The South Pacific

Hi TSP! I’m throwing my hat in the ring again and asking for you to elect me as your _Prime Minister_. This past term, I’ve served as deputy to the Prime Minister and an advisor to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. In these roles, I’ve helped the Cabinet formulate security and foreign policy, craft the Cabinet’s public statements, and generally provide advice on the pros and cons of various policies. I’ve shown great levels of sharp professionalism, expert knowledge, and dedication to the Coalition’s governance.

Here are some concrete things I’ve accomplished this last term as a deputy:

• Wrote the inaugural address (unfortunately the Prime Minister never posted this…)
  
• Helped craft the response to TBH’s violation of our sovereignty and wrote the Cabinet’s proscription
  
• Help develop and implement TSP’s response to TNP’s disparaging remarks about us regarding their quorum raiding, and wrote the statements the Cabinet issued
  
• Wrote Roavin’s Associate Justice nomination announcement
  

In addition to that, I’ve helped the Ministry of Engagement with administrative functions like setting up and troubleshooting the new Wiki.

This last term, I really wanted to be a resource for the Cabinet and the Prime Minister in particular. I think I made good on that promise. When I write out a list of the Cabinet's accomplishments, though, I’m realizing that not all of the Cabinet met expectations in the last few months. That needs to change for this next term.

Some ministers were not sticking to their promises, and brow-beating them didn’t encourage anybody to be more productive. I believe the Cabinet could benefit from the different leadership style I’m offering. I’ve had a great time working with Penguin this term, but I feel that a new direction is needed.
 

First, we need good project management. That’s what I do in real life and I have a proven track record of it in my time playing NationStates. But more importantly, we need _achievable goals._ I won’t get into the corporate lingo about S.M.A.R.T. goals, but the overall gist is that ministers often over-promise and under-deliver. With realistic and achievable goals, we’d be more likely to produce good content and great activity. Unrealistic goals lead to putting a bunch of work into something that you’re probably not going to finish before the next election, or it just appears so difficult that you abandon it halfway through and start from zero. My Cabinet would set goals we can achieve, on a realistic timeline.

Second, we need to build on what the Cabinet did achieve last term. The Partnership for Sovereignty should be a top priority, as this alliance has so much opportunity. We need to finalize the infrastructure and appoint a permanent delegation to represent us. It’s also likely we’ll see the first round of expansion in the alliance this next term, so I think the Assembly can expect a lot of exciting things here.

In the Ministry of Engagement, I’d like to see a building up of the Wiki and how we can incorporate it into our community. Cards are also an emerging part of the game-- we should look at different ways to highlight our cards program, tailored to how big the game gets. I also think the cards program is a great way to get RMBers to join Discord, which will expose them to the other opportunities on the forums.

The ministries for Media and Culture have had their problems this last term. I know the region has been frustrated with the lack of visible activity from both, particularly the Ministry of Culture. From where I stood as deputy, I saw a lot of projects started but few finished. By setting smart goals, I think we can fix that. Quality is far more important than quantity here, so I would encourage our next ministers to focus on creating real high quality events and media, even if we only put out 2 or 3 releases in the term.

The trifecta “home ministries” of Media, Culture, and Engagement are key to our future growth and success as _one community,_ and that includes the forum and in-game TSPers. All three have a core objective of showing people that in TSP you can play the politics/government sim, have fun with the meta card game, learn and write about TSP and NationStates, hang out with other NationStates players across the game, and so much more.
 

In this last term, I’ve proven how valuable my _experience and judgement_ can be for the Cabinet. I played a central role in the TBH proscription and, along with Roavin and Omega, crafted our diplomatic strategy with TNP. Unfortunately, there were significant delays in the proscription that I think most in the Cabinet would honestly say resulted from a lack of coordination at the top. As a deputy, I could only do so much. As Prime Minister, I will ensure the Cabinet acts with the speed the region deserves, with a high quality of judgment, and the proven experience you've come to know.

Some may disagree with the perception of the Prime Minister as a foreign affairs-forward position, but the simple truth is that we need a leader at the top who can make good and fast judgements. Without that kind of experience and leadership, the Cabinet can grind to a halt waiting for a decision, as ministers look to the leader for direction. The Minister of Foreign Affairs cannot formulate region-wide policy alone. With me, you know you have a Prime Minister with extensive knowledge of inter-regional politics and diplomacy. That’s truly invaluable for a community of our size and importance.
 
We've all been holed up in our homes thanks to this pandemic. What music has gotten you through it so far?? Not to expose myself as ... basic ... but here's a sample of my pandemic playlist
 

*disclaimer: yes, those are alpacas. i didn't want it to look like an official TSP seal!

One of the key problems facing The South Pacific is our endorsement deficit when compared with other feeders such as The North Pacific. You have not stated at all how you intend as Prime Minister improve the number of endorsements on Delegate-Elect Beepee and any successors as Delegate of the South Pacific.

In addition, you have spoken at length about foreign affairs but have included little in regards to arguably the most crucial ministry in the South Pacific Government: the Ministry of Engagement. Surely there are better ideas to boost engagement then merely highlighting the regional cards program?

As Prime Minister, would you authorise SPSF operations against regions that are formally allied with fascist regions but may not be explicitly fascist as well?

As Prime Minister, would you commit to the creation of a regional endorsement tool similar to TNP's 'Endorse the North Pacific' page?

