The early death count for those of you keeping score at home:
- SEVERAL senior officials of the Soviet Union
- Sir Paul McCartney
Playing with Mirrors
- Thread starter Expat
- Start date
The early death count for those of you keeping score at home:
- SEVERAL senior officials of the Soviet Union
- Sir Paul McCartney
My left and your left disagree. Social liberals trying to recuperate proletarian struggle and improve labour power to maximise capital reproduction. As their critics claim, “That’s Soviet Russia!!1one”. I barely see any left in turning agricultural peons into proper Bud Light buying wage slaves. In ensuring the next generation of black workers are healthy by capital in general paying for their labour quality. This is Ford-Taylorism. And there is a supergroup poised to attack your bourgeois labour aristocratic cretinism.
Alice Cooper
Try and deny that this is an immanent critique of the proletariat’s auto-alienation of its capacity for useful activity into labour power. Deny that this is about the worker transforming herself into the value-form, into wages and profit. Try to claim this isn’t about the working class being an instrument of capital and reproducing themselves in an expanded form to get a job with benefits. Cooper recognises that labour itself is part of the capital relationship. Deny it:
You're poison, running through my veins
You're poison
I don't want to break these chains
…
Black lace on sweat
Yours,
Sam
P.s.: with social liberalism and Ford-Taylor on the social level, the US autonomist left will be bigger. See Processed World
Alice Cooper
Try and deny that this is an immanent critique of the proletariat’s auto-alienation of its capacity for useful activity into labour power. Deny that this is about the worker transforming herself into the value-form, into wages and profit. Try to claim this isn’t about the working class being an instrument of capital and reproducing themselves in an expanded form to get a job with benefits. Cooper recognises that labour itself is part of the capital relationship. Deny it:
You're poison, running through my veins
You're poison
I don't want to break these chains
…
Black lace on sweat
Yours,
Sam
P.s.: with social liberalism and Ford-Taylor on the social level, the US autonomist left will be bigger. See Processed World
Howdy! I wanted to sit with this one for a while and give it the thought it deserves. And if I'm being honest, to try and suss it out. It's a very beautiful response, and I hope poetic is what you were going for because that's how it reads, but I think I'm having trouble understanding some of the specifics. I'll readily admit I barely speak grade-school economics and the Marxist dialect in particular is as impenetrable as Glaswegian.
So let's start with the "my left" bit. Utterly reasonable of you to assume anything written here is endorsed by me. I'm the author, I put it down, I've talked about wish-fulfillment as an aspect of AH that I embrace. But if I'm allowed to give myself this caveat: "the views expressed in this timeline are not necessarily those held by the author."
Please let me try to explain why I sometimes write what I write. I'm frequently much busier than I care to be, and I think most of us on the board would agree that none of us has as much time to research as we'd like to. It stopped me from getting started for years. One day I said, "Just do it," (I'd said it so many times before, but this time it stuck for whatever reason). And I tried to give myself tools to stay on track. One of the big ones- which I'll admit in open court is a way to avoid too many deep dives into researching plausibility- is to imagine outcomes that I like, but paths to them that I don't.
So for example if I have a utopian, open-ended goal like, "less racial animus in American society," I'm not going to approach it in the ways that make me feel better and happy, I'm going to approach it in ways that might be undeniably successful but that make me uncomfortable. It's a quick way to get to "feels plausible" in the [Matrix rejection of utopianism] smell test.
All that is a way for me to try to dodge ownership of the label about "my" left.
Now let me completely validate you on something else: you're absolutely right, I have no intention of taking this TL (much) outside of the traditional Western political geography, bounded (for the purposes of economic questions) by heavily-managed capitalism on the one hand and market libertarianism on the other. You're right, there are entire wings of ideology that modern society has barely explored, and there's no particular reason they couldn't.
And what's my excuse? Looking back to the time period, I just don't see it. What a lame excuse. But then anyone bringing up Processed World was always pretty likely to call me "lame."
I'll be honest, if I'm feeling really ambitious I will end up playing more fundamentally with society and its relationship to capital and the definition of work and home and even family. I may not end up being that ambitious. And even if I do, I very much doubt it'll pass ideological rigor, because I'm going to be winging it. If I happen to rewrite Bakunin in the process you can thank my army of monkeys chained to typewriters as much as anything.
Okay, let's address a few of the specifics you brought up in relation to the TL; I may be misinterpreting your critiques, so please feel free to let me know if I get this wrong (you're under no obligation to, of course).
The narrative of black America so far. Oh god, I think you're absolutely right about this one, and the only thing you may have gotten wrong was thinking that *I* considered this leftist action. All of the movement here is coming from the Republican Party. These are thoroughly bourgeois concerns in an effort to make bourgeois white voters feel better and make more bourgeois African Americans join the GOP rolls.
The UFW. Again, I can see your point, but I must insist we level it against the entire American labor establishment post- ...what, post-1910? 1920 at the latest? American labor was purged of all truly radical influence decades before we get to here. And so this is me looking back on the period and seeing what I have to work with.
I also get (or think I get) that you're rejecting the primacy of the struggle for racial justice that characterizes so much of the major activity on the American left, in favor of correction of the capitalist system that under-girds the oppression of minorities. It's a solid choice and I do see its merits. But here's my lame caveat again: I'm going to work with what I see was happening at the time. And speaking personally, as a
"straight white cis male"
So the mainstream American "racial justice with an economic component" track is going to be, largely, where the left goes ITTL. Watch for some changes. As racial animosity lessens and a political split develops between the middle class and the poor in the black community, things will inch towards the more radical (but I do mean inch).
