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Fellow eAmericans, I wanted to take some time to address what I consider to be a great flaw within our political party system. I have seen that flaw, and it is us....
(sound epic?? you may want to continue reading..)

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When I first started eRepublik four months ago, I was tempted to join one of the parties that espoused my own RL political beliefs. But I came to the realization that within the confines of this game, ideology is almost completely irrelevant. Left and right both want a strong military, because no one is being killed. Traditional arguments against war are irrelevant. Similarly, the so-called Conservative and Libertarian parties are no more likely to vote down an increase in government spending than vote Uncle Sam back into the presidency. In fact, once they make it into Congress, many representatives rarely even work in close coordination with the fellow members of their party. We participate in an anti-ideological system.

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This realization led me quickly to the UIP. The United Independents Party has long made its guiding principles as a party the necessity of individual independence of thought and the promotion of the good of our great country. It is a party that is not a party of ideology, but of individual merit. It is a party that has no political agenda besides the election of qualified candidates and strengthening the eUSA.

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Despite its strengths, the UIP has done its share of participating in the perpetuation of partisan bickering in the eUSA. But it does not shoulder the blame alone. People from every party in the country have participated in the scheming, the back-room gerrymandering, the mindless attacks against the USWP for just being big. All together, it’s one of the eUSA’s greatest flaws. This is the worst sort of politics: we have no real ideological goals we can promote, so we simply attack blindly.

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What, then, can be the goal of political parties in our country if there is no ideology to rest upon? What is the end of it all? If it is to simply expand in size at other parties’ expense, and to try to win bragging rights on the number of Congressmen we elect, then something is most definitely rotten in the United States.

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But there have been positive signs lately. President Harrison Richardson is continuing the excellent tradition of a multi-partisan cabinet. RightCon is adjusting its function to act less as an anti-USWP coalition and more as a commission to endorse qualified candidates across the spectrum. And there have been efforts to increase coordination between our parties through the Jedi Council.

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But the UIP continues to stand (as close as I’ve observed in this country) as a model of a good eRepublik political party. It makes no claims to any RL political philosophy that would simply go by the wayside in congressional votes. It seeks out the most qualified candidates to run under its banner (it’s not always a perfect process, as we saw in the whole Robert S. Miller affair). The UIP has an active community dedicated to supporting each other and working together to make our nation stronger.

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Let us all, whatever our party might be, ease the tension, stop the mindless bickering, and become parties that encourage the best in ourselves and the best for our country.

Thank you,
Blake Chrysostom