[DoE] Being a Congressman

Day 2,049, 06:43 Published in USA USA by Department of Citizen Affairs

This article intends to continue informing the general populace about the Political Module as stated in the previous few articles, with particular emphasis being put upon Congress.

This article aims to inform the reader about the ingame mechanics related to being a Congressman as well as the metagame responsibility that Congressmen in eUSA hold.

Running for Congress

According to ingame mechanics, one needs to have 100 experience points to run for Congress. However, with the power being entrusted to the Party Presidents to pick their party’s congressmen, it is advisable for prospective congressmen to work their way up in the parties to increase their chances of being selected. Activity on IRC, in the party’s forums and messaging and helping out newbies are some of the ways to be selected for Congress for members. Furthermore, some eUS parties hold polls to pick their Congressmen so the more well known you are, the better are your chances of being chosen.

Ingame Functions

Clicking on "propose a law" enables a congress member to make the following proposals, of which they can make two (2) per mandate. A congress member can resign from his/her position by clicking the "resign" button.

*Change taxes
Note: Can not be lower than 1% and higher than 99% for Import Tax or 25% for VAT or 50% for Income Tax. Raw materials have no VAT.

*Country donations
Transfer money or gold from the country's treasury to an organization. During the twenty-four hour voting period the proposed currency due for donation is "frozen" and rendered unusable.

*Minimum wage

Change the minimum employee salary given by companies. Can not be lower than 0.10 units of local currency.

*Issue money
Take gold from the treasury and replace it as money. Includes paying a transaction tax of which is deducted at a rate of 0.005 gold per 1 unit of money.

*President Impeachment
Remove the President and replace him with whichever previous presidential candidate received the second-highest vote score. Requires 66% of Congress votes to be passed.

*Natural enemy
Members of congress or president can propose neighboring country as their natural enemy. If agreed, a free war will be started with the natural enemy. The prosing country citizens will get +10% bonus while fighting against their natural enemy.

*Granting citizenship
Congressmen are able to grant citizenship to foreign citizens that intend to enter a country. The number of CS passes per Congressman is based on the amount of votes cast in the Congressional elections.

The Meta-Game:

Most eUS legislation is done on the eUS forums, with ingame proposals being required to have cleared the forums before being approved ingame. This allows most of the “rogue” proposals to be voted down, and provides time to smoothen out and improve proposals before they are accepted by the house. The eUS constitution makes for good reading for prospective Congressmen looking to get involved in the country’s legislation.

We hope that understanding these ingame mechanics make your ingame experience easier and more enjoyable. Please remember to post in the comments if you’d like the DoE to cover a particular subject.