Civic Mirror Country Chapan Discusses Poverty, Inevitable?

Posted on February 11, 2010 by Civic Mirror

Poverty effects every country in the world. Some countries deal with poverty more than others, but it is a problem in some form or another everywhere, the question becomes is it inevitable? The CM country Chapan, otherwise known as the students from Shawnee Mission North High School in Overland Park, Kansas, took on this question as a class and came up with some answers based on experience within the Civic Mirror. The citizens of Chapan began with a question posed by Instructor Kayte Cormack,

“We’ve talked a lot recently about poverty and impoverished nations and people. Are economic imbalances that occur between citizens something people just have to accept, or could and should they be minimized? “

Citizen Michael began by discussing not only experience, but his understanding of one political philosophy he knew well,

“Both definitely. We should try to minimize it and maybe even get rid of it entirely. But i guess theres a problem with that too because Karl Marx wanted to get rid of the class system (close to/exactly the same as “economic imbalances“). what started out as a good idea from Karl Marx went sour because it was way to easy for smart/powerful people to take over. I think we should make the standard living in all countries a lot better. I don’t have a proposal for how to do this but thats where we should start. Much past just raising the standard of living would just be making a socialist society. People should learn to accept differences of economic status as part of the world.”

Arriving at the same conclusion, albeit by different means, Citizen Nate shares his opinion,

“I believe that the economic imbalances between citizens should be minimized at all cost. People should not have to live in an economy where such imbalances occur, because they can cause discontentment among the populace. Imbalances in the economy will be hard to correct, however, I believe that if we all work together than we will be able to stabilize the economy. i realize that even if you stabilize the economy there will be some people who squandor what they have, thes toe people are the only ones who should have to learn to live with economic imbalances.”

Meanwhile the Government of Chapan, most likely the President, shares a more politically conservative viewpoint,

“i think some people are placed in a situation, where in order to be out of poverty, you would have to rob a bank or hold someone ransom, but since those are illegal i would come to the conclusion that depending on your situation.

But in a place like America i think we do see some people who rely more on the check coming in the mail from the Government then, they, themselves actually working to get meals on the table.

there are both people in poverty who work constantly to earn a dollar a day, they just have to accept they are in poverty and always will be. although they dont.

and there are others who take care of their 20 bebe kids and earn a check in the mail. could this poverty they are in be minimized. yes. but they would rather accept the poverty and accept the check.”

While Representative Saran shares a less idealistic view,

” I think that economic imbalance is something that should be accepted by people. The reason I think that is because, no matter how hard the government tries to make the gap between rich and poor smaller there always seems to be a problem. The fact of the matter is that there will always be a difference. Some people make more money then others, that’s the way it is now and that’s the way its always been. If this was to be minimized there will be a lot of conflict. Therefore to avoid all that, the richer people should just accept it. Take taxes for example, there is no way that rich people can get the same amount of taxes as the poor people. The reason for that is if you don’t make a ton of money you can’t pay a ton of taxes. With that said I believe that economic imbalances should be accepted unless someone comes up with a better way to approach the problem.”

Can a society fix poverty? Does society want to fix poverty? These questions are quintessential when it comes to deciding how a society should be governed and what kinds of laws should be passed. It is obvious that the citizens of Chapan have very strong opinions on this subject, but how will they use these points of view to better the lives of their citizens?

Posted in From the CM Trenches | Tagged class, Economy, government, imbalance, poverty, Shawnee Mission North High School | Leave a comment

Silver Liberty Citizens Desperate for Cash… Families Dying!

Posted on February 7, 2010 by Civic Mirror

As the citizens of Silver Liberty, a Civic Mirror country out of The Urban Assembly School of Design and Construction in New York City, prepared for the end of their first simulated year, the citizen pleas for help and assistance were echoing throughout the online discussion forums. Here are two excerpts:

1. Chris posted: Good afternoon/evening/Night ladies and gentlemen i am here asking for money. I’m not doing this for no basketball team I’m just here tryna stay out of trouble and put money in my pocket in a positive way. My children need education and they are dying. Please if you can find it in your hearts to contribute and spread the wealth and make Silver Liberty a better place.

