A Mind Forever Voyaging - Political Elements

Political Elements

AMFV was unusual among Infocom titles (with the possible exception of Trinity) in that it addressed political and, according to Meretzky, socially relevant, issues. The adventure takes place in the United States of North America, a country that embraces all of the present-day United States of America and Canada and whose laws and customs are strongly modeled on the United States. Washington, DC, remains the capital city. The climax of the adventure takes place after PRISM determines that the Plan for Renewed National Purpose is deeply flawed, and will send the nation into chaos.

Meretzky's intent that the game be received as a polemic succeeded insofar as players and reviewers noticed the game's critiques of both right-wing and populist political prescriptions.

The plan consisted of the following points:

Legislative action:

• cut tax rates by fifty percent
• vigorous prosecution of tax evasion
• decentralization of federal responsibilities
• deregulation of all major industries
• reinstatement of the military draft
• emphasis on fundamentals and traditional values in education
• mandatory conscription for troublemakers and criminals
• a strict "USNA First" trade policy
• termination of aid to nations not pro-USNA
• cutbacks on all types of bureaucracy, e.g. registering cars, guns
• termination of government subsidies to outmoded industries

Constitutional amendments:

• increase the powers of the executive branch
• increase the presidential term of office to eight years

If the player reaches the optimum ending, he is placed in simulation mode and sent to live out the rest of his life in the year 2091. It is revealed that a different political "plan" was enacted after the defeat of the Plan for Renewed National Purpose.

Given that the Plan for Renewed National Purpose resulted in the collapse of civilization in the USNA, the author's intent was to warn against the possible consequences of some policy choices made during the Reagan administration: specifically, a more aggressive foreign/military policy, the cutting of social welfare benefits to permit tax cuts, and an emphasis on religious values.

Also, in the fictional year 2031, Greece and Guatemala are considered anti-American nations (along with North Korea and Albania) and the black-dominated South African government faces attacks from a radical white terrorist group called WIZO. Libyan leader Muammar al-Gaddafi was killed during a Libyan nuclear test in the early 2010s. Significantly, the Soviet Union continues to exist, and presents security threats to the United States. Indeed, the Eastern bloc appears to have had something of a renaissance by the year 2031 in this fictional world.