Much like other governments from around the world, the citizens of Graceland, a class from Mountlake Terrace High School in Washington State, have realized that their environment can and may be in danger. Although it is important to earn a living and keep the country working economically, it is easy to abuse the land Gracelandians share causing irrepuable damage. Gracelandians seem to be in an uproar about recent land development and through the guidance of their instructor, are discussing possible action to fix the problem. According to Instructor Ryan Niman:

“What should we do with the hex being developed? Why? These are the options I’ve heard:

* Let Nathan decide - he owns it!
* Let the President decide - she’s in charge!
* Make a Power Plant
* Don’t make a PowerPlant - another one is already being developed
* Make a farm, insurance company, school, or something else

So, how should this be decided? What should it be? Why?”

Representative GraceG begins the discussion,

“I think that Nathan should decide on what he wants that hex to be. Because he owns that hex, and he bought it. So I don’t think its really fair to him that we are telling him what to make it.”

AdamO, a citizen from nearby Dinoland shares his point of view on the subject,

“Pardon me for invading your forum, but I have a thought on this. Nathan owns the hex, correct? If he owns the hex, it is his property to decide what to do with. True, the government could seize it so they could decide, but it should not be up to the president. The president is not in a legal position to dictate what somebody should do with their property.”

Interestingly, it seems all of the citizens agree Nathan should be able to decide, but what happens when he makes a decision the citizens disagree with?  What will they do when his decisions affect their own families?

The citizens of Eden, a class from Hudson High School in Hudson, Massachusetts, are working to create laws that will better their country and (hopefully) give some citizens more well being points.  In order to help Edensians write these bills, their Instructor Ken High posted this assignment,

“As citizens or government representatives, it is your job to pass laws and policies that will help you gain Well Being points or fulfill Hidden Agenda goals. Therefore, each of you must persuade the government by proposing at least one bill that you want to be passed as a law. Your classmates can then comment on your proposal and engage in a discussion before the lawmaking session tomorrow.”

In response, Edensians came up with many useful ideas.   Each citizen had different goals in mind, however, when creating these laws.  Citizen Trevor wanted to be sure the president as the head of the government did not hold too much power,

“Any property bought by the government should be used for the government. Not for the president to use for his own purpose. What ever the government spends the money one, its only for governmental use.”

Citizen Shannon responded with,

“Why would we have the government use the property they bought for the government it should be used for the people so that they have what they need to survive. I think you are saying this because you are a reprisentive and think that you should get special treatment because of it.”

“I propose that we make a law saying that anything bought by the government should be used for the well been of the people.

I also propose that we pass a law to keep the government from seasing and buying any citicen ouned land.”

While her fellow citizens worry about individual versus government rights, Citizen Rachel felt it was just as important to protect the environment,

“I think that a law should be passed to keep a certain amount of wilderness hexes from being developed on. For instance, only one wilderness hex per year. This will help ensure that we still have enough wilderness hexes to keep our well-being points high and the citizens happy.”

In a third vein,Citizen Melissag wanted to ensure the economy had boundaries as well,

“I think that agoodlaw that should be passed is one that allows a cap unit prices.That way if someone wants to buy a food unit they do not have to pay $400 for one because that is ridiculous and based on what else every person has to buy like health care, power, education, security etc. having a food unit or any one of those other “necessary” units cost too much is not right. The price of units should be affordable but obviously not too low, so no one is making money.”

Edensians have a lot of interesting ideas for their country.  It is obvious that Edensians care deeply about their country as well as their own self interests, however, it seems as though there is an underlying current of mistrust as well.  While citizens can suggest as many laws as they like, at the end of the day, they must trust that the government officials they have elected will represent them.  Will the government live up to these expectations or make choices to fulfill their own self-interests?  Only time will tell….

 “1. What are my political, economic, and social philosophies?”

 The VonEyeians stepped up to the plate and after much thought, answered these questions with thoughts that will help them to connect to their country in much deeper ways.

Seth began the discussion with an idea that class life and CM life should be woven together so that citizen’s behavior in one should effect the other,

“The leaders of our nation should be chosen by how the act in class. Such as whether or not the try to help in class, or are just a pain in the butt. They should be thoughtful, fair, trustworthy, and most of all honest. There number one priority should be to keep the more powerful citizens from overrunning the country. The country needs a strict government. By how hard someone works in class, the harder they work, the more they excell in the country. I would rather live in a country that valued freedom so that no matter how far underclass one would be, they could not be thrown in jail without proper cause. I would say humans are naturally good but it is events in life that cause humans to make different choices that could be good or bad.”

Sarah.M has the same overall theory as Seth but without binding the in class actions with the in Civic Mirror actions,

“Leaders of the nation should be determined by popular vote, but must have organizational skills. They must also be responsible, care about what they are doing, timely, and able to create and follow schedules. The number one priority should be to uphold the laws that are already in place, and (in the case of lawmakers and president) listen to those who got them where they are. Every community needs basic rules and guidelines as well as punishments for when they are broken.”

Humans are naturally good and trustworthy, but circumstances shape who they become. Humans are also naturally lazy, so we will often choose the easy way out regardless of the morality. For the same reason, we are also naturally selfish; if we have no reason to or are not forced to, often we will watch out for ourselves first and others second.”

People should be able to attain what they can in any legal manner, i.e., capitalism. There should be no limits to what can be achieved so long as the one achieving it has the resources to do so. The government’s job is to govern and provide guidelines, not to interfere and meddle; let the government do their job and the people do theirs. I would rather live in a country that valued freedom, for through freedom one can create the (possibly) needed equality, but simple equality can be equally bad just as easy as equally good.”

Amanda used her experience outside of the classroom do discover her own political/social/economic beliefs,

“Leader should be determined by majority vote. The leader should also have the main characteristics, which would be like responsible, caring, and willing to do the job. Some of the skills that the leader should have would be, time, which means they should make time to do the job they were elected to do, and again being responsible, caring, and willing. The number one priority of the leader should be to uphold and enforce. Also leader needs to be able to listen to the voice of the people that elected him/her. The most important thing that a nation needs to run correctly is laws and for the laws to be enforced and uphold. The nation can’t have a leader or lawmakers that don’t enforce or make laws to help out the citizens.

Government could have a say in what people get, like food, money, and land. But I think that the government shouldn’t have a say in it unless the issue gets out of hand. Citizens also shouldn’t be limited to the amount of stuff they get. I think the best way to determine who gets what is by the amount of money people have.

Humans are naturally good but just choose to make mistakes that make them look or sound bad. People can also be trustworthy or deceitful. When thinking about this stuff about humans there are people that can be both so you can’t really choose between. Some humans are hard-working and some are lazy. Really it depends on the person. I think most humans are selfish, because most the time all you think about is you, you, you, not what can I do for that person.”

       It seems the citizens of VonEye01 believe in the general good of humanity which is always a comforting thing to know! They realize, however, that citizens of any country need a particular kind of guidance and it seems VonEyeians agree so far that  this guidance should be democratic in some way although economic ideas differ slightly. It is interesting how much personal experience effects political ideals and it will be equally interesting to see if experience with the Civic Mirror will further cement these beliefs or push them to develop new ideals. We will have to wait and see….