To which these replies followed from his fellow citizens:

Martin: Chris and everyone that is suffering from poverty. Re-elect me into congress and I promise you I will pass my bill that will help you people survive.

Alexander: “Oh god…”

2. Juan, takes a different approach to solving his money problems. Here’s what he posted:

“Okay wassup its juan and i need some money. i dont have anything to help me generate money so i thought i could offer some cool things:

– i can teach u how to solve a Rubik’s Cube quickly. 200 cm dollars
– i can teach u how to play a cool song on the guitar. 300 cm dollars
– ill sell u Pirates of the Caribbean 1 brand new, sealed and everything for 100 cm dollars

How cool are those things? Come on … Hit me up”

What happened when the year ended? Fortunately, both Chris and Juan were able to provide well enough for their families to keep them alive. In fact, by the end of the year Juan had a good sum of money in his bank account (well done Juan). However, and very sadly, FIVE Silver Liberty citizens incurred family deaths due to starvation and homelessness. What will their next simulated year bring?

Your Comments! Citizens of Silver Liberty, what do you think of all this? What can be learned from your first year as a nation? What are your plans for year 2? Post your comments for the world to see. And world: if you have any questions for Silver Liberty, post them here!

Posted in From the CM Trenches | Leave a comment

Innovative Legislation from Civic Mirror Country NFPC

Posted on February 4, 2010 by Civic Mirror

It can be difficult for citizens to make money within The CM game. What do you do if you do not own a hex that can either be rented or can produce something you can sell? The citizens from NFPC have not only had the mindset to create jobs, they made laws to protect them.

” HR-1 1/26/10

Proposed by: Franklin

Summary: Details out the new paid positions of Time Keeper and Marshal and explains the pay, hiring practices and policies about said jobs.

The Position of Time Keeper and Marshal shall no longer be volunteer positions and instead they shall be changed to paid positions.

Members of any branch of the Government, be it Executive, Judicial or Legislative cannot apply to hold this position as these jobs can influence important events that said parties might not be part of.

Hiring will proceed as follows:

1. People will sign up that they wish to hold the position. Applications will be sent via email to the Government account in Civic Mirror.

2. They will be interviewed by both the Presidents of each Legislative branch in addition to the President of N.F.P.C.

3. The best candidate for the job shall be hired into the position.

Hiring may only occur prior to the event for which the service is rendered.

Unless specified the duration of the job shall last one year. After the one year period the person shall be removed from the position they were appointed.

If during one meeting they are found to be unsatisfactory the Time keeper shall be replaced by one of the other candidates.

If the marshal fails to complete their duty then they shall be replaced by the runner up candidate for the position.

Unsatisfactory employment shall be decided by the Presidents of the Senate and House of Representatives in addition to the President of the N.F.P.C.

Pay will only be delivered to the person that completes the majority of the service.

Replacements must be decided before the next day in which the events will occur, for example the marshal cannot be replaced between one court case and the next.

Pay for both positions shall be $200 per year paid from the national treasury. ” –From the Legislation page of NFPC

Posted in From the CM Trenches | Tagged economics, Employment, Legislation, Politics, social studies | Leave a comment

Civic Mirror Country Pleasure Town Has Pleasant Day…Almost

Posted on February 2, 2010 by Civic Mirror

The country Pleasure Town, otherwise known as the 12th grade International Relations class from Shanghai American School in Shanghai, China, seemed to begin the Civic Mirror with flying colors, at least according to their country forum page. The lively discussion began with a question posed by their Instructor Samuel Vierra:

“What did you learn about your classmates(and meetings in general) as you worked through the student-run lesson?”

As the students began their discussion it became obvious fairly quickly that the CM experience was already a positive one. Patrick began by commenting on the class as a whole and their progress,

Dramatization of Pleasure Town Discussion

“To be completely honest, everything ran quite smoothly during the student run lesson. If there was a disagreement, a simple anonymous vote was taken. This seemed to please everyone and therefore creating our national identity was relatively problem free. In terms of classmates, everyone was completely reasonable and it seemed that everyone seemed comfortable to put their own opinions out. Overall the experience was extremely assuring that the future of this country will be very smooth.”

