(02-07-2017, 11:13 AM)Tsunamy Wrote: Maybe a re-structuring of the legislator apps is in order? Like, breaking out our long thread but also providing things like "Political Groups to Join"?

I do think it would be a good idea to highlight parties in the application process. However, for that to be useful, parties need to really mean something. They can't just be platitudes. "We support democracy" "We believe in attracting new players" etc, aren't useful ideals for a party system. *Everybody* thinks these things. For a party to system to work, there have to be real differences and real disagreements. APC formed as a party of newer players opposed to the coup, many of whom felt they were being left out of the government. TIL formed as a party representing the core people targeted by Hileville's coup, and we've evolved into a party that's defender-leaning, opposes the dismantling of forum governance, and serves as a general opposition force to remnants of the independent-imperialist faction of TSP. (Before parties formally existed, we had two blocs: pro-defender and pro-Independent/imperialist. Our existing fault lines grew from that.) Ryccia's new party is single-interest, opposing Belschaft's agenda of increased RMB presence in government.

When parties were first created, the response was to set up an unserious party that was "pro-TSP" and to get everybody to join. If failed, predictably.

So if we're serious about encouraging new parties to form, we need to be serious about why parties *should* form. Parties need to represent an existing cleavage between players. A party that *everyone* would want to join is a party that stands for nothing real.

I'd like to write a guide to creating a political party. But I think Kris's point isn't so much that TSPers agree on most of everything. I think it's that the natural state of things is there *won't* be a lot of parties, because there aren't enough cleavages in our community to support that. There could exist a third party right now-- the unified remnants of the old Independent-imperialist bloc. But I genuinely don't see more than 3 parties forming naturally. APC/TIL overlap a lot as it is, and the only thing that's prevented us from merging in the past is a different leadership culture.