Transcript of Tuesday’s Debate
This past Tuesday, the debate for the mayoral election at Carson Studios in New Town. Present for this occasion were Sally, Kefan, Royce, Vivek, GreenKai*, and Garrison. Questions were asked and candidates were given time to compose and post an answer. What follows is a recap of the questions and the pertinent answers each candidate gave.
Question 1: Do you like cookies?
Royce: “Cookies are raccoony. Where are the cookies?”
Kefan: “Yes, especially white chocolate macadamia. Or Samoas.”
Vivek: “No, I think cupcakes are the much more efficient, warm, lovable option. Cookies jus[t] crumb up and make a mess everywhere.
GreenKai: “As much as any other citizen. The ones with walnuts in are neat!”
Sally: “The best cookies are made of meat!”
Question 2: Why do you want to be mayor?
R: “Because government jobs are cushy. A job where I’ll get paid to never accomplish anything useful? That sounds very raccoony. […] I don’t know why everyone doesn’t want a job like that.”
K: “It sounds like fun! And I can officially declare myself to be Rose Garden furniture!”
V: “I’ve always enjoyed helping people solve their problems in the most expedient and efficient way possible, and this position would give me the great leverage in doing so! I look forward to bringing boons to the people of this world and interesting times to the community as a whole.”
GK: “That’s a tricky one . . . I feel the powers of the mayorship should rest with the people, not an individual. Each citizen should feel they can lead, not just one person.”
(At this point Garrison comes in the room and is given time to answer the question.)
Garrison: “Yes, the reason I want to be Mayor is that I want to be in a position to help Spindizzy as it grows larger and feel I can best do so in that capacity. I would like to be the liaison between those who lead and those who are lead.”
Question 3: What do you like most about SpinDizzy?
K: “The inhabitants. That pretty much is it right there. And the weather’s nice, too.”
R: “Well, it’s a nice place to hang out and bug my friends, and also there’s quite a lot of well stocked and unguarded refrigerators around here.”
G: “The People and their potential to grow, as individuals and as a community.”
V: “The thing I like the most about Spindizzy is its people of course, friends all across the board! Not to mention, the fact that this land truly is a place where anything can happen anywhere, at any time. This is a harbor for creativity, unique among the galaxy. This world truly is a special place, one in a trillion. It’s an honor to stand upon it.”
GK: “We all come from very different places. Yet each of us is here by choice – to share our imaginations with one another. I think that makes SpinDizzy a wonderful community – one well worth my time. Also, where else can one get a snack out of a tree at a moment’s notice?”
Question 4: What will you, as mayor, offer to the citizens of SpinDizzy? Do you have an agenda?
S: “A Triumphal Procession to mark my Election. The same to incorporate floats, vuvuzela players, exotic animals, and sundry and divers wonders! […] Distribution of Largesse. Each Citizen of SpinDizzy shall receive a generous portion of carrion, a signed portrait of me, and a bottle of W Ketchup, the only ketchup with an eagle on the label! [Also,] Statues, that I may be Remembered. I shall erect at least one, and ideally several, large and impressive statues of myself in public places to commemorate my term of office!”
R: “I can offer raccoonery, of course. My agenda is pretty much to keep things going along as is. I have no plans to make huge changes, or step on anyone’s toes over anything. Basically, if people are having fun, I’ll stand back and let them continue to do so. Oh! I do want to make sure Raccoon Day is an officially recognized holiday, that everyone will get off from work!”
V: “I believe I’ve already stated that for the most part, I wish to help individuals reach their greatest potential and surmount their obstacles in the most expedient and efficient way possible, while fostering the creative spirit we all know and love, bringing grand tales to the continent as a whole. I seek to make this world the best place it can possibly be.”
K: “I would like to offer… very little, in the sense that I don’t want to make sweeping changes to a place that I like just the way it is. A warm couch to lean on in the Rose Garden, of course. A bad pun when it’s required… okay, and even when it’s not really required. Basically, a vote for me is a vote not for an extreme, but for the political centaur.”
GK: “As a citizen of SpinDizzy without a mayor, I will do my best to preserve the whimsical nature of our everyday life, and to lead and participate in activities which celebrate the best features of our world. All who vote No Mayor should be prepared for the duty that represents – to inspire each other to creativity and playfulness.”
G: “As I said I want to be a liason between the people of Spindizzy and the Wizards to help insure those busy beings are made aware of the people’s needs. In the words of Amos McCoy, No brag just fact — as one of them is my Dad one my Grand Dad and one my Uncle…I am in a unique position to do so.”
Question 5: Do you like the holidays [on SpinDizzy]? What would you change?
S: “I will add a Ketchup Festival, that the Ketchup Gods may be appeased! I didn’t even realize that there *were* Ketchup Gods until a week or so ago, when I heard Xor and Darius talking about them, but when I found out, I knew that we had to keep on their good sides. That’s how quick and pro-active I am!”
R: “I like the holidays! People enjoy them, and that’s what’s important. Even if I’m not having fun, I never take that as an excuse to prevent others from having fun. As for change, I did mention officially recognizing Raccoon Day earlier, so that everyone can take that day off! So, I have no plans to add any holidays, but I definitely wouldn’t remove any just because perhaps someone would rather be grouchy about it.”
K: “Well, I certainly approve of Taursday every week… but every day is Taursday for me. Sure, I think everyone should be able to celebrate just about anything they like with anyone else who wants to celebrate it too. Officially or unofficially.”
