Interview Publication Date: 19 December 2013
Interviewee: RON
Interviewer: Awe

Ladies and Gentlemen, with us today, we’re pleased to have interviewed the famous RON! RON has been quite the person to beat in elections, and thus far the only person to be so ambitious as to run for every elected position in the region.
Want to know more about the man behind the name? Read on!

1. How did you learn about NationStates?

It was a few years ago, when I was 19. I'd just gone into uni, doing a BArts, and happened to be in a Starbucks just across the road. As you can imagine, I was a little lonely at the time You know, just moved interstate, and all.
So I met this sweet girl with a laptop at a counter, went to talk to her, as you do - I saw she had a textbook that was prescribed for one of my subjects "The World and You” by C. Cerebella and she showed me NS for the first time.
She'd just founded a nation - procrastinating from work - and it happened to be in TSP. So when I created a nation, that's where it stayed, even when she CTE'd.

2. That's nice. How long have you been in the South Pacific?

Almost as long as I can remember - I faintly recall being involved in the drafting of the current Charter of TSP, although I can't rightly remember when that was. I was probably around a few months before that?

3. Ah okay. You have been in the spotlight lately, how does it feel to have got so many votes?

Well it's a little embarrassing You know, to be so popular, without even campaigning. I guess it just comes down to my consistent policies, and my well-known involvement in the region.
I've really worked hard fostering a sense of familiarity with much of the active voting base. Sometimes, you know, new voters ask about me, so there's always work to be done in that respect, but most of the time people vote for me expecting the same thing, and that's what they'll get if they elect me.

3. Are you even a citizen of the South Pacific?

Well, I never applied for citizenship in TSP, because I considered myself a citizen before we moved to the new charter. I'm not religious, but I have a sense of spirituality about me? It feels odd to be taking an oath to a government, much less one that's just a game
And the people who I hung out with, who I drafted those citizenship laws with, they were more than happy to oblige. And that's an agreement that for the most part the EC has been happy to honour in including me on the ballots. That's a sense of camaraderie I'll never give up.

4. That means you've somehow circumvented TSP's laws?

Well, I drafted them in the first place We'll say, I was ‘grandfathered’ in. There is a clear implication in the charter of my longstanding involvement in the South Pacific, and I think that along with my almost ceaseless fulfillment of that involvement, I've proved that I deserve it.

5. If you had won an election, what would you have done?

Well, my platform has always been around involving new people – new faces. Should I win, I would immediately go back to the polls and encourage new faces - and if the public decided that they wanted one of those new faces, my job here is done. I think I'm very good at encouraging people to step up.

6. So you'd resign?

Yes. Get it all of the way quickly. It's a very popular platform with many politicians now - it took what, less than a week, for TSP's newly elected politicians to be embroiled in that most persistent of political debates.
There comes a time in every politician's life when they have to face that question - resign or not? And I think that even in real life, you generally find that those who choose not to resign, they become quite maligned. And that's not what I want for my relationship with the voters. You know, prove myself to be proactive.

7. Cake or Pie? Why?

I'm gluten intolerant, so I'm afraid I can't pick

8. Aww. but which looks more appealing?

I know this will sound a little bit corny, but I'm sort of attracted to wedding cake
There's a lot of meaning behind it. I'm into symbolism and the like. That's part of the reason I always followed TSP graphic design And I can sort of imagine wedding cake almost...being the taste of commitment?
Like I said, I'm a little bit too esoteric for my own good P

9. Favourite book, movie or game?

Obviously Nationstates is up there but...favourite movie. Hmm. I quite liked the Producers, by Mel Brooks. An interesting look into the problems with an efficient legal code.
My favourite book would have to be the Great Gatsby - the movie I feel did do that book justice, which is rare. Baz Lehrman was so good at bringing out Fitzgerald's original ideas – the envious green light, those beautiful shirts, and the like.
There really is a unique look into two worlds in that movie- the written words and their sometimes physical contrast with the visuals Luhrmann brings to the party Great soundtrack, too.

10. Last question: Anything else you'd like to add?

Well, I'd just like to implore Nationstates not to settle for the same old, same old.
To think outside the box - to consider every option, not just the ones handed to us on a plate. I serve in NS politics because it gives me a chance to change how people think - there's always my name on the ballot as a contrarian opinion, as a protest against what seems traditional.
NationStaters, be a RON. Look at everything with fresh eyes, and you might finally see something.

Wise words indeed. Also, why the name RON?

It was the name my parents gave me So it's the name I kept.

Alright, thanks for the interview!

No probs!

RON's biopic, The Man Behind the Name: RON- A View of TSP's Electoral History will be playing in cinemas across the South Pacific on February 29th, 2014.