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
As President I pulled in millions a week through fundraising. In 2054 I emptied my overflowing pockets to flip Senate seats in TX, FL, PA, and MN. Despite winning the popular vote, Democrats lost the House and the governors of GA, FL, AZ, and MI.
I was passing bills left and right. But with the 2056 campaign approaching, it was time to consider whether I was popular or not. My 2052 campaign pitch was: end poverty and restore Social Security. Hidden among all the tabs is one labeled Metrics. Clicking on it displays the public perception of the government. This single approval number is further divided into twelve subcategories. Clicking on any subcategory reveals additional details that comprise the final number. Metrics are archived from the beginning of the game. After thirty-four years the player has a wealth of information to use.
Presumably Metrics affect how the public votes. A high governmental approval must have beneficial effects. When I looked at the Metrics in 2055 my approval was down from a high of 78.5 to 76.6, lower than Dick Chase when I beat him in 2052. The main problem, taxes. Across every other category I was up. I was hitting historic highs in Education, Poverty, Healthcare, Crime, and Environment. But I was hitting a different sort of historic number in Taxes: 14.5% approval. The source of this discontent was Medicare for All. It has to do with how The Political Process forces the player to implement it. Instead of using normal progressive income taxes to pay for Universal Healthcare, the player must fund it through a separate tax that hits every tax payer equally. This regressive tax plan was asking too much of the lowest tax brackets. So I passed a tax bill that cut the taxes of the lowest bracket to 0%, while slightly lowering bracket two, and slightly raising five, six, and corporate taxes.
The Political Process judges your government's success exclusively on Metrics. There are no events that correspond with Metrics. Reducing military funding to zero (if you could somehow get it there, which you can't) wouldn't result in an invasion, a coup, or anarchy. Instead, it would merely reflect on the Government Approval Rating.
So with a middling approval rating I faced off against Shane Morales for the 2056 Presidency. I spent money in AZ, CO, FL, GA, IA, ME, MI, NC, OH, and WI. The result was largely the same as the 2052 election. I won 91.5 million to 80.8 million votes, and added NC to my previous states for 310 electoral votes. Democrats held the Senate with 54 seats. They gained some House seats, but remained short of a majority, 215 to 220.
Despite the narrowly opposed House, I was able to reduce Social Security from 72 to 70. Every time I wrote a bill reducing Social Security from 72 to 65, Democrats amended it to only reduce the years by one! Democrats in The Political Process profess more progressive policy positions than AOC, but are incredibly cautious. They tinker at the edges of problems, and like to cut taxes for the wealthy. In my second term, I had Congress adjust taxes again, reducing the second bracket from 8% to 0%, and increasing the 6th and corporate tax rates.
In my final year in office, I recorded historic highs in Government approval (79%), Education, Poverty, Healthcare, Crime, Environment, and Immigration.
To end the game, I campaigned for my VP as the next President. She won with 52% of the popular vote. Again, I joke. It was a 269 to 269 electoral tie. And the House, which Republicans won with 46.5% of the popular vote, chose the Republican candidate who only had 47.5% of the vote to be the next President.
I've tried to intermingle the mechanics of the game while relating my story. Here I want to mention a few last things, before offering a conclusion.
The Political Process is an early access game that is missing many notable features. The developer recognizes this by listing many buttons as “currently unavailable,”, but noticeable is the lack of any courts, up to and including, the Supreme Court. Unfortunately, the Supreme Court has come to dominate modern politics, overshadowing the legislative branch. Such a powerful organization demands representation in any game about United States politics.
Another missing element is redistricting. The public underestimates how crucial redistricting and gerrymandering is in politics. Both of these elements are missing.
Again I want to consider the most important question; how the mechanics of politics work. In an ideal world politicians state their policies, voters understand what each politician proposes, and vote for their preference. Voters punish politicians who change their positions or vote against their constituents' desires. In modern times, the system is corrupted by the unlimited and unregulated spending of the wealthy. The public is deceived by the media outlets owned by the billionaires, while both parents work fifty hours to provide for their children. Politicians are bought by the wealthy and protected by the wealthy. The news prints lies, sensationalism, and horse race polls instead of the relevant information; policies. The Americans don't have the time to sift through the garbage.
