EDEN: One Senator's Opinion
Tyler Bubblar
Let me start by saying I am annoyed. I spent 45 minutes typing a lengthy and in my humble opinion articulate article about joining EDEN. I hit the publish button and my article disappeared. It happens sometimes, but normally I remember to select all and copy just in case. Unfortunately I did not do that this time. With that said I will do my best to replicate the previous article that I so painstakingly wrote earlier this afternoon.
As you no doubt have heard by now President Frost was presented with a formal request for the eUSA to officially join the ranks of EDEN. This invitation was voted and universally agreed upon by the member nations of EDEN. My vote was a yes with very strong misgivings. I weighed the pros and cons as I saw them. I honestly felt that a yes was the best possible choice for the eUSA. Let me make this clear we in congress voted in a large majority to join EDEN because we felt we had no choice for several reasons. Before getting into that I am going to present the arguments for and against that bounced around in my head prior to casting my vote.
AGAINST:
1: This invitation was not so much an invitation as a demand/ultimatum. It was strongly hinted that if we declined this offer EDEN would take a serious look at leaving the eUSA to fend for itself.
2: Directly because of this thinly veiled threat I took a look at our situation. We have Russia perched to the west. They are armed to the teeth with MPPs we activated a very long time ago. In the moment we lose our MPPs we are toast. The eUSA may be one of the strongest nations in eRepublik, but we cannot fight off Indonesia, Iran, Hungary, Russia , and Serbia all by ourselves.
To differentiate this from the very similiar argument in FOR, let me clarify. Join us or we may just let our mutual enemies destroy you, is not the most diplomatic way to send someone an invitation , and it is only a small step (at least in my mind) , from join us or we will destroy you. This is an echo of the now defunct PEACE GC and makes me nervous.
3: I feel that this "invitation" came in large part as a response to our ending hostilities with France, and to a lesser extent possibly Italy. Spain was furious when we called it quits with our war with France, however, due to their being wiped off the maps all their old open wars and any MPPs they activated were wiped clean. Any open conflicts they presently have are one on one recently declared wars. We do not have that kind of security. In short joining EDEN would limit our ability to unilaterally end open conflicts.
4: Upon joining EDEN we would be expected to begin paying into the EMC fund. We already pay (in my mind) a ludicrous amount into the TAF fund. To be fair negotiations are underway to adjust the amount paid into this fund based on income rather than population, however, I have strong suspicions that at least some of our allies view the eUSA as a cashcow.
FOR:
1: Same as reason one in against. EDEN may leave us out in the cold should we refuse to officially join them. I for one do not want to see the miraculous and amazing efforts of regaining our lands undone.
2: EDEN has been there for us they are the reason we were able to repel so many invaders. Taking our place in EDEN would show we are just as committed to them as they are to us. Besides refusing a Unanimously voted upon invitation to join them would be a slap in the face of every friend we have.
3: Russia sitting on our border casting greedy eyes upon Alaska, they are loaded with MPPs and they are just waiting for a sign of weakness. While the storming out of our stronghold in Florida to drive out the invaders was epic, it also left us with the very activated MPPs that gave our enemies the power to invade and nearly wipe us out. Plain and simple we need to stay in the good graces of EDEN.
4: Being a member would give us a voice in the councils of EDEN. Our military commanders would have some say in the tactical deployment of troops and use of resources.
Weighing those arguments in my mind I cast my vote of yes. Some poor decisions made in the ATLANTIS days still have the power to come to haunt us. We must show solidarity with EDEN or the many enemies of the United States of America will pounce. For those who wish to read the EDEN charter it can be found here: http://www.erepublik.com/en/forum/topic/128805/treaty-of-the-brotherhood-of-eden/1
The decision to join EDEN was not one that we in Congress and Josh Frost came to lightly. There was a great deal of research and debate put into it. As your Senator for Louisiana I cast my vote with the best possible interests of our nation in mind. Our allies have been stalwart and loyal, we owe them this. Being closely affiliated with EDEN, but not of them could only work as long as they were comfortable with the situation. They are no longer satisfied with the old arrangement, we must adjust and adapt. It is time we place our leaf on EDEN's tree.
God Bless America
Comments
Nice article. I agree we should join EDEN
Is there any opposition to joining EDEN in congress? Will it pass no problem?
Good article. It sums up a lot of the points that were weighing on my mind when it came to my vote. Voting yes was hard, but the better of the two options. I think we made the best choice of a difficult situation.
There will be an announcement on Sunday or sooner, Turd. Not sure how much more we're -- I mean, Congress -- is supposed to say at this point. XD
Anyway, thank you so much for writing this, Tyler! It's nice to see a long, well-written article on the subject that has a lot of arguments for and against joining EDEN but, with some thought, comes to the conclusion that the author feels is in the best interests of the nation.
That's the kind of thing I like to see. 🙂
I doubt that there's no opposition at all...in fact, I'm sure the debate probably got very heated. I know I'm not nearly as happy about this as I would have been a month ago- because of Poland's antics in Peru. That crap killed ATLANTIS and came dangerously close to killing EDEN too. As much as I appreciate our allies and all they've done for us, I don't know that we need that.
