The Political Process: From School Committee Member to State Representative

The Political Process:

The Political Process: From School Committee Member to State Representative

The Political Process: From State Senate to U.S. Senator

The Political Process: From Senator to President?

The Political Process: From the Presidency to Retirement

Time to start as a nobody, be elected school committee chair in Medford, MA, then to State House, then State Senate, then House of Representatives, then Senate, and finally President for two terms: 45. 4 hours

I've played a few political simulators in the distant past. In my Steam Library I was able to find a dusty copy of The Political Machine (2012) with 5.3 hours played, and Democracy 2, with another 6.4 hours. Stardock produces a new version of The Political Machine each year, but my vague recollection of the original was its shallow mechanics. Democracy 2, according to my memory, was less about governing as a political entity, than about picking and choosing policies, adjusting them over time to resolve problems.

Due to the desert of political sim games, I was excited to try The Political Process by Verlumino Studios LLC. The game appears to be developed by a single individual, who as far as I can discover, goes by Verlumino on Steam. It follows United States politics, where the player, as a politician, sets out a policy, passes legislation, and seeks to become the president. I played this game a few months ago, and it was, and still is, in Early Access. I've tried to avoid EA games since the 2012 Mass Effect 3 debacle, and also Early Access games. In the case of the latter I make exceptions if a game, like The Political Process, appears particularly promising.

This series of articles is going to intersperse analysis with a detailed description of my play-through. Hopefully this combination will best elucidate the reader in the experience of The Political Process.

The player creates their character. The player decides the details which include General Appearance (a cartoon portrait which doesn't matter), History (past job experience, which also doesn't matter), choosing from a list of 27 Traits like Arrogant, Odd, or Wise (I can't tell if these matter), Advanced (cheats that award the player starting money, Political Points, Name Recognition, or a political position), and Policy. On the Policy page the player aligns themselves with seventy-five policy positions. The Political Process allows the player to select from four preset positions (Liberal, Conservative, Moderate, or Libertarian), but if you are the sort of person that would choose a preset policy in a policy game, you probably aren't playing the game in the first place.

I started in 2020 as an Independent caucusing with Democrats. I didn't know it, but The Political Process starts on Easy difficulty (with the options for Very Easy or Normal).

I campaigned for the school committee in Medford, Middlesex County, MA. As Aldo Abbey (I), I won 40.7% of the vote, or 10,157 against Edward Rojas (D) and Judy Mendoza (R).

 

As a member of the committee, I proposed:

Free school breakfast

Free school lunch

Comprehensive development for teachers

and a

Budget amendment to fund my bills.

 

All except that last of these passed 6 – 1, while the funding bill was close at 4 – 3.

 

For the second half of my term I proposed:

Free after-school tutors

School support for troubled youths

and an

Increased property tax (1.68% to 1.83%)

They all passed unopposed. The school committee was composed entirely of Democrats and myself. They supported policies, but they had no interest in proposing them. I suppose if they did, there wouldn't be a game for the player.

After this successful legislative session I ran for the Massachusetts State House, district 127, in the 2022 election. Against Herman Shaw (D) I triumphed, 7,034 to 4,490.

How did I win? I didn't learn until later that the game was preset to Easy Mode (or I had clicked it without realizing at set-up), but that helps significantly. We'll talk more about Easy Mode later, when I switch parties. The obvious answer though is; to win an election, the player must earn more votes than any other politician.

By purchasing polls, the player sees their Name Recognition, Approval Rating, Policy Support, Voter Priorities, Voter Enthusiasm, and Voter Intention. Presumably the first five categories combine to reveal the Voter Intention. It doesn't seem to work that way. Name Recognition seems crucial, but it's simple to reach the 100% Name Recognition threshold. Politicians easily reach at least 95% in every election. After that, it's difficult to determine how the other numbers combine. One would assume Approval Rating correlates with Voter Intention, but it doesn't seem too. Perhaps there are unlisted factors.

Does The Political Process figure in a built in partisanship? Do Democratic voters always vote for Democratic candidates regardless of other factors? Does the public value effective legislators? Do they care who proposed bills? Do they care whether bills pass or fail? Do they care whether bills align with a politician's policies (not that a computer politician would ever propose a law contrary to their position)? Do voters care about committee votes? Do they care how politicians vote on bills? Or do they disregard all of this information?

Anyways, I won my election, and joined the Progressive Democratic Caucus in the Massachusetts State House. Every successful election for a House or Senate the player chooses from a list of available committees. Less experienced legislators get later picks, ending up on less prestigious committees. I chose committees for Health and The Environment.

