Heliseum for Prime Minister
It is an honor to present myself to you as a candidate for Prime Minister. I look forward to speaking with y’all about this campaign and its implications for TSP. On top of answering questions here, I will be doing my best to be present in VC each evening of the election period.
People: A Guiding Principle
The Coalition’s executive has been running on a skeleton crew for a while now. Over the past term, we have barely been able to keep half a cabinet, and there are essentially no ministries supporting that cabinet. My paramount goal is to revitalize the executive and begin the process of cultivating a new pool of talent that will one day lead a thriving and active Coalition.
This will require examining each step in a new player’s journey into and within TSP, including recruitment, welcoming, applications and, most importantly, opportunities to get involved in the executive. This can be slow and difficult structural work. I have come to you today with my proposal for what I, should you elect me, will use as a starting point, but I am open to feedback and adaptation as we feel out the right path forward as a community. My goal for this term specifically is to use the PM seat as a test kitchen.
Recruitment, Communication and The Wizard
Just because we are guaranteed 10% of new spawns doesn’t mean that we shouldn’t put effort into recruitment. Anything we can do to increase the flow of people into the region is worth it. As such, I want to make recruitment telegrams a priority program, both for myself personally and any interested member of the community. I also wish to explore second-day telegrams as an additional layer of integration outreach after the hectic barrage of information that comes when first creating an account. We also should participate in interregional events with enthusiasm, demonstrating our community as a welcoming and inviting one for people searching for a new home.
Then, we need to consider the conversion of players who have only newly joined the region into ones that have connections to our wider systems. This takes the form of several key bits of messaging:
- Regular communications from the executive via regional telegrams.
- Advertisement of Coalition services and opportunities on the RMB.
- A full look over and update of our dispatches.
Finally, we need to make the process of actually getting involved as easy as possible. To me, that means a significant overhaul of the Getting Involved Wizard in a way that better explains the options open to new players and better suits the needs of the individual organizations it serves. I would also like to expand the offerings in the Wizard as well. Kringle had started much of this work; I intend to see it through.
A Model for Involvement: The Tripartite Ministry
I believe that at its core, each government ministry should be composed of three layers: the Minister at the top, a trusted group of semi-permanent advisors or senior staff, and a beginner-friendly body for newer people to learn and get involved in.
The base layer is supremely important. We need to come to terms with the fact that we’re playing a government simulator game, and many people would find a greater sense of belonging by being involved in the government of their region, even if they can only do so in a small way. This is about more than just being able to do more as a government (though that is definitely part of it!), it’s about providing stepping-stone positions to greater activity and responsibility in the region.
Between the beginner-friendly base layer and the minister, I believe that each minister ought to have a standing body of advisors and senior members of the ministry. These groups act both as a stores of institutional knowledge from administration to administration as well as trusted members of the community with which the minister can discuss potentially sensitive topics.
I will discuss below the specific structure and activities of the various ministries, but since an org-chart is worth a million words, consider this my thesis statement:
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs
Should I be elected Prime Minister, my flagship project for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs will be the reestablishment of an Ambassador Corps, which will serve as the entry-level program for people looking to get involved in the ministry. At face value, Ambassadors will be responsible for:
- Being a representative of our community and a friendly face in other regions, looking to create positive associations with the Coalition.
- Reporting to the minister notable happenings from their assigned region, keeping the government up to date on any and all emerging situations abroad.
- Promoting the fruits of a revitalized Ministry of Culture.
- Advising the minister on decisions made relevant to their assigned region.
I believe that an Ambassador Corps is a perfect vehicle for involvement because it has a clear mandate, easily scalable responsibility (by varying number or size of regions in a portfolio) and easily scalable program size (can start with only a few people and grow over time).
Luckily, the Foreign Affairs Council already exists as the trusted middle-tier of the ministry. Outside of the structural work, my goal will be to strengthen our relationships with our traditional defender allies, particularly in the wake of the moderation crisis that has strained relations.
The Ministry of Culture
Unlike the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, I do not feel like there is a single group that could make up the introductory body of the Ministry of Culture. Rather, I intend to create project groups to work on discrete programs within the ministry. I would like to see some projects become permanently standing, though I accept many will be temporary as needed.
Projects I would like to take on include:
- An official regional newspaper, in a more sustainable format than Vrigny and I attempted a few months ago. (Maybe publishing three times a week was too much?)
- Regular small events, such as game nights on both the RMB and Discord.
- Going absolutely all out for the upcoming Defender Awards, as well as the regional holidays coming up in the next three months.
- Another round of our regional hockey league (pending my ability to force Henn to run it).
Culture is not my strong suit, so I look forward to collaboration with a strong Minister of Culture. I also wish to publish a Culture and Events calendar early in the term to keep us accountable to the things we want to do and allow people in the region to plan ahead of time to attend if they wish.
Should I be elected, I intend to resurrect the Domestic Affairs Council to serve as the advisory middle body of the Ministry of Culture as well as (at least temporarily) Recruitment and Integration. Each project group should have at least one member within the DAC in order for us to effectively coordinate.
The Ministry of Defense
I do not wish to spend too much time here, because the bulk of my current agenda as Minister of Defense stands. I recently posted a progress update about my work as MoD, where I outline what has been done and what is left to do.
In summary, I wish to work with a new Minister of Defense to finish out the infrastructural work I started, and then capitalize on it for a major recruitment push.
The Cabinet Appointments
The single hardest thing for a PM to do these days seems to be finding enough of the right people to form a cabinet. I expect this would be a question if I didn’t say it upfront anyways, so I want to address my plans ahead of time. It is my intention to appoint ministers of Foreign Affairs, Culture and Defense. I have people in mind for these already, and will seek to present them to the assembly for confirmation as soon as I am physically able to after the election so as to give them the largest amount of time in the term to achieve our goals.
Recruitment and Integration, being so fundamental to my campaign vision, is an area that I plan on spearheading personally, but will be looking to open applications to bring on members interested in becoming recruiters, greeters, guide-writers, etc.
Conflict of Interest Statement
My nation was founded in the South Pacific, and in the South Pacific I have stayed. I do not hold citizenship or any positions in any region outside of TSP, nor have I at any point in the past. I operate approximately 400 puppet nations, used exclusively for R/D and, recently, N-Day. I have never used an alias other than “Heliseum/Heli” to interact with any region in any context.
Within TSP, I am a Citizen, Legislator, Lieutenant of the SPSF and Minister of Defense. The current term as MoD is my third in an equivalent position; I was MoMA for two terms back in 2020. Additionally, I am an Update Commander in Libcord, the multi-regional military organization through which the SPSF operates with its allies.