And maybe you also take some umbrage with my terminology, my labeling of any of this as "leftist." I get it, terms are important and we feel tied to them. But with respect, this is a fair use. We have a reasonable, shared appreciation of what goes on in the political flanks of a country, and I'm going to use the shared definition. I have worked on campaigns where cranky old men (invariably) told me to get off their porch and never mention that socialist again, and we're often talking about politicians who'd barely qualify to keep their heads on their shoulders in a 1789 situation. Definitions are subjective, so I'll take a little collective understanding where I can.
I will promise to be careful with the term "liberal" and try to use it in the classic, European way as often as possible. (Though the sloppier American usage may slip into the dialogue now and then.)
About your your p.s. you...are probably right? Not planning on making it a big thing. Your interest has certainly started me thinking about it. I think certainly relative to OTL, we're going to see a lot more experimental living in rural America, and probably some very interesting things done with group living; certainly structures that are flatter, but maybe still more hierarchical than what looks like Autonomism calls for. Communitarian, certainly. And all still within the structures of a Westphalian nation-state.
As for reptile-lover and friend of Johnny Depp (but I repeat myself), Alice Cooper, ummm yeah. Alice Cooper. I'm not killing him if that's what you're worried about. I don't even think I'd know how to begin. What kills Alice Cooper?
Last edited:
This is obviously a fruitful line of thought around the timeline and writing process. It’ll take some time. And I want you to know clearly that I am loving your integration of characters, ideology and reaction to historical change. My post was meant as praise, as in-universe type “heckling” from a very clearly ultra left position, such heckling usually happens *within* political communities. It was aimed at John Lennon’s tour as “your left,” not at the authors person views. It was aimed at the concept of “the left” that Lennon espoused. Such heckling usually has a purity / reality split. And in my post I was setting up a character in the post who was “too pure” for this world.
Sadly there’s a bit of a link between the poetry and the Glaswegian of workerist / autonomist Marxism. The core of this brand of Marxism is “workers can only do it for themselves” and “capitalism is a relationship that penetrates every smallest action in capitalist society.” Who makes you get up and go to work in the morning? The boss in your head. Every worker, to the autonomist, is infected with capitalism. Every social programme exists to force workers to be workers. Now it admits that it is better to eat than to starve, but you eat breakfast so you can work through the day for the boss.
While there’s wish fulfilment in all our writing, I wasn’t associating any of these views you write with you. The “my left / your left” was a classification game joke. It was also meant to call my character in that post out as being ultra leftist. The joke here being that from a “left” perspective perfectly good actions, improvements on our time line, aren’t “left enough” for the ratbag radicals. Nothing ever is.
This is a really good writing technique. I tend to stick to very small areas where I’ve done very in depth research. I am enjoying the results of this writing technique greatly. It is working. But the your left criticism was meant as an in character attack on an in world position. It was not meant as any claim on the authors personal views.
You’re not lame, and bounding te exploration of a PoD within the post war consensus of Sweden through post-Soviet Estonia on capitalist political economy isn’t just authorially reasonable: it is most highly plausible. It is a vast terrain worth exploring. You’ve clearly situated your exploration in terms of “parliamentary politics” as the Marxist Glaswegians say; Presidential politics as our American friends say. And that’s not only fine but great. I normally do not enjoy personality minutae of US factional politics. But here you’ve tapped into the underlying political economy driving the personalities aligning with particular ideological moments in the two (now three) grand tents of the coalitions called parties. It is fascinating because instead of personal motivation all of the agents in the coalitions are responding to changing urban design or fuel policy or the Overton window on environmentalism and labour. And these changes are plausible and not stereotyped. Rural US labour supporting migration halts for living wage jobs is a perfect example: plausible, not stereotyped.
The whole “Processed World” critique will be slightly larger in your world:
1) the Overton window has broadened, making for a broader left, making ratbag maoists and anarchists and trots and autonomists get a little more sunlight. Think of how with the end of the Vietnam war and the collapse of the SDS the Overton window closed on American Maoism? If the window creeps open even a little bit these far left views will get slightly more play. And there’s a qualitative difference at 50, 500, 5000 adherents. At least in the terms slipping into the vocabulary of those who went to college alongside them in the “normal” left.
This isn’t how social change happens though, this is:
2) for the autonomist the social liberal institutions being created are oppressive and designed to control the wildcat working class of factory college and suburb of the 1970s. They’re designed to overcome health safety and transport barriers to make happy workers.
But who is happy to slave for another?
Each of these repressive institutions will create new worker resistance.
The integrated apartment postmen will unite black and white at home and work.
The healthy drug free children of Compton will demand jobs in gunfree marches and beat driven poetry. (NWAs album: we want work)
The tram drivers of Baltimore will go on strike.
And not just the left. The farm workers will become conservative small town mayors.
Look to Sweden’s social problems for breaking boundaries at the managed side option, or New Zealand’s for the free market. Extending plausibly is often about looking at the problem cases for trajectory. You don’t have to go there: you probably shouldn’t within the conception here. I’m just pointing that with such core changes, almost an inverted Reagan priming the pump by the people not the bosses, you’ll see more edge radical behaviour.
Catering is catering. You get fed but they want something from you. Who am I to attack TTL black communities who decide they want to be inside the jobs with benefits rent in good neighbourhoods pissing out at LBJ might say? The same chap who will ask the talented tenth whether they reached back down for their brother and sister. Which is what your timeline is doing perfectly. Now the rest of the social programs are going to do their work, and who am I to criticise the union democrat who catches the tram to work from an integrated apartment? At the end of the day she’ll ask herself if she has joys enough. But like I suggested with NWA, no matter how good things get, someone will always want more and better. And maybe here the lack of systemic guns and drug violence will leave potential and tools to take it as individuals, communities or a class (probably via vote dem/rep union).
