We will focus on the issues of the presidential campaign, even if the candidates do not...

It's time to turn the amazing power of the members of ATS to focus on the issues surrounding the 2004 U.S. Presidential Campaign. We're launching a new effort as a "Special Assignment" of ATSNN to focus the energies of politically motivated ATS members on the real issues of this campaign. The Basic Concept: This forum, Campaign 2004 Issues will be a limited access forum where a select group of ATS members will be allowed to post and reply to threads. The intent is to focus on the important issues surrounding this campaign, issues that the candidates may likely avoid as they engage in attacks and deflection of attacks. This year, more than ever, the issues are important, complex, and diverse. From the faltering educational system, to international relations, no election year has been fraught with difficult and numerous issues like this one. Let's focus the amazing energies and intelligence of politically motivated ATS members on the real issues. The hopeful result is that anyone reading the posts of this forum will understand how each candidate stands, or should stand, on the important topics that need to be discussed. And in the end, we may help some voters better comprehend this topics and the position of the respective candidates before they head off to the voting booth. How It Works: New threads will contain ATSNN-styled all-caps topical prefixes, they are: DEFENSE: (Military, war in Iraq, etc.) TERRORISM: (The War on terror) ECONOMY: (Jobs, economic policy, etc.) SOCIAL: (Medicare, Social Security, AIDS, Gay Marriagge, etc.) TAXES: (The "dirrrty" topic) FOREIGN: (Foreign Policy) ENERGY: (Oil, alternatives, etc.) EDUCATION: (Public, vouchers, etc.) ENVIRONMENT: (Parks, polution, etc.) ETHICS: (Corporate governance, political ethics, campaign finance reform, etc.) Discussion and debate will remain focused on the issues, and representation of the respective party platforms and the stance of the candidates. Through discussion, a complete analysis of the issues, influences, and factors of our current age will be examined and compared to which candidate stands for which side (or sides) of each issue. Any post that engages in an attack on another member, or one of the candidates will be removed and that member's access will be removed from this special forum. We will focus on the issues, even if the candidates cannot. How To Get Involved: We have three current "team leaders" for the most popular political positions: - Republican/Conservative: Banshee - Democrat/Liberal: RANT - Centrist/Neutral: SkepticOverlord We still need team leaders for: - Green - Libertarian - Other Our goal is to establish at least 15 people on each "team". If you want to aid this effort, please contact one of the team leaders via U2U with a brief overview on why you want to participate, and which issues interest you the most. A dedicated website will be established that functions just like ATSNN (pulling posts from the news forum for a focused display under a new domain), to give people a one-stop zone for all the important issues of this campaign. And a Bonus Those who are selected for this unique effort on ATS will receive a huge points bonus of 25 points for each post in this forum. For now, this forum will be open to posting from anyone to answer the questions surrounding this new effort. Once the participants are slected, only they will be able to post here. [edit on 2-8-2004 by ADVISOR]

How about the resident Libertarian?


I volunteer

Sounds like this forum will be very interesting. Can a Canadian participate?

I would list myself in the "other" (independant or non-affiliated might be a better term?) category and perhaps bring an outsider's perpective. Areas of interest include Terrorism, Economy, Foreign and Energy.

As I hope you have gleaned from my posts I am not a member of any "attack dog pack" here on ATS and I would much appreciate participating in a "clean" environment.

EDIT: P.S. I assume that "other" will not have a platform to present but could be the "devil's advocate" in discussions and help untangle and expose relevant information.

[edit on 8/1/2004 by Gools]

I'd like to thank the heroic Democratic/Liberal volunteers that have already U2U'ed to answer the call to duty!

Had to get that last bit of Bush bashing out of my system.

And use it to remind everyone this is ATS Politics Unusual. If you hate the negativity of modern politics, here's your chance to set the record straight. And you don't have to be an economics expert or war strategist (though they are welcome) to participate. Just have a willingness to research and interest in the issues.

