Newsletter Ranting: Honesty, Delivered Brutally [Mad Marokai!]

[Marokai Backbeat]

Newsletter Ranting

Telling it like it is. Angrily.

Occasionally I see something that irritates me. Okay, more than occasionally, but you get the point. From time to time people need an injection of brutal honesty and scathing frankness, and something needs to be exposed for all to see. It's not here to attack people, start fights, or to harass others, simply to tell the truth about an issue as I see it, fairly and in detail.

No bullshit, no pussyfooting, no hand-holding here, just my infrequent editorializing on any Atlasian current events, in the hopes that people see the truth for what it is; Ugly.

Table of Contents

Rants:

Rant #1: Southeast Region continues anarcho-capitalist insanity!
August 26th, 2009

Rant #2: Regional Protection Party engages in hollow change.
August 28th, 2009

Rant #3: The Democratic Alliance, Main course or side dish?
September 7th, 2009

Rant #4: AndrewCT, Turncoat!
September 14th, 2009

Rant #5: Alexander Shamilton!
October 19th, 2009

Rant #6: "Reform" does not mean pointless change.
October 27th, 2009

Rant #7: Is it too soon to say 'I told you so'?
November 9th, 2009

Rant #8: The Regionalist.
November 14th, 2009

Rant #9: The Anti-Region Regionalists!
December 2nd, 2009

Rant #10: A Deal With the Devil.
December 15th, 2009

Rant #11: Fact-checking the Legacy Polisher. (Part 2)
January 14th, 2010

Rant #12: The Candidate of Nothing.
February 12th, 2010

Rant #13: Your only substance is Saline.
July 6th, 2010

Rant #14: Senator Pretender.
November 29th, 2010


Interviews:

Interview #1: Frequently Asked Questions w/ Xahar
November 11th, 2009

Interview #2: Frequently Asked Questions w/ NiK
November 21st, 2009

Interview #3: Frequently Asked Questions w/ Hashemite (Part 2)
December 5th, 2009

Interview #4: Frequently Asked Questions w/ RowanBrandon
December 7th, 2009

Interview #5: Frequently Asked Questions w/ Barnes
December 16th, 2009


Blasts From the Past:

Past Blast #1: Earl's Blast From the Past
December 9th, 2009

Past Blast #2: The Budget's Blast From the Past
February 23rd: 2010

Past Blast #3: Libertas, Sewer Socialist, & Marokai's Blast From the Past
November 29th, 2010

[Marokai Backbeat]

Waiting, mostly because I want to see how this combination of ranting and anger is different from that which is seen throughout your other posts.

LOL

Don't worry, something will be posted before I sleep.

[Marokai Backbeat]

Listening to me bitch is not exactly a thrilling event, Xahar.

[Marokai Backbeat]

Newsletter Ranting

Telling it like it is. Angrily.

Southeast Region continues anarcho-capitalist insanity:
August 26th, 2009

I'm not quite sure what's wrong with many Southern leaders, there must just be something in the water down there. Yet again, Southeast leaders are pressing anarchist policies seemingly designed to throw a cog in the machine and obstruct the economy all in the name of their ideology.

After an initiative (somehow) narrowly failed in their initiatives election a few days ago to reject much needed stimulus funds, everyone's favorite libertarian kook (who's economic hero is apparently Pinochet) introduced another initiative to take the funds, but destroy them once they're received.

Killing Two Birds With One Stone Act
Section 1: All money given to the Dirty South in the 2009 Atlasian Recovery & Relief Act shall be burned in a public ceromony.
Section 2: Tickets shall be sold for seats at the event, which will be used to raise money for the Dirty South while still maintaining a low tax burden.

I can't even begin to describe how incredibly f**king stupid it is to do such a thing. (Also, if this is what constitutes entertainment for Southeast citizens, get help.) Government intervention in times of recession is the right idea, as direct spending has been proven time and time again (by a wide variety of economists, left and right) to be more stimulative than, say, tax cuts or something doing nothing at all, but apparently few of the leaders in the Southeast give a damn.

Further economic incompetence follows:

End to Fractional Reserve Banking Act
All banks operating in the Dirty South shall be required to have 100% reserves for all demand deposits


End to Income Taxation Act
Section 1: All personal income taxes in the Dirty South are repealed.
Section 2: All corporate income taxes in the Dirty South are repealed.


