The Bifurcated States of America
Gnilraps
I write today to two eUSAs.
And first, I write to you both in explanation of the shocking results of the recent Presidential Election.
The community of actives in the Socialist Freedom Party had determined to run a protest campaign against Wild Owl because the Owl had apparently snubbed SFP by not even seeking their nomination. Nothing wrong with either side of that, WO doesn’t need to seek every nomination. And SFP can run whomever they want for whatever reason.
And since the campaign was a protest campaign against Wild Owl, the thought was that no member of SFP had a better chance to steal votes from the inevitable victor than I. So my campaign for CP began as just this: SFP wants to send Wild Owl a little snub reply to his initial snubbery.
And what more “SFPish” thing to run on than a no-Dictatorship month? OK, why not? Despite the fact that I am, myself, pro-Dictatorship, because I was running for the Party more than for myself (rea😛
I was not running to win), I adopted the no-Dictatorship and decided to mold it into whatever I could. I am a creative player and I do enjoy a challenge like this.
So as my campaign came together, I devised a strategy for the defense of our Nation without a Dictatorship. I published my plans. And I won. When I went to sleep (always early on a) Saturday night, I was still behind by 7 votes. Go figure.
Switch scenes.
During all of this, while my SFP comrades were basking in the glory of the no-Dictatorship campaign (one of the key concerns of many SFP members is the Dictatorship which was being given national attention for the first time since its adoption in Congress) Congress itself was having a series of debates. The key debate in Congress was over a discussion I started requesting that Congress vote to allow a 1 Month Non Dictatorship Government.
It was in that thread (and the vote which it led to) that Congress clearly stated it’s majority and minority views.
The majority view in Congress is that EVERY COUNTRY PRESIDENT MUST ALSO BE THE DICTATOR.
It is the minority view in Congress that A COUNTRY PRESIDENT WHO IS ELECTED AS A NON-DICTATOR SHOULD THEN SERVE AS SUCH.
So the fact of the matter is that the majority of the Citizens in eUSA elected a President who was, in effect, running against the Majority of Congress.
Now in the course of affairs, having been elected, I accepted the Dictatorship according to Congressional dictate. Then the Bear Cavalry - a Military Unit which is loosely associated with (but not completely divorced from) the SFP - launched a Revolution against the Dictatorship. This Revolution perfectly defines the bifurcation of our Nation.
The Revolution technically enacted the platform of non-Dictatorship upon which I was elected Country President. From that perspective, the BC acted in accordance with what could be perceived as the majority view of the citizens of USA.
But the Revolution also triggered the Congressional laws against launching an unauthorized Revolution. These laws had been violated somewhat recently by several of the Congresspeople who now sit in judgment of the Bear Cavalry. Irony is a b***ch.
See the bifurcation?
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All of this - from the snub to the blacklistings - serves to illustrate what is very real in eUSA, there are two nations. We are not, in fact United States (however you want to count “states” in eRepublik). We are a nation whose Representative Congress more accurately reflects the views of the most active citizens while not necessarily reflecting the views of the majority of the citizens. This is not a tragedy, but it has at least finally been put to the test.
In all of this, I have been accused of many things, the worst of which havn’t been made public. How can you blame my accusers? What has been accomplished, in part by me but in full by those around me and the voters, is a direct threat to the authority of the Congress. In fact, Congress is already busily formulating new laws to further increase its power over the Executive branch of Government. For those in the majority view of Congress, this will be seen as a good thing. Ironically, I probably count myself among them.
But for those of you who represent the minority view, and for those of you Citizens who voted for non-Dictatorship but are about to have it stripped away by a Congress that will not tolerate it, I strongly recommend that you make a choice right now to get better involved in this game. If you truly voted for me because you wanted to see something different and exciting, I obviously delivered on that! But if you want to continue to see things that are different and exciting, then there is ONLY ONE WAY TO DO IT.
You must stop two-clicking.
You must make the choice to play this game. What I have shown you over these past few days is that the mechanics of eRepublik firmly favor Congress. LEARN THAT. It is such an important point that I will repeat it…
The game mechanics of eRepublik firmly favor Congress.
If you will realize this, and if you want to take over greater control of this game as is your right as a citizen of eRepublik and eUSA, you MUST GET INVOLVED WITH CONGRESS.
As of this writing, the prospects of a Dictatorship-free December are fading. Congress simply wields too much power - from Impeachment to the CBO - to imagine victory against them. If I thought that Congress were truly acting in a way which HARMS the eUSA, I would fight them. I would find my middle finger and use it. I would welcome their eventual Coup of my Administration and I would outspend them. Hell, if I really thought Congress was harming eUSA, maybe I should re-establish myself as dictator and strip them of their income! LOL.
But I do not think that Congress is harming eUSA. Though the current debate has placed me on the opposing side of the argument from those I tend to agree with, I can tell you that the process of the debate is sound.
And so I will address both ‘sides” of these Bifurcated States of America.
