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Dear Readers,

Let me first start off by saying that I don't mean to offend anyone with this article, nor am I claiming that I hate all of the political parties in the eUS, that just isn't true. I have always been a party "butterfly"...ok that's not the word I want to use...a party "floater". What I mean by that is that I have always switched parties, hoping the next one I joined would provide me with a better experience than the last one, however, I realized that party hopping is pointless. Yes, it is fun to get involved in a political party, run candidates, increase membership, increase voter turnout, trying to get candidates in congress that support your ideals, but all of this is pointless if we can't work together. Party Politics is great for people who are extremely active and want to be apart of something/ build something up from the ground, but the truth is that the once proud dedication to a party that one has, soon disappears because of constant internal PTO’s, power hungry or famous citizens taking over, inactive citizens, public opinion, and other reasons. If we maintain on this same slippery slope we have been heading down for months now, this country is doomed.



The Slippery Slope:

The Slippery Slope in the way that I am using this term refers to partyism, or party idealism, in this country. People trying to gain or regain power and or their former glory, people trying to PTO parties just to run for President, for an ego boost, or just for the lulz. Enthusiasm for one’s party is great for that party obviously, but usually that enthusiasm turns an ego into a monster. People want to hold onto their old party, refusing to acknowledge the fact that a party is meaningless, a symbol for something that doesn’t exist.

We see now by the constant PTO’s of the Top 5 parties, that this enthusiasm is becoming less about pride for one’s party and more about one’s ego, and ultra-enthusiasm for a party. The USWP and the AAP were the top two parties about 6 months ago. These parties have changed names and leadership more times than I can remember.



The History of the APF:

The American Progressive Front party was supposed to be a way to use the top party in the nation, and get all of the “active” citizens out of the party. MM2 along with several other prominent members of our eRepublican society decided to PTO the APP and make use of the top party by allowing more citizens to run for congress. The Top 2 parties back in the day were the AAP and the USWP. Parties started to merge and different citizens try to seize power from the AAP and Emanuel Cruise because they felt that the AAP was a waste of a party and its membership were mostly dead citizens.

The USWP and the AAP merged, and then a bunch of other shit happened. Yeah, I know, this is a cop out, there are other articles on this, so there is no need to repeat myself. However, what seemed to be honest steps in the right direction, it eventually became clear that this was a power move and an ego battle between the top players at the time, Emerick and MM2.

The APF ran whomever they wanted to run for congress. They constantly bickered internally and caused external turmoil. The point of me telling you this, is that just because these players change the name of a party and/or PTO one, it doesn’t mean that the party is really different. People can never work together if they always have their pride and ego out in the open. Cooperation can only succeed when goals are set and the means to reach those goals are also explained. Machiavelli’s “the end justifies the mean” as found in The Prince (now on Amazon!!!...not really, or is it?), anyways, he was talking about a dictator or a monarchy. In a democracy, people have to reach their goals using practical methods while also being willing to compromise. The APF was jut one example of a plan that seemed to have really helped the eUS, but in reality, egos conflicted constantly and MM2, Emerick, and past USWPers like Jude Connors, refused to let go of power they once had. Just look at SEES, which was supposed to be a party of fun and to provide nonsense to an otherwise serious game. Yeah, sure, now they are a political party, which bullies, intimidates, threatens, and ridicules anyone who doesn’t completely accept their ideology. They refuse to disintegrate a party that is detrimental to the eUS. You want proof, look at whom they ran for congress here in the eUS.



Why we can’t do away with political parties?

A party is a way for a bunch of people with overlapping interests to pledge to support each other for the common good. Another thing to note is that democracies will always have political parties, and eRepublik uses the democracy system.

If you were to abolish parties, new parties would promptly spring up. A candidate backed by a party will have more money than one who isn’t, and a large bloc of people who will vote for that candidate even if he or she isn’t to their taste, because it advances the interest of the whole party. Less political gamesmanship would be nice, but it’s also a pipe dream: as long as people are allowed to freely associate, they’ll form parties. That’s why totalitarian rulers ban organizations they don’t like. It’s unfortunate that the parties in this game take on additional reality, not just as a consortium of like-minded people, but a thing to be supported entirely of its own, like a sports team, and a severe antipathy for any other group. But it is human nature to form clans like that, and political parties aren’t going to be any different. It is interesting how closely divided the parties are. It’s rare for one house of Congress to have more than a few percentage points over the other, and it always swaps back. The top 5 parties are always in congress but really, parties are so eager to get their candidates in that they don’t realize that they may be hurting the country by allowing a less experienced candidate into congress. Although, there are examples where players have stepped down for the greater good, and then there are not.

