Debate

Just answer the regular questions.

Oh ok

1) Why are you running?
2) What is the first thing you want to do in office?
3) What problems do you want to address?
4) Who do you want to select for Congressmembers?

5) Where do you stand on free speech?
6) Do you think Minecraft74 should be banned from the stream?
7) Should someone ever be banned from the stream?

8) What are your thoughts on RichardChill24’s impeachment?
9) What are your thoughts on the impeachment process?
10) Would you ever want to impeach somebody?

11) How would you work with your running mates?
12) What do you think of Congress’s current structure?
13) Do we even need a Congress?

14) Do you suspect some people in the stream of alting?
15) Do you think alting should be illegal?
16) How can you be sure if someone is alting?

17) How do you think voting should be done?
18) What if a conflict in the stream happens?
19) Are you going to be active in the stream?
20) What would you do if you had full control of imgflip?
21) What are the best and worst things about this stream?

22) What is the 1 thing you would like voters to know about you most?

1. This stream has always had liberals but liberal parties in the past have struggled. I founded N.E.R.D. to give us a voice, though we’re open to moderates and libertarians. We’re only against authoritarian Rightists of the kind who favor RUP/AUP.

2. Implement Congressional reform which (tl;dr version) will allow Parties to appoint their own Congressmen. Then, Lord willing, pass the Imgflip_Bank bill!

3. It seems the stream has once again taken a turn toward ideological conflict under RUP. I thought those days had gone, but they’re back again. This should be a roleplay government open to all, not a place where we try to “win the culture wars.”

4. Birb, Papi_Niko, other N.E.R.D.s, definitely want HCP people on Congress as well (such as RMK, Napoleon.), Libertarians (Wubbzy, OlympianProduct, SurlyKong69, all thoughtful and balanced) — but the point of our Congressional reform is that the ruling Party won’t get to choose how to stack their Congress. So if we win, Parties get to choose their own members. Political independence!

5. It will surprise many but I’m pro-free speech. We’re not going to mod this stream like PoliticsTOO or even LGBTQ. This is an incredibly politically diverse community. At the same time this stream does encounter frequent problems with fascists and overly racist trolling. We would be guided by Imgflip TOS.

6. If xxminecraftboi continues his fascist/racist/WN-like behavior like I mentioned above, yes. If he reforms, he can come back. Anyone who reforms can come back. We always should be open to that possibility.

7. WhiteNat, and now xxminecraftboi, have pushed the limits and I’d say they should be banned. Although we disagree strongly with IncognitoGuy, we would not ban him. The impeachment trial was primarily about how he abused his mod, specifically. Demodding him solves that.

8. I supported RichardChill’s impeachment at the time, but I think he’s gotten a lot better since then. I wouldn’t impeach him now.

9. The impeachment process itself doesn’t need reform, IMO, we just need to make sure the jurors (i.e. Congress) are actually active, represent the stream, and know what’s going on.

10. Lol. Yeah, I impeached IG. :) I did support the RichardChill impeachment too. But overall, impeachment should be a last resort. It’s stressful for everybody, and governments should generally be allowed to govern. I gave IG many, many offers to stop the impeachment process if he’d just mod correctly.

Comment length limit 🤷‍♂️

(Continued)

11. Myself and Jemy would work with RandomnessCentral to implement Congressional reform, and with SuGaS to ensure the Senate gets off to a good start. We’d be re-founding the Bank and working with Congress as a whole on that. N.E.R.D. is a party brimming with fun ideas! We’d aim to have a Congress/Senate vote on something at least once a week, to ensure continued activity and engagement.

12. Congress’s current structure is terrible. The winning Presidential ticket gets to appoint its own members, which isn’t how any democracy works — that’s a separation-of-powers violation, and has led to the predictable consequence of Congress being a rubber-stamp for the Administration. Our Congressional reform addresses that. Congressmembers are selected by the Parties themselves according to how many votes they win. (It’s a Parliamentary system.)

