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It has been a while since I have been in politics. I offer this editorial as a reflection on our country's future, as a citizen and as a candidate for the Imperial Diet from the region of Kyushu. To those who read, I ask only you consider these words, and if you find them sound I hope that you might consider my candidacy.

In the months since my leaving the Diet, I have wondered a few times about the direction of our nation. When I first came to eJapan, it was a friendly and small community. It has grown larger, and the cameraderie has been strained, but the bonds of friendship still tie together eJapanese. However, all too often politicians, sometimes self-serving, sometimes well-meaning but misguided, call for "unity" around a single idea or program. This, I have always believed, would only harm our country. eJapan can only reach its full potential as a diverse nation united not by one leader or ideology, but by the common bonds of patriotic friendship.

In the past immigration debates, I argued for this view. Many wanted a set standard for applicants, or for the Cabinet's Secretary of Immigration to screen all applicants before a Member of the Imperial Diet approved them. I maintained and still maintain that this centralization of authority would only harm our country, by removing the decision rightly placed in the hands of forty-one individuals and placing it in one official, accountable only to the President or to a two-thirds supermajority of the Diet. These constitutional checks are sufficient, and well placed -- but the responsibility of approving citizens is placed not in an executive officer, nor in the entirety of the Diet, but in each Member of the Diet individually. This is a result of eRepublik's mechanics, but even if it could be changed by an act of our law, such an act would only hurt us as a nation. Legislators acting individually can act based on diverse perspectives, and even if a single person's bias prevents a sincere applicant from immigrating, there are still forty other people's Representatives for that aspiring citizen to approach. A central authority cannot act with nearly this level of diversity or flexibility, and thus would decrease the diversity of our nation, leaving us as a people ultimately poorer in enthusiasm and ideas.

Our Imperial Constitution makes Members of the Diet accountable to their constituents. This is essential if we are to be, not merely an empire, but an imperial republic. I hope that many of you become involved in politics -- take your views to your Representatives, in the Diet and in the Office of the President, and ensure that you are represented. In a republic, officials rule in the name of the people, but the system can only work if they are in turn accountable to the people. With eRepublik's frequent elections, citizens are uniquely able to make their voices heard, because an official who forgets that he or she is a public servant will not represent the people for much longer.

A diverse, decentralized nation where citizens individually pursue their dreams united by the shared bonds of friendship, freely exercising their right to petition the halls of government, and where the officials of the government are responsible not to a majority of their fellow Representatives, but rather directly to the people -- that is my steadfast hope.