This is central to our analysis of your work.
Institutional systems in the US failed organised working class behaviour of all races, and failed non white workers in particular.
In response to the social crisis of disorganised malcontent a sensible politician has finally generalised great society programs in an affordable way that won’t get him Coup d’etated and which pay their own way in capital. Just ask the Detroit motor bosses building light rail cars.
And it is working but outside of unions with dire immediate need (UFW) organised labour is moribund.
Workers will evtually be pissed off with the bad NHS or the poor schedules or bad bike lanes. They’ll create new organisations because the existing ones stink. The Spanish speaking Catholic landowners association of Arizona. Labor rappers and work hip hop. Etc. probably more social than union or political in general.
What probably won’t happen is increasing separatist movements. If black and Hispanic workers are treated more equally. If women workers are treated more equally. Then workers will view their coworkers as equals. Shared apartments. Shared transit. Shared workplace. A greater shared identity within the class. “Sure Brian, you don’t get it about MLK, but I hear what you’re trying to say.” And Brian not speaking so much bullshit. Brian might get called a shithead in 2009, but probably *not* a shitlord.
Next time I put the gum boot on my head and heckle at the Vermont democratic primary, I’ll chuck a nice fat In-Character: indicator at the front.
I love your work and trust your direction. An America where a minuscule San Francisco Anarchist-Marxist theory magazine might be read by more than the authors friends is one where the Overton window has opened and millions of working Americans lives have improved in terms of freedom from want and fear. A world where Baltimore might be the murder capital of the United States, but with a hundred fewer dead each year. I hope by now you’ve felt the depth of my compliment as the ultralefts will always heckle, no matter how things improve, “their elections are on again, our struggle continues.”
I hope this has inspired, rather than worn down. Keep to your vision, I love it.
Yours,
Sam R.
Sadly there’s a bit of a link between the poetry and the Glaswegian of workerist / autonomist Marxism. The core of this brand of Marxism is “workers can only do it for themselves” and “capitalism is a relationship that penetrates every smallest action in capitalist society.” Who makes you get up and go to work in the morning? The boss in your head. Every worker, to the autonomist, is infected with capitalism. Every social programme exists to force workers to be workers. Now it admits that it is better to eat than to starve, but you eat breakfast so you can work through the day for the boss.
While there’s wish fulfilment in all our writing, I wasn’t associating any of these views you write with you. The “my left / your left” was a classification game joke. It was also meant to call my character in that post out as being ultra leftist. The joke here being that from a “left” perspective perfectly good actions, improvements on our time line, aren’t “left enough” for the ratbag radicals. Nothing ever is.
This is a really good writing technique. I tend to stick to very small areas where I’ve done very in depth research. I am enjoying the results of this writing technique greatly. It is working. But the your left criticism was meant as an in character attack on an in world position. It was not meant as any claim on the authors personal views.
You’re not lame, and bounding te exploration of a PoD within the post war consensus of Sweden through post-Soviet Estonia on capitalist political economy isn’t just authorially reasonable: it is most highly plausible. It is a vast terrain worth exploring. You’ve clearly situated your exploration in terms of “parliamentary politics” as the Marxist Glaswegians say; Presidential politics as our American friends say. And that’s not only fine but great. I normally do not enjoy personality minutae of US factional politics. But here you’ve tapped into the underlying political economy driving the personalities aligning with particular ideological moments in the two (now three) grand tents of the coalitions called parties. It is fascinating because instead of personal motivation all of the agents in the coalitions are responding to changing urban design or fuel policy or the Overton window on environmentalism and labour. And these changes are plausible and not stereotyped. Rural US labour supporting migration halts for living wage jobs is a perfect example: plausible, not stereotyped.
The whole “Processed World” critique will be slightly larger in your world:
1) the Overton window has broadened, making for a broader left, making ratbag maoists and anarchists and trots and autonomists get a little more sunlight. Think of how with the end of the Vietnam war and the collapse of the SDS the Overton window closed on American Maoism? If the window creeps open even a little bit these far left views will get slightly more play. And there’s a qualitative difference at 50, 500, 5000 adherents. At least in the terms slipping into the vocabulary of those who went to college alongside them in the “normal” left.
This isn’t how social change happens though, this is:
2) for the autonomist the social liberal institutions being created are oppressive and designed to control the wildcat working class of factory college and suburb of the 1970s. They’re designed to overcome health safety and transport barriers to make happy workers.
But who is happy to slave for another?
Each of these repressive institutions will create new worker resistance.
The integrated apartment postmen will unite black and white at home and work.
The healthy drug free children of Compton will demand jobs in gunfree marches and beat driven poetry. (NWAs album: we want work)
The tram drivers of Baltimore will go on strike.
And not just the left. The farm workers will become conservative small town mayors.
Look to Sweden’s social problems for breaking boundaries at the managed side option, or New Zealand’s for the free market. Extending plausibly is often about looking at the problem cases for trajectory. You don’t have to go there: you probably shouldn’t within the conception here. I’m just pointing that with such core changes, almost an inverted Reagan priming the pump by the people not the bosses, you’ll see more edge radical behaviour.
Catering is catering. You get fed but they want something from you. Who am I to attack TTL black communities who decide they want to be inside the jobs with benefits rent in good neighbourhoods pissing out at LBJ might say? The same chap who will ask the talented tenth whether they reached back down for their brother and sister. Which is what your timeline is doing perfectly. Now the rest of the social programs are going to do their work, and who am I to criticise the union democrat who catches the tram to work from an integrated apartment? At the end of the day she’ll ask herself if she has joys enough. But like I suggested with NWA, no matter how good things get, someone will always want more and better. And maybe here the lack of systemic guns and drug violence will leave potential and tools to take it as individuals, communities or a class (probably via vote dem/rep union).
