Join the new world

Citizens of the great state of Pennsylvania, I stand before you today to announce my candidacy for Congress. As you may (or may not) be aware, the last election Uncle Sam was sent to Washington, but he has since moved into the White House, thus leaving PA with a fairly empty seat right now. I hope to have the honor of following in his footsteps and filling that seat. Since I've never held a political office before now, not many of you really know where I stand, so please allow me to explain.

Military/Foreign policy
Some would separate the two topics, but I see them as interconnected at nearly every level. While it is a laudable goal to maintain an open dialogue with all nations, friendly and hostile, the truth is, the only real aspects of foreign policy are war and MPPs (mutual protection pacts). I stand firmly behind the idea of being a member of ATLANTIS (after all, withdrawal nets us little benefit). While it may not be perfect, neither is PEACE. No alliance is perfect, so I follow the maxim 'if it ain't broke, don't fix it.'

On the subject of war itself, I fully support Uncle Sam's ideas on war games. This idea would go a long way to improving the nation economically, civilly, and militarily. However, I only support this so long as it is understood that the government only pay to start the war. I do not support the distribution of weapons to the military of war games. I believe that, in part to lower overhead costs and conserve funding and in part to boost the economy directly, government dispersal of weapons should be reserved only for defensive wars, or for wars where the objective is to capture and hold a territory. On that note, I believe that we should only capture a foreign territory when it is obvious that nation is hostile to our own. Not necessarily aggressive, just hostile.

Taxes
Taxes are a tricky subject here in eRepublik. While I don't favor high taxes, I understand that the US government needs money. Therefore, I only support taxes so far as is reasonable to keep the government ready for an emergency. I am not sure as of yet where this level is (the recent situation is still a little bit murky), so I make no commitments.

Taxes also raises the third, and final, aspect of foreign policy: import/export fees. Usually these are kept incredibly high by all nations, which I find to be on the one hand reasonable and on the other insane. Therefore, I think it may be in the best interest of the eUSA to get a good study of such things and develop a comprehensive policy, instead of a more 'seat of the pants' method that appears to be the current norm. No offense, Congress.

Transparency
My big deal. The government should be transparent to all members of the eUSA, and I am willing to make a major commitment right here and now. In the last election, Uncle Sam hit his competitor hard on not informing the citizens of PA about Congressional doings and promised to keep you informed. However, this unfortunately fell to the wayside during his run for Presidency. Therefore, I pledge to the citizens of this great state:

I, Cromstar, will announce publicly in the forums AND here in my newspaper about every vote I make, and my reasons for voting that way. No exceptions.

Thank you citizens of Pennsylvania. May the woodlands be forever green,

Cromstar



Vote Cromstar of the CVP for PA Congressman!

"Who watches the watchers?"