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Hello, eMrs. Hippies!

My name is Patches O’Houlihan, and I am running for the congress in Mississippi under the United States Workers Party.

Before we get into the nitty, gritty politics talk, I’d like to give some background on myself. That way, I don’t hide anything and I can be judged freely (transparency, it’s good stuff):

In real life, I am a high school student in the suburbs of Chicago. I realize that I am younger than many active citizens of eRepublik, but again, I have nothing to hide. I am going to go college in order to major in Percussion performance (or as most people call it, “the drums”). I am in 4 AP classes, have a 3.8 GPA, and scored a 32 on the ACT.
Anyways, this is eRepublik. I joined near the beginning of this war (day 616), when my friend told me the eUS needed help and a lot more active citizens. That was four months ago. I have not missed a day of work, a day of training, or a day of fighting in which battles were available. I have been active on the eUS forums and on the USWP IRC and forums for quite some time now. Recently, I have joined the eUS Mentor Program, have been active in the 303rd platoon of the Training Corps (fighting 3rd!!), and have started this newspaper called the Pika Papers.

Currently, many members of congress are inactive. I am running for congress because congress needs an active member, it needs an educated voter. I will be that educated voter, speaker, arguer, proposer, and member of the eUnited States of America. To do this, I will need your vote.

What I’m all about:

Many potential candidates’ platforms sound too much like presidential campaigns. The congress has sufficient power, even over the president (they can impeach the president, checks and balances right there). But, these congressional hopefuls state their ideas and give promises that lie in a different realm of power than Congress has.

Here is a list of the “tools” each member of congress is given, and how I intend to use them.

1) Propose a new citizen fee (passed with a majority vote).

A citizen fee is how much money is given to a citizen born in the eUS by the National Treasury. The new citizen fee of the eUS is currently 5 USD, and there is no reason to change it at this time.

2) Grant citizenship to a foreigner living in the eUS (needs no approval from other congress members).

Because the eUS was invaded down to Florida during WWIII, many citizens of the eUS ended up having their citizenship changed to an enemy nation. This case actually comes up a surprising amount. Most of these players have given up on the game because the system to request citizenship is slow, and somewhat painful. There is a limit of how many requests of citizenship each congress member can grant, but I will make sure I will reach that limit in my term and that I will push other members of congress to do the same. We need new active players, as well as our old ones back.

3) Propose a donation from the national account to an organization (needs majority approval).

We see this almost every day. It is a regular practice for congress to approve a donation to the CBO (the Congressional Budget Office, one of the congressional committees). These donations are made so frequently because the CBO needs the gold more than the nation account; the nation account only needs it for military expenditure, such as paying for MPPs (mutual protection pacts) and war techniques (moving troops around, funding the military, giving away all those free weapons from earlier in the war, ect.). The CBO needs the gold to handle the budget and to sell currency for gold while trying to maintain the USD to gold exchange rate (this is why when you look in the monetary market, you will often see the CBO selling rather large sums of USD at precisely .025 gold per USD). In short, money is frequently donated to the CBO from the national account because the CBO can more easily use this money, simply because it is an organization. The national account cannot donate money, convert money, and spend money as quickly and easily as the CBO can. If needed, I will use my allotted proposals to keep this regular exchange part of the eUS economic routine.

4) Propose an issuing of money (needs majority approval).

This is also a regular practice of congress (There was even a “lolz proposal” recently started to issue 7742 USD at a rate of 200 USD per gold…yikes!). When money is issued, a proposed amount of gold is taken from the national currency and is converted to a proposed amount of the national currency (USD, of course). The newly converted USD then go back to the national account when it will typically be given to the CBO (through proposals) where it will be used as discussed earlier. Again, I will use my proposals when needed to uphold this economic system.

5) Propose a new minimum wage (needs majority approval).

The current minimum wage in the eUS is 1.00 USD. The economy of the eUS is not in the best shape it has been right now. After we started regaining our regions back, a lot of companies came back under eUS control, too many. There aren’t enough active productive workers to keep up with the demand from all of these companies. Too many jobs and not enough workers means that these companies cannot be as productive and thus they cannot afford to pay workers at a higher, more desirable wage. eAmerican companies cannot afford to have the minimum wage raised, and as the price of goods continue to drop, we need to support the economy and help our companies. Raising the minimum wage at the expense of business owners will not solve the eAmerican economy problems. I will not at any point be proposing a new minimum wage; it will need to stay at 1.00 USD.

6) Propose the impeachment of the ePOTUS (needs a 2/3 vote).