Road Management Act
Section 1: Regional roads in the Dirty South shall be auctioned off to the highest bidder.
Section 2: All money collected from roads sold shall be refuned to taxpayers.
Section 3: Taxes for road maintenance and construction shall be lowered in proportioned with the percent of roads sold.

Incredibly smart, SPC. Privatize most roads, abolish all regional taxes, and destroy the banking system. That'll show those crazy socialists in the Senate! (So sorry you couldn't get elected. Wouldn't have any clue why.) As badger pointed out, banks don't keep 100% (or anywhere near that) of deposits on site, which is why we have banking institutions like the Federal Reserve or the FDIC to back them up, so such a requirement would crush the banking system of the Southeast.

Additionally, the initiative to privatize the roads is designed to interfere in the stimulus funds directed towards massive infrastructure programs. This is almost not even libertarianism, it's childishness, an immature "you're not the boss of me" to the federal government, without regard for the benefits.

What's more is that, according to GM Purple State, the Southeast is currently running a deficit because of their backward economic policies. (Among other things, like stupid policies crippling their manufacturing and agricultural industries.) Due to this, Purple State recommended a tax increase to care for the deficit, continue social services, and to spend stimulus money on keeping damaged industries from going under any futher.

What SPC has proposed is the precise opposite of what was recommended. Don't let that stop them, though! Others in the South backed SPC's lunacy up, including the Governor.

I sign and heartily endorse SPC's proposals.
X Gov. Daniel Adams

I'll sign them all as well

The Southeast seems, as I mentioned before, intent on following it's ideology all the way to the third world.

Such stupidity and economic obstructionism from the Southeast isn't news. They've opposed minimum wage laws in the past and illegally attempted to print their own currency, (which I took them to court over, and won) so people shouldn't be surprised that such things continue.

What does depress me, however, is the stunning lack of an understanding of even basic macroeconomics and our economic history. If this wasn't a game, and thank God that it is, the people in the Southeast would've probably killed hundreds of thousands of people all in the name of adhering to libertarianism. The South has a historic tendency to be more unemployed than the rest of the country, and much more poor than the rest of the country, and the addition of Puerto Rico (in comparison to the United States in real life) doesn't help the overall stats of the region, and the policies that the Southeast government continues to engage in keep hurting the people of the Southeast more and more. Does anyone care? Nope.

It's "segregation libertarianism now, segregation libertarianism tomorrow, segregation libertarianism forever." Consequences be damned.

Like I said, there's gotta be something in the water down there.

I call upon the people of the Southeast to stand up and think for once, and do something to help the people of your region instead of obsessively adhering to the doctrine of economic obstructionism.

[Marokai Backbeat]

You do realize that continued complaints about SPC's proposals (which are barely in English, as far as I can tell) might actually lead to some of them being passed, considering the Southeast's history of doing the opposite of what everyone else wants it to do.

Like I said;

Additionally, the initiative to privatize the roads is designed to interfere in the stimulus funds directed towards massive infrastructure programs. This is almost not even libertarianism, it's childishness, an immature "you're not the boss of me" to the federal government, without regard for the benefits.

[Marokai Backbeat]

Actually, let's push this to the other page.

[Marokai Backbeat]

Newsletter Ranting

Telling it like it is. Angrily.

Regional Protection Party engages in hollow change:
August 28th, 2009

Election aftermath is always enjoyable to watch. Parties collapse, coalitions form, changes are made, and so on, and in this case the Regional Protection Party decided it was time for a shuffling of deck-chairs.

In what was perhaps the biggest "no sh*t" statement of the season, DWTL acknowledged that his leading the RPP gave it something of a bad image. (Don't even get me started on his ridiculous claim of trying to bring a "true conservative Senate" given that we have 4 RPP members in the Senate after the election, and two members of the DA with positive economic scores. Another, a centrist. What the hell is he complaining about?)

He laid out who his successor was to be for his position, and decided to step down as RPP party chairman. Duke, his successor, promised to be a different leader. This is assuming of course, he stays active enough to be a proper leader.

Also, there are several scandals that are being thrown at the RPP, and as Chairman, I pledge to all Atlasians that if any illegal or otherwise shady activity that is unfair to the game is occurring in recruiting, I will make sure to stop it.