Jocelyn, who also found the experience to be positive, also commented on how their country felt as though it belonged to the citizens,

“I think that being able to construct our own country and choose its specific characteristics personalizes this for us and motivates us to be active citizens in the upcoming simulation. The personalized feelings make us think: this is our country and we should take care of it. This also gave our class a national identity that gives us something in common and bonds us as the citizens of Pleasure Town. As everyone above said, things went smoothly. The name of the country was the hardest to decide on. The decisions were made either by everyone’s agreement or by voting anonymously. Overall, our class seems to be cooperative.”

Citizen Chua thought the experience was still positive overall but this citizen could still think of some realistic issues that could trip the country up,

“Like many above had said, everything ran “smoothly.” This is because many of us know each other, and we are generally fair and giving people. It was also easy to come to agreements because we were all in the same room, so talking things over would be easier. However, I can see a potential problem when we do Civic Mirror outside of class, as there will be less physical interaction and perhaps miscommunication will occur one time or another. The consensus is, though, that all of us are ethical people, so I am convinced that, even though there may be miscommunication, there will be not cheating of any sort.”

While Paige enjoyed that the votes were anonymous,

“The National Identity event instilled a lot of confidence in me about our class for this simulation. We all worked together very smoothly and there were no real conflicts. Like Patrick said, whenever there wasn’t agreement, we would just hold an anonymous vote. The element of anonymity really helped in our decision making process. At first, we tried to come up with country names by calling out ideas as a big group. When that didn’t go very well, however, we all wrote ideas anonymously on scraps of paper and came up with a lot more ideas. I think if we stick to those methods and others that worked last class, we’ll be very constructive as a group.”

It has been said “Dissent is the highest form of patriotism.” While most of the citizens gave favorable reports about their time with Patrick as their leader, Justyn was willing to give a different account of how he felt the events unfolded that day,

“The student ran session went pretty well. The only thing that I would have to point out that was negative out of the whole lesson would be the ganging up on the only junior in the class. Robbie was gone so I was the only one who was a junior and when it came to assignments they straight out bluntly picked on me. the whole class admitted to it and i guess with them being older it is only normal to do such a thing. They must look down on me because I am a junior and have their thoughts of superiority.

After Patrick mentioned he liked pancakes, everything about the country after that had to be a pancake joke or some sort of relation. cause of this event i feel like patrick is naturally going to be one of those people who when they open their mouths people are just going to listen to. as opposed to ppl like me who are looked down upon, are tried to be silenced.

i only bring this up because there were so many replies of positivity and great stuff about the student ran session so i’m here to provide the constructive criticism – because there’s always room for improvement.”

It seems as though for the most part Pleasure Town had a surprisingly great day. Although there was a substitute, the citizens were able to stay on track and have a fairly good experience. It is important to note the dissenting opinion, however. How will Pleasant Town respond to ideas and opinions that are different in the future? Any action or inaction by the Pleasure Townsians has the possibility to change the course of history….

Posted in From the CM Trenches | Tagged discussion, dissent, opinion, Practice Run, social opinion, social studies | Leave a comment

Civic Mirror Country Leafland Discusses Issues and Solutions

Posted on January 28, 2010 by Civic Mirror

Leaflanders, a civic mirror country from the Learning By Design High School in Haysville, KS, are starting out on a journey that will teach them about government, civics and themselves. Instructor Angela Quiram posted the following questions for her students as perparation for this journey and the decisions they will have to face along the way:

“a) three issues our country may face (and WHY they might be issues)

b) a possible solution for those issues

c) whether or not you will run for public office/which one(s)/why or why not… “

In order to respond to these questions, Leaflanders drew on past experiences in both the practice round and real life events with their fellow citizens. LaurenW. begins with a dark view of her beloved Leafland,

“Three issues our country may face are famine because everyone seems to be greedy (no offense), economic issues because we will be spending all of our money on stuff to be greedy about, and a lot of death due to the famine. A solution to these issues are to control the amount of units that are being sold. And I do plan on running for public office not because I have to, but because I think I have good ideas that could really help us.”