I don’t see for any reason why I will need to exercise this congressional power. We have had a string of very successful and powerful presidents for my whole e-life. Although this is one of the ways that congress can check the powers of the eExecutive Branch, trust in the president is also needed in order for our government to function as planned.

The congress also holds checks over the eExecutive Branch in that they must approve many of the president’s proposals before they are actually acted out. Here are the things congress MUST approve:

1) A declaration of war

There are a many ideas flying around (especially on the eUSforums) as to who we should invade. So far, I’ve heard the most on eMexico and eUK. People are sour because eMexico let Columbia come right on through and attempt to block us during WWIII despite signing an NAP (non-aggression pact) with us. People are so openly against the eUK because before WWIII had begun, they said they were not going to join PEACE, but then they helped PEACE nations gain entrance into North America by starting a “training war” with Hungary, allowing PEACE to take Scotland which is a clear path to Canada. With PEACE breaking apart so quickly, an invasion of an enemy nation is become more and more realistic. Current events will truly dictate my position on declaring war. I will keep an open mind when discussing war and will make sure that which ever side I will take, it will be for the benefit of eUS and its citizens.

2) A declaration of peace

Declarations of peace are more important than some might think. Right now, the eUS has many wars open that have not seen battles in a long time. Many of these “war threads” (as I like to call them) contain a complex web of MPPs (see next section). These webs mean there are plenty of loopholes for enemies to take advantage, many entrances into the eUS. I will approve declarations of peace that will close these extraneous wars and thus securing the defense of our eNation.

3) A mutual protection pact

Mutual Protection Pacts are a very complex and often touchy issue. They have recently changed in that they have over tripled in cost (they cost both signing nations 100 gold) and that they now close after a certain amount of time, regardless if whether or not the war has closed. This means that in order to maintain MPPs, each nation will have to spend more money, more often. The cost is the CON of MPPs. The basic PROs of MPPs include that with MPPs people will be able to fight from the eUS (recently, the only battles available required moving to Hungary), MPPs created a larger defense web in America by deterring foreign invaders (hence Hungary’s reluctance to attack Alaska and Washington around a month ago, attacking those regions would have resulted in us with many MPPs, and them with a big ZERO). Considering the cost, I will vote to approve MPPs that will allow the eUS to protect itself and its interest and will provide eAmerican citizens with rank, wellness, and experience.

4) A purchase of construction (hospitals and defense systems, but Q5 hospitals are where the current debate lies)

Here is touchy issue number 2, Q5 hospitals and the fortress system. Many congress hopefuls try to persuade the voters in their states with promises of a Q5 hospital. The eUS at this time (or will any time in the near future that I am anticipating) does not need any more Q5 hospitals. The fortress state system relies on the fact that ALL (ideally) citizens of the eUS live in either Florida or California. This makes the walls (which is dependant on how many citizens live in that region) of these regions rather large, and costly for the enemy to attack. In short, adding other hospitals would divide citizens to other states and would cut the protection of the walls. All citizens need to move to either Florida or California in order to have a successful eLife and in order to be a productive member of the eUS. Having more Q5 hospitals will not magically cause inactive players to become active and fight all of a sudden. Players need to learn that game mechanics don’t really care where you live in real life. In order for the defense of the eUS to work properly, all citizens need to get to Florida or California. PM me if you need help getting there, regardless of whether or not I am elected.

5) A new citizen message

New citizen messages are not totally helpful, but they bring up a good point. Citizen retention is an issue in the eUS. Citizen messages are designed to briefly educate new citizens on how to get past the rough first week and the journey to level 6. I believe that the best way to keep the eUS at its superpower level is by educating the next generation of players and getting them “hooked” on the game. This is why I joined the eUS Mentor Program. Any helpful changes to the citizen message, I will certainly approve. But I will use my political status to improve other programs that help citizen retention. I will continue my work as a mentor and will work with the other congress members and Josh Frost in order to find ways, outside of the powers specifically given to congress and the president, to keep our citizens active and fighting for the good of the eUS.

These are the powers of congress, the powers I will work to uphold and exercise. I will be transparent in that I will openly discuss all issues that I am asked about. I will do my best to educate the citizens of the eUS on everything I come to learn and have already learned about this game. In short, I will actively pursue the best interests of the eUS by using the powers given to me as a member of congress. I will check the powers of the eExecutive Branch while working with the president to solve problems and improve the nation. I will never stop working towards a better eUS.

Thank you for reading and for voting,

Patches O’Houlihan
eMississippi Congressional Candidate on the USWP ticket
November, 2009