....

I cannot say that my style of leadership will be anywhere near the style DWTL used, but I hope all members of the RPP, from the oldest to the newest, feel comfortable coming to me with any problems or concerns they have with the party, as well as ideas that they feel could better the party.

Pretty words, but it seems like the new boss is the same as the old boss.

For one thing, Duke came to his position because of a funky line of succession work-up because the RPP was apparently too wimpy to actually call a new chairman for a vote, or to do any of this shit in public, preferring to stick to the tried and true method of secretive party business.

What's more amusing in this whole saga is the fact that it's the same old blood that's dominated the party for ages. Duke has been around for a very long time, and PiT remains Vice-Chair. The only change is the inclusion of Tmthforu94, who once threw unfounded allegations of blackmail against me just to try to win an election, for a second Vice-Chair position, and not to be too harsh, but Tmth is not the most well-read citizen of Atlasia, barely participates in debate in the Senate at all, and only got in the position he is in now because someone else committed voter fraud and left office and he was lucky enough to get appointed to the position.

Further, such a move doesn't demonstrate an infusion of new blood. It was a move to protect the RPP. Conducting party business in private, the fancy maneuvering of party members to get Duke in the position of Chair without an election, tossing Tmth in a position of power on the side, it screams "cover your ass." It's well known that the newbies in the RPP are plenty, and there were many rumors swirling of members attempting to rally to take over the RPP in the past. This was a move to protect the party members from the newbies that are easily marshaled and all seemingly friendly with one another, little more than that.

The attacks on the JCP, seemingly, continue, much like all the other old RPP politics.

As for the JCP guys talking about transparency, it's, well, a complete joke. They answer to bgwah just as much as we answered to DWTL...

This is standard RPP garbage. The image of the JCP as being a war-machine, never waivering and always standing together in lock-step is pure fiction. We have various members who break the party line and we have a wide varying range of ideological positions economically, though we're united by our social liberalism. Bgwah is a leader who, though strong-willed in Atlasis, is also not a complete jerk. He's a pretty nice guy.

We held, to my knowledge, our first JCP convention before the election that generated alot of activity and transparency. The RPP has a secret board where they scheme and badmouth their opponents (and even their own party members) and conduct God knows what. We are a transparent party. We are not secretive, we don't strong-arm our members. We recruit upstanding members of the forum, we politely ask for votes, and we don't have secrets from one another. The RPP is nothing like that, and Bgwah is nothing like DWTL.

Anywho, back to the news. Finally, DWTL claims to remain active in the party and in Atlasia:

As a note, I will remain heavily involved in Atlasia and serve in the RPP in pretty much the capacity Duke has for the last year. 

In other words, he'll remain just as vocal and powerful as he always was. Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain, power behind the throne, and all that jazz. This was a publicity stunt, to stop the bleeding of members and attempt to improve the seemingly deteriorating relationship between the DA and the RPP, because the Democratic Alliance is apparently tired of being taken for granted and treated as though it were a side-dish.

If anyone expected proper change from this event, if anyone expected anything in the RPP to change, well, I've got a bridge I'd like to sell you.

[Marokai Backbeat]

Not surprising DWTL will remain the most prominent member of RPP. The only mistery is how the RPP didn't yet collapse.

It certainly will be interesting to see how the RPP develops without DWTL at the wheel, but as long as he's around I'm sure he'll be influential no matter what position he's in.

[Marokai Backbeat]

This paper (aka me) would like to express it's lulz to Lt. Governor YesNoMaybeSo and Senator TooMuchToBeConsistent for their return to the RPP after vehemently denouncing it less than a day ago.

[Marokai Backbeat]

This paper (aka me) would like to express it's lulz to Lt. Governor YesNoMaybeSo and Senator TooMuchToBeConsistent for their return to the RPP after vehemently denouncing it less than a day ago.

For the record, I will not be rejoining the RPP.

Then I applaud you for standing up for yourself.

[Marokai Backbeat]

Oh, is the next one about the DA? We have been so good of late!

Regions actually

But I'm waiting until things cool down.

On second thought, I think it will be.

[Marokai Backbeat]

Newsletter Ranting

Telling it like it is. Angrily.