Misty has an equally bleak view of the future,

“I think the issues we might face will be running out of food/electricity, money, and/or lower prices. Because there is not enough electricity for everyone. So, my solution is to make another power plant to make sure everyone does not hog all the food and lower prices because people do not have money.
I plan to run as either the president or the judge because I will prepare before I take action. Honestly I do not want to serve in any office because it is too much of a hassle.”

BlakeB., however, has an equally opposite view of what the future will hold for Leafland,

“Our country will face no problems at all we are the most honest and smallest country ever. We are good people, with no issues what so ever.”

While DonovanT. seems to have the hidden agendas in mind as he contemplates the future,

“If there were 3 issues the Republic of Leafland might suffer from, I think the first one would be about someone taking over in the government and not being fair. Another issue would probably be everyone not doing it right and lots of families dying. The last issue would probably be high prices for everything and no one would be able afford them. A possible solution would be for everyone to try there best and not let our country die. I probably will not run for any office things because I do not know much about that stuff. “

BrookeM. cannot help thinking of her own time as an American citizen,

“-A few issues that our country may face is that many people may die due to the lack of food and energy supply. Also money could be an issue just because some of us don’t have very much.
-So a possible solution may be taking out a tree and replacing it with either another farm or power plant. Also the government controlling how much a person may get would also help.
-I would rather just be a normal American citizen because being in charge of something big is not really my thing. I’m just going to sit back and keep my family alive!”

RachelR is hopeful that the country will have a positive future,

“three issues, hmmmm…………disagreement on laws and ownership or placement of hexes, everyone putting in effort and having full understanding of the civic mirror game, and just keeping our families healthy and sticking to our hidden agendas. I know if we all work together our country could really be something. I am not sure if I will run for anything in office. I am still debating it but if I do I promise to try and be a positive influence. p.s. Blake i love your awesome attitude about our country!

While Kathleen understands how difficult it can be to raise a family in modern Leafland,

“Some of the issues our country might face is that everyone won’t have the things they need to keep their family alive. I see that as the biggest issue. One way to maybe keep that from happening is to make sure everyone has what they need before the other people of our country go building things and using up energy. I was thinking about running for president, it looks like fun and I already think there are some changes that need to be made.”

These concerns are all realistic and important. However, in the heat of the moment it is easy to forget these concerns, especially when a citizen has a lot to gain! Choose your politicians wisely Leaflanders, and pay close attention to the decisions made by citizens and politicians alike, the survival of your country and families may depend on it!

Posted in From the CM Trenches | Tagged electricity, family, hunger, Issues, politicians, public office, social studies, Solutions | Leave a comment

One Lost Civic Mirror Country Found..

Posted on January 25, 2010 by Civic Mirror

The citizens of the country Lost, a class from Newcastle High School in Newcastle, WY, may have felt that way when they first began The Civic Mirror, but are orienting themselves very well thanks to the fearless leadership of their instructor Sonja Karp. The citizens of Lost have begun to get the lay of the land as they discover where their priorities lie. Sonja Karp began the post with this important question,

“What hexes in The Civic Mirror are so important to the public welfare that they should be owned and operated by the government? What about in the United States?”

Woodk began the conversation showing his trust in the government of Lost,

“The hexes that are really impoartant for everyone are the farms, electricy one, the health care one, the school one, and houses. The reason they are so impoartant are because people would die if they dont get any of these resorces. If everyone dies then the game will be over. If the government owned most of them they would be cheeper because there are more people in the government that make different disshions and it will not be a dictatorship. When the government owns sertian spots it is less biest against other things like in the United States.”

Millsk also agrees that the government would own the hexes responsibly but disagrees on which ones,

“As the economy is a thing that is important to survial the government should own the forest and the school and the technology and at least on river hex. The forest hex would help with polution, the school the government owns in the U.S. already, the technology so the world would be more helpful because instead of creating bigger and better they would create what the people need, and the river would give the people some water instead of having them fight over it.”