This is central to our analysis of your work.
Institutional systems in the US failed organised working class behaviour of all races, and failed non white workers in particular.
In response to the social crisis of disorganised malcontent a sensible politician has finally generalised great society programs in an affordable way that won’t get him Coup d’etated and which pay their own way in capital. Just ask the Detroit motor bosses building light rail cars.
And it is working but outside of unions with dire immediate need (UFW) organised labour is moribund.
Workers will evtually be pissed off with the bad NHS or the poor schedules or bad bike lanes. They’ll create new organisations because the existing ones stink. The Spanish speaking Catholic landowners association of Arizona. Labor rappers and work hip hop. Etc. probably more social than union or political in general.
What probably won’t happen is increasing separatist movements. If black and Hispanic workers are treated more equally. If women workers are treated more equally. Then workers will view their coworkers as equals. Shared apartments. Shared transit. Shared workplace. A greater shared identity within the class. “Sure Brian, you don’t get it about MLK, but I hear what you’re trying to say.” And Brian not speaking so much bullshit. Brian might get called a shithead in 2009, but probably *not* a shitlord.
Next time I put the gum boot on my head and heckle at the Vermont democratic primary, I’ll chuck a nice fat In-Character: indicator at the front.
I love your work and trust your direction. An America where a minuscule San Francisco Anarchist-Marxist theory magazine might be read by more than the authors friends is one where the Overton window has opened and millions of working Americans lives have improved in terms of freedom from want and fear. A world where Baltimore might be the murder capital of the United States, but with a hundred fewer dead each year. I hope by now you’ve felt the depth of my compliment as the ultralefts will always heckle, no matter how things improve, “their elections are on again, our struggle continues.”
I hope this has inspired, rather than worn down. Keep to your vision, I love it.
Yours,
Sam R.
Last edited:
LOL, well you did a fantastic job! Until I saw your location I thought to myself, "Is that [college friend who regularly gives me shit on facebook]?" This is something I get pretty regularly from a couple different sources, and while it's not really the lifestyle for me, I do like to encourage it. So that's me feeling sheepish, but well done on the verisimilitude!
Wow, that was amazing, thank you for your analysis. It's all getting filed for further pourings-over and will certainly be influential in shaping things to come. One thing I really appreciate is your grasp of the relativity of everything. For example, an unprecedented tragedy IATL that exists on a smaller scale than OTL can still be perceived with something like the same level of emotion because they don't have the example of OTL, only their lived experience. But we can still make the outcomes better. Right on.
I just want to say that I absolutely loved that little discussion here and it gave me a bit more context on this period of US history. Keep it up.
Story Post XLIII: Things Take a Turn
#43
He was glad he’d waited.It had been difficult.So many moves.Always on the move, hard even to find time to write to her.But always make the time, always.Keeping fed was difficult.Keeping healthy, difficult.But it was all about her, every moment was about trying to get her to notice him.And now she would.He’d waited.Given it a lot of thought.Watched the movie again.And again.Always again.It struck him: it wasn’t a president he should go after.It was a candidate.He saw him again in his mind.An attractive older man.Talking about being a champion, protecting people.But he knew that was phoney.And this guy?This new guy was totally phoney.This would show her.She’d really get a kick out of this.
----
October 27th, 1984
New York Times
Headline: PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE JAMES BUCKLEY SHOT; NOT SERIOUSLY WOUNDED
Subhead: Candidate still in hospital as of press. Assassin dead at the scene.
----
James Buckley pushes the nurse away. Bill is in the corner.
“Would you get that thing away from me.”
“It’s standard procedure, sir.”
“I’m fine, I can use my arm.”
“We just need to limit your motion a bit to keep the stitches from-”
“I am running for president, this is too much of an encumbrance. Find another way.”
“James.”
“What.”
“This kind nurse is offering you five points in the polls. Stop being a pest and put the goddamn sling on.”
---
The photo on every front page that morning is a radiant James Buckley and his family leaving the hospital in fine fettle, his left arm couched in a sling.
Less remarked- making most front pages, but usually below the fold- is a story about a populist Democrat running for the West Virginia state legislature gunned down outside of Morgantown. Barely making most B sections that day were the two men arrested for arson in the attempted firebombing of the local DFL headquarters in Duluth, Minnesota. Almost no one bothered to cover the mob that forced the cancelation of an LWV event in Lubbock, Texas where local Republican candidates were set to have a forum.
In those first 24 hours after the shooting, hardly anyone was connecting the dots.
----
Offices of Lee Atwater. Some new polling is out.
“Gold. Solid fucking gold. Hinckley, I could kiss you right on the mouth, you crazy sonofabitch.”
He was glad he’d waited.It had been difficult.So many moves.Always on the move, hard even to find time to write to her.But always make the time, always.Keeping fed was difficult.Keeping healthy, difficult.But it was all about her, every moment was about trying to get her to notice him.And now she would.He’d waited.Given it a lot of thought.Watched the movie again.And again.Always again.It struck him: it wasn’t a president he should go after.It was a candidate.He saw him again in his mind.An attractive older man.Talking about being a champion, protecting people.But he knew that was phoney.And this guy?This new guy was totally phoney.This would show her.She’d really get a kick out of this.
----
October 27th, 1984
New York Times
Headline: PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE JAMES BUCKLEY SHOT; NOT SERIOUSLY WOUNDED
Subhead: Candidate still in hospital as of press. Assassin dead at the scene.
