~Why I am not Running for President (and more!)~
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by Benn Dover
It probably isn't news to many of you that I've decided against campaigning and running for president in January of the new year. Though, what is probably not as well-known, to anybody really, are the reasons why. At the end of this article I will outline where I am leaving off, what the next elected president needs to take into account and act upon.
Running for president was very difficult work. Hours of campaigning, debates, and reaching out to the general audience about the issues that faced me. But nothing can compare to the actual thing itself. During my term as president, I'd say that I spent an average of 5-7 hours a day on erepublik. That's right, the job calls for sacrifices; sacrifices that I no longer can put forth as a result of school, exams, and training for baseball.
Beside that, I am not running for one other very definite reason: the opinions of everyday citizens. While many of you realize that major changes need to be put in place in the next administration, even more of you don't. If I were to say to every citizen right now "We need to get rid of military pay and raise taxes a lot", they wouldn't believe me, even a handful of congress wouldn't believe me. If a new president enters office, they will have a new voice that is far more controlling than the voice that I currently have.
Probably the most encouraging reason for me to resign presidency are past American presidential tendencies. See: Korbin King. See: Nave Saikiliah. These presidents, though great men they were, definitely burned out in their third term. I believe that we, as a country should no longer accept a president to run for more than two terms. Dishmcds has been president two different times, and both times he has stopped running after his second term. I am following in his footsteps and stopping myself from running. If anybody is upset with this, as I know that many of you will probably be cutting yourselves without Benn in office, turn that frown upside-down - I'll still be in the US.
If I were to run for a third term, there is much that I would do now that wars are coming down to a standstill (not entirely there yet though).
These two months have been extremely productive in America as far as organization goes. Under the "Benn administration", the CIA has taken some steps towards becoming notorious internationally. However, unbeknownst to me, ambassadors and the CIA have virtually nothing to do with each other. When I found this out, it made sense since the CIA is often busy with other things, but I really felt odd that our ambassadors are practically worthless. That is why we need to create a new position in the American government (sorry emerick).
The secretary of state, globally referred to as the minister of foreign affairs, should have an under-secretary (uMoFA) that watches over ambassadors, gathers important information, and relays this information to the CIA. The CIA does after all stand for the Central *Intelligence* Agency. All information, from countries PEACE and Atlantis, should be housed in the CIA forums. Props to Ben C and Leroy Combs for their jobs well done these two months in the CIA. I look forward to working with you guys if I am elected Secretary of State.
Aside from the new tasks given to the uMoFA, we need to work out two simple, yet extremely permanent things - military pay, and taxation.
First of all, to anybody who is against higher taxes in erepublik, like 10-12, grow up. This isn't real life, this is erepublik. Who cares if you're making 20 dollars instead of 23? Implementing higher taxes because of the in-war effects will improve our economy, strengthen our dollar, and allow the United States to profit, something that we need to do since the wars are coming to an end and our gold reserves are somewhat depleted. I've talked with high figures in Spain, a country whose gold vaults are in the top-3, and they welcome the idea of higher taxation as well as zero military pay. I will explain this concept in very simple terms so that this idea can reach out to everybody:
The dollar is just a ratio, of gold to USD. The more USD in our economy, the less it is worth. By handing out thousands of dollars in military pay weekly, our dollar ultimately becomes worthless. This only occurs during wartime, however, because citizens often house the extra USD that they have in their personal accounts. So when war comes, that USD that was not being used for months on end, gets inserted into our country because citizens want to buy things like food, weapons, moving tickets, and gifts. Thus -> more dollars enter our economy, driving down the price of USD,
Military pay, along with free supplies, is redundant, and the reason why our dollar is worth so little today.
If a president promises to implement military pay again, I strongly encourage citizens to vote against that candidate. The same goes for lower VAT and income taxes.
On a completely different note - I've had a few qualms with the Department of Defense, namingly the Secretary of Defense. Now, realize that Joeph Cole is an amazing Chairmen of the Joint Chiefs of Staff (CJCS), but there is something wrong with the precedent set for the DoD. The CJCS should, in the next administration, be extremely active and take on the following roles that past presidents have taken:
- Deciding on which regions are attacked/defended.
- Consult with the president on how to defend them, even though this should be the president's final say.
- Talk regularly with the MoFA on how countries of interest are doing militarily.
