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The Isles of Student Loan Debt.
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How To Win a DSA Election
The Democratic Socialist Assembly has a regional government consisting of six different positions: 1) World Assembly Delegate, 2) Secretary-General, and the Councilorships of 3)Justice, 4)Foreign Affairs, 5)Domestic Affairs, and 6) Role Play. Each one has their own domain of power, influence, and responsibilities. With six different domains, each have different approaches from each other and different necessities from their staff. Despite their differences, however, each have something in common, that being that they are all positions of regional leadership. If you are elected to be a Councilor, you are elected to be a regional leader and to guide the region through your term in the direction you see best.
That's quite the amount of faith for people to have in you, but that faith is also something that should be earned. To earn their faith and be elected to office, there are some actions you can take to better your chances. Of myself, as someone who has been part of DSA government since January of 2018, been part of every Cabinet/Council since May of 2018, has served in every Cabinet/Council position at least once, and has aided many regional officers over the years and directed numerous departments in my time, I have an extensive background on the subject and, as such, my words carry weight on the matter. From the years I've viewed and experienced DSA elections, these are what I believe should be considered and done to better your chances of winning an election.
Let me also present this as an advisory. None of these are guarenteed to get you into a position. This dispatch is not exhaustive nor is to give you the message "Do these things and you WILL get into office." This dispatch comes solely from my own experiences and time in government and are what I personally believe to be good in getting you into office.
1) Have a Presence In The DSA
The absolute most important thing you can do to better your chances at winning an election is to have people have any idea who you are. Unlike real life elections, you're not trying to sway whole societies to your side. On a given election cycle, despite the de jure size of our region, you're likely only trying to sway maybe 10-25 people, the people who actually engage with the DSA and have an interest in elections. Establishing connections with the region is good. This does not mean you should campaign each individual person (that'd probably more annoy people than get them to vote for you), but realize that the DSA's active community is a smaller and more tight-nit group where most people know each other.
Since most of the people who vote know and talk to each other, they're more likely to vote for someone they do know than someone they don't. Your resume could be amazing and you be very qualified for the position, but voting in someone in the DSA requires faith in that person and, if you're not known to people, then there isn't much faith people can give you. The DSA is more likely to vote in an inexperienced person they know than an experienced person they don't know.
Make yourself present in the community. Engage with the community. Talk with the community. How best? Firstly, being on the DSA Discord server is almost a requirment to winning a DSA election. The vast majority of activity and socialization within the region occurs on there, probably 95% or higher. I don't think, as long as the Discord server has been around, that there has been a single person who won office that wasn't involved in the Discord community. Get involved on there. Link to that is in our World Factbook Entry.
However, don't limit yourself just to the Discord server as the RMB is important as well. Not everyone is on the server and not every can be on it. Quite a few players are RMB exclusive and you should frequent the RMB as well. Same from above applies here: you're more likely going to vote for someone you know than someone you don't know, so be active and present.
Also, remember that Councilors serve the entire region, not just one side. If you're exclusively on the Discord server or exclusively on the RMB, then you're not able to serve the entire region. Staying on one and barely or not at all interacting with the other means there's entire parts of the region that you're ignoring and a Councilor ignoring their region is not a good Councilor.
2) Gain Experience
Presence alone isn't going to win you an election to office. You have to show that you can actually do good in office. The best way to do that is to get involved with the DSA government beforehand. This is where the Council Staff come in. The Council Staff are all the people who sign up to be in a Ministry and help a Councilor when asked. You can join the Ministries early by becoming either a Council Aide, Department Director, or Court Clerk.
Council Aides and Court Clerks are very good first starts to participating in DSA government. You assist the Councilor/High Judge that appointed you in whatever they may need help with. They may consult you for advice, you might have a project you want to work on, and sometimes the Councilor/High Judge will be unable to do their tasks and you might be able to take over for them at times. Aides and Clerks are there to help and to contribute to the Ministry. If you come to an election with Aide and Clerk experience under your belt, you can show that you do have experience within the government and that can help. Though it might depend on what you do. Being an Aide to the WA Delegate might not be very relevant if you're trying to become Councilor of Role Play, for example. If you have a particular Councilorship in mind, see if the one in office at the moment wants to bring people into their Ministry.
Department Directors are another way to be involved. They run the departments of the Ministries, these being official areas of the Ministries that are deemed as either essential parts to running it or important to having control of. Not all Ministries have departments, but a few do. Department Director is similiar to Aides, though they are a little more prestigeous due to their conditions. If a Councilor leaves office, all the Aides they appointed leave as well. However, a department director can stay however long they like. With this freeing of restriction of your time in the Ministry comes more tasks you can do as Director as the departments represent big parts of the Ministries. You can apply to be a Director and gain some good experience that an Aide might not get, but it is more work, so keep that in mind.