Democratic Alliance: Main course, or a side dish?
September 7th, 2009

How are things in the Democratic Alliance these days? Well, after some party squabbling inside the Regional Protection Party (and some flip-flopping from certain members) they're more powerful and influential than they were before. Ben, Vepres, and RowanBrandon, the latter two being office-holders, have defected from the RPP to join the DA after disappointment in the way the party was ran, and has since then drawn some commentary about being "over-extended."

In any case, it seems like things have finally settled down, and now pre-election speculation begins for October, leading to more behind-the-scenes fighting.

In what is the equivalent of two people having a one night stand and one of the unfortunate parties involved believing that to be the beginning of a wonderful relationship, it seems like the RPP has grown too comfortable in taking the DA for granted after the unity ticket in June. Now, rumors are swirling of another unity ticket. Will the DA fall for it again?

Hopefully not. While this paper can confirm that it seems as if the initial rumored RPP/DA ticket has fallen through, I can also confirm that the RPP is trying very, very hard to suck in another Democratic Alliance member into their web. One can only imagine whom. (And DWTL is intimately involved in this. Shocker.)

What the DA should keep in mind is that they're being used for the RPP's electoral benefit. The RPP expects a unity ticket, or at least some guarantee of secondary support, as if they're entitled to such a thing.

New RPP/DA Pacific Members! New RPP/DA Pacific Members! Come on...

How revealing. "RPP/DA members"? Are they the same thing now?

The RPP has engaged in disgusting tactics for the upcoming election, as they did before during the regional race in the Pacific. Attempting to enroll as many voting slaves as possible before the election, and funneling them to the Pacific in what was a failed attempt to defeat Ebowed in the Lt. Governor race.

Now, it seems like they're at it again, funneling members to the Northeast (to defeat Hash) and Mideast (to protect Tmth, who got the seat by appointment, though there is no proof Tmth is directly involved in this either way). Trying to deny this is ridiculous, and is just an outright insulting of our collective intelligence.

The Democratic Alliance is not the RPP's side-dish, being used to compliment themselves for their own success. The Democratic Alliance is their own party, with independent members who fight for sensible, fair, and pragmatic policy positions. (In contrast to the anarcho-capitalist nonsense many in the RPP subscribe to.) It deserves to be treated with, stay with me now, respect.

The Regional Protection Party acts jerky, almost as if it is entitled to Democratic Alliance support simply because of one alliance of convenience a few months ago. What the RPP needs is a reality check, and a firm kick in the ass to go along with it to give them some perspective.

Hopefully the Democratic Alliance won't fall for the RPP's false charms again, wisen up to the fact that they're being used, and fight back. They deserve better.

[Marokai Backbeat]

I should've thrown in an "abusive relationship" joke in there, but I suppose I missed my chance. Pity.

[Marokai Backbeat]

I'd caution against speculation like that, since many in the JCP, including myself, thought PiT was going to win handily last time.

[Marokai Backbeat]

Keep it up DWTL, you're making us look good.

[Marokai Backbeat]

You must be logged in to read this quote.

I'll try not to speak for the DA or for Purple State, but I just had a few words to say about this.

After my ascension to the chairmanship of the SDP, our party was stained by the reputation of Xahar. But I didn't just stand by and let him do and say whatever he wanted. We obviously couldn't control him, but we condemned him and his actions and I was very active in trying to reach out to other parties, yourself included, even if we had serious disagreements.

I worked hard to be kind to all other parties and leaders, and even helped the RPP a time or two. Eventually, of course, the party was too weak and stained from Xahar's deeds that we collapsed, and joined the JCP, but the point is, I didn't just stand by and ignore it.

I'm not asking, nor do I think PS is, that you tie DWTL and try to censor him, but you sit by and rarely say anything! You act as if you have no control over the party, or that you have no power whatsoever. You are the leader! DWTL himself proved that leaders can be powerful, and no I'm not asking you to be like him, but simply to exert your influence to prove yourself as a reformer. As of now, you seem like a placeholder to serve only as the RPP's plausible deniability card.

Honestly, perhaps the party collapsing was the best course of action. Afterall, parties do come to an end at some point, and your party has been poisoned by the vicious leadership and undemocratic and unfair tactics of strategic registration and voting, to the point to where your party has become a cancer-ridden body, propped up by machines. Perhaps real leadership is something like what I did, realizing that we were dead, and for our survival, we needed to merge, or create something new.

