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Seek is right.

The debate on the nature of the wording Republic/Democracy is not for this thread. Please refrain from it.
 
If we're to help Poland today by fighting Russia and Germany, what's tomorrow? Helping the Irish by fighting Britain? Can't the Irish just like the Poles claim to be an oppressed nation? And what about the Czechs, the Finns and the Armenians? This discussion will only lead us to disaster.
 
I hereby tender my resignation as Secretary of the Treasury, and announce my departure from the Democratic Party.

I did not expect to see surging support for the POLAND Bill. I expected to see indifference, agreements on the basis of principle but disagreements on implementation, or simple protestations that it could not be done. But it seems in our current lethargy, inaction is not enough; we must now even oppose the very thought of action, since this would require an end to slovenliness and a resolve that our current Congress lacks. It was not enough to reject the POLAND Bill. We had to discredit the people it aimed to preserve so that no such measures could ever be introduced again. We had to praise and defend the abominable autocracies that it sought to undermine, so that they should never be set to scrutiny in future. We had to not only stay our hands, but sever them at the wrist, so that the people and posterity could never call for them to be raised in action. We were offered a reprieve from inactivity; instead, we chose the convenient path of slothfulness.

If I was disappointed by our reluctance to commit to a decisive foreign policy, I am appalled by the apparent apathy to the cause of international democracy, which here manifests itself in a willingness to stand by and defend the most despicable reactionary regimes on Earth. We are told that democracy is not universal. We are told that absolute monarchies have the right to obliterate nations through conquest and oppress their subject peoples without criticism. We are told that there is no such thing as a nation-state, and no such thing as the Rights of Man. Perhaps someone should have pointed this out to the Founding Fathers - because these are the very principles and tenets upon which the American Republic was built. It seems that, in the eyes of certain individuals, it is one case for the people of the United States and quite another for the other national races scattered across the globe. Or, as is more likely, while we are glad to pay lip service to the principles of liberty and democracy, we are reluctant to put principles into practice.

Until we can overcome this indifference to world affairs, the Empire of Liberty is a sham. It is propaganda without principle; a state without foundation, existing only in our words and not in our hearts and mind. If we continue on this route of selfishness and narrowmindedness, of political ignorance and national narcissism, we shall find ourselves perpetually alone, without friends or allies, and without even those national principles which we claim to cherish. Stagnation will make a sewer of Washington.

God bless these United States, and deliver them from their present malaise.

- Anton Maxim
 
The Primary of 1904


Federal Candidate(s)


T. H. Terrance (b. 1871), Mayor of Philadelphia ((Mikeboy)). Terrance is the youngest candidate, having risen to prominence for his economic studies and become a symbol of the young, resurgent Federal Party as the Mayor of Philadelphia.

William Taggarman (b. ????), Secretary of Agriculture ((zagoroth)). Having worked with Harrison as a fellow Trust Buster and Secretary, Taggarman has become a rally point for the more conservative wing of the Federal Party.

Roderick Khur (b. 1842), Vice-President of the Republic ((King50000)). Khur is running in opposition to the anti-German sentiment expressed by other candidates, although his pro-German, anti-French worldview seems to be becoming more and more of a liability as the rifts between the democracies of the West and Monarchies of the East deepen.

American Conservative Candidate(s)

Calvin C. Carr (b. 1848), Secretary of War ((Seek75)). Carr, like most people in the ACP, believes that the Empire of Liberty is a fallacious and destructive ideal. He believes that the United States has no business with Europe, and most definitely has no right to act as world policeman outside of its own hemisphere.

Joseph P. Jarvis (b. 1860), Governor of California ((Riccardo97)). Jarvis is a staunch opponent of the dangerous implications of the Commonwealth’s military aspect. H believes that, while the United States may be the Empire of Liberty, it has no right nor need to extend its empire to Europe.

David Hensdale (b. ????), Secretary of State ((Frymonmon)). Having been the Empire of Liberty's main representative abroad for four years, in addition to the President, Hensdale believes he is uniquely suited to handle the foreign problems of the day.