Would you also commit to the South Pacific Government under your leadership supporting a petition to NS moderation calling for the immediate removal of fascist regions from NationStates?

(02-04-2021, 05:39 PM)Langburn Wrote: [ -> ]One of the key problems facing The South Pacific is our endorsement deficit when compared with other feeders such as The North Pacific.

You have not stated at all how you intend as Prime Minister improve the number of endorsements on Delegate-Elect Beepee and any successors as Delegate of the South Pacific.

First, let me say that I agree it would great for the South Pacific if we could surpass TNP in endorsements. We've made great progress on this since the Southern World Assembly Initiative was created. To take my own endorsements as a kind of barometer, you can see how much we've improved since 2018.

The fundamentals of SWAN are strong. I think we could look into what improvements can be made to the program, but ultimately we have a positive trajectory now thanks to the hard work of Vietnam and the other SWAN contributors. When Somy was Delegate, if you adjust for the big WA boom the whole game experienced, he averaged around 700 endorsements. Amerion has averaged around 800. I'm confident that over the next 6 months, we'll see Beepee compete with that. Vietnam has been hard at work in the Ministry of Engagement on dispatch and recruitment projects, which I believe will be implemented this upcoming term.

(02-04-2021, 05:39 PM)Langburn Wrote: [ -> ]In addition, you have spoken at length about foreign affairs but have included little in regards to arguably the most crucial ministry in the South Pacific Government: the Ministry of Engagement. Surely there are better ideas to boost engagement then merely highlighting the regional cards program?

I have full confidence in Vietnam's leadership in this ministry, and I'm eagerly awaiting his campaign for the February 2021 term. I've been able to see what the Ministry worked on, and it's very exciting! But I'll let him talk about that.

The cards metagame is shaping up to be a significant part of not just TSP, but NationStates in general. Once our own program is in full swing, I want to see just how big it will get. Don't sleep on this-- while I find it all very confusing and prefer the more writing-based political sim game, there is a ton of enthusiasm across NS. How central it becomes to overall regional engagement strategy depends on this kind of pilot launch that Vietnam's working on.

To piggyback off this question and get into a tangent on the details of a Cabinet agenda... Because we elect our ministers individually, and rarely is there any kind of joint platform, it's difficult for a Prime Minister candidate to say, "This is the detailed agenda I will deliver for each ministry." A lot depends on what the individual ministers run on and what they promise. As more ministers post their campaigns, I'll have more to say about about them. My focus as Prime Minister will be to ensure the goals we set are smart and achievable, not overpromising and setting unrealistic deadlines and scopes.

Project management is important, as well, and I envision a large part of my role as developing a roadmap and sticking to it. What we saw this last term was ministries falling short of their goals, and leadership kind of thinking that yelling or brow-beating would get things back on track. (The frustration was real and understandable!) It didn't work. Instead of that, I want to see a roadmap with defined timelines and measurable goals. (Less, "We will write great TSJ releases." More, "By end of March, we will have 1 TSJ issue and it will feature X, Y, Z.") And if ministers are not meeting expectations, then there needs to be public accountability for that.

Earlier in January, I brought up the idea that most ministry venues and workrooms should be publicly viewable. I think that's exactly how we hold ministries accountable. You could see in real time what is being worked on, how fast, and how well. I want to see that implemented this next term.

Do you support making OWL a ministry? Why or why not?

May I remind you that your campaign requires a prominent Conflict of Interest declaration, which I'm not seeing right now (so at the very least it isn't prominent).

(02-04-2021, 10:14 PM)Somyrion Wrote: [ -> ]Do you support making OWL a ministry? Why or why not?

I’m open to the idea. My biggest concern right now isn’t on the merits of OWL as a ministry in itself, but rather who among us is capable of running it. To my best knowledge, only you and Anjo are really managing OWL. Does that mean we’ll be relying on both of you for the foreseeable future and this new ministry is essentially tailor-made for 2 people? I want to see that the ministry can be run well by someone who hasn’t been involved for a long time. For instance, how easily transferable are the scripts and processes? Those are questions I don’t think have been asked and answered yet, and would weigh heavily in my ultimate vote in the Assembly.

That being said, if the Assembly were to vote to turn OWL into a full ministry, it wouldn’t take effect until the term after this upcoming one. So that’s 4 months to close any gaps, document processes, etc., that would allow any new minister to be successful in running it.

(02-06-2021, 05:27 AM)Seraph Wrote: [ -> ]May I remind you that your campaign requires a prominent Conflict of Interest declaration, which I'm not seeing right now (so at the very least it isn't prominent).

Is there anything else you’d like to see me include? The little laurels with my current positions are intended to be my COI.

Fair enough.

Where do you stand on the Local Council? Should it's role change, be reduced or be expanded?

(02-07-2021, 07:11 PM)Langburn Wrote: [ -> ]Where do you stand on the Local Council? Should it's role change, be reduced or be expanded?

My approach to the Local Council is "live and let live." I'm content with the legal status quo, and by all accounts the RMB is as well. I don't believe the Assembly or the Cabinet should be debating those types of things at all. We're all one big community, but there are different "games" within our community. The LC oversees the RMB and is accountable to them. So whether anything needs to be changed, reduced, or expanded is a discussion that starts in the RMB. It's really confusing (and a bit concerning) that this question pops up every single Cabinet election, when it's explicitly not the Cabinet's role to start any kind of reform process for the LC, let alone say that reform is needed.