Candidate Survey Results

Titulia City - The Herald has sent a survey to each of the major candidates. So far we've only received replies from Tom J Norton (who has withdrawn) and Dennis McVicker. At this point we do not know why Mr Daly has failed to fill out his survey form, so we assume he is either too busy with his campaign, or that he feels disloyal to the Linardist Party and it's affiliation with the Times.

But here is the Survey in detail, and we will include Mr. Norton's responses as well.



Dear Karl,

Thank you for the opportunity to participate in your questionaire. Here are my responses, in point.

" What is the biggest challenge facing Titulia in the month of October"

I joined this campaign firstly to serve Titulia. Before we as a nation press forward with continuing building key infrastructure, we have some leaky rooves to fix. For my part, that exists in having a national discussion over repairing the various citizen complaints in the Constitution.

With respect to our opponents Mr Daly and Mr Hock, I don't think there is any disagreement in that area. Rather, there has been a great deal of misunderstanding over our true position.

My running mate President Dennis McVicker has laid out a comprehensive plan whereby I, if elected to the honour of becoming the next Vice President of the Republic, will chair the Constitutional Convention. With the same respect to our opponents, I am compelled to suggest that our true position has been somewhat misunderstood to the point of exaggeration. As Vice President, I will not come to the table to a preset agenda, other than to listen and respond.

If, at the conclusion of the Convention, there is sufficient consensus for change, I will submit to the citizens the required Bills to Amend the Constitution of the Republic, based on what the citizens have decided.

Let me be clear, the role of the Constitutional Convention Committee will not be to decide on behalf of the nation. It's role will be very simple - to collate the ideas put forward BY THE CITIZENS - FOR THE CITIZENS. My role will be extremely limited to that of chairing the Convention and drafting legislative language for the Amendments to the Constitution, if the citizens have reached a consensus on change.



" Mr McVicker suggested in the debate forums that we make the Titulia experience one FUN...is it the obligation of the government to make Titulia FUN, and if so, how do we do it"

As I have previously said in the candidate's debate, I don't believe that any one of us have a quick fix to this long standing problem. I think that we are in fixed agreement that it comes down to activity, with the only disagreement being the way that Government is involved in the effort.

My only disagreement with our opponents is, that I firmly believe the Government can and should be involved in the process. I'm not suggesting a socialist approach to leading the effort entirely, rather a collaboration between the public and private sector.

There can be no argument that to date, despite the many efforts of private enterprise, the Government has always been and will no doubt continue to be Titulia's single largest employer for at least some time to come.

I share my running mate's goal to be and act ambitious towards what we can achieve, rather than take a negative view towards what we can't. In the defence of our fellow contenders, they have seen as we have seen a great many setbacks. So I can appreciate the depth of the despair in feeling that Government alone can't take care of this entirely - and I agree.

This is something that I believe the citizens, especially the newer citizens, need to understand about the Republic of Titulia. It is a three-tiered system of responsibility: the Administrator, the Government and the citizens. For anything substantial I believe that the Government and the citizens can see it through. But for "systemic" changes (site work) this can and must for technical reasons have the agreement of the Administrators of the Republic.

I take the view that instead of continually laying the blame at one of those groups, we should promote the understanding that Titulia - regardless of politics - will always have to reach across the political and establishment divide in order to achieve anything. I believe that this is the philosophy we need to embrace before we are able to actually take up the massive effort of national construction.


" Immigration has always been an issue in Titulia, what are your plans to increase immigration?"

As I noted above, this issue is indeed historic and I cannot believe any argument that it can be solved overnight. My own personal view is that the single-greatest success of anything whether it be selling a product of service or the promotion of a social or recreational activity has been word of mouth.

To this end - the citizens of Titulia are the key to this effort. I congratulate and give a big thumbs up to all citizens who have promoted Titulia abroad and have seen the fruits in attracting new citizens.

There is an old saying "you pay peanuts - you get monkeys". If elected to the east wing of Liberty House I will submit to President McVicker that in order to get serious about immigration we have to look at the Immigration rewards structures. I am of the belief that the current system may have served us well at one point but is now redundant in facing tomorrow's Immigration challenges.

To start off, I am in favour of legislative change to put through a new Immigration Bill that provides a better financial and resource incentive for both the citizens that have the successful referrals AND the citizens they attract. It provides a double incentive. Is it a bold ask? Yes. Do I think we need to have the discussion with the nation? It's long overdue.


"The economy has been stagnant. Is there anyway to stimulate the economy as seen with the previous land rush we witnessed when the Admin added real estate? "

This goes hand-in-hand with my previous comments about collaboration. As with anything in Titulia we must have those three groups working hand-in-hand to achieve the systemic change citizens are calling for.

