Gideon walks to the soapbox and bangs it once. It promptly flips itself over and Gideon takes his position atop.

I have been pondering this "new" idea for quite some time. Well, it is not exactly new, but hasn't been implemented for quite a a while.

Over the last weeks we have see all forms of stupidity, idiocy, and even retardation. We have seen more rogues in the recent weeks than we did in the last few months. It seems as if a Made Man or higher is dieing every day. The only way a Made should die is by catastrophic gun falure, or war. Is the global I.Q dropping? It may be. With this in mind, I believe that in order to further control the amount of idiocy running around our 8 cities. Selfish acts are becoming more and more normal. No Godfather or even the upper structure can predict when these waves of rogues and disrespectful leeches will come running around, but it needs to be stopped. Back in the day, a leader by the name of Numbers4Glory started a new radical idea in which to control the amount of ass hats achieving the rank of Made Man. This is called the Blessing System and it was very effective for a while.

What is involved in the Blessing System? It would involve you, and 2 other people. To achieve the rank of Made Man two others of your city, of any rank, have to vouch for you. In them vouching for you, they are saying that they believe that you are a good candidate. The leader still has full control on if they decide to promote you, but they will also have the list of vouchers when they do decide. Once you get this rank they are tied to you forever. If the Made Man ever does anything to warrant death, the other 2 will die also for vouching for a person that brought shame on the family. I believe that this method plays on the human psyche and will promote good behavior. Some people have become selfish and don't always think of the well being of others before they act. This system will hopefully force people to think beyond them selves and really analyze a situation before they toss their own, and their friends, lives away. It is very easy to say "I don't care about my own life" but I would hope you care for your friends. When your actions have a direct response on people you care about hopefully people act in the un-selfish way. If you adhere to the codes and unwritten laws of our world you will have nothing to fear. People will need to really think about who they are vouching for also. They are putting their lives on the line by agreeing to vouch for a person and will likely not vouch for just anyone.

What are your ideas, thoughts, or opinions? Everyone is invited to speak.

Gideon moves aside to let someone else take the stand.

Falcao walks over with his entourage to listen to his good friend Gideon's Speech

"My ancestors were around the last time the Blessing System was around. They found it to work very well, there were less rogues and less idiot people roaming the streets ranked made man or above. I would not be opposed to implementing this system country wide"

I believe Chicago has a "Blessing System" in place, though completely different from this one.

I applaud the idea, but I feel that its futile as those that are ready to disregard the "rules" in this thing of ours and go nuts, would seldom care if two "friends" died as a consequence of their idiocy.

Its a step forward though, at least.

The entire idea would be that people are careful about those they give a voucher for. If people were careful as to who they gave the word out to, this would drastically limit the number of nutters that would be able to get Made Man, and thus cause greater destruction. If one person gives blessings to everyone, then they are a very good chance of having a short life span.

If implemented and enforced for some time, I think people will get the picture and only give blessings to those they trust (they way it should be).

While this system has its merits, no one can predict the actions of another. We can all believe we know a person well enough to vouch for them, but we really only know what they present to us. I do not want to take the life of anyone in my crew because someone they thought they knew and vouched for went off the deep end and rogued.

I'm pretty certain that people realize what they're doing when they commit their actions as a rogue -I recall the system back when it was in place, and it didn't seem to stop rogues from doing their actions anyway.. they knew full well they were also signing other people's death warrant. I can only imagine that if it was put back into place it would simply give other crewleaders a valid reason for war on the logic that if there was one security breach that wasn't seen in advance - especially from two people who claimed to have known the person in question, then perhaps the crewleader's trust is misplaced and should be replaced with someone else.

That Numbers4Glory, quite a bright fella.

Shame he didn't dip.

It's a good basic idea, but it seems a few holes need to be filled, a good idea though, maybe make only certain people be able to give an opinion maybe people that crew leaders nominate as reliable?

Very good point, Ragnarok. We are afterall a devious community at times. One seldom knows what the others true thoughts are.

The sentiment holds true, though. It would certainly deter certain people from putting their life at risk for those they dont feel they can trust. But in the end, doens't a leader currently only give that Made Promotion to those they trust? I would certainly hope that was the case.

The entire idea is that over time with this implemented, people would comply and eventually wise up to who they are blessing. Am I going to give a blessing to someone I don't know? Never. I will be very selective as to who I give my good name for. True my best friend could have an arterial motive, but I believe that this would be more of a thump on someones conscience than if they were only tossing themselves away.

retardation haha lovely word Giddie

Im Pretty sure this idea could be polished up and put in place clearly for the better,whether this idea is used or not i believe we need something to "stem the tide of retardation"

(can i use that word by the way) haha

I have people now flooding my mailbox stating "Is this a new law now!!!!!!!1111oneoneone."

No, this is simply a debate for all to participate in and voice your opinion. I do not hold myself is that high of regard in which I feel I can just impose laws by myself. Call me modest.

In our current ways, what stops the suicidal from acting? If they don't care about what happens to them then they will have no problem dying. What is to stop them from acting selfishly? If they have someone else's fate tied to them, I think they will be more deterred than at the present with the current conditions for Made.

It is no a uncommon thing to see Made Men today walking around with 10 letters sent and a handful of street appearances. The rank of Made Man is merely another rank in some families I'm afraid. But that is a topic for another night.

I Rekon some dont even care about others either...we've seen it in some cases where innocents die for someone's stupidity,

cant rule this out one bit though if someone else has a better idea then lets hear because sooner rather than later these streets could go up in flames

I'd go out on a limb and say that people who are promoted are trusted by their crewleaders - The question is, when a member has shown absolutely no indication of wrongdoing in the past, or, for that matter, of their parents, and the vouchers have absolutely no reason to believe that they would sway, what do you do?

As Ragnarok said, you can't predict people's actions: you may very well run across the situation where the person in question gave zero indication of their ties - and, with that said, can you really punish the two vouchers for it?

Syrianna, For those who are that worried about what the person they vouched for will do, then the conclusion is simple. Don't Vouch. It will be up to the person who wants Made Man so badly, to find 2 people who will indeed vouch for them.

Townslave after hearing all that Gideon has said, puts a smile on his face.

"I do love this idea and it will indeed decrease the amount of rogues. I do like this idea and I'm glad that Gideon is asking the people for support of this idea. I am for this proposal."

I have to agree with Falcao, if this bleesings system, does come to happen, if the voucher's think it will affect them too much and put their existence at risk then don't vouch, no harm, no foul.

If today Loren and I vouch for Syriana to get made, then a week later he flips his lid and rogues, I am not responsible for his actions. Upon my vouching for Syriana, I knew him to be a sound thinking man who only wanted the best for his crew and his fellow crew mates. By this system, no one will vouch for anyone for they will fear for their lives. Anyone can flip the script so to speak and commit  actions that no one ever thought they where capiable of.

yeah true that...it would surely stop Made-Man promo's getting handed out Willy-nilly and being made man would mean something again.

If your not sure whether to vouch or not best thing is not too...stop's rogues and just plain idiots slipping off the radar 

Sooooo


I have been out of the office today and I have returned to a mail box full of mail.

As my good friend Gideon has pointed out already, this isn't a policy decision made by New York. It is a debate about the recent rash of killings and rogues, nothing more, nothing less. Already we can see it is getting people on to the streets to discuss so, that in itself can only be a good thing.

My thoughts, I have read my fathers diaries and the idea has its pro's and con's, the idea was implemented at a very dark time for our world one which we would all like to avoid as much as possible. It does get people talking and getting to know each other, I am and reading the journals so was my ancestors, wary of the fact that it really doesn't stop a committed rogue.