An Update from the Independent Voices Party President
Day 866, 17:27
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Published in Ireland 
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by
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by einberliner
And firstly an apology...
So what I didn't know is this - a party can't endorse a candidate once the candidate goals are locked in. So on the day I was preparing to poll all the party to see who we were backing the window for me to do it was closing lol. We did have a nice discussion on our forums about the whole thing though and even had two of the candidates, Patton and Snake, stop by. It was entirely my intention to have us endorse a candidate but, unfortunately, I didn't realise we couldn't do it over the weekend. For that I apologise and I wholly invite any member of Independent Voices to express their personal choice on this article lol.
My PP term so far
Well as I'm sure most of you know we were outside of the top five when I became PP, so I made an effort to increase our numbers and to get the existing members more involved via the forums. This was pretty successful and a few days before the TD election we were stable enough in the top five that I invited the smaller parties of eIreland to use us to stand for congress as, personally, I don't feel it's fair that eRep excludes those from smaller parties from standing. I can see how that's logical in larger countries but in smaller ones like us it's always felt a little off to me. We had a good showing, as did many of those who stood with us, and I was very pleased with how the congress elections went. I'm hoping the party can build on that success in future.
While the forums aren't as active as I'd like to see them there's certainly been more talk there than there had been in a while and I'm going to focus my last ten days on stirring it up a bit more. In the meantime EA has grown in leaps and bounds and several of our members have moved overseas for one reason or another so we're back out of the top five but we're in a stronger position and have increased numbers than we did when I began and I'm proud of that. If time permits I'll try to increase our numbers a little more before my term is up.
Finally, more quietly, I had a room set up on the forums that only elected PPs have access to (thank you again, Kolshire!) so that PPs could talk to each other about issues going on in eIreland to create a pool where different ideologies can be put forward but, hopefully, without the huge amount of trolling and flaming that often happens in debate. This has only been used a little so far but I'm hoping that in the future, whether I'm a PP or not, it might be a place to formulate ideas that could then be put to the people or the dail. It's pretty much an experiment admittedly but one I'm hoping might be ultimately beneficial and one I was very pleased other PPs responded so positively to.
The Next PP Election
After a lot of debate I've decided that I will likely not stand for PP next term. Given that there could be invasion in our imminent future and I'm a member of Na Fianna I would like to keep myself a little more mobile just in case I'm needed to go someplace else on the country's behalf and while we should know by the time of the congress elections what the score is we might not before the 15th and the Party President election. I won't be leaving the country before my elected terms are up if I can possibly help it and I'm not the strongest soldier we have but I do have a fair amount of punch in me and I want that to be at Ireland's disposal wherever it's needed should it all be about to kick off.
If I'm honest I was already considering not standing as I've been speaking to a few of our newer members, as well as some of our previously quieter ones, and we have some wonderful, excellent people with incredible potential in our number. I'd love to see some of them stepping up to the podium next go around and think they could do great things not only for our party but for eIreland and I don't want to stand in their way. While I may stand again in future I feel now is the right time to give the newer blood a go.
And with that I'm going to sign off for now.
Yours in service,
Donut
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Comments
It's kind of a good thing you haven't endorsed a Candidate. The Independents should be Independent and the party should be a platform for Independents to run for President under. (I believe that was Digits intention no? I maybe wrong.)
@Vyse - I do kind of agree, though it was more to see if we had a strong lean toward one candidate. If there had been a strong majority in favor of someone I would have been happy enough to endorse them, if there's been just one vote in it then I wouldn't have been as comfortable doing it, no. lol.
^
You've done a good job this term Donut, I've agreed with everything you've done
If/When we endorse a candidate , it tends to be a unamimous decision , but we all speak our own minds too vyse ,
Hmmm...seems independant voices are pretty much the same as any other party.
@BoS - Nah we don't in-fight and the whole party is allowed an opinion, which differentiates us pretty well from some of the others lol.
Lol, certainly differentiates you for the party I recently left. To be truly independent though, you shouldnt all endorse a candidate as a party, because you are not a party. Its fine to have a forum where the independents of eireland can go to chat but it shouldnt only be for I.V members because that alone is showing partisanship to a certain extent. For example, I am currently not a member of any political party, therefore truly independent, so should I be allowed access to your forums?
