Astra Kat G in New Jersey - A Promise of "Meh, Good Enough."

Day 1,069, 14:35 • Published in USA USA • by Astra Kat G

What's that? I'm admitting I'll be only passable??

~Theme Music Video~

Unlike my opponent, I promise to be mediocre. That means I'll weigh the issues at hand, and not be overly opposed to change, but usually side with the old man rattling his cane making a well-reasoned argument on why it's good to not change things. It also means I'll occasionally swoop in to save the day, like I did twice this past term by using up both of my proposals to transfer much-needed funds to the Congressional Budget Office on a clear and regular basis and again when I arranged for CaptJustice to propose a law that Congress had agreed to propose but had apparently forgotten about due to Congressional election season (and I sent out a mass-mailing to Congress to make sure no one thought it was a lulz law, like those typically proposed in the last few days of the Congressional term).

I'm not saying this to toot my own horn, I'm just sayin' I promise to be mediocre. To me, that means not reading all that much in Congress, but attempting to help and inform when I do happen to do so, with the experience I've acquired over the past year and some odd months of being here. It means not proposing any particular revolutionary changes, being only vaguely aware of current Congressional procedure, but signing in every week to make sure quorum stays high. It means dedicatedly working to get a few people evaluated for and approved for eUS citizenship, but not volunteering hours of my time formally to be an IES Tier One Senator. And it means not running for a leadership position in eUS's legislative body, but instead attempting to do all right in a support position.



It also means not writing paragraphs on why I think you should be taxed less while the government should spend even more. I'm fine with taxation, I'll admit it! Taxes make our national war engine purr like a newborn kitten. And barring a few small changes here and there, they'll probably stay exactly where they are. And why's that? Because past Congresses have already tried lowering certain taxes, raising certain taxes, etc., and it looks like these levels are optimal for what we're attempting to accomplish here, which is numerous cheap goods for people to purchase while also being able to fund our military and new citizen retention programs.



Not sure what else I could really write about. MPPs? Congress has no real say in it (although I do exercise my right to vote No if the executive branch doesn't explain an unusual one). Impeachment? Not unless it's a national security issue. New citizen message? The President comes up with it. New citizen fee and minimum wage? No reason to change these ever. Trade embargoes? Going to have to assume they're a good thing when levied against our enemies and they're never over-used in this eCountry anyway (like wasting the gold on a trade embargo against, say, eLithuania).

I'd like to see Congress work more closely with IES to get more new citizens approved, play a more active role in new citizen retention, work with the Comptroller General / Director(s) of the CBO to figure out who's using government money and evaluate their future budget needs, and dig deeper to discover hidden funds and resources just laying dormant in unused government organizations, but I'll probably ask someone else to take point on that -- why? Because that's not exactly being mediocre, is it?


There will also be plenty of this in Congress if I'm elected.

Anyhow, that's all I have to say. I'm running under the Amer. Defense and Trade Party flag, so be on the lookout for that. Barring any national security threats (check in with #ato before voting) I hope you'll vote for me in New Jersey on the 25th! Vote for mediocrity in Congress! Oh, yeah!










Day 26:

1. Donation
A. Money matters. The law seems to have stalled, preventing us from moving any more money out of the treasury or passing any other law. But it's not just us... a quick look at other countries (Pakistan, Hungary, South Africa, Argentina) reveals it's likely a worldwide bug. Odd. It might be part of the reason there are fewer battles being fought for now.
B. Voted Yes.

Day 27:

1. Alliance
A. It's eCanada, what do you think we're going to do? Deny them an MPP? Heh.
B. Voted Yes.

Day 28:

1. Tax change: Hospital
A. It's a lulz law.
B. Voted No.

2. Alliance
A. It's on the MPP list for the month.
B. Voted Yes.

3. Alliance
A. It's on the MPP list for the month.
B. Voted Yes.

4. Trading Embargo
A. The other country with which we're warring in Asia.
B. Voted Yes.

5. Tax change: Moving Tickets
A. The reversion back to 1% VAT mentioned previously as taking effect on the 24th.
B. Voted Yes.

Day 29:

1. Tax change: Defense System
A. It's for lulz, not a serious law.
B. Voted No.

2. Minimum Wage
A. It's for lulz, not a serious law.
B. Voted No.

3. New Citizen Fee
A. It's for lulz, not a serious law.
B. Voted No.

4. Tax change: Titanium
A. It's for lulz, not a serious law.
B. Voted No.

5. Tax change: Food
A. It's for lulz, not a serious law.
B. Voted No.

6. Tax change: House
A. It's for lulz, not a serious law.
B. Voted No.

7. Issue Money
A. It's for lulz, not a serious law.
B. Voted No.

8. Buy Constructions: Hospital
A. Not a lulz proposal. There's a reason behind this but I'm not really supposed to say at the moment. Oh, also, when I asked Colin the reason for this hospital placement, we also got into a discussion about hospitals in general. Apparently, they changed their minds about getting rid of the Hospital industry! They're ~not~ going to just add one hospital to every region and be done with it. ... yeah, sorry if you already read that in an eRepublik Insider or whatever; I get so disillusioned with Admins for a while such that I stop reading their newspaper (which they've done away with now anyhow) from time to time.
B. Voted Yes.

Day 30: Today. I'll go ahead and edit the rest of them in when they happen.

1. Tax change: Iron
A. It's for lulz, not a serious law.
B. Voted No.

2. Trading Embargo
A. It's eHungary, our enemy, so, sure.
B. Voted Yes.

3. Donation
A. The Pending Bug got fixed!
B. Voted Yes.

4. Tax change: Moving Tickets
A. It's for lulz, not a serious law.
B. Voted No.

5. Tax change: Oil
A. It's for lulz, not a serious law.
B. Voted No.

6. Tax change: Defense System
A. It's for lulz, not a serious law.
B. Voted No.

7. Tax change: Tank
A. It's for lulz, not a serious law.
B. Voted No.

8. Minimum Wage
A. It's for lulz, not a serious law.
B. Voted No.

9. Alliance
A. It's on the MPP list for the month.
B. Voted Yes.

10. Tax change: Air Unit
A. It's for lulz, not a serious law.
B. Voted No.

11. Tax change: Rifle
A. It's for lulz, not a serious law.
B. Voted No.

12. Tax change: Grain
A. It's for lulz, not a serious law.
B. Voted No.

13. Buy Constructions: Hospital
A. Not a lulz proposal. There's a reason behind this but I'm not really supposed to say at the moment.
B. Voted Yes.




I didn't use Congressional funds to pay for this private jet! ...Really!

Amazingly enough, and I'm not sure how, I managed to place #8 in Congress overall this past term, according to the Peer Review Congressional Rankings. I'm very happy with it, even though I'm sure I don't deserve such a high ranking. Hopefully now that my Internet connection problems have been solved, I can spend more time serving you in Congress. Either that or play an MMORPG. It's basically a coin toss at this point (just kidding!). I had some other comments on the rankings, but, meh, I forget 'em now. To be honest, I gave myself a 5 because I figured no one else would rank me highly and I kind of wanted the ego boost (and if you can't rely on yourself to occasionally give you an ego boost, on whom can you rely?). Soo... that probably helped, hah. But still, a 4.1 overall means that some people gave me a 4 at least!


Anyone up for a little zombie killing this Halloween?

Congress not your thing? Check out this informative article on the various branches of the eUS military for some exciting opportunities! I have some military plans in mind if I don't get elected, myself.

Whether Congress or Military, I'm Yours, eAmerica,
~Katherine "Astra" Gallagher