James Anderson

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James Anderson
JamesAnderson.jpg

9th President of Candelaria And Marquez
Incumbent
Assumed office
May 14, 2004
Vice President Tate Sayfritz
Prime Minister Joseph Frank
Preceded by Israel Clark
Succeeded by Incumbent

Born
 
19 May, 1962
Suthand, West Candelaria
Political party Unionist
Spouse Vanessa Ramos
Occupation
 
Politician,
Accountability Analyst
Religion Roman Catholic
Languages English, German, Spanish

James Trevor Anderson (born May 19, 1962) is the current President of Candelaria And Marquez and the leader of the essentially christian democrat Unionist Party. He became President in 2004 aged forty-two, making him his country's fourth-youngest leader in history.

Early Life

James Anderson was born to William Anderson and Maria Kümmerling, both second-generation Candelarians brought up in Albrecht. William, an army reservist, had initially fought for McManus’ Socialists during the Civil War before defecting, together with much of his platoon, to the resistance. He suffered a severe injury to his left arm shortly before the armistice, which resulted in its amputation at the elbow. Shortly afterwards, he married the sister of his nurse; and the couple settled in the peaceful surrounding of West Candelaria.

Together his younger sister Sophie, James was brought up in the small subrural farming communities of Suthand and Dublynne. Though his father was an antiquarian book dealer, the future President developed an early appreciation for the traditional values and way of life of the family’s neighbours. Coupled with his parents’ devotion to the then-President David Clarke; this all led the young James to become a Unionist supporter at an early age, standing for school elections under that banner.

During that time, Anderson showed something of an authoritarian streak that his critics have used against him throughout his political career. His allies have in the past tried to distance him from articles written for his secondary school magazine appearing to criticise the entire concept of multi-party democracy, though Anderson himself often declined to do so, believing it to be a duty of politicians not to “shy away from mentioning the inherent flaws in our democracy”.

He was educated at small state schools in Dublynne, New Town and Brayton. He passed 11 EAGs, and two 'A' grades and one 'B' in History, Social Policy and Politics respectively. He was admitted to New Hall, one of Albrecht University’s lesser colleges where he received a first in Philosophy, Politics and Economics.

Policy Advisor & Unionist Party

Member of the House

Ministry for Social Affairs

Policy Adviser

Shadow minister for Asylum and Immigration

Shadow Social Affairs Secretary

Unionist Party Leader

Leadership Contest

Election Campaign

Presidency

Education

Among Anderson’s first acts as President was the creation of a separate Ministry for Higher Education; representing an issue close to his heart given his status as the only one of the major party leaders at the time, and of his recent Presidential predecessors, to study entirely in the Candelarias.

Education reform as a whole represented a major plank of the Unionists’ election platform. Anderson entrusted this mission to Jack Montgomerie, the politically inexperienced former Chief Inspector of Schools. As a whole, his subsequent reforms have appeared far from revolutionary in design; and it remains far too early to properly judge their effectiveness. The National Union of Teachers, however, remain thoroughly on-side with the Anderson administration and Montgomerie, being pleased with the greater degree of control they have been afforded. Of further major note has been the emphasis placed on vocational studies for the less academic. As part of the keynote Anderson speech referred to as the "Kids grown up too slowly nowadays" lecture; the new President affirmed his party’s support for "education for education’s sake", but added that "half of the children in any given population will be of below average intelligence. This is not their fault. A ‘meritocracy’ cannot be considered such at all if it leaves such people - with all the talent and drive in the world - inevitably rooted to the bottom." Among his pronouncements - yet to be implemented - involved reducing the school leaving age to fourteen to those with guaranteed apprenticeships; and reducing academic studies down to the ‘three Rs’ for the least able students.

Early on in his campaign for Unionist leadership, Anderson dismissed his rivals’ assertions of greater options for parents in their choice of schools; stating that ensuring the presence of a single, high-quality, local secondary school took precedence. Such a break for the popular political line likewise proved an unlikely vote winner.

