Curtain Call: The end of a one-party USA

[TransUral]

Curtain Call: The end of a one-party USA

"...and here comes the boys around the bend here, having just marched across the Happy Chandler Memorial Bridge. Most of this corps is made up of former workshy individuals or petty criminals who were reformed under the Spartan program..." - Christ Rather, Presenter, 1985 Olsen Day Parade in Washington DC​

What is this?
This timeline is about aftermath of the end of a one party socialist run USA, well socialist-y USA. More economically populist/statist really.I plan on updating it occasionally, which is the best I can manage right now. There's a lot of other stuff going on in my life.

The first post will cover the general history of the US from roughly the late 1800's until 1986 which is where our story will begin. I will probably also have a couple more history related posts for the sake of extra context. We'll play it by ear. In general though the background to the scenario isn't like super plausible and the focus of the TL is on the afterwards portion of this history.

What about HALF PAST NOON?
Thanks for asking. I'm still working on HALF PAST NOON's Part II and Part I redux, I'm just in a bit of a slow period and feel like working on something else. There's also a couple things that were supposed to happen later on in Part II that have actually happened since ending the Part I of the TL so I have to do rewrites.

If you want to read it, I'd suggest waiting for the new version. But if you absolutely must, check out the link in my signature.

Prologue: Our America, 1986

...And so it begins...
​

Since the late 1800's the US suffered from economic instability and inequality. A number of panics had rocked the economic system of the US repeatedly and there was little that could be done, it seemed. Corruption and inefficiency seemed to be endemic in the American system. Massive monopolies, Trusts, had come to control large swaths of the American economy. Things seemed impossible to change.

Enter the Labor Party.

Fusing together populists, reformers, anti-monopolists, socialists, trade unionists, and so on, the party was an idealistic group made for saving America. Or at least they tried. In 1908 they ran their first campaign, McKinley's selected successor Charles Evans Hughes easily trounced them and the Democratic opposition. These were Republican days.

The Bosnian Crisis which gave birth to the first world war in 1915 nearly drew America into it. Lord knows Hughes, the moderate reformer that he was, wanted to involve the nation in the European conflict. Only the gift of Washington's precedent regarding terms saved America. Hughes decided against running in 1916 and his VP, Mr. Taft who was a 'Hughesian' reformer, lost to Champ Clark in a close race.

Clark was not a particularly talented politician and spent more time fighting with the Republicans and opposing entering the war than implementing progressive policy.

The failure of the Victor Murdock ticket to capitalize on Clark and Taft's unpopularity was a major turning point for the Labor Party and the American Progressive movement as a whole. At the same time that more "typical" Rooseveltian progressives were either changing their views or being alienated from the party (the case with Murdock) more radical elements of organized labor entered the party and the wider progressive movement. In the midst of economic instability and crises which had plagued America for decades, the lack of real change from DC led to the beginnings of a real progressive movement.

With the war over for good in 1920, Europe was falling apart and the global market was falling apart. But America was looking good, for a time. Trusts were still endemic and corruption was even worse, but by giving loans to the Triple Entente, America had made an incredible investment. For the first time in more than a generation economic stability was returned to the US.

An odd sort of placidity came across Europe and indeed the US. Save for radical socialists which the US and Europe (Russia, Germany, and Italy in particular) had to deal with, a new normal came about. The Labor Party appeared to be nearing its end.

But of course, it took but a short period of time for issues to reappear. After a period of more or less conservative and moderate political domination from 1920 until 1936. It was in 1934 when things changed. Economic disaster. Black Wednesday. Just as the new Bolshevik military government proclaimed only years before, capitalism appeared to be on its death bed. The Lowden administration had no way of dealing with the event.

...The Party of Lazarus...
​

In 1936 the Labor Party made its miraculous recovery. The Republicans simply had no one to run who could compete and they gave up a sacrificial lamb. The Democrats faced an insurgent campaign from Huey Long who's death by assassination was awfully convenient for the party. With Long's death, party favorite Cordell Hull went against the man who made the Labor Party what it became famous for - Floyd B. Olsen.

Olsen is an interesting man in the sense that everything good you hear about him is true, while everything bad you hear about him is also true.

Populist demagogues... can't live with 'em, can't live without 'em​

It's true that he forged the beginnings of the American recovery from Black Wednesday. It's also true that he packed the courts and ruled with executive fiat. It's true that he fought for worker's rights. It's also true that he used violent intimidation and extortion by way of his connections to organized crime to control votes and "handle" certain opponents. It's true that he fought against the KKK and tried to force an anti-lynching bill that couldn't pass muster in Congress. It's also true that he "handled" J. Edgar Hoover and staffed the FBI with his lackies.

Olsen, in all his accomplishments and controversy, died in 1939 after a hard fought battle with cancer. His successor was not a his VP, but was instead Kentucky Senator and all around strongman Happy Chandler.

By 1939 Olsen's ugliness had caught up with his reputation. Chandler promised to continue the good parts of Olsen's program but discontinue the ugly elements. The voters assumed that this meant that he would reverse the packing of the courts, the criminality and illegality of various elements of Olsen's programs. What he meant really was that he was going to shift things a tad more rightward.

...Chandlerville, USA...
​

Under Chandler's watch the Labor Party obtained an understanding with big business. Chandler would break up the worst and biggest trusts but he would calm down on some of the red stuff. Keep things capitalist, you know?

Chandler forced the party to remove the most extreme socialists (most of whom joined the underground CPUSA) and he broke the worst trusts up, most of which were acquired by the government. He also abandoned most of the racial politics and the southern Democrats were placated in many instances. In return Chandler refused to give up the powers and privileges gained under Olsen.

With a loyal FBI (now both a crime fighting force and burgeoning secret police), broken court system, and a military unable to act politically, Chandler increased the power of the executive and began creating new programs. Known in their time collectively as the "Economic Foundation Package." These new programs were distinct from previous Olsen programs. These were more populist than socialist in character, and in some instances perhaps para fascism. Instead of 'socialism' it was 'Americanism'. But Chandler was no Fascist really, an authoritarian yes, but a fascist he was not.

The rise of the Axis, led by a resurgent Germany, went mad in Europe. Chandler saw his chance. He worked closely with the western allies and he declared war on Germany and her European allies and co-belligerents in shortly after being elected in 1942. The peace movement in the US was opposed, naturally. The Japanese also took it poorly and took the opportunity to declare war in return. And so everyone decided to duke it out.

During the war the US economy was increasingly and unceasingly nationalized and the power of the federal government increased. Chandler used every opportunity to increase the power of his secret police and executive powers. A series of war bills which restricted the freedom of speech and chipped away at due process were enacted by the now hobbled congress at Chandler's behest. On top of that, an increasingly ridiculous series of requirements for elections were enacted under the new Department of Elections. Meant on paper to certify candidates for election and ensure peaceful/orderly elections the real purpose was to make it as difficult as possible for candidates from outside the Labor Party from winning office.

Of course, the oppression wasn't enforced fully so as not to be overbearing. In this period of the Chandler led US the government was never a full dictatorship. Outcomes of elections were respected more or less, and people could still disagree with the government on key issues, just not loudly.

Once the war was over, well, you know the story. The US had a breakup with her former allies and the three sides began to form their own spheres of influence. Then finally, to cap things off there was the abortive coup of 1946 which ended the career of MacArthur and put Chandler back on a leftist course.

Chandler felt betrayed once his FBI traced the money paid out to the coup's top participants to the Rockefellers. So ended the American nobility. Chandler's new course was more leftist and anti-trust. Trusts were broken and placed under government control, the welfare system was widened even further with a national healthcare and a variety of veteran programs, unions were increased in freedoms but at the same time placed under Federal control. Of course all of this angered many and so at the same time the FBI and the CIA began to increase in size and importance.

This was not Olsen's socialism, it was Chandler's "Americanism." Welfareism, latent authoritarianism, statism. A socialism of a sort, perhaps. Chandler rejected the old socialism and instead promoted what he termed "socialism of the consumer" or "socialism of America." It was just the worst aspects of the Gracchi come to manifest in Rome's lesser pretender. Bread and circuses for the masses, as they say.

The US focused its foreign policy on sheer power relations rather than ideology. It's opposition to the Soviet Union occasionally made them and the European bloc occasional allies but these periods were awkward and forced. America had its influence, Europe had its influence, and the Soviets had its ideology. Many a life was lost in defense of petty national interest.

Chandler relaxed controls over cultural affairs, especially movies and music. He had figured out that if you let people believe that tyranny was minimal and gave them lots of things to enjoy, then there was little to complain about in reality. This was Chandler's charm, he knew just how hard to push it. Presidential elections continued, elections all over the board continued. Just more illegitimate than legitimate.

