Join the new world

Voters of Nebraska,

My name is Mike Schmittson, and I'll be running for Congress this month. Though I'll be running under the banner of the American Defense & Trade Party, I am not a true member of the ADTP. I'm actually one of the many Republicans in-exile that (I hope) you've been hearing about. This of course, does not mean that I necessarily disagree with the beliefs of the ADTP, but that as a real-life Republican, some party politics came into play. (SPOILER ALERT: I'm about to go on a medium-to-long-length rant about one particular citizen and why he must be stopped. You don't have to read it, but knowing what I'm talking about will pretty much guarantee that you understand my entire platform later on.)

Speaking of party politics, those of you who are as of yet unacquainted with the situation are probably wondering why I am simply not running as a Republican. Well, the answer is just as simple: the RP cannot propose Congressional or Country Presidential candidates, as it is not one of the Top 5 parties in the nation in terms of membership. This, however, is good. "Why," you ask, "would you not want your own party to be in the Top 5?" Aha, but now we come to the root of the problem! For those of you who have yet to hear, the Republican Party is not in the hands of its rightful owners. That's right, my friends, it's time to mention that awful name you've probably heard over the past few days: Pizza the Hut. (Yechhh!)

That Pizza's disgusting!

Also known to the community as PTH, or by the name of his banned former account, Ajay Bruno, Pizza (whom I generally refer to as Ajay; don't let the different names confuse you!) has hijacked the Republican Party. Though according to game mechanics, any party member of at least Level 13 can run for Party President, and can apply until 23:59 eRepublik time on the 14th of the month, we in the RP have our own system, as do most major, orderly parties. Our system states that there will be a primary on our party forums, and the two candidates who receive the most votes shall be official candidates in the in-game election; all other in-game candidates are asked to resign. The first crime he committe😛 bypassing the primary system, and thereby violating our Party Charter, which can be found here. Then, he used his ill-gotten Congressional seat to grant citizenship to Hungarian citizens -- PTOers! Some of them were/are still in their Hungarian military "uniform" (profile picture, that is)! I give examples: Grof Eszterhazy Victor; Zsigeronto. The second crime he committe😛 granting citizenship to political/military enemies of the eUnited States of America; this in turn brings up his third and fourth crimes: abusing the office of Senator; and TREASON! He then had these Hun PTOers vote for himself in an election he wasn't even supposed to be in, and sent others to attempt to PTO the Top 5 parties. He is not the rightful President of the Republican Party.

I hope by now that you can see Ajay/PTH is a man who cares nothing about those around him, his nation, his alliance, or anyone in the New World. He only cares about himself. I have not heard of such a delusional megalomaniac before in eHistory, nor have I ever seen anyone try so hard to bend the truth to fit his needs, though I suppose that article isn't really anything near the truth....

That is why myself and my fellow true Republicans have left the in-game party (most of us have moved to the ADTP), though we remain active on our forum and our IRC channel, which I will not reveal here, lest Ajay try and infiltrate it (he is currently banned from our forums by Richard Nixon II, but IRC is harder to limit access to). We must drain the in-game party of members, making it harder and harder for Ajay to reach Top 5 status; were the RP to gain said status, as Party President, he could propose himself as a Country Presidential candidate, and send Hungarian PTOers into the Congressional elections as candidates; if one of them were to get into Congress, they could grant 25 of their comrades eMerican citizenship. (gasp!)

(SPOILER ALERT: For those of you who skipped my rant, it's over; I still suggest you go back up and read it, I'm quite proud of all the evidence I included...no? Sure? OK, read on....) So I come to the more political part of my article: my platform.

National Security: If elected, I plan to petition the admin to allow congress members to reject citizenship applications from PTOers like Ajay's Hun buddies, before people like Ajay can click the "Accept" button. This alone would help to increase our national security, and I hope the members of Congress would check the citizenship applications daily in order to prevent "ellegal eMerrcans"

The eCIA and Congress: bustin' you since NOW!

Defense: Though related to national security, this is more in terms of the eMilitary. I, as any true conservative, supprt our eTroops and am committed to giving them the best weapons to fight with on the battlefield. In this game, the majority (almost the entirity) of the income collected by the eUSA's government goes to funding the Military (which is just how I like it): paying for War Declarations, Peace Declarations, Attacking Regions, the Penalty for Losing a Region, as well as weapons for the Troops and MPPs; I also presume Trading Embargoes could be considered related, as they are usually put into place against enemy nations with whom we are not actually at war (otherwise, trade between us and them would be allowed according to game mechanics).


Taxes: Everyone's least favorite part of the government. I realize this, and personally, I support a low income tax, and a low VAT. This may seem like a good idea (I certainly like it, from a personal finance perspective), but this means that high import taxes must be imposed, which I used to support, but have since learned that they may actually hurt the economy. Therefore, my stance on taxes is that Income tax and VAT should be as low as possible, and Import Tax as high as possible, in order to maintain the economy and still be able to fund our military (most of the other programs are either small (financially negligible) or should be removed (welfare) -- sorry, those of you who support sharing the wealth). On the whole, my stance on taxes is malleable -- if I see something I like, I'll try and roll with it until a better alternative is brought forth; consequently, in the back of my mind, I still like the high Import tax Idea, from a protectionist point of view.

As I wrap things up, I'd like to thank Darrel Anderson 2 (the Republican PP In-Exile) for coordinating with the Top 5 PPs to allow for Republican Congressional Candidates, as well as Indrae, the ADTP PP, for allowing me to run on his party's ticket.

Thank you for your time! I hope you vote for me on the 25th! It's only 1 week from today, folks! Show Ajay Bruno that his PTO will backfire -- put REAL Americans, and REAL Republicans, in office!

Very Respectfully Yours,
Mike Schmittson
Former Speaker of the Republican Party (July-August 2010)
Member, Republican Party In-Exile

Read.
Enjoy.
Vote.
Subscribe.
Wash.
Rinse.
Repeat.