Just a thought!
@BoS - It isn't only for IV members, we've plenty members of our forum who aren't members of IV. You want access? Here you go: http://e-independentvoices.lefora.com/" target="_blank">http://e-independentvoices.lefora.com/ lol Your membership will be immediate, no wait for approval. We'll take any constructive debate quite happily, people would only be turfed for trolling/flaming/similar prickery but not for not being an Independent Voices member, when Digits set it up he said all were welcome (I wasn't an IV member when I was given the link) and that's something I wholly agree with.
And the idea of endorsing came to me mostly because the party had been very quiet for a while and I felt it was time to get more active and involved and remind people we were around. Like I said, unless it had been a strong majority we wouldn't have been endorsing.
...interesting, it cut a line. I had said the only reason we'd turf people from the forums is for trolling or flaming or general prickishness, and even then only for extreme or massively repeated offenses most likely lol. We'd not kick anyone for being a non-member of the party.
Again, unlike other parties. lol.
Thank you, I was just curious. But, you keep making references to you as a party. Should independent voices just be nothing more than a top 5 "party" for independents to join so they can run for congress. Should it have a forum for independent to go and chat, yes but making "party" decisions is only contradicting the "independent" status.
To be honest I.V is currently like the united independens party in the USA. Its a party for people with different views which makes party decisions etc...so not strictly independent.
@BoS - Well tbh we do kind of have to work as a party to a degree. We have differing opinions and no manifesto, no party line etc. but we also want to ensure that our members' voices are heard, rather than just ignored because they're not toeing some party line elsewhere. To that end there needs to be a certain degree of organization and publicity.
Bleh, cynicism. Just take the party for what it is and stop nitpicking. It makes logical sense to endorse a candidate if a vast majority agrees, as it goes with the majority in an attempt - as Donut mentioned - to remind people that IV is an active group. It doesn't force anyone to support the candidate personally, as far as I know, it just shows a party's overall support. Could be wrong, but that's what I'm led to understand.
Donut, you've done a great job. As for the forums, I don't use them primarily because I hate, hate, hate the forums layout. It's cluttered, ugly, and it's unnecessarily hard to navigate. My suggestion would be to create a new forum with a standard layout, like the national forum or the other one we use. I think the forum itself deters members from activity, because they're such a pain to use and navigate.
Very nice donut. I'm sad to hear you think you wont run next term. I never even knew we had a forum before you became president. You got me a lot more involved in the party since the beginning of your term. I thank you for that 😃
I wish you were staying on as Party President...It doesn't matter if we're not a top 5 party anymore, you kicked us into activity again. I just hope that whoever the new PP is keeps us as involved as you do.
You've done a great job as Party President Donut! It is a shame to hear you won't be continuing. I hope whoever our following PP is can live up to your standard for excellence.
And since you offered to IV members to let us use the comments to endorse our candidates, I'd like to put a shameless plug out for Patton. A vote for Patton is a vote for a more unified better prepared Ireland! 🙂
Fantastic job, Einie! Yes, there are plenty of young talent that could definitely keep things moving. 🙂
Definitely my favourite Donut ever!
Bradums, MH, Ben and Edana - Thank you <3
Thank you, John! <3
From our interaction with you, you were perfect. IV is well served with you at their helm.
@Rian - Thank you. I enjoyed my talks with you guys too. I hope that whoever's PP for us next term the friendship between our parties continues to grow.
Nice work, good luck.
It'll be a shame not working with you next term.
🙂
@Ginge - Thank you, and I'll still be around!
@Donovan - 🙂
Great stuff Donut, and wish you well in all you do.
Interesting to see the idealogical debate around IV again. It seems to me that people are more interested in scrutinising its origin and initial guidelines than the development and operational focus ever since. This bugged me senseless in the first election IV contended, and it has never stopped since.
Basically, it is my feeling that IV is the only party that allows any free thought, its origins were interesting, its development has long since taken all common sense on board.
Ofc, the REAL reason seems to be fear and loathing at your recent successes.
Good for you, lady, and good for your party too.
<3 it.
I speak for my party (hopefully) when I say that Éire Aontaithe would be glad to help Independent Voices out whenever you need it. We appreciate your support for getting our TD candidates on the ballots.