AOL Senate Sim
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The AOL Senate Simulation ("Senate Sim" for short) was started on the America Online ISP in the early summer of 1998 by Peter Krembs. It debuted on a political message board and quickly became popular amongst forum regulars. Krembs, a Democrat, served as Senate Clerk and later as Vice President.
The "SIM" was an online forum-based mock senate, and served for years as a successful educational tool for many young people interested in the workings of the US Congress and American politics. "Sim Senators" could write legislation either from scratch, or by copying legislation submitted in the U.S. Congress. The legislation was then submitted to the Senate Clerk, who dispatched it to the appropriate committee. If passed, the bill would be brought before the Senate Floor for a full vote by the body, and later to the White House for Presidential consideration.
All players of the Senate Simulation joined initially as Senators, representing a US state of their choosing and one of 4 recognized parties (Democratic, Republican, Libertarian and Independent). The SIM later expanded to include the pro-free market Conservative Party and the socialist leaning Progressive Party. Regular elections were held to elect a President and Vice President in order to simulate aspects of the executive branch, such as signing or vetoing legislation. The first President of the Senate Sim was Mark Liakakis, a moderate Independent from Michigan. The first Vice President was a Republican. Many regions of the country, and various ideologies were represented by hundreds of participants throughout the length of the simulation. The most impactful party leaders to emerge included Republicans Matt Adams, Chris Spitzzeri, Justin Bendel, Rachel Faith Anderson, Ashby Frank and Tim Hackett; Libertarians Ron Stringfield, Shelley Langdon, Kyle Larsen, Sean McDermott, Anthony Cook, Leo Rini and Chris Knight; Democrats John McNair, Barb Aval, Greg Brown, Carla StrCatcher, and Derek Devlin; and Independents Kris Chandler, Blake Dalton, Blaine Perry, Doug O'Brien and Don Kempster; and Rush Miller of every party - often a few at the same time.
The simulation collapsed and was removed from AOL in the summer of 2003. The collapse was blamed on infighting between members, and centered around accusations that both sides had artificially inflated their voting roles by creating fake or cloned accounts.
A similar short-lived simulation on AOL had been created using a bicameral format. Some members of the Senate advocated merging the old Senate SIM with this new bicameral format. Many members on the right also opposed the system of "rules challenges" that had been implemented when the Senate left was in the majority. This system removed the Supreme Court from the process of settling disputes between members over the interpretation of the complex rules of the game. The rules had been greatly expanded since the inception of the game. Those opposed to this system claimed that it was being used unfairly by a partisan elected Rules Committee.
The simulation was the first of its kind on the internet, and since its collapse, many others in the same vein have sprung up, such as Qpawn, Politics UK and POLISIM.
[edit] Memorable Quotes
"Procrastination is an art. Think about it- the idea that leaving some unwanted thing for the future will make it any more tolerable than it is now is completely irrational. Yet there are millions of ways to interpret, twist, rationalize, rephrase, and otherwise misrepresent the situation to yourself so that is seems logical. The trick, of course, is coming up with an original justification each and every time........." -Leo Rini
"Yeah, we need a new law that makes it against the law to break the law. Good thinking." -Jim Comfort, on Alex Cottingham's rantings of needing more strict gun control laws
"if your reason for clinging to god is a need to be controlled, get married." -Steve Drucker
"Did you know the Bible says there will be no women in heaven? In Revelation 8:1 it says '....and there was SILENCE in heaven for a half hour.'" -Jaron L. Barnes
"so we have to kiss your candidates ass or be voted against. gee remember when we called her out on this before ashby and she vehemently denied being a crybaby hypocrite? ahhhhh the sim left" -Steve Drucker, referring to Carla threatening not to support Ashby's education bill because he teased President McNair
"Marcus simply insists on stepping on every landmine he can find. He's like a gay Napoleon." -Greg Brown
"Not to be self-centered, but please take further discussions, comments, arguments, etc. that are unrelated to this office to the Lounge. This is where you can call me an idiot. The Lounge is where you can call each other idiots." -President John McNair, on the petty fights in the White House folder
"if we give them out to pigs for free we can probably stop racism too" -Steve Drucker, in response to Jim Dallas' idea of re-instating free distribution of contraceptives to federal workers to keep them from reproducing
"Have you ever noticed... that some people's behaviour closely approximates an..... agitated little puppy peeing all over itself and the floor, tripping and sliding in its own urine. Trying so hard to gain love and recognition, I guess kind of like a self-imposed legend status. And if things go real well for the little puppy, the sensation of all the rubbing from the tripping and sliding causes the little puppy to, well ejaculate, and then pass out from exhaustion. But you know what the most interesting part is, although the puppy has really not accomplished much of anything, it feels fulfill and satisfied. Go figure on the simplicity that nature imposes on some brains." -Blaine Perry
"I appeal to all constituencies... Women: Stud. Men: Strong, commanding... Likes beer and steak. Minorities: I like hangin', chillin' AND hopping the border. Homosexuals: Lesbians turn me on and gays don't compete for women. Young people: I'm da man, as Devon said. Old people: Easy to fool them by making stuff up... Alzheimer's and such. People with questionable morals: Look at Heather, whores dig me. People with questionable morals who pretend not to have questionable morals: I own a camera. Middle-aged men: I have their sex-drives and insecurities. Middle-aged women: Hot flashes make me look good. Rich people: I know what it's like to have to pay for sex... Poor people: I know what it's like to be paid for sex... I'm truly a man for the masses." -Rush Miller
"It's the Doug and Liz Show...I call dibs on wagging my finger and saying 'I did not have watching relations with those straight people' when the story breaks." -John Lam, a homosexual while observing a heterosexual "act" in chat
"Question: if you clone yourself and have sex, is that incest or complicated masturbation?" -Ryan King
