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As the title suggests, I found this month's PotUS candidate selection to be lacking.

I thought about the candidates, and while none of them blew me away in the primaries, I came to the decision to vote for JK. After all, Jason Statham produced a fairly poor and unguided campaign with little clear objective. Candor just proceeded to produce some lulzy articles about pants and stuff. Apart from that, things seemed unclear with Candor. The choice for the upcoming month was clear, and that choice was JK.

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Looking at Jason Statham, we were given a “Power to the people,” populist candidate. This may seem pretty good on its face, but as with many populist initiatives, it was not. The populace as a whole is largely uninformed when it comes to many issues. This seems to be true in real life as it is in this game. In real life, a good way to get elected is to say that you will lower taxes for struggling portions of the populace. Everyone loves lower taxes! However, it probably wouldn’t help our debt. Just as much, everyone loves when their voice gets heard and their opinion feels valued and counted, no matter how uninformed their opinion may be. However, such a policy is not fit for running a country. Jason’s articles lacked concrete direction, and when direction was presented, it was vague. Take a look at his foreign policy. In his first article he listed the pros and cons of CoT, even though it had been previously rammed into our heads plenty of times. Then he chastises CoT as well as our affiliation with them and claims that we will get back some of our good and old friends, under his leadership.

I disagree with this policy. We are past the point of no return when it comes to CoT. We have embraced the future of eRepublik by disassociating ourselves with a failing alliance that is only a shell of its former self. Instead, when EDEN dies, many of those good ol’ allies will be joining up with us in CoT. We will not be running back to them. The only reason EDEN would want or need us now is for some damage to keep them afloat for just a bit longer. They may accept us, but only grudgingly. Yet, when EDEN falls, we will gladly accept those old friends in our company once again.

His policies could have been seen as pandering to the general public, the anti-establishmentarians, EDEN-ites, and other groups of Americans. While that may have fared well in a general election, those are not the majority of people voting in the primaries. Thus he didn’t fare well in the primaries and missed out on being the unity candidate.

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Then along comes Candor. At first, I thought his campaign was purely a joke. After all, he’s been publishing that NoS Dive Bar stuff in the media for quite some time. So when he starts to publicly campaign around the theme of pants, it becomes hard to take seriously. As such, I doubt many people did take it very seriously, at first. Although, he said he wanted to be the alternative to past policies and that he would “like to win the election.” So, I had to assume it was serious, especially after being nominated by the AFA. Yet, he had little substance in the way of the true discernable policy. He would obtain 10/10 resources “ASAP,” and “evaluate our continued association with CoT, with an eye towards respecting our stalwart and traditional allies.” However, he did not explain how he would obtain 10/10 resources nor how he would transition from CoT back to EDEN. After all, he said “if CoT means we're leaving Albania behind, either our CoT alliance needs work ~or~ I won't be supporting CoT either.” Due to Macedonia/FYROM (whatever the hell you wanna call it) and others being at odds with Albania, he would likely have us leave CoT, eventually. Even so, he provided little to no substance for the rest of his campaign. Sure, there were some nice jokes, but if he really wanted to win, like he said he wanted to, he should’ve put more effort into the campaign.

Sure, Candor said he was “running for pretend President of a fake country and all,” but simple jokes will not catapult him to the office.

Candor is certainly not a bad guy and I would consider voting for him, given a better campaign and agenda, but not this time. For the upcoming month he should stick to his NoS Nation.

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This brings us to the last candidate, the Unity Candidate, John Killah.

There were no jokes. He was not vague. He had a detailed agenda that I could get behind. JK knows that the two main spheres of influence and activity for any CP is Foreign Affairs and Military. Unlike Jason, who would seemingly base his policy off of popular sentiment, John came out saying that he knew his stances would not fit everyone’s opinions and worldviews. He had an agenda and was going to lead the nation based off of it. Yet, he was not going to disregard other voices. He may not agree with other opinions, but he would at least entertain them saying, “I am always willing to listen to the arguments against what I’m doing and I will always listen attentively and reply respectfully... I can’t promise that it’ll change my plans, but I want you to know that your concerns are at the very least being listened to and considered.” The people would have their voices heard, but policy would not be shaped around it. John intends to lead, not act as a puppet of popular polling. he states that he is Pro-CoT and plans to make us a full member of CoT. He stands by it and does not put forward any kind of vague statement to pander to both sides.

This is what should be presented in a campaign. A clear agenda and a plan must be present. Yet, he fell short on the military end. Fingerguns said last month that she would try to regain some bonuses, but not all of them, while promising us some kind of meaningful war. JK doesn’t really provide any clear military agenda. He says, “I will promise that I will try my very hardest to provide enjoyable fights and meaningful wars.” I assume he will continue Operation Gangnam Style, but then what do we do? CoT is still allied with TWO, as they attempt to hasten EDEN’s demise, so we cannot attack Poland, Serbia, Spain or the UK, especially as it would wipe our MPP stack. After Gangnam Style concludes, we are left with basically attacking China, Canada, or Ireland. It would have been nice if he had provided some direction rather than a couple of sentences, but it is understandable given how wars play out across the globe. Things could change at any moment and any stated plans may not come to fruition. Plus, some people probably don't want to expose their plans too early. Yet, I'd like a little more direction that "I'll try my best to provide meaningful wars"

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Overall, the candidate selection was rather lackluster. Not enough detail was provided in most cases and no one seemed to share the confidence or charisma that past candidates have displayed. I voted for JK in the primaries, I voted for him today, I am sure he will be a good PotUS for the upcoming month and anything otherwise would be a surprise. Yet, I can't help but feel like this was not the best America had to offer. There are likely others among us that could have stepped up and won over the primary voters or at least provided a better platform and perhaps better leadership capabilities, but they did not step forward this month. In the end, JK is the most suitable for the position and will get everything done that needs to be done.



How about a little bit of classical music on this election day?

O Magnum Mysterium - Morten Lauridsen