First, to the Congress, Establishment, Elitists, Pfluffernutterists, and we all know who we are:
I apologize that I was not as available during two large blocks of time during which the debate was getting most interesting. RL was a bit of a burden during those two blocks of time, and that always sucks in this game when it happens. I am also sorry, actually, that I won the election. It forced what was really just a public debate into a legislative debate that I don’t think any of us wanted. I could have spared you of it by reniging on my campaign promises, but that did not seem to me a reasonable option. So we’ve been battling it out. My thanks to those of you who have done so with respect.
Also, I believe that I have given you some opportunities to reform some of your laws. Do it.
Second, to the SFP and all those voters who hoped for a non-Dictatorship month:
If you want anything to change in Government, you cannot do it without a seat at the table. If all you want is to be a noisy gong clanging about oppression, you will always have that. I would be disappointed if that is all you are, and I don’t anticipate being disappointed. You are a vital voice. You must continue to use it in the Media and at the voting booth. But you simply MUST use it in the halls of Congress. If there is anything lacking in our system of Government, it’s individuals working to form voting blocks, inter-party voting alliances, striking deals and bargains… Congress is lazy. Take advantage of that if you want to.
And if you think it is so important that I retain my promise of making December as “Dictator-free” as possible, then my last course of action will need to be to oppose Congress and wait for their Impeachment. Failing Impeachment I will face Congress’ inevitable Coup which will have the backing of the CBO and who knows what all else. I will tell you right now that I will NOT allow Congress to spend money attempting to unseat me, for that would turn me into the kind of Dictator you voted against. In other words, in the end I must either step down or accept Dictatorship.
Those are the issues as I see them. I believe my views are fair and balanced. And while there is much about this ridiculous month that I haven’t liked at all, I will once again say that, as usual I have raised the activity level of eRepublik, something few people do better than I.
Now I must return to the fray in Congress.
Sincerely your non-Dictator,
Gnilraps
Comments
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you guys take this game way too seriously.
That's us political roleplayers 🙂 o7
Reversing your own position is where you went wrong, imo. I'd argue that many of your votes came from people who know you as the person you've been for the last several years. The Gnilraps they know was not the Gnilraps on the ballot.
Of course you'd argue
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voted for bifurcation.
had I known you were running against your own convictions, I would have wasted my vote on myself and campaigned to beat Ajay for second or third place.
you do what you gotta do for you.
my RL is jammin' because of the retail hypocrisy of the season, but I will be as active as ever in the months following-- including running for an Opposition seat in Congress.
eMerica does need to at least try functioning without a Dictator, as part of a larger plan of making this miserable game more fun and engaging to the 2-clicking elders and the new generation of players lacking energetic drive.
I saw a bifurcated penis once on 4chan.
He's not the hero we deserve, he's the hero we need.
So you are elected with a clear mandate from the people for a month free of dictatorship but congress thinks it knows better then it's own people? Clearly congress does not have a clue how democracy works or where it's power comes from.
Mandate - the authority to carry out a policy or course of action, regarded as given by the electorate to a candidate or party that is victorious in an election.
In politics, a mandate is typically considered having been achieved when one garners an absolute majority of the vote.
He did not.
ED you keep talking about "democracy", over and over you use this term. For the umteenth time Democracy is nothing more than mob rule, 50% +1 wins every time. Fortunately the real US (at least up until recent times) and even erep (to a limited extent) are democratic republics. A representative government is democratically elected to govern the republic. That does not guarantee that the majority always wins every battle but it does guarantee that the majority can change who represents their interests.
You are correct in your insinuation that Congressional power comes from the people who elected them to office. What the people don't realize is that they must wield that power to change who's in Congress to effect a different result. Keep in mind that erep "fixed" the procedure to remove an uncooperative Congressman when they took away the ability to vote for them individually.
Bottom line: Look to the party presidents who continue to run the wrong people for Congress. The situation is most definitely their fault.
This is all fine and good, but I really think what we need here is a way to hold national referendums vested in the game mechanics. If we could just add a poll question to the CP ballot, we could probably sidestep a fair amount of this silliness.
From the SFP/anti-dictatorship side of things, one of the big logical leaps I see people making is, "Because Gnilraps won, it's obvious that the majority wants no dictatorship." That's nice and all, but I don't see how anybody can really back up that claim. More than a referendum on the dictatorship, what we saw in Saturday's election was two generally liked players going up against each other and one getting a narrow plurality over the other. Though you did run on a no dictatorship platform, we can't with confidence say that's why people voted for you. In fact, I would say that WO being more of a worker behind the scenes where you're more of a big media guy hurt him, not to mention his relative dearth of media and MMing; plus, we can't really ignore the reality that one of the more active player blocks in the country sees your name and avatar and clicks work for you everyday.
Personally, I don't think this game is very transparent or democratic, and I think those expecting the game to work on democratic principles probably need to take a step back and look again at the driving forces behind the game and what we're really dealing with here.
As to the will of the majority, I don't think any of us really knows what the majority wants (and the majority probably doesn't either). Aside from fun and the freedom to click the red button, I doubt there's much specific any of us can say about it.
I guess that plays to the point of this whole article though, doesn't it? To have any chance at getting what they really want out of the game, players have to speak up and participate.
Wild Owl doing literally nothing is why he lost.
