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I wanted to give a little shout out to my opponents in the upcomming congressional elections scheduled for Wednesday. First we have Joe DaSmoe who seems like a good guy with some big ideas on how to make eRepublik better. He has been active in writing articles about his candidacy and this article that you're reading is inspired by his most recent post.

http://www.erepublik.com/en/article/giving-the-old-guard-a-run-for-their-in-congress-712474/1

My other opponent is changewillcome who, like Joe, has recently moved to West Virginia with the message of change ... of course ... the last guy who did that in RL didn't fare that well here even though I voted for him myself. Changewillcome has also posted his platform of ideas here:

http://www.erepublik.com/en/article/elect-changewillcome-for-congress--711689/1

Now, I have read both of these and I think that they both have some good points. While we're all running form different parties (Joe from the Nationalist Party and Change from the AAP) I don't think that we really need to build a platform of party ideas for what our job is in Congress. I've had the honor of being West Virginia's first Congressman (since that idea was just launched with V1) and I can tell you that we vote on things like who gets a hospital, who gets a defense system, if we should approve a Mutual Protection Pact, if we should raise or lower taxes, if we should raise or lower the citizen fee, and if we should authorize the President to print more money or use the Treasury. While these are important issues they aren't usually the sort of thing you're going to make a platform out of ... they are the types of things that you're going to try to be responsive to in the moment.

There are some in eRep who look at these Congressional seats as a chance to bring home the bacon to state x. Well, that's not really how eRepublik works. WV has a Q1 hospital and that's nice since some don't have any. But the places that we need to have high Q hospitals are the places where people will gather to fight wars because that is the only time a hospital is valuable. The same goes with Defense Systems. There is no reason to put a defense system in most states because they don't share borders that need defending. So we try to figure out the best place to use the resources that we have. That is the primary function of Congress but there is another function that Joe touches upon in his latest, and very well written, article.

I think that communication is always a great way to improve most anything. The eUSA Forums (erepublikusa.com/forums) are a great way to increase involvement with eRep. It was suggested to me when I first started the game and it really was my jumping off point in getting to know people and to know how government worked in the game. What eRepublik really needs are level headed people who will speak their minds but will keep a level of civility in the Congressional threads and the other threads discussing game mechanics, citizen wellness, and other aspects of eRep that make the game fun to play. Sure, war is fun, but that's not all the game is about. I like the idea of building a company, seeing it grow, working with a political party, sharing ideas, helping each other out. I know that I'm always asking my employees (I co-own Scrab Holdings) if they need anything and I've encouraged my constitutents (the few active players in WV that we have) to let me know if they need anything so that I can hook them up with the folks who can best help them.

Any of you can go to the eUSA Forums and can see how I've tried to be a leader in Congress when it comes to discussion and debate. I have tried to propose good solutions and I'm currently helping to rewrite the eUSA Constitution using my RL law training (I'm a lawyer in real life). You can see how I've worked to build coalitions of support and how I've worked with other Congressmen and those who have good, and even bad, ideas for how things should run. Of coruse, I'm not perfect, but there is a large amount of transparency on the forums. Likewise, I've been an active member of the USWP as their Legal Director. Anybody who has any questions about the recent false allegations that have been hurled against my party can message me and I'll be glad to discuss them. I've read all of the forums on the USWP site because I have access through my Executive Board membership. I'll be glad to be open and frank if you ask me a fair question.

Lastly, this is a social networking experience and the saddest thing to me is how many people you can see who start this thing and play for a week and then quit. There are so many layers to this game with the military, work, government, politics, business, and the various discussion forums that go with these things. Every citizen should be encouraged to explore these things and we should certainly make them aware of them so that we don't lose them so quickly. I'm here to do whatever I can to help folks out and I've always encouraged people to come to me and I'll either answer their questions or direct them to those who can do so. That's what this thing is all about.

Remember vote in the Congressional elections when you get the chance. I was initially under the impression that the election would be on Christmas Day but it now looks like it may be moved up to Christmas Eve. Just pay attention and vote Scrabman when you see the box show up on your main page. Every vote counts. It is going to be a tight race against my opponents and I would appreciate your support.

Scrabman
WV's 1st Congressman
USWP Legal Director
Lt. - eUSA Army