[AMP] Adventures in Democracy

Day 1,346, 22:13 • Published in USA USA • by Dio Soryu

Hello America,

It's been a while. Don't think I've forgotten you, but I've been pretty busy pretending to do stuff in my position as Commanding Officer of the First Division of eUSAF Army.

And, let's face it, the media is a wasteland these days.

But I had a peculiar experience today and I thought I would share it with you.

Since S.E.E.S. went down in Glorious flames about six months ago, I've been adrift politically. I started my own party which I was too burnt out to put much work into. I went to England for a spot, to get some culture and see the Eye of London and to see Emerick hassle the English. But most of my time was spent working within the eUSAF, working to make it as strong and cohesive as the JCS Military.

So, last night I was browsing through shouts and happened across an article for the American Military Party. Being in the eUSAF and being someone who had been critical of the JCS Military, I'd of course heard people saying that this was a thinly veiled political and recruiting scheme by the JCS.

I'm not one to take people's word for things like that and the article made the argument that they meant to be a home for all the military forces in America and I thought, 'Well, I'm a Senior Officer in the Army, I'm an experienced politician and I'd like to put this JCS vs Whoever thing to bed too. Maybe this is for me?'

I looked into it a bit and noticed a few things. Their membership is heavy with JCS Military members, especially at the top. For a party that was aiming to be a home for all America's fighting men and women, this seems like quite a failure. I'm level 27 and there are, as I recall, something like eleven pages of fellow party members in front of me who are, in vast majority, wearing JCS bordered avatars. I just checked this; out of the first 110, there are 36 non-JCS bordered avatars.

I mean that literally too; I didn't count people like Haliman or NXNW and other people who are very closely tied to or even standing members of the JCS (who even knows, anyway?) but are simply not wearing JCS Borders. Even in giving them that advantage, less than a third were non-JCS Military.

I thought, 'Maybe the problem is simply one of perception. Maybe what is needed is someone from the 'other side' to come over and run the show and prove to everyone that we really can cooperate.' And so, I joined and joined the 8 others who were already running for the Party Presidency.

Elsewhere in the article, I noticed it invites members to join the forums and vote in their primary. As I said in the comments, I find it strange that the AMP seems to put a lot of stress on that they are not 'The JCS Party', but still host their forums as a sub-forums of the JCS forums. That could certainly lead people to draw the wrong conclusions and is something I would fix as Party President. There's no reason a separate entity should not have it's own forums, except sheer laziness.

So, and this is where things get a little bit strange, I (with some difficulty) figured out that I needed to go into a particular section of the forums and request access to the AMP area of the forums and that there is no public section of the forums. I don't really understand why that would be either, except again laziness.

When I checked back a few hours later, to see what other members of the party had to say about things and cast my vote in the primary, I found I still had not been given access. What's more, Haliman had considered it and seen fit to deny me, a Senior Officer in the American Military, a voice in the American Military Party. For some reason, out of the other 8 hopefuls, I have been branded as a PTO.

I won't do, as I so frequently like to do, feign ignorance and tell you I was completely shocked by this. Although it was a little surprising that I was shut out so summarily and branded a security threat with no logical reasoning. I suppose my entrance in the race was a bit abrupt, or perhaps there is some portion of the charter (which I am not allowed to access) which I was missing; some bureaucratic hoop I need to jump through before I can be considered a valid candidate. If this is the case, let me know and I'll resign my candidacy until that hurdle is cleared.

But, what surprises me most about this is that I have always been supportive of the JCS military's involvement in the political sphere. It is a *good thing* and a fight that needs to happen if we are ever to move on with our lives. I have no wish to widen the divide between the JCS military and other interests, nor do I intend to deny any qualified and capable person a seat in congress. I frequently have not seen eye-to-eye with Morrigan Alexandros and, to be honest, I have a fairly low opinion of her. But would I run her for another term in Congress? Absolutely. Would I run JCS candidates, knowing that their gaining a majority in congress may have negative consequences upon the eUSAF, which I am a part of? You'd better believe it. I don't play favorites I will run anyone who I think can win and isn't a total, blithering idiot.

That's the job of a Party President; putting your interests and the interests of anything that is not the Party aside and make room for the people to have their voice.

I have been denied a voice in the Party and I can attribute their leadership's suspicion to the open criticism I have voiced of the JCS. If this is untrue, feel free to correct me; but I am not a foreign spy, I am a standing member of the eUSAF Army, I am an experienced politician and I can think of no reason the AMP would be so suspicious of me that I cannot even be allowed a voice in their forums.

Now, I mentioned earlier how I do enjoy feigning ignorance. You see, when you pretend to know and understand nothing, people are forced to explain and the irrationality of the arguments naturally bubble right to the surface. I had an opportunity to ply this art earlier, before I was banned from the AMP IRC channel with some pretty interesting results. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.

Please forgive the link, but I know who I'm dealing with and if I were to directly post the conversation log, I'd be reported and have to rewrite this entire article and... well, it took long enough the first time. :3


Click the Image

I'll let you interpret for yourself, but one thing sticks out in my mind, something I was banned before I was allowed to say.

Towards the end, Haliman had said something about 'trying to PTO us'. But... who is 'us' Haliman? By all logic this is an entirely appropriate political venue for me. By what rationale do you separate me from 'us' and into 'them'? What, precisely, sort of threat do you believe I represent?

It is, in my view, this sort of paranoid divisiveness that sharpens the contrast and widens the chasm that so many of us have tired of and wish to move past. There is no danger in letting me speak and it is incredibly doubtful I will win your Party Presidency, in the first place (did you *not* see the result of my Presidential race? I lost to a guy I've never even heard of!)

None the less, I am running and I am running with the goal of integrating the party and of mixing in more of the soldiers and officers from the plethora of military and militias operating in this nation. I will take no vengeance nor seek to sabotage the political aims of the members hailing from the JCS Military.

I wish to put this sad and turbulent chapter in our history behind us and, to be honest, I don't think the current course of the party is going to do that.

I am quite sure that many reading this will suspect me, but as far as I can recall the only instance I have ever been dishonest in my political dealings was with NX in acting as a faux PTO of my own party. AMP members, I assure you I would bring no less savvy and tenacity as the leader of your party and so I hope you will remember me in nearly a month as the election approaches.

I'll keep you posted and will write more often, America.
I promise.

All my love,
The Hentai Christ; His Holiness the Loli Drama
Colonel Nicholas Ryan
Commanding Officer, eUnited States Armed Forces First Division