[DMJ4POTUS] On the Political Schism

Day 3,054, 01:26 • Published in USA USA • by dmjohnston

Mood Music: Can't we give ourselves one more chance?

In my early days of eRepublik, I avoided politics at all costs. At the time, the eUS Military was the official military for the country, before there was such as thing as an in-game military unit. I was an officer in the Training Corps for a very long time. Part of eUS mil policy was that if you ran for Congress, you were placed in the National Guard for your term(s). At least that was my understanding. I didn’t have great interest in Congress. I didn’t know much about it and certainly didn’t join the national forum at that time. I kept to my eUS mil circles and was happy.

After the Joint Chiefs of Staff parted ways with their Congressional ties, I was inactive for a while. When I came back, it was 2013 and things had changed. At least I think so. I eventually left the eUS mil, mostly due to differences with the leadership at the time. Leaving gave me the opportunity to explore the rest of our national community. I joined the Air Force thanks to an endorsement from my long time friend Synesi. I joined We The People because Hale26 wouldn’t stop bugging me to. I signed up for a deputy job in the cabinet for Paul Proteus because he’s the coolest. Before I knew it, I was into politics pretty deeply.


Here I am, 3 years later with a great deal of experience under my belt. In that time, it’s been impossible not to see that change happening. The merger of LAP with WTP. The rise of BSP into the top 5. The fall of AMP from the Top 5 and ascendence of SFP in their place. The political landscape has shifted. As the days go by, the parties become more polarized. Party lines harden. Individual positions become less common as people fight for “their” people. Where are we heading, really?

This month, the Socialist Freedom Party ran a Congressman who is also on the Congressional Blacklist. The order of their Congressional ticket was determined by their internal primary election. As of late, this hasn’t really been an issue, since while the Defensive Dictatorship is in place, in-game Congressional powers are pretty much nothing, which means there’s no risk of rogue proposals or citizenship approvals. This month was different because the rogue liberation war (an entirely separate issue altogether) meant that Congress would have their buttons for about 10 days. When members of the Presidential Cabinet expressed their concern, specifically about SFP, they were told that “he’ll be fine.” I honestly think Tom believed that when he said it.


The blacklisted Congressman, Wooky Jack, approved two citizenship requests which also happened to be for other citizens on the Congressional blacklist. There are long-standing regulations regarding immigration in the eUS, which are pretty clear on a case like this. However, since some people feel that SFP should have known Wooky would do this if elected in their number 2 spot, the entire party should be held responsible.

A discussion was opened in Congress about a possible response to this situation. In summary, it was to censure (remove the ability to participate in Congressional discussions) the entire party ticket (which would include OFU members running under SFP’s ticket) for the remainder of the month. I was against this idea and here’s why.

Back when we were battling with Ajay Bruno and the American Freedom Alliance every month, the solution was to take over the party on a monthly basis in a war of attrition which we ultimately won. Ajay made himself into the perfect common enemy through his many actions that the community at large was willing to unite and vanquish him together. This same approach would never work with SFP because they are not the same party. Let me clearly state that I am not comparing SFP to AFA. For one, SFP is a collection of natural citizens, not imported foreigners. In their minds, SFP are not actively seeking to harm the nation. They would also likely be supported by one or two other parties, something that could not be said of AFA. The numbers simply don’t make sense for this kind of approach. Nor does this approach appear to have made any positive impact in SFP's relationship with the government. Aggressive action is just amplifying the schism and exacerbating the problem.

Ok, so that’s not the solution. What is?


The only way we find a lasting solution to these kinds of partisan problems is by talking to each other. My opponent has put forth her plan for improving the community: a bureaucrat to serve as an ambassador to our own citizens. It’s not a terrible plan. I don’t remember it being tried before. I have an alternative view, however. We should not have a single contact point between our fractured communities. We need a network of contact points. We need to bring people together, not funnel them through government ears to hear each other.

How do I want to fix the current disagreement about SFP? I want the Party Presidents to convene a council. I want people to come to the table willing to talk and find a solution. To me, it’s going to take change on both sides. For SFP, it might mean being willing to change your party constitution to mirror other parties a bit more. For the people calling for censure, it means realizing that we do not have the means to continue this escalation and we need to find ways to interact. There is a balance between party autonomy and placing the country first. We shouldn’t seek to tell each other how to run our parties, but we should collectively find a way to make sure we are all individually doing what is best for the nation-at-large.

I want both the in-game and national forum environments to hold a wealth of interaction for anyone that wants to partake. I’m committed to talking to people in game as well as on the forum and IRC. I’ve mentioned doing things outside of any of our normal avenues as well. When we can find some common ground, that is when we’ll be able to interact regularly with each other.

Communication shouldn’t be one-way or even two-way. It should be a constant throughput of information and interaction in every direction. That’s how we fix this. Join me and let’s talk to each other.


Dio bless you, and Dio bless the eUnited States of America.