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Wallace Islands General Election
Topic Started: Oct 20 2013, 12:25 AM (216 Views)
the Wallace Islands
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On The Beat with Chuck Harper, WITV . . .

"I'm Chuck Harper and you're watching "On The Beat." We begin tonight with our top story, is the Republican Party in danger of losing control of the government for the first time in 18 years? Polling data released this afternoon by WITV shows the Christian Democrats within the margin of error for control of parliament on the generic ballot. I'm joined tonight by Lawrence Rigby, senior correspondent for the Island Times, as well as Rupert Underhill, Republican MP for New Suffolk, and Jim Yama, a Christian Democratic Party strategist. Good evening to you all.

"Mr. Underhill, we've all heard the reporting from Parliament House that political insiders on your side of the aisle are setting their hair on fire. Don't you have good reason to be spooked by these numbers?"

Underhill sat comfortably as his voice rose and fell with a predictable rhythm, though never really changing in pitch. How he managed to form every word in the english language while never letting his wide smile deviate a single millimeter was often a mystery to all present. "We're very proud of the record we've established over the last 18 years. 18 years of economic prosperity. Three balanced..."

"They're scared because they know that demographics are destiny," Jim Yama jumped in. "This is not meant to be an inflammatory statement. Everyone knows that the Republican Party has had a stranglehold on electoral politics because the overwhelming majority of the electorate has been white and of European descent. Especially in the last general election, we're increasingly seeing that new voices are being heard. Even despite the comically obvious attempts to silence them."

"You're referring to the Voter ID laws passed prior to the last general election?" Harper hoped to fan the flames further.

"Voter ID laws are this decade's poll tax. Any rational observer would tell you they are explicitly designed to disenfranchise the native peoples!"

"That's offensive," Underhill countered. "Now Chuck, can you give me one good reason why, if a citizen needs an ID to drive, why shouldn't they need an ID to vote?"

Harper instantly regretted the change of topic, numbers and technical details were going to have to start coming out now. "If you're so concerned with demographics, Mr. Yama, then certainly you must know that your party's positions on gay marriage for example, are especially unpopular among younger voters."

"Chuck, I think younger voters know that they've been sold down the river by the Republican Party. The housing crisis of last year should be all the proof you need. We need to put an end to these trickle down, rich get richer policies and start creating an economy that works for everyone."

"A fascinating discussion. We'll be back with more after this."
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The Pacific - October Issue
"David Singer on the General Election: An Extended Conversation"

By Jeffrey Clarke

David Singer is professor of political science and anthropology at Wallace Islands University and one of the nation's most controversial thinkers. He has been called by many political and ideological labels: anarchist, socialist, but now he is taking on a seemingly unexpected one: partisan. We spoke on Monday. A lightly edited transcript of our conversation follows.

Jeffrey Clarke: Do you enjoy the label public intellectual?


David Singer: I don't particularly like it or not like it. What I believe is that people with the opportunity to speak and be heard have a certain responsibility.

JC: And after years of being labeled an anarchist by your critics, you now feel it's your responsibility to advocate on behalf of a political party, the Christian Democrats.

DS: I have always rejected the label anarchist. The lack of a government overseeing a population at the scale of a modern nation-state is unrealistic in the extreme. Libertarians suffer from the same delusion, but in a mutated form. If there's something I believe that's "radical", it's the belief that the burden of proof for anyone in a position of power lies on them. But this is not a new idea in political thought. People are very casual with labels when you're not in lock step with the status quo.

JC: How is advocating for a major political party not supporting the status quo?

DS: This has nothing to do with being a partisan. What I'm advocating is a shift in political dynamics of this country. The Christian Democrats are a vehicle for that. This election is an inflection point in our political history.

JC: So this is change for the sake of change, or you support the positions of the Christian Democrats?

DS: They're tolerable. I consider their positions on gay marriage, abortion, others, to be backward and abhorrent. However, the party leadership realizes that these are losers on the national level. They're not stupid. Just look at the change in rhetoric. Find me a time within the last 10 months that a national politician from that party has used the words "traditional values" in a sentence. It's all about "an economy that works for everyone" now. They have a real chance at winning this election and they know it.

JC: Why is this election different.