Things would change of course. It was the 50's and people were starting to become tired of Chandler and the issue of Civil Rights had begun to become a serious political issue. After a close election in 1956, Chandler was challenged during the balloting of the electoral college. Up and comer Democrat George Smathers declared the election a sham and the other segregationists followed suit. It was in retaliation for finally extending a federal works program into black majority areas, but for the public it looked like the political theater was a protest against tyranny.

Chandler was enraged and went to war. The FBI's armed squadrons were called in and the offending politicians were removed. The following week all non-Labor Party politicians were ordered removed from office. Chandler had lost his touch, but with the FBI and military backing him, there was little room for dissent.

These were the days of one party rule. Chandler was able to rule via fiat. Things got harder and harder for the average man, but prosperity continued to grow. The constitution was rewritten and congress was merged into a single house and its power was minimized.

In the 60's Chandler tried to thread the needle on Civil Rights. Slow, moderate progress is what he promised (and wished for). Intractable social violence and upheaval is what he got. The 60's were a time of change for the US and a time of violence. To compensate for the terror of Segregationists and Civil Rights activists, Communists and White Nationalists, Liberal humans rights activists and so on, the surveillance state and powers of the FBI and CIA increased. A tighter and tighter grip came about in American life. Chandler's previous velvet glove had become a steel hammer.

In the place of the expected compromise and moderation on the issue, what he created was the so called "American Bush War" or more recently, the American Dixie Wars. Insurgency and terrorism began to take root in the south and the US military was called in. The situation only got worse.

"Dropping gas on these rednecks in 5...4..."​

With an economic decline from the highs of the 40's and 50's and the military situation at home, by the 70's American power was shot. In 1973 Chandler's career was also shot. Quite literally, actually. While in Miami on tour to show America that the situation was under control the now infamous White Revolutionary Army shot and killed him. Dictators rarely die peacefully.

...And so the curtain closes...
​

In his place the party had no one to replace him. Not fully, anyway. Henry Jackson, his sometimes second in command took the the reins of power. He tried to ease the situation at home and abroad. Jackson loosened controls and privatized some government run companies, he also went about trying to militarily eliminate the threats to the government. He was a student of Chandler in many ways.

Things calmed down a little. The growing middle class dissent was assuaged by Jackson but the military situation was still rather rough. The US was fighting a different type of war, different but slightly similar to their war in Bolivia only so many years before. Here they had to fight the funding methods of the rebels just as often as they had to fight their insurgents. Violence was often random and deadly.

Jackson continued to lessen controls over the nation and decreased the power of the FBI. The single party situation continued, but factions began to emerge. People began to get ideas. Dissent paradoxically began to grow rather than decrease. The economy began to recover however, and with that things began to change for the better for the regime. Entering the 80's things were looking upwards, at least a little bit.

Foreign policy consensus with the Europeans had eliminated most of the reasons for conflict between them at the time and the Atlanta Agreement in 1981 which ended the 2nd phase of the Dixie Wars. But as the economy began to slow again the regime looked even weaker than its previous low point. Protests and civil disobedience campaigns broke out in 1983 with the goal of a fair election in '84. Jackson promised to wipe them out and struck back.

But Jackson wasn't well. He had a heart attack in 1985 and was debilitated.

With the situation quickly falling apart, Jackson was approached by the military. It was an unprecedented incident. Jackson had no support in the party or among the public, but he retained the support of the FBI and CIA. Rather than let the situation devolve further, the military met with Jackson. Collin Powell, a black man who rose through the ranks during the Dixie Wars, led the thankfully metaphorical charge.

Powell explained in no uncertain terms that either Jackson resign and hand over power to the party or he would be forced to move against him. Jackson, elderly and infirm, resigned.

"President Jackson has, as you all now know, resigned from the Presidency given his health. All Americans thank him for his service to this land. I am proud, no, honored to be given a chance to lead this country going forward - even if just on an interim basis."​

It's now 1986. With Jackson's resignation and never being given a VP, the power of the office fell to the Speaker of the Congress, young anti-Jacksonite Hillary Clinton. Together with the Mike Espy and Penn Kemble, they formed the 'Young Turk Triumvirate' which they used to end the era of one party rule. Leading the Congress they revoked many of the anti-constitutional laws and damaged the influence of the FBI, CIA, and Department of Elections.

Elections have been announced and are planned to occur in 1987.

And so it begins.

(Very rough and very much not final) Map of the world, 1986​

 

[TransUral]

Part I: Machines and Resources

Of course in the span of almost 100 years, technology and culture had changed quite a bit. The world in 1986 is one of much cultural and technological diversity.

...The Machine...
​

Since the invention of the transistor in 1935 at Bell Labs, computer technology began to take off. During the second world war in particular, the British had learned to harness the new computing power to form a predictive network that could output the time within 1 hours and direction of approach of most bombing runs during the battle of Britain. It was also important in detecting U-Boats and in general keeping Britain afloat during the trying times of the siege.

Computing was also essential in code breaking and Bletchley Park routinely broke Axis, Soviet, and Italian codes. Bletchley Park's code breaking department was so strong and so quick that the British learned of the Soviet declaration of war against the Germans in 1941 2 days before the invasion. While obviously this couldn't stop the invasion, the fact that they were able to decipher the code so quickly and so thoroughly is a testament to British computing prowess.

With Britain's already available talent pool in addition to the exiled Polish cryptographers it's little surprise then that Britain still leads the world in cryptography and consumer computing, the Japanese and Koreans in a dead heat for runner up.

The US developed slower and in a different manner. With the US reaching the milestone of having a majority of homes owning at least one television set in 1967, by the early 70's when consumers were just settling in to a television centric lifestyle asking them to adopt a computer into their homes was many times thought to be a worthless expense. In the US computers always played a role more as mainframes for government or business purposes.

Installing a mainframe at the Southern HQ of the US Federal Railroad in Baton Rouge, 1953​

It also didn't help that high tariffs on imported products and America's propensity to (poorly) copy foreign designs made consumer computing in the US something of a slog. Original companies wishing to enter the market of course were regulated into nonexistence or bought up by the feds. The Federal run companies would then allocate their development and production resources towards business and government mainframes, thus making consumer demand for personal or consumer computing low and causing the next year to seemingly require few consumer models. Such is the way of bureaucracy.

A bit of a chicken or the egg problem, no?

This was also the case in cars in particular. While the market for luxury cars, especially European made, grew and prices reached astronomical levels the government run car companies failed on a fundamental level to adapt to demand. By the time the government run car companies made something even resembling one of the European models it was a very bad rip off of Lincoln that was slower and was plagued with engine problems. The corny name (AmeriCar Road-LuXe) didn't help either.

Other countries that lacked the supposedly large talent base of the US like Iran managed to out purchase America time and time again. Though that fact is perhaps not a surprise when one considers that Iran is by far the wealthiest country in the middle east and with a highly educated population with a great deal of cash to spend with the sovereign fund burning a hole in their pockets. So in Iran personal computing is an understandable expense whereas in America it's far more expensive and not culturally understood.

Japan is another thing unto itself. It was always a general all-rounder as far as computing goes, but since the 80's it has led the charge on what is being termed "home computerization." Large units placed in homes regulate temperature can turn lights and appliances on and off, lock doors, perform typical home computing duties, and so on. The first model, the NEC DenKon was basic and far too expensive to be produced for anything other than the specialty market. NEC continued working on the product line but things weren't looking too bright given low sales. Only after the "Shadow Shogun" himself, Japan's Tanaka Kakuei intervened directly in the process and with his funding the future of the DenKon line was changed. In 1978 released the DenKon IV which was released to the public and the DenKon K-TSU was released for Japanese police departments.

Today the DenKon has found its way into most rich nations, the US having a good 500 or so active users with the number climbing exponentially with each passing year. America's numbers are still dwarfed by other countries of course.

Like the Soviet Union, the US focused on central computing systems and without an adequate consumer market to buy the products it results in the obvious. Changing attitudes from the workforce's growing experience with personal computing via the office world and increasing connectivity to the Global Computer Network (GCN) aside, America generally lags behind on personal computing and home computerization. The potential of lessening tariffs and the growing usefulness of the GCN could potentially change America, however as of now America remains more or less restricted in the computer age.

The Soviets totally eschewed personal computing and naturally computing was under the supervision of the military. Mainframes started out in the 50's being used exclusively for warfare but by the 70's computerization of workplaces and the government began. It did much to eliminate corruption and incompetence in the Soviet system but personal computing, especially connecting to a wider network was simply out of the question. Internally most Soviet universities operate their own network called SovNet which is more of a testing ground for computer networking than anything like the wild west of information like the GCN.

