[JA4PP] A Plan of Action

Day 2,883, 15:35 • Published in USA USA • by Jaden A.

[JA4PP] A Plan of Action



In my first article, I emphasized the need for SFP to move away from its previous strategy to get things done, reaction, and towards action. Now that SFP is in a position of legitimate power, we have the ability to take steps towards real change. I outlined five goals that I believe we need to achieve to move towards action. In this article, I want to outline how I plan to go about achieving these goals.

I will try not to bog you down in detail here, but feel free to comment on this article, on my campaign thread in the forums, or in a PM if you have any questions or ideas or just want to get involved! I welcome it all!

1) Continue recruitment and retention at current or greater levels.

First, recruitment:

Wooky has done a phenomenal job as Recruitment Director these past couple months. We have rocketed from #6 to #3 with his help. I do believe, though, that we can do better. Now, I’m not asking Wooky to do more than he is doing now- he is doing plenty. What we need is a second Recruitment Director to aid in our recruitment efforts to ensure that we are taking advantage of every single opportunity that we get to bring in a new member.

I have asked Kevin Sheridan to work by Wooky’s side and aid us in our growth. I asked Kevin because he is a recently very active member of our community, and he, I think, has opposite strengths and weaknesses of Wooky. I believe that, together, they will work diligently and effectively by taking advantage of every opportunity to bring in fresh faces.

Next, retention:

While our recruitment has been stellar, our retention has not. We are losing young socialists every day without explanation. To be sure, this is bound to happen regardless of what we do to some degree, but we need to do whatever we can to stop it.

I believe that the answer here is to build a Retention Department, led by our own Franklin Stone. I asked Franklin to lead this department because he, more than anyone else that I have found in this game, is great at coming up with fresh, creative ideas/solutions. Retention, when tried before, failed due to a lack of ideas. Retention needs his creativity. I believe whole-heartedly that he is the man for this job, and that he will find new solutions to keeping our young socialists with us.

2) Keep SFP in T5 for Congressionals.

As I noted in my first article, part of this will depend on our Recruitment and Retention Departments doing their thing. The second part will depend on organization. Last month, we were so close to the line (along with 3 other parties) that we were in danger of falling from the top 5 at the EoD on the 24th. This was a dangerous situation to be in. Should we come to this again, we may need some last minute organizing tactics to ensure that we are in a good place for Congressionals.

As this is a public paper, I wouldn’t want to divulge too much into the specifics here. Just know that, should I be elected, I will not allow us to fall from T5 in the last moments, and, of course, we will not forget our 6th party background. We will offer a fair number of seats to 6th parties who want on our ballots.

3) Reinvigorate SFP media- both official media and individually-produced media.

First, official media:

As I announced in my first article, Mama Lunete will be heading this up. He has shown himself to be more than competent. Even since I wrote my first article, he has reinvigorated our official media. I have full confidence in Lunete's ability to bring activity, organization, and intelligent discourse to our official media.

Next, individually-produced media:

Not long ago, SFP held about 3-4 of the top 5 newspaper spots consistently- excepting, of course, during Presidential election season. We have, sadly, had some decline in media. This has partially, I think, been due to the success in recent months of our official media- which is not a bad thing, but not great, either. We need to encourage personal expression through media again. I believe that it is just as important for individuals to have their voices heard in the national media as it is for the party’s voice to be heard. We can’t allow the existence of a party paper to kill individuals’ voices.

Ghost of Tom Joad has begun reviving SFP’s Writer’s Guild, a wonderful program which encourages SFP writers by providing them with a community of writers who help edit and promote each other’s articles. If elected, I also plan for the party to host weekly themed writing contests through our Media department to encourage regular writing from party members, especially those just starting out who don’t know what they’d write about if they did.

4) Get more SFPers in national positions, and not just deputies.

This will not have any separate department, per se. This will be my policy: at any time, any member of SFP may approach me in hopes of securing a government job (though this is recommended in the build up to CP elections, especially if you’re looking to get a job above deputy). I will do my best to secure them the job that they want and, if I’m not able to do this, to secure them a job that will make getting the job that they want in the near future easier.

It is no secret that SFP is looking put one of our own in the big chair very soon (JC4CP!). We have the political “capital” to score more and better positions. All that it takes now are some active, hard-working SFPers to secure us a few spots with the big dogs and allow us to truly influence change in the eUSA.

5) Stay true to our ideals, but be open to compromise.

This will likely be the most difficult of all of these goals to achieve. I will rely on the advising of the Revolutionary Committee to help me navigate this line between sticking to our guns and compromise. To be sure, both have their benefits and detriments.

Going too far to one extreme, however, will be devastating. If we are too fast to compromise, we will be “just another T5 party,” and that will not stand. We are principled people, and we should remain as such. On the other hand, though, if we are never willing to compromise, we will never get anything done on the national scale. We will miss out on potential positions of power in which we have to compromise less. In short, we will still have our principles, but we won’t be able to do anything with them.

I will rely on the RC to keep me in check here, between the two extremes. I cannot stress enough how important this goal is to me and how seriously I take it.

Action, not reaction. My goals and plans revolve around the concept that we are now in a position where it is better to work towards implementing our principles on a national scale. We are no longer stuck as a vocal minority, only able to moderate change slightly by yelling when we dislike something. We are able to implement real, long-standing change, and, together, if we act instead of reacting,