Unlike Millsk and Woodk, Harleya has reservations about taking power out of the hands of individual citizens,

“In the Civic Mirror, I believe that the only hexes the government needs to operate and control are the green tree, green river, and education hexes. For the most part the citizens of Lost, and NOT the government should own most of the businesses and enterprises. The government of Lost is here to ensure that our precious natural resources, that take many years to redevelop, are not destroyed. The small amount of taxes that the government charges the citizens of Lost will help fund the free education they deserve.
In the United States, I believe that the national government only needs to own and regulate industries like education and national safety. The founders of our country intended for our economy to be a free enterprise, in which private individuals wheeled and dealed with each other; in turn creating a healthy, competitive economy. The U.S. Government should never become entangled in ownership of healthcare, private companies, power industries, or insurance agencies. The judiciary system has the right to declare what these industries do is right or wrong and the legislative body should make laws that ensure these agencies act in an appropriate manner; but they should never take permanent ownership in any situation.
Christiansenl also jumped on the bandwagon about the environmental hexes,

In the Civic Mirror, the most important hexes concerning public welfare that I feel should be owned and operated by the government are some of the environment hexes such as forest and river hexes. Because these hexes are so difficult to repair, the government should make sure that our country has substantial neccesities so that our community will not die as the manual explains will happen if too many of the environment hexes are developed into something new. I believe that the government should give the people the right to own and manage the farms and school systems along with the rights of free enterprise. In the United States, the government should also protect nature, but keep a close eye on industries such as power plants, and only step in if a populas is in danger.”

Mirelesk, approaching the subject with a slightly different agenda, brings another political theories into play,

“The hexs that are important enough to be government owned are power, security, healthcare, education and some natural resources. Why, one might ask, would these be manditory for our government to own? Simply stated, to ensure the instigation of equality. In a prior post I mentioned that the people would have issues with “unfair” money amount. I believe that the government should step in, when deemed important, to help stablize not the illusion of fairness, but the steady drone of equality. It was once stated that communism is the greatest government in theory. In prior experiments (conducted by Adolf Hitler, Joseph Stalin etc.) communism proves only to feed power-hungy dictators. Why not use the controled enviroment and the need for equality as a chance to test this erratic theory? I believe it will weild staggering results.”

The citizens of Lost would obviously like to trust their government but have some reservations in handing over hexes. While some citizens feel the government would do well with the most important resources, power and food, other citizens feel that it would be in Lostians’ best interests if the government stayed within the environmental sector. How will these citizens be able to compromise and what will turn out to be “best” for everyone involved? Only time will tell…

Posted in From the CM Trenches | Tagged citizen rights, electricity, environment, farm, food, government ownership, power, private ownership | Leave a comment

Civic Mirror Workshops for Ottawa Carleton Social Studies Teachers

Posted on January 16, 2010 by Civic Mirror

Ottawa Carleton Social Studies teachers will be given the opportunity to learn how to use the award-winning Civic Mirror education program at the upcoming Canadian and World Studies professional day, on February 12, 2010. The conference is taking place at Gloucester High School on 2060 Ogilvie Road, Ottawa.

Civic Mirror creator, Regan Ross, will show Ottawa Carleton teachers how the program works and how it covers significant portions of select curriculum while also sparking student interest at unprecedented levels. The Civic Mirror can be used to cover nearly 100% of the Civics 10 Open learning outcomes, but it is also being used as the experiential centrepiece of other courses like economics, law, history, and sociology.

Posted in CM News | Tagged Civic Mirror Workshop, Events | Leave a comment

Fuzzy Numbers for Alderwood Civic Mirror Country

Posted on January 13, 2010 by Civic Mirror

The seventh grade citizens of Knockville, a country lead by instructor (and one time Senator) Dean Nakanishi located at Alderwood Middle School in Lynnwood, Washington, have learned a valuable lesson for both the CM game and life in general when they were caught “counterfeiting” Civic Mirror money. The team at The Civic Mirror Trenches were informed through an anonymous source that the circumstances seemed suspicious when one student was seen

“scurrying back and forth between computer terminals and small gatherings of students huddled around, some laughing, some shushing, some looking around nervously. They all hurried back to their own stations typing away furiously.”

When the dust settled, an eye popping number $1,652,380 emereged.

