Making A Difference: Political Parties and PTOs
Ananias
Since I have arrived on the eRepublik scene, and certainly even before, there has been a general reticence from most quarters to the idea of party politics. Additionally, as an active member of the USWP, I find myself commonly on the receiving end of an endless variety of criticism for my selection, whether stemming from envy over our party’s quantity of members or our very rational desire to increase our congressional delegation in an effort to promulgate the political agenda of our party.
Unfortunately, as with all major organizations, the range of diversity within our membership increases substantively with our increase in population. While in a smaller party, a more concentrated range of motivations lends itself well to the rapid determination and achievement of consensus goals. The size of our party, as with other large organizations, and the dearth of in-game vetting and screening opportunities, also provides a haven for those that choose to anonymously utilize “party branding” for more unscrupulous political activities.
With all this being said, and at the risk of falsely presuming the continuation of my position of leadership and influence within the United States Workers Party, I believe that it is critical to constantly evaluate the function and capability of all political parties toward furthering the goals and priorities of the eUnited States of America.
To this point, in the relatively short history of the eUnited States of America, the function of political parties has been centralized around the perpetuation of fairly generalized political ideologies as new players and old have projected their RL political viewpoints into eRepublik; however, much like the development of military strategy in an environment which does not realize the consequences of poor strategy in the form of casualties, the development of political strategies in the absence of political party membership constraints or controls yields very little prospect of accurate results forecasting or realization of a concrete political agenda.
Therefore, it is my belief and assertion that, while generalized RL political ideologies provide a substantive foundation for recruitment efforts, the most effective function of political parties lies not in the integrity or strength of their rudimentary political ideologies, but, instead, in their power as organizational entities. To paraphrase:
The more generalized the political ideology, the greater the likelihood of shared perspective. The greater the shared perspective, the greater the draw for new members. The greater the draw for new members, the greater the membership. The greater the membership, the greater the power of the party. However, as was stated in the movie “Spiderman”:
With great power comes great responsibility.
I believe that the perceived value of the USWP, like many other large political parties, will always, ultimately, be judged by the application of that power. If the application of that power is to exclusively perpetuate real life political ideologies, then a party will likely always be perceived as a political “one trick pony”; however, if the application of that power is for the development of organizational structures which may be leveraged for the perpetuation and facilitation of the priorities of the eUnited States of America, then a party will likely be perceived as a contributing institution toward national success.
As I have campaigned for Party President of the United States Workers Party, it has become clearer and clearer to me that there are many opportunities for the responsible application of power within our party and other parties which are distinctly separate from the traditional focus of Political Parties in eRepublik, that being the advocacy and spread of a specific ideological doctrine, to an alternative focus on our organizational capabilities.
For example, several members of our government have been working on behalf of our national interests, and the interests of our allies, by developing a counter-PTO (Political Take Over) task force to provide for the defense of our nation, our allies, and several new nations, against hostile political takeovers aimed at a variety of nation-states for the sole purpose of pillaging treasuries and eliminating the opportunity for governmental self-determination within sovereign nations. While the efforts made have been extraordinary and noble, they have yielded nominal returns. However, if the organizational prowess and influence of the major political parties of the eUnited States of America were leveraged to provide for party specific task forces designed to reinforce those efforts, the efforts of the eUS to counter-act those hostile efforts would be magnified and exponentially more effective.
Perhaps the greatest obstacle to this “new and improved” paradigm of organizational functionality and responsible application of power will continue to face will be the myopia of ideologues who see the benefits of political party strength and numbers only as a vehicle for the accumulation of greater influence and control over national government policies and personal aggrandizement.
So, while I will never quit advocating, and working, for the growth and prosperity of the USWP, whether or not I am selected to lead the Party, I will also continue to be a tireless advocate for multi-party coordination of our organization prowess toward the priorities of the eUnited States of America, because together we can achieve more.
Consider this my early call to those elected to the Presidency of the various Political Parties of the eUnited States of America on April 15, 2009, to substantively support the efforts of our counter-PTO task forces abroad by joining me, if elected, in the organization and coordination necessary to accomplish the task of defending the sovereignty and right to self determination of our allies and newer nations abroad.
Please take a few moments to complete the eUnited States of America 16th Congress Poll and let your voice be heard on the effectiveness and quality of your most current Congress.
eUS 16th Congress Poll
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Comments
First!
It's such a fine line to walk... hold off too many voters to participate in counter-PTO activities and you risk lowering the quality of governance in the country. But it's a noble endeavor. I'm looking forward to you being my party president!
The US Greens will want to run for office will you let them?
@Argent Nuro, all worthy endeavors carry risk, but as always the risk must be balanced against the benefit, and in this circumstance I think it is critical to point out that the number of voters required for such an undertaking (if strategically planned) will likely be less than the critical mass we may perceive as necessary to maintain the integrity and quality of our congress especially if distributed between several large parties for maximum effect.
The benefit on the other hand is to successfully counter attempts at world domination through PTOs rather than military efforts which provide a fighting chance to weaker countries with effective diplomacy and allies.
Eloquently put, as always 😉 Very enlightening! Voted
@Angle, it is not for me to determine whether members of the US Green party decide to run for office, and any endorsement request will need to be evaluated on individual merit. Thanks for the question/comment!
Well said. Agree 100% about: "With great power comes great responsibility."
Well said.
Every election day, I see a desperate shout from some small ATLANTIS ally about to be taken over, raped, and sold as parts that goes more less like "we're being taken over by Hungary/Indonesia/Brazil! Free moving tickets if you come and help us!"
Those are very sad to see.
I think the main issue is educating your employer (if you have a good employer you don't want to leave) about why you want to do this, that it's coming up in the next couple days, and that you need to formally resign, and formally be rehired again a couple hours after you get back.
The best way it works is if you can let your employer know a couple days in advance that you intend to leave to vote, but want to come back at the same salary.
On election day you go, save Norway (oops, to late for that one) fly back, and your former employer has posted one job opening at an incredibly low salary.
You take the job, and in a couple hours, your employer raises your salary to what it was before you left.
The risk might be minimized if all of the top five parties worked toward this goal equally.
@JBB - Outstanding comment! Thanks, you defintitely have a great grasp on the detailed planning and communication tat would be required to support the effort...thanks so much for your input!
@Leroy - I agree wholeheartedly, the greatest value in such an endeavor may not just be effective counter-PTOs, but a renewed commitment by the Political Parties to contribute to the greater success to the same nation that has contributed so much success to them.
Again, thanks all for the comments and votes!
hear hear, ananias! Always well spoken! Voted
Ever the eloquent writer. Voted and subscribed!
Dear eamericans i inform you that a RW has started in turkey and specifically in macedonia, led by greek nationalists. Plz everyone who wants to help plz move to central greece. There is a q5 hospital so that you can heal. Plz help and i'll buy you guys all a really big souvlaki or guros XD
Anyhow, thank you!
Has anyone seen this? There's going to be a poltical takeover in the eUK!
http://www.erepublik.com/en/article/the-euk-is-in-grave-danger--778248/1/20
http://www.erepublik.com/en/article/ukrp-euk-s-most-confusing-party-778124/1/20
http://www.erepublik.com/en/article/-interview-the-dark-horse-of-ukrp-marcus-antonius-varias-778148/1/20
If I am indeed elected to the Party Presidency of the UIP, I pledge full support of this initiative.
Thanks Ansen, most success to you!