...The Net...
​

The largest change in the past ten years, beyond the DenKon, was of course the GCN. It was originally a network for coordinating a nuclear response in between France and the United Kingdom in the early 50's. It had since been shelved and in at 1969 Apple Corps in London their electronics subsidiary run by "Magic Alex" came into information regarding the design after a meeting with a purported M15 Agent. The concept was refined after combining it with already existing technology that the US and Soviet governments used to connect many workplace's mainframes along a single supply chain together via a central 'hub' server.

This new technology could connect thousands of computers onto a single server farm. In time the technology spread throughout Europe and into the other regions of the computing world. By 1975 separate (though mostly mutually intelligible networks) took root in East Asia, Iran, Western Europe, and North America. Apple Corps and the other international telecommunication companies came together and standardized the network protocols and the plans for a North America-Europe telecom connection which would allow North American and Western European users to access each other's respective networks. And so the GCN was born.

By 1980 the network spread to Italy, Spain, Portugal, several other Asian nations, and South America. Another telecom connection was established from Italy into Israel and then into Iran. The following year connections were established in the Federal Republic of Dakar and into Iraq and with that the world was more or less connected. Even Australia, on the other end of 'the tunnel' as it was called could reach European servers. Connections were slow and servers could only hold so much but as time went on more connections were added and more nations joined the GCN. By 1986 most nations (save for impoverished or war torn nations like Bolivia or China) had a way to connect to the GCN.

...Neo-Imperialism...
​

Of course, without smart European action during the post-war era, such a magnificent spread of this technology would be impossible. It was a set of coincidences, bad ideas with bad intentions accidentally becoming good.

During the height of the Cold War, France and the United Kingdom were surrounded with enemies. Both the Soviets and the Americans eagerly funded liberation movements in Africa and across the empires of decrepit Europe. Only the Fascists had any sympathy for London and Paris. Coming together in Brussels where the United Nations had been formed six years earlier, the imperial powers of Europe came together to find a solution.

The colonies would be fast tracked towards political independence - but would remain in their respective spheres. The old forms of direct imperialism would die and what the Soviets termed neo-imperialism emerged. The system was a natural occurrence of the liberal democracies in Europe realizing that they couldn't keep their empires together in their former state. Kept in place by economic strength, unequal treaties, intelligence services, and loans, the former nations of the European empires would be kept within a new and informal system. But don't doubt for a second, the ugliness of imperial relations remained.

Billions of dollars would be spent in the African colonies, both to keep their governments afloat and buying their raw materials. African nations in this neo-Imperial period had a use as places from which to obtain raw materials that the European nations could transform into finished goods. It was a rehash of old mercantilism in some ways, though not as efficient as the previous colonial method. Anything was better than an American aligned state or god forbid a Soviet one.

Some nations escaped this fate, either by fighting earlier on (thus inadvertently creating the neo-imperial system) or later on. Among those who escaped early are of course the nations of the Indian subcontinent, Vietnam, Algeria, and Indonesia. On the other hand those whom escaped later on typically suffered a worse fate.

Algeria survived, by in large due to oil and fearlessness on the part of its leaders. Like Syria, Algeria was just another Mediterranean base for the Soviets. With that, it survived. But it could never join the Union as it was considered too far away and like Syria had political concerns over annexation. All of the nations annexed by the Soviets had similar concerns, but Algeria couldn't be forced to kneel just as Syria couldn't. Without a politician or group willing to lead the nation into the Soviet Union the Soviets never even considered it. For that reason, Algeria remained a little more than a Soviet sea base.

Vietnam was in a similar situation. The Viet Minh survived and kicked the French out. Communism rolled on through Indochina, finding its stopping point at India, whom were too close to the Soviets to see their underground movements see funding from Moscow. Like Algeria, Vietnam and the other nations were more or less opportunities for basing for Moscow given the distance (physical and cultural).

Contrast this to the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Bolivia, and Ethiopia and you'll see that things could go worse.

The Democratic Republic of the Congo attempted to follow a more left wing course (financed of course by the US) and the government was overthrown. The US got itself involved and ultimately that made the situation worse. So began the Congo Crisis. In the end Katanga was peeled off and put into the sphere of Belgium. The DRC as it remains is a mess of open conflict between various groups both internal and external. It's less of a nation and more of an open pit where the various powers of the world could tear out raw material in one of the world's most resource rich nations for practically nothing.

Bolivia was a similar situation, except perhaps that Bolivia had little to offer when compared with the riches of the Congo. The Bolivian regime had political issues in the 50's and the pro-US regime was overturned by a popular front of rural peasantry and urban intelligentsia. Given this was 'America's backyard' and the US was already irate over Brazil and Argentina's overtures towards Rome and the two Iberian fascist states, the US couldn't tolerate it. What resulted was a hard fought guerrilla war in which the US was forced to send ground troops. Finally after 4 years of fighting the US was able to leave in 1961 with a Bolivia in ruins but possessing a government which could keep the rebels at bay.

Fighting in La Paz, 1958. The Conflict in Bolivia is what gave the US the idea to begin training it and its allies' armed forces in insurgency and counter insurgency.​

Ethiopia had a different situation. The fascists, of which the Italians are, had a different style of governance and handling dissent. Ethiopians were forced to carry out a nasty and dirty terror war that lasted until 1979. Only Ethiopian bravery, Soviet and American funding, and Italian incompetence kept the conflict going.

The death total and the brutality of the war cannot be overstated. For every Italian killed, two Ethiopians died. A large variety of factors went into it but ultimately the failure of the Italians to suppress the movement led to major reorganizations in Rome which placed a more moderate faction into power and thus led to the negotiations which ended Italian domination over Ethiopia as it was 'dead weight'. The following year in 1980 Portugal and Spain had similar events and some liberalization in Iberia and in Italy occurred. After these reforms the major European fascist states were economically liberal capitalist with a dose of dirigisme added into the mix.

Apres moi, le deluge. Mussolini's final public appearance in 1973 in Rome. After his death the party fell into a period of confusion and power wrangling.​

The big outliers were of course Croatia, Greece, and Serbia. The three smaller fascist states kept to the hardliner positions though they were forced to maintain close relations with Rome given the fact Italy still held an anvil over their heads in the form of nuclear weapons.

But of course, the treatment that the Liberal Democracies could mete out to rebellious states was also quite terrible. By the 70's however, those whom hadn't rebelled and stuck to the course had an interesting side effect. While the colonies were still just gigantic resource farms for the Europeans, increasing computerization and automation began to create a class of managers. This professional managerial class was better paid and wanted to spend its money - mostly on European goods.

By the 80's the local economies of Africa began to develop a middle class. Though it should be stated that the lower classes, those who were damaged by automation and computerization, only got poorer. Poorer and angrier.

But the future is yet unwritten.

 

[TransUral]

I'll need to make one more context focused post but that can come later. We're going to begin in earnest now.

 

[Baconheimer]

Really interesting so far.

 

[President Earl Warren]

It’s going to be interesting seeing how both the USA and Soviet Union collapsing will affect the world order ITTL

 

[karatachi]

It’s going to be interesting seeing how both the USA and Soviet Union collapsing will affect the world order ITTL

Euromonies

 

[Laxault2020]

Cool sounding TL

 

[TransUral]

Really interesting so far.

Thank you.

It’s going to be interesting seeing how both the USA and Soviet Union collapsing will affect the world order ITTL

The Soviets are a different breed here, not nearly as moribund (oh boy do I love that word) as it was at this point historically. I don't have the Soviet's political history 100% planned out but the Soviet Union was founded later on than in OTL and is partially computerized which helps out their command economy a lot.

Euromonies

Don't forget that Iranian oil money.

Cool sounding TL

Thank you.

 

[President Earl Warren]

The Soviets are a different breed here, not nearly as moribund (oh boy do I love that word) as it was at this point historically. I don't have the Soviet's political history 100% planned out but the Soviet Union was founded later on than in OTL and is partially computerized which helps out their command economy a lot.

Interesting, still can’t imagine it not falling eventually due to the problems of communism, unless they go the China route and even then their going to have massive ethnic issues due to over expansion. Quite interesting to say the least...

 

[Laxault2020]

COMPUTERIZED PLANNED ECONOMY

couldn't help myself

 

[TransUral]

Part II: The road to '87

Elections are trying times, especially for moribund and unpopular parties like the Labor Party. It didn't take many polls (a new science in America) conducted by the party to figure out that even with all of the restraints currently in place the party would still lose an election if it the ballots weren't tainted.