“That was the bankroll of the mastermind behind the Financial Scandal of 2001 in the country of Knockville, Roman. After pouring over the trades/transactions section of the Civic Mirror site I found that a good number of students had found a loophole in the system. They were offering themselves “trades” of “money” which ended up increasing their bottom line. This funny money being digitally counterfeited ended up luring in about 1/3 of the country.”

When asked to comment Mr. Nakanishi stated,

” I could have gone off the handle, but instead I took it as a learning moment for me as well as them. I froze their accounts and we paused as we entered an emergency court situation and I notified the perpetrators of the crime that had been going on during the year, what they were being charged with, and what rights and options they had at that point. Everyone but one took a plea bargain (after that had been explained to them). They wrote letters of apology, had their money go back to their original post hex auction levels, and they were frozen out of WB points for the following year.”

These excerpts were taken from those letters of apology written to the citizens of Knockville by the Perpetrators:

“Dear citizens of Knockville I took the money to buy food for my family, I am deeply sorry and I accept the punishment I’m getting. I didn’t think stealing from the system would hurt anyone.”

“It was wrong and I take full responsibility for my actions and am at your mercy.”

“I needed the money so I wouldn’t lose any more family members, please forgive me.”

“I returned all of the money, I am deeply sorry for stealing. I regret ever doing this.”

“I thought it just a glitch in the system, you know the computer program, I didn’t think I’d be stealing for the government, I didn’t think I’d get caught. I am very sorry and will never do anything like that again.”

Nakanishi further explained,

“We ended up having a 20 minute discussion about integrity, honesty, and how when someone cheats or steals it is only a matter of time of when they will be found out. We had a great discussion about responsibility as well and decision making. What could have just been a moment of anger and assigning punitive punishments as an instructor turned into a great moment to talk about the real world.

Speaking of the real world… The mastermind behind it all got off nearly scott free. Roman insisted on his innocence and how he wanted to go to court before his peers. A good lawyer, a prosecutor who didn’t have her evidence lined up, and maybe a judge who was in his pocket?…had him walking away from court that day with him only returning the stolen money and no other punishment. The jury found him guilty, but the judge, who was also a fellow government crony only fined him the difference between the million dollars and his true dollar total from the beginning of the round. Alas, this reflects some of our society’s reality as well.

Citizen’s reactions to Roman’s rather light penalty despite being found guilty:

“The results from the trial of this financial scandal was disappointing. We have families to feed with very little money (my relatives are dying of starvation!) while he cheats and steals money. We are working hard for our money! I think that he deserved a bigger punishment. He needs to work for his money, just like the rest of us!” – Kassidee

“Roman shouldn’t have gotten off so easy. He may not have ‘known’ that he was doing something wrong but he shouldn’t have gotten his old money back. He should have had to earn it back like everybody else does throughout the whole game. So Roman should be thankful that the Judge and Jury gave him such a light sentence. But I guess that’s the way it goes. But I honestly think that he might try to pull something off like this again.” – Shakira

“I want to first off state that I had nothing to do with the financial scandal that occurred in 2001. If that it was wrong that they should have known better even thou there wasn’t a rule stating not to steal they still shouldn’t have done it. I felt that Roman should have been jailed for the next ‘year’ and have all his money taken away it should be this way because its not fair while everyone else is working hard to help there family survive.” – President LaChe

When the citizens of Knockville found a monetary “loophole” in the system, they thought they had won the Civic Mirror Jackpot! These citizens have found, however, that crime does not pay and that it cheats those around them who worked hard to earn their own money. Money illlegally obtained is not earned and most Knockvillians learned that it will end up biting them in the end.

Posted in From the CM Trenches | Tagged Alderwood, counterfeit, Knockville, Lynnwood, Scandal | Leave a comment

One Civic Mirror Country Wrestles with Economic Inequality

Posted on January 7, 2010 by Civic Mirror

After their first true “year” on play, the citizens of Laughganistan, a high school government class at Shawnee Mission North High School in Overland Park, Kansas, came together in Town Hall to discuss a topic that has weighed down the minds of citizens all over the world for much of history, the importance of economic equality. As long as there have been human beings living in organized communities, there has been the issue of equality. Should everyone be equal? If so, how do we accomplish that? Following the leadership of their instructor, Kayte Cormack the leaders of Laughganistan are giving input to solve this issue in their own country.

