Borne On The FM Waves Of The Heart

Day 656, 21:00 • Published in USA USA • by Lowell Kennedy

I am forever the optimist: I anticipate that the United States will recover all of its lost territories and rather soon. As it comes closer to reality, I also anticipate a philosophical divide on how the United States proceeds. At that time, we will be the ascending power in global affairs. eRepublik has seen a few such powers: Pakistan, Romania, Indonesia, Hungary and perhaps Russia and France (although I don’t believe either of the last two qualify). Each has chosen to go the same route and has attempted to maintain the momentum of their ascendency. I am not sure America should proceed the like way.

The momentum features the steady gaining of foreign territories. Generally, almost all feature offensive maneuvers, either wars, economic or political coups. It seems that offense is believed to be the best defense so to speak. Often these territories are or were under the dominion of enemies. For example, the turning point in Romanian and Hungarian history was when the Hungarians finally overcame the Romanian army. After such had occurred, they took back their country and proceeded with imperial plans. Those plans laid waste to much of the Romanian empire.

Indonesia has been a major enemy for the United States, in direct contact or through proxy like South Africa or political takeover. The Indonesians have had the upper hand for almost all of the fight, and at least since last year. Now, the third battle of California may be a turning point for the pair of countries. The United States has finally broken through. Of course, a bit of luck that the former Indonesian president got caught at this moment in time for his cheating and that Indonesia’s allies were preoccupied should qualify this. Nevertheless, it may be the first time when the objectives directly impacting Indonesia have failed to go Indonesia’s way. And as such, it can be seen as something more than a mere victory. Thus, it seems that the proud, ambitious Indonesia has overextended itself, to the point of no return and in fact, decline.

The greed of each ambitious, ascending power has led to the eventual overextension of themselves. There is little mechanism in the game to suppress. Thus, the controlling nation must maintain its superiority through the status quo means, the mechanics that it controlled to gain the advantage; whether it was the number of tanks in comparison or voters. There are two important notes to make about this. First, being the king of the global mountain can lead many to leave the game, being bored because defending just ain’t as much fun as conquering. Second, when a country spreads itself too thin, coupled with departures, the total damage or total votes of dedicated patriots has been lessened.

Each of these countries has had their moment in the sun. They reached the pinnacle of global affairs. In Risk, they might have won. However, in eRepublik, the game goes on.

The opportunity to take native Russian regions will probably be before us. Should we have recovered our regions, our confidence will be high and our military prowess will be strong. That leads to the question: should we go for it and try to take it?

The question will divide the United States into two general camps, with many nuanced opinions, of course. One camp will argue to go to take foreign territories and the other will argue 51 and no more. I don’t know whether either camp can be right. However, I do know that one camp will be wrong. Let history be a lesson here.