Democratic Candidate(s)

George Walsh
(b. 1836), Congressman for Virginia ((Welshdude)). Walsh has decided to run one more time, his faith in state capitalism continuing to be unwavering. Especially now that it finds so many more friends among the Democrats.

Floyd Weaver
(b. 1850), Postmaster General ((Rogov)). Having served as Postmaster General for years now, Weaver believes it is time to head for the Oval Office. His plans for nationalization are the most radical, and thus to many disagreeable, of the Democratic hopefuls.

George Atlee (b. 1869), Congressman for New York ((LeeroyJenkins)). Atlee is one of the Democratic Prty's young guns, and an ardent supporter of state capitalism.

----------------------------

Exceptional Situation(s):

Nada. The Polish Question has too much opposition to go to a vote, and thus it will not. The implications of Mr. Maxim’s resignation will be explored in the update.
 
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The past thirty years have allowed America to grow rich, and our recovery under Harrison has been strong. We are in a position to provide the people with a complete and full welfare system which will I promise eliminate poverty, particularly that which most shamefully has to be experienced by children and the elderly. And I make it my full ambition that under a Terrance administration, through increased social mobility which will be allowed by investing in education that the largest social class in the United States will be the middle class! I shall do this without impeding on the market which serves us so well and sacrificing the basic principles of capitalism. What you see in a Terrance manifesto is the optimisation of capitalism to serve everyone! Under a Terrance administration America will be safe and secure; protected by a great fleet and many strong and close allies which shall prevent war in Europe. You'll also see political reform to update our system for the new century.

Vote Terrance!
 
Although I am a mere Captain in the US Army, even I can see that only Vice President Khur has the courage to support my people in their time of need. If we truly want Germany to be free, we must set an example.

Captain Simon von Ritter
 
Especially now that it finds so many more friends among the Democrats.

((That's pure and utter slander. Though admittedly I'm hardly one to talk on that :)))
 
Although I am a mere Captain in the US Army, even I can see that only Vice President Khur has the courage to support my people in their time of need. If we truly want Germany to be free, we must set an example.

Captain Simon von Ritter

This has to be the most traitorous thing I've ever heard come from the mouth of an American servicemen. He applauds Khur for favouring Germany, where his loyalties most obviously lay, for supporting his blood's imperial ambitions over the needs of the United States! I ask that if you love your homeland more than this country in which you reside that you promptly return to Germany. To any good and honest American citizen it is our flag who comes first and before any other.
 
Fellow Americans, you may think that it is our place as the Empire of Liberty to act as the policemen of the world. I say nay.

My opponents have brought up many points, one in particular that has seen a great amount of debate being the Polish Question. Many people say that we have an obligation to support the Poles in their efforts to bring up an independent Polish state, free from German and Russian aggression. I say to these people: why? Why on earth should the United States of America reach its arm across the Atlantic in order to support an obscure nation that has not existed for a hundred and ten years? In fact, why should we support the Poles, when we do not support the Russian or German people who are just as oppressed as the Poles? And as to those who say we could use a Polish state to deter Russian or German aggression, why on earth would we ever need to? Unless we have these very same people who would propose such a non-nonsensical idea that would do nothing but cause the Germans the Russians to hate us for eternity in power, such a deterrent would not be necessary. Both Germany and Russia have neither the ability nor any reason to assault us, and to insist otherwise is to be an apologist for pointless involvement in an unenlightened continent, for if we involve ourselves in the affairs of the Poles then what is next? The Hungarians? The Croats? The Romanians? The list goes on.

South America, however, is a different issue. The coast of Venezuela is just a few miles away from the tip of Florida. Whatever happens in South America will cause ripples that will reach us here. Consequently, the meddling of Chile and the USCA, as well as the anti-Americanism of the oppressive communist regime of Peru is a threat. We must remain vigilant within our own hemisphere, and we must show that we are not to be messed with. The communist government of Peru is also not only a threat to us, but a threat to the Peruvian people. Whereas the military dictatorships of South America let the people be so long as the dictators retain their power, the Peruvian government has begun to actively oppress its people.

Vote Carr for a strong, vigilant America!

((Gimme my William McKinley moment please :)))