(Or you could still just open your secret enclave to the public.) That's just my two cents though.

You must be logged in to read this quote.

LOL Yeah, like you're going to get voted out. You guys engaged in funky maneuvering to make sure you got the spot because people were terrified of who else could've gotten the position if you held an open and public election.

[Marokai Backbeat]

Marokai, it's worth noting that your policy totally fáiled.

Reaching out to other parties? That's obvious. The JCP didn't want us until we merged, the DA didn't want to merge with us for fear of being "too left-leaning" and the RPP was only interested in using us as en electoral prop. (I was even hilariously approached to run on an RPP ticket once.)

Of course, I realized the error of my ways in going after you, though. You're not so bad

[Marokai Backbeat]

You must be logged in to read this quote.

I understand your frustration, but you must admit the way you came into power raises an eyebrow or two.

[Marokai Backbeat]

Newsletter Ranting

Telling it like it is. Angrily.

AndrewCT: Turncoat!
September 14th, 2009

The first words that come to mind are "Dude.. Not cool.." The next words aren't as pleasant.

Allow me to break the story on the rumors swirling around MasterJedi's running mate. It's AndrewCT! Some of you might be thinking "Wait a second, Andrew is in the DA, and formerly ran on the top of their ticket against Bgwah!"

You'd be correct. AndrewCT turned against his own party.

Rumors had been swirling for a few days on the identity of MJ's running mate, and it was brought to my attention by more than one member, of more than just one party as well. According to my sources, not only has AndrewCT decided to turn against his own party and run a false unity ticket, he did it without the consent of anyone inside the Democratic Alliance, thinking entirely of himself.

Personally, I've known of the RPP's desperation for well over a week or two now. AndrewCT isn't the first Democratic Alliance member they've tried to knab. Out of respect for his privacy, I won't reveal who the first member was, but those in the RPP know precisely who I'm talking about. They want to win, they'll do anything to win, and they finally found a running mate as self-interested as their de-facto leader, DWTL.


And I still don't understand why Duke can't grow a pair and act like a leader. DWTL is still giving commands as if he still leads the party, still speaking in "The RPP will"s and "we"s in reference to the party itself. It's nonsense, and if Duke was any sort of a leader, he's stand up a put a stop to it. This is the sort of thing I'm talking about:

I don't see where this bill is even relevant, who cares whether a person is technically a member of a party?  If the RPP wants to toss someone out on the curb, we will

The election comes down to this:

The DA realizes that the RPP wants to work with them, they second preference us, we second preference them and Jedi wins, or they decide that they want to remain eternally in third place and the RPP eternally in second

Yea but as you would say, some things are more important

Tmth, cool it man we've already proved to you that Afletich hates our party stop being stupid

But is any of this news? No, not really. We know DWTL still leads the RPP. Let's get back to the real story!


Several more questions come to mind. The first being: How could Andrew do this? I mean seriously, what the hell! After everything the RPP has said and done to his own party members, any self-respecting Democratic Alliance member should be absolutely ashamed of themselves to run on the opposing party's ticket!

As Newsletter Ranting has previously reported, the RPP practically thinks of the DA as their own personal vote-bank, where they can dip in for additional support whenever they need to supplement their electoral efforts. Andrew continues to play right into the RPP's hand.

I hope they pay you well, sir.

The second question is, "How in the world is Andrew a good running mate?" The short answer is he's not. The long answer is he's one of the most inactive citizens of Atlasia and barely commits himself. Not only has he been a weak DA member in the past, but he's been a trashy Governor of the Northeast and this paper endorses Mr. Moderate's efforts to take the job off his hands.

This action, along with their past behavior, demonstrates what we all know about the RPP. They'll do anything to win, even sneak around with a party-unfaithful to get their way. Hopefully the DA itself takes action on this issue. If it was me, I'd kick Andrew's ass out of the party faster than you could say "self-centered."

The sad thing is though...

Official ballot

President

[2] Bgwah/Meekermariner (JCP/RPP)
[1] AndrewCT/Afleitch (DA/DA)
[  ] Write-in:______________________________

...I was pretty stupid in my youth.

