Presidency of ViolentVampire
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ViolentVampire's tenure as the 2nd president of Cascadia began with his inauguration on September 17, 2022. Vamp, the Mayor of Neah Bay who previously served as treasurer under President SayerQT, took office following his landslide victory in the September presidential election over then Neah Bay city councillor PavTheYT. Vamp entered office amid growth and economic development, as well as good relations with most of Cascadia's neighbors, however with mild instability in New Mexico and the USA, of which Cascadia was constituent. A month later in October, he was re-elected president against San Diego mayor PesosInhaler with nearly 90% of the vote, following major successes as President.
The first section of his presidency was largely uneventful, overseeing the continuing expansion and use of CascAid, the Cascadian welfare system set up during the administration of President SayerQT. His presidency was largely dominated by foreign policy decisions, as well as mild domestic reform was done under his watch, and oversaw the drastic increase of the population and influence of the Republic of Cascadia.
Domestically, Vamp signed into law the Armed Forces Creation Act, which formally established the National Guard of Cascadia as the standing military of Cascadia, and put aside funding and resources for its creation and training. He signed into law the National Celebration Act, declaring a national holiday to commemorate the independence of Cascadia from New Mexico every September 28th. He signed into law the Capital Expansion Act, to fund the expansion of Olympia besides CascAID, and to specifically deal with the fall of Astoria. Vamp's presidency continued the expansion and power of the Treasury and its programs, and a dominant player in his presidency became his Treasurer, jtwokay. Many towns expanded during this period, especially Olympia, Spokane, and Seattle. Seattle finally became active and began recruiting, under the leadership of the Secretary of the Interior and City Councillor Falcoeur. During Vamp's first term, the population of Cascadia more than doubled, with the admission of several new towns, including the purchased Oregonian town of Vancouver on September 20th, and the former Oregonian town of Oceanside, which joined during the Six-Hour war. That war also resulted in the acquisition of Washington from Oregon, with it being purchased by the Cascadian government for 2,300g. It is not a federated state or devolved government within Cascadia; the nation is treated like an asset of the Government, and all of its towns are treated, for all intents and purposes, as towns in the nation of Cascadia. ViolentVampire was the first president to officially reside in the Presidential Palace in Olympia, with it being completed under the design of Olympia City Councillor Moxies_Hoe shortly before his second inauguration.
Vamp's presidency was largely dedicated to the increased foreign policy power of Cascadia during this period. Within hours of Vamp taking office, the new King of Oregon reached out to Vamp's new administration, demanding that Cascadia kick the town of Yakima. Vamp refused but offered generous territorial concessions in exchange for Cascadia keeping Yakima, however, was rejected. Oregon continued to aggressively posture over Yakima, while Vamp moved to improve Cascadia’s defensive position by signing various non-aggression pacts. One of Vamp's notable foreign achievements during this period was joining the Pacific Coast Alliance and attempting to reform both the New Mexican Empire and the United States of America. Vamp, Arathorn52, and xBest’s attempted at reforming the New Mexican Empire into a new union built on an equal partnership between Cascadia and New Mexico. The then Empress of New Mexico, PrimeCyber was initially receptive to the idea but during the negotiations, she removed all Cascadian citizens from New Mexico’s government including Grand Councilor Arathorn52 who had been elected in a landslide. This blatant disregard for democracy and New Mexico’s own constitution forced Cascadia to declare independence from New Mexico on September 29th, 2022. Meanwhile, the Oregon government's posturing eventually led to a declaration of war against Cascadia by King Wdym on October 7. Facing fierce opposition from Cascadia and her allies as well as domestic pushback, Wdym___ asked Vamp for peace just 6 hours after declaring war. Vamp agreed to peace provided that Oregon made some concessions, and allowed Cascadia to annex the nation of Washington for 2,300g during the course of the six hours, which was previously an Oregon vassal state. Those initial peace talks would eventually become the Treaty of Oceanside. Tensions with Oregon remained high, and when reform did not pan out in the United States of America, Cascadia withdrew from the confederation on October 18th.