Election Results (pending)
NATIONALIST PARTY
Brown District
State Party Candidates
Who is the Green Party?
(updated as new results are released)
NATIONALIST PARTY
Brown District
County Judge--------------------Edgar Garcia
County Treasurer---------------Kellon Wilson
District Attorney----------------Audre Taylor
Lindsley District
County Sheriff------------------Caleb Osvofa
District Attorney---------------Nicholas Olivares
State Board of Education-----Marco Hernandez
Owsley District
County Sheriff------------------Jace Stoats
County Treasurer---------------Allister Azagidi
District Attorney---------------Josh Herzfeld
Young District
County Judge-------------------Jeffrey "JD" Spiers
County Sheriff------------------Tyler Fisher
State Board of Education------Travis Anderson
State Party Candidates
Governor------------------------Robert "Scotty" Welch
Lieutenant Governor----------Jacob Gibbs
Attorney General--------------Nick Machado
Ag. Commissioner------------Greg Matocha
Railroad Commissioner------Stone Sawyer
Chief Justice, Sup. Court----Jonathon Danialson
Pres. Judge, Crim. Appeals--Seth Rodriguez
FEDERALIST PARTY
Brown County
County Sheriff----------------Michael Shoemaker
State Board of Education---Zain Chowdhry
Owsley County
County Sheriff---------------Bryan Rojas
District Judge----------------Daniel Blanchard
Chief Justice, Appeals------Robert "Robbie" Armour
State Board of Education--Arjun Peddireddy
Young County
County Sheriff---------------Seth Gomez
Lindsey County
District Judge----------------Zane Koenig
State Board of Education---Bronson Cobb
State Party Candidates
Governor----------------------Josh Montellano
Lieutenant Governor--------Caleb Duane
Attorney General------------Andrew Doan
Land Office Comm.---------Alec Wyatt
Comptroller of Public Acc.-Joseph Canterbury
Ag. Commissioner----------Ryan Schnitzer
Chief Justice, Sup. Court---Joshua Adkins
Pres. Judge, Crim. Appeals-Roberto Delgado
By Cameron Fisher and Spencer Anderson
Day 5 --- June 11, 2015
The Green "Party" at Boys State is a new group, having only arisen within the past couple days, though there is a general confusion over who they are. They are statesmen with the green x's on their shoulders, a quasi third party at Boys State. But what do they stand for? Who leads them? And how did they arise from the adamant party support and loyalty found at Boys State?
John Riley "Country" Polster, Jr. is a member of the Federalist party. However, he refuses to follow what he believes to be an unnecessary element of competition and discourse between the Federalists and the Nationalists. Though he more or less leads a group of like-minded individuals, the Green "party" is not a party at all -- it is an ideology. Polster and his followers believe that the attitudes expressed at Boys State -- that is, the extremely partisan ones- are detrimental to our learning experiences. Though Polster admits to the extreme partisanship of actual American politics, he argues that if the goal of Boys State is to prepare us to be leaders of our nation in the future, we must be encouraged to work together, even with those who have views different from our own. Even though he has made moves to set himself apart from the rest of the candidates, he is still running for a state position, but not so much as a Federalist (though he does support the Federalist party, and is campaigning for Attorney General), but more as someone who both parties can rally behind.
Naturally, all this raises the question: what is he actually accomplishing? After all, Boys State does not go beyond the elections and debates, though Polster argues that what he does is best for the community- what community? This has been the greatest opposition -- that this group is in fact achieving nothing, and the "party" is accused of special-snowflake syndrome- choosing to go against the grain for the sake of going against the grain, as the actions they claim to be making- "helping the community" cannot manifest at Boys State. However, the goal can.
Polster's goal is not about achieving office (though that is an added perk) -- it is about teaching a lesson, and bringing a new idea to Texas Boys State. He recognizes that he and his followers will not be able to move within Boys State after achieving office, and accepts this. Instead, he hopes that his actions, and the support of his followers will convey to the statesmen a lesson that is often overshadowed by party bitterness. Polster's ideas will, hypothetically (and hopefully), lead to bipartisanship from the statesmen in the real world.
Of course, parties cannot be dissolved -- we need platforms and representations for our view points, and must have the integrity to stand behind our views. But we must also have the integrity to compromise. Boys State cannot eliminate the party system -- and nor does the Green group aim to do this. It simply aims to encourage "unity".
His is a noble idea, and one that we should pay attention to. No one can deny that party divides are aggressive and deep. These divides make our political world more difficult, significantly more difficult than it has to be -- just watch a Republican and Democrat debate -- it too often becomes an immature exchange of insults. If the goal of Boy's State is to prepare us to be the leaders of our country in the future, and to open the gates for a brighter future for America, wouldn't it be better to encourage intelligent, open-minded discussion, rather than fervent, dogmatic party conventions?
Politcal Leaning, So Far
By Cameron Fisher and Spencer Anderson
Day 3 --- June 9, 2015
On Tuesday, our reporters spoke with several canidates and members of both the Federalist and Nationalist parties, about what they suspect the platforms of their parties will be. Naturally, as it is still rather early in the process, party platforms were not definite. Regardless of this, the enthusiasm, pride and effort demonstrated by delgates, canidates and gallery members was great, and showed a great deal of passion for the work and process of Boys State.
Federalists across the board expressed a feeling that their party would lean in a moderate direction, however, there was some debate as to whether this would tilt to a more liberal or conservative side. According to Connor Gray, of McCraw city, eighty precent of people in the federalist party have a moderate viewpoint, and are open to various ideas. We were informed by mulitiple people that casual debate (official debates have not yet began) had been pleasant, with Statesmen communicating freely their own views and beliefs. Federalist speeches, in the Welch building, reflected desires for equality in economics, politics, and more. Federalist Chair of State Sam Lester spoke positively about his party, saying that, for the most part, they are "very tolerant and open people." Lester also spoke about the difficulty of managing a party, comparing it to "an organized mob." Nevertheless, Sam said the he was determined to achieve party unification. Zachary Taylor of Berry City, a member of the Federalist Platform Committee backed up Lester's claims, similarly stating that the Feds are "open about social issues."
The Nationalists demonstrated at their meeting a palpable, burning energy, cheering loudly and chanting for most every candidate. Many of the speeches had humorous leanings, from bits about Kermit the Frog's similarities to the President Obama ("it's not easy being the first green president"), to raps, to a speech entirely about dolphins, which was obviously taken directly from Wikipedia. We managed to talk to several Nationalists about their feelings and suspicions on the development of their platform. Kyle Armstrong of Moore city, a candidate for Associate Justice, told us that "liberty, limited government, and equality" are the primary concerns of the Nationalist party. He felt that, overall, the party would have a very balanced leaning. Matt Curbow and Dylan Day, Senators from Townes and Sherwood city, respectively, spoke of the challenge of organizing and managing the party, and potential plans to divide the party into nine different committees.
Hopefully, this gives an idea for the direction that the parties are headed. Bear in mind, that we are still rather early in the process, and this is, for the most part, mere speculation. However, both parties look quite capable, and have demonstrated great passion and aptitude for their campaigns, and their candidates. Their platforms will naturally continue to take shape throughout the week, and everyone is eagerly waiting to see the finished product.
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