Summary of Potato Empire's parties (17 Dec 2022)

The three major political parties in the Potato Empire: Potato Democrats, United Crop Party, and Commune of Thailand.

Please note that Commune of Thailand (CoT) is not included, as they did not respond to our questions.

With the elections in the Potato Empire expected to take place within the next two months, we thought it'd be a good idea to give people a good idea on what the parties stand for. We (PMI) asked each party leader a set of questions regarding their policies. Here are their answers.

All data should be correct as of 17 December 2022.

Question 1: What do you primarily stand for?

PD: We, the Potato Democrats, stand for freedom and democracy. Potato's residents should be able to decide how they want to live and work.

UCP: We stand for the belief that all crops should be given fair treatment, including carrots.

Question 2: What is your foreign policy?

PD: We understand that Potato isn't on good terms with Femboy Land and the Carrot Republic all of the time. We think this should change. We should work on good relations, not whine when they do something we don't like.

UCP: We believe that the Potato Empire should improve relations with other crop nations. We feel that the current Potato Empire government has been too harsh and unforgiving on UCCR, which we feel is a wasted opportunity for a new ally, which we need, now more than ever.

Question 3: Would you support the creation of a currency?

PD: Yes, we believe a currency would help people pay for the value of something, not something a random person wants. That way we can lower the chance of scams.

UCP: We feel that diamonds are a sufficient currency, as it is that standard currency used by most of the server, an introduction of a new currency would be unnecessary and confusing.

Question 4: Do you intend to keep the Potato Empire non-nuclear?

PD: Yes. We do not think nuclear weapons would benefit us. The only use for them would be damage that would get rolled back by the admins. If you need any demonstration of this, check out the Great Realmplex War, when nuclear bombs were used against us.

UCP: We believe we should keep Potato non-nuclear. The UCCR doctrine of Mutually Rolled-Back Destruction dictates that having a nuclear arsenal would be virtually pointless.

Question 5: How will you support smaller and/or more remote parts of the Empire?

PD: We think resources should be provided to these places, so infrastructure can be built, and people can be housed.

UCP: We believe that Potato at the moment is too concerned with finishing the Potato Temple, however, is unwilling to put significant effort into finishing it, we believe that more effort should be put into making farms, and other areas. We also believe we should perhaps take inspiration from UCCR, and build a new Potato Temple in a different location, leaving the old Temple as a monument to the early days of the Potato Empire.

Question 6: Do you think the Potato Empire should strengthen its borders?

PD: Yes. The borders are currently easily traversable, allowing people to do silly things. We should strengthen our borders, to prevent this.

UCP: We believe that we should put more emphasis on the creation of a Potato Navy, to compete with the Carrot Republic Navy, which has begun to have more effort put on it by its respective government. Since CRN ships are based on British and Japanese pre-dreadnoughts, we believe that Potato Navy ships should be based around other ships of the same era (American, Russian, German, or French pre-dreadnoughts).

Question 7: Femboy Land has a total ban on the entry of Potato Empire’s citizens. Should we mirror that?

PD: No. This will create bigger issues with the members of Femboy Land, of which we have enough. It would also make no sense, as the Empire is one of the biggest countries on the server, and owns quite a lot of territory. Some of Femboy Land's members also have property in the Empire.

UCP: We believe that, since the punishment for execution is shared with all non-members of Femboy Land, the only way we would support a decision such as that would be if another nation, namely UCCR also wanted the same thing for their borders.

Question 8: Should we be able to plant other crops around the Potato Temple?

PD: If it benefits the Potato Empire's reputation and/or economy, yes.

UCP: We believe that there should be an area of land around or inside the new temple that we want built that contains the other crops, such as in an area that has seats for members of the UCCR, as Carrot,Wheat, and Beetroot are all crops that are under UCCR’s jurisdiction.

Question 9: What is your view on the monarchy?

PD: We are neutral on the monarchy; that is, we don't support nor oppose the Potato King. We'd have no major reaction if, say, the monarchy abdicated or was overthrown. But we wouldn't have a major reaction if support for it was through the roof.

UCP: We believe that the monarchy should continue, however, the Potato King needs to be more reactive to threats than he has been in the past, as Potato has previously relied on other nations, such as Sol Corp to defend its own territory, Potato Empire is more alone than it has ever been, and must learn to fight for itself.

Question 10: How do you plan to support shops, commerce, and businesses?

PD: We think shops should be pooled into the plan to support smaller parts of the Empire. They are just as significant as any tradesperson, community chest, or stock market center.

UCP: Establishing Trade with UCCR would be a good start, and making use of unused land in the empire would be a good reason to keep them under our jurisdiction.

Question 11: Would you consider Thailand a separate entity or a region in the Potato Empire?

PD: We see Thailand in the way Scotland is seen in the real world. This makes Potato Empire comparable to the United Kingdom or the Austro-Hungarian Empire: a patchwork of places led by a single ruler or number of rulers.

UCP: We consider Thailand a state of Potato Empire.

Question 12: Should the Empire have a fully active military, or should the military only be active during wartime?

PD: For the sole reason of training. The international community would probably be concerned if the army was always active.

UCP: We believe that Potato must have an effective military that can be brought into action whenever needed, and can serve not just as a reactionary force, as Potato has previously relied on other nations, such as Sol Corp to defend its own territory, Potato Empire is more alone than it has ever been, and must learn to fight for itself.

Question 13: If the Potato Empire adopts a national anthem, what do you think it should be?

PD: God Save the King. It's very fitting, it has a lovely melody, and can be updated if we have another monarch. We wouldn't be opposed to altering the lyrics.

UCP: We believe that the Potato King should decide on a national anthem, however, we believe Potato Empire also should have a “theme” music, UCCR has the Star Trek DS9 theme serving as their “theme”.

Question 14: How should we deal with mobs?

PD: We should have measures to make sure they don't spawn. For those that do, we should either kill them once they attack, or move them to places where they won't be as much of a threat to the Empire and it's citizens.

UCP: Any mobs outside of Zombie Piglins should be killed at discretion. Any nametagged mobs should be spared.

If you have further questions, or want to hear these details in more detail, we recommend hearing the official PMI party debate, which will occur sometime next month.