Literally zero campaigning.
I can agree with this. Truthfully, the whole affair reminded me of that Tyler vs BeachBunny election.
People should be careful about phoning in their CP bids.
I'm pretty sure his lack of an attempt was him illustrating his disinterest in running. We really need more viable interested candidates.
When you want more viable interested candidates the vitriol on the forums better be not so high and the banning of people way less. I have been CP a lot of times and have seen much hatred. What I have seen on the eUSA forums is not encouraging at all.
i voted for gnilraps when he responded to a message when i asked him if he really was going to support no dictator. so i for sure voted for him only for that reason.
Impartial and Refreshing.
Seriously, guys, don't let the only functional community in this game go to scrap over something this ultimately meaningless.
It's just a game!
Enjoy!
\o/
Interesting read
Is it true you renamed Maluku Islands , now Benova Place.?
I want a seat at the table!
Good article on the arris of the current political module
Mediocre.
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kewl let me be Presidentz.
As President I will work to strengthen our friendship with our great Serbian allies!
This is my one wish
I can say with no hint of irony that I would be for this.
You can't be serious...
Dio loves a trier....
You're a good man. Voted.
I still think you should remove the guys who participated in the CW from your cabinet though.
Done.
you get rid of people who trusted you rather then keeping you word?
how GR4ND
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To be fair Gnil has been a very good representative of SFP during this whole thing. It may be a better idea to ask better questions rather than jumping to conclusions. It is up to you
Gnil is a noob.
Well, at least for thinking that this would ever play out differently.
It was clear to me that he was playing SFP, or else I might have actually been for him.
As for the call to get involved, truly that is the way to make change. I'm not certain that the Power-Holders© would relinquish power even with the democratic votes against them, but it's the right first step. At THAT point, using game mechanics against them and completely circumventing meta would be perfectly in order and might actually rally WELL MORE than 50% of the nation.
I'm not usually the 'tin foil hat' guy but this does have the potential of being a set up job. Activity waning? Losing players that give a shit? Wanna get the meta game outta the doldrums? Start a shitstorm by having a well know and respected player with above average credentials crossover to the rebel faction and run against the 'system'. Uproot the accepted laws and slap Congress in the face with them. Finally, have Congress spit in the eye of the upstart rebels and call them all traitors even though they were following a mandate laid down by the majority vote. (Bitch all you want but Gnil got the most votes, period.)
Hope you all enjoyed the show provided by them smokey backroom guys.
Hail Caesar! Roma victor!
Your win doesn't mean the majority is for the nonDictatorship. Most of the non-actives voted based on the past, on the ''fame'' factor + campaign efforts. Hell if i was a twocliker i would thought Owl is on the ballot for the lulz.
I voted for you in the primary cause i know you're wise and intersting. Owl's term was kinda boring + he showed 0 interest in the new campaign. I did expect you'll abide the law and the will of the congress and by stating you'll won't pariticipate in the ''liberation'' i understood that's that. Gnil as a CP/D. It went fine well in October.
It went well in October.* Without fine.
That was informative, thank you. o7
"How can you blame my accusers?"
I can blame shit slingers on both sides because they act irresponsibly. There are ways that rational, civilized cultures have addressed leaders that stray from the accepted norm. Mostly they are just ousted at the next election (or whatever means elevated them to power). However players like Stalin, Pol Pot and of course Hitler solved the problem of having the citizenry remove them from power.
So I blame the "accusers" because the helped bring this about. The German Reichstag was inundated by Hitlers people who promptly appointed him Chancellor. This changed the Weimar Republic into a Totalitarian dictatorship in only a few years. The "accusers" had better start following the rule of law, and if needs be adapt that law by making amendments/updates to the law by prescribed methods. Either that or drop the meta BS and just do game mechanics as Henry suggests. Speaking of which, something I've never figured out. Henry says that only game mechanics amount to anything that really matters but yet he's constantly on the forum telling Congress what they should and shouldn't do. Hmmm...
Gnilraps, I've always liked you. I've voted for you every other time you ran for President. I've always saw you as someone with a good reputation who always had the country's best interest at heart. You are too smart of a guy to actually think you won a referendum and mandate for no dictatorship. The antidictator folks are not the majority. If you take away the EZC votes that voted for you because of who you are, and take away the votes of those who voted for you because of who you were in the past, then WO wins by a landslide. You know this to be true. What you have done is help a minority group enforce their will on the majority. You're better than that.
Backing of the CBO? Seriously Gnil?
Yeah, seriously? The CBO?
I was implying that if Congress impeached in forum but it failed ingame, AND if I were to be expected to fight an actual war against the Congress to attempt to hang on to power, then Congress would have the spending power of the CBO behind it. I was saying that I am not willing to allow that to happen.
I was not attempting to suggest that the CBO is an independent entity...
Is that why you raised the question? Does it make more sense if I had said "reserve" instead?
Well, more so because CBO = congressional budget office. Congress holds the purse strings due to how we have the meta-game setup.
There has been a president meta-impeached but in game failed before,so it has happened before. Congress does still do what is best for the whole of the nation regardless of who is CP/Dic.