Counterculture World and Larp

• The Lone Star Republic
• The United States of America
• The Confederate States of America
• The Free American Republic
• World Timeline

Unsorted Notes:

   * Kansas is the Poland of North America.
   * Cuba is the Switzerland of North America.
   * Little oil outside of the LSR.
         o This retards the use of automobiles in North America.
   * The American Alliance is forged during WWII to send aid to allies in Europe.
   * The American Union (AU) starts with Canada, the USA, & the LSR in 1950.
         o The FAR & Mexico enter the AU in 1951.
         o The CSA enters the AU in 1952.
         o Kansas petitions for its own seat in the AU and enters in 1961.
   * New Jersey is the movie capital of North America.
   * Largest media organizations are located in the FAR.
   * Slang terms: Wankees (Yankees), Cons (Confederates), Greasies (Texians), Farts (Farites)
   * Map of "America" during 1864: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:ElectoralCollege1864-Large.png

Other random:

OF DOLLARS AND VOTES: A Statement of Principles for the United States Representation Party

"All power residing originally in the people..." "All political power is inherent in the people..." "All power residing originally in, and being derived from, the people..." "...and all free governments are founded on their authority..." "...and they have the right to alter or reform it..." "...deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed." So it echoes throughout the constitutions of the United States. The power of our governments is derived from the Power inherent in each of us. All governments, to one extent or another, mediate and wield this Power. For better or for worse, that is the defining function of government. In our country, we almost universally share the ideal that government should wield this Power for the good of its citizens, including the protection of certain freedoms. The countless, important details which must follow from that notion are not the focus of the Representation Party.

Freedom and representation are not the same thing; you simply can't have one without the other. It is the truly neglected potential of representation to which the attention of this party is devoted. Its membership is sure to have vastly differing views about every political issue imaginable. We only resolve to agree upon certain principles, certain ideals, regarding the way in which the wills of a people are represented in its government.

How do dollars and votes figure into this? They are both tokens redeemable for some measure of the Power. They are cornerstones in the way our form of government aims to mediate that Power. Now that we have abstracted dollars and votes into one idea, we must ask ourselves anew how they are actually different.

It is no secret that money represents a kind of power: wealth. Ideally, one generates wealth and exchanges it for money. Now that one has money, one can exchange it for other kinds of wealth that other people generate. While we may all have different ideas about the right type and amount of government regulation of money, citizens must be free, at least in some part, to choose how to spend their money and exchange their wealth. In this way, some of the power inherent in individuals is reserved for those individuals. That's what freedom is.

If money represents ALL of the Power, however, a problem arises. The problem arises from two facts. The first is that not everyone has the same amount of money and wealth. This is not, in and of itself, a problem. The second fact is that one aspect of the Power is the ability to change the way money itself may be exchanged. The rich get richer and poor become powerless. Without the social and economic mobility curtailed by the combination of these two facts, the first fact IS a problem.

That first fact is not true of votes. In theory at least, all voters are granted the same amount of power through votes. We can solve the aforementioned problem, then, by attaching the power of regulation not to money, but to votes. With all citizens equally represented in legislature, the power that money represents may be checked and balanced with the freedom it represents.

Government mediation of Power need not be only of dollars and votes, but they are an important example of the reciprocal relationship between freedom and representation. With this in mind, it is imperative that the differences between them be preserved. Votes must not become currency. All voters must be represented in the government equally. Requirements for eligibility to vote must be fair and uniform. These all seem obvious conclusions, but most Americans seem to be unaware of how pervasively some these prerequisites of freedom are being denied in our country. They are unaware even when they are, themselves, the disenfranchised. The mission of the United States Representation Party is to raise awareness about what is wrong and what is right with our systems of representation, to propose solutions, and to enact those solutions with the support of the people. All planks in the party platform as well as all activities of the party shall grow naturally from that mission.