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SFP PRESS NEWS FEED
Day 1141 of New World / Day 30 of Frostydom


The State of Socialist Freedom




Since over half the US population works in a commune of one kind or another, it's only natural that curiosity about and interest in the Socialist Freedom Party is at an all-time high, right? (OK, a little wishful thinking never hurt anybody...)

But seriously, what follows is a little bit of "just the facts", and a little bit of "what it might mean" regarding the Top Five and how the SFP compares. We didn't look at the numbers for other small parties, but some of the conjectures and opinions may be of interest to our friends in the "Top Ten".



Using on-line demographic tools, the SFP's amazing numbers guy, Comrade-Bishop Samuel Seabury, compiled statistics on the Top Five parties in the USA as of the last day of 2010 and compared them to the same statistics for the Socialist Freedom Party.

While representing only a specific point-in-time and of course open to interpretation (particularly regarding the meaning of "average wellness" at a particular point in time), these numbers offer an opportunity for some insight and provide a jumping-off point for some conjectures.

Your comments and observations are, of course, welcome, along with your vote and sub!


Here's the basic numbers:




What the numbers mean:

Avg Citizen ID: An indication of age of members. Lower = more older players, Higher = more younger one
Avg Experience: A measure of youth (low) and activity (high)
Avg Wellness: Not easily interpreted without a time-series or some qualitative info. Could mean dead / leaving members (low), or lots of fighting (low) or not much fighting (high)
Avg Economic: “Productivity”, experienced, hard workers (high); newer, lower-skill workers (low)
Avg Military: “Strength”, experienced, hard fighters (high); newer, lower-skill fighters (low)

And here's a few graphic representations of these numbers:

Average Citizen ID (Game Age):



Average Experience (Age and Activity):



Average Economic Skill:



Average Military Skill:




Observations About the Top Five Parties


* SEES attracts mainly older players and is an economic and military powerhouse.

* Relatively speaking, the UIP is also an old man's party.

* The Libertarians recent rise in rankings is probably due mainly to bringing in newer, younger players.

* The Libs overall demographic is now very similar to the USWP, which continues to be “bottom-heavy” – lots of newer, lower-skill players



Observations About the Socialist Freedom Party


* In overall demographic terms, the SFP is strikingly similar to the Feds, but with a younger membership. Which is kind of interesting, since it originally started its life as a split from the Feds.

* The SFP may be doing a marginally better job than USWP or Libertarians in improving the military
skills of younger players, and it seems to do a pretty good job in developing their economic skills.



Conjectures and Opinion



The following analysis jumps off from the perspective of how well the Top Five parties are likely to address two things: 1) engaging and empowering newer players and 2) forging electoral strategies that look beyond the electoral cartel known as "FEC".





Prospects for The Top Two

The Libertarian Party and USWP are likely to experience the most internal class tension and turmoil due to the relatively low number of offices attainable without retiring the oldest and most experienced player core.

And there is a tension between these two parties. Since the USWP has long been the dominant party and continues to have the largest membership, the Libertarians -- an elite party despite their name -- are largely dependent on the interparty electoral cartel to maintain its position.

The elite within both parties have a strong vested interest in retaining power and not sharing it with a substantial number of new players.

Both of these parties are on a recruitment treadmill. To maintain their position they must continuously recruit new players in large numbers to replace those who burn out and quit when disappointed by their inability to advance. One way these parties may seek to relieve the pressure is by continued eUSA imperialist expansion. Given the political culture of these parties, it seems unlikely that they will pursue a course of internal reform, for example by instituting more open and democratic processes.

In general, continued political turmoil serves elitist interests. As Osmany Ramon and other SFPers have pointed out many times, promoting a constant sense of "crisis" reinforces the bureaucracy.

This makes it more difficult to form alternative leadership within the parties, or for external parties to challenge their predominance.


Feds, UIP and SEES

At the same time, the UIP and SEES find themselves in a difficult position. They require electoral cartel arrangements to maintain their political position.

There seems to be an especially bitter element of nostalgia within SEES circles at the moment, as they lose ground to their larger competitors, with no policy alternatives and a less-than-savory public image.

In a sense, this party has switched places with the Libertarians. It is likely that SEES will be the most frequent player of "the PTO card" to fend off challengers.

Given its past practices, especially its historical attitude of friendliness to smaller parties, it is possible that the UIP may follow a different strategy, of collaboration with sixth parties during congressional elections.

The Federalists occupy a middle position, and are perhaps more likely to bargain harder for concessions with sixth party partners.

At this point it appears that NONE of the Top Five parties appears capable of negotiating a long term coalition relationship with smaller parties, although it would be an interesting approach if the respective leadership elites were to attempt such a strategy.



A Better eUSA is Possible


How Socialist Freedom is Different


The Socialist Freedom Party leadership structure is based on what is called "the Revolutionary Committee", as described in the revised Party Constitution adopted on August 28th, 2010 (Day 1,012 of the New World).


Key points from the Constitution regarding this governance structure include the following...


1. The party shall be governed by the Revolutionary Committee of the SFP, of which the Party President is the Chair.


3. a. The Revolutionary Committee shall consist of no more than 9 and no less than 5 members, including the Party President.

b. The Party President may appoint up to 4 members of the Revolutionary Committee.

c. Any party member can volunteer to be a member of the RC as long as there are open spots. First-come, first-served. There are no elections to the Revolutionary Committee.

e. A member of the RC is considered to have become inactive if they have not posted to the forum, communicated on the IRC, or otherwise communicated with other RC members for a period of 10 days.

f. The Chair may remove an inactive member of the RC.

g. Any member of the RC, whether active or inactive, may be removed from serving on the RC by a majority vote of the members of the RC. In the event of a tie, the Chair makes the decision.

3. Each Member with responsibility for a particular project or organization shall have jurisdiction over his or her area, but specific directives or plans may be overridden by a majority vote of the Revolutionary Committee or by order of the Chair.


In short, this Party is structured to encourage activity and making it easy for newer players to step up.


As our (level 19) Party President, the amazing cival unrest, likes to say: "The SFP kicks @ss!"






We are the ones your parents warned you about.

No re-plastering, the structure is rotten.

Let’s not just change e-bosses, let’s change e-life.

We don’t want to be the watchdogs or servants of either capitalist-imperialism or a dead "socialism".

We've been waiting for you.

It's Your Game: Join the Socialist Freedom Party!

Help feed a hungry world. Join the Socialist Freedom Party today.



Friends and curiosity-seekers are welcome join us on our forum at socialistfreedom.org.

Hungry? Low wellness? Help is available. Contact the Rainy Day Food Program today!



Teaser: Stay tuned for an epic "History of the Socialist Freedom Party" by SFP veteran Mark Valshannar and sponsored by the SFP Writers Guild.