Join the new world

Having decided to do my eTravelling via my org, Donut Stores I can now announce that I'm officially keeping my citizen account here in Ireland (though I did take advantage of being out of congress to run over to Malaysia when they were first attacked by Indonesia).

As a result I am very pleased to be able to run for congress again, down in my beloved South-East. I know we're a very small percentage of the population - and that most of us spend our time up in the North-East - but I was born in the South East in RL and, being home, it'll always be where my heart is. I'd rather run here every time and not get elected every time than go where the easier votes are.

But onto business.

About Me
I was eBorn on July 15th, making me four months old in game. I have previously served two terms as a TD for our region, those being the two sessions immediately before the current one. In my first term I missed only two votes, both in my first week when I still learning how the Dail worked. For my second term I'd made it known prior to the election that I would likely miss the second two weeks of it entirely due to a RL vacation. As it happened I only missed a couple of votes then too.

I have, as a citizen unaffiliated to government, run ad campaigns abroad to encourage people to come to eIreland. I'm also hoping to use my eTravels to encourage friendships abroad and a greater understanding of our great eNation in those outside our borders. These journeys, only a few days old now, are already going very well. I have started in eSweden and the citizens there have been incredibly friendly. I'm hoping this continues as I move around.

I am a member of the IDF, our military, and a proud member of the 7th division. I am currently ranked Colonel but I have General in my sights and should safely get to rank up before Christmas.

Lastly, though certainly not least, I am currently serving my second term as Minister of Community. In my first term I re-established the very sucessful lottery, founded the ISCF and ran the Community awards, as well as several successful one-off competitions. I more than doubled subscription to the community newspaper (you'll find it here, if you haven't subscribed already: http://www.erepublik.com/en/newspaper/the-irish-community-189477/1) and got about 250 eIrish citizens friended to the org, greatly increasing the number who saw its shouts from about thirty. This term so far with the help of the wonderful 😎ayan, my deputy, I've managed to get that number over three hundred, I'm hoping to hit 500 before I'm done. I continue to run the lottery and after a month's break the community awards are back. We finished the Q2 house draw started by the prior administration (..and a Q1 house draw is imminent, thanks to a very generous donation) and there's currently a quiz happening (for details see the paper) in which citizens can win Q5 bread. I have encouraged sponsorship of the community award prizes and eIrish citizens and businesses really stepped up to the plate - our winners will be doing a little better than a Q1 weapon each this month. Citizens as a whole seemed very pleased with my work as Minister of Community and seemed glad to see me back.

To be honest I was very glad to be back, I love the interaction it gives me with my fellow eIrish.

My Manifesto

Let's be honest, these get boring and repetative after a while. So I'll stick to bulletpoints.

♣ I promise to be present. I will check the dail daily, I will vote, and I will contribute to the debate any time I feel I can. I will also bring the concerns of the South East's citizens to the dail when they contact me with them.
♣ I promise to continue to educate myself. I don't presume to know everything about every issue, far from it, and I know what my biggest weaknesses knowledge-wise are. I will continue to read articles, eIrish and global, to inform myself of current situations and feeling.
♣ I will do my best to be available to any citizen in need. If they don't understand an aspect of the game I will do my best to explain it to them, or at the very least direct them to someone who can. While I don't actively and deliberately check newer citizens' profiles to check in on their wellness I do my best to buffer wellness where I notice a deficit, whether by gifting or advice. This usually happens when running MoC events and I notice a name I haven't seen before lol.
♣ I won't propose any votes that haven't been discused. This should be a given but every single term someone does it, so I felt to promise that I wouldn't. Ahem.
♣ I will discuss and debate, not fight or namecall or dirt-throw. Where I have something beneficial to contribute or something pertinant to ask, I will. I will not get into namecalling. This is thankfully less prevalent here than when I first came along but it's still worth saying.
♣ I stand as an Independent Voices candidate because I very much believe in taking each case on its own merits. I would never say that I'm pro or anti-alliance because I fully acknowledge that while I don't believe it's currently a good idea to join the existing ones it could well be that tomorrow something might happen that changes that. Similarly I take each conflict on it's merits - I went to fight in Malaysia personally because eIreland had just put gold into war games there and I wanted to protect our investment etc. I don't define myself with boxes - left/right, conservative/liberal etc. because, frankly, it depends on the individual issue. In this vein I will always listen to any concerns or thoughts any citizen of eIreland, and the South East in particular, have on any issue. I don't make my mind up in advance of discussion, I really will listen when you speak.

I believe that summarises the main points, I don't want this getting too epic (I'm aware my articles tend toward running long).

Yours and in service,
Donut