13. Yes, Congress is the main way other Parties and the community can continue to have a say in the direction of government. Unlike AUP, N.E.R.D. doesn’t believe winning an election gives us a blank check to do whatever we want. We want our proposals to have true, broad support and Congress is the path for testing that.

14. Yes, we still have weird accounts appear every now and then, but they typically are obvious and don’t stick around. It’s less of a problem than it used to be.

15. Alting on PRESIDENTS stream should be banned, IMO, since it’s basically giving yourself two voices and two votes. Alts for other Imgflip purposes like creating more than 10 streams are fine.

16. New accounts that join PRESIDENTS and seem to know everything right off the bat are inherently suspicious, since this stream is super complicated with a long history. But, you can never be 100% sure.

17. The current system doesn’t seem to have too many problems, though I defer to RandomnessCentral as he’s our expert on the subject.

18. It’s inevitable that conflict will happen in any democracy. We let it play out unless it crosses the line into an Imgflip TOS violation.

19. No doubt about it — I’m here basically every day. Past activity is the best predictor of this.

20. I think the fun stream and some other flagship streams simply need more mods. MSMG has a ton of mods and feature times are basically instant — as a result it’s become in many ways the “place to be.”

21. Great for learning how to “do politics,” but all the conflict can be draining and exhausting.

22. N.E.R.D. is not an “authoritarian” Party.

And since it’s relevant and I just posted it: Here’s more on how we believe the current Congress has failed and how we intend to fix it.

imgflip.com/i/5qeyd4

My answers:

1. I am running to attempt to create a less toxic, more fun stream (basically the same as the other Libertarian Parties)
2. I would get to work on assigning some jobs out.
3. I don’t really have any, maybe the impeachment of Incognito
4. I’d select Surly, Jeffy, Envoy and Incognito
5. I love free speech, and I’d only use Censorship on bad stuff like nazism or communism.
6. Hell yes!
7. Only if they are a Nazi, commie or fascist.
8. He deserved it, he was too inappropriate for a Congressman.
9. Idk, really. Works fine to me.
10. Only if necessary.
11. I’d work well with them.
12. I like it, but it needs changes.
13. Absolutely.
14. Yes, Chthonic and Richard.
15. Alting should be illegal IF it’s used for voting and avoiding stream bans.
16. You can’t, you have to check with a moderator.
17. Voting should be done on the ballots.
18. Either find a peace solution or grab a packet of Walkers’ Salt and Vinegar
19. Yes.
20. Idk
21. Best thing is the fierce competition even though I’ve mentioned us Libertarian parties should merge. The worst is the trolls.
22. It’s my first time running but I have been one of the most active members of the stream.

1) to come back and help
2) get the stream on a fun path
3) Alting and a possible Facist coming
4) 3 from every party and 2 for the winner party
5) Appropriate free speech
6) Yes
7) Yes

want more?

I am randomness central, running for head of congress.
1. To reform congress. It needs to be accurate to people’s votes. I also want the stream to be more friendly to new users, who tend not to stay. Giving them voices in congress can help.
2. Easy, make congressional reform. After that, make juries decided by elections.
3. I want to address the overall lack of active, new, users. New users tend to either be trolls, such as Minecraft haker, or slightly inactive, like papi niko. I feel as if smaller parties, which tend to be run by new users, had even just one or two seats in congress, we’d have more active newer users.
4. Well, since the congress reform would just end up keeping it similar anyways, I’ll go with birb likes crumbs, papi niko, right minded knight, and jeffy.
5. Free speech is fine, but hate speech shouldn’t be protected under the same laws as free speech simply because imgflip is a private company and their tos must be respected.
6. Temporarily banned, maybe. But he hasn’t done anything truly truly terrible other than harass users. So I’ll let sloth decide.
7. Oof. Hard one. I think yes, but only if they have actually A. Messed with the vote or hacked accounts or something crazy and B. The congress votes 100% in favour of it.
8. I didn’t really pay much attention to his impeachment, but I think it was a good move.
9. I think that impeachment should go before a court of 3 elected jurors.
10. Yes. Impeachment is a fundamental right of a working democracy.
11. Since my main goal is achieving electoral reform, I do plan to work with sloth, jemy, and other congress members to achieve these goals, and will support them on other nerd ventures.
12. It’s not that great, because as we saw, ig was acquired despite insane support from the stream. It isn’t based on popular vote, despite what ig may tell you.
13. Yes, if the president just decided everything it would be chaos.
14. Not really, no.
15. Alting should be illegal if you vote with your alts or portray them as separate users. I’m alright with people having a backup account or something.
16. I agree with sloths response.
17. If you follow the stream, you get to vote. The voting lasts for two days. If someone goes on vacation for those two days or is unable to vote, they can vote in advance.
18. If a conflict in the stream happens and it billows up to be unmanageable I would put it to a plebbyshite.
19. I’m on here every day, so yes.