There's luckily a dispatch made that shows each Ministry and their different departments.
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The Council Staff is the body of residents and citizens that are employed by one or more of the Ministries of the Council. The Council Staff provides a direct path for residents to get involved in the government beyond just Congress. It is ideal both for new residents who want to gain experience in how the government operates, and for experienced citizens who are looking to contribute to the region though our executive branch.
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There are currently five/six Ministries: Secretary-General, Domestic Affairs, Foreign Affairs, Role-Play, and President/WA Affairs. The names alone should provide a rough idea of what each Ministry does. In the second part of this post, there are details about the various job opportunities within each Ministry.
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Getting ahead of ourselves, huh? You haven't even bought me dinner yet. There are 3 things you need to do:
Step 1: Meet the requirements: You will need to (1) Have a nation in the DSA and (2) Be a Member of Congress. If you don't know how to do that, Click On This Link. You just make an account on our off-site forum and then fill own like a 2 question application for that. Pretty simple.
Step 2: Figure Out What You Want To Do. Below, you will find detailed descriptions of the various jobs available within each Ministry. By consulting those, you can decide which Ministry interests you the most. You can join more than one Ministry, but make sure you have enough time to commit.
Step 3: Ask: Ministers gives Staff positions to those who are interested and give them when they feel they need help. Just ask around and see if any need help.
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If you have any questions about the Council Staff that isn't addressed here, feel free to contact the Minister's head guy, Student Loan Debt. If you have questions about certain Ministries, then feel free to ask the respective Minister. Their names are listed below next to their Ministry.
The Secretary General is our elected record keeper and official spokesperson of the DSA. They oversee people becoming Members of Congress, keep accurate records of our laws and Charter, make sure our offsite Forum is accurately categorized, and oversee all our elections and legislative voting. You can apply to be a Council Aide to offer general assistance with Secretary-General responsibilities.
The Ministry of Domestic Affairs is one of our two Activity Ministries, in charge of promoting activity in the community, boosting regional morale, looking over the region, and helping members, both new and old, learn about the culture and functioning of the DSA. You can apply to be a Council Aide to offer general assistance with Domestic Affairs or, if you think you're up for it, you can apply to be a Director of one of its Departments.
♦ Department of Immigration - The Department of Immigration is in charge of ensuring the growing population of the DSA is well informed about the culture of the DSA, as well as its Regional Principles. This including helping new residents who have questions, composing the Welcome Telegram that new residents get when entering the region, and being a welcoming face for those who may feel nervous first being here. In this department, you will be expected to help new residents get settled, be available for questions, and find ways to improve how the region welcomes new residents.
♦ Department of Community Affairs - How boring would it be to join a community and there be nothing to do? That's what this Department is for. The Department of Community Affairs is in charge of getting the region active with events and activities. Ranging from games to contests to polls and anything else that can help make the community feel like a community. In this department, you will need to find ways to help stimulate activity among residents and create projects that help in that.
♦ Department of Justice - Philosophical Psychologists: Part of being in charge of domestic affairs is also checking to see if residents are in compliance with the rules. The Department of Justice is entrusted with upholding the regional rules, laws, and principles. This ranges anywhere from assisting member nations in meeting our residency requirements to submitting recommendations for disciplinary actions against any residents breaking the rule to investigating rules violations.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs is the diplomatic voice of the DSA to other regions across NationStates. They maintain diplomatic relations with our allies, coordinate foreign policy, and communicate with other regions. You can apply to be a Council Aide to offer general assistance with Foreign Affairs or you can become an Ambassador.
♦ Ambassador: The Ministry, to actually find out what is happening in our allied regions, sends Ambassadors to our allied regions. As an Ambassador, you will send a puppet nation to the allied region you are assigned to and will act as the face of the DSA for them. Learn about what is going on there, chat with the locals, even join in on their festivities and general talks. Every 15 days (so just twice a month), you will give a report back to our Minister of Foreign Affairs of the latest developments in the region. Maybe you'll have a lot of things to talk about, maybe little to nothing, as long as the Minister gets a good idea as to what our allies are doing.