DS: There are a number of threads running together. Whites are going to be a minority majority by the end of this decade for the first time since the colonial period. The Republican Party is terrified of this. Their traditional base of power has always been the descendants of the original colonial ruling class: the upper classes, the business interests. The middle class as well, but largely because they were white, and they were useful. There's nothing inherently evil about such people, but their interests do not line up with the working poor, or the newest members of the middle class. Not economically, not culturally, not ethnically. Second: the business interests have pushed things too far. You cannot try to run away with all of the wealth in a modern society without the middle falling out from under you. They've deregulated the markets beyond what's sustainable, they've squandered decades of economic growth, the tax rates are insufficient. The economy crashed and unemployment is high. There aren't enough minorities or underprivileged to win an election, but people are angry. This is all well understood.

The Republicans have done a number of clever things over the past 90 years, and they've been remarkably successful at remaining in power. First, they have divided the opposition very effectively. Look at the minor parties in parliament. The Greens, The Family First Party...these all eat into the base of the Christian Democrats in different ways. I would suggest looking more closely at where their funding comes from. It could prove educational. The combination of social conservatism with economic socialism is not compatible with a majority in government in this country right now. People are too educated, the middle class is too socially liberal. I don't dismiss religious beliefs intentionally, but the simple fact is that the intermixing of religion with politics has created an effective lever for the Republicans. A realignment will eventually need to take place.

JC: Let's step back for a second. If the Republicans are only concerned about such narrow privileged interests, how do you explain something like their legalization of gay marriage.

DS: You'll recall that was prior to the last general election. This was theater. It's dramatic, and it bought them one more election as the trend lines were all driving in the opposite direction. I don't mean to minimize this. It was obviously an important milestone for the gay community. But it's not a shift that threatens the status quo. There are homosexuals in all social classes, in all races. If a CEO is gay, so what. This can be allowed to go through if it's politically advantageous.

This all occurred at the same time that they were passing voter ID laws. "If you need a license to drive a car, why don't you need a license to vote." It sounds sensible, except for the fact that these laws affect the poor and minorities to a staggering degree. What if you can't leave one of your three jobs early to get a government ID. What if you can't afford a car to drive to a government office. It's actually fairly blatant what the Republicans were doing. The deck is about to be changed out, so they're scrambling to stack the one that's already on the table. They shouldn't be able to get away with it.

I have previously advocated staying out of the political process when that's a viable option. Here, that is not the optimal strategy. There is a unique opportunity to take the deck of cards and shuffle them in plain sight. The final outcome is not 100% determined, but this is the next logical step.
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The Island Times

OPINION
Christian Democrats' Perfect Plan for Economic Decline
By DAVID GRAYSON

Last week Christian Democrats finally announced their economic plan to speed the recovery and bring jobs back to the Wallace Islands in a much ballyhooed speech in Fairfax by party leader Barry Wenda.

Mr. Wenda made the battle lines of the campaign very clear, saying "...This election represents a clear and fundamental choice between two very different visions on how we can build an economy that works for everyone."

Truth in politics is often hard to come by, but this statement actually qualifies. So let's cut through the campaign rhetoric and examine the two plans in greater detail.

Under the Democratic plan, the tax rates in nearly every bracket would increase by January 1 of next year. The reason for this is two-fold, and is often glossed over in the coverage the plan has received.

It's already well understood that the Christian Democrats plan to allow the so-called "Mitchell tax cuts" to expire for incomes over $200,000, by refusing to renew them next December 31.

As a result, with the tax cuts just expiring for these disfavored taxpayers, the top 2 income tax rates would jump by nearly 20% and the capital gains tax would soar by nearly 60%. The bottom line is that this represents a targeted tax increase on the Wallace Islands' job creators, investors, and small businesses.

This is all on top of our already too high corporate tax rate of 12.5%. Low tax rates are crucial for making the Wallace Islands competitive in the global economy. Many developed countries, in fact, impose no capital gains tax because it is just another layer of taxation on capital income on top of the corporate and individual income taxes.

What has sadly gotten even less attention, is that the Christian Democrats are proposing a massive increase on everyone else as well.

Their plan also includes a pledge to pursue universal health care. While the goal of increasing coverage is laudable, we shouldn't shy from the the fact that implementing the single-payer system that Christian Democrats have long advocated simply cannot be paid for with the tax increases they have already put on the table. The non-partisan Parliamentary Budget Office estimates that tax revenue would need to be raised by $2,278 per capita to finance such a plan.

If the Christian Democrats wish to continue denying that tax rates below $200,000 would need to go up, they should come clean about the fact that what they are proposing is a massive increase in federal debt. And that is just the upfront cost, not taking into account the seismic shifts that would occur if a switch was made to a single-payer system.

