the economic reforms of the previous CNPE government, which worked well to drag the country out of recession. The NLC were called "a corruption of the CNPE" that had "effectively poached the CNPE's economics".

The SDP, meanwhile, were given free publicity in the form of saying that "...[they] followed the voodoo economics of Keynes and his school, which even the NLC had abandoned. Social democracy is one of history's great failures, giving way in 1979 to a new order of rational, free economics.". The "attack" ads were spread out cheaply across the internet, hoping to act as a way to provide free publicity for the SDP. It was mostly negative publicity, but the more NLC and EPF voters were aware, the more it would cause heavy vote splitting and diversion of campaign funds. The plan was rubberstamped by them, and put in place. The ads themselves, however, weren't going to be directed from the CNPE campaign. Of course Garrett Advertising would still carry it, just that the funds and the ads themselves would be funnelled through an external organisation known as the Conservative Unity Organisation. And so, it had begun.

[Kargintina the Third]

Army Training Ground, Outside Montgri

Captain Duke Sargonas kicked in the door to the wooden house. It was a mockup of an office building in Montgri, designed to prepare the National Guardsmen for the event of a Terrorist Attack. Behind him were twelve enlisted men, training alongside their company commander. One of the Lance Corporals took point through the door, fired into fake targets with terrorists painted on them. There was also targets specifically painted with civilians on them as well. Captain Sargonas followed suite, M4 in hand. On the far side of the room, another target quickly appeared. He pointed his rifle at it and fired, putting a round directly through the target's head.

"Next room, go!" The soldiers breached the door into the next room, with their CO following close behind. Swiftly, the soldiers fired into the targets, neutralizing them as if they were real terrorists. After repeating several more times, the simulated training came to an end. All of the men involved stood in a line in front of the Captain, prepared to listen to his debrief.

"You did good today Gentlemen. You quickly breached the rooms, and eliminated the terrorists with no civilian casualties. We've been practicing the routines for months, and I'm very impressed with how well all of you have done. We're gonna run the test again next week. Dismissed!" All of the Enlisted men scurried away to the armory to give back their weapons. After writing an after action report, Duke headed to his office. He turned on his computer. To his dismay, the situation in Iran seemed to be de-escalating. Well thats dissapointing.

The truth was, Duke never really felt as alive as he had when deploying to the Middle East as an enlisted. Hearing the news of the US-Iran tensions lowering and Eblancan troops being pulled back was heavily disheartening. Maybe it is time for my retirement? Duke was eligible to EAS in a few weeks, and despite his plans to re-up he was starting to think perhaps stepping out would be for the better.

An hour later, his paperwork to begin the EAS process landed in his CO's office.

[The World Capitalist Confederation]

Burns, after finishing his meeting with his 12 trusted men, called the leader of the SDP. It was going to be a pincer movement, as the NLC will become trapped between the CNPE and the SDP if things go his way.

"Hello? This is General Burns. How would you like to be larger than the NLC?"

[Sao Nova Europa]

14 Jan 2020

INTERNAL PARTY DOCUMENT

SDP Social Media Campaign

Our electoral campaign does not get that much attention from traditional media, unfortunately, due to the modest size of our movement. Rallies tend to be rather small and be conducted mostly in halls. The only way to get our message across and appeal to NLC and EPF voters is by bypassing traditional media and focusing instead on an intensive social media campaign. The majority of our resources need to be put on this direction.

Online Ads

Our financial resources are rather modest, despite contributions from many of our supporters. As such, we should focus on cheap, plain but plentiful campaign ads that get the message across fast and can get viral. Our ads need to keep it simple and focus on four core and popular policies of ours:

1. Investment in Education and Healthcare.
2. Minimum Guaranteed Income.
3. Digitization of Public Sector.
4. Tackling the Climate Crisis.

Present shortly those four policies of ours in the ads. The ads should focus exclusively on our party and maintain a positive outlook - do not make any negative ads about other parties. We should gear our ads towards NLC and EPF voters; they are the ones that should see those ads.

Twitter, Facebook and Instagram

Party members and activists should be encouraged to maintain active accounts on those three social media networks. They should share relevant videos, ads and talk about our policies.

Candidates shall be required to create accounts on all three platforms. Aside from the above activities, candidates shall be encouraged to politely engage in conversation with online users instead of simply making posts. Conversations will show that our politicians are approachable and ready to engage in debate. Do avoid heated debates though, in order to avoid embarrassment.

YouTube Videos

Professor José Mariano Gerardo shall make short videos (3 to 6 minutes each), explaining in a simple but concise manner our policies on each issues, from LGTBQI+ rights to taxation to trade. The videos should use simple jargon but need to show some statistics and numbers, as they help persuade viewers of our credibility.

Such YouTube videos need to be then shared by our social media team on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook. They also need to be reuploaded by different YouTube accounts with different titles (some more spicy, as they are unofficial, but avoid outright clickbaits). Ensure maximum outreach of those videos.

Internet Celebrities

Try to make an outreach to internet celebrities, including Instagram models, famous Twitter users and YouTube vloggers, gamers, food junkies, etch aside from more political internet celebrities.

Professor José Mariano Gerardo shall accept invitations for photos, podcasts and videos from most of those celebrities, even when they have nothing to do with politics. Aside from talking about the party, he should engage in other activities (vlogging, gaming, music, etch) to show a friendly, modern face: we need the youth vote.

[Sao Nova Europa]

Burns, after finishing his meeting with his 12 trusted men, called the leader of the SDP. It was going to be a pincer movement, as the NLC will become trapped between the CNPE and the SDP if things go his way.

