scrabman interviews Gaius Julius ...

Day 653, 21:43 • Published in USA USA • by scrabman

I sat down with Gaius Julius ... candidate for President of the eUnited States and asked him some questions about his vision and intentions for the office.

The funny sidestory to all of this is that Gaius and I used to hate each other... but as Gauis says in his interview we eventually saw more eye to eye in that we were both trying to help the country in our own ways.

Without further ado ... here is that interview. Please vote for Gaius in the eUSA Presidential Election on Saturday. This is not to say that I hate Emerick ... in fact I respect Emerick more than I have in a long time for the job he has done under troubling circumstances ... but I like Gaius for strong leadership.

1) So you want to be President of the eUSA? You've seen how much work that it is and how stressful the job can be so why do you want it?

Well if there's one thing I want people to know about me, it's that I rise to a challenge. I have achieved nearly everything I have set my sights on. I like setting goals and finding new things to achieve. One of the things I truly enjoy about this game is that it provides a blank canvas on which the players can paint. Instead of limiting our imagination, the admins have allowed us to operate in a freestyle environment. I believe the only people who can shape the future of our country are the eUS citizens. As President I want to take that obligation on full time, I want to bring the citizens into the conversation, because they deserve to know how hard their government is working and that they are working for them. I fear that if we keep excluding our citizens from the conversation then we risk disenfranchising people and becoming a top down country.

2) What game experiences have made you ready to take on such a big task as President?

Well at this point there basically is not a single aspect of this game where my efforts haven't been felt. I'm not bragging I really enjoy wearing lots of different hats, because it allows me to help as many people as possible. I've served in multiple executive positions: I am currently the Speaker of the House and a former Senator. I have served America through my work as Dean of the NAU and as VFO of the Authority Bank of Commerce. I see being President as the ultimate chance to help the people of this country. I happily look forward to the chance to seize the responsibilities endowed upon the office and use them to help every player, from newb to Beta Giant.

3) We currently have a President. What do you like about how he has done the job and what would you do to improve upon it? Why would you be a better President?

Emerick took over the responsibilities of the Oval Office in an unstable atmosphere. He was able to work with the military and proved to be pretty capable at pushing eAmericans out of their comfort zone and into battle. We have also stayed in regular communication with our allies in Fortis and Eden, something that I help to continue as Secretary of State. If I had to pinpoint one area that the eUS government has subsequently neglected over the course of the war, it is player education. Early on in the war, we cut non-military programs from the budget and haven't provided enough support to educating new players. We must do a better job of informing our population and making them productive. It's not enough to point them to Meals on Wheels. We need to make sure they understand wellness, healing, military participation, etc and so forth.

One thing I believe we urgently need is a system for almost adapting players to the eWorld. We need a point of contact, either MoW's or the Flying Unicorns. Then we need to familiarize them with the key aspects of the eUS, such as our forums, IRC and various sources of information. Finally ,and I think this is the most critical, we really have to educate them. This means mentor programs, but why stop there, they need to be encouraged to learn because honestly an intelligent and informed populace beats anything else. This cannot be a peace time priority it must be a constant priority or else we risk sacrificing a whole generation to this war.

4) What is the biggest task that you see ahead for the next President of the eUSA? How would you go about solving or addressing that task?

I think the biggest task after getting back the bulk of our states, is rebuilding our country. This war has taught us a lot. Now more than ever we need to apply these lessons. We simply cannot afford to go back to living in our little politically driven bubble. If we do that then in three months time we'll be back where we are again. We need to look at where we messed up before this war (lack of military run weapons companies, infrastructure placement and diplomacy) and correct those mistakes. We've been given an amazing second chance it would be a shame if we spoiled it.

5) Do you plan to sue for a peace treaty with any of the nations who have attacked the USA? What do you plan to do about the UK and their betrayal of us?

Well let me start by addressing the UK first. What the UK did to us and our allies is probably one of the biggest acts of betrayal in the history of eRepublik. Is it unforgivable? No grudges cant last forever and people and countries really can't change. There are countries the US has offended in the past (Argentina, Mexico and even Canada way back). I would hope that they would not personally hate us for the rest of time. If I make that same expectation of them would it be fair for us to hold an eternal grudge against the UK. One of the things I hate the most about PEACE is they use revenge as a motive for their attacks. They claim to seek retribution for past sins, how would we be any better than our oppressors if we seek revenge for the UK's transgressions. Of course leniency will not be the name of the game, they will pay for what they did. Of course it will largely depend on the citizens feelings on the whole matter.

As for suing for peace, I am not totally against it. Simply because you should never ever take diplomacy off the table. If we do that haven't we become our own worse enemy. That said I am a big fan of using diplomacy in concert with military action. Why would you want to fight 4 enemies when you can fight two and win much easier. Our enemies have shown they are good at opening up our vulnerabilities through turning allies and

6) When did you become cool? I mean, you and I used to fight all the time?

Ahhhh the good old days *Gaius reminisces*. I think a couple months ago I had a clarifying moment about all my conflicts and problems with people in the game. I could go on criticizing people like you or the USWP, but what good would that do? I realized that the people I was arguing with we're trying to do the same thing as me, help our nation. So I decided to bury the hatchet, I decided that our differences don't divide us but rather give us an amazing wealth of knowledge and diversity. I was one of the first people to call for an major end to all of our partisan BS (http://www.erepublik.com/en/newspaper/the-federalist-papers-180344/4). The simple fact is that when we spend more time fighting each other than our enemies we know we have a problem. Though you do have to admit we had some good fights Scrabbers *winks*

7) What do you see as the most important change that the US will go through or has gone through with this invasion and where do you see the US in another month?

I think the whole persona of the US has changed over the last month. Before the war we were kind of the new kid on the block. We were loud, rowdy and always wanted things our way. We didn't appreciate our allies very much and we certainly didn't have a realistic view of our place in the world. Simply put we thought that because in RL we are the most powerful nation it would simply be the same in eRepublik. I think the new US realizes how its actions truly shape not only our future but the future of our allies. We've learned to be a team player like never before. We've remained ambitious but lost the arrogance, we wised up yet learned humility and learned that we cannot remain complacent. Simply put we are a well oiled machine, however it will only be a real change unless we keep working at maintaining this new eUS. If we do not do this than we risk slipping back into our old ways.

End

Well, that's the interview. Vote for Gaius!