We must not stand by.
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by Zcia
I write this article honestly sad about the state of American politics and the direction in which we have moved. Many of you might not know who I am and are likely confused as to how I was elected as the USWP PP. The reason for that is simple. I have played this game as a party man. All my effort and work was largely directed inward towards the USWP and in doing so I am largely unknown out side of that community. I still am a party man but I know what the USWP and EVERY other party in the eUS should be trying for and that is a better America. I refuse to let my party get in the way of American success.
America, at this moment, stands at a crossroads. We are under attack, our allies are under attack, and this war will not stop for us to figure out which party “best serves” American interests.
Josh Frost put it well:
“Essentially the risk of a PTO in Canada or another one of our stronger allies is very high. We need to have a Anti-PTO force in this country of at least 500 citizen volunteers to help our allies out come election day. If we were to lose Canada to a PTO there would be absolutely no way for the United States to survive. That isn't speculation, that is pure fact. Canada's economy would be destroyed and their territories surrendered. We would be literally surrounded by PEACE in all four directions and having to wage 2 or 3 wars a day. No nation can sustain that type of warfare for that long. Our resources would be depleted and we would be conquered.”
I want to make this clear. The congressional freeze was an idea I created and have strongly advocated for since the opening of what can now be referred to as a World War. The plan itself is simple yet many people refuse to listen long enough to find out what is happening.
The plan is simple. The people of America elected a congress last month. That congress produced a certain party distribution. We propose to maintain that distribution allowing each party to maintain its seats and choose who fills them based on their own party procedure. All candidates, excluding other PPs, will be run under the USWP and a national slate will be formed. This will free up voters, end the need for damaging and counter-productive national campaigns, and give the eUSAF the membership boost it needs.
Lets dispel a few myths.
1. This won’t let non incumbents into congress: Who gets run is entirely up to the parties and subsequently they can run new congressmen in any of their allocated states. I can guarantees the USWP will not be returning all of its incumbents.
2. It gives the PPs too much power: The PPs have always had the right to decide which candidates represent their party and several programs were established to prevent candidates from facing true competition in races. The term blocker refers to such a person and has been a part of national politics since I joined this game.
3. This is a violation of democracy: I agree this is a step away from pure democracy, however this is not non-democratic. The PPs are elected by the people in a monthly election. Last months results were a product of pure democracy. Parties have the right to perform internal primaries, I know the USWP plans to, in order to fill their allotted seats.
4. This screws non top 5 parties: This plan is in all likelihood most beneficial for these parties. The USWP is giving away three of its seats to non top 5 parties to allow them a senator to replace the lost chance at an election. In addition the SFP and RP will maintain the seats they won in the last election meaning that under the freeze we would have the most diverse congress I have ever seen.
5. The UIP will be targeted for their refusal: This question needs to be answered in two parts. First, the UIP will not be targeted under this plan if the USWP has anything to do with it, and we do. Their seats will be held open for them. However the respect I had for their leadership is gone and it will not be regained quickly. The UIP representative left our conference saying they needed 24 hours to think it over. They then published what was a still un-approved plan without allowing any possibility for us to create reform to meet their requirements. I can’t fathom the audacity required to publish a public refusal for a plan which hadn’t even been made official yet. The chance they had to change this proposal has now passed. Though their allocation will be maintained I ask them to sincerely question their decision.
Conclusion:
Eamerica must make a decision. Will we unify and do all we can to fight this coming war or will we continue to divide ourselves in ceaseless conflict. I and the advocates of this plan are not Fascists, we are not fear mongers, and we don’t hate freedom. We recognize that parties should not fight parties when there are others to fight, we realize that America can be complacent no longer, we realize that in this war we must make decisions and I chose to abandon partisanship, fanaticism, and fear in favor of a unified America.
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Comments
Great explanation Zcia.
We need a plan like this. Badly. We can argue about the details, but it needs to happen.
This is really a simple, and temporary solution. It's not the Big Bad Wolf of fascism, or any such nonsense.
I join Zcia in choosing to abandon partisanship, fanaticism, and fear in favor of a united America.
Zcia, even though I will likely lose my chance at getting into the congress, I agree that this solution is best.
Great plan.
Zcia, I think as the previous UIP President I can safely say that the USWP leaders have never respected UIP leadership - so I don't think your respect is too big of a loss.
Speaking from a personal vantage point, I think it's silly to expect the UIP to stand idly by and not clarify their position when, like it or not, your plan became quite public and the UIP's name was being tossed about left and right.
good explaination, thanks.
Our allies need blockers. Not our voters or our freedom.
Interesting that you claim this plan is about putting aside partisan differances for the good of the nation and then drag the name of the UIP through the dirt for not falling in line on this plan. But I digress. The main problem here is that this plan takes away the rights of the people to decide what candidates are best for their state. By taking away their right to vote for who they want we're letting PEACE win by destroying the liberties that America is based on. I respect your motivation for this plan, but I think the cost of it is too high and that they risk of PTO is lower than everyone seems to think it is.
Our allies don't have the population to successfully use blockers and prevent PTOs. We do. And we waste it, to a large degree. This is an effort to stop wasting it. Let's at least try it.
Do explain how this stops foreign PTOs
http://www.erepublik.com/en/article/if-democracy-dies-peace-has-already-won--860291/1/20" target="_blank">http://www.erepublik.com/en/article/if-d[..]1/20
My article speaks out against this idea support it. Do not support ending democracy in any sense.
You people are nothing but thickheaded. Nikolai this frees up hundreds of voters to save people in other countries from oppression and allows us to keep the MPP's which have been the real thing saving our democracy. Dutch I read your article you are nothing but a partisan who refuses to accept anything but your limited view.
