| Welcome to Europeia! So what the heck is Europeia anyways? Can I join? So, I came here representing another region? I do not want to become a citizen. Where should I go? What offices are there for people to be elected into? What is there for me to do in Europeia? That answers most of my immediate questions. What if I have any more? |
| Why I still believe in the GAP; Opinon | |
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| Topic Started: Dec 15 2014, 05:51 AM (541 Views) | |
| HEM | Dec 15 2014, 05:51 AM Post #1 |
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former substitute senator to aexnidaral seymour
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Why I still believe in the GAP HEM Tiberius In the closing days of January 2012 I went to the Grand Hall to promote a radical new idea. Europeia had reached yet another high water mark as the scars of 2011's turmoil began healing. We were seeing record population levels, record activity levels, and our region seemed to be begging for some higher calling. So I went to the Grand Hall and tried to sell something that I knew would lack universal support. I called upon our region, and our community, to give back to the world and help create something new. I knew that by doing so we could rise game-wide activity and channel our Europeian legacy into something truly remarkable. I called this plan the "Good Neighbor Policy". Some people called it imperialism, some people called it a waste of resources, and some people had nothing to say about it at all. While I did not maintain consistent enough activity in 2012 to promote the idea further, it piqued the interest of one key citizen -- Anumia. In October of 2013, over a year after I floated my idea to the general public, Anumia announced his bid for the Presidency and a blueprint of what would be one of Europeia's most ambitious plans ever -- The Great Architecture Project.
To suggest that the GAP had a rocky start would be an understatement. A newly minted President Anumia was preoccupied with other affairs -- both in-region and in real life -- to give the project the much needed attention it required. The point-man of the project -- Common Sense Politics -- was likewise beleaguered with various commitments. By the end of Anumia's first term, the project was largely seen as having made no progress. Anumia then tapped Lethen to help lead the project as Minister of Cultivation, and Lethen put huge swaths of time and energy into building up a new Ministry from the ground up. But still, progress came slow. Citizens had some legitimate complaints about lack of communications about progress as the term went on, but citizens seemed to have disproportionally higher standards for communication from the Ministry of Cultivation than they had for many other -- arguably even more critical Ministries -- such as the Navy or Foreign Affairs. By May 2014 we had signed two Construction Partnership Agreements, but progress stalled with the handover of the department from Lethen to Ogastein -- who after promising to build up the program, almost immediately disavowed it and vanished from Europeia. By this point, an already impatient population had grown tired of hearing about the GAP. People were growing weary of waiting, and politically, the entire program was becoming a ball and chain around any and every administration that was forced to touch it. However, Kraketopia -- who had since succeeded Anumia as President -- gave the program another stab with Malashaan as Ogastein's successor. He could not have made a better choice. By late September the program had six partner regions with more negotiations on the way. Architect assignments were being evenly distributed, and the program had finally seemed to gain some much needed momentum. But somehow, it didn't matter. The well of political will had finally dried up. When Malashaan himself sought the Presidency the Ministry of Cultivation was scrapped and mothballed within the Department of Foreign Affairs. Without a concentrated effort this term, all the progress made over the early autumn seems to have evaporated. As of today, the Senate is considering the repeal of the Foreign Cultivation Act, which would sweep away the last remnants of our first (and probably last) coherent foreign aid program. In late December 2012, I penned an article questioning the near universal complacency that I saw in the region. There was a particular observation from future President Cerain Quilor that I feel is apt to relay:
The Malashaan Administration, just a few weeks ago, announced the failure of an international paper project that would have rose the profile of Europeia around the globe. Today, we are seeing universal consensus in shuttering a program that would have done the same, and was perhaps on the crux of doing so. There is a large part of me that feels we have become so good at getting the trains run on time here in Europeia, that we grow frustrated when everything we touch fails to turn to gold instantly. As Cerain so accurately points out, we appear to lack the political will to pursue anything that threatens to shatter our self contained ceilings. We are so afraid of the sour investment, of the poison pill, of disproportionally high risks that we have become reluctant to take any risks at all. So we stay within our comfort levels and write the best damned recruitment telegrams in Nationstates, throw the best festivals on the internet, but fail to go beyond the wall we have built around ourselves. We talk about resource management and claim that we can spend our time better in other places, but...doing what, exactly? While in antiquity excess time and manpower could always go toward recruitment and welcoming, such things are a relic of a day gone by. Today we sit as one of the most privileged regions in one of Nationstates' most privileged eras, yet we only marginally surpass our former selves at performing the most basic tasks of government. Nobody said the GAP would be easy. Nobody has ever said that anything worth doing would be easy. But while it is failure that seems to scare a great deal of people here, I am far more terrified by the fact that we barely even seem to try. There are those that will argue that the repeal of the Foreign Cultivation Act does not necessarily mean the end of the GAP, but I disagree. The continual de-institutionalization of the GAP in the name of "flexibility" has brought less activity and less progress on the program -- not more. We will continue to push the GAP out of public sight, until the only place people will read about its designs are in history books. There are those who will point to the shortcomings of the Ministry