[Oblige4President] The Grand Plan

Day 2,536, 23:55 Published in USA USA by Oblige

Dear America,

In my last article I promised you a full throttle campaign, and even though two of my opponents have dropped out in the past several hours we’re still going to do this thing with intensity.

To begin, here are some well known individuals that are supporting me for President.

Endorsements:
Josh Frost (4x eUSA President): http://www.erepublik.com/en/article/2461819/1/20
MrCarey (We The People PP): http://www.erepublik.com/en/article/2461974/1/20
Jude Connors (Notable Vagabond): http://www.erepublik.com/en/newspaper/237044/1
Othere (Narwhal Conservancy PP): http://www.erepublik.com/en/article/2462014/1/20
Mike Ontry (Famous Technologist): http://www.erepublik.com/en/article/-2462027/1/20

I expect quite a few more of these to hit the media soon and with each article I publish I’ll keep a running list.



I also promised that you would get another article from me before the end of the week with my cabinet, and you can expect that article shortly.

For now let’s go through my plans for next term blow by blow (or department by department as it were).

State Department

Our current position in the world order is excellent. We’re part of a small, well run, full in-sync alliance. We have max 100/100/100 bonuses, and while there are threats lurking around the corner, we are largely surrounded by our friends.

While there have been rumors for the past several months of a major alliance shake up in the works, and while we have seen evidence that this might come closer to fruition in the near future, things are working out rather nicely for us now.

With this in mind the State Department’s primary objectives during my term will be the ongoing stability and growth of PACIFICA, the strengthening of ties with key-non-PACIFICA allies like Croatia, Chile, Turkey and Albania, growing our relationship with China, and using diplomatic ties to maintain the security of our bonuses.



Defense Department

It’s no secret now that the United States Armed Forces has been in somewhat of a downward spiral since the failed, Pfeiffer-led, merger of all the branches. Despite the best efforts of the officer corps, membership has been on a steady decline, out pacing by a significant margin even the overall 30% decline. While increases in operational efficiency have produced a steadily decreasing budget line, the primary contributor seems to be the dwindling numbers of our National Military Unity (MU).

While the USAF is still very popular, our current, high, work tax is sometimes unjustly blamed on the costs of supporting our standing army. This simply is not the case, and currently only a single day of tax revenue is required to support the USAF for an entire week.

The number one complaint I’ve heard is that since the merger the sense of community in the MU took a major hit, and the primary focus on my Defense Department will be to address this issue. The USAF will receive some mild structural changes to place new emphasis on small groups of soldiers, and building up a larger officer corps. We’ll also be tapping the technology department to help increase recruitment with new techniques like automatic MU invites for new citizens. Lastly, we’ll be making a full court press in the media with the same intensity you’ve seen from my campaign.



National Security Council:

One of the hallmark features from my fifth and sixth Presidential terms was our dramatic expansion of the National Security Council (NSC). Previously open almost exclusively to the USAF and a few select Private Military Units (PMUs), the NSC grew in size as any MU fighting for the USA was allowed to join. My NSC team also started the now standard operating procedure of having a large, in game, personal message (PM) chain between the NSC team and all MU commanders.

This inclusive attitude is the cornerstone of my plan for the NSC next month. We’ll be containing all the best practices started over a year ago, and adding a few more. The “biggest” of which will be standing mass attacks every Wednesday night - open to every American and supplied through private donations. Although we do see the PMUs organize a mass attack every now and then, my belief is that regular mass attacks are a key component of military engagement and will significantly improve our presence on the battlefield and therefore our value to our alliance and allies.



Interior Department:

Given the relative quiet on the international front (perhaps the quiet before the storm) I anticipate having a considerable amount of time focusing on internal affairs. President Bubblar has confessed to me that he though these would the primary focus of his administration as well, but fate had other plans for him and he became a War President. In the past few days his team has started to kick things into high gear, starting with a fund raiser and revival of some old programs.

My plan for interior is two fold. First to utilize the assistance of our technology department to help locate and reach out to new players, ala the old ‘welcome wagon” days of old, and second, to keep those players in the game through engagement activities, primarily to incentive them to engage in the meta game. The Department of the Interior (DoI) will host weekly IRC events including giveaways and trivia with unique and fantastic prizes. They’re also going to step up their media presence with regular newspaper articles and some new graphics standards.



Education Department:

Going hand in hand with the Interior Department, Education will be a critical component of my domestic policy. We’ve seen some interesting projects come out of the DoE the past few months including a poorly received forum, a well received website, and a recent rather attractive refresh of that site that went live just recently including a truly exceptional microsite dedicated to this Presidential Election - check it out!

There’s a lot of room to grow here though. The official eRepublik Mentorship Project’s American Team is in dire need of some fresh blood. We’ve had a lot of game changes that require guide updates, and there are a lot of cool tools out there (like the eUSA Company Profit Calculator) that not many people know about. Under my leadership, the DoE will be charged with these truly engaging missions.



Calendar of Events:

Lastly, to help provide a visualization of some of the planned activities during my term, please see this handy Google Calendar. It’s still tentative, but it is, in broad strokes, the rough outline of much of what I’ll set out to accomplish next month.



As always, thank you for taking the time to read my article.

If you’re in the We the People or Federalist Parties, your primaries are open now. I humbly request that when you go to the ballot box you keep my name and mind and Vote Oblige for Lucky Number Sleven!



Please give me a shout:
Oblige for President!
The Grand Plan
http://www.erepublik.com/en/article/2462617/1/20
Check out the calendar!