My thoughts on our presidential candidates
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by Jack Roberts
I figued Id weigh in now that we have some platforms presented, even if a few are rather vague or lacking detail. We gotta work with what we're given, and so here we go:
Antonio Salgado:
I cant say Im surprised he's running, Ive always figured it was a matter of time before he did so. I agree with virtually everything Ealb's article said, and while he's made some good strides lately with the running of the Civil Recruitment Program...there's been things bothering me lately about it. The thing most troubling, the majority of citizens he's recruiting (via govt funded travel tickets) end up in the TNT party.
I find this troubling because (a) why would anyone move to a country and simply join up a party without checking out the political scene and (b) Im suspicious that he's using the govt program as a private recruiting ground to enlarge his party. To date he's denied doing so and promises he's been on the up and up, but today again I find a new citizen recently moved joined the TNT party.
Again I have no evidence of him suggesting or recommending to our new citizens to join his party, but if hindsight was 20/20 I wouldnt have appointed him and I would have sought out a citizen without any political affiliations to the job. I just dont like coincidences like this, and honestly given his past (and that of some of those in his party) I dont think you can really blame my suspicions or reaction.
So in summary, while he's done a respectable job in the Recruitment Office, his past is extremely difficult to forget, let alone be deserving of trust when this stuff happened only a month ago.
s33val😛
Long time on again/off again citizen of Thailand which I think deserves some measure of respect as does his championing for the establishment of Estonia (his home nation). Other than that, politically, I think his resume is rather weak. And his initial support of Antonio only to be withdraw when the rest of his party became angered by the suggestion, really has me questioning his judgement and resolve of his decisions.
While I respect him a great deal, I dont think he's got the chops to run the nation at this time, and would be better served in a cabinet position to further learn the workings of government. Yes I know he was running the govt companies under Rockman, but I cant say whether that was a success or not as I honestly dont remember anything about the companies being mentioned.
Korbin King:
Was president of eUSA way back in the day, and his tax, minimum wage, and military "platform" are exactly what I would have liked to have happen...but Congress being what it is requires a lot of compromise.
Has the experience in govt, and I dont find his short time spent in Thailand to be an issue, because after all I was only in Thailand 2 months before I got elected. Has admitted weakness in the economic sector, and I would like to know exactly who these advisors will be. Also Im concerned about the possible removal of the "social" programs such as the Housing Lottery, and the Wellness Program. I think Thailand can definitely support both and still be a profitable nation.
If Im understanding him correctly, he's aiming for a small govt that will be more easily managable. Which will probably save him a lot more headaches than I had.
Jack Roberts:
(The Reluctant Candidate)
Im still standing by my initial feeling of not wanting to run. IRL workload increase is the main issue, though if push came to shove I could still do the job as President, just I dont think I would have the time to spend the 4-5 hours a day Id like to spend and average spending now.
Im a realist about one thing though...Thailand cannot run 3-4 candidates and expect any outcome other than a TNT victory. We saw how close last election was, and TNT will continue to turn out their "inactives" from their forum on election day and make it close or pull out a victory.
Im really torn about this election. I want to believe Antonio is a "changed man", but (and this but is especially for the new citizens) is 1 month really long enough ago that we can forgive and forget? My gut continues to feel like this is exactly the angle TNT is shooting for, playing the "redemption" card for all its worth and once they win, screw Thailand right the hell over again with some half-assed schemes and proposals.
One of their companies Thai Iron continues to ignore my requests to release some of its employees back to the work pool since they are operating at more than the maximum productivity...which seriously has me questioning if they as a whole give a hell about the good of Thailand. Perhaps you can argue its not govt's place to request that, but that's what it was...a request and not a demand. I could have asked for the whitelist to been reinstalled full force (which it never was) and really stirred up the pot, but I just sat and waited to see if they would come around, and they have not.
The TNT party isnt stupid, I will definitely say that about them...which is why Im stressing some caution if you are considering their candidates or their party. Im sorry to you Antonio, but that's how I truly feel. Its too soon and the wounds your party attempted to inflict and did inflict are still raw in the minds of a lot of Thailand's citizens.
That being said, I think s33vald, KK, and myself and the party leaders of TRP, SUP, TDP, and ISCP need to get together and decide together who will be our candidate for all of us. Otherwise, be ready to congratulate Antonio on his victory.
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It's okay if you don't have a lot of time to spend on Erepublik, I think our country would be better off with a paperweight in office than Antonio 'I admit to being a corrupt liar' Salgado 😛
We definitely need to decide on one candidate for all the non TNT parties. With our votes split between 2 or 3 people Antonio is almost guarenteed a victory.
