This is sort of out of character for me, given that I'm usually pretty non-serious here, but look, it's time to honestly state a cold, hard truth:
This presidential election is shaping up to being entirely boring, generic and uncompetitive
Does anyone here, honestly, think that Matt/Maxwell is going to win? I mean this as no insult to the M&Ms, because it's not their fault. It has nothing to do with them personally. But this is Atlasia. In an election that pits generic, competent and generally well-liked Federalist vs generic, competent and generally well-liked leftist, who do you think is going to win? According to the reputable
Mew Research Center exit poll of the last election, in order to defeat Nix/DemPGH, M&M would have to take roughly 40% of left-of-center Atlasians in addition to all centrist and right-of-center voters. This means a majority of Liberal and Light Party members. Given that Nix has chosen a Liberal as his running-mate and almost all Libs/Lightists who have declared their support so far have done so for Nix, M&M getting the requisite center-left support they need to win is practically impossible.
It's time for another cold, hard truth:
A generic conservative is not going to be elected President against a competent leftist in Atlasia
This year's ticket with two generic conservatives is going to face the same fate as the last two tickets with two generic conservatives. I'm sorry, conservatives of Atlasia, but if the Atlasian Right wants to become a force that can actually win Presidential elections they're going to need a new strategy.
So, we're back to my first truth: this election is shaping up to be a virtual repeat of the last one: another uncompetitive and uninteresting leftist blowout. The Federalist ticket doesn't have what it takes to win, and there are too many people who have their panties in a bunch that some people aren't being sooper cereal about an online fantasy elections game for The Movement to win.
There's only one way to prevent this now:
we need a new ticket. Another serious campaign that will upset the Generic Left vs Right nature of this race and have a realistic chance of winning. I don't know where such a ticket would come from, and I don't have anyone in particular in mind. Perhaps it could be from the "moderate" left, like the Liberal or Light parties. Maybe a center-right coalition between a Federalist and a moderate leftist. Or maybe an independent ticket.
I'm not endorsing any specific possibility, but I am strongly urging anyone who thinks they could be a part of such a ticket to start exploring a run ASAP. Why am I arguing for this? My vote is already pretty set, I'm going to give my first preference to The Movement's ticket and in the second round almost certainly for Nix. I probably won't be voting for this new ticket I am advocating. But it's time for another truth:
Atlasia is slowly deteriorating, and peoples' interest in the game is very low and getting lower
We have numerous inactive office holders, low voter turnout, census rolls full of inactives, zombies, and wolfenbots, long-time players withdrawing from the game, and entire regions sinking into virtual anarchy due to inactivity. This is not the time to be settling into a pattern of boring and predictable elections. We need to make this game more interesting, and that is why we need another candidate to shake up the Presidential race.
