I made a Rayne from a rich family, who studied History in Deyr and joined the Red Youth. His military career was cut short when he got kicked out for helping Blundish refugees. While rising through the USP he supported the neoliberal Alfonso, primarily for his political reforms. We came to power on a platform of democratizing the constitution, restoring the planned economy, improving healthcare, and aligning with the West. All but the last were realized.
Most importantly, I stayed in office, won the war, and got a second term. I also reconciled with the Blunds, and unbanned the BFP. This split the Blundish vote and kept them out of politics, which I totally anticipated. I gave extra funding to healthcare, particularly improving rural health services. I passed other social reforms including worker’s protection, polio vaxx, and child benefits. I restricted or outlawed vices, including prostitution, alcohol, and tobacco. My constitutional reforms transferred power to the assembly and passed with wide margins.
Contrasting healthcare, my education reforms were a massive failure, as I cut funding and then tried to modernize the curriculum. I also ignored my wife and the women’s movement, though I was able to postpone divorce until after reelection. At one point I did support a women’s rights bill, but changed my mind again and vetoed it when it came to my desk.
Diplomatically I secured trade deals with Wahlen and Valgsland, and an alliance with the latter. My capitalist neighbors were less inviting, but I received a lot of assistance from the ATO, who only asked for an airbase. Eventually the Arcasian president visited to
seduce my wife recruit us into the ATO, but he demanded a parallel command structure in my military due to my heterodox politics. I rejected his offer before he could pull a Suharto, and pivoted hard towards the communists. I had already sent them a gift, but instead of my wife, Malenyev got my son. I also supported the intervention in Heljiland and was sanctioned for the trouble. Despite these sacrifices, and subsequent UN shilling, I was never invited to join the CTO.
Dweight should’ve been more lenient, as I modernized my airforce, and built a military industrial complex with his own aid. When Rumburg declared war, Colonel Soil returned to advise the military plan, a pincer attack which was completely successful. Meanwhile the Valgslanders marched on Dome, and due to our alliance, the defeated Rumburg became a CTO ally. Which could be concerning in the future if we are still nonaligned.
I trusted Lucian's judgement on the spy case. I'm not sure if he was still spying for someone else, but if he was they seem aligned with me. My biggest gamble was passing him over for VP, as I had no idea how he would take it. On one hand he could react badly and try to coup me, but if I do make him VP he would be next in line for president, so there's a target on me then too. I chose the Gloria over Albin for VP because I was more in danger of losing conservatives than reformists. In fact, my conservative interior minister resigned to run against me, which could have been disastrous. Fortunately Rumberg declared war, so the party congress was cancelled. The elections saw the nationalists overtake the PFJP as the second party, and the communists also made the threshold.
My main shortcoming was the economy. I blew through my budget immediately, and then let Gasom go bankrupt because I wanted to avoid deep debt. I also thought I could bail out or nationalize them once they collapsed, but it was not to be.
The line is finally going up.
I eventually realized a planned economy requires heavy investment, so I embraced the Managed Decline, and funded most of my infrastructure and social reforms with debt, supplemented by heavy taxation and western investment. Shortly before he quit, my economy minister said we were approaching 50% inflation and in a debt crisis. The not-IMF offered a bailout, which I refused. Still, my projects were successful, and the net result was low growth/stagnation rather than depression.
Aside from Gasom, my business relations were productive. I made an alliance with Koronti, but then betrayed him and nationalized his company. I never touched Tusk’s company, and took his bribe for the rail contact, so he never caused trouble, even when I taxed him and passed anti-business reforms.
The USP remade itself for the democratic era.
I made several ethical compromises to stay in power: Our deal with Koronti meant HOS media was biased in our favor. We later turned HOS into biased state media, and then censored the other media. Another law resulted in unfair party financing, favoring the establishment. We also banned the nationalist youth movement, and later co-opted the red youth to terrorize voters in our favor. Such policies helped us to retain a majority even with low favorability. Finally, I never addressed corruption in the police or military, as Lancea was still mad about my military service and I didn’t want him to kill me. If I do this playthrough again, I will try harder to limit these abuses and respect the principles of democratic socialism.
Now on to the DLC!
