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Who the Heck Am I?

I'm PigInZen and have been playing eRepublik since late May 2009. I immediately became interested in governmental affairs and international relations. While not quickly grasping the concepts of wellness I did grasp the incredibly dense and complex world of eRepublik with its different spheres of national and international politics. I studying History as an undergrad and Information Sciences as a grad student so this game is right up my alley.

As soon as I was able to I joined a political party, the USWP. I was impressed by the organization of the USWP and was able to run for Congress under their banner. At the same time then-Secretary of State Harrison Richardson gave me a position at the State Department doing research and outreach on and to smaller nations. That operation was called the Office of Developing Regions and has since been shut down, unfortunately. When Harrison Richardson was making plans to run for President he offered me a Cabinet-staff position: Deputy Chief of Staff. This position was in my wheelhouse as I have a real-life affinity for systems development and tuning. I'm not talking about programming but rather in terms thinking of workflow and how things get done. It was at this time I started documenting the responsibilities of the various positions in the whitehouse which, believe it or not, were never formally defined. I remember asking Scrabman what the Secretary of Citizens Affairs was supposed to do!

Emerick gave me a huge break - and a genuine compliment - when he asked me to serve as his Vice President. At the time he stressed my organization efforts and attempts to establish a daily agenda in the Cabinet. Emerick wanted me to focus on getting twice-weekly reports out of the Department Secretaries, something which seems straightforward enough and obvious but has proven quite difficult to obtain.

For the past two presidential terms (the first being Emerick's shortened second term and Gaius's ascension in Emerick's resignation and Gaius' reelection) I have been the Chief of Staff. The Chief of Staff is one of those invisible positions in government that not many people have a grasp of what it does. Essentially I am the clock repairman, gear-greaser and Cabinet organizer. I make sure that positions are filled and that people are doing their jobs so that the President and Vice President can conduct the business of state. In the capacity of Chief of STaff I have focused on improving government operation and organization. The soon-developed Office of Technology and recent new Office of Human Resources are two ideas and creations of mine that I believe will profoundly affect how government functions, especially in regards to how citizens interact with their government and how government manages itself.

Principles? In a Game? C'mon Now...

Principles are a guiding force. Jewitt and I have structured our platform around a defining set of principles but I have a personal set of principles from which I base all of my decisions in eRepublik. These are fairly basic: 1. goodwill towards all, malice towards none (with apologies to Abraham Lincoln), 2. create the most overall good from whatever decision is needed, 3. take the bad with the good and attempt to not let the bad get in the way of good decisions. I steal much of my personal approach and philosophy from Buddhism and genuinely believe that all voices have value whether I might happen to agree with what is being said or not. I have a strong belief that all citizens of the USA have a right to serve in their government and should be allowed the opportunity if so desired.

Why I Want You to Put Me in Government
I truly believe that my efforts in government up until now have revolved around doing what is right for the President and by extension, the USA. I have always felt free to voice my opinion to Presidents Harrison Richardson, Emerick and Gaius Julius even though technically I didn't serve in many policy-generating positions other than Vice President. However, my work to organize and increase the effectiveness of the Executive Branch have had profound effects in my opinion as they have allowed us to more easily identify potential efficiencies and increase the overall effectiveness. This will always be my focus: to create an open, efficient, effective institution of government that lasts for future leaders.

Thanks for reading this. I hope that you will vote for 10,000 Fists, Open Government and Open Society. Please pull the lever for Jewitt on November 5th.