"Has admitted weakness in the economic sector, and I would like to know exactly who these advisors will be." - I have yet to contact anyone for economic advice. If elected it will be my first task. I am open to suggestions.
"Also Im concerned about the possible removal of the "social" programs such as the Housing Lottery, and the Wellness Program." - Housing Lottery is a voluntary tax. I have absolutely no problem with that. I would need more details about the Wellness Program before making a decision, but it will always be in place in one form or another. If for nothing else it is necessary for military readiness and foreign aid when necessary.
...and yes, small government with delegation.
I plan on continuing the lottery regardless of official sanction. It seems to be very popular and I'm not taking anything away from it.
@beorn - I wasn't trying to suggest that the president has the ability to prohibit a lottery in any form. I was merely answering President Robert's curiousity on my intentions. The fact that he seemed concerned that I may be interested in abolishing the lottery led me to believe it was somehow controlled by the government. If it isn't, then it wasn't a valid issue to be addressed.
Well, better decide soon. I'm willing to give an unknown light a chance than a known shadow, if you get what I mean.
To Jack, you don't have to spend 4-5 hours a day lol! (That's a lot btw). 1-2 hours would be mroe than enough. I don't know what you do in those long hours but you sure are a workaholic.
The lottery is govt controlled, beorn is simply running it as Lottery Commish. It could definitely be run via a private enterprise, I just think it carries a bit more weight as a govt entity. *shrugs*
Im also curious as to who you plan to have in your cabinet?
well about the guys joining TNT, the only thing i suggest is jobs, usualy or in a grain company or in defense system. 😁
one of the guys that came joined TRP.
and also the iron company moved many guys, i´ve requested the owner, but i cant control him and make he fire the rest. Some of the workers i´ve PM on my own( the ones i know)
and also Jack, i think i gave reasons for lots of you hating me, doubting somethings of me. But i´ve try this job the hard i could, i help bring players to eThai, with the GREAT help of Butchcassidy and the new comer niceboy( that is going to start now, but already helped a lot).
When some of the guys asked me about parties in eThai i told them that the largest are TNT, TRP and Sabai, and also told them about the problems of TNT. The only thing i ask them was to join certain companies, such as grain or defense system.
I accept to be questioned about my past actions, when i did lot of wrong things, but i dont accept to be doing the work hard, to be trying hard and have this doubts, you already asked me about this matter via PM and i´ve sent you a copy of my PMs, but when you bring this matter to public( ok, maybe transparency) you are showing that you really dont believe my work. I respect you Jack Roberts, so i step down for this work, return your tickets and ask you if you can put butch as supervisor and niceboy as assistant.
I am owner of the cheapest moving ticket company in eThai, if you need some, just PM.
Antonio, could you possibly get someone you introduced to Thailand, and joined a company other than TNT to affirm that?
I think you've taken my article slightly out of context, as I implicitely stated that I thought you were doing a good job as the Civil Recruitment head. You've got to also look at it from my point of view, given all the bull that TNT pulled in the past, and then I see new citizens, at least the majority of them joining your party and taking TNT party owned jobs...I dont think me being suspicious is out of the question. In fact, I think if it was my party that did the Czech Hospital scandal, and I was your in your job...you'd look pretty hard at what I was doing as well.
Perhaps you are getting the short end of the stick and you are simply working hard for Thailand as you said? I couldnt say for sure. I think that your party kind of screwed itself really with your behaviour last month, and its going to take a while for people to give you a second chance. Its only been a month.
My comment about not hiring you now, well honestly I truly believe in order to steer clear of exactly this kind of suspicions, whoever I appoint must be unaffiliated and have no party. So its not so much a judgement of you, its more something I think now would work better and not have people questioning the actions of the Civil Recruitment Dept.
Regardless, I dont have anything personal against you, its just like I said, its too soon after the Czech Hospital fiasco, and more time passing will make things easier for other people to be more accepting of TNT and yourself.
As someone who works in the Civil Recruitment Office, personally I have not seen this political slant. In terms of employees, I am certainly not TNT, but I and Antonio have worked excellently together.
I have not seen any slant in his decisions. When I wrote an article for the US media, Antonio issued a call here for all Thai players to come help with enquiries from interested Americans. If your accusations are true, he would have kept these potential new party members to himself. As it was, Korbin, Guy Kilmore and Nouveauk all helped, none from TNT!
I cannot find a single player who responded to my articles and is now Thai who has joined TNT. Not one. I suggest the truth is more mundane. Antonio tends to recruit amongst South Americans and generally leaves the English-speakers to me. His recruits will therefore often join TNT, a South American-dominated, non-English speaking party. I don't think thats a good thing but the fact that players join their own language is hardly sinister.
