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From Congressional candidate Dan Wang

Why am I running for Congress?

I am running for Congress on March 25th, 2010 under America’s Advancement Party in South Dakota, USA, to make a difference in the way our government is run. I believe that I have the necessary skills to help our nation grow. I am the current AAP ambassador to the United Independents Party, a United States National Guardsman, and a member of the AAP Department of Business and Finance. I have been a proud, dedicated, and active citizen for several months now, but I feel that there are policies which ought to be revised.

Taxes

Perhaps the most important of these is our tax system, which is why I plan to serve on the Budget and Finance committee if elected to Congress. Among the slew of recent changes to our tax structure, there has also been a recently passed increase of VAT taxes for food. Opponents of this bill stated that increased taxes would cause ordinary citizens to suffer. However, the price of Q2 food, which provides a player enough wellness to work at Q1 companies and train, costs about $0.50. The passed VAT change increased taxes by 8%.

In other words, new players will be paying less than 5¢ more each day. Foods of higher quality will cost more, but players buying them are generally more experienced and can shoulder those increases without much real difficulty. Similarly, with the prices of other manufactured goods at their lowest points in months, VAT increases in other industries would have significantly less of an effect for each individual consumer than in previous months, when goods cost up to twice as much as now. However, this same increase will provide funding for the government and military. Therefore, with our economy doing so poorly, as our GDP is but only a fraction of what it once was, and, at the same time, our nation adopting a much more assertive international presence than ever before, both the government and military could use more funding. There is little sacrifice on the part of each citizen, but with so many citizens, it adds up to a lot of money for the greater good.

While I am in support of raising taxes for increased governmental revenue, the recently passed raises in import taxes to 3% are not the correct approach. We formerly used the free trade approach for import taxes, all having been set at 1%, the lowest rate allowed under the current tax module. The free trade approach promotes market efficiency and lowers prices for consumers, the market group comprising the vast majority among the population. On the other hand, business owners do suffer, to a degree, as a result of the foreign competition, but having an artificially inflated market does not, in the long run, serve our better interests. As long as foreign companies can succeed, so can ours. There are methods, which I will not go into detail here due to the length of the accompanying explanations, can be used to create profitability even under the current market condition.

A series of across-the-board increases in income taxes were recently passed by Congress from 20% in all sectors to 22%. For the average player, the increase will not amount to a loss of anymore than just a matter of cents. Once again here, there is little sacrifice on the part of each citizen, but with so many citizens, it adds up to a lot of money for the greater good. Simultaneously, higher income taxes tend to drive away citizens from working here and losing income. Our financial experts have studied the situation and decided that 22% is the optimal level for maximizing governmental revenue while keeping citizens happy.

For the reasons detailed above, I will support increases of VAT taxes to a range of 10% to 20%, lowering all import taxes to 1%, and keeping income taxes at 22%, the current.

In conclusion: “I save 1 USD, the marines/AB/Army have no funding. Sound fair?”

Government Programs

The money will eventually come back to you and not just disappear into the bureaucracy, because the government will then use the money for programs such as Meals on Wheels, which provides free food for new players, increasing player retention rate and helping us in our quest for 10,000 Fists. Another program is Guns for Huns, which distributes free weapons to civilians. However, it is also rather expensive, and, for this reason, it is not used for some battles of moderate importance, such as our December assault on Kyushu, a defeat which was at least partially caused as a result of lack of funds for free weapons.

Military

In accordance with such, I will not make any false promises in this campaign, such as guaranteeing a Q5 hospital in every state. Our military leaders have concluded that our current fortress strategy is the most suitable to our current situation, and this will not be changed anytime soon, no matter how some other candidates may want you to believe.

The war with the United Kingdom has drawn to a close after discussions regarding the overall situation of the EDEN campaign took place. Essentially, the war was becoming too costly to justify the strategic purpose of the mission, which took place without full support from the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Our focus can now be turned to East Asia again, where our campaign has stalled. Our occupation with the United Kingdom has allowed the growing Phoenix power Serbia to acquire Liaoning, a similarly valuable high iron region. We had previously freed and returned it to China, only to see it lost again soon after. As thus shown, the opinion of the JCS must be regarded as most imperative and cannot be disregarded. We went after a less strategically important target and saw the progress of several months erased by a series of Pakistani region-swaps with Phoenix.

Diplomacy

Japanese diplomatic actions eventually gave us access to East Asia, which we have since freed from Phoenix, with the exception of a few regions in northern China. Therefore, if similar circumstances are encountered in the future, I will push for furthering diplomatic negotiation before declaring war, which bears significant cost for a nation as large as us.

Furthermore, Sol, an alliance previously identified for its lack of action, has now adopted a much more active policy for combating Phoenix. For example, a series of region-swaps executed by the Philippines successfully separated Indonesia from Karnataka, the former crown jewel of their empire. In recognition of our newfound cooperation with Sol, a more formal status should perhaps be pursued now that we no longer have Sol observer status.

Karnataka

As a result of our campaign against Indonesia, we have acquired the former Indian high iron region of Karnataka. We have worked out a diplomatic agreement with India under which we pay rent to India for the control and considerable financial worth of Karnataka. Some players have called for us to simply hold down Karnataka by force, as India has a comparatively weak military force. However, this is not the correct approach. Unlike the former owner of Karnataka, Indonesia, we should not oppress a decidedly neutral nation. Our capture of Karnataka was made much easier because of Indian cooperation. Without Indian cooperation, Phoenix could launch an attack on our already tentative hold in East Asia. As such, it has been made our third fortress state to secure the region from Phoenix. With three hospitals already and a lower than preferable population in Karnataka, I will support no motion for another fortress unless the situation somehow changes drastically.

Pony Express

I am very much in support of the Pony Express, a government organization responsible for distributing official information to the general populace. Volunteers vote up official articles mailed to them by the Pony Express staff. However, because un-productive or false information still sometimes slips into the media, Congress may want to consider directing surplus tax revenue to the Pony Express for volunteer recruitment and to run advertisements for public notification to the general populace of which articles to vote.

So you have questions?

Please message either me if you have any questions about me or my opinions. Also, if you do not live in South Dakota, USA, but can vote for me there, I will send moving tickets, one to move to and the other to move back, as well as gifts to compensate for wellness lost by moving. I hope that you plan to vote for me for Congress on the 25th.