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Might seem like a pretty straight forward and obvious query, after all, parties are pretty nicely defined by eRep and given a very specific role in the game:

1. Run Congressional Candidates
2. Run Country President Candidates

And for some parties in the eRep world, this is pretty much the limit. Month to month, its all about the elections. Getting candidates, getting votes, moving people around, and winning as many seats as possible.

In my opinion, this is square 1 of what a party is. If this is what you like then go for it, but a party couldn't be more simple than this, but i'll cede that parties are the building blocks to elections, and theres lots of fun to be had in that.

However, I'm a Federalist, I think that parties are the building blocks to the Entire Nation.

Lets start with elections, since that is the basic form of a party. Sure, parties should run candidates, but here in the eUS we have a massive number of regions, over 50. If we were only within our borders, we would need a total of 250 active players who want to be in congress for us to do nothing but run candidates. This has never happened. So let me define another role for parties:

3. Secure Congress Elections



This means it's on parties to make sure that the numerous enemies this country has aren't even allowed on ballots. Holes will happen, serbians will always find a way onto a ballot now and then, but every party has a responsibility to background check its candidates, and fill every ballot slot with someone trustworthy. If they can't, they better quit and let someone else run their show.

But lets get away from elections, there's still much more a party can do. Almost every new player i've met has had an interest in politics, they want to know about congress, they want to know about parties, and they want to grow as a player. Heres my 4th role:

4. Help New Players

Parties are perhaps the number one place a newbie looks to get involved. I know I was this way, my first big choice in eRep was which party I wanted to join. This means parties are in the number one best position to communicate with new players, and help them along. Whether that newbie joins their party or not shouldn't be a consideration in helping them, but some shameless party-promotion here certainly harms no one.

Next thing: almost everyone is in a party. I can't think of a single player right now who isn't affiliated with a political party. This means that if parties communicate top-down, its almost the same as the whole nation communicating top-down. Turns out parties are in a great position to do something else:

5. Promote National Goals

This is easy. For starters, we're always at war, parties should encourage their members to join a military unit. Doesn't matter which MU, they all increase damage output. But parties should also be happy to work with the national government, when we have national PTO threats, when we've got to get players moving, get them motivated, get everyone on the same page so that the whole nation can get a win. Parties are on the front lines for this.

The biggest ting: this game has no States; we have Regions. We have no Governors, or Electoral Votes; we have Party Presidents and Mass Mailing. My final, overarching, and most important belief:

6. Parties = States

This means we are all bound to the nation, and we are all bound to each other. Now, im a partisan. I think i've found the best party, and I always promote my party. That said, I would be remiss if I didn't deal in good faith with my opponents. When I say I want to work together, or have a goal, I mean it. I mean it, because My political opponents here are all Red- Blooded Americans. Often we have the same goals, and same ideals, and agreeing on a course of action is difficult as all hell, but thats what we're here to do. Do I trust everyone to act the same? No, but oh well, can't drop my own ideals because of that.



We've got bigger problems in the eUS than the other guy in that other party. Lets have our competition, lets fight over congress, sure. There's other aspects to this game though, and a political party is so much more than a tool for nominating people twice a month.

Too Long😉idn't Read Version:
Parties are much more than what game mechanics have decided. Parties are more like states in this game, and we've got to learn when its okay to be partisan and compete, and when Theres a national interest that we can support.Parties are the Building Blocks of the Nation.