[Marokai Backbeat]

Not to agree with the RPP on something, but to the DA members here, please don't try to convince me some of you weren't a bit irked at the news, because I know better.

If a JCP member went behind our backs and ran on the DA ticket, we'd be furious. Not because we oppose individual choice and try to control party actions, but simply because we have political parties for a reason, and when you make a big gesture as running on an opposing ticket, it needs some sort of official recognition. Just saying.

[Marokai Backbeat]

Newsletter Ranting

Telling it like it is. Angrily.

Alexander Shamilton:
October 19th, 2009

After the day's events it's probably best to remember just a few things. You can't trust anyone but yourself, and you certainly can't trust Hamilton.

In his short time here he's demonstrated nothing short of complete and utter opportunism. He has (Aside from shown his eerily extensive knowledge on past Atlasian events, dating back to June and beyond.) attempted to invade a region with zombies, including one who famously made around 30 posts in a 60 minute period, flip-flopped on a variety of issues, hopped regions to attempt a run for Senate (before aborting it), continued his recruitment of The 50's, among plenty other things.

How brazen are Shamilton's attempts are deception?

Let's take, for instance, his past criticism of Franzl. Franzl is hardly his favorite member, as he's said in public and private, so his comments in Franzl's presidential campaign thread were hardly a surprise, let's take a look:

I'm sure if elected you'll be acting President quite often. Franzl always seems to be disappearing.

This was simply criticism of Franzl's levels of activity. Fair enough, Hamilton just doesn't think Franzl is active enough to handle big responsibilit-

Someone nominate Franzl

Oh.

That's right everyone. Unless it wasn't clear from the link, Hamilton was publicly supporting Franzl for the position of PPT of the Senate, a time consuming job that requires alot of attention (in addition to counting from 1 to 10, not always easy, I tell you) and generally requires a very active member to hold the position. Hamilton doesn't think Franzl is active enough to open a White House thread, make a few comments now and again, and sign bills once in a blue moon, but Hamilton does think he's capable of running the entire Senate.

Let's not stop there, though! No no, let's move on to Hamilton on the issue of regional reform. At first, Hamilton was opposed, but as time went on, he began to brainstorm in progressively greater detail about how to change Senate elections. Discussing the issue with Meeker, Purple State, and others, Hamilton seemed to be legitimately brainstorming to solve a prob-

I'm starting to disagree that there is a serious problem. No more 5-4 victories. No more 8 candidate Presidential races. We have a competitive, active, stable, working system that is actually somewhat balanced. No need for "change."

Ah

Yes, at first he was opposed, then he was brainstorming, then he suddenly did a 180 and said that he doesn't think there's a problem, and that all these attempts at "change" were nothing more than a leftist attempt to grab power. Seriously. (Then, of course, later he signs the petition he previously opposed that he went on to support to some degree and then oppose again.)

What else is there? Well, aside from his flat-out lying about the attempts to recruit Swedish Cheese to the RPP to run on their ticket, in direct contradiction to Franzl's, mine, and Tmth's claims that he wasn't telling the truth, there's also his recent party hopping to the LNF.

This is more opportunism than lying, though no less shameful. He's slithering right into the LNF by wearing their clothes and mimicking their mannerisms. He doesn't have a place in the other parties at the moment, and his partnership with PiT for power, hopefully, fell through. He decided to go under another complete and utter face-lift, acting a differwent way, asserting completely different things, and it's disgusting.

One only has to browse random threads that Hamilton has maintained a presence in to realize his disgusting chameleon attitudes, this article only covers a fraction of it! Changing his positions on a whim, asserting two contradictory things (like his moronic claim that a candidate's platform and a candidate's actual positions being diametrically opposed to one another is A-Okay) flip-flopping, flat out lying, and attempts to blend in with whatever group suits his fancy, Hamilton simply cannot be trusted.

And neither can anyone who associates themselves with him.

[Marokai Backbeat]

I heard Keith Olbermann saying this as I read it

A huge compliment, thank you.

[Marokai Backbeat]

Newsletter Ranting

Telling it like it is. Angrily.

"Reform" does not mean pointless change.
October 27th, 2009

reform (plural reforms)

   1. Amendment of what is defective, vicious, corrupt, or depraved; reformation; as, reform of elections; reform of government.