-Drake
P.S. As much as I can now rail against joining EDEN as a private citizen, I have to admit that if I were a Senator, I'd probably come to the same conclusion you had. I say that cos I've done the exact same thing with other big decisions in the past when I was a Senator -- and actually, even before I was a Senator, regarding the pan-PEACE-peace-treaty that had people up in arms back in July or August. XD
So yeah, I respect your opinion. To say the least. 😉
It will pass there were a few dissenting votes, a few yeah we should definitely do this, and a whole lot of I don't like it, but.....
and thank you Astra that means a lot coming from you it really does
Great article. Presenting the facts (cons and pros) makes for a good newspaper.
Welcome dear allies!
sorry about your last article. that has happened to me multiple times.
you did a good re-hash though.
EDEN the new PEACE :3
Astra, that is why I write mine in Notepad, silly 😛
Very nicely written and thoughtful article.
We need EDEN and EDEN needs us.
~Zheng He
PS : Never compose inside erepublik's boxes 🙂
Nice, even handed article. I more or less agree with your breakdown of the facts of the situation.
I personally cannot support the eUSA joining EDEN however and any supposed veiled threats/bullying are unlikely to change my mind. One can be an ally without being in an alliance and we certainly have been to the EDEN nations. I do not honestly believe EDEN would be so cold or self destructive as to push an ally like the eUSA aside when we have been both loyal and helpful. EDEN can only lose by pushing the eUSA and our strength aside and any threats are not a sound basis for eUSA foreign policy.
I found this talk of joining worrisome from the start as someone who remembers the bureaucratic pains of ATLANTIS. Large alliances are just more trouble than they are worth and I have no desire to have such a heavy hand telling us what to do or what not to do when it comes to dealing with former PEACE nations, etc. We have to be willing and able to make our own decisions on these matters and allow that nations and their leadership can change.
I stand as one citizen against joining EDEN (not against EDEN nations or our allies).
I guess in the end all comes down to ponder what is in the interest of the USA and what is in the interest of EDEN countries. If an agreement can be made and USA accepts standing as equal, no more, no less, than any other EDEN country, same rights and duties as any other member of the Alliance, then it's OK.
On EDEN, it's obviously not in EDEN's long term interest to have the kind of unpredictable maverick ally who does things, unilaterally like you said, here and there, every now and then, following its own purposes, interests and agenda, but still demanding EDEN's military protection, as you might guess. That's not what I would call a reliable and truthful ally, but rather a "I'm here but maybe tomorrow I'll be somewhere else if it suits me better" sort of undesirable "ally".
Team-playing.
Else, well, you're free to look for your own place in the e-world. I think it's pretty obvious.
NO! No to Eden!
I agree with StygianSteel's thoughts 100%.
Any President or Congressmember that caves and cowers to veiled threats ought to not be in that position and should resign.
Nice article, nicely presented.
I agree with Stygian's worries. This is an inauspicious beginning to our membership in EDEN...
The enemy of my enemy is my friend. The EDEN dues are inconsequential to the benefit of the MPP pacts we now enjoy. Yes, it limits our options..but recent history has indicated we exercised options as if we were a full-fledged member of EDEN. As long as the game mechanics remain the way they are...membership in EDEN makes security and fiscal sense. We need to go big, or go home.
Bull. The kind of tactics employed by EDEN members on a regular basis aren't the kinds of items that the eUS should be emulating. Way to go, guys. Throw our sovereignty and rights out the window to be one of the herd. IF IT AIN'T BROKE, DON'T FIX IT.
I remember when EDEN was there to save our asses when they needed saving. Despite the fact that our asses are very beautiful and worth saving, I say EDEN did us one and we still owe them for that. I SUPPORT JOIN
So you'd throw away interest and allegiance to your country first and foremost because you think we "owe them one?" We arrived en masse in Croatia. Did we need to be a member for that? We fought all over Hungary. Did we NEED to be a member for that? We fought for Spain against France while we were STILL under invasion. Did we NEED TO BE A MEMBER FOR THAT? We sacrificed our OWN STATES for Canada. Again, I ask you, DID WE NEED TO BE A MEMBER FOR THAT?! NO. A thousand times, no. Superalliances WILL fail. Atlantis proved that. PEACE proved that. You REALLY want to put us through this cycle AGAIN? COMMON SENSE PEOPLE.
Excellent article.
I had always assumed we could remain nations friendly to one another without a solid contractual alliance, which spoke more of friendship than hard obligations that will entrap us... For example, Poland's actions regarding Peru, which even now is disrupting EDEN. Do we really want to join that, when Poland has been badmouthing us (even though America was uninvolved in Argentina vs Peru) and their own allies in EDEN who were unsupportive of their greedy treasury-pillaging. Essentially, we will be forced to accept the bad apples along with the rest, now, if we wish to retain our MPP's... whereas before, we could help and receive help from the nations whom we chose to interact with, and had no obligations in the affairs of those such as Poland.
That said, that is my primary concern regarding EDEN; the majority I see as positive reasons to join them. They pulled our asses out of the fire in our time of need, you can't just look away from that. Trustworthy allies and being a teamplayer is what leads to success in eRepublik, for a nation, to have others guard your back and lend a helping hand to each other when needed. We mutually need each other, although it also irks me that they would resort to presenting this in an ultimatum-like fashion.
Maegalodonus makes a good point in that, thusfar, we are an unpredictable maverick ally to EDEN, whom they may feel they cannot always rely on, thus they wish to have a more solid bond. I don't like the idea of them seeing us as a cashcow... And demanding it like that is not the way to do it. I can forgive them a diplomatic fau😜aus, however, provided they understand if we refuse to get drawn into any petty nonsensical conflicts such as the example of Poland and Peru.