The Political Process lacks any bit of this interference by the wealthy or corporations that dominate modern politics. It has no lobbyists, no rich donors, no media controlled by Murdoch or Bezos. Money is gained by asking for donations with no strings attached. Ads are bought by the player, not Super PACs. I assume The Political Process assumes the public has 100% knowledge of a politician's policy plan. I have no clue if it considers how a politician actually votes.
The Political Process' election system lacks transparency. I don't understand how much the following matter:
Policy Positions
Voting Record or Flip flopping
Success/failure rate at proposing bills
Incumbency
Political Party
Character Traits
Political Points
Voter Priorities
Voter Enthusiasm
I'm not sure how they interconnect, but I was twice elected President, so I must have a sufficient grasp on the system.
I admit that I lost one election. I suspected I would lose, so I saved before the attempt, and reloaded after my suspicions were confirmed. I ran for a U.S. Senate seat against an incumbent Democrat. I was already a Democrat playing on Normal difficulty by this time. I lost, but that isn't what is relevant. What is relevant: money doesn't seem to matter. Don't get me wrong. I feel confident that I flipped Senate races in other states by pouring in money as I mentioned earlier. But for this race, I conducted a poll, sunk $8 million into the race, and conducted a second poll. The result was exactly the same. I also had equal Name Recognition and Approval Rating, but better Policy Support and Voter Enthusiasm. Despite these advantages I lost 39% to 61%. This outcome leads me to believe that incumbency provides a significant advantage.
Another compounding factor for elections is the lack of personality. I mentioned earlier that politicians can't trade favors or hold grudges. Just as there are no events for politicians to deal with, only public opinion, politicians don't do anything. They don't become embroiled in scandal. They don't make brave stands of character against their own party. Politicians feel indistinguishable from each other. Their only distinguishing feature are their portraits. Aside from that, politicians are impersonal, unable to act out of character, because they have no character to contradict.
On the other hand, The Political Process captures one essential part of the United States political system; power. Voters regularly complain that their elected officials, and Congress in general, are not enacting their will, while problems pile up. Voters imagine that each member of the House has immense power. They don't. Each is only one vote among hundreds. Members of Congress' best power is the negative. A law must pass through committees, the House, the Senate, and the President to become law. Any of these can veto a law. That's seven checkpoints, not to create, but to cancel. If a party doesn't control all three then there is no point in writing anything except appropriation bills. Each person has only a tiny sliver of power. This is no different than reality, where Democrats and Republicans can only pass their agenda if they control the House, Senate, and Presidency.
In Conclusion,
The Political Process is an Open Access game that is trying its best to represent politics in the United States from the perspective of a politician. Its user interface is serviceable. The developer seems to want to accurately represent politics. There are missing elements, which is understandable, as it is still in development. But it has many other flaws. Republicans are more heavily favored than in real life, which, politics aside, harms the game's viability. They never won a single popular vote, but regularly controlled the House, Senate, and Presidency. Political landscape of The Political Process is static and not dynamic, so nothing seems to change overtime, limiting long campaigns. There are no events and political realignment is impossible. The computer controlled politicians are unresponsive and can not be convinced to listen to the player, except by a passive, and simple, Political Point system. Even after beating the game I'm not certain how voters chose a politician. I don't want the code, but I do want more transparency for how elections work.
Unfortunately the largest problem stems not from the game, but from the current government of the United States. There isn't much to do. Most of the player's time is spent hitting the Next Turn button again and again. When not in control of the House, Senate, and President, it is impossible to pass laws. Set fundraising to automate, and then at election time pass out the cash. Welcome to the gridlock.
The Political Process is a dedicated and interesting simulation of United States politics, but it is merely mediocre as an enjoyable game.
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