My Congressional Bid for the Upcoming August Election

Day 637, 10:48 • Published in USA USA • by Astra Kat G


Hello, I'm Katherine "Astra" Gallagher, a USA Green Party member, and I'm running for Congress in the Sunshine State -- or as it is affectionately known: Hurricane Harbor -- Florida. If I'd known I was going to do that when I joined eRep, I probably would've chosen a more confident profile picture. You know, maybe something along the lines of me standing at the President's podium with my RL face plastered on? (No, I wouldn't really do that. It's an inside joke.)

Yes, my home state of New Jersey was overrun. I phoned in an early warning of those Ruskies from atop the Statue of Liberty, where I and others often go to think, but it did no good. New Jersey was lost and now I'm going to try my hand at this in Florida. I'm petitioning to have Congressional meetings at Disney World.

So why am I running...? Because I think I may be able to help get this country back on its feet and, on a more personal note, I follow the Country Administration page rather closely and have always been annoyed that I can't press that gosh darn Yes/No button. Heh. No long, protracted speech here; I'd just like to get down to the basics.

USA Green Party at Heart, United Independents Party for the Win.:

First, you may want to know a bit more about the political party with which I am affiliated. Great! Here's the website: http://www.eusa-greens.spruz.com/

Because of those mystical forces called Game Mechanics, I will be running under the banner of a Top 5 political party,the United Independents Party, whose President is a former Green. I will return to USA Green Party after the election, but I will be firmly the same independent individual regardless of the party to which I belong.

So here are a few things you should know about me:

1. I'm occasionally a V.O.B. (Very Opinionated B*tch). That's just the way I am. I probably, from time to time, say or do things that leave me open to criticism, but if I've got an opinion, I just hate to suppress it. In a related category, I think. I question. I disobey. Hey, it happens, deal with it. I follow my own mind. Oh, and I am a fickle woman. There's no denying that, either. Just putting that out there right now. So that mind I mentioned is subject to change at a whim. Seriously, yesterday I said I wasn't running for Congress, and today? Well, here I am, running for Congress. Mad world.

2. I want to learn, I'm willing to listen, and I do my best to be patient. This may seem to contrast with what I just said, above, but do you honestly expect me to solve the conundrum that is the mind of this woman in one little online article? No, I didn't think so. So, moving along...

3. I don't know a whole lot about the mystical forces at play called "game mechanics," but I've seen on more than one occasion that I know more than my fellow newbs. So that's something, right? As stated above, I want to learn.

4. I don't know a lot about politics. Liberal? Conservative? Fringe? Mainstream? Radical? Conventional? Elite? Crony? Rick Santorum? Hell if I know. All I know about politics is a person's party affiliation and I only know that because it's listed on his or her profile.

5. I'm not going to go around recruiting votes from ordinary folks who have no idea why I'm knocking on their doors and sending them mail. Sorry, I'm rather sure that's part of the "politics game" but it's just not my thing. If you support me, great; if you don't, that's fine, too.

6. I'm probably not going to be putting forth any proposals of my own, unless I think there's a snowball's chance in Hell of lowering taxes (more on that later on). Seeing as it would be my first term as Congresswoman, and I'm only a month-old player, I'd simply listen to and consider others' proposals.

7. I'm sticking with America as long as I possibly can. Understand that I have turned down many lucrative offers in foreign lands from friends and acquaintances due to my mad Land skillz, all because I want to stick with you, America. Sure, I could have it easier in somewhere like Greece, making 5 gold a day (that might be an exaggeration, it may not...), but I'm not sunning myself in beautiful Greece or planning to push my American ways on eSouth Africans because I'm in this for America. I'm in this for eUSA. The only time I'd give up is if our eGovernment gave up and there was no one left on the official eUS forums. I don't foresee that happening in the near future.

8. I buy American. I only buy after checking that both a prospective seller's company and organization/person owning that company both carry the American flag. If it's actually some sort of secret spy PEACE Org in disguise, well I can't very well help that. All I can say is, I try my best.