Seemingly, only the introduction of lessons in, and exams on, ‘emotional intelligence’; has proved distinctly unpopular with teachers and parents alike.

Presidency: Since coming to national prominence, Anderson has consistently backed the call to combine the current offices of President and Prime Minister into a single entity referred to as the Prime Minister. Despite this, and the lack of major official duties presented to that office; Anderson has clearly been reliant on his PM, Joseph Frank.

President Anderson has similarly backed proposed changes to borders of the 60 regional seats in the House to more broadly reflect cultural and social differences. More controversially, he has also stated his support for the movement to return the country’s name to the Republic of the Candelarias.

Environmentalism

The Unionist Party as a whole has been traditionally distrustful of the green lobby, but while this continues to a degree in its current hierarchy; Anderson’s administration have continued with many of the environmentally-friendly policy’s of the last government. Wind turbines are planned to replace much of the traditional power sources with a decade, while there has been a considerable emphasis on public transport over private vehicles. Anderson has also stressed the long-term environmental benefits of the ISP.

International affairs

Though publicly committed to maintaining C&M’s half-century policy of neutralism, Anderson never-the-less made improved international relations a key tenet of the Unionists’ election manifesto. Tangible evidence of such a drive was initially slow in coming, despite the massive ramping-up of Rushmori-integration legislation. The most notable efforts to enlarge the span of the country’s overseas connections has been through the Exchange Programme. Though broadly supported as a concept by opposition parties; there has been not inconsiderable criticism of the choice of particular nations involved, most notably Koenwitz and Descartesland. The establishment of the International Space Programme with the latter has provided a particular bone of contention. Though all bills to establish the agency were passed with relative comfort, it has generally been agreed that Anderson’s failure to adequately respond to Modern Liberal leader Robyn Morton’s accusations that his government was "getting into bed with fascists", represented a nadir in his performances at the dispatch box.

Religion

In the run-up to the election Anderson declined to discuss his faith publicly, as is de rigueur for leading C&M politicians. He did claim however, that his religious beliefs would have no impact on his policies at President. Since the election he has remained similarly shtum, an exception being a August 2005 interview with the Albrecht Mercury, in which he admitted to having major doubts over the entire concept of religion, and his own Catholicism in particular. Anderson and his wife are known to attend a small, private church on occasion. It is believed their children have not been baptised.

He has certainly not shown particular leniency towards faith in C&M society, upholding the previous administration’s ban on religious items in schools, allowing the establishment of state-recognised Civil Ceremonies for homosexual couples, and raising tax on church business. In education, the Unionists have gone some way to re-instate the teaching of religion in schools, but the current curriculum emphasise the need to discuss and criticise aspects of all faiths. Anderson has in the past said that Creationism, and other beliefs of the religious right, must be taught to children in order that they can properly reject such concepts.

Books

Popularity

Staff

Chief of Staff: Scott English
Principal Private Secretary and Head of Policy Directorate: Seren Hereford
Parliamentary Private Secretary: Russett Menechella, MotH

Personal Assistant to the President (Diary): Debbie Zhogo
Personal Assistant to the President (Tea): Deb Lawrence
Personal Assistant to the President (Buns): Deborah Herrero

Director of Political Operations:
Head of Policy & Head of Strategy Unit:
Policy Directorate (Seven Senior Staff)): Abira Saleh, John Burrows
Head of Recearch and Information Unit:
Director of Communications and Strategy:
President’s Official Spokesperson: David Hutchinson
Director of Events and Visits:
Adivisor on Social Policy:
Advisor on Foreign Policy:
Advisor on Rushmori Policy:
Military Intelligence Liason Officer: Johanna Wilbur

Personal Life

Anderson met Vanessa Ramos, a internationally-noted city planner, at a Unionist Party soirée in May 1994. The couple married in January 1996, with their twins Constantine Trevor and Rafaella Maria born in February 2000.

Trivia