I immediately started proposing bills. The state government of Massachusetts is more complicated than a town's school committee. When a bill is proposed, the chair of the relevant House committee must choose whether to hold a vote on a bill. Then the committee votes on it. If it is successful it goes to the whole House, where, if it passes, continues on to the Senate committee, and then the whole Senate. If the bicameral legislature approves, it goes to the governor. Or, if you are in the Senate, it does the same, but starts in the Senate, travels to the House, and finishes at the governor. Committee chairs wield immense power to kill a bill before anyone votes on it, as you'll see.

Fortunately, the largest caucus in Massachusetts is the Progressive Caucus. The Democrats of Massachusetts, and to a lesser degree, in Washington D.C. are significantly more progressive than in real life (as you'll see, based on what I was able to pass).

In The Political Process, in 2022, in Massachusetts, Democrats control the State House 158 – 2, the State Senate 40 – 0, and the Governorship. No one opposes liberal legislation (unlike in real Massachusetts).

I immediately began proposing bills.

Surprisingly, my first bill, to restrict handguns, was not allowed a vote by the committee chair, despite overwhelming support by the residents of Massachusetts.

 

Then:

Bill to subsidize renewable energy from $0 to $0.02 per kWh: Committee 27–0, House 160–0, Senate 40–0, Governor ✓. A later attempt to move it to $0.04 failed in committee.

Fund teacher training: C 19-8, H 125-33, S 40-0, Gov ✓

Fund criminal rehabilitation: C ✓ , H 121-39, Senate Committee refused to hear the bill.

Increase Medicare eligibility from 95% to 105% (155% to 165% for children): C 27-1, H 158-2, S 40-0, Gov ✓

Increase the carbon tax from $2.50 per ton of carbon to $4.00: H 159-1, S 40-0, Gov ✓

(I list these, and future laws, to give the reader an idea of the diverse range of possible legislation)

The most surprising loss came on tax reform. Tax reform is one of the more complicated legislation, but at the time I didn't know that. Successfully passing tax reform in a Democratic administration requires keeping the revenue the same, but even then it is prone to fail. The Political Process taught me that (no joke), Massachusetts in 2022 has a flat tax of 5% on income. Absurdly, no one (real life or in game) in the state government is interested in resolving this problem. My bill eliminated the flat tax and cut the sales tax in half. To offset these losses (and I can not recollect if my tax reform lost revenue), I crafted an income tax.

In The Political Process Massachusetts has three preset tax brackets: X < $10,000, $10,000 ≤ X

≤ $50,000, and $50,000 < X. The player can't change these, but they can change how much each bracket is taxed. I decided that 2.5% for 1, 5% for 2, and 7.5% for 3, along with an additional 1% on the corporate tax, seemed fair. The committee chair was nice enough to give it a hearing. It was actually an excuse to show how much he despised me. The committee voted 1-26 against. At least one politician supported the legislation, but it wasn't me because I wasn't on the committee.

With a collection of legislative wins and losses, I triumphed in the next two State House elections against Moe Moffit (D) and E. Wise (R) with 54% of the vote, and Q. Buck (D) with 66%. 

 

During that time I proposed:

Student welfare committees: C 18-10, H 130-28, S 21-19, Gov ✓

$500 bonuses for schools with per student in low income districts: H 158-2, S 40-0, Gov ✓

and

Funding for under performing schools: H 137-21, S 22-18, Gov ✓

 

During that time, the Democrats of Massachusetts insisted on raising the gas tax. I voted against it, but it passed. Gas taxes, like flat taxes, are regressive, penalizing the poor, while allowing the wealthy to protect their advantage. Unless, and I am only hypothesizing based on my experience with The Political Process, road building and repair can only be funded through the gas tax.

With my experience, I proposed a new tax reform bill. Eliminate the 5% flat tax, create income taxes of 3.5%, 4.9%, and 7%, while also increasing the corporate tax rate from 6% to 7%. It passed! This seems similar to my previous attempt, except that I didn't cut the sales tax.

Also, I had accrued Political Points. In The Political Process politicians earn Political Points by passing laws and winning elections. Political Points force others in your party to defer to you. The more Political Points you have, the more likely you are to sway other politicians, potentially causing them to vote for a bill they would normally have voted against (or vice versa). Political Points are not spent, and are never lost. They apply a passive buff, depending on your amount. Presumably, they are compared to the politicians you passively attempt to influence. Again, this is not an active mechanic.

But the computer is also stupid. After passing my law, Democrats proposed a bill to reduce the tax burden of all three brackets. I amended their law, to retain the top bracket at 7%, and they passed their new law.

Return later to read part II.