[1678] Parliamentary Campaign Thread

[Alfonso Velez]

LIBERTY & DEMOCRACY PARTY PLATFORM:

Campaign Platform:

During this campaign, the Liberty and Democracy Party have released a manifesto taking these policy positions:

-Building on our successes during the past 5 years of L&D Government providing strong and stable leadership and making Alduria a better place to live.
-Commitment to expanding free trade with other nations
-Promote deregulation of businesses to allow Alduria's economy to thrive
-Privatize the bulk of Alduria's Government run business with an exception for the national oil company. Work on a public/private partnership for Aldurian oil to help stimulate the economy and gradually move Aldurian Oil to the point where it can operate mostly, if not entirely, privately.
-Prioritizing Defense spending, particularly naval spending with an emphasis on escort ships for trade routes. We highlight the successes we've made on Defense spending during the past 5 years under an L&D Government.
-Avoid unnecessary foreign entanglements that could result in conflicts with other nations. Avoid armed conflicts unless they are directly related to Alduria's security or overriding trade interests (ie, responding to attacks on shipping)
-Lower taxes for citizens and small businesses
-Help small business owners by offering legislation to ease regulatory burdens and provide exceptional tax relief during a business' first years
-Move more power away from the National Government to provincial and local Governments, particularly when it comes to welfare programs. The National Government would provide funding for local/provincial directed welfare programs that meet the specific needs of that locality/province rather than a "one sized fits all" policy. We tout our successes in this regard through the Local Government Act.
-Place an emphasis on "Alduria First" when it comes to our foreign relations. We won't close ourselves off from other nations--but we will always make sure that our interests are first in mind. This won't stop us from cooperating with other Governments and certainly won't stop us from signing free trade deals--but we have to look out for Aulduria first!
-Use money from privatizing industries to build needed infrastructure in areas that aren't strong economically. In economically strong areas, partner with the private sector to pool resources for infrastructure building. This mutually beneficial arrangement will save the taxpayers money and help businesses by providing infrastructure support to areas that can directly help their businesses too.
-Respect the total separation of Church and State and push back against any legislation that would seek to legislate morality or infringe on people's religious liberties.
-Continue to support the development of Biscarrose and Napoléon by private businesses
-Promote, support, and respect the privacy and liberty of all citizens. Oppose all legislation that infringes on these liberties. We tout our successes in enshrining these liberties in the Constitution.
-Promote an open immigration policy and particularly encourage the immigration of skilled workers. Promote programs that help immigrants integrate into Aldurian society.
-Provide tax credits to families so they can grow and prosper without government interference.
-Strongly support and expand settling corporations and ease the requirements for creating such a corporation.
-Invest in medical advancements and create a business-positive atmosphere to attract medical companies to come to and invest in Alduria to help our healthcare system.
-Support a vibrant private insurance industry that is suitably regulated. Ensure greater competition between insurance companies to make costs competitive. Move social safety net programs to provincial levels to better meet the unique needs of their citizens with funding provided by the national government.
-Allow provinces greater autonomy, particularly in the areas of taxation, education, and infrastructure.
-Support freedoms for all people regardless of sex, gender, religion, national origin, sexual orientation, or gender identity. Oppose any laws that infringe on these freedoms. We tout our successes in enshrining these rights into the Constitution and our success in marriage equality. We also note our success in opposing the Bathroom Bill in the last Parliament.
-Continue to promote the enrichment of Aldurian culture, touting our successes in a myriad of bills we passed during the last Parliament.
-Continue to provide for access to safe and plentiful sources of water. Tout our successes with the Water Crisis Act.

Campaign Efforts & Candidates:

In contrast to their last campaign with a rag-tag group of fervent activists on a shoe-string budget, the L&D has grown in terms of resources and party size after being the senior party in Government for 5 years. This has presented both opportunities and challenges for the party. While there are now an army of volunteers to help out in the campaigning, they are hardly as fanatical and devoted as the small army of volunteers that helped carry L&D in the last election. This has resulted in a change in strategy with L&D focusing now more on quantity of resources rather than quality. L&D is now fielding candidates everywhere and is throwing around resources more freely than it did in the last election. This means that the party is now focusing on running elections within every province and electoral district in the Republic rather than focusing its resources strategically on just a few areas. L&D is taking a gamble that 5 years of Government will make them more appealing in areas that did not take them as seriously 5 years ago.

Another change is in the focus to recruit more moderate-minded candidates. In the last election, L&D struggled to avoid selecting candidates on the extreme fringes or "hardcore Libertarians". While there are still a small number of hardcore Libertarians now running, Velez and his faction have been largely successful in ensuring candidates generally fall within the "big tent" center of the party's ideology. The majority of the party's candidates are successful business people, intelligent young millennials (the party boasts one of the largest slates of LGBTQ+ candidates as well as four transgender candidates), and citizen-activists with a general lack of any "career politicians"--except of course those who were elected 5 years ago standing for re-election. The party has invested considerable money and resources into its party re-branding, and hopes that these efforts, along with Velez's personal appearances, will convince voters that the Liberty & Democracy is still the Maverick party for change that it ran on 5 years ago--while also being a party of stability and strength for Alduria. Time will tell whether or not Velez can maintain this difficult balance.