- Discuss with the other three Generals statistics of each of their respective military fields, as well as general opinions.
- Work with the Department of Regional Development as well as the congress (Speaker of the house, please?) on where to place defensive systems/high-quality hospitals.
There are a few different, more minute things that I will bring up with others, but those are to be brought up with individuals instead of to the crowd.
My next article will express my personal feelings about each of the major three candidates - Uncle Sam, DesertFalcon, and Justinious McWalburgson III, three citizens that I've known throughout my entire erepublik career. Make sure to check it out, especially if you are "on the fence".
Thanks for reading,
~Benn Dover
President of the eUS~
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Comments
First
I'll read soon. 🙂
goddamit 3
4th
decent article mr outgoing president
Your last paragraph is in accurate
how could you of known us for your whole carrer when you joined months before us? I can understand you knowing about me because of the prophecies of the great leader to come and all 😛 but what about the others?
Great Article!
Good luck
nuff said
Indeed great article.
Good way to end your term.
good information that will be headed both in my campaign and in any other ways I intend to help our country.
Good luck, Benn 🙂
Ambassadors aren't useless...
Great article.
Nice article, Benn.
"First of all, to anybody who is against higher taxes in erepublik, like 10-12, grow up. This isn't real life, this is erepublik. Who cares if you're making 20 dollars instead of 23?"
I think I talk for many when I say that people are very happy to keep more of their OWN money. It is not a difference between keeping 3 dollars, 1dollar or 19 dollars. It is about finding a reasonable level of taxation that encourages the user to spend more, to keep more, and to develop their own economy- regardless of the amount. So next term.. will you say "who cares if you keep any money at all- the goverment will feed you?" I reckon it is a very weak argumetn to say "grow up" Benn, as I personally have grown up and regardless of my rl political orientation believes that taxes should be low.
Good Luck!
Benn...this was so classic. This is the reason I came here 😃 I can't wait for your next article.
Your thinking doesnt make any sense. If one was to tax more, would it not make sense for the government to provide more services? (Weapons, Pay, ect.)
That would make sense, but it also means more money is lost in the bureaucracy of goverment... many soldiers shouldnt even get payed for what they are doing
...hold on, wait a minute -- this isn't another of those 'reverse psychology' articles, is it? Lately, they're all the rage.
You've already seen this so don't follow this link:
thesuperficial.com/2008/10/dont_vote_celebrity_psa_attemp.php
Of course, Malcolm said it best:
"Had I power, I should
Pour the sweet milk of concord into hell,
Uproar the universal peace, confound
All unity on earth."
Please, President Dover, don't go!
Still a stubborn, Ben? 🙂
But well, great job indeed
Well done as always Benn.
President Rover had shown tremendous dedication and hard work for the well being of all the Nation.
The name of Benn Rover will be remembered in eAmerica, by having a place of honor in the eUsa History line of eRepublik
A most inspirationnal article
Voted
Although the APS was unable to track Approval Rating for most of your term, you did have a high of almost 70% towards the beginning of your term. You are a well-respected and highly favored president.
A decent article. Taxes for the war wouldn't be needed if there had been no war but im not going to relish on the past.
A warning to future Presidents you can NOT assume anything. You must take steps to ensure what your doing is known. Not 100% of the people will read your articles, especially when they are long. I would rather read 1-3 paragraphs and straight up info than read 6-10 paragraphs and of info AND fluff and I think others might agree.
Also when fighting a war there SHOULD be time in between battles and it should be used to rearm soldiers, inform them of future battles, and the most KEY thing is to set a time when the next battle starts. When you do not tell anyone a battle started no one knows. Simple as that. On IRC I would constantly here the same question "Has a battle started yet?". Sometimes I would hear a yes and I my eyes would widen because I was not informed and at the time I was Major. A battle and I was not even told? Lord above communications down the ranks are horrific. I think though it is on part of the Leadership. The Military should be informed when a battle is starting at the least but it should be choosing when it starts simply because we are trained and sometimes "payed" for our services to our country. The least we could get is advanced warning. Consider it like this. In real life an army that advances faster than it's supplies will eventually lose momenteum and eventually become on the defense along with low supplies. That is somewhat similar to what happened in France. We started out strong. We had guns. We were informed of everything and then the information stopped and the weapons did and we went on the defense and we started losing.
Some Washington's Farewell...