...Matters of debate...
​

So the question was simple, how would they revitalize the party? And who to make the candidate, and who to make the running mate. And also how to approach the litany of domestic issues America was facing. Not to mention the situation on the foreign policy front, as while America had neutralized the rivalry with the Europeans, America still had no real friends. Even Japan, Korea, and Ethiopia had more or less followed their own path now. For some reason people weren't afraid of the Soviets like they were before, perhaps as the Soviets hadn't engaged in a war since the 50's.

A Party Congress hadn't been called in 8 years (which is supposed to occur once every 5 years) at that point so for that and the aforementioned reason, one was hosted in Philadelphia.

It was immediately obvious that the party was viewed as tainted. Protesters showed up and stood outside, first without saying a single word. Upon realizing that the party wasn't going to send in the army to shoot at them, things got out of hand. Rioting ensued. The Party Congress was suspended and then met in DC in the Capitol building the following month.

Old habits die hard.​

How could one even approach fixing the party? It was a massive task, so massive perhaps Happy Chandler himself couldn't overcome it - wait, I'm not supposed to talk like that anymore. I mean, really though, tough job to rehabilitate the party.

First thing up was a name change. The Labor Party was short and sweet but it brought images of tyranny in the minds of Americans. It was resolved that first and foremost a name change was needed.

The few who disagreed with the sentiment hadn't even shown up, as they considered Jackson's resignation illegitimate. They weren't missed, especially considering 70 year old ex-bureaucrats were pennies a dozen at party events usually anyway. For the hardliners, they realized that their time was over and that the name change was just the start of the changes.

And indeed it was. The Social Democratic Party (No one ever accused the Labor Party of being original either) had split opinions on a number of issues but the sentiment of the party was towards liberalization and reform. Many in the party had wanted the reforms to be like in Italy, Portugal, and Spain, meaning minimizing government intervention all across the board but maintaining control over the state apparatuses. Of course, that was more or less Chandler's earlier party and returning to that was impossible.

There were major issues that had to be decided. Change had to come.

What to do about the economy? While the private market was never done away with, large companies were either partially or totally owned by the government. Small business was common in all business sectors but outside of alcoholic beverages and hotels the government was domineering in all other areas. The worst being transportation.

While most American families owned a car, the majority of Americans made their homes in great American metropolises and their satellite cities. As expected, they and everyone they knew relied public transportation - bus, rail, or perhaps taxi. They demanded public transit and had based their lives around these services. It was only in the 60's when the small town America or the 'suburb' began to spread out of urban areas and even then they were still a minority even when added onto the rural populace.

Transit, especially in urban areas, was totally owned by the government as a result. Cars could be manufactured or fixed by private businesses, but buses, trains, and planes were government made. Similarly gas stations could be operated as a private business but all services (oil extraction, refining the oil, etc) were government operated. No matter the business sector, at some point the government had their finger in your pie.

New York City in 1986. Clean, vibrant, America's beating heart.​

Naturally then the largest issue was how to and how much of the economy to liberalize and how much to privatize. Trade of course deserves its own breakdown but suffice to say, American consumers were hoping for major slashing of tariffs no matter who or what won the election.

Then of course what parties to legalize, which was the major domestic liberalization left after the Young Turks to an ax to old laws. The Republicans and the Democrats had been banned for some time so would bringing them back be a good idea? Or, perhaps, god forbid, what about the Communist Party? They'd been banned since the 40's, the terroristic little bastards had it coming I'll have you know.

Though since the Atlanta Agreement in '81 parties like the White Man's Party and the National Black Revolutionary Front were legal. They were about 10,000 times more terroristic than the Communist Party ever was. These and other 'former' terror and revolutionary groups were legalized and recognized since the agreement as one of the terms so as to ensure peace. A small thing to surrender for peace, Jackson argued.

So perhaps the Communists could come back.

Regardless of what they felt they had to get the party congress done quick and move on with the elections soon. The FBI and CIA had their arms taken and now the military was the only thing defending the government. In fact, the formerly armed to the teeth FBI had totally ceased operation and now the CIA was pulling for both of them while the FBI took a collective unannounced furlough. What a time to be a criminal, let me tell you.

...The Social Democratic Party...
​

From all of those issues and foreign related questions, as well as a few organizational questions regarding the party, there were a few disciplines that were birthed at the Party Congress.

The farthest left wing was that of Esteban Edward Torres. He came up in a state labor union and his successes at increasing productivity earned him a spot in Congress. He, unlike others within the party saw the economic question as not how much needed to be privatized, but rather how to transition to a more communal society. He and his supporters believed that control should be ceded to large craft unions and all non-union control of the economy (private and state) should be minimized. This of course struck many as something communistic.

The Torres faction was small and really quite quiet, though his ideas were seemingly popular with union leaders who were acquainted with the concept. On the second day Torres and his vocal supporters were expelled informally from the Party Congress. The following day they were expelled formally from the party. Most of them (save Torres himself) joined the American Communist Party's popular front.

Then there was Hillary Clinton. Clinton was formerly a supporter of Jackson during his period of liberalization but later on she drifted away and became a leading anti-Jacksonite. Since Jackson's dismissal she also served as the interim President. She is an economic moderate and strongly in favor of political liberalization. Her close ally Mike Espy felt similar on political issues and together they supported the 'majoritarian faction' led by Carl Stokes.

Carl Stokes was the sitting governor of Ohio and was Chicago's first black governor. What he and most of the Labor Party (now the Social Democratic Party) came to become in favor of was 'streamlining' the state. Meaning limited privatization and reduction of intrusive government regulation, rather than what Penn Kemble had come to endorse.

Under the influence of economist Peter Navarro, Penn Kemble began to promote a plan of heavy privatization and reducing tariffs and regulations to a bare minimum. He was also in favor of neo-federalism and promoted the rights of states over the federal government. Kemble's views were in the minority within the party and were more in common with the American right wing than the SDP.

When it came down to it Stoke came ahead of Kemble in the balloting and was selected as the candidate for the election. His running mate was a throwaway choice as the VP had no official role in government and so elder statesmen Richard Nixon was selected as a white Californian to balance out the black Ohioan.

Penn Kemble's faction didn't take this well, and rather than stick on what they said was a sinking ship, Kemble started up his own independent campaign in response. He and his supporters were also expelled from the party after the announcement.

"It's hard to find a man more traitorous and criminal than Penn Kemble." Richard Nixon on Penn Kemble, 1987​

Going into 1987 there were 6 major parties or candidates and numerous minor party campaigns and candidates. With the reintroduction of democracy in America people struggled to find their way onto the top.

Social Democratic Party
Left-Wing to Center, Social Democracy, Black and Minority Rights, Moderate Privatization, Statism (factions)
Ticket: Carl Stokes/Richard Nixon
The remains of the old Labor Party after expelling the far-left and right wingers within the party. They promote streamlining the nation and furthering relations with the Europeans. Under the leadership and candidacy of Carl Stokes the party has also further endorsed minority rights and defending them from the pro-White parties. Some older elements within the party machinery still look back nostalgically at the Chandler years, they've been appeased with the addition of old party elder Richard Nixon.

Neo-Federalist Party
Right-Wing, Neo-Federalism, Social Conservatism, Liberal Conservatism, Major Privatization
Ticket: Edwin Meese/William Coors
The party of business and barely concealed racism. Agitator Edwin Meese and alcohol baron William Coors are on the ticket and pretty plainly explain the divide in the conservative movement in the US. The Neo-Federalist are more focused on the economics and are located in the north and the others are more focused on race and are more focused in the south. Their ideology is simple: less government, less taxes, less regulation.

Worker's Party
Far Left, Soviet Communism, Black and Minority Rights, Anti-Capitalism, anti-privatization
Ticket: Angela Davis/Steve King
The American Communist Party's party representing the popular front with other far left groups. The ACP dominates the party for the most part and two party member, Angela Davis and Steve King, are the nominees. The Worker's Party is naturally strongly in favor or the Soviets and promotes nationalizing and collectivizing all private capital before ultimately joining the Soviet Union. Naturally the party is strongly in favor of minority rights and opposes any and all privatization.

Party for Ecology
Center-Left, Environmentalism, Direct Democracy, Black and Minority Rights, Social Liberalism, Moderate Privatization
Ticket: Tim Wirth/Audie Bock
The Party for Ecology is a break off of the Labor Party after the resignation of Jackson. Both Tim Wirth and Audie Bock are sitting Congress members and their campaign's strongest element is environmentalism. They are in favor of promoting nuclear power and reducing emissions and pollution which has grown to incredible proportions under the Jackson regime. The young party also supports a direct democracy initiative to close the gap between the halls of power and the people.