GK: “I will also push for further devolution of powers to volunteer groups of citizens. The holidays are a great example. We should have a means by which the calendar may be determined by the people, such as a wiki-based system of proposal and voting – all of them, not just an individual to whom we have delegated that power. If any individual citizen wishes to create a holiday, why, let them do so. If others join in to celebrate it, then it is by definition a holiday. But no citizen should feel they cannot do something to celebrate the whimsy of our world because that role is reserved to another.”
G: “Holidays are nice, I would keep those that are still about. My suggestion box has already had a few new ones suggested …A mouse citizen for example suggested “Evil Wallaby wears a Maid’s Outfit Day”…I don’t know how feasible it is, but I would explore it as I would other suggestions.”
V: “Do I like holidays? Who doesn’t like holidays? For the most part I would seek to make sure holidays are a complete experience, a break from any drudgery encountered, indeed, I’ll make sure a holiday has a tale behind it and a tale to venture through! That’s what it should be, not a stressful deal or a time to just sit around, rather, an homage to the events that inspired them.”
Questions 6 & 7: What will you do to help the people that don’t support your point of view? How you will you move to improve SpinDizzy for those that don’t see eye to eye with you?
S: “Well, you can’t really improve the place without improving it for everyone. I don’t see much of an issue there.”
R: “Well, that shouldn’t be too much of a problem. I rarely get anything done that I start, so all they have to do is wait it out, and I’ll likely forget all about it and take a nap. But more seriously, listen and compromise.”
V: “A very important question indeed. Eventually something might come up where two different groups of people want two mutually exclusive things. The best option is to find a way to stop them from being mutually exclusive, and do both! Why not? Usually these choices between A and B alone are false ones. An intelligent person will be able to figure out a third option to take. Failing that, then whichever option will create the most happiness and prosperity in the long run. After all, even if some people don’t like it, if there is no other option, better to have the most future benefits, yes?”
G: “By hearing them out and giving them a fair shake. For example if GK writes out in full her objections with the mayor office and puts it in my suggestion box, I would consider it from all angles, and possibly hold a muck wide up and down vote ‘Should we or should we not have a mayor?’ To avoid the stress and confusion that is being created now.”
K: “I think I’d try to avoid doing anything that would raise strong objections in the first place. If at all possible. Failing that, doing nothing that implies mandatory cooperation or participation with it. Like I said, I don’t really want to change anything anyway. So I don’t foresee proposing something that *would* trigger a strong disagreement.”
GK: “I think those who disagree with me will find that reaching the goals of our manifesto will improve their lives – yes, even those standing beside me now. Each of these candidates seeks to be a leader in their own manner. With a single mayor, most of them would be disappointed; but with No Mayor, they can all lead, in turn – and we shall all be better off for their combined efforts.”
(A debate sparked from this comment that lasted several minutes.)
Question 8: “What’s the very first action you will take as Mayor, if elected?”
K: “Pass out from sheer surprise.”
R: “First thing I’ll do is go hang out in the Rose Garden and be all Mayorly. I don’t have any plans to mess up anything else, except myself.”
V: “The first thing I will do in the first hour is get right on reviewing all organizational structures, holidays, map out frequented and not-so-frequented areas and start distributing events to give other areas spotlight time. I’ll get right to work on bringing the entire continent into the limelight!”
GK: “If No Mayor is elected, I will seek the liberalization of the city infrastructure so that all who volunteer to maintain or expand it may do so. We have already done something similar to maintain the daily park; I don’t see why we can’t do the same for City Hall.”
S: “Appoint a dePEWty.”
G: “First thing I’d do … and what inspired me to run … one person asked me to bring the issue of adopting a leash program to Spindizzy…she asked me because in her words she was afraid to talk to the Wizards. That is the kind of lack of communication I want to fix.”
Question 9: “Alright! Final question! Say something good about each other. Let’s end on a positive note, OK? And if you have anything in closing to add, now’s the time!”
V: [to GK] “Despite all our logical objections to the absence of a public employee as mayor, I have to say, I admire your freedom-fighting spirit. While I prefer a balance of law and discord, I’ve always been fond of individualist sentiments. I suppose to close, I’d say, whoever wins, may fortune and fun find us all!“
K: “I would say this: I will be perfectly happy to have any of my fellow candidates be my Mayor. I will be happier to be theirs, of course… 🙂 And while I entirely disagree with the ‘no mayor’ option, I appreciate the concerns that drive it, and the civic-mindedness of the person fronting it. I don’t really have any closing thoughts past urging everyone to vote. I’m a huge fan of participatory democracy, but it only works when there’s participation.“
R: “Oh! Well, I think we have plenty of good candidates here. Things have run pretty smoothly this year, and I suspect we all like each other, whatever our views. No matter who wins, I hope we do continue to have a mayor though, so that all those who see the mayorship as a source of fun can continue to do so.”
G: “My opponents are all good people…Sally has helped me immeasurably with the Artist Ambush, Kefan as always the centaur of attention, it’s always fun to feed Royce, GK has been helpful to me as both a friend and person who sets the B&P as the Park, Vivek has some good ideas. I just can’t believe that bum Garrison is running again. Oh wait, that’s me, sorry.”
S: “I’m happy with whoever gets to be Mayor. This was a lot more civilized debate than last year.”
GK: “Each of the people on this stage has shown they have the power to inspire others to act. I can think of no better qualification to be a citizen of this world. I urge them all to improve this world so as they see fit, without regard for the result of this or any election.”
(*GreenKai was invited by the moderators to speak on behalf of the “No Mayor” option on the ballot.)