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Today, I announce my candidacy to represent South Dakota during a ninth term in Congress. My experience in politics is extensive. Within a month of joining eRepublik, I became active in the AAP, contributing to its rise from the fifth ranked party in the eUS to the first ranked. After serving as Public Relations Director and as an advisor without portfolio, I served a term as Party President. I now serve on the Board of the APF. I am also an active member of the eUS National Guard, having been promoted to Colonel recently.

It would be easy to write a standard platform, elaborating on my convictions concerning the issues usually cited in these documents. I will mention those briefly: Taxes--I believe that import taxes should be higher, but think it unlikely that Congress will change the tax regime in the foreseeable future. Foreign affairs--I believe the eUS can best achieve its international goals by remaining neutral while cooperating with EDEN when such cooperation serves our national interest. Support for the military--eRepublik is primarily a war game. The military must have the material and manpower support it needs to wage war when it is imposed on us or when it is otherwise in the national interest. But military strategists have a responsibility to balance the national interest with available resources. And the programs we have to help new players survive and to educate more experienced players should be continued and strengthened.


At this stage in my political career, I have two overriding interests that I want to describe: Congressional transparency, and protecting Congress' authority against further erosion.


Transparency

Since my first term in Congress, a major concern has been the excessive secrecy under which Congress operates. Using "national security" as a justification, Congress placed every discussion it engaged in on boards hidden from the general public. It was left for individual Congress Members to report publicly on Congressional actions. But these reports were fairly meaningless because they largely reported on individual votes without describing the important issues, usually a very few each session, Congress confronted. Citizens had little means to become familiar with the major political issues of the day.


Congress made a substantial move toward loosening its strict secrecy this term. Discussions of the Budget and other domestic programs have been opened to public view. Votes have been made available for view in real time, But these changes need to be completed. The only areas of discussion that should be hidden are those strictly related to military operations and strategy and those related to relations with specific nations. All else ought to be open to public view. Although the current Congress made progress toward this goal, there are still many hidden discussions concerning subjects not related to national security. The next Congress must continue the work of the current Congress in this respect.


Protecting Congressional Authority

The single power Congress unquestionably possesses, both in game mechanics and in eUS law. is the power of the purse. This enables Congress to assert some authority over both the Executive and the military. This authority continually comes under attack by each of these bodies. Just two days ago, the President asserted his sole authority to withhold funding from the military because he and the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff could not reach agreement on a particular military action. That incident led to a Presidential proposal to amend the Constitution giving the President the authority to withhold funding from the military on his own or with the mere approval of 10 Congress members. If more than ten Congressmen disagreed, the 10 approvals would win. On failure of that amendment, the President immediately, with no Congressional discussion, presented a new proposal giving him authority to suspend military funding on his own and requiring Congress to vote on his action within three days.


This is only the most recent of many efforts, some successful, to give the Executive sole authority over funding programs. A second commitment I make is to oppose this slow erosion of the one authority Congress has to assert some control over the military and the Executive.


In conclusion, I humbly ask you to place your confidence in me to make decisions beneficial to the nation. I offer my long experience in politics and Congress as evidence that I will do that.


Thank you for reading this wall of text.

seeker1
8 term Senator