There was no intention on my part to bypass @CF_Kane. Sorry if it came across that way.
I got the impression that you, @CF_Kane, were also pretty new to the game and Rick could be a resource to use if there are any questions on the rules that are unclear to us all.
No worries. There may be areas where we have to divert from the rules as written in order to accommodate the fact that this is being played by forum. Generally, I hope Rick and I will be in agreement.
No issues or anything on my part, Ironsight. Just as we move on, the game could get bogged down if we turn repeatedly to the designer for every rule we have a question on.
I just started my new job this week, though, so I hope you can give me until Friday night once I’ve finished my week. I’m not working weekends for a couple weeks yet! Yay!
You have three choices. Appoint a Secretary of War for option A, appoint an Envoy for option B, or Ignore the issue and implement the consequences of that choice. If you choose A or B then Congress also votes to support your choice or not, and if Congress votes it down then the Failed consequences get implemented (same as if you ignored the issue). Look carefully at the popularity results in the upper right of the card along with what happens based on your choice. Also make sure that whoever you appoint has the Ability to at least match the Difficulty on the upper left, with added Influence cubes as needed.
Of course the fourth choice it to table the issue for now and do something else like imposing a tariff or taxes and then come back to the issue.
Edit - I’ve said from the start that option A is the only one that makes sense to me, but others have disagreed.