I have not decided who I support yet in this election but some of these accusations are getting a little wild. And saying patronising things like "stfu you n00bs we know Antonio's a thief just accept our choice" isn't helping the anti-TNT cause either..
@Butch: I know that I am concerned about Antonio running for Presidency. I will be the first to say that his actions this past month have been honorable and I do not suspect any shennanigans have gone through.
With THAT said. The Hosptial fiasco and the blatant attempts at styming ANY discourse the month before last was a horrible experience and one that did eThailand a great deal of harm. What the little hamster in the wheel is whispering to me is that we have not removed ourselves too much from that situation. Is the gamble worth it? Korbin King doesn't come with that baggage, Jack we know is ethical and successful.
(Total side note. I have officially given away around 10 moving tickets, nice work Butch.)
@Antonio: I think you are what your party needs. They have a set of goals and agendas that I still feel aren't made public. I hope there is a realization that a goal for a working and stable eThailand is most likely not counter to those goals. I hope your cohesion continues to go towards working for a better eThailand.
Quote: I have not decided who I support yet in this election but some of these accusations are getting a little wild. And saying patronising things like "stfu you n00bs we know Antonio's a thief just accept our choice" isn't helping the anti-TNT cause either..
Huh...I dont think anyone has made a statement resembling anything like the last sentence in the least. I never accused him, I merely stated I suspected, though since I wrote the article I have talked to a few newer citizens and some of their replies concerning the questions I posed give me reason to believe there may have been some slight misleading during the recruitment process. A couple others have stated that he was on the up and up as well.
Perhaps you are ready to dismiss what happened only 30 days ago, but Im sure the majority of citizens who actually lived through the last TNT presidency are not so ready.
What a strawman way of arguing. Misrepresentation is the enemy of enlightened discourse.
Um... your last paragraph is exactly what I mean. Your last paragraph= patronising. Your last paragraph is a great deal of the reason why, having previously been neutral, I am increasingly leaning towards Antonio. It is this attitude, whilst not explictly stated in words, that I dislike and which may be why despite the barrage of propaganda there still seems to be a lot of Antonio supporters. Again, I was neutral, but your lameass ganging-up is ending that.
Wait Butch. So your saying that every election every candidate should have a clean slate? Lets bring Admiral Ackbar back then. We are "ganging up" on Antonio because of the extremely large discrepancies we are discovering. Why not examine the evidence instead of supporting poor old Antonio because he is getting picked on?
I moved to eThai recently after responding to a recruitment post from Antonio. I vouch that in our communications he never suggested any specific party or company to me. After moving I took the highest paying job, which happened to be with Thai Made Holding - I have no idea if TMH has any affiliation with TNT. I have not decided on a party yet.
Butch, what are your thoughts on the Czech hospital scandal inwhich Antonio recieved substantial funds from? (He did eventually return them, yet he and his party still support members and entities who did not).
What are your thoughts on TNT's previous actions in pushing through bills with the intent on crushing individuals and entities who were not funded with vast amounts of monies?
Those are the questions that enter my mind when I think of an Antonio presidency. Those are pretty serious actions, ones that really the principal actors have not yet repudiated.
The Czech hospital scandal shall not be forgotten.
Above all, it must not be repeated.
We have had enough of those.
Actually Butch, and Im really not trying to pick a fight with you here, my last paragraph is not in the least patronizing. Its a simple statement of fact that a lot of people feel here in Thailand. It is not meant to persuade you to vote either way, but give a perspective on the history (a very recent one at that) of Thailand.
Do you truly feel that if you had experienced what those of us did last month you would be willing to forgive and forget? Again, not patronizing, Im simply curious why you are so quick to discount the feelings of those of us who did experience the last TNT reign, and wonder why you feel its propoganda or gangbanging.
I am quite glad that you have had a good experience with Antonio work wise, and I really do hope that such experiences continue, because I feel he and his party have a lot to prove in order to truly let these past actions be forgotten.
Your time in Thailand has zero to do with anything in my book I dont care if you got here yesterday or 1 year ago...again, its a matter of presenting the facts of the situation, which Antonio also admits to (receiving stolen goods, attempting to make the minimum wage extraordinarily high, and warhawking) because a lot of newer citizens do not know these facts and I feel it is necessary to make an informed vote in the upcoming election.
If there is anything "dirty" Ive done during my presidency, Id hope Id face the same scrutiny and I feel any candidate to run for office should face such scrutiny and examination.