An Average Citizen's Reactions to CP Debate

Day 1,260, 23:47 • Published in Canada Canada • by Wally Cleaver

Yes, this is long. But what do you expect from a 3 hour debate? I tried to add enough pictures for those of you who lack the skill of literacy.






To start off with I will introduce myself. A few of you know me as the citizen that on occasion releases artwork through this newspaper. Well, I am certainly more than that. I joined eRepublik on March 1, 2011 (Day 1,197 of the New World). I joined the CPP as soon as I was able to join a political party. Not because I like their policies, but because they offered free food. Since then, I have found a deep interest in the politics of our country. I have never run for congress but am an avid reader of political news both within CPP and within eCanada. For me voting is not as simple as a popularity contest nor as simple as following party lines. After great consideration of the issues I had decided I would vote for AngryMobMan for President this month.

However, due to the unfortunate circumstances that resulted in AngryMobMan not being on this months Presidential Elections, it became necessary for me to choose an new candidate to support. After reading all available campaign articles and speaking with the candidates, I was unable to make a choice. I decided that I would have to make my decision based upon last night's debate.






The debate started promptly at 9PM Eastern Time with opening speeches. KazLeblanc and Cypherrahl, provided very generic introductions taking the opportunity to make generalizations about their goals as Country President. While such comments are to be expected, Muglack's opening was not expected. Muglack opened not with political jargon, in fact he pin pointed the phrases most commonly used, "More guns for CAF and TCO", "Stockpile", "Help our allies!". Instead Muglack took the chance to explain his deep understanding of the game mechanics going so far as to say, "...I'll do everything I can to exploit those mechanics to our benefit." Right from the start I found Muglack to be more interesting and engaging. But I had yet to make my decision.

Moving on to the question portion of the evening, the moderator, Aeriala, opened by asking each of the candidates whether they would continue with Jacobi's current Cabinet system (Ministers decided by Congress) or revert to the previous system of the President selecting his own Ministers. Cypherrahl has decided he will be keeping the current system but ensuring that certain positions are filled immediately. The other two candidates have decided upon a Cabinet selected by them. Ultimately, whether the President or Congress chooses, as long as the job gets done then in my opinion either system works for me.







The next question provided to the candidates was, "What are your proposals on how we should spend the tax dollars that remain after we have covered our MPP expenses?" During this section there was the opportunity for each candidate to ask the others a couple of rebuttal questions. This is an issue that directly affects the future of our country and was were I started to form my decision.

Cypherrahl started by outlining his plan for further supporting "TCO, CAF and any other proven organized militia(IE; HOPE and any others that may emerge)". This funding however would come with what appeared to be a condition that it be "concentratated(sp) to those of 1) lower str 2) lower rank and 3) The more active members of these units(In Game where it counts)" due to increased self supplying. One thing I do not understand is why candidates when running for both President and Congress insist on supplying HOPE. I was a member of HOPE for about a month and as far as I am aware there is no intention with the HOPE high command to receive government funding. But besides that, I like the idea of ensuring the funding goes to lower rank and more active citizens. I am not very familiar with how TCO or CAF supply is dealt with but I would hope that it is already setup in such a way that less experienced member receives a fair share of the funding.

KazLeblanc was next. He explained that he will be focusing on stockpiling weapons and food for an upcoming invasion to be evenly distributed to citizens regardless of level or strength. The goal is to issue funds to his private citizen who will be responsible for making purchases from the market. Now it was not entirely clear where the items would be stored. With the 1,000 item limit/citizen KazLeblanc's inventory would be unable to support the entire country.

This plan raises many concerns. Firstly, if KazLeblanc is the only one storing the items, what happens in the unfortunate event that he disappears? Another factor that needs to be considered is theft. I do not know KazLeblanc and am certainly not saying that he is likely to steal but having sole access to an entire country's stockpile is quite concerning. Cypherrahl raises a third concern regarding the market price of weapons and food once it is announced the government would be making mass purchases. While at face value it does appear that this plan would have a negative affect on the markets, with some thoughtful consideration and planning, I feel such purchases could be made without strongly affecting prices.

A more concerning question was raised by Muglack, "Why do you feel the need to stick to the "Stockpile" method when history has shown time and time again that it doesn't work?" Now as a relatively new citizen I am unable to speak to how history has treated such plans so I must divert to those who know better. Therefore, I have relied upon how KazLeblanc replied to this question. Now, I have read and reread the entire three hour long logs of the debates and have yet to find a satisfactory answer. I see such things as "It's a strategy we haven't tried yet" and "Stockpiling tells individual Canadians that they actually do matter".

But I ask myself, in the event of an attack on eCanada, "Who do I want holding a government supplied gun? Me, an average citizen with 500 strength? Or one of our experienced fighting soldiers with well over 3-5000 strength?" And the answer I come to is, the soldier. Hands down I want as many weapons and as much food to go to the soldiers.

The third candidate, Muglack also had a plan for the surplus tax revenue. That plan is to supply Military Units with gold to upgrade companies to become more self-sufficient. While this has many risks, including theft, it does introduce many opportunities. If members of a MU are able to produce more food and more weapons there will be a lower demand for government funding to make purchases resulting in either lower taxes or providing funding to other services in the future. Questions were raised who would receive this funding. It was suggested during the open questioning following the debate by yours truly, that this funding be provided to MU's receiving government funding so that in the event of a theft all further funding can be removed as punishment. Muglack agreed to this completely. Another concern was raised that this plan is further supplying the upper-class with funding. Again I say to myself, "In the event of an invasion who do I want to have the guns?" Again and as always the answer is the same, the soldiers.






From this point forward, I had decided that Muglack was likely to receive my vote and it was up to the other two candidates to change my mind. After a brief discussion on the Supreme Court, which to me is important but should not be the President's main responsibility, Aeriala asked, "With the value of the CAD dropping this fast, how do you plan help the currency boost?" All three candidates were of the same opinion that nothing can be done as the economy is open to the whims of the Admins. It was a wise decision on the part of all three candidates to acknowledge the truth and to move on.






The next question sparked the most heated debate. "What are your militaristic goals for Canada from May 6th to Jun 5th?" While Cypherrahl answered with a generic "My intentions are to get in contact with our alliances and seek...possible military endevours(sp) that we can anitiate(sp) jointly", KazLeblanc decided it best to attempt to continue to discuss the previous question about the economy and his planned stockpile. "That's why this is a good time to implement my Ready Canada stockpile proposal. The most any government can do is to create demand through buying things."

After being quickly set back on track by Aeriala, KazLeblanc went on to describe a seemingly far-fetched goal of intervening "in the Greco-Turkish War through region swaps to the frontline." This resulted in a long discussion about how feasible it would be to reach Greece. While I am no expert on the military, I do know that it is quite the risk to take to open ourselves to immediate attack by the numerous enemies within Europe. Seeing how difficult it was for Jacobi to ensure our safety during this past months near Poland invasion, I do not see it as wise to proceed this such a plan. And it appears that KazLeblanc may not think so either. When asked by Muglack, "so you're gonna get to Turkey through Asia?" KazLeblanc responded "it's certainly...engaging". Throughout the entire debate KazLeblanc has stressed that he intends on making eCanada more "engaging" and "entertaining". While this is important, I cannot understand how risking our country's borders is fun.

Moving on the Muglack's goals for the military for the month. Like Cypherrahl, Muglack emphasized the need to consult our allies all while ensure that active battles are occuring. After consideration with TERRA and EDEN, Muglack would like to investigate a potential land swap with Portugal to move into South America to keep battles going "without jeopardizing our MPPs and alliances so that we can stop ONE if they go on the offence(sp), or if not stop them, get our MPPs back as fast as possible to minimize the regions lost." This seems to me as the best option and something that keeps our allies, keeps active battles going, and keeps our country under relative safety in the event of an inevitable attack.



With a final question regarding how active the candidates plan on being (all of which assured eCanada of maximum participation) the debate officially ended. With the end of the debate, my vote had also been sealed.

This tomorrow I will be voting for Muglack.



In conclusion, I will provide a few quotes from last nights election that I find to be of interest.

~ KazLeblanc referring to Muglack and himself: "Here's where I think our biggest difference plays out. I'm a roleplayer whilst [Muglack is a] gameplayer."

~ Muglack on the Supreme Court: "It's well documented that I've had... "disagreements?" with the Supreme Court and we haven't always seen eye to eye. But for what it's worth, I think the concept is sound. I would like to see some serious changes to it, but not now. And not quickly"

~ Cypherrahl on his bladder and nicotine addiction: "BTW any 10 [minute] pee and smoke breaks in this thing"


If anyone is interested the entire debate can be found here.

Well, if anyone read this, I want to say thank you and to the candidates I say good luck tomorrow to all three of you.


Muglack for CP!!