of Cultivation and of the GAP, for there were many. But our standards for the GAP always seemed to be higher than our standards for every other office. For how many failed Ministry of Cultures have we seen? How many failed Grand Admirals? But with those later offices we slogged on, knowing that tomorrow would be better in those departments. We never gave that chance to the GAP, even though the GAP represented a challenging of the glass ceiling that so ominously lingers over our heads -- so very close -- but somehow always just out of our reach. There are many educated statesmen and politicians who will disagree with me, perhaps vehemently. Their opinions are based on their Europeian experiences, which are all just as authentic as my own. I very much doubt that the result of this article will be the restoration of the GAP, at least in its holistic form. But perhaps the result will be a new project being assembled, a new idea being proposed, a new citizen seeking office, or a new voice speaking up! No amount of stumbles in the past can impede a future step forward! Indeed, this is perhaps the most crucial lesson I have learned in my time as your founder. For it was with only my voice that -- almost three years ago -- I proposed the "GNP". Two years after that, Europeia changed one letter, and with outstretched arms, we chased the "GAP". What voice will propose the next idea? What are we capable of accomplishing tomorrow, if only we dare to race across the current and seize it? Europeia, the future is yours. |
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| Sopo | Dec 15 2014, 05:55 AM Post #2 |
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Lord High Chancellor Emeritus
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A year is not long enough for you? What exactly has the GAP been able to accomplish? Sure, we've signed CPAs, but what has come of them? |
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| HEM | Dec 15 2014, 06:01 AM Post #3 |
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former substitute senator to aexnidaral seymour
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How many years did we invest in building this game's best law library and legal structure? How many painful years did we endure of a lackluster navy, incapable of invading a warzone, much less being a recognized game power? Indeed, at one point I called for the dismantling of the navy due to its inefficacy. But the region held out belief -- for far longer than one singular year -- that with the right pool of talent and willpower -- we could accomplish the seemingly unachievable. Everything good in Europeia has taken time, and most of those things have never had timetables attached to their success. |
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| Sopo | Dec 15 2014, 06:06 AM Post #4 |
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Lord High Chancellor Emeritus
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What makes you think the GAP is on par with those things? |
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| HEM | Dec 15 2014, 06:11 AM Post #5 |
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former substitute senator to aexnidaral seymour
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It is impossible to know for certain which seeds will grow the most fruitful plants, except that failing to plant any at all will -- for certain -- result in no harvest whatsoever. In plain English, I don't know for sure. I would have told you a few years back that I thought the Navy was a wasted investment. I was wrong. I could be wrong here. But with a lack of viable alternatives to pursue, keeping up the fight on something we've already started seems to be a decent option. |
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| Sopo | Dec 15 2014, 06:18 AM Post #6 |
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Lord High Chancellor Emeritus
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But what of the plants that begin to grow, yet become brown and lifeless? Shall we continue watering in vain? The farmhand reports there will be no harvest. Shouldn't we then plant a field anew, rather than anticipate bounty where we will only find shriveled defeat? Edited by Sopo, Dec 15 2014, 06:19 AM.
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| HEM | Dec 15 2014, 06:24 AM Post #7 |
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former substitute senator to aexnidaral seymour
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Maybe I just lack a green thumb, but I certainly wouldn't describe the landscape as "brown and lifeless". |
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| Sopo | Dec 15 2014, 06:31 AM Post #8 |
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Lord High Chancellor Emeritus
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But what came of those agreements? That was over two months ago. |
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| Cordova I | Dec 15 2014, 06:34 AM Post #9 |
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Former Everything
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I agree with HEM. It's no secret that I'm a supporter of the GAP, as stated in my previous Senate campaign platform. I'm considered one of the Old Guard because I've been around since the early days of the Europeian Republic and throughout that time, I've seen Europeia grow from a minor region founded by our most venerable and respected Founder HEM to the powerhouse region it is today. This growth took a lot of time and effort, but it was worth it. Anything worthwhile takes time and effort and I truly believe that the GAP is a worthwhile endeavor. |
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Cordova I (Cord) Anacreoni-Anumia - Former Lieutenant in the Europeian Navy (honourably discharged), WA Delegate (6 months), Minister of Foreign Affairs (6 months), Associate Justice (8 months), Senator (16 terms), Deputy Speaker, Vice President (6 months), Speaker of the Senate (4 months), Chief Justice (7 months) and Acting President (1 week) X3 ![]() ![]()
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| HEM | Dec 15 2014, 07:01 AM Post #10 |
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former substitute senator to aexnidaral seymour
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We have no idea. The public lost the will to stay with the program, and the entire department was mothballed and forgotten. |
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| Skizzy Grey | Dec 15 2014, 05:17 PM Post #11 |
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insert random title here
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The question isn't whether effort is required to succeed in this game; it's where that effort would be most appropriately focused. Most of the emergent, independent regions the GAP seeks to help will fail. They will fail not because of anything Europeia does or fails to do, but because it's rare for such a region to maintain the core of active, dedicated players that's needed to sustain a successful region. We can't do that for them. The question, then, is whether the cost of diverting a substantial portion of our best citizens' efforts away from our own region for the benefit of others is worth the benefit of (presumably) closer relations with the occasional independent region that beats the odds I described above. I don't think the benefits, which have yet to move beyond the realm of the hypothetical, justify the costs. That said, I don't know why the Senate is inserting itself in this debate. Although this region is a democracy, it is also a volunteer-run endeavor; as such, it lacks the authority to compel citizens interested in contributing in one area to make those contributions instead in another area. I think Lethen's and Mal's efforts on the GAP could have done more good channeled in a different direction, but it's not up to me to tell them how to spend their time. So long as these folks aren't harming the region with their efforts (and I don't think anyone believes that's the case), the Senate shouldn't be pushing legislation that would undercut their efforts, against the wishes of the Executive. |
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| HEM | Dec 15 2014, 05:27 PM Post #12 |
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former substitute senator to aexnidaral seymour
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I am not saying you are incorrect, but why has this assumption become ironclad fact? I feel we have a very limited sample of CPAs to judge it on, and the verdict on the impact of our investments is far from clear. While, on the whole, most newly founded regions do indeed fail, why wouldn't our assistance (coupled with a strong vetting process) radically change that statistic?
What is the alternative endeavor that we should involve ourselves in? While there are no studies suggesting the average time commitment for an Architect (it might be worthwhile to survey some of them...) I cannot imagine that their duties take huge swaths of time that could otherwise be used to build the pantheon here at home. Furthermore, even if their average effort is more considerable than I suspect, what would architects truly be doing instead? While you seem to imply that the opportunity cost of being an architect is effort for other projects of regional importance, what if the alternative activity for Architects was merely spamming or contributing to the region socially? I do not find this theory completely implausible, as the most important government functions operated quite well even at the height of the GAP. I suppose, ultimately, I do not buy your assumption that there is Very Important Work to be done in Europeia that is lost or neglected because of this program. I also believe that we do not understand the true potential benefit that could exist in having a sphere of regions who have high levels of loyalty to us personally, rather than to an ideal or ideology. Thank you for your feedback Skizzy, I was excited to see you posting in my little thread here
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| Skizzy Grey | Dec 15 2014, 05:53 PM Post #13 |
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insert random title here
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HEM, my opinion of the work required is based on my perception that GAP has languished when we haven't had at least one of our best people (Anumia, Lethen, Mal) making a serious, sustained effort to push it forward. I would guess that those guys have put as much effort into GAP as any of our recent Grand Admirals have put into the Navy, but without the results to show for it that we've had with the Navy (though that has involved lots of ordinary citizens' efforts also). In your opening post, you mentioned the interregional publication that we weren't able to get off the ground. I think that's a great example of a project where one of our most talented citizens could make a larger impact than he/she can on the GAP -- but it's a different sort of activity, and I acknowledge that people who enjoy doing one might not enjoy doing the other. |
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| Common-Sense Politics | Dec 15 2014, 06:19 PM Post #14 |
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Incapable of Bullshit
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While the comparisons between the GAP and the Navy are strained, they're not totally misplaced. I would note that by the time we facilitated real success with the Navy, success that would forever change that institution and our place in the world, we had been learning what not to do for three years. The GAP is also something I've cared deeply about and had great hopes for. I proposed a similar scheme in one of my presidential runs that never came to fruition. We have already learned that it takes a tremendously active and engaged individual at the head of this program for it to make any tangible gains at all. Also, we've learned that practical circumstances make this initiative uncommonly challenging. For some, those conclusions are enough to dismantle or at the very least drastically limit our efforts in this arena. I'd like to see what else we can learn. |
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| Drecq | Dec 15 2014, 06:35 PM Post #15 |
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EMPEROR OF THAT PLACE OVER THERE, RULER OF THINGS AND PEOPLES, BREEZEBORN, MOTHER OF LIZARDS
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Reading this I cant seem to shake the feeling that nobody actually read the legislation up for debate in the Senate. We arent getting rid of the GAP. We are simply integrating the Foreign Cultivation Act into other relevant legislation and getting rid of the legal basis for the Council. The same Council that has never existed and likely never will exist. If anything I believe the integration would make it harder to get rid of the GAP as you could no longer simply repeal one Law but would have to pick through at least two to fully get rid of every last vestige. |
The Ven. Drecq ER ES ES ESH EEQ EED OR4 OR3 WE3![]() ![]() ![]() Presidential Awards Current Positions Past Positions
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