Penn Kemble Campaign
Center-Right, Neo-Federalism, Major Privatization, Social Liberalism
Ticket: Penn Kemble/Ray Donovan
Penn Kemble's political positions have already been covered but it behooves one to remember them. Kemble supports major privatization of the economy and supports the Neo-Federalist doctrine. He is also naturally in favor of strongly reducing tariffs and lowers taxes. He was briefly considered as the candidate for the Neo-Federalist Party but the party's social conservatism put him off and the party's social liberals have since come to back Kemble. Kemble intends to run as and rule as an independent but the Liberal Party has been made by his supporters to back him. His running mate is Ray Donovan, former industrial manager and newly minted private businessman.

New Democratic Party
Right-Wing, Southern Regionalism, White Rights, Neo-Federalism, Naziism (factions), Major Privatization
Ticket: David Duke/Donald Livingston
Grown out of the White Man's Party after the signing of the Atlanta Agreement, the New Democratic Party's upper ranks are staffed with former terrorists and militia members. They support a renegotiation of the Atlanta Agreement (no doubt to get more concessions for the south and to dismantle the pro-black elements of the agreement). The party has come under criticism from other more racially liberal parties as well as 'rejectors' who reject the Atlanta Agreement entirely. The party's nominees are former KKK militia commander David Duke and neo-Confederate "intellectual" Donald Livingston.

 

[TransUral]

Part III: Some like it hot

The Presidential elections and concurrent congressional elections were clearly going to be hotly contested. Lots of money went into advertising and each major candidate spent several million dollars (mostly gained via small donations) on advertising. Even the Worker's Party, mostly via Soviet money, drenched Milwaukee and other cities in red placards.

The Social Democratic Party had the luck of being able to draw from government coffers for the election. Though it probably should have been illegal, the party was able to utilize government funding for advertising and regularly posted advertisements or propaganda in federally owned buildings. In the end the result wasn't nearly as dramatic of a lead as they wanted, but combined with Stokes and the change of pace, the early polling looked quite good.

Government Polling, late March 1987
Carl Stokes/Richard Nixon (Social Democratic Party) - 28%
Penn Kemble/Ray Donovan (Independent) - 23%
David Duke/Donald Livingston (New Democratic Party) - 16%
Angela Davis/Steve King (Worker's Party) - 15%
Edwin Meese/William Coors (Neo-Federalist Party) - 14%
Other - 4%

Stokes makes a strategic televised announcement, cutting into the Penn Kemble-David Duke debates.​

Stokes proved to be wildly popular with ethnic minorities, blacks specifically. Despite the history of the Labor Party and their half-hearted appeals and hand wringing over Civil Rights, blacks were very much still not a common sight in political office. Even on the local level, the Labor Party had long preferred to throw party and government jobs to whites over blacks. Stokes was of course one of the few exceptions.

The Atlanta Agreement, which more or less put a status quo on Civil Rights in the south, left the blacks of the south in a precarious position in areas that weren't majority minority. Stokes never advocated the removal of the Atlanta Agreement, lest restart the Dixie Wars, but he often spoke negatively of the agreement. What Stokes promised was change on all fronts. Moderating, slow change, but change all the same.

Regardless, despite all they had going for them, the SDP's lead with thread bare. Even worse the lead shrunk with each successive poll. Things were even worse in Congressional races. Crowding on the left (Worker's, SDP, Party for Ecology) was a major issue and with diminished support even if the SDP managed to snag the Presidency, they wouldn't have a majority in Congress.

The statewide and local elections planned for '88 looked just about as bad, if not worse. The party was never the all encompassing element of the state that the Soviet Union or the Fascist states had, it was just an element in a peculiar system. Local party officials and local offices were often disconnected and divorced from their home district. Local party organizations gave way to the state and federal party so the Labor Party (now SDP) did not have the same institutional experience to draw upon like in other offices. Given local elections were more about drawing votes via shaking hands and volunteer work, the SDP was faltering heavily. Their activists were few and far between, and not nearly as motivated as the other party's supporters.

It was then that the democratization was reconsidered, just briefly. For the first time since the departure of Chandler, the party was united in policy. Old guard Jacksonites and new blood anti-Jacksonites were on the same page.

Espy was the first to bring it up, how the elections could be stopped was obviously something that they couldn't imagine. You couldn't really, so Clinton, Espy, and several other major party members (Ron Reagan, Russell Long, Dick Nixon, George Wallace, etc) got together to discuss the potential of postponing the elections or just rigging them. That was more likely and more possible. They figured that they and the rest of Congress (save Kemble and his boys) had the fortitude to withstand popular unrest but the military was a big question mark.

The military was always kept away from power during the Chandler reign. Chandler always kept things segmented and armed political power in a variety of hands. The military had its guns and powers, the CIA had its guns and powers, and the FBI had its guns and powers. During McArthur's coup for example, the FBI's armed squadrons' quick actions led to the capture of McArthur and his general staff just after the coup began to occur. Without an armed FBI, we'd be talking about the years under the MacArthur dictatorship.

Everything was balanced and everything was wiretapped. The establishment of the Cincinnatus Guard to act as the President's sworn guard in 1949 further leveled the playing field and technically made the government coup proof. Of course that wasn't the case and the Cincinnatus Guard's influence was weakened, and the FBI and the military grew in power. The climax of all of this was the 'meeting' (read: soft coup) of Powell and Jackson. The military now seemingly had an excuse to intervene in government affairs, having gotten away with it once.

The Cincinnatus Guard, 1985​

So stopping the elections weren't possible. The military made it clear, in no uncertain terms, that they would not allow the continuation of the old status quo. It was either elections and liberalization of the economy, or it was the gallows. Though that was just a euphemism of course, political prisoners were sent to prison in America rather than executed like in jolly old Italy.

The elections continued unabated.

By July the bleeding had stopped and the Stokes campaign begun to rebound.

Government Polling, July 1987
Carl Stokes/Richard Nixon (Social Democratic Party) - 34%
Edwin Meese/William Coors (Neo-Federalist Party) - 17%
David Duke/Donald Livingston (New Democratic Party) - 16%
Angela Davis/Steve King (Worker's Party) - 15%
Penn Kemble/Ray Donovan (Independent) - 14%
Tim Wirth/Audie Bock (Party for Ecology) - 3%
Other - 1%

This was when Stokes made his fatal, final mistake. Unbeknownst to the candidate he would die at a campaign stop.

Stokes visited Los Angeles and did a campaign rally there. After stepping off the stage and heading into the back stage area to be put onto his bus a man who had slipped back behind the stage during the speech pulled out a gun and fired three shots. Two shots hit Stokes in the chest and he died before he hit the floor.

Former FBI agent Jack Roberts was apprehended at the scene. He was fired for racial issues inside the FBI and for openly speaking negatively about the Atlanta Agreement. He and his white nationalist manifesto were suddenly on night time news everywhere.

Clinton worked quick to order the suppression of the document and minimized the depth of the news coverage. Though executive order could only do so much. The manifesto was quickly distributed around and his ties to White Revolutionary Army were made apparent when raids on anti-Agreement white groups in the south in the following days dredged up the manifesto with WRA's official party literature masthead. Once again the WRA had altered the future of American politics.

The WRA was the largest and most influential anti-Atlanta Agreement group. Like others though they were not particularly popular or influential among militant groups in general. During the early 80's most people really wanted peace, regardless if they were white or black. The WRA was the last gasp of the Neo-Nazi tinged 70's.

The killing resulted in rioting in many black majority cities and the black community took the slaying poorly. Understandably so. The first major black candidate for office in American history and he's killed by a lunatic racist.

No groups pulled out of the Atlanta Agreement but several black groups made a number of violent statements. The most violent and most outspoken was the statement by Malcolm Muhammad, head of the former militant group the Moorish Revolutionary Army. He claimed that violence would beget violence and that the situation was inevitable. White society and black society couldn't mix, not because blacks didn't try to mix, but because whites wouldn't let them. Race conflict, he said, was inevitable.

The Moorish Revolutionary Army and a number of other black groups were accused by David Duke and the New Democratic Party of threatening to pull out of the Atlanta Agreement. This was of course at the same time that white groups began to openly rearm - a direct violation of the agreement.

As rioting subsided and politically motivated murders began to soar, one off incidents seemed to grow into an outright crime wave. Without the FBI's support, the government was flying blind.

