Join the new world

The headline is actually inspired by a nightmare I had recently involving the bust of Lionel Richie (sculpted by a blind girl with spectacular eye makeup) suddenly coming to life and going on a rampage.

Lyrically it works as well, considering this is the obligatory introduction post.

For quality assurance purposes, I will keep the personal BS to a minimum since I do wish for this newspaper to be at least mostly substantive. I actually wrote a very long post about my political views, earlier. It was probably the greatest article ever written. Unfortunately, it didn't take, and it didn't occur to me to save the piece before hitting 'publish.' I will make no attempt whatsoever to try and recreate the magic that was lost in the ether. That kind of lightning doesn't strike twice.

But, I will leave you with a bit about why I joined and why I continue to participate. Like so many others, I saw eRepublik as an opportunity to do things the right way. I love politics in real life but often find myself feeling frustrated by the compromised ideals, corruption, ulterior motives and fanaticism widely accepted as 'business as usual.' In the New World, it doesn't have to be that way. Unfortunately, just in the 3 weeks I've been a citizen, I've witnessed the same sort of shenanigans going on. I can't help but wonder if Americans are so far up their own asses that we can't even simulate an ethical way of living.

I often quote Alexander Hamilton (as seen on the 10 dollar bill). He said, "Those who stand for nothing fall for anything." There are a million strategy games and war games out there, but we chose to participate in the eRepublik. We must do better. We must stand for something.