None of this will translate into a faster exit from the recent recession. Quite the opposite. Wallace Islanders will be faced with less money in their pockets just as the recovery is picking up speed. Businesses and job creators will be denied the very incentives they need to keep the economy growing. And these disincentives to investment will hit home just as our government is making important strides in increasing economic ties abroad.

The Republican alternative is clear: keep the Mitchell tax cuts in place because they've worked. Cut all rates across the board by an additional 2% to spur the economy. Lower the corporate tax rate to the more internationally competitive 10%.

The Christian Democrats are taking their same old game plan: more taxes, more spending, and aren't adapting to the current environment. And they are understandably fuzzy about the substance.

But reading between the lines, its clear that Wallace Islanders are right to be concerned.
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The Fairfax Post

OPINION
The Billionaires Bankrolling the Republican Party
By WALTER TAGOBE

Lip service is often paid to how Wallace Islanders are tired of negative ads and money in politics. There's just one element missing from these platitudes about our political system: the wealthy few who are bankrolling it.

You may have heard of one of them: Richard Hancock, CEO of media conglomerate Island Media. Two of the other "invisible hands" behind the Republican party are the brothers John and William Burke, co-owners of Burke Industries.

Their self-interested and radical agendas go far beyond what even party leaders would ever dream of campaigning on. In one of the few publicly available statements by John Burke on his political activities, he advocated for the "dismantling" of Social Security, nearly all federal regulatory agencies, unemployment insurance, food stamps, and public schools. Anything that could even slightly decrease corporate profits or raise taxes is seen as a threat.

Burke-supported lobbyists, foundations, and political operatives are also at the center of climate-change denial -- an anti-science movement which coincidentally protects Burke Industries' vast fossil fuel and mining business.

The Burke family has been working behind the scenes of right-wing politics for decades, funding a slew of political action groups dedicated to squeezing the federal government. The brothers' father David Burke spawned the Freedom League in the 1940's to crusade (unsuccessfully) against the creation of our modern social insurance programs. You can draw a straight line to today's Hancock-Burke-backed juggernaut against the "socialist" Barry Wenda, leader of the Christian Democratic Party.

The network of superPACs, tax-exempt "social welfare organizations," lobbyists, and right-wing think tanks financed by the Burke brothers and other wealthy benefactors is immense and interconnected. Ads produced by Wallace Islanders for Prosperity flood the airwaves. The Freedom Foundation provides a revolving door for right-wing politicians, such as chairman Jacob Mosby, who are defeated after advocating these extremist views.

The conservative echo chamber is strongly enhanced by the free air time and print it receives through Richard Hancock's Island Media empire. The seamless flow of talking points and political pageantry through hours of Island News programming is a sight to behold.

Fat cat-funded right-wing crusades are nothing new. Their pet bogeymen (taxes, regulation, labor unions, and government "handouts" to the poor, unemployed, ill, and elderly) -- have always remained the same. But progressives have fought back successfully before, and can again.
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Wallace Islands forces deployed to Cologne
By Mckenna Kennedy, WITV

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Port Moresby (WITV) -- Prime Minister Gordon Mitchell announced the deployment of five hundred troops from the Wallace Islands' 1st Special Forces Group to the Kasnyian protectorate of Karlsburg and Cologne.

"Our forces are in the early stages of a long-term operation to assist in the defense of the people of Cologne against any future attack. The horror and barbarism of the Papal War and the execution of His Holiness John David has not gone unnoticed by the wider world," Mitchell said.

The deployed forces are drawn from two battalions of the 1st Special Forces Group and organized as a special task force under the command of Brig. Gen. Douglas Mayweather. Defense Ministry sources report the operation is codenamed "Keep Faith."

Government sources said the deployment was the result of a military assistance agreement negotiated with the government of Kasnyia during the Prime Minister's attendance at the recent three-day summit in Guranburg.

In his twelve-minute announcement from the East Room of Parliament House, Mitchell said the deployment would be conducted in cooperation with the Kasnyian military.

"The free peoples of the world must stand united in this effort," he said.

Parliament was called back into session Sunday evening and ratified the agreement in a 298-70 vote, including significant opposition support. President O'Malley signed the agreement at about 10:30 a.m. Monday morning.

According to the official vote tally, opposition leader Barry Wenda voted in favor of ratification but his office could not be reached for comment.

The announcement is widely expected by analysts to have an impact on the ongoing general election campaign. A new WITV survey indicates that more than six in ten Wallace Islanders support the deployment.
Edited by the Wallace Islands, Nov 16 2013, 01:43 PM.
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