----
James Buckley pushes the nurse away. Bill is in the corner.
“Would you get that thing away from me.”
“It’s standard procedure, sir.”
“I’m fine, I can use my arm.”
“We just need to limit your motion a bit to keep the stitches from-”
“I am running for president, this is too much of an encumbrance. Find another way.”
“James.”
“What.”
“This kind nurse is offering you five points in the polls. Stop being a pest and put the goddamn sling on.”
---
The photo on every front page that morning is a radiant James Buckley and his family leaving the hospital in fine fettle, his left arm couched in a sling.
Less remarked- making most front pages, but usually below the fold- is a story about a populist Democrat running for the West Virginia state legislature gunned down outside of Morgantown. Barely making most B sections that day were the two men arrested for arson in the attempted firebombing of the local DFL headquarters in Duluth, Minnesota. Almost no one bothered to cover the mob that forced the cancelation of an LWV event in Lubbock, Texas where local Republican candidates were set to have a forum.
In those first 24 hours after the shooting, hardly anyone was connecting the dots.
----
Offices of Lee Atwater. Some new polling is out.
“Gold. Solid fucking gold. Hinckley, I could kiss you right on the mouth, you crazy sonofabitch.”
Last edited:
Most suspenseful post ever. Feels like this is going to change so much -- but I can't connect the dots either, so can't wait to find out where you take this.
I do like this line, it rings very true, but I'm unsure of what Atwater's referring to.
Bill Buckley is saying that the more obviously injured James Buckley looks, the more of a sympathy vote he'll get.
Essentially this! Atwater's seeing the bump. Though I've elected not to share how much of one. Things are about to get a little complicated. Still, it's undeniable that Atwater likes what he sees.
America does have a history of popular locally organised political violence. English polling was rather violent until the “Australian” secret ballot enhanced elector privacy and generalised the vote. When only 1% can vote you do try to “convince” them at the polling station.
Widespread organised violence has tended to be social: economic or racial.
These dots may be the start of a line of nationally organised political violence.
Widespread organised violence has tended to be social: economic or racial.
These dots may be the start of a line of nationally organised political violence.
Story Post XLIV: Pre-Election Tension Escalates
#44
After Buckley is shot.
The next few days are a bad time in America, worse than anything since the riots of the late 1960s. The news cameras hardly know where to point.
The nightly news is staccato:
In a banquet hall in Asheville, people hit the floor.
In a park in San Diego, people hit the floor.
In a hotel lobby in St. Louis, people hit the floor.
In a mall in Oklahoma City, people hit the floor.
And that's just where the cameras are.
---
After a few seconds struggle, Jim’s face slams into the hood of the Crown Vic.
“Gah! Jesus Tom, what the fuck!?”
“You gonna struggle, we’re gonna tussle. I told you, I’m taking you in.”
“For a cross?! Since when are you gonna turn on me for that?”
“Since you dumbasses decided to burn one on the mayor’s lawn. You’re the only one that got away, everyone else was arrested on-scene.”
“Oh and you thought you’d just turn me in for brownie points?”
“No, idiot. You think I want anyone knowing I know you? One of your pals gave you up. And quick. I just volunteered to be the arresting officer so you wouldn’t do anything stupid and wind up dead when they came for you.”
“That mayor had it comin’ Tom.”
“I don’t give a shit. Get in the car.”
“You know what he’s gonna do to this town. Republican Party abandoned us!”
“Fine. Watch your head.”
----
“Please turn your car around, this street is closed.”
“Officer, there’s a riot behind me. Skinheads in the park.”
“Well there’s a riot in front of you, too. Pinkos are blocking all the intersections around city hall. But you can’t go north, either. Hippies are having a sit-in in front of the armory. At least they have a permit. City asked them to call it off, but you can bet some fools are showing up.”
“So what do you suggest I do?”
“If it were me? Go south, head for the bridge out of town, and pray that it’s not being occupied by a militant wing of the Rotary Club.”
----
“Right, okay people! Let’s gather. As you know there’s been a lot of harassment out there the last few days. And after what happened to Jen, I think we’re all a little on edge. I got a call from state headquarters last night and we’ve got some new policies starting today and for the rest of the campaign.
“First off, anyone uncomfortable canvassing, please let us know. This is your campaign as well and you’ve all done so much already. We want you to feel safe and comfortable and there’s absolutely nothing wrong with hanging back and working the phones this week.
“Second. Those who do decide to go out there, we’ll be going in pairs. No exceptions.
“Also, we’re also putting group captains on bicycles. Or I think a couple of you asked about mopeds? That’s fine. They’re not canvassing at all anymore. They’ll be shadowing their teams’ routes the whole time, with the goal of checking in with each of you at least once an hour.
“If you feel threatened at any time, stop and think: what’s the last house where I felt welcomed? Think about going back to it if it’s not far. Otherwise, you’re looking for more populated streets, you’re looking for cops, you’re looking for stores or churches, anywhere there’s people. Use your heads.
“DO NOT try to confront anyone. This is not the time. This is not the way. We stay peaceful, we stay on message, we stay safe. You might think you can handle yourself, I get it. But ask yourself this: are my actions going to make the environment out there less safe for my fellow campaigners? Just be smart.
“Okay, Stacey’s got the docket. She’ll be up here in a minute, but let’s give everyone a chance to digest all this and make up their minds. We love you guys. No matter what. We’re doing great things and we’re gonna keep doing great things. Peace.”
----
October 31st, 1984
The White House. Private office of President Anderson. He refuses to conduct campaign business in the Oval. These days everything feels like a campaign issue. Chief of Staff Bill Milliken and campaign manager David Garth are with him. Anderson and Milliken are talking.
