Article
So, the last article I wrote was probably misleading or confusing for a lot of people. I apologize for that, I was a bit miffed and didn't really have enough time to spend writing it. But I had plenty of time to think while I was at work and it occurred to me that, since I resigned the Presidency, I can explain some things that it would have been bad form for me to say as the President.
I'm not saying everyone needs to read this or should care, but if you're genuinely interested in how these things go down, I'm writing this just for you.
I think it's important people have the opportunity to understand what I'm so pissed about. Some are no doubt thinking it's because I just didn't get my way or that I'm simply being pedantic. I'm not and what went wrong here goes to the very core of how power is organized in these United States and how that has eroded to the point where I feel it has broken down.
You might be wondering why we didn't just have a nice, open discussion in the public about which alliance we should join or, indeed, if we should join any at all. This sounds like a nice idea, but the problem is that in these discussions we must honestly weigh the pros and cons of the alliance and it's members.
For example, in my opinion Poland is often more of a liability than it's worth as an ally. They draw a lot of fire from other countries, so they frequently need defending but their political scene is often chaotic and it's difficult to know when the winds will shift and when Poland will say 'lolfu' to someone. It's important that decision makers be able to have honest conversations like this, however having that conversation in public can obviously really piss off these potential allies and the last thing you want to do when joining a new alliance is to step on a bunch of toes in the process. Therefore, the process must be opaque to everyone but they who are making the decisions.
In most countries, this is not so much of a problem because most countries, especially large, successful ones, power structures operate fundamentally differently than we have operated in the United States. In the United States, we place a lot of emphasis on the democratic process and the checks-and-balances method of Governance. This is good, because it helps to assure that the President isn't ripping everyone off and is genuinely serving the interests of those who elected him. However, this tends to be very inefficient in a strategic sense and can result in quite a bit of dithering as Congress bickers among itself.
Elsewhere, eSim is approached as a war game first with all else taking a backseat. Therefore, they tend to organize by delegating full authority to the President to act as they see fit with their Congresses deferring to the President. If they decide the President is wrong or not doing the right thing, they just impeach him or engage a Civil War.
The solution we came up with, as a means of ensuring public confidence while not wasting too much time screwing around with a bunch of roleplay nonsense or grandstanding, is that I generally behave like a dictator but instead of asserting my own will, I quickly assess the mood of the people or Congress, as seems appropriate, and dictatorially execute what I believe their will is.
This is quite a clever solution and it has worked remarkably well, up to this point, but it has one fatal flaw.
If Congress devolves to such a point where I cannot correctly ascertain what it's thinking, then we're back to a standard representative Democracy. This has been in the process for some time and I have been increasingly frustrated with not being able to get a clear answer from any but an ever decreasing number of Congresspersons.
This has finally come to a head and failed in the most spectacular possible way.
This might not have seemed like such a big deal, but proposing to join and then Congress failing to pass a proposal to join a coalition is *the* cardinal sin of Foreign Policy. This may be much ado about nothing, but what it signals to everyone in the world is that we just spat in the face of those people who were calling us 'friend' and gives anyone who might have been interested in us joining otherwise a very good reason to reconsider. Any nation that might feel like it has a score to settle with us can rest assured that this is their best chance to catch us alone.
For that reason alone, everyone in Congress should have voted 'Yes' to the proposal.
Whatever you think the risks and pitfalls of joining NWD, that decision can be reversed.
But you can't get this much blood back out of the water.
Like I said, this might not end up being a problem but that does not change what an incredible f*** up this was and demonstrated everything wrong with how Congress now functions, or more accurately, how it does not function. There are too many players who did not engage at all. If you're in Congress, you damn well need to be available for these kind of things and you better damn well ask enough questions to develop an opinion and make that opinion known. The President can't do his job if the Congress is a silent monolith.
KenRath quite rightly pointed out in the comments of my previous article that he gave up on trying to request access to the Congressional forums. This is a known problem. (However, Ken, that does not excuse that you have not attempted to request access in over a year and there's no reason you can't get on Discord, or IRC or even send me a f***ing PM. That's on you, dude.)
Other experienced players, who should damn-well know better, abstained or 'voted their conscience' (or, in one case, outright tried to start a riot) all put their personal feelings ahead of what they should understand to be a massive security liability. What a bunch of roleplaying crap.
So, no. I'm not upset that we didn't do the thing I wanted to do.
I'm upset that those who had thoughts that should and would influence my decision on this failed to make those known to me and I'm upset that Congress got so caught up in trying to play 'Real Life, Big Boy Congress' they forgot whose interests they're elected to serve.
But none of that is my problem anymore, because I will put up with a lot of bulls*** for America but I will be be god-f***ing-d***ed if I'm going to try to play Anne Sullivan to a Congress that's been struck blind, deaf and dumb.
All my love, forever (even now),
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Not Joining New World Disorder (8 years ago)
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About the game:
USA as a world power? In E-Sim it is possible!
In E-Sim we have a huge, living world, which is a mirror copy of the Earth. Well, maybe not completely mirrored, because the balance of power in this virtual world looks a bit different than in real life. In E-Sim, USA does not have to be a world superpower, It can be efficiently managed as a much smaller country that has entrepreneurial citizens that support it's foundation. Everything depends on the players themselves and how they decide to shape the political map of the game.
Work for the good of your country and see it rise to an empire.
Activities in this game are divided into several modules. First is the economy as a citizen in a country of your choice you must work to earn money, which you will get to spend for example, on food or purchase of weapons which are critical for your progress as a fighter. You will work in either private companies which are owned by players or government companies which are owned by the state. After progressing in the game you will finally get the opportunity to set up your own business and hire other players. If it prospers, we can even change it into a joint-stock company and enter the stock market and get even more money in this way.
In E-Sim, international wars are nothing out of the ordinary.
Become an influential politician.
The second module is a politics. Just like in real life politics in E-Sim are an extremely powerful tool that can be used for your own purposes. From time to time there are elections in the game in which you will not only vote, but also have the ability to run for the head of the party you're in. You can also apply for congress, where once elected you will be given the right to vote on laws proposed by your fellow congress members or your president and propose laws yourself. Voting on laws is important for your country as it can shape the lives of those around you. You can also try to become the head of a given party, and even take part in presidential elections and decide on the shape of the foreign policy of a given state (for example, who to declare war on). Career in politics is obviously not easy and in order to succeed in it, you have to have a good plan and compete for the votes of voters.
You can go bankrupt or become a rich man while playing the stock market.
The international war.
The last and probably the most important module is military. In E-Sim, countries are constantly fighting each other for control over territories which in return grant them access to more valuable raw materials. For this purpose, they form alliances, they fight international wars, but they also have to deal with, for example, uprisings in conquered countries or civil wars, which may explode on their territory. You can also take part in these clashes, although you are also given the opportunity to lead a life as a pacifist who focuses on other activities in the game (for example, running a successful newspaper or selling products).
At the auction you can sell or buy your dream inventory.
E-Sim is a unique browser game. It's creators ensured realistic representation of the mechanisms present in the real world and gave all power to the players who shape the image of the virtual Earth according to their own. So come and join them and help your country achieve its full potential.
Invest, produce and sell - be an entrepreneur in E-Sim.
Take part in numerous events for the E-Sim community.