Part of that is the immutable logic of parties: a congressmen that is significantly behind in the elections will try to woo some sub-group of the other party most closely tied to it. Let it be the military, the TC, the SAC, doesn’t matter. A second candidate will hope to do the same thing, and silently wait to snipe. A practice in which a congressmen’s voters wait until the last few minutes of the elections to vote so that they can secure a win. And of course if a third candidate drains more support from one than the other, then we let a inexperienced young player into congress, which we have seen over and over.

I don’t think that the balance is entirely explained by the swap of sub-groups. We have deep philosophical divisions in this country, divisions that have been expertly exploited by professional propagandists [example being Emerick] who think of themselves as entertainers and are treated as entertainment.

That tends to drive enthusiasm, but that enthusiasm is also its own worst enemy: since the party is an accumulation of subgroups, dominance by any sub-group against another will cause it to leave the coalition. As soon as one party gets into power and takes advantage of its least-favored subgroup, that group leaves. That tends to cause large ideological swings, since each group treats its new majority as a mandate for its loudest and most ideologically bent group, since they tend to run the conversation.

Basically, if its “tl;dr” by now, this means that parties suck, but you can’t get rid of them, because they’ve got more power than individuals. Abolish them and they’ll come right back. Nobody is ever completely happy with his or her party, but they love to be apart of something, they love to be in power, and we all think we need parties to have fun in this game



What can we do?

Refuse to be a part of this perpetual cycle. If someone is trying to recruit you to their party, instead of just accepting the invitation blindly, ask them why? Why should I join this party? What will me, a level 12, do for this party? They will tell you whatever you want to hear, but the truth is, those in power in a party, will stay in power unless you are EXTREMELY active and/or popular. Players like Laxsnor and LexLuthor1 made names for themselves because they were determined to be involved. They made tireless efforts to better their party. However, will they become the PP, will these members do more for the country? Who knows. Or players like Rod Damon and Julian Mizu who became famous for the creation and organization of the SAC and ST6. Either way, in my opinion, the way parties have become, if you don’t play this game for multiple hours per day, you are not important to your party except for your vote. That is the truth. You can deny it, you can yell at me, you can curse me off, but if you are not deeply involved in your party, then your involvement will always be limited, and your voice will not count. You won’t get much out of it. (This is the part where people will be pissed off, rage comments ftw!)

The truth is, parties will tell you that what I am saying is false. Parties do contribute to our nation. They provide platforms for citizens such as yourself to get involved in politics and to learn more about politics. I know this, I understand this. My problem is that their is an error in this system. A defect. All of these positive attributes about party politics are outweighed by the fact that internal bickering and egotistical maniacs or just people clouded by pride, destroy parties, and ignore hard work that other people put in so that they can attain personal glory. For me, whenever I try to get involved I find out that the number of hours required to participate is greatly higher than the number of hours I have to put in. Simply saying, you, an inactive, citizen can only do so much. We need to change this. Make jobs easier; make it less about the power guys and more about the little guys. Players in the TC have a lot of pride amongst each other. It is like a brotherhood. That is because each member of the TC feels included. I have never felt included in a party. Even when I become active on the forums, I am still unimportant. Forums shouldn’t be the only way to truly get involved. We should be able to allow every player to have some job within a party, no matter how minuscule that job is. Make every citizen feel important or just tell them truthfully, when you are recruiting them, that you don’t care about that person other than his vote. At least, that is how I felt through ought my times in each party.

[img]http://franciemedia.files.wordpress.com/2009/05/really.jpg?w=512&h=288[/img]
Really?!?!?! With Amy Poehler and Seth Myers

Just two days ago, I was assigned to run in Qinghai under the USWP. Jude Connors approved me, I was put on the list of candidates on the forums and I was even personally mailed to congratulate me and to wish me luck on my campaign. Well, technically, this all happened weeks ago, but as of 2 days ago, I was still running for congress, mobile voters were even set up to help me out, I was pming people in preparation for my run and buying moving tickets. However, what happened you ask, you didn't run? The day of the election, I saw that Ligtreb was running in my place although he was assigned to run in Arizona. No explanation, no reasoning, no pm, no apology. Although Ligtreb did give me 2 gold for the moving tickets I bought, so I thank you my good sir. I am/was obviously upset, but now, I realize that this wasn’t such a bad thing. I am able to step back from eRep and realize that my participation in the party is pointless. I can die in this game, and nothing changes. We see newerish players like this dude step up and give the presidency their shot. Although eRussia seems to be liking him a lot more then we do at the moment. But, maybe the time for egomaniacs, party bullshit, and political ploys or over…but probably not.

Sincerely,
MP
Some guy with a paper

PS: Keep comments as civil as possible please. Servian trolls, welcome to my paper, and leave a comment because I still love you