The discussion began with a posting from

“Are economic imbalances between citizens something people just have to accept, or could and should they be minimized?”

Jeremy was the first to publish a response with realistic insight,

“Of course economic imbalances could and should be minimized but that isn’t how life works. It isn’t like if your bank account is running low the government will pitch in some extra cash too boost you back to security. I’m not at all spitting arrogance either because I am going to be hit hard in debt and I accept my responsibillities and will find away to recover. So in conclusion, no, things should remain they are with minimal interferences.”

Representative Holly wrote back from a more idealistic approach,

“I think that economic imbalance could be minimized but we would have to work together as a country to figure out how to overcome the imbalance. Life is not always fair, and until our country works through this economic imbalance we will have to accept it.”

Representative Krista agreed with this theory but went a little further in her explanation, calling for a change in culture as well as policy,

“I definetely think that economic imbalances can be minimized, but it would take much time and alot of hard work. I think that the biggest problem is probably that its not our communities common goal, i mean… the rich enjoy having more money than everyone else. Maybe if we didn’t idolize material things so much than it wouldn’t be such a big problem, but we do. We need to make people think about more than themselves and just their families, make them think about the generations to come and their economy.”

Bradner also shares Jeremy’s point of view,

“They should be minimized but this game is about real life and those things just don’t change in real life. There are people that are doing very well, I’m not but am I complaining? N0!!!!!! Because it’s life and pretty soon things will level out and I’ll be on top and the person that used to be on top will be at the bottom. Things should stay the way they are.”

Interestingly, Elaine swoops in with a legislative idea,

“Economic imbalances between citizens should be minimized by having taxes based on how much money you have and providing essentials at a lower price. This way the poor will be getting what they need and the owners of the business will still profit from their product.”

As a bid to please fellow citizens, Senator Ali explains a different point of view,

“Equilibrium is something that comes naturally. When we’re capable of being able to “control” the way things are being done properly, then the economic imbalance will be altered to something that everyone is able to sustain, contain, and understand. Until then, we’ve got to do what we can with what we have. Things aren’t simple, life is an example, people have to figure things out to where they work. It could be minimized if everyone worked together but not everyone has the same views. So it’s really up to how everyone reacts to the imbalance, some want the power so they will do what they can to keep it that way while others try to neutralize the balance. Whichever way, people will learn to survive at the best of their ability.”

Samanthat B. sounds fed up with this question altogether,

“People will always disagree. It can’t be fixed. It can’t be minimized that much either. Some people are natural born complainers. People will always be at odds with each other. Especially when we have two different political parties in office. Everyone just kinda has to deal and try and be as civil as possible and not go screaming about for no reason and just waste everybody’s time.”

In a similar vein, Marissa believes that everyone has the ability to fix their own problems,

“I think that economic balances between citizens are both something that people have to accept and could and should be minimized. The citizens of the country, if they are poor should think of ways to raise money, or they should help somebody out for money, like do business with them or something. The citizens should be able to earn money somehow, even if they are poor. They have to figure out a way to earn money and that makes the game more challenging. That is why I think that economic balances between citizens are both something that people have to accept and could and should be minimized.”

While Jerusalem believes we all depend on each other, rather than each individual upon themselves,

“I think that economic imbalances could and should be changed. The whole economy is linked and if the poor part of the economy is failing, eventually the rich part of the society will fall with them due to the business cycle…so there should be loans given to citizens…”

While Jake ends the conversation with a poignant,

“I think we should have a lockbox.”

This is not a question with an easy answer. Differing view points can lead to discussions and either changes or reiterations in policies and thus the way citizens will lead their lives. Laughganistan is working hard to answer the questions that are put forth in a thoughtful and meaningful manner. The next step is to use these ideas to further benefit the lives of the citizens within Laughganistan.

Posted in From the CM Trenches | Tagged balance, Economy, fair, government, imbalance, justice, policy, responsibility | Leave a comment

Categories