9. I'm not going to say nice things about Ajay Bruno no matter how hard you want me to. I have been, and will continue to be, an outspoken critic of Ajay Bruno, to the point of being a V.O.B. I only put that out there not because I think Ajay Bruno is worth mentioning, but because there may be those among you who may try to use some of the more...feverent, less-than-fully-thought-out things I've said against me.

10. I've got current Vice President PigInZen's endorsement. Take that as you will, America. Contrary to what I've said in the past, in talking to him recently, I've found that we don't actually disagree all the time and that we can actually get along in a civil manner. Hurrah.

Where I stand on some topics:

1. I don't want to abandon our allies. I can't do much damage in fights, but I'll continue to fight, usually barehanded due to lack of funds, for our allies, regardless of eUS's official position. If that makes me a rogue or an outcast, so be it. I'm a V.O.B. about this and no one's going to get me to change my mind.

2. I know some PEACE supporters and actually don't hate them. Really! Yes, I know people who like PEACE and people who live in PEACE countries and people who fight directly against eUSA. Heck, I even listen to them and talk to them, when it doesn't sound like propoganda. Some of you might be wondering why I put this on my list of things you should know about me, but I know there are eUSA citizens out there who would cry PEACEnik at me just cos I think PEACErs occasionally have a point. They're not all bad people, folks. I can disagree with someone without resorting to yelling or insulting, so I have occasionally had civil conversations with PEACE members.

3. I support Emerick. I mean, I may not like the way he conducts himself publicly in Comments, but I support him overall. Contrary to what Chris Stanwick recently wrote, Emerick's position (as I read in an article that I can't find now) pre-election was that he'd do what he felt was best for eUSA and its allies at the time, clearly neither staunchly against peace with PEACE nor staunchly for it. He may've criticized Chris Stanwick, I know nothing about that, I just know (and reported in an earlier article) that peace with PEACE was a possibility under Emerick's Presidency and yet, I voted for him, which brings me to my next point.

4. I support peace with PEACE, providing our MPPs (Mutual Protection Pacts) remain intact as was the case with the recently proposed treaty. Here's where I'll probably get a thousand "FAIL" comments (if people bothered to read past the part where I say I support Emerick). But the fact of the matter is, I want to do what's best for our allies. They've stuck their necks out for us time and again and we'd be remiss not to help them in the best way we can. The peace treaty was the best option for both us and our allies because it would allow us to get our country back on its feet as quickly as possible so that we still have an economy a month or two from now and can afford to buy things such as food and weapons. Yes, there are those among our allies that may criticize, have lost faith in, or hate us now for considering peace, but would they like us any more when we're left a broken shell of a country, our citizens starving behind the walls of our fortress state Florida, a mere shadow of what we once were, economically? eNorth Korea sacrificed itself. eCanada sacrificed itself. eSwitzerland sacrificed itself. And, it's possible, that soon eSpain will sacrifice itself. So, you may argue, shouldn't eUSA be willing to do the same? That brings me to my next point.

5-A. I'm willing to fight to the death. I'm willing to make the same sacrifice that our allies made for us. Now this is where, before the fall of New Jersey, I asked readers if they genuinely thought PEACE would pay to level Florida and New Jersey when it's so much cheaper to just let us sit there, withering away to nothing and unable to regain our lost lands? We all know the answer is "yes," at least when it comes to New Jersey. Hey, I projected to the best of my ability, as any real Congress member or thinking American would, and I'm not ashamed to say that I was wrong. I reasoned it out and went with what was, in my mind, the most likely scenario. I firmly believed that PEACE would make the wisest strategic decision, given the choice, which would be to leave eUS badly crippled and unable to help its allies, not destroyed. Now? I'm not so sure. Many eUS citizens may be willing to make that ultimate sacrifice, should it come to it, but I don't think PEACE would let us.

5-B. If PEACE utterly destroyed us: We'd probably start a RW, eventually, once the eGovernment and military organized it. Luckily, and I know this is a strange thing to say, getting destroyed may not be so bad. Why? Because being wiped off the map would cancel all our open wars. Which means it would only be the occupying country that could fight against us, not all its PEACE allies, every time we wanted to start a RW to win back a region. This would, theoretically, make getting our regions back much easier. That's how I understand things would work, anyway. Once we had regions back, we could start anew, economically, much the way described below in 5-C, except in multiple regions with different resources instead of just one region.