I agree with CJ; ambassadors AREN'T useless.
As a "newer" player, I disagree with you on taxation. Yes, it's just a game. However, we can play how we wish, that is the essential beauty of eRepublik. Telling people to "grow up" because they want to keep THEIR money that THEY earned by logging into eRepublik everyday and playing stupid trivia is the completely wrong way to handle this Mr. Dover.
Personally, I keep my money because it's the only thing that I get from this game as a newer player. Everyone speaks of retaining new players, this works directly against that idea. When you're new, you get a small amount of money, and there isn't much more to do. Taking that money from players destroys incentive. And telling them "who cares" if YOU take THEIR money doesn't help your cause.
"By handing out thousands of dollars in military pay weekly, our dollar ultimately becomes worthless."
Oh well.. I wouldn't mind being paid with gold.. 😉
But seriously. This article is a good way to end your term, Benn.
Take care!
"If anybody is upset with this, as I know that many of you will probably be cutting yourselves without Benn in office, turn that frown upside-down - I'll still be in the US."
*puts down the razor*
Also, why did you apologize to me in the 6th paragraph?
the article made a lot of sense to me
Idk what to think this is one of thoughts political propaganda moments were no one really knows what would happen if we had higher taxes politicians tell you many things some say what our president is says and others the complete opposed either way it won't help us if you really want to know the truth.
GL Benn.
A+
Does this mean i cant see your article anymore benn? Me & indonesia citizen really like your article for some reason, wish you become 1st media mogul 😁
Good luck
thanks Benn for the nice article
dont care what the rest think, but by me you will be missed
good luck in real life
hmm....
Good Article, Voted. While I m sorry that you won't be running for President once more, I have to admire that you only serve 2 terms instead of trying to stay in office for as long as possible.
That was quite inspiring. Good Luck with everything Mr. President
@Renago a bit too late, there is medial mogul already, can't recall his name but the guy is some Inactive swedish player
Thanks for leading us into war! Although I disagreed with some of the details, the last month has been more fun and eventful than all the rest since V1 was released.
@CJ and @Jeremy: The thing is, though, that ambassadors are acting on their own pretty much. We should set them up so that they have somewhere or someone to report to, so that all of their information that they are gathering would be put to good use.
@Taxation: By increasing taxes, the possibility of deflation is wrought. For example, if you make 100 USD in a week, and the value of the USD is 0.014g, then you've just made 1.4g. However, if we install a taxation of 8% income tax, then you only make 92 USD. But, if because of this income tax the value of our dollar goes up to say 0.017g, then you've made 1.564g in that same week. We can't think of things in just a local currency aspect. Countries that are wealthy, both their treasuries and citizens, are the countries that implement higher taxation. Look at Indonesia and Spain.
@Armandez: Your point is pretty valid. It's just a shame that citizens are often lazy to the point that they
don't check our war list and see if battles are going on or not.
"@Renago a bit too late, there is medial mogul already, can't recall his name but the guy is some Inactive swedish player"
ZiggyZag with Arbetet had a handicap, though, for he was backed by Flashback, an external site that came to erepublik in the beginning, much like /v/. I'm sure that a lot of Flashbackians have worked for his companies, too, like Akelius (Q4 housing) which was once the largest company in the world, before V1.
"Yeah. and RL issues count. But nothing else. I am going to lol really hard when Romania invades Norway soon. If I'm correct, I demand a payment of..50, trillian, billion, gillion, YEN"
So like, 5 dollars? Oh and I'm pretty sure that Norway and Romania are in the same alliance, and that Romania wouldn't gain anything at all besides a sense of civil unrest by going to war with them.
Except the epic lulz that come from Gaming? They will invade for the sake of the outrage everyone will have.
Were going to miss you Benn, or atleast I will. I hope your successor doesn't undo everything you accomplished.
I'm glad that you aren't afraid to tell people about the need for higher taxes. The Irish pound deflated by 64% in a single month because of their use of higher taxes. People make fewer pounds, but what they do make is worth a hell of a lot more.
Really sorry to hear that u don't running for presidency.
USA is a great ally and I'd hope it will be forever.
Best wishes from Romania.
I was about to read the nice long article, then decided that its probably good.
GOOD LUCK FOR BEING A MEDIA MONGOL! 🙂
ahhh cmon Benn? no fun at all ^o^