"Hello? This is General Burns. How would you like to be larger than the NLC?"

"I would be very interested. My goal is, of course, to increase the vote share of the SDP. Do note, however, General that my party is not willing to entertain any formal government coalition with yours. We have quite different platforms. Aside from that, I am always favorable to talking to other political parties, such as yours."

[The World Capitalist Confederation]

Burns, after finishing his meeting with his 12 trusted men, called the leader of the SDP. It was going to be a pincer movement, as the NLC will become trapped between the CNPE and the SDP if things go his way.

"Hello? This is General Burns. How would you like to be larger than the NLC?"

"I would be very interested. My goal is, of course, to increase the vote share of the SDP. Do note, however, General that my party is not willing to entertain any formal government coalition with yours. We have quite different platforms. Aside from that, I am always favorable to talking to other political parties, such as yours."

"We have no interest in a formal coalition, only to weaken the NLC and put your party atop them. We have already put out several social media ads in order to help your party. They are what I like to call "bad publicity ads" which, whilst technically negative against you, are very weakly negative and will increase the publicity of your party, increasing recognition and ultimately membership. They allow us to fund your party without having the appearance of active subversion. It is a very simple manner, really. We'll get more out in the coming months, hopefully to make NLC and EPF voters join your party. I ask for nothing in return, only that you actively appeal and campaign to these groups in order to assist our strategy to put you up in the polls."

[Sao Nova Europa]

"I am already doing that and will keep up my efforts to attract all centrist and center-leftist voters to SDP. Hopefully you are right and the SDP can indeed get many NLC and EPF voters and members to join us, increasing our influence and allowing social democracy to make a dynamic comeback."

[Sao Nova Europa]

16 Jan 2020

Professor José Mariano Gerardo was cheered on by the crowd, about four hundred people, as he took center stage to address the rally. It was in the main square of one of the towns in the north of the island. The professor began his speech, as usual, with thanking the various organizers and local activists and politicians before moving on to main part of the speech. After briefly mentioning the usual proposals of the SDP, such as the Minimum Guaranteed Income and the raise in corporate taxation, he decided to focus on some other proposals of the party that had not been much touched upon in previous speeches.



"The Social Democratic Party is the party of innovation and coherent policy-making. We are the party of the 21st century that has modern solutions for modern problems. One of our proposals that has not been getting the attention it deserves is to make your data your personal property. Yes, you've heard me right. The SDP wants you to be able to make money off your personal data by making it your private property. In the current status quo, internet companies fully own users' data, giving you little control over how it's used. Establishing data as a property right would give you more control over your data and enable you to make money when companies use it to power their products and services. This will greatly increase transparency in the data collection and monetization process and allow you the people to reclaim what is rightfully yours."

"Second policy: completely abolishing inheritance tax for working and middle class individuals. Inheritance tax was established as a way to prevent extraordinary accumulation of wealth by a few individuals, effectively leading to an economic oligarchy. Yet it is now used to rip off working and middle class families that pose no such danger to society. It is unfair, it is cruel and in the first month of SDP government, it will be abolished!! From the $30,000-$45,000 tax bracket and below, no one will pay inheritance tax. For the $85,000+ tax bracket, inheritance tax shall increase from 27.5% to 32%."

"Third policy: I've already talked about how we are going to be increasing the number of doctors nationwide by 10%. Of that 10%, at least 3% shall be mental health professionals. We shall invest into our mental healthcare. Unfortunately, people do not talk enough about the mental health of our nation. Many teenagers and young people suffer from depression or some other mental problem. Same goes for older people, especially those who are alone. We need to take action on this front. Mental health is every bit as important as physical health. We shall also be hiring counselors for all our schools, to ensure that our children get the support they need. The SDP is the only party committing itself to take action for the mental healthcare of our people."

"Fourth policy: balanced budgets. This actually sounds somewhat banal but unfortunately it is not. Our leaders are spending like drunken sailors and have caused huge deficits. Accumulating debt effectively means condemning the future of our children. It will lead to bankruptcy and austerity. Every proposal the SDP has made, will be paid for either by spending cuts or tax increases. We have already talked about increases in carbon tax, instituting taxes on plastic and airplane tickets, increasing corporate taxation and inheritance tax for the wealthy. At the same time, we will be cutting spending through the complete digitization of the public sector and by cutting useless regulations. Thus, our cuts in income and inheritance taxes for working and middle class families, our tax incentives for hiring sprees, green investments and hiring of women and indigenous peoples and our spending proposals for a Minimum Guaranteed Income and investment in our healthcare, education, public transportation and police have all been accounted for and are cost neutral. We are one of the few parties that combine tax cuts and spending increases with fiscal responsibility and a commitment to have a balanced budget."

"We are not coming here and talking to you as if we are the Santa Claus bringing Christmas gifts, as other parties do. Every tax cut and spending increase we've proposed is accompanied by tax increase and spending cuts elsewhere. We are the party of fiscal responsibility, balanced budgets and zero debt. I especially want to make this case to moderate center-right voters, who usually support the NLC, and who like our proposals but are worried about their cost. Do not. We are the only party that guarantees that there will be no more deficits and no more fiscal irresponsibility."

"Our movement is growing. Our party was founded only in 2018 and this will be our first electoral battle and yet, with almost zero media coverage, we are at 4% in polls. This is only the beginning. We shall campaign constantly all over the island. Our activists shall go door to door and inform people of us. We shall engage in a passionate social media campaign to bypass the mainstream media and get our message across to the people directly. The establishment is afraid of us! We represent new politics! Let's be done with the old parties that have failed us again and again and let us shake the political establishment!"