I would support the Finance Secretary holding discussions with the private sector on their thoughts before the administration acts. Although I believe there has been genuine effort made by previous Governments, I don't feel the plans have been terribly comprehensive in speaking to the problems. If anything, we have probably added to the "to-do" list.

In the defence of all candidates in this race, as a collective group of aspirants it is very easy to fall into what I call the "stimulus trap". But if anything is true to the replication of real-world politics, this is one issue where we immediately identify the political "left" and "right" reactions.

As an historic centrist on economic matters, I accept that Government involvement can easily lead to enterprise abuse of the Treasury. But I also appreciate the left's argument, particularly as a new virtual nation, that as the single-largest tollar holder the Government is in a unique position to invest in national growth.

When I was a candidate for President, I spoke about economic flow on effects - and since then - how we can use the current global economic downturn as an educational mechanism to prevent lagging flow on and growth. I agree with the generally accepted public perception that without tangible goods and services to transact, we will still face the same fundamental problems.

As the media industry understands all too well, their success has been built because an "e-newspaper" is easy to bring to an electorate because it is electronic - and it's cost effective if not free to host and maintain.

One of our good friends Nathan (CerussoMan) operated a very successful business in graphic design. Again, because the product was in demand and it was free to create. Thus not having the real-world overheads that would come in providing a service in our real lives.

I encourage anyone starting or operating a business in Titulia to think about good virtual business models - something the people want that you can make for free.


" What type of major improvements would you like to see in the website?"

I would like to see the proposition for online/offline indicators to be implemented. But as it hasn't been submitted as a Change Request to the Administrator, so perhaps the next President whoever that will be would like to take that up.

More fundamentally, I would like the Administrators to look at a new CMS (Content Management System) for Titulia. At present, the CMS used to operate Titulia.com is redundant for today's citizens, traffic and visitors. In my opinion, the amount of downtime or lag experienced of late is unacceptable to maintain a service that is hoped to create demand and stay in demand. My suggestion to the Administrators is that they perhaps look at a more higher-end CMS.

I understand the level of work involved and with perhaps changing the system altogether will result in the need to build totally new modules to replicate the existing site features we have now. Perhaps we can someone assist in this effort as a side project, whilst maintaining the existing site.


" Some of complained about the acrimonious partisanship that has displayed in recent proposition battles...what do you propose to do to foster a more harmonious Titulia?"

I again defend all candidates because it is a question that can perhaps bring about more animosity in speaking to than that without.

As inadequate as it may seem - it all starts with each and every one of us. Titulia is a passionate country. We come from different cultures, religions, upbringings and possess exeptionally divergent differences in approach. In a democracy, sometimes everyone will eventually get offended. In jest, I err that some days all you need to do is log on and the temperature is that high you wish that you had simply not gotten out of bed. But that's going to continue.

I think we can do better. But I am against any legal or governmental action that restricts our ability to say what we feel and essentially - I am against criminalising the behaviour of us all bearing the right to have a bad day if we so please.

I concur there are limits on the legal perception of enumerated powers. But the Dorothy-Dix to that is .. to open that door would be opening Pandora's Box to the end of the expression of individual freedom. As I noted above, I am against doing so.

Thanks again for answering these questions. If I do not get a return message, I will state that we were unable to get your views on these issue.


Thanks Karl. Cheers, T. J.

And Mr. McVickers Response....

1. The number one issue facing Titulia at this time is constitutional and government reform. We need to make sure that our government not only addresses the issues we face today, but the issues we'll face in the future.

2. I believe we should make government fun by including everyone in the discussion, and accepting input from all citizens. That is why I want to for the legislative committee to allow all citizen a chance to present proposal for a new legislature.

3. In the past certain citizens have shown results by using viral ads for Titulia, I plan on bringing in a Minister of Immigration who will employ these methods. My government will not stop there however, I plan on including new citizens in the discussion, and welcoming each new citizen personally to Titulia.

4. My plan for the economy, is to negotiate with Admin to build an economy that employs market scenarios similar to the real world, as opposed to our current economy which does not.

5. I'd like to see the addition of chat and instant messaging capabilities for the site. I talk to many members of Titulia using outside instant messenger, and it would be more convenient if we could talk to all online members using an internal system.

6. I plan on leading by example, in the past I have been known for a some what partisan stance on things, but I hope to reach out to my political opponents. I believe by reaching out in good faith that I may encourage my fellow Titulian to do the same. I think we need to put politics aside for awhile and worry about building up the framework for responsible governemnt.

The Herald would like to thank those candidates that responded to this survey!