Continued
20. I’m not entirely sure. I would probably make it more like Reddit in upvoting, so that an image with 200 upvotes and 200 downvotes is the same as one with 0.
21. Best: the op whole role play feels very epic. Worst: the stream isn’t too exciting in the 2 months between each election, since there isn’t a whole lot a president can do.
22. I am not a radical leftist, I am a very progressive social Democrat who follows the principles of successful Nordic countries, and I love capitalism, I just want it to be more egalitarian.

Is this the official debate?

Not official, just my debate.

Good enough.

may I answer these as well? I wouldn't necessarily speak for strangmeme.

I’ll release a Vice Presidental and other one as well. But yes, you can answer them.

Actually, anyone can answer these.

Senatorial:

1) Why are you running?
2) What is the first thing you want to do in office?
3) What problems do you want to address?
4) Which Senators want to select for Congress?

5) Where do you stand on free speech?
6) Do you think Minecraft74 should be banned from the stream?
7) Should someone ever be banned from the stream?

8) What are your thoughts on RichardChill24’s impeachment?
9) What are your thoughts on the impeachment process?
10) Would you ever want to impeach somebody?

11) How would you work with your running mates?
12) What do you think of Congress’s current structure?
13) Do we even need a Congress?

14) Do you suspect some people in the stream of alting?
15) Do you think alting should be illegal?
16) How can you be sure if someone is alting?

17) How do you think voting should be done?
18) What if a conflict in the stream happens?
19) Are you going to be active in the stream?
20) What would you do if you had full control of imgflip?
21) What are the best and worst things about this stream?

22) What is the 1 thing you would like voters to know about you most?

1) Why are you running?
I want to make I_P know what a Head Of Senate is. I want people to look back, and call someone who isn't a rightist, one of the best.

2) What is the first thing you want to do in office?
I'll officially establish the senate. I'll start going though the members of this stream who are ellegible to represent other streams, and appoint them.

3) What problems do you want to address?
Mostly the out-the-stream problem that the current administration is ignoring. The fact that people who aren't directly involved with the stream, or aren't even active, are making our decisions, and electing our government, really speaks for itself. That's a big issue, and we need to tackle it now, while not closing ourselves off.

4) Which Senators want to select for Congress?
Currently, I have a lot in my personal life going on, and have been quite busy, but I'll get back to this question as soon as I can.

5) Where do you stand on free speech?
I say that we should aim to censor things that aren't in need of censoring. If a person is going to post a couple kissing, then its up to them to decide to him the submit button, knowing that its irrelevant to the stream, not the moderator who sees it and disagrees with it. Ultimately, its up to every one of us to examine what we do. If the mods disagree with it, they can take action by contacting the individual and explaining to them why its inappropriate, and if they could take it down. Only if the person fails to comply, then the mods should have jurisdiction to delete comments and unfeature images.

6) Do you think Minecraft74 should be banned from the stream?
If he continues with his current behaviour, then yes. However, if he puts thosee ways behind him, I would welcome him with open arms. Everyone deserves a second chance.

7) Should someone ever be banned from the stream?
Only if we have told them time, and time again, that their actions are not okay. We can't ban people willy nilly, we need to have a complete trial.

