United Together for Immigration

[Mic’haglh Autófil, O.Be]

Immigration, currently one of the issues in the national spotlight, is always a bit of a sticking point in micronational politics. Micronationalism is quite literally centered on the idea of "doing things your own way", so how do you get people to immigrate?

One, you need to make Talossa appealing. The URL is already working on doing that, and we'd like to continue doing it with a solid majority next term. Ours is the party of dignity and debate in Talossan politics, not harassment.

Two, you need to make it easy. This Government has slimmed down our immigration application already, one of the key recommendations of the Royal Commission. We've passed legislation that allowed the Immigration Minister to do away with essay requirements. We've seen a rather impressive uptick these past few weeks as a result, too! As an added bonus, we've also seen a drop in people using AI/ChatGPT, an unfortunate side effect of the essay spot in recent months. We have begun reappointing TalossAssistants, another Royal Commission recommendation. And if any citizen directly recruits another, under an Autófil government, we'll see the nation's first Prime Minister's Patriotic Award in some time, fulfilling another Commission recommendation.

But sometimes you come to number three, and that involves bigger changes; changes at the process level. As an example, I've drafted legislation already to open up the immigration process more to public scrutiny. Instead of one person, immigration would be handled by a panel of three, one of whom would be nominated by the Opposition. This both allows for increased accountability, transparency, and political neutrality in judging immigration applications, and also helps avoid false accusations from stinking up the national discourse.

The URL Plan for Immigration: Attractive. Simple. Accountable

[Miestră Schivă, UrN-GC]

Hey, question from the back here: any reaction to the opposition parties threatening to prosecute the incumbent Immigration Minister for... something?

[Baron Alexandreu Davinescu]

debate

This is a great idea!  Would you guys be open to a friendly debate about the issues?  It's been a while since we've done that.

[Miestră Schivă, UrN-GC]

I heartily agree with this suggestion, and it's good to see the Baron's changed his mind on debates

[Baron Alexandreu Davinescu]

Hey, when you're right, you're right, Most Honourable Seneschal  :)    For a while, I didn't think it was a good idea, but I think that @Mic'haglh Autófil, O.Be is honest and that a debate would be helpful.  That's also why I did the video debate with Sir Ian P, back before the 2023 election. We had so much fun doing that we started a regular thing!

@Sir Ian Plätschisch , if you're up for it, we should also do some more of those. That was fun.

[Sir Ian Plätschisch]

I rather suspect that I no longer have enough takes on Talossan politics to justify cohosting a podcast about it. However, if there is going to be a debate, perhaps I could be of assistance in moderating it.

[Baron Alexandreu Davinescu]

You wouldn't need to have hot takes, buddy, we could just spitball about different topics from Talossan history or whatever like we have before!  Just think about it.  (Obviously, we'd need to start our own YouTube channel at this point.)

And yes, I think you'd be a great help.  I was hoping maybe His Majesty @King Txec could moderate, but you'd also do a great job.

[King Txec]

You wouldn't need to have hot takes, buddy, we could just spitball about different topics from Talossan history or whatever like we have before!  Just think about it.  (Obviously, we'd need to start our own YouTube channel at this point.)

And yes, I think you'd be a great help.  I was hoping maybe His Majesty @King Txec could moderate, but you'd also do a great job.

I'd be happy to moderate.

-Txec R

[Mic’haglh Autófil, O.Be]

I would be happy to have either His Majesty or Sir Ian moderate. Either would do a fantastic job. I can see the logic that the nation's most neutral constitutional figure would make an ideal debate moderator!

Hey, question from the back here: any reaction to the opposition parties threatening to prosecute the incumbent Immigration Minister for... something?

It's certainly concerning! This sort of weaponization of the justice system is becoming increasingly common in the Big Neighbor over the past year or two, and I think we need to make sure we don't give it a foothold here.

[Baron Alexandreu Davinescu]

Maybe His Majesty and Sir Ian would be willing to collaborate on coming up with the questions and then whoever wants to can do the actual moderating during the debate?

In past debates, each party has offered some questions, and the moderator rejected any that they thought were not phrased fairly.  That way the parties had some say in the topics being discussed, but not undue influence.  If we assume that we each speak for three minutes per question, including rebuttal, then that means ten questions would take an hour.  So maybe each party suggests five questions in collaboration with the moderator, who can ask for rephrasings, and we go for an hour or until the questions are all addressed?

I'd also be willing to just work directly on some questions with you, if you'd prefer.  Like on a shared Google Doc.  Or if there's an alternative arrangement that you'd prefer, that's fine with me.

Hey, question from the back here: any reaction to the opposition parties threatening to prosecute the incumbent Immigration Minister for... something?

It's certainly concerning! This sort of weaponization of the justice system is becoming increasingly common in the Big Neighbor over the past year or two, and I think we need to make sure we don't give it a foothold here.

Can we agree not to lie about stuff, though?  We never threatened to prosecute her.  It's not even a crime... that's the whole problem, that it's legal right now for the government to secretly control immigration applications!  We want to change the law.

However, I'd be extremely happy to discuss this during the debate, so let's make sure we have a couple questions about The Public Process Act.  It's one of the biggest issues of this upcoming election.

[King Txec]

I would prefer that any questions be generated by the parties and if I moderate, I'll be sure to ask for rephrasing or reject questions if necessary. I definitely don't mind moderating or working with Sir Ian, but I don't want to write the questions as I really am trying to be non-partisan (no matter how hard it is!).

With that, a Google Doc works but is not as engaging as a video recorded live!

-Txec R

[Baron Alexandreu Davinescu]

Yeah, I don't think it would be a good idea for you to write the questions, but I do think it would be a good idea for you to request a question be rewritten in a more neutral way, if that makes sense?

And yes for sure I want to do a live video, not a Google doc. I just meant we could write the questions together on a Google doc, if he preferred it.

[King Txec]

And yes for sure I want to do a live video, not a Google doc. I just meant we could write the questions together on a Google doc, if he preferred it.

Gotcha.

-Txec R