The America Communist Party shifted funds away from above ground political activity once again. They and everyone else in America knew the way the wind was blowing. Blacks began to re-form their militant groups and reestablish the local self defense brigades.

White groups began to reestablish themselves as well, although with David Duke and his party running cover for them by playing the blame game to distract from their flagrant violations. Meanwhile behind the scenes the NDP was helping organize networks between various white groups with the intent of forming a pan-white force should 'it' occur.

Of course, finding guns was a tough. Most guns had been handed over, leaving the militants needing to procure guns and ammo on the cheap and ASAP. Thankfully foreign governments weren't literally tossing guns at American shorelines like they were in the 50's and 60's.

Rather then let the situation spiral out of control, Clinton rearmed and reactivated the FBI. Given the FBI was the former (?) armed secret police department, people were quick to cry foul. Many a rabble rouser began to froth at the mouth at the supposed return of government tyranny. Some even worried that the elections were to be cancelled.

Of course they weren't cancelled, and the elections continued albeit on shaky circumstances. Though some political violence continued, the wave appeared to have subsided by the time America went to the polls.

British Prime Minister Michael Haseltine proudly and loudly proclaimed his enthusiasm for the reemergence of American Democracy after being subsumed by dictatorship for so many years at 10 Downing Street. This was the much awaited for restart of American relations as the US supposedly slipped into the Franco-British sphere. At that point no American was really concerned with foreign policy though.

First Round Final Election results, 1987
Edwin Meese/William Coors (Neo-Federalist Party) - 36%
David Duke/Donald Livingston (New Democratic Party) - 18%
Penn Kemble/Ray Donovan (Independent) - 14%
Angela Davis/Steve King (Worker's Party) - 13%
Tim Wirth/Audie Bock (Party for Ecology) - 11%
Carl Stokes/Richard Nixon, None/Richard Nixon, Richard Nixon/None, or Richard Nixon/Other (Social Democratic Party) - 4%
Other/Independents - 2%

Given the constitution which had been made to now have a two round, popular vote system. What was left was the second round. The SDP knew they were already done, finished. But Clinton and the others who remained weren't willing to let the nation collapse. The FBI was still keeping things calm and the military had been reintroduced into heavy problem areas.

The second round was an odd race, really. On many issues the Neo-Federalist Party and New Democratic Party were fairly similar. Both were for increased federalism, congressional supremacy, heavy privatization, dismantling the FBI, and they stood strongly against government regulation and high taxes. They were representative of the long dormant right wing in the US.

But they diverged on some issues. The New Democratic Party was much more openly focused on race and southern issues. Race and regionalism, if you want a nice slogan.

The NDP favored essentially gutting the federal government to serve local southern interests or at least to the point where the south was autonomous from DC. White hegemony was the other major policy. The party's leader, Duke, increasingly flirted with the idea of renegotiating the Atlanta Agreement if he was elected - no doubt planning on using federal power to destroy any black response to the inevitably one sided negotiation.

With all due respect, the Neo-Federalists were at least not openly racist. Not like the NDP anyway. Meese championed maintain the Atlanta Agreement in full, threatening to use force against any and all forces who would fight against peace in the south. It was oddly authoritarian for some, but when you compared it to voting for a former terrorist it was a perhaps forgivable 'federal overreach' to put it in the American conservative's voice.

Second Round Final Election results, 1987
Edwin Meese/William Coors (Neo-Federalist Party) - 62%
David Duke/Donald Livingston (New Democratic Party) - 38%

The results weren't particularly surprising. Meese was actually widely popular even in the south. Without low voter participation distorting the results and recent events practically pushing Duke supporters into the voting booths, Meese could have and should have easily blown Duke out of the water.

"America is changing fast. In a decade we won't be able to recognize ourselves. Our economy, our government, our very way of life will all be different. We will be able to look back to these moments in pride for having the bravery and tenacity to embrace a new, better system." - President Edwin Meese, 1988 inauguration speech​

A former attorney versus a former terrorist, who do you vote for? It's not that hard of a choice really. Duke losing by only that much was an upset if anything.

Incoming Congressional Makeup, 1987
500 Members total, 251 for a majority
New Democratic Party - 161
Neo-Federalist Party - 152
Social Democratic Party - 83
Liberal Party - 56
Worker's Party - 20
Party for Ecology - 15
Other - 8
Independent - 5

Violence, large scale violence anyway, was postponed for later on if it should occur at all. If Duke or Stokes had won it would have been a blood bath. Meese was acceptable enough. Duke and his boys weren't too sad about the loss though. Congress was theirs, the Neo-Feds had to work with them.

The first thing Meese did was pull the FBI back out operating status and iced them. Their permanent status, disbanded or what have you, was yet to be decided. The army remained though. Meese, like Clinton before him, knew about the military's now enormous influence.

And so Meese was sworn in as President. The first democratically elected since the 30's, Edwin Meese. Look on his works, ye mighty.

 

[Md139115]

Look on his works, ye mighty.

Well that’s not ominous...

 

[SenatorChickpea]

Those bastards moved the Sydney Harbour Bridge to Baton Rouge!

 

[TransUral]

Part IV: Rotterdam and Rumba

...The Rotterdam Connection...
​

Like most sprawling empires, the US and the Soviets had their respective 'spheres of influence' that were an interesting mix of national prestige project and black hole. Both also had serious ideological issues and national idiosyncrasies that also hampered their other ambitions.

America's big vice was and likely always will be the new world. The Caribbean, South, and Central America were America's backyard. Intrusions were met with swift and deadly force. Typically, anyway.

During its time under Chandler armed incursions into nations were the norm. If a nation strayed from the path and the new regime was not malleable, then American marines found their way to the nation's shores. Thankfully even in Chandler's day this was rare. As per the title, the southern nations were truly "America's backyard." Save for Canada and some of the other dependencies, the New World was not threatened by the Anglo-French alliance - sometimes known as the Rotterdam Group. Now of course, America has been an observer in the Rotterdam Forum and the foreign policy struggle between America and the Rotterdam Group has been done away with, in de jure terms anyway.

Full Members of the Rotterdam Group alliance, 1986:
UK
France
Belgium
Germany
Netherlands
Denmark
Norway
Sweden
Australia
New Zealand
Canada
Dakar
Katanga
Kuwait
Singapore
Lebanon
Morocco

Outside of them - the Fascists and the Communists were the only real struggle. And even then, it wasn't much of a struggle outside of Brazil. The US embraced promoting regimes that ranged from vaguely leftist populists to right wing democracies. American foreign policy in the Chandler years especially was based almost entirely on power relations alone. The American foreign policy establishment went from a firmly liberal outlook to a vicious realist viewpoint under Chandler.

So the issue of uprising or popular revolt was not much of a problem. The US promoted works programs and land reform. With that and with American aid, the nations of the south were often bereft of reasons to support Soviet Communism or Italian Fascismo. But of course, there were edge cases.

After the defeat of the German Axis powers and the beginning the Cold War, the initial largest threat to American supremacy down south was the Fascists. Brazil, Cuba, and Argentina all followed independent courses from the US and had underlying sympathies towards Fascism.

All of these nations drifted more towards Fascism every passing day in the 40's. Under Chandler's direction, Batista's Cuba was invaded and he was tossed out of power by force. He was expected to lead Cuba into formally join the cooperative 'fascist international' as it was ironically called. America couldn't tolerate that, and so as a message to the whole world Cuba was invaded. American troops left soon after and Cuba fell into to the painful cycle of dictatorship and barely functioning democracy that Batista helped usher in.

Secretary of State Richard Nixon, 1956. America's longest serving and most influential diplomat. He informally retired in 1985 after Jackson was tossed out and he formally retired from the position in 1987, having served over 30 years at the post.​

As far as Argentina and Brazil, they took what some term to be inverse courses. During WW2 Brazil's Vargas was Pro-US but as time worse on he found himself favoring the Fascists after WW2. Argentina's Peron was the opposite - having been a fan of Fascism and the foremost promoter of Fascist influence in South America but after WW2 he leaned more towards the US in reaction to Vargas moving towards Fascism.

Peron and Chandler cultivated a close relationship and the Justicialist Party and wider Argentinian society began to adopt more and more American-esque policy. During the American intervention into Bolivia Argentinian support was critical in providing basing for the initial invasion. From that point forward the Peronist regime was backed to the hilt by the US - and Brazil was regionally isolated.