Remember to vote (I mean) U2U early and often with your stated Issues of interest. With enough coverage, the time commitment should be limited.

Decision 2004!
:go balloons:

Why has Banshee become "Republican/Conservative"?

That is a little sad.

I would like to be on the Libertarian team. The reason I want to participate is because I feel very strongly that none of the parties are serving the needs of its people. Further increasing the power of government will only lead to more problems and more grievances against the government. Across the board I wish to return much of the power residing within the government to the citizens. I would like to see the government revert back to what it stood for during the original founding of the constitution and Bill of Rights.

My main interests include the War on Terrorism, Rights of Citizens, Taxes, Defense, and actually pretty much everything. I believe we need a well defined enemy within the War on Terror, namely whoever was responsible for 9/11. For foreign affairs, we need a non-interventionalist policy while still maintaing our military. The Patriot Act along with Drug Laws need to be revoked. We need to abolish Income Tax. We need to return government ownership of land to private individuals, and respect the rights of Native Americans by returning more land to them. Provide incentives to corporations for reducing pollution. Engage private organizations to fight pollution.

We need a Free-Trade policy. We need to destablish social institutions, and rely on private organizations, and encourage competition in the drug industry. We need to find alternative energy sources, and encourage those that already exist. And encourage competition by repealing anti-trust laws.

I know its jumbled, but that should give you an idea of what I am all about. Thank you for opening this forum, I believe it will be a great resource for everyone!

[edit on 1-8-2004 by Jamuhn]

well i just sent SO my application a couple minutes ago im eager to join this should be fun and interesting.

Originally posted by MaskedAvatar
Why has Banshee become "Republican/Conservative"?

I've been a right-winger for many years, my friend.
I just don't discuss politics with people too often.

Keep the U2Us coming, fellas.

Originally posted by MaskedAvatar That is a little sad.

What is "sad" is that people are judged by their political affiliations, and not their deeds/attitude. This is exactly the type of thing we seek to avoid with this effort, an honest discussion of the real issues, without the distractions of personalities and attacks of character.

I am loosing my mind or Skeptic Overload is back? I am very glad he is back again.

This is a great idea! Structured, intelligent political discussion without the usual regression to flame wars. I'm really looking forward to see how this turns out.

Put me down for the Libertarian side!

One question: Will this be more like the Debate forum, or the Research forum? In other words, will the threads be by candidate, or by issue?

Originally posted by PurdueNuc
One question: Will this be more like the Debate forum, or the Research forum? In other words, will the threads be by candidate, or by issue?

Stick with the issues I hope. Avoid spearating people by which team they are on. My $0,02.

I would do seperate threads on each issue, let everyone responed to each issue seperatly instead of on each persons stand on ALL the issues

Originally posted by SkepticOverlord
We still need team leaders for:
- Green
- Libertarian
- Other

I would like to be the team leader, if not that, a team member.

-BeingWatchedByThem-

[ ... ]

EDIT- I retract that. I'm awaiting results from a research project initative. I'm over booking myself.

[edit on 2-8-2004 by ktprktpr]

What exactly would the team members be required to do? I mean I understand the basic premise, but I'm just wondering. Because I think I'd be interested, but if it's going to be a big time-consumer than I don't think I'll be able to do it (going back to school soon and such).

But I'm definitely interested in being part of the Libertarian team. I think it could be a fun deal.

Originally posted by Faisca What exactly would the team members be required to do?

Research and discuss the important issues that need to be addressed in this campaign year, debate the merits of each party's position on the various issues, and confirm each candidate's stated position on the issues we discuss.

For team Nuetral...

m...

I'd like to join my fellow libertarian friends, I don't care about being a team leader, I just want to be part of the group, I have some libertarian brain power I would like to channel towards the issues.

Do I need to u2u somebody or is this good enough?

Hey I'd like to be on the neutral team please. Sounds like a good idea. I like the idea of this. This would be a lot better than the typical mud pit. I want to discuss in the defense topic.