That is what reform is. Reform involves finding a problem, and changing it to something better, it's quite simple. It does not mean "Hey, see that? Let's change it!"

Unfortunately so many "game reform" advocates today forget this fact. I see many proposals, with, sadly, more along the way, and all of them (aside from the CoG proposal) have one big thing in common. They're all pointless. They're useless changes that aren't necessary, they fix a problem that doesn't exist.

The proposal to make all the Senate seats at-large and implementing a Council of Governors is, unlike the other proposals, a serious and reasonable idea to solve an actual problem that we face. Uncompetitive elections for regional Senate seats, unfair election tactics such as strategic registration, inactive Governors, etc. The proposal makes the Senate elections more fair, consistent, and competitive, while increasing activity for other regional elections and maintaining some form of regional representation, it's a triple-win!

It's important to keep this in mind, because there's a stark contrast between this proposal, and some of the others out there. This proposal actually targets a problem that exists, and seeks to implement a fair solution that will make everything better for us all. It prescribes the right cure for the disease.

These other solutions, though, target diseases of our imagination with useless medications. Let's start with the proposal I've termed "Rubber Band Voting."

Rubber Band Voting is a system proposed by Emperor Awesome (LNF member) that pointlessly changes the way we count votes to benefit centrists and stale-but-likable figures. The rationale, in his mind, is that we apparently shouldn't straight-up elect people with 50+1 (like, you know, a Democracy) but instead we should come to some sort of pointless broad consensus on who we just <3 with all our little heartz!

It's a stupid proposal, quite simply, for reasons I've already explained, so I don't need to go into them here a second time. But my point is that this is a needless change. It arbitrarily hurts those with top-support and benefits those that don't deserve to win first place. Why? Well, like so many reform advocates think, why not!?

If you want my personal opinion on the matter (and if you don't, why the hell are you reading this?) then I'll say that I really believe this is a system concocted to harm the JCP, and nothing more. MaxQue once told me not too long ago that the system was presented awhile back around a year ago to benefit a little old party called the Social Democratic Party. The members of the SDP included Al, Earl, Xahar, and at one point, Lewis, among others, all the usual LNF suspects. So really, all this "reform" proposal amounts to is a political change, designed to hurt the party in power. It should be treated as such.

Another proposal from Senator Jas (also, shocker, to be an LNF member) would pointlessly eliminate the Vice Presidency. Why? Well, why not?! This is another case of "reform for reform's sake" which solves no noticeable problem, with a solution that leads to a more complicated solution, essentially, just 'cause. Jas eventually goes on during the extensive senate debate on the matter to admit there's no real problem. What the hell!

Emperor Awesome also comes up with another stupid idea. Let's just annex Canada! Woohoo! Apparently, in fantasy land, we may as well annex the freaking world, since we can just declare annexation. This is pointless change for change's sake, and it's stunning that it has several people actually seriously entertaining the idea. Shame on all of you.

Let's get one thing clear:

REFORM MUST ACTUALLY SOLVE A PROBLEM, THAT IS THE VERY DEFINITION OF REFORM. THERE MUST BE A WRONG TO RIGHT, NOT JUST RANDOMLY CHANGING THINGS.

There are surely plenty more stupid ideas to come, and my personal belief is that, aside from the fact that they actually don't do anything to fix a problem since the problems almost never exist for what they want to change, these changes are directed at doing anything possible trying to throw a kink in the system, screwing it up to cause problems. These people are not reform advocates, for what they advocate is simply organizing chaos.

It is time that actual reform advocates, people like myself, Franzl, Meeker, Hash, all stand up an assert that true game reform involves targeting the real problems that we actually face, with solutions that have a real purpose. It is time we resist the forces of organized chaos.

[Marokai Backbeat]

In fairness, Xahar, I was not around then and I was just repeating what Max told me. My points about that system still stand.

[Marokai Backbeat]

To defend Jas a tad, I think his point in proposing the amendment was more just to make a point. I haven't been following the debate too closely though.

He introduced two amendments, one was serious (to eliminate the Vice Presidency) and another was obviously not serious, which added "Vice Senators" which I tried to strike from consideration but unfortunately we were forced to vote on, resulting in a 9-1 rejection. So the one I was referencing was meant genuinely from Jas.