[PROTEUS4PoTeUS] What, like it's hard?

Day 4,513, 13:42 • Published in USA USA • by Paul Proteus
There's a room where the light won't find you
Holding hands while the walls come tumbling down
When they do I'll be right behind you
So glad we've almost made it
So sad they had to fade it
Everybody wants to rule the world


More important now than ever: mood music~

PROTEUS4POTEUS

I promised I would never run for President again. But, when you live as long as we do, all promises are broken. If it's any consolation: I don't expect to win.
Still, I think there's something beautiful in the act.

Proteus4Poteus: We Must Be Careful Who We Pretend to Be


You can tell I would be a green President by the prevalence of recycled images

Loosely paraphrasing a great quote, we are, after all, who we pretend to be. So, who do we, the eUS, pretend to be?

I know who I personally have pretended to be. I've been a politician, I've been a media whore. I've cast myself as self-righteous crusader, as well as pragmatic partisan. Throughout it all, I've had a role. Since I've been back, I've tried out a few things. I've played at senior Congressional representative, Federalist Political Director, and even not-quite-funny satirist. Still, none of it has felt quite right. So I find myself falling back into perhaps my most familiar role: hopeless idealist.

The broader question I am getting at, beyond my run-of-the-mill tilting at windmills, is that I am finding it harder to quite see what this country is currently pretending to be?

Who are we, as eAmericans? We too collectively have played a number of roles, and told ourselves plenty of stories about ourselves. Sometimes we are defiant, overcoming serious odds. Sometimes we are lovers of freedom, squabbling over dictatorship game mechanics to our own detriment. And sometimes we are tactical. Sometimes, even, we have been fun. But right now, it's not clear who we are. We have a President who does, what appears to me, a phenomenal job in a technical sense. But, as far as the country goes, there's not much else here. Right now, as a country, we are on autopilot. But to be on autopilot in eRepublik in 2020 is to be driving full speed into the sun.

I was recently told by a good friend that the meta was dead. The implication is that our old ways of doing things, primaries for instance, are pointless. If the president is the best person there is to click the right buttons, that's that. Everything else is window dressing.

I disagree. See, for me, the best part of this game is the window dressing.The best part, in fact the only part, is what we make for ourselves. Why not make something together? This is, after all, a game. I want to bring that back. I want to be the President of window dressing. So I give you now my most relevant experience to be elected President of the eUnited States: I was once appointed, on behalf of an an elected government, the God-King of Fun. See, that's the eUS I want to play in. I want to play in an eUS that has programs to maximize our efficiency on the battlefield, but I also want to live in an eUS where we have a God-King of fun. I don't think that's too much to ask.

Proteus4Poteus: Born to Run

Look, I never said this would be subtle

So I said I wasn't planning on winning. Still, that doesn't mean I don't want to. And it certainly doesn't mean I'm not serious. I will admit freely, Groot is a very good president. And he is good at organizing the eUS so that we do the best we can on the battlefield. If you vote for him for those reasons, I understand.

But I don't just want to be President of game mechanics. I want to be President of everything this game has to offer. So come on eUSA, use your imaginations. A President ultimately is a good manager. Our best presidents haven't always been those who are the best at playing the game as coded, but those citizens who have inspired everyone around them to join the effort. I think I can do that, but by extension I also think all of you can as well. This is a platform, but it's also a request: take my hand.

At this point, I've written enough. Talk is cheap, so I'll make a few concrete promises:

If I am President:

-I will publish articles from my paper twice a week
-There will be a major interior program with programs every week, including a New Summer Harvest Festival, National Scavenger Hunt, Writing Contest, and Lottery
-The WHPR will publish twice a week
-There will be a department of fun
-I will bring back Direct Democracy: every citizen will be involved in the executive
-I will spearhead an attempt to revive NASA to recruit players back to this game

I know it's not 2010, I know that things have changed. People keep telling me this. I read it on Discord, I see it in articles.But why the hell can't we pretend things still matter? This game will never be fun if we don't at least try.

Let's make it so


I wrote this article in 15 minutes, imagine how many articles I could write in a month

Shit might hit the fan, but I can promise it will be the kind of month to be proud of.

So, consider it. If not, your loss~

Next up: Paul Proteus vs the Cabinet

Yours in digital eternity,
Paul Proteus

Former: Harvest Festival Co-Director, eOlympics Poet Laureate, 2x President of eSwitzerland, and POTUS