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The following article was written by Socialist Freedom Party member Pegan Aries.
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Who has not heard the argument against the establishment of additional Q5 Hospitals in other states? Anyone? I did not really think so, particularly since you're reading an article on the topic. After all, it's not hard to find the usual rhetoric of those arguing for, or against, more hospitals in the news these days. It's with that in mind that I decided to look at the matter myself and see just what sort of shape the states of the eUS are actually in, something it seems very few have done in any somewhat recent time.

For the possible few of you who are new players that have not seen the debates between more Q5 hospitals and no more Q5 hospitals, I offer two articles that seem to take each side to an extreme. Both are a bit dated but should still make a good read. The first, from our very own eUS Department of Education, weighs in on the subject from the standpoint of “no more hospitals” (or defense systems) at all. You can read that newspaper article here. On the opposite side of the debate is Zoli. He is someone with a bit of a reputation when it comes to arguing with the administration as shown by his mention in that DoE article. His “hospitals for everyone” article can be found here.

Now, originally I had the thought to do a direct reply to the DoE article, buts it’s the Presidential season right now on eRepublik so I figured I would do a piece about not only the hospital debate but national security in general.

I will start things off with why a Q5 hospital in every state is a bad idea: they would go wanting. Even if every eUS citizen lived in the exact state they wanted to, without any difference in hospitals and defense systems, we would still have states with very minimal populations and offering no protection to their neighbors. Everyone should live where they want to, this is true, but I honestly cannot see Montana getting a large increase in its number of citizens because it has a Q5 hospital. Nothing against Montana personally, I am sure its 53 citizens are very happy with their state, but from the stand point of national security the territory is already very well defended due to its position of being defended by territories whom themselves share no borders with any hostile nations.

The funding for a Q5 hospital in Montana would be a complete waste of US tax dollars that in turn could be used much more wisely on other projects that our upcoming administration needs to work on. Now, a defensive system for the state would also be fairly pointless as its small population would not provide much of a wall and adding even 50% to that wall just becomes an act in futility because the state would not gain enough defense to do it any good. This is nothing against the size of a state's population but a matter of geography, you do not place heavy fortification inside an area that would only need defending under very dire circumstances unless it looks like those circumstances were to happen. With secure border territories there just is no good reason to put resources into these inland states that are surrounded by friendly territory, that are then surrounded by friendly territory. It’s just not smart resource management.

Should the eUS ever find itself in a situation where it looks like those inland territories were going to be a key role in our survival then I would trust in Congress that priority would be put into beefing them up. Until that time though, blanketing the entire eUS in Q5 infrastructure would just bog down the system and prevent other states from receiving the aid they need in securing the country from attack. I would hope that the people of Montana, and other smaller states that share similar geographical advantages, understand that fully securing the actual border-states by arming American soldiers would be a much better investment for their defense than that costly infrastructure.

As I am not one to waste time, I will not be spending any more directly addressing the lacking need for certain states to be given more advanced infrastructure and move onto why the other states do need a boost in the quality level of their infrastructure. Even as recently as four days ago, the current administration (through the Department of Education) addressed the issue of improving hospitals in any other state to a Q5 status as an issue that did not really merit concern as it is best for everyone if Florida and New Jersey remain the only states with Quality five hospitals. Now, while I agree that not every state needs a Q5 hospital or defense system, that is the end of my agreement with the current administration on infrastructure.

The eUnited States of America has several states that are severely under-defended and under-appreciated if you follow the idea that keeping as many people jammed into a couple states as possible is a good. This comes from the game mechanics for the wall setup used in combat. The more people in a state, the better odds you will have of keeping a wall from falling in an attack against it or taking one if you’re the one on offense. That is just basic math, just as having a larger army with better quality weapons will win out when faced against a smaller army with weaker weapons, and cannot be changed by having Sun Tzu on your side. What can be changed, however, is where you defend and with what strength.