...A whole new world...
​

The Communists had trouble taking advantage of this. Soviet policy up until that point had really appeared to the the policy of European society. Under General Secretary/Generalissimo Ivan Konev, 'stagism' became entrenched in Soviet thought. In Marxist thought human development could be thought of as stages in a way. This was more rhetorical in Orthodox Marxist thought, but in Konev's days it became established thought that to pass into the Socialist stage of development they would need to go through the Capitalist stage of development. This meant that Communist organizing was kept in urban and developed classes, and that "feudal" states were precluded from outright Socialism. It is something of an irony that the nation which makes up the majority of the Soviet Union was home to many families who descend from such low peasant stock. Politics is of course no stranger to hypocrisy.

Ideologically speaking these were probably Konev's most damaging additions to the Soviet ideology. While Soviet Communism still spoke to the masses of the world, the movement was hampered. Only South East Asia saw major gains for the Soviet Communists after the local liberation movements swept over Indochina and Burma - though these movements were more nationalist than Moscow had come to expect. Indeed many of the successful communist parties around the world were in developing nations and were more nationalist in outlook rather than internationalist.

Of course, it didn't matter either way as they had to be sped through Capitalist development before they could experience Socialism any way. That didn't mean introducing the free market obviously, but it did mean that they needed to be industrialized on Soviet lines. Heavy industry, mostly.

In any case, Ho Chi Minh wasn't eager to hand over Vietnam's independence even if the Soviets asked for them to join. Which they wouldn't given the distance. They had enough trouble administering their own contiguous empire as it was.

This had a knock on effect on the developing world. In South America especially, the societies there were considered Capitalist but the most vulnerable nations had the vast masses of peoples in the countryside. They weren't urban factory workers, or urban intellectuals. In nations like Peru, Paraguay, etc, left wing anti-capitalism could be most felt by the peasants. And the peasants had no interest in going through capitalism - they wanted to jump straight into Socialism. Their own Socialism.

In the raucous 60's the Third World ideological lineage began to take shape. At the first meeting of the 4th Communist International organized by Frantz Fanon in 1960 the ideals of the "Third Worldist" tendency (sometimes referred to as Fanonism despite major contributions from others) were promulgated.

The five major conceptions of the Third Worldist tendency:
1. There are three "worlds" in the world. The first being the developed nations in the Capitalist World, the second being the developed pseudo-Socialist world which descended from the Capitalist World, the third being the undeveloped or exploited nations. The Third World was thus exploited and brutalized by the first and second worlds which required raw resources and labor so as to appease the working classes in their respective worlds.
2. Liberation struggles from colonial, imperial, or class oppressors was paramount to the cause of Socialism and therefore militancy was necessitated. Parliamentarian methods were thus rejected.
3. Stages of Human development were uneven and not as well defined as Soviet stagism promoted. Furthermore, societies could perform a 'leap' and jump from a feudal or semi-feudal state into Socialism. Socialism being defined as the worker's owning the means of production.
4. As the worker's did not own the means of production in the Soviet Union and the other Soviet style economies were Capitalist states.
5. A mass front of the rural and urban oppressed classes was the only appropriate method of organization for the party.

From there, the Third Worldist tendency grew and became an increasingly potent ideology in the developing world and among non-whites in general. Even in the very much developed US of A, black activists found connection to the Third Worldist tendency. One of the largest black activist groups in the US was the Black Panther Revolutionary Party which followed a Third Worldist ideology developed by its leader Huey Newton. The group went underground after it transitioned into an armed struggle against the US government. The party ceased to be an active movement after its main cells were destroyed following the Atlanta Agreement.

The Soviets were enraged by the very conception and Third Worldist groups were hunted down just as often as fascists and capitalists were. The result was a serious drop in Soviet influence outside of Europe. The Soviets, despite their claim to internationalism were very solidly a European enterprise until recently.

The big outlier in all of the aforementioned trends, especially in South America, was Guyana. In 1953 Guyana elected a Soviet Socialist leader and he refused to bow to the British Crown. The British promptly invaded and kicked him out. The former Chief Minister of British Guyana, Cheddi Jagan, escaped into the jungle and found his way to Moscow where he helped organize for the international as an expert in South American and Indian affairs. He also became a noted translator and scholar of the Soviet Union's official language, Esperanto.

...Salsa from Washington...
​

In 1966 Pro-Brazilian fascists overthrew the Paraguayan government. Argentinian and Bolivian forces moved against the new Paraguayan government once it was clear there was no institutional opposition from within the Paraguayan military. Brazil then moved their troops into Paraguay in response.

Suddenly it had become a great conflagration. Shots were fired and now Brazil and Paraguay were looking at a major conflict with Argentina and Bolivia. Worse yet, the Fascists and the Rotterdam Group were eager to give the US a bloody nose. They threw their full support behind Brazil. The Soviets watched from the sidelines, eagerly hoping to pick up the pieces.

At this time the US as dealing with economic decline and internal issues at home, but it couldn't let the Brazilians get what they wanted. If they tolerated this, then it was a sign that the Fascists and Europeans could just bust down the damn door. Chandler, also being a good friend of Peron's, didn't want to see his friend get hurt.

So a drastic option was taken. The US intervened directly.

But still, Chandler felt as though the US could manage with minimal intervention. Acting under advice from the air force Chandler ordered the USS Olsen carrier and a handful of escort and support vessels to head to São Paulo and bomb it to hell. It wasn't the capital of Brazil, but it would make American power known. Or so he thought.

Since the end of WW2, the US Navy was chronically underfunded and generally disregarded. Primacy was given to the Army and Air Force first and foremost. Then the Marines. Then the Navy.

Then the Coast Guard, you poor bastards.

To make a long and incredibly embarrassing shit show short, the Brazilian Navy gave the USS Olsen a critical hit and it was damaged beyond repair. The bombings had been okay, but it wasn't anything like the perdition that Chandler had hoped for. Brazil of course was enthused with the result but Vargas, being about as old as the sands of time at that point, was pushed into retirement by the military once they realized America was going to come back again - and with more ships.

A quick fire round of negotiations were undertaken.

Chandler was eager to end the humiliation. The Europeans and Fascists were laughing their butts off and were more than satisfied. Bolivia had a new junta and needed American support as it was under siege by Third Worldists. As you can tell, the war was basically over. It was decided that the new fascist government of Paraguay stayed in place and also that no more coups of the like could occur in South America. The region was frozen from conflict.

Though it was embarrassing for the US, the war led to the beginning of understanding between the US, the Rotterdam Group, and the Fascists. It had sucked up a great deal of money and resources but provided very little. The rest of Chandler's time in office, the US kept their eyes and ears open but the Rotterdam Group and the Fascists kept their word and stayed out of American business and America stayed out of theirs. The good feelings kept up and in 1978 the US became an official observer in the Rotterdam Forum along with the Fascists who had joined earlier.

Things of course are never very easy for the US. In 1973 Chandler was assassinated and the following year Peron died. The old US-Argentina relationship soured. Under Jackson most of America's relationships (save for the American-European relationship) deteriorated. He was heavy handed with weaker powers and much more ideological in his approach as to what was acceptable. Argentina, Bolivia, so on, were no longer acceptable unless they followed closer to American policy of government ownership of the vast majority of the economy. This, added into the economic and internal problems of the US led to the US retreating from much of the globe. Towards the end of Jackson's reign he embraced a more fluid diplomacy at the behest of Nixon but it was too little too late.

The US still maintained active bases in many countries and handed out aid to those who remained close or important however. The US even maintained an active military presence in Guatemala and the wider Central America which had fallen into an outright civil war after Third Worldist Comandante Rolando began a guerrilla campaign against the junta there. Things had fallen apart since the early 70's and so by the time of Chandler's death the Third Worldists were ready to rise up.

Comandante Rolando, man to lead the Third Worldist tendency forward?​

...Rumba from Moscow...
​

Now's the part where Moscow answers back.

The Soviets had not expanded since the end of the second world war and were beginning to feel strained and seriously concerned by their lack of influence internationally. Because of failed policies under Konev and the Third Worldists, Soviet Communism was not particularly popular in countries that could conceivably become communist. After Konev's death the Soviets scrambled for some sort of revitalization of their foreign policy.

The task fell quite naturally to the former Premier of the Soviet Union, Willi Stoph. Stoph was a German and as a German he would be the first non-Russian to hold the highest office in the Soviet Union. Stoph was a talented foreign policy specialist and was popular inside and outside of the party. He helped reduce much of the anger within the Soviet Union's non-Russian republics which chaffed under what they characterized as increasing Russian chauvinism from the government.

His first and largest contribution to the Soviet Union was unifying the state and the international movement. Previously the General Secretary of the Party and the Chairman of the International were held by two separate persons. Both were tough demanding jobs, but the separation didn't really match with the declared vision of the Soviet Union which was that of a global socialist republic. Stoph was the first man to be both the General Secretary of the Soviet Union and the Chairman of the International.