Ministry of Role Play - Vacant
The Ministry of Role Play is one of our two Activity Ministries in charge of overseeing, developing, and stimulating activity within DSA Role Play. They oversee a wide variety of aspects from the Rule of RP with what is and isn't allowed to the updating of our regional maps to creating events for role play players to engage in and developing any projects that could help make DSA RP more fun, fair, and welcoming. You can apply to be a Council Aide to offer general assistance to the Ministry or you can ask if you can work on more specific projects for the RP community, from anthropology to outer space guidelines to global weather and anything really. Along with that, if you're experienced enough, you can apply be a Director of one of its Departments.
♦ Department of Cartography - Student Loan Debt: A regional map is an important aspect to developing a region's role play as it provides a physical space one can imagine for their nation and helps develop ideas as to what kind of world their stories are in. The Department of Cartography is in charge of creating and maintaining a map for DSA RP to operate in. You will be expected to maintain and regularly or frequently update at least one map to be used by the RP community and to accommodate to the reasonable wishes of RPers with their desired national administrative boundaries on the regional map.
♦ Department of Sports Leagues - Talamia: While [role] playing with yourself is fun, why not [role] play with others? And what better way to do that than in in-character competitions? The Department of Sports Leagues is in charge of forming and developing RP sporting events and/or competitions for DSA RP members. You will be expected to provide some kind of competitive event for RP nations to engage in with some level of frequency. You will decide and lay out how scores and scoring are determined and what requirements there are to be in the competitions
♦ Department of War and Peace - Sessnia: We're in a game where players RP as nations, of course someone is going to want to go to war. The Department of War and Peace is in charge of overseeing and moderating any and all war role plays occurring between DSA nations. You will be in charge of either enforcing implemented Rules of War and Peace or creating and implementing new Rules of War and Pace to ensure that players can easily and fairly engage in war role plays.
Almost every region as a World Assembly Delegate, the person with the most World Assembly endorsements and represent them in the NationStates mechanic of the World Assembly. The Ministry of World Assembly Affairs ensures that the World Assembly Delegate have as many endorsements as possible to strengthen regional security and the region's standing in World Assembly Resolution votes. The Ministry also works towards increasing the average amount of WA endorsements in the region and involving the residents of the DSA in the World Assembly. You can apply to be a Council Aide to offer general assistance to the Ministry.
3) Have a Platform
So you're active in the community and you have government experience. Those are great to bring to the election. Now, why are you here? Why are you running for this position? And specifically what are you going to do while in office? Sometimes you'll be asked this stuff, especially if someone else also wants the office you're going after and you have to convince people that you'd be better. Careful here, that's not an invitation to trash your opponent. That doesn't help and just makes you look worse.
First important thing with this part is that you should actually know what this position is. You'd be surprised how many people have ran for a government position and didn't know what they're supposed to do in it. A few ended up being elected and either did nothing while in office or resigned because they realized that they didn't know what the position was. If you don't know what the position does, you then look like you're running just to get power and that's not a good look and we can see through you. Learn what your position is. Look at the 
Charter, look at the Executive Appointments legislation. Maybe even the Rules and Procedures legislation. Learn what your tasks would be if you won office.
Second, figure out what you want to bring to this office. What do you want to do in it? What will you keep? What will you change, if anything? Each Council position is involved in different domains of the region and each have different objectives and tasks. If people are going to consider electing you, they should know what you want to do while elected. A useful thing is to see what previous Councilors/Ministers have done and see if you can improve on those. You can also draw inspiration from other regions with similar offices and bring in new ideas.
Your platform doesn't have to be exhaustive, just as long as you seem to present that you have a plan for what to do while in office. This will be easier in some Ministries than others. The Activity Ministries of Domestic Affairs and Role Play are much more event based, among other things, than the other Ministries and events are something that can easily fill up a platform. Foreign Affairs and World Assembly Affairs both deal with the NS community and can have platforms of policy and how you will approach other regions and the wider website. The last three offices of Secretary-General, Justice, and High Judge are harder to make platforms for. Sec-Gen is a clerical position, Justice is a regulatory force, and High Judge is part of a concrete review judiciary that is not often called upon. These three offices will occassionally have something exceptional to deal with, but overall the main thing you'd have to show in a platform for them is just that you have time to be in them.
Show that you know what the position is and that you have a plan for the office and you'll already be ahead of a lot of people.
That is my advice. The choice to run for election is an entirely voluntary one and only one you should chose if you want to do it. It can be fun and exciting to be a regional leader and help steer the DSA in the direction you think is best, but only do so if you want to. You won't make for a good Councilor if you don't actually want to be one. If you want to be one, there are good steps you can take; be active in the community; gain early experience through the council staff; and show that you know what you are volunteering to do and have the ambition for it. If this dispatch was helpful to you in your election, then welcome to the Council.
