All Tomorrow's Parties

Good afternoon Minnesota. My name is ssomo & I'd like to be your next senator.

Feb 24 update: In true nonpartisan spirit, I have been endorsed by nine parties including 4 of the top 6. Thank you! Scroll down to see their endorsement banners.

Who I am

Many of you probably don’t know who I am. I started this game in February 2009. I was:

* Appointed to the Economic Council by Uncle Sam. Served there with One Eye, Publius, Jewitt and others.
* Elected to Congress from eOregon three times on the UIP ticket, each time with multiple party endorsements including AAP and others.
* Lost a bid, in a full field, for a fourth term in Washington state.
* Rose through the ranks to serve on the JCS as CO of US Home Guard during the darkest days of WW3
* Though I am running on the AAP ballot, I am a member & former party president of the Nonpartisan League.

As a legislator, I served as chair of the budget committee and implemented the budget framework Congress still uses today. I successfully proposed transparency and accountability laws, unsuccessfully promoted domestic production of iron, and vigorously opposed the lowering of import taxes to 1%.

(An aside: Yes, my avatar is not Minnesota. It's my brand from back in the day, so I stick with it.)

What the Nonpartisan League stands for

The basic premise is this: Good ideas exist in all parties. Good candidates and legislators exist in all parties. Because of this, all parties deserve to exist and deserve to compete openly for representation. Dialog must be promoted, and, to the extent possible, consensus reached openly and acted upon.

Conversely, collusion and exclusion are bad politics, bad for national unity, and bad for the eUSA.

Positions on popular topics

War

War is like crime. There are three basic motivations: Passion, profit and opportunity. We escaped annihilation in WW3 thanks to two things: Diplomacy and our allies. Let’s not get too big for our britches. Let’s do our homework & coordinate with our allies, and pick our battles wisely – not because we have a grudge against filthy backstabbers. Stuff changed before, they can change again.

The other important point about war: The war mod sucks. It’s cryptic, it’s glitchy, and all war plans must measure the risk of failure due to the P.O.S. war mod.

Diplomacy & EDEN

Diplomacy is essential & I recommend a State Deptment training school to set standards of relations and intelligence about friends and foes alike. EDEN sounds like their shizzle is together better than the secretive ATLANTIS, but they still seem to have limitations and they still seem to alienate moderate or ‘neutral’ countries.

Economics

Economics relies pretty heavily on war in this game. Perhaps that will change in v2, but I doubt it. It’d be nice if we could be the arsenal of EDEN, reaping the benefits of war, without bearing the risk of war. Until Karnataka was won, eUS wages were below that of some EDEN allies, and on par with others. Now we’re falling behind again. That is no way to run an economic powerhouse.

We need to move away from 1% import taxes because they put eUS workers and businesses on an uneven playing field against foreign businesses. Likewise, we need to lower the USD value to 0.025 – or possibly 0.020 – to make eUS goods more competitively priced overseas.

Yes, these moves would cause temporary market dislocation, but they can be done gradually to minimize issues.

Citizen retention

Much has been said about recruiting and retaining new players. My hat is off to those efforts. I assume the welcoming committee and meals on wheels are still in operation.

However, not enough focus has been made to retain seasoned players, who are often worth several newbs in terms of productivity and battlefield damage. Their experience and leadership are difficult to replace. For example, changewillcome is the former AAP political coordinator. He was a great guy. I've been keeping him alive the last month or two with Q1 food -- in case he comes back. Ananias is another one. If there's a chance to get that talent back, the cost is worth it.

Congress

Perhaps it is no longer the case, but Congress used to be openly denigrated by the power elite as nothing but morons. I don’t feel that way & I never did.

Indeed, it used to be one of the first areas explored by new players. As seen last month, general interest has fallen off to the point where 6-8 seats were uncontested. That’s not healthy for decision making, it's not a good indicator for citizen retention, and it’s not healthy for the eUS future. If I can help fill the gap, and help serve as a mentor in Congress helping to develop young players for the future, it will be time well spent.

Conclusion

Thank you for considering my candidacy. Thank you to Aersidius for inviting me & to Rheinlander and the CEC for approving me to run on the AAP ticket. I am delighted to answer any questions. I can even meet in IRC by appointment. Thank you!










Also endorsed by:
-- Ultra-Nationalist Party