Interview with Justinious for the Presidential Election
Daphne Lilac
Daphne: Justinious, thank you for your time!
I appreciate you answering a few random questions of mine.
What have you felt your administration has accomplished this past term?
Justinious: Thank you for having me. It’s always great to spend time with an old friend.
I feel my administration has brought a small sense of stability to the office that wasn't there previously. I have tried my hardest to ensure transparency and accountability while in office, and I feel to a larger extent I have accomplished just that. We were able to cut back on spending and regulate our inflation and exchange rate. All of these are good accomplishments for a single term, but I just know there is so much more to be done.
Daphne: If you win another term do you feel that you will have the opportunity to lower taxes? Right now the American public has by and large expressed its unhappiness with the higher tax burden. How long do you predict the country will need to have higher taxes?
Justinious: To an a great extent, yes. I will push congress to lower taxes, but the American people need to know that the president does not dictate tax structure and has no direct power over that. He can only advise and make suggestions through the Economic Council which can then propose it to Congress. I will push for a restructuring of our taxes which will be based on VATs instead of on income tax. Allowing our workers to enjoy more of their paycheck.
That being said, it should still be some time until we can go back to very "low" taxes.
Daphne: We are experiencing a huge influx of new Americans lately due to the advertising by Erepublik. This can be a boon as well as extremely challenging. How do you propose we guarantee that our newer citizens can become involved and engaged?
Justinious: I plan on using this time to being the office of the press secretary (currently headed up by Uncle Sam) in conjunction with the Department of Education and the Welcoming Committee to ensure the masses are met with informative media articles that will direct them to the right places from the get go. Having this steady supply of current events, tutorials, and help links will really boost activity over all.
Furthermore, through the economic council we will take all the steps necessary to ensure our economy can support this influx of new citizens. I have already taken steps to ensure we have enough jobs for our new workers entering the system as I have opened up 2997 level 0 jobs for new workers. My Vice President has also just prepared a new Welcoming Message that we have passed through congress with all the info new citizens need to hit the ground running
Daphne:: A lot of Americans have been writing about the fun factor, particularly regarding the terrorism involved with the Federal Reserve being wiped out. What do you think about the tone of our country? Is it too serious?
Justinious: I have thought our country is too serious for a long time, but it’s not fair for me to say that it’s wrong to be serious. As president I need to take this game more seriously than 99% of the population at any given moment. That is just how it goes, but we need to know when we've taken it too far. I feel that as long as the game stays actually fun for everyone involved we are okay. I don't think the Federal Reserve incident caused any fun in the US; I will stay it definitely got people's attention. Which may end up being good for the US in the end. I just think at times we need to be able to put aside our petty and meaningless arguments and just enjoy the game together.
Daphne: What are you hoping to do in your second term?
Justinious: My second term will primarily be used as a concreting phase. What I mean by that is this. My terms in office have been and are focusing on the ideal of an efficient government. Less clutter more accomplishments. I want to take this to another level by setting up basic guidelines for many tasks made in and out of the white house. This will be expounded upon with scripts developed by SADD, and the work of our P3 Director. While we are doing that I wish to inform the general public of all my ideas and directions in a clear and honest way. I will back them up with reason, and logic. I can only hope they will see as I do, and then we will move forward from there. To reform our military to where it works the best, not to what makes everyone happy. In my eyes the military needs to be the best, not the prettiest. It needs to be fast and free of clutter and wasteful procedures. I will approach the economy as we have it at that time. Focusing on exporting and valuing our dollar while attempting to re-grow our treasury.
Daphne: Do you think that we Americans should be involved in more wars?
Justinious: Actually yes. I think we would benefit a lot to take the offensive more and to just get out there and fight. There is no downside at all to fighting as long as you do it in moderation. Now, as a Disclaimer I will say this. I do not believe in conquest. I believe every nation has the right to exist in Erepublik. In most cases I think taking over territory is only a temporary thing as it can easily be RW'd back to the original owner.
Daphne: So Justinious I would say that you are as prolific as our former and fabulous president, Dishmcds. Have you considered shortening your article lengths so that people like me that have ADHD may too know of your ideas?
Justinious: I have thought of this, and I actually have attempted to do so many times over, but it’s never as short as I would like. Maybe during this second term I will be able to produce little update articles and not bash everyone with my walls o text.
Daphne: So LennyA wrote an article regarding a newb person who PM’ed a large number of people begging for money. It was revealed that 'she' has done this in a few different countries simultaneously. What do you think of this practice?
Justinious: I think it has been done before by many people, and there is really nothing we can do to stop it. I gave this person 1/2 of my salary for that day, so I really feel no loss from it personally. I would rather take the chance that they are a genuinely nice person who just needs some help in the game then become a cynic and be rude to anyone who asks for a hand out. That being said, I think those that purposefully exploit people for money should give their morals a second look.
Daphne: One of the criticisms I've seen about your administration is that the military is disorganized. What do you have to say about this?
Justinious: The military sucks to be frank. I have known this since before my term ever began. It is the reason I started the Military Reform Committee on the first day of my term. That being said I have been constantly hindered by the military as a whole as they state it is not my place as a politician to change what they have going. Out of respect for the work they have done, I had decided to take of the iron, so to speak, but no change was ever made and I am honestly upset that we are no better off then when my term began. I had made several compromises and proposed several new and more efficient ideas to our military, but they were not well received. If elected president for another term, I probably wont make any more friends in the military, but things will change, you have my word on that.