Under his guidance much time and effort was devoted to realigning parties to Soviet ideological doctrine, and increasing their domestic support. While this helped in India and France, by and large the Third Worldists and previous policies had serious alienated the Soviet Union from the wider Socialist parties of the world. They could pay their way back in most of the time, but time and money are both really quite rare resources. Foreign capital is always especially hard for the Soviets to acquire, considering Soviet trade practices. So foreign money was always the Soviet intelligence and diplomacy apparatus' foremost concern.

Stoph was no reformer though and his domestic policies still followed the secret police filled and heavily militarized doctrine from Konev's days. In 1981 Stoph willingly resigned and handed their reins over to a dynamic personage. He wasn't gone from the political scene but Stoph was tired of being at the center and preferred being kingmaker to the king himself.

Having worked his way up the ladder of the International and showing a great deal of skill at organizing, the successor was our old friend from Guyana, Cheddi Jagan. He was the first non-white General Secretary and represented a new focus on expansion and internationalism. It also represented a new found love of technology.

Cheddi Jagan in Moscow, 1962. Promoter of computerization and vegetarianism, among other things.​

Jagan promoted government policy promoting computerization and consolidation of workplaces. At the same time that factories became consolidated (imagine how uneven Russia will be once all the factory cities and mass farms are created!) and more automated, the economy became more and more computerized. Of course law enforcement and the military had their uses for computers, but the Soviet workers now worked less hours at the same pay as before. Granted, compared to the capitalist world it was peanuts, but for the Soviet citizens it meant much. Socialism, it appeared, was working out. Now the average family could afford a television set. Some higher ups could even save up for a personal computer. New consumer goods were being produced in mass quantities for the first time since mass adoption of radio sets in the 50's. Soviet goods flooded the developing world bringing in much needed foreign capital which, as per usual, went back into upgrading and expanding the Soviet industry.

...but what of American politics you ask? Next time the Meese shall be released.

 

[TransUral]

Part V: Release the Meese, part 1

...Meesetown, USA?...
​

Immediately upon electing a new President, the high and excitement of the election wore away. Political change had come and Civil War had been avoided. The average person could return to their daily lives as they knew it before for the time being and the political class was shuffled around a bit.

Yet still the question then was what could come next? After decades of no political competition what they highest office in the land could offer its holder was a question for the ages.

Meese was the first to get a chance to get a chance in the White House without having the total backing of the government and party. He had to rule like a normal President, something no American leader had to do for around 50 years.

It is of great interest to the would be historian of the period, that the first Congress that the Meese Administration was confronted with was filled to the brim of old faces. Though many operated under members of new parties the reality is that the old party had lost many members to the other new parties. Despite the collapse of the party, its party members had survived like the cockroaches they were.

Congress of 1987's makeup of former party members:
Social Democratic Party - 83/83, 100%
Party for Ecology - 14/15, 93%
Liberal Party - 52/56, 92%
Neo-Federalist Party - 76/152, 50%
Other - 4/8, 50%
Independent - 2/5, 40%
New Democratic Party - 12/161 7%
Worker's Party - 1/20, 5%
Returning Politician Percentage: 48%

Many of the old relationships or factional lines remained even after the end of the dictatorship, it seemed. Meese and his cabinet could rely on these, for beyond ideological affinity the confusing nexus of power and patron-client relations made politics work in this period. Of course, ideology was malleable, personal relationships less so.

The big outliers in this were the New Democratic Party and the Worker's Party. The New Democratic Party had a few joiners from the old party who had sympathy for their views, but the party's past and its views made it difficult for the old partocrats to join. Meese could find issues to work with on, however.

The Worker's Party was a similar situation. Their Pro-Soviet nature and clear hatred of the American system and very existence as a state made joining a bridge too far for most. Their strong opposition to privatization (a position then very much out of vogue) was the nail in the coffin.

On many of his first initiatives, he could count of the old party member's votes and popular momentum to move the country forward in the direction he wanted. At least for a time.

The first thing he did was privatize. Of course many debated over what was to be privatized, and how much, and how soon. Meese and his party were clear: All of it, and ASAP. Via executive order he made his first move.

What Meese did first was set up a National Trust Agency. This agency, led by a close associate had two main functions. Firstly it would consult and advise privatization at the behest of the President, and secondly it would enact privatization and hold the proceeds of the privatizations before transfer to government coffers.

James G. Watt, Head of the NTA and close associate of President Meese
​

The NTA began to categorize businesses and SOEs into eight classes and decided what to do with them.

1. Minor private enterprises. Defined as private small businesses, typically owning and operating a single store or work space. These were legal and could operate with a license but were subject to heavy taxes.
2. Major private enterprises. Defined as the few major private businesses, typically consisting of a series or chain of factories. These were rare and typically in industries that the government didn't want to involve themselves in. The alcoholic beverage industry is the most prominent example.
3. Grey and black market enterprises. Defined as illegal or semi-illegal enterprises. Usually caused by not paying taxes or failing to applying for a license, grey and black market businesses were rather small but exploding in popularity since the early 70's. Some enterprises like drug dealers or gun merchants were included in group 8 rather than this group for policing reasons.
4. Small public enterprises. Defined as small businesses owned by the government. This was often times an individual factory or local chain of stores that were nationalized. Due to the confusing method of rolling nationalization, this was a large mess of group.
5. Middle size public enterprises. Defined as middle range businesses or companies owned fully or in part by the government. This typically represented a part of a supply chain.
6. Large public enterprises. Defined as the largest and most massive companies or corporations that were government owned. These were entire industries or entire supply chains. America's steel industry was entirely owned from top to bottom by USA Steel for example.
7. Agricultural enterprises. Defined as agricultural businesses of all sizes. Farms, mostly. Unlike other classes the Department of Agriculture had full control of this class and were given full control and direction of privatization in this area.
8. Criminal enterprise. As mentioned before, drug dealers and other businesses were intentionally excluded from class 3. Their illegality persisted and the government continued to hunt them.

Classes 1 and 2 were left alone, save for severe reductions of taxes and regulations. Both of those however were results from other Meese administration initiatives. Meese used an executive order to lower taxes to a flat tax of 10% across all brackets and slashed businesses taxes. He also ordered the various members of his cabinet to reduce regulations to a minimum and they followed along eagerly. This was all in line with the heterodox economic theories of the Neo-Federalists which promoted small government in both tax and regulation as a matter of economic health.

Class 2 was "brought into the light" as they say. They were no longer went after like class 8 and had their records expunged. Business licenses were no longer taxed upon the order of President Meese and so almost all were prompt in fully legalizing themselves. This did much to bring the grey market into the government's purview but the class 8 businesses that typically involved theft such as computer or car resellers remained illegal (as they typically stole from the government to provide their products) and so their popularity continued amid a lack of commercial goods.

Classes 4 and 5 were bid off in government run auctions wholesale and the proceeds went directly into the NTA's coffers.

Class 6 was a little different and was auctioned by stocks but not wholesale. You could buy portions of stock to the company but not the whole company in a single sale. The government also retained some stock in select strategic industries such as US Telecom and Federal Eagle Railroad which had a monopoly over telecommunications and railroads respectively.

This whole process was underwent in a period of 2 years. Despite many internal issues such as corruption and severe reduction in taxable income due to the new tax laws, the government was still able to fund itself well enough and pay off debts once they also began slashing government programs and gutting government expenditure across the board. The military of course excluded.

The great development of the decade: the Patton Laser tank. It was developed and produced by the military for the purpose of disabling the computerized components on aircraft and missiles.​

But things weren't all daises and roses in America. Meese was dogged by controversy, largely stirred up by the Worker's Party.

...What are you going to do, arrest me?...
​

The Worker's Party were the antagonist in Meese's story.

From day 1 they opposed him. First through words and protests, then it moved onto failed bills in Congress to block his initiatives, then finally it led to investigations. Something stunk just awful up in Meeseville, you see.

The Worker's Party, and by extension the American Communist Party, remained a disciplined and well oiled machine despite earlier orders from Moscow to rearm during the height of the Stokes controversy. The party kept up the legal struggle. Compared to other parties they were the best managed and most profitable party in the US during the 80's.

Under the direction of former presidential candidate and general secretary Angela Davis, the party utilized the newly privatized media landscape to their advantage. Not only did they use party funds to buy a newspaper (and large stakes in several others), they also bought a small radio network in the Detroit and Chicago areas, and a local TV studio from which they provided 24/7 news coverage across the midwest and later across the nation. The party also invested heavily into GCN marketing and their ads became something