After doing the research for this article, I was not only surprised at the general lacking of efforts by past Presidents and previous meetings of Congress to secure the nation from attack but also by where they would have us defend the country from instead. You see, I not only disagree with not giving other larger border states (Texas and California for example) better infrastructure but I disagree with what apparently the previous administrations of the eUS government would like you to believe: Florida is important.
I recently moved to Florida from California to truly get the most of these war games we have been having, thus increasing my rank and level faster, but have since moved to New Jersey. I made the second move to help this country make the most out what we have going for us in defenses, given that Florida lacks a Q5 defense system and already has a massive population despite being only a medium grain region. The only thing that makes Florida of particular value is its border with Portugal, which of course is likely why resources were put into it and the government wants a high wall maintained, but in return for fortifying ourselves against an attack from Portugal the other states in need of defending are ignored.

New Jersey is even a bit overpopulated and overused since it's only border is with some French states whose populations are rather minimal currently but it's only one of the two of our few medium iron regions that share a border with a hostile nation so I am inclined to say it's in need of more diligent defenses then Florida. Of course this does not mean that it makes tactical sense to flood New Jersey with people either as France shares a border with not only NJ but four other eUS territories as well. From a military stand point, I do not see why if you have five ports of access, you would start with the one that your expected to invade when you can just walk in and help yourself to a couple of the smaller ones? Are we really expected to believe an enemy would ignore getting an early foothold with ease for the sake a throwing everything they got at a medium iron region instead?

Not that it would matter of course since New Jersey is not all that heavily populated, with less than two hundred citizens separating it and California. This means that if all the previous administrations had used more recent scales of deciding what populations got Q5 infrastructure and which ones did not, we would only have the one Q5 hospital and no Q5 defense systems. This goes with along with a more recent attitude that the most heavily populated state, Florida, does not need to improve its Q4 defense system to a Q5 despite Texas and New Jersey both housing top quality systems.

There are more than two states in the eUS and at least two find themselves in identical positions to the heavy hitters of Florida and New Jersey. The first one is the twin of Florida in all regards except how much money it has had invested into it and the importance it's given when telling people to relocate, Georgia. This state borders the same territory in Portugal has Florida and shares the same medium grain region resource level as its bigger brother yet it's not given a Q5 hospital with a Q4 defense system and flooded with people to ensure it has a strong wall to defend it from attack. The second state is Arizona, which holds a medium iron region and has a hostile nation on its border. Of course the nation is Mexico rather than France but it’s still under-defended with only a Q2 Hospital and Q2 Defense System. The other difference is that Arizona presents a real chance for an enemy to take a medium iron region from the eUS in the opening shots of a war whereas New Jersey would prove more difficult. I just hope that the rhetoric of keeping to this two-state policy changes with the upcoming administration and that the Senators who represent these border states in Congress will stand up for the citizens who elected them to do just that.

I will wrap this up here though. I believe that encouraging people to move around more to other states while improving the hospitals and defense systems in more border regions is the most practical move for national security our government can make. I do have some more radical thoughts in regards to helping ensure Americans are ready and able to defend their country if the time comes but I shall save those for another article.

PS: For those of you that wish to know some more facts about the eUS states whose borders are at risk but do not have the good fortune of time to search through the entire list of territories I used up a few more minutes from my share of the clock to put together a list of all states that border a hostile country.

States Bordering France
Delaware (Pays-de-la-Loire and Brittany)
-No Hospital, Q3 DS, Medium Grain
Maryland (Aquitaine and Poitou-Charentes)
-Q4 Hospital, Q3 DS, Medium Grain, Medium Wood
New Jersey (Pays-de-la-Loire and Brittany)
-Q5 Hospital, Q5 DS, Medium Iron
North Carolina
-Q1 Hospital, Q3 DS, Medium Grain, Medium Wood
Virginia
-Q4 Hospital, Q3 DS, Medium Grain, Medium Wood

States Bordering Japan
Hawaii
-Q3 Hospital, Q3 DS, No Resources

States Bordering Mexico
Arizona
-Q2 Hospital, Q2 DS, Medium Iron
California (Baja and The Northwest)
-Q4 Hospital, Q3 DS, High Grain, High Oil
New Mexico
-Q1 Hospital, No DS, Medium Grain
Texas (The Northeast and The Northwest)
-Q4 Hospital, Q5 DS, High Oil, Medium Grain

States Bordering Portugal
Florida
-Q5 Hospital, Q4 DS, Medium Grain
Georgia
-Q4 Hospital, Q3 DS, Medium Grain

States Bordering Russia
Alaska
-Q3 Hospital, Q3 DS, High Oil