 April 1998 issue |
Editor's Note:
Cyberia Today has replaced the Cyberian Times-Union as Cyberia's premier news magazine. Also, if you have noticed, we are no longer clogging your mailbox with the newest editions, but giving you a chance to view them on the web.
Table of Contents
COVER STORY Cyberian Elections Spring '98 Election Day Focus
Financial News Hickey vs. Kerns Toward a Better Cyberia Cyberland Update |
Ken Kerns returns
In our exclusive interview, Cyberia Today discuss with President Kerns about his recent "vacation" from Cyberia and the impact his return has for the country he founded nearly nine months ago.
CT: What exactly happened to cause such a long "vacation" from Cyberia?
KK: My modem card suddenly failed on me at the end of December, and we sent it away for repairs. When we finally got it back, our monitor wouldn't work, so we sent it in a second time. Then, our screen wouldn't work and the CD drive could not be recognized. So, finally, in mid-March, we were able to get a new computer, and I announced my intention to return to Cyberia permanently.
CT: Well, what was your reaction to the news regarding Harrop and Layne creating a civil war, and then leaving the country?
KK: The news took me completely by surprise. I just could no believe that Harrop and Layne, who I thought were committed to democracy and bettering Cyberia could do such a thing. I seriously doubt that my friendship with them will ever be as dear to me as it was in the past.
CT: What do you plan to do in the last 7 months of your presidency?
KK: I intend to make the best out of those 7 months, further the cause of democracy, improve the lives of everyone, and build a strong, yet cautious relationship with Cyberland. I also hope to make it clear that strong, rigid ideologies and partisanships will get us nowhere, and will only serve to bring on another Cyberland.
CT: Thank you for your time.
KK: No problem. Maybe we can do this again sometime?
Cyberian Elections - Spring '98
The Virtual Commonwealth of Cyberia has recently undergone another legislative and gubernatorial election. These elections have a great impact on Cyberia's future, and here's why.
In December, we had 22 at-large seats, 9 district seats. This time, the at-large seats are down to 11. Also, last time, we had more strongly defined major parties and each of them contested the elections separately. This time, the major parties are less defined, and two parties joined forces to give support to the Socialist at-large ticket.
In these elections, the old major parties didn't contest every seat. Labor, the oldest of them all, only contested 1 at-large seat. The other two, LDP and Conservatives, contested only a couple. This time, the major players clearly were the Progressives and Socialists. This clearly shows that Cyberia has clearly become a multi-party system, and has veered off from the standard left versus right politics.
Also, this time, while the Socialists got 44% of the popular vote and the Progressives got 33%, neither got a clear plurality of the seats. Socialists picked up 5 of the 20 seats, and the Progressives took 4.
To be sure, Cyberia Today, will keep on top of the impact this election has on the legislative politics in the Chamber of Deputies.
Election Day Focus
After each election, Cyberia Today does an "Election Day Focus" on the party that stands out the most. After President Kerns won the election in October, we focused on his Popular Inaugural Program, and the impact the Labor Party will have on Cyberia. In December, we detailed the "Rise and Fall of the Liberal Democrats," which portrayed a bunch of third-party activists rising to major party status, winning 20% in the presidential election, but then falling short with only 5% in December. Now, we focus on the Socialists who won the most seats in the Chamber of Deputies, and who have grown from 1 Socialist Deputy to 5 (and 16% to 44% of the popular vote).
The Socialist Party is your run-of-the-mill, post-Soviet Union, social democratic party that acts at times more like an ultra-liberal party than a Marxist organization. They favor worker's rights, a minimum wage law, capital gains tax, and greater democracy. In fact, much of their platform is like the Liberal Democrats and Labor, except LDP is more progressive, and Labor is much more moderate.
They exploded on the scene in December with 16% of the vote as a fledgling party, and managed to put 1 Deputy into the chamber. Now, they have 5 times that number, as well as support from the Communist Workers Party and the Cyberian Industrial Workers Union.
They are a force to be reckoned with, but in recent press releases, they seem to be misreading their victory as a sweeping mandate for Socialism. Cyberia Today strongly recommends that they come out of the clouds, or, come June, they will face the stiff retribution that caused Clinton to lose control of Congress in 1994 in the most significant electoral upheaval since 1932.
Financial News
The Stock Market has been restored! The Cyberian Stock Exchange, within two weeks of trading, has nearly doubled in value! We also have a Cyberian Technological Index that has doubled, and a Menet Composite that has been struggling to stay in the black. Cyberia Today and President Kerns urges all of you to go out there and build companies to be placed on the Stock Market!
Hickey vs. Kerns
In a recent argument over Judicial neutrality, President Kerns and Deputy-elect Hickey have squared off, arguing over that as well as partisanship and misleading evidence about Hickey's involvement in the Harrop-Layne debacle. However, they have realized Kerns has exploded irrationally, and have forgiven each other for the stupid remarks they made to one another. If this had continued, a showdown could have occurred and destroyed the country. Good thing they realized it's better to govern than to argue!
Toward a Better Cyberia
Kerns' recent State of the Commonwealth address unveils a new presidential program, the Toward a Better Cyberia program that includes four Constitutional amendments, a balanced budget, a minimum wage law, and a crime bill. You should all go to the Forum to read it.
Cyberland Update
Cyberland's Prime Minister Skinner Layne has come under fire for some recent "liberal social engineering" bills that call for prohibition of cigarettes, alcohol, etc. This has caused divisions within the Conservative Party, not to mention the formation of a Freedom Caucus, a Freedom Act, and a Natural Resources and Sovereignty Party. It's interesting to see that they struggled to protect the Conservative Party from "left-wing assaults" on their freedom, only to have the same thing happen with Prime Minister Layne. Divisions are finally splitting this once one-party state into the multi-party republic it needs to be in order to foster greater relations with the Virtual Commonwealth of Cyberia.