Elections (December 2019) Campaign Thread

[Chanku]

First, some questions for Chanku.

1. Being the first Prime Minister would put quite a burden on your shoulders, are you up to being the first to have a go?

2. If you could change or reform any Ministries, what would you focus on doing?

3. You mentioned that you were once part of the Celestial Union, is there anything you learned from there that you found valuable?

4. What sort of regional games would you like to run in Lazarus, if any in particular cross your mind?

5. Given your foreign affairs experience in Wintreath, what place do you think Lazarus should hold in the game, and are there any particular regions we should approach?

6. And, for the last, and most difficult question, who in particular would you consider appointing to Ministries? Or, if you can't think of folks for now, what sort of qualities would you look for in a potential Minister?

To answer 1, I wouldn't be running if I didn't think I had some of the skills to be up to the task. I will be in somewhat uncharted territory, as I will be the first fully democratically elected Head of Government since the Civil War. To expand on it a bit more, because of the nature of it being new and somewhat uncharted, I do think the first Prime Minister, whoever it is, must work to set forth an example for future Prime Ministers to follow.

To answer 2, honestly I'm not sure. I will fully admit I'm not the most knowledgeable about the Ministries as they stand, and how things operate. I certainly think that Internal Affairs could be restructured a bit, perhaps split up a bit more into different areas. Probably the most sweeping change would be looking to implement a Ministry System where each Minister has an overarching authority over an area, and then Deputy or Vice Ministers that focus on a specific area of that, which is something that has had success in Wintreath and I think could work here to overall reduce the workload of each Minister and within each Department. However, I will admit this may not work here for various reasons and would definitely need to get more information on things as they currently stand before I do anything like that.

As for my time in the Celestial Union, it did teach me the importance of keeping a handle on everything going on, and not just ignoring things. It also did teach me the value of working with other people, and that it is sometimes better to listen, rather than speak. I also learned to be a bit more careful about who you trust, and to not trust people just because they seem nice or friendly, which is something I did a bit more often in the past.

As for regional games, we could do the traditional things like Werewolf and Spyfall, however I have seen other games adapted to Discord/Forum format like Assassin in another region, and we could do more traditional PnP RPG things like DnD. Additionally, we could do Cards Against Humanity (or some clone of it), which can definitely bring people together. A game I wouldn't mind seeing is Secret Hitler as well, albeit perhaps themed a bit more to be 'Lazarene Flavored'.

As to Lazarus's place in the game, and regions we should approach this is a bit difficult for me to answer. With respect to the regions question, I do personally think we should look at repairing our relationship with Wintreath (although I would definitely be hands-off with this, given my bias and Conflicts of Interest), and regions like Caer Sidi could be a decent place to look at forming relations with as well. As for our place, it depends on what you mean by it. I do firmly believe that we have a responsibility to set an example for other regions, and to use our position to advocate for policies and change that would be positive in NationStates, although I do not believe that Lazarus should be anything but Neutral in R/D. I can probably answer in more detail if I had a better idea for what you were asking with this question.

Finally, as to who I would appoint, I would likely look at appointing everyone that currently holds a Ministry position, at least to start with, as they are the ones that would understand the most as to how their Ministry Operates, the state of the Ministry, and things that could change. For any vacant positions, I would look for people with experience in that Ministry, in addition to having the ability to lead and organize things. After I start to understand how things operate, I would likely look at making wider changes, albeit at this time I am not entirely sure as to what.

Thank-you for these questions NR!