eNational Primary System - Part 1 - Land of Opportunity

Day 567, 11:45 • Published in USA USA • by Ananias

Over the next couple of days, I will be publishing a four part series of articles regarding the value of an eNational Primary System in order to expand the public discourse regarding the congressional election methodology originally introduced by President Scrabman in this article, and being discussed and developed by a committee of outstanding political party representatives and facilitated with the exceptional leadership of Presidential appointee Department of Education Secretary Tiacha.

Let’s start a conversation about this innovative approach to elections America.
Perhaps nowhere in eRepublik do the positive aspects of RL ideals being projected on in-game mechanics manifest themselves than in the civic opportunities afforded eUnited States citizens. To co-opt a worn out RL cliché:

The eUnited States of America is the land of opportunity.

By any other name, whether “freedom” or “liberty” or “equality”, the ideal we are most passionate about, as eUS citizens, is the ubiquitous nature and exercise of opportunity. We are addicted to the ideal of opportunity, whether it be the opportunity to communicate our opinions, the opportunity to conduct our eLife as we choose and, more specifically to this article the opportunity to actively participate in the selection of our representatives and the governing of our nation.

We often adhere to a strict defense of our ideal of “wide open spaces” especially as it relates to our paramount exercise of civic opportunity, the vote. I recently saw a thread on the eUSA Forums that raised the question of why most of the major political parties characterized themselves as “Libertarian” in ideology. The response?

No political party wants to be characterized as “Authoritarian”.

In fact, to identify a party as “Authoritarian” is ostensibly a recipe for failure within the confines of the eUnited States of America, because it limits the scope of our RL ideal of opportunity to the few, rather than the plurality. Americans crave autonomy and opportunity, it is mapped into our very genetic code as a culture.

The most unfortunate, and sometimes frustrating, obstacle to our shared goal of opportunity for all is the inexplicable barriers erected by the developers of eRepublik to opportunity, and the parallel development of national vulnerability as a consequence for applying the “wide open spaces” mentality in the political sphere.

For example, in RL, if I decide to run as the congressional representative for my state, I can simply pay a fee, perhaps gather a few signatures, and develop a statement of ideology, and in the next election, since I am over the age of twenty-five, my name will be present on the ballot during the succeeding election. I would be provided an equal opportunity to garner the vote sufficient to be selected to office regardless of my political affiliation. In eRepublik, however, the in-game political mechanisms only allow for the top five parties, ranked by membership, in a nation to put forth candidates for office; often relegating clearly superior candidates affiliated with smaller parties to the uncomfortable position of seeking accommodation by one of the major parties for the opportunity of candidacy.

As the Party President of the United States Workers Party, I can confidently state that, although I may disagree with their ideology, the Federalists, the Nationalists and the Socialists should be provided the opportunity to put forth their best candidates without the encumbrance of moderating their viewpoint to pander to the leaders of the major parties for the nominal reward of accommodation. If a party has identified and developed quality candidates to put forth for the decision of the eUS voter as to their merit…then regardless of whether their party membership is twenty, or two thousand, the candidate should be on the ballot.

That is reason #1 that I, even in the face of reticence from my own party, that I have come our firmly in support of an eNational Primary System. As an eUS citizen, and even as the presiding officer of the largest political party in the New World, I am an ardent supporter and defender of the ideal of opportunity…and more so, where opportunity is unfairly constrained by game mechanics, it is our right…and our responsibility to create alternative methods of opening new avenues of opportunity.

The eNational Primary System being developed will allow for everyone, regardless of party affiliation, to be provided the opportunity to run for office without the humiliating requirements of seeking accommodation by a top five party. If you are a quality candidate, the eUS citizens deserve the opportunity to decide whether or not they want you to represent them, not a major Party President.

I appreciate your votes, subscriptions and comments!

Next installment: Pre-empting eUS Political Vulnerability.

Thank you for you time,

Ananias - Congressman for Florida
Party President, United States Workers Party