Daphne: Do you feel like the new V1 congressional system has benefitted our country or has it hindered the government?
Justinious: It really has done both in my honest opinion. The congressional system is great in its idea, and I think its advent has benefitted our government, but the amount of control and abilities they took from the president is too great in my opinion. Compared to what was possible in BETA the amount of things the president really can do in game is lame, to say the least, but we make do.
Daphne: Great! Thanks Justinious I know you're super busy and tired.
Justinious: Anytime miss Daphne .
Comments
Voted again.
😉
Yeah. I'm really new. A non-voting level 3 minimum-wage peon, as yet.
But is it me, or does JM-III overall sound much saner than the Sam/Shafer ticket? I've spent the evening researching the recent politics and history of eUSA, and don't have an opinion on the backstory of the longer term politics and scandal here. I haven't witnessed this administration's day-to-day governing (the Reserve Hack and the Portuguese war were bad, but in both cases Justinius seems relatively blameless). I am so far not vested-interested in any candidacy. But Justinius seems motivated by a sincere concern for maintaining a fun and dynamic game, and I'm particularly impressed by his sympathy for us, the enthusiastic new players. The opposition is steeped in this creepy macho nationalist-adventurist bombast — not sure what that's all about.
Just one man's disinterested, detached observation.
Additionally, I guess the crucial question would be how he would plan to work with a USWP plurality in the Congress, and what his coalition would look like to get to a 50% threshold to actually have some sort of coherent legislative agenda.
A very interesting insight Dru. Thank you
I think Justin's presidency has been pretty good and I'd like to see a second term. January was a month plagued by bugs and the Fed heist, which were beyond the president's control and to which the government has responded well imo
Justinious or Uncle Sam?
Still thinking...
Justinious>Uncle Sam
🙂
Good article. I'd like to see another term for Justinious as well.
I'm undecided. That is all. Kirkex 09'!?
voted. by the way, I'm so voting for Justinious when my level is high enough (hopefully before the election) 😁.
Don't have a clue what's going on, I'm a big newb, but I like this guys, so I'll vote for you if I can!
I'm also new. But Prez. Justinious seems to understand how this "game" works. I still need to find out more about his political and economic views. But he doesn't seem saner then the alternative.
As someone who can barely afford any e-food, I'd like to know where the candidates stand on raising the minimum wage.
Good interview Daphne.
Oh yeah, s'scribed.
Great interview, Daph. Subscribed. 🙂
As an Israeli, I will vote for the one who seems as the one who will help Israel more getting their lands back.
Justinios gives me answers of politicians, like 'we will help when the tiem will come', and I really dont know what Uncle Sam will do with us.
I have been playing for about 2 weeks or so, got fired from one job due to the lousy economy or dollar devaluation and my wellness is going down due to training and improving myself. Taxes have gone up and i can't afford higher level food to get my wellness up. In short if my wellness continues to go down at this rate I will be dead by the end of the month. Just like in real life the government does not care.
This is a different candidate from the one currently serving as President. Interesting?!?!?!?
@Danylo Halytkyj:
Starting out in this game is harder than most games. At least remember, in the worst case scenario, if your character dies you can revive. I suggest you head to the IRC and the eUSA forums to request for gifting help etc.
@Peter D. Banko:
No, this interview is with Justinious MacWalburson III (god that's a mouthful) who is the incumbent. I interviewed both UncleSam and Justinious to make sure I had both sides accounted for in this upcoming election. For some reason only Justinious's interview was received with much interest.
I have a feeling that this race is going to be a lot closer than most people seem to think. Justin has sone some great stuff, but at the same time there is a lot still needed to be done.
@Danylo
Get a better job. Its not hard to find one. The dollar value does not affect your purchasing power of domestic good as you are equating it. Your wellness is supposed to be in constant fluctuation. The formula is designed so that you are always losing wellness into a certain point. Anything below and it goes up, anything above it goes down, etc.
glad to see you mentioned SADD 🙂
How will you improve the military? I read an article by Shafer/ Sam, and they said you just wanted to change the military's name. What are you going to change the minimum wage? It is very hard for newb's to get enough money to pay for good food. Thanks for the health! I have not made my decision yet, I probly won't be able to vote anyway, but this could be the deciding factor if I'm able to.
Will we get more than 1300 votes in the Presidential Election this Month?
@NeilP99:
I think sometimes we need to remember that the President is slammed from day one once he's voted in with PM's and various duties. I honestly believe that our public underestimates the difficulty of being president in Erepublik. Particularly in our own e country -we are gigantic!
And of course not everything can be accomplished that the President promises or wishes to do. One of our best President's ever, Dishmcds, himself felt that he had more to do when his term ended. Four weeks just isn't enough.
(Disclaimer: yes Dish is my e-husband ROFL)
Justinious knows the game extremely well and wants what is best for this eNation. Fun is certainly a big factor. This is a game. But its also a social experiment. The world is watching and I want the USA to be the best there is in this New World. We can prove to the rest on eRepublik that America is not the most powerful nation in real life because of only fortunate circumstance, but because of the quality of our ideologies and of our citizenry.