8) What are your thoughts on RichardChill24’s impeachment?
I don't think I was there at the time, so I don't think I should comment on it.

9) What are your thoughts on the impeachment process?
I think we should use it whenever necessary, and if the accusing party has concrete evidence against the defendant.

10) Would you ever want to impeach somebody?
Yes, but as a last resort. We all saw what happened in the past weeks.

11) How would you work with your running mates?
I try not to make bitter enemies of most people. Whatever the result, I'll make sure I'll keep a kind and respectful attitude, and keep an open mind.

12) What do you think of Congress’s current structure?
I do think we need reform (Too many out-of-streamers, and too little in-stream-representation), and I don't believe governments can call in whoever they want. We should make it so that whoever party has seats, they can elect (Or just choose) whoever they want.

13) Do we even need a Congress?
Yes. We absolutely do.

14) Do you suspect some people in the stream of alting?
No.
15) Do you think alting should be illegal?
No. So as long as people aren't trying to pass their alts off as different people, they're fine.

16) How can you be sure if someone is alting?
We can't be completely sure. That's the scary thing.

17) How do you think voting should be done?
the current system is more than fine.

18) What if a conflict in the stream happens?
Then we should resolve it peacefully. The last thing this stream needs is civil war.

19) Are you going to be active in the stream?
Yes!
20) What would you do if you had full control of imgflip?
I would try and make this place a more peaceful, less negative place.
21) What are the best and worst things about this stream?
The best thing is that, whatever the differences in point of view, we always find something in common with one another. The worst thing is that a small thing can become a big thing. A very big thing.

22) What is the 1 thing you would like voters to know about you most?
That whatever your point of view is, I'll listen to what you have to say. Whatever your point of view is, you will be heard!

[1] why am I running? The people need strong active representation in Congress. We've had too many non-stream users Congressmen and AFK HOCs lately.
[2] make a new Congressman application
[3] non stream user Congressman, constitutional reform, getting bills the stream wants passed, (like the banking bill.)
[4] that's gonna depend on the applications. I only want active users who have the five minutes necessary to fill out an application.
[5] pro free political speech. Note that spamming the F word isn't political speech.
[6] Yes. We don't need a bunch of alt attacks on the stream.
[7] Yes. Example: various WN alt accounts.
[8] Is Richard actually gone? Then impeachment was political theater.
[9] impeachment on this stream is sadly just a popularity contest.
[10] I wouldn't, no. Because impeachment has never been anything other than a popularity contest on this stream. IG was acquitted by Congressman who never even looked over the evidence. Richard was convicted for a crime he wasn't charged with.
[11] We'd all work on constitutional reform. Getting Olympians improved constitution passed would be a top priority.
[12] it needs to be more representative of the actual stream. Half the congressmen only vote, never comment or post.

I'll answer more later.

Answers continued.

[13] Of course we need a Congress. People want a say in the government.
[14] Yes. There's still plenty of alts on the stream.
[15] It should be illegal, because in the past people have used alting to vote multiple times.
[16] You can't. Mods usually won't give out people's personal information (see imgflip's "privacy" section.) Plus anyone with basic computer knowledge and a VPN can get around all the rules.
[17] Voter ID. The DMV is currently providing interested parties with photo ID. This is easy for you, the stream user, and hard for Incognito's mail in voters from Real Politics or wherever. If you don't have 10 minutes to register, you're not gonna show up to the stream anyway.
[18] Conflict always happens on the stream. You don't do anything about it, except intervene if it goes to far.
[19] Of course. I always am.
[20] Weekly themed meme parties. And more ads for Nintendo switch & moutain dew, I like money. And more global mods. Plus meme contests with some kind of fake prize, (huge point multiplier?)
[21] Best: people love fighting over politics. So this is fun for them. Worst: people love fighting over politics, so much, they take the stream too seriously.
[22] Today everyone is anti-IG because it is politically advantageous. Yesterday everyone was pro- IG because it was politically advantageous.
And I'm just me. So at least with SurlyKong, you know EXACTLY what you're getting.