I can tell you that I saw the "plan" being discussed in public long before the UIP finished discussing our stance internally. To blame the UIP for publishing the plan is simply untrue.
It eventually became necessary for our members to correct other peoples accusations and make sure that our stance was understood.
Why doesn't the USWP recruit some of it's two clickers to do this, or why isn't their a monetary donation to those who go to stop PTO's.
If you seriously think you'll get 500+ anti-PTO volunteers simply because you "decided" the election beforehand, I think "You're" the one who is thick-headed.
"Oh, I can't vote now, but I'll surely quit my job and my current party to go volunteer for the paratroopers, even after I watched a domestic sh*t storm erupt because of the currently in place plan."
Public opinion is against this, and I think it'd be better simply to scrap it, or risk getting even less volunteers than you would had you simply had the elections.
Gaius, I see that you're continuing to mock people who are opposed to this plan, instead of trying to convince them.
This plan may free up voters to go into other countries, but it may actually clog more up as the minor parties (and outspoken opponents in the major ones) unite against it. And you can be sure that they will do so as long as they feel their own rights are effectively being trampled on by the major parties.
I will say plainly right now - I do not support this plan or any that is driven by nothing but fear. If there is so much worry about a potential PTO in another country, ask for volunteers to join the Air Force to prevent it, instead of trying to lock every party down into a certain arbitrary number of seats so you can attempt to force people into doing what you want because of a lack of options.
Well said Jaime. Personally, I think the goal should be to improve players awareness of the military groups available to them.
If you want more people to volunteer for the Air Force then I think the focus should be making people aware that it exists and why it's important rather than taking away the rights we enjoy as eAmericans to "better utilize" the members that exist now. Especially if the proposed plan cannot actually ensure victory.
"Why doesn't the USWP recruit some of it's two clickers to do this, or why isn't their a monetary donation to those who go to stop PTO's."
How would monetary donations help stop PTO's, you need people to vote you can't just throw money at it. I would rather go vote myself than throw money at people who do try to stop PTO's.
"Oh, I can't vote now, but I'll surely quit my job and my current party to go volunteer for the paratroopers, even after I watched a domestic sh*t storm erupt because of the currently in place plan."
You act like quitting someone's party is such a hard decision, you can easily rejoin when you get back. Also jobs really aren't that hard to gain back either as long as your boss is somewhat active.
"The main problem here is that this plan takes away the rights of the people to decide what candidates are best for their state. By taking away their right to vote for who they want we're letting PEACE win by destroying the liberties that America is based on."
Ideals of freedoms and liberties in this game are so overrated, national defense is actually a real thing here and is much more important. When people vote for congress, they should be voting to better America not there state. This isn't RL, state rights aren't important at all here. What is important is the well-being of America as a whole.
I think you just need a hug Nikolai, stop being such a pessimist and try coming up with an alternative instead of shutting this idea down completely and blasting anyone that agrees.
Zcia, thank you for publishing this explanation, I wish I had had access to something like this/waited to see this before writing my article earlier today. Voted
Andrew, it's all well and good to ask people to volunteer, but paying them tends to bring in even more to help out. To put that another way, there are people who feel motivated enough to volunteer their time and money for it. And there are far more people who will do so if they get some kind of reimbursement for it.
If this seat freeze is in place, it will drive our some of our population to move to other eNations. I only hope that since the UIP is taking a stand agaist it that those players will choose to switch parties, rather than country.
Why aren't we focusing on increasing recruitment for the Air Force? Give people more incentive to join the AF, not less incentive to vote domestically.
Gaius > Pessimist
Zcia - Your statement #5 is wrong. You can see that I first told you guys that the UIP would not support it, then came out with the article. Also whether or not your plan was finished doesn't matter at that point. Your plan was already out there being talked about. Mention of the UIP in this plan was made, and I addressed that in my article.
As for the loss of respect I am sorry for that. But I stand by the decision made. If you like the plan then please do what you feel is right. I don't, and I will not take part in it.
Ghost_loy, that is neither simple nor an answer.
The people opposed to this don't want to see America and our allies fall either. We just don't want to stop being a democracy in the process.
And this will not ensure victory. It cannot. It will only ensure that we are more divided than ever.
Maybe the dangerous position we've landed ourselves in has something to do with the leaders that have been leading us? Something to think about, certainly.
I do not believe that locking elections is something that is ever democratic - it is a tool of totalitarian regimes throughout history. Voting does not conflict with warfare, and if the leadership hasn't been preparing us for the sudden, for lack of a better word, shit-storm we've landed ourselves in, then I am all for examining the leaders in place, and, if their challengers are found better-suited for leading in these difficult times, electing new leaders.
I do not believe that the USWP is necessarily ill-equipped for leading - but I find their proposal of locking elections a sickening proposition.
For those who were asking for an alternative: http://www.erepublik.com/en/article/i-play-to-win--860713/1/20" target="_blank">http://www.erepublik.com/en/article/i-pl[..]1/20
Now, I've proposed something that could have just as many benefits, but if run intelligently, wouldn't have any costs.
Jelloarm, the dangerous position we are in is due to the fact that we are one of the biggest roadblocks to PEACE expansionism in the world; if they can take us down, they might be able to divide and conquer the rest. So I suppose in that sense, whatever successes the current leadership has had against PEACE are certainly to blame.
Moreover, perhaps not in RL, but definitely in this game, voting does conflict with warfare because votes can be used as a weapon, Just ask the South Africans, who just lost their country to a PEACE attack a few weeks ago that was significantly eased by a prior PEACE PTO.
Folks, like it or not, until the Admin come up with a citizenship module, your votes aren't just a political expression like they are in RL. They are weapons of war. You can use them against the enemy or you can use them against each other.
i was against it until just now. I understand better, and this does help on one front