5-C. If PEACE left us to rot in Florida: We would make the best of the situation as we had it. Sure, we'd only have one Medium Grain region, but surely there are small countries on the map that have grown to thrive. I'd suggest looking at them and asking them, politely, what works in their countries. We may be able to take parts of their strategy and apply it to us, to patch ourselves up. Now, with only one Medium Grain region, there's no doubt that we'd mostly open, own, and operate businesses in the Manufacturing and Construction sectors here in our single region of Florida. To combat overproduction of Grain, higher skilled workers should work at companies that produce a higher quality product; this would also diversify our crop and create more opportunities to sell our Grain at home and abroad (don't be mad, but I got the basic idea from one of Zoli's Hungarian articles). Some sort of government-sponsored Farmer's Program could be there to partially subsidize applicants who wish to open higher Grain companies until we've got at least one of each quality of Grain. Overall, however, our economy could be one of importing raw materials and exporting manufactured goods and constructions. Credit goes to StygianSteel for opening my eyes to this possibility; it was something he told me, but I agree with him on it.

6. I'm in favor of lowering taxes. Obviously, if we go down to only Florida, we might as well ratchet up the Import tax on Grain! We've got a ton of it selling very cheaply, at the moment, and anything that would encourage American Food companies to buy American Grain is a good idea to me (if there's an economic reason why you feel this would be bad, I'm willing to listen). Other than that, I'm not sure which taxes, yet... probably most of them. I'm willing to hear opinions on which are the best to lower from our current e-economic oppression rates, but I'd certainly not be in favor of raising the VAT (Value Added Tax, which I'm told comes directly out of the consumer's pocket when he/she buys an item). I want the average citizen to be able to afford to buy things such as food and weapons, not tax them to death. I don't have anything against our military, only the greatest admiration and respect, but damage-wise, I think an armed, well-organized, well-fed population of ordinary citizens can do a better job defending our states, and our allies, than the simple tanks+wellness packs strategy. I would imagine it would probably be more cost-effective, too (yes? no?).

7. Other issues? Ask a question! Thanks so much to those of you who have already asked questions, challenging me to answer you in the best, most honest way I know possible. Scroll down to the Comments section of this article to see what I mean.

A few notes about my availability:

1. I've got a real life. I know, sometimes it doesn't seem that way, but I'm at a stage in my life where I'm transitioning from college graduate to actual-person-with-a-job-and-bills, which means it's wholly possible that something may happen (hopefully nothing bad!) that prevents me from being online for a while.

2. I don't spend much time in the IRC USA-chat. Honestly, I find I get a lot more done online if I don't idle in a chatroom or on instant messenger.

3. I'm not registered on the official eUS forums. Obviously, if elected, I'll register simply to view the private Congress subforums, but I find plenty of news and ways to educate myself/waste time on eRep itself. So I'll check out the Congressional stuff, but I'm not going to make myself a big presence on unrelated (albeit entertaining) topics at the eUS forums.

4. Voting Record. I don't know how often I'm supposed to do this, but I'll try to keep people updated on my voting record, with the reasoning behind each decision.

5. Approving Citizenship. Considering how trusting and naive I can be, I'm probably the best person to stay away from this part of the Citizenship module. Should a situation arise in which I am about to approve citizenship for someone, however, I'll always ask for second opinions on a person, research a person's newspaper thoroughly (when applicable), and talk to the potential citizen before making my final decision, and I will always let everyone know about each citizenship decision I make, most likely attached to my Voting Record article. There's no way in Hell that I'm approving someone advertising the PEACE Media Mogul program in his newspaper, for instance (you know who you are!).

Conclusion:

Now, if any of the above gives you pause, then please, follow your heart and don't vote for me. If, on the other hand, you think I could do some good in this country by occasionally spouting my opinions at other Congress members and pressing that Yes/No button on law proposals, then great! Vote for me.

Oh, and to show I follow through on my promises, here's the personal clown I mentioned in my last article. It's in link form so that anyone suffering from coulrophobia doesn't have to look.

Thanks for reading, America,
~ Katherine "Astra" Gallagher