In this session of ELF 120-Democracy, we are going to do a game in which we will try and fix crime, taxes and to a lesser extent, the economy, at the expense of groups who hate us and to the delight of those who don’t.
- Start a new game as the USA.
- Wait one turn
- Enstate the Flat Income Tax as a policy at 75%
- Today we will mainly be scapegoating the Socialists, so it’s fine if they start to hate us now
- Next turn
- Notice we make a huge surplus, of money, enough to get us out of debt
- Cancel the income tax
- We can win some easy conservative votes if we end the Antisocial Behavior and Vigilante Mobs situations, so boost Police Force and Armed Police to the max
- Next turn
- Cancel the Inheritance Tax
- Boost Small Business Grants to the max
- Next turn
- We should be almost out of debt, so cancel Capital Gains and Sales Tax
- Next turn
- Set School Vouchers to max
- Next turn
- Around this time, your problems with crime should be ending, but you may be getting the Tax Evasion situation. That is okay, because it’s almost impossible to evade a Flat Income Tax
- Cancel Property Tax
- Next Turn
- Cancel Corporation Tax
- Next turn
- Cancel Tobacco Tax
- Pull up your income chart. At this point, the Flat Income Tax should be most of your revenue. We won’t mess with the other taxes for fear of angering commuters/motorists/environmentalist
- Next turn
- Set border controls to the minimum. We are doing this to increase immigration, and we need more immigration because it will help us end the Skills Shortage situation, which is tanking our economy
- Next turn
- The elections are drawing near, so we should really get going to try and win votes
- Let’s make a lot of groups happy by adding university grant to the max
- Check the political parties. How are you doing?
- To make sure the youth vote for us, set the minimum drinking age to 18
- Next turn
- Let’s add Youth Club Subsitise and Public Libraries
- Set Foreign Aid to the max
- Enstate Free School Meals
- We are helping people who absolutely hate us. Why? If there are large groups of people that hate us, then they will campaign against us.
- Next turn
- Free eye tests!
- Next Turn
- Let’s increase Unemployed Benefits, and hopefully bringing the poor into the green and the socialists into the yellow
- Next turn
- Lets increase State pensions and make sure the retired are campaigning for us
- Next turn
- If you want, you can be a hack and reduce taxes, or end them
- Well, it’s time for the election
Tyranny of the majority
In our game, we extensively served the interests of certain groups while ignoring and punishing those who disagree with us. This principle, known as tyranny of the majority, is one reason we have the electoral college, along with many of the other strange systems we have for appointing public officials. With the college, any wannabe president has to gain support from those all around the country, not just one group. The game, anticipating this strategy, counters it with the activism mechanic, boosting voter turnout for oppressed people, forcing you to pay a little attention to them