Political Deviance

Day 1,187, 12:18 • Published in Austria Austria • by Albert Neurath

When a Congressman is elected to office, whatever duties he may have held before must be subsumed into one overriding concern - the benefit of the country he represents. Just as in the real world, a Congressman elected by a special interest rarely gives adequate consideration to the needs of the entire country. If a Congressman fails in his duty, or worse, disregards it completely, then his country will be considerably damaged. Such people are like poison, as they slowly paralyze their countries' militaries and economies.

When I logged into eRepublik today, the first thing I noticed was a new proposal brought before the Congress of my country:

http://www.erepublik.com/en/Austria/law/67872

This law raises the import tax on food from 15% to 20%. There was no discussion on the merits of this law, and no reason for it to be proposed. At the time of this writing, it is passing 7-5. What is telling about this proposal is that the Congressman responsible for it has both food and grain companies, and therefore would stand to benefit from the proposed rise in import tax rates. This same Congressman proposed a similar law a few weeks ago, which raised the import tax on grain from 16% to 20%, again without any debate. What is especially frightening about that action is that, despite the lack of debate on the issue, it passed.

It is actions such as these which endanger the welfare of the country. Without debate and analysis, such a drastic law is nothing more than a shot in the dark, which, if it ricochets back towards us, will wound us severely. When Congressmen try and propose laws solely in their own interest, we all suffer the consequences. Such political deviance must be neither condoned nor tolerated.

Albert Neurath