“It’s a state of emergency. We can still hold elections under a state of emergency.”
“I’m telling you it’ll look like a coup.”
“I will not endanger people for the sake of optics, there are real threats out there, Bill.”
“What’s going to be the effect on turnout if there are soldiers in the streets?”
“What’s going to be the effect on turnout if polling places are bombed or stormed by rioters? You’ve read the same reports as me. It’s been four days and we’ve had over a hundred acts of terror and violence since Buckley was shot. Thirty firebombings, harassment of campaign workers rampant, dozens in the hospital, three dead. Twenty nine credible threats on candidates’ lives as of this morning. Nine actual attempts. For God’s sake, Dick Gephardt is dead. I served with him in the House, Bill.”
“...I know you’re right. Just help me think for a minute. Is there a way we can make this look less unilateral? Invite the other candidates to the stage when you make the announcement?”
Garth speaks up.
“You’re asking the president of the United States to share the stage during an official executive action. No. The presidency is the biggest advantage we have, we’re not giving that up. You act decisively, you be presidential. If that’s not enough to sell it to the people, well then we’ve got bigger problems on our hands than the optics of one news cycle.”
“There it is then. Bill, get the usual suspects in the Oval asap. We’re pulling the trigger.”
----
Dick Lamm speaks to the press.
“Of course I’m concerned, but at the end of the day I have to stand behind the president on this one. I may disagree with the man’s politics, but I honestly don’t think he’s capable of a coup. No, this is about protecting the sanctity of the ballot box and not letting a bunch of thuggish terrorists try to intimidate the American people from their sacred right to vote. Democrats and Republicans stand together here, we are the American people and we will not be silenced.”
Lamm’s campaign manager, under his breath nearby:
“And Conservatives...And Conservatives...don’t forget to say...oh for fuck’s sake.”
----
James Buckley speaks to the press.
“This declaration of martial law is nothing short of a direct attack on the American Conservative Party. A few bad apples carrying false flags try to tarnish the ACP’s reputation and Democrats and Republicans both gleefully jump at the chance to send out armed soldiers in an attempt to suppress turnout among true Americans? I say it’s disgusting. Let’s not forget, I am the only presidential candidate who’s actually been attacked. But to my opponents in the other two parties- if we can even really call them two distinct parties at this point- this state of affairs is somehow the fault of Conservatives. I urge my fellow true Americans to stand up to this statist bullying. We will show them our mettle on election day!”
----
November 3rd, 1984
The numbers boys at NBC are looking over the last full polls before the election. They’ll be in charge of giving the go-ahead to call states on election night.
“I honestly don’t know what to make of these numbers. I’ve never seen such a high degree of uncertainty going into the last days of an election.”
“This is like a school board election, we have no idea what’s gonna happen.”
“Are you seeing this trend under likely voters?”
“Yes. Enthusiasm is off the charts. The Conservatives are whipping people up in places we haven’t seen before. Lamm’s turn to the left, I mean have you seen these rallies? It’s like like those old Workers of the World newsreels, and in what we thought were becoming stodgy Republican parts of the country.”
“Still. All this talk of change isn’t hurting the president’s numbers, either. People cling to what they know sometimes.”
“I don’t know if previous trends are even predictive this cycle. We could see a major spike in turnout. New voters means new patterns.”
“So our modeling might be completely off?”
“You starting to see why I’m worried now?”
“It’s...troubling.”
“And we haven’t even started on these state polls. Look at this: Almost 12% undecided in Pennsylvania. 12% undecided in Texas. 15% undecided in Missouri! And it’s...everywhere.”
“What’s the bottom line again? 30-30-30?”
“Basically. 30.6% Anderson, 30.4% Buckley, 30% Lamm, and 8% undecided.”
“8%?”
“8%.”
“And it’s Saturday?”
“Yep.”
“Welp. It’s gonna be an interesting Tuesday.”
“How the hell are we gonna call this?”
After Buckley is shot.
The next few days are a bad time in America, worse than anything since the riots of the late 1960s. The news cameras hardly know where to point.
The nightly news is staccato:
In a banquet hall in Asheville, people hit the floor.
In a park in San Diego, people hit the floor.
In a hotel lobby in St. Louis, people hit the floor.
In a mall in Oklahoma City, people hit the floor.
And that's just where the cameras are.
---
After a few seconds struggle, Jim’s face slams into the hood of the Crown Vic.
“Gah! Jesus Tom, what the fuck!?”
“You gonna struggle, we’re gonna tussle. I told you, I’m taking you in.”
“For a cross?! Since when are you gonna turn on me for that?”
“Since you dumbasses decided to burn one on the mayor’s lawn. You’re the only one that got away, everyone else was arrested on-scene.”
“Oh and you thought you’d just turn me in for brownie points?”
“No, idiot. You think I want anyone knowing I know you? One of your pals gave you up. And quick. I just volunteered to be the arresting officer so you wouldn’t do anything stupid and wind up dead when they came for you.”
“That mayor had it comin’ Tom.”
“I don’t give a shit. Get in the car.”
“You know what he’s gonna do to this town. Republican Party abandoned us!”
“Fine. Watch your head.”
----
“Please turn your car around, this street is closed.”
“Officer, there’s a riot behind me. Skinheads in the park.”
“Well there’s a riot in front of you, too. Pinkos are blocking all the intersections around city hall. But you can’t go north, either. Hippies are having a sit-in in front of the armory. At least they have a permit. City asked them to call it off, but you can bet some fools are showing up.”
“So what do you suggest I do?”
“If it were me? Go south, head for the bridge out of town, and pray that it’s not being occupied by a militant wing of the Rotary Club.”
----
“Right, okay people! Let’s gather. As you know there’s been a lot of harassment out there the last few days. And after what happened to Jen, I think we’re all a little on edge. I got a call from state headquarters last night and we’ve got some new policies starting today and for the rest of the campaign.
“First off, anyone uncomfortable canvassing, please let us know. This is your campaign as well and you’ve all done so much already. We want you to feel safe and comfortable and there’s absolutely nothing wrong with hanging back and working the phones this week.
“Second. Those who do decide to go out there, we’ll be going in pairs. No exceptions.
“Also, we’re also putting group captains on bicycles. Or I think a couple of you asked about mopeds? That’s fine. They’re not canvassing at all anymore. They’ll be shadowing their teams’ routes the whole time, with the goal of checking in with each of you at least once an hour.
“If you feel threatened at any time, stop and think: what’s the last house where I felt welcomed? Think about going back to it if it’s not far. Otherwise, you’re looking for more populated streets, you’re looking for cops, you’re looking for stores or churches, anywhere there’s people. Use your heads.
“DO NOT try to confront anyone. This is not the time. This is not the way. We stay peaceful, we stay on message, we stay safe. You might think you can handle yourself, I get it. But ask yourself this: are my actions going to make the environment out there less safe for my fellow campaigners? Just be smart.
“Okay, Stacey’s got the docket. She’ll be up here in a minute, but let’s give everyone a chance to digest all this and make up their minds. We love you guys. No matter what. We’re doing great things and we’re gonna keep doing great things. Peace.”
----
October 31st, 1984
The White House. Private office of President Anderson. He refuses to conduct campaign business in the Oval. These days everything feels like a campaign issue. Chief of Staff Bill Milliken and campaign manager David Garth are with him. Anderson and Milliken are talking.
“It’s a state of emergency. We can still hold elections under a state of emergency.”
“I’m telling you it’ll look like a coup.”
“I will not endanger people for the sake of optics, there are real threats out there, Bill.”
“What’s going to be the effect on turnout if there are soldiers in the streets?”
“What’s going to be the effect on turnout if polling places are bombed or stormed by rioters? You’ve read the same reports as me. It’s been four days and we’ve had over a hundred acts of terror and violence since Buckley was shot. Thirty firebombings, harassment of campaign workers rampant, dozens in the hospital, three dead. Twenty nine credible threats on candidates’ lives as of this morning. Nine actual attempts. For God’s sake, Dick Gephardt is dead. I served with him in the House, Bill.”
“...I know you’re right. Just help me think for a minute. Is there a way we can make this look less unilateral? Invite the other candidates to the stage when you make the announcement?”
Garth speaks up.
“You’re asking the president of the United States to share the stage during an official executive action. No. The presidency is the biggest advantage we have, we’re not giving that up. You act decisively, you be presidential. If that’s not enough to sell it to the people, well then we’ve got bigger problems on our hands than the optics of one news cycle.”
“There it is then. Bill, get the usual suspects in the Oval asap. We’re pulling the trigger.”
----
Dick Lamm speaks to the press.
“Of course I’m concerned, but at the end of the day I have to stand behind the president on this one. I may disagree with the man’s politics, but I honestly don’t think he’s capable of a coup. No, this is about protecting the sanctity of the ballot box and not letting a bunch of thuggish terrorists try to intimidate the American people from their sacred right to vote. Democrats and Republicans stand together here, we are the American people and we will not be silenced.”
Lamm’s campaign manager, under his breath nearby:
“And Conservatives...And Conservatives...don’t forget to say...oh for fuck’s sake.”
----
James Buckley speaks to the press.
“This declaration of martial law is nothing short of a direct attack on the American Conservative Party. A few bad apples carrying false flags try to tarnish the ACP’s reputation and Democrats and Republicans both gleefully jump at the chance to send out armed soldiers in an attempt to suppress turnout among true Americans? I say it’s disgusting. Let’s not forget, I am the only presidential candidate who’s actually been attacked. But to my opponents in the other two parties- if we can even really call them two distinct parties at this point- this state of affairs is somehow the fault of Conservatives. I urge my fellow true Americans to stand up to this statist bullying. We will show them our mettle on election day!”
----
November 3rd, 1984
The numbers boys at NBC are looking over the last full polls before the election. They’ll be in charge of giving the go-ahead to call states on election night.
“I honestly don’t know what to make of these numbers. I’ve never seen such a high degree of uncertainty going into the last days of an election.”
“This is like a school board election, we have no idea what’s gonna happen.”
“Are you seeing this trend under likely voters?”
“Yes. Enthusiasm is off the charts. The Conservatives are whipping people up in places we haven’t seen before. Lamm’s turn to the left, I mean have you seen these rallies? It’s like like those old Workers of the World newsreels, and in what we thought were becoming stodgy Republican parts of the country.”
“Still. All this talk of change isn’t hurting the president’s numbers, either. People cling to what they know sometimes.”
“I don’t know if previous trends are even predictive this cycle. We could see a major spike in turnout. New voters means new patterns.”
“So our modeling might be completely off?”
“You starting to see why I’m worried now?”
“It’s...troubling.”
“And we haven’t even started on these state polls. Look at this: Almost 12% undecided in Pennsylvania. 12% undecided in Texas. 15% undecided in Missouri! And it’s...everywhere.”
“What’s the bottom line again? 30-30-30?”
“Basically. 30.6% Anderson, 30.4% Buckley, 30% Lamm, and 8% undecided.”
“8%?”
“8%.”
“And it’s Saturday?”
“Yep.”
“Welp. It’s gonna be an interesting Tuesday.”
“How the hell are we gonna call this?”
The photo is from the Tompkins Square Riots of a few years later. I guess white guys with dreads has become a thing a little earlier ITTL, hopefully silencing all remaining critics who would call this work too utopian. If you're having any trouble reading the sign it says, "THE BERLIN WALL HAS MOVED WEST"
SO! That's all my pre-election content! My plan is to do a special election night broadcast this weekend in as close to real time as I can manage. Not at night, though, because that would kill my sleep schedule right before another super-busy week. I've got my state-by-state results time-stamped and...mostly set. Election Night content is about...eh...90% ready? That feels very appropriate, to be honest.
Not that I expect anyone to spend their Saturday (or maybe Sunday) waiting all day to see when Nebraska gets called. It's just something relaxing for me to do in the background while I turn my back on a hectic work schedule and marathon Jane the Virgin with mi esposa.
SO! That's all my pre-election content! My plan is to do a special election night broadcast this weekend in as close to real time as I can manage. Not at night, though, because that would kill my sleep schedule right before another super-busy week. I've got my state-by-state results time-stamped and...mostly set. Election Night content is about...eh...90% ready? That feels very appropriate, to be honest.
Not that I expect anyone to spend their Saturday (or maybe Sunday) waiting all day to see when Nebraska gets called. It's just something relaxing for me to do in the background while I turn my back on a hectic work schedule and marathon Jane the Virgin with mi esposa.
Election Night '84 - 8:00
November 6th, 1984
8:00 PM
Decision ‘84 Election Night is under way. Here from the NBC election news center in New York is Tom Brokaw and Roger Mudd.
Good evening, everyone, it is now 8 pm Eastern Standard time and a lot of key states have just closed their polls, in addition to a few states that closed before the start of our broadcast. So let’s kick things off by taking a look at the calls we can make as of right now.
NBC is projecting the states of West Virginia and Kentucky will go to Governor Richard Lamm; meanwhile the state of Vermont is projected to cast its three electoral votes for President John Anderson. Nothing much unexpected at this hour from these results and- I’m also being told we can add the District of Columbia to Governor Lamm’s column.
Anderson: 3
Lamm: 18
In other important news of the hour, we’re being told that judges in Missouri, Ohio, Florida, and Illinois have ordered that polls are to remain open late. This comes on the back of reports of massive voter participation across the country and increased security in light of recent political violence. Many other states have engaged similar legal mechanisms to allow for this surge in public engagement, and we expect similar rulings from across the country as the evening continues. As a result we may be in for some late calls tonight, but again we can kick things off with Kentucky, West Virginia, and DC for Lamm, and Vermont for Anderson.
This is a not very surprising early lead for Lamm; Democrats traditionally take the early lead with that boost they so often get from the South, though that’s become less reliable in recent years. And of course now is as good a time as any to remind you that tonight is expected to be anything but traditional. We turn to Roger Mudd for more context on this historic election.
Thanks, Tom. Well the main concern tonight has been, for many people, the recent spate of violence that began with the shooting of candidate James Buckley. At least nine deaths and hundreds of injuries have occurred across the nation since October 27th. It was feared that the state of emergency called by President Anderson might diminish turnout, or, even worse, presage violence on election day.
Happily, we can report that this has largely been a peaceful day. There were 20 or so arrests at a Conservative march that got out of hand in upstate New York this afternoon, and a few more minor incidents here and there across the country, but by-and-large, things seem to have calmed down and voter turnout is expected to break modern records.
Still, for many campaigns the damage was done.
And for more on this story let’s turn quickly to Tim Russert...
8:00 PM
Decision ‘84 Election Night is under way. Here from the NBC election news center in New York is Tom Brokaw and Roger Mudd.
Good evening, everyone, it is now 8 pm Eastern Standard time and a lot of key states have just closed their polls, in addition to a few states that closed before the start of our broadcast. So let’s kick things off by taking a look at the calls we can make as of right now.
NBC is projecting the states of West Virginia and Kentucky will go to Governor Richard Lamm; meanwhile the state of Vermont is projected to cast its three electoral votes for President John Anderson. Nothing much unexpected at this hour from these results and- I’m also being told we can add the District of Columbia to Governor Lamm’s column.
Anderson: 3
Lamm: 18
In other important news of the hour, we’re being told that judges in Missouri, Ohio, Florida, and Illinois have ordered that polls are to remain open late. This comes on the back of reports of massive voter participation across the country and increased security in light of recent political violence. Many other states have engaged similar legal mechanisms to allow for this surge in public engagement, and we expect similar rulings from across the country as the evening continues. As a result we may be in for some late calls tonight, but again we can kick things off with Kentucky, West Virginia, and DC for Lamm, and Vermont for Anderson.
This is a not very surprising early lead for Lamm; Democrats traditionally take the early lead with that boost they so often get from the South, though that’s become less reliable in recent years. And of course now is as good a time as any to remind you that tonight is expected to be anything but traditional. We turn to Roger Mudd for more context on this historic election.
Thanks, Tom. Well the main concern tonight has been, for many people, the recent spate of violence that began with the shooting of candidate James Buckley. At least nine deaths and hundreds of injuries have occurred across the nation since October 27th. It was feared that the state of emergency called by President Anderson might diminish turnout, or, even worse, presage violence on election day.
Happily, we can report that this has largely been a peaceful day. There were 20 or so arrests at a Conservative march that got out of hand in upstate New York this afternoon, and a few more minor incidents here and there across the country, but by-and-large, things seem to have calmed down and voter turnout is expected to break modern records.
Still, for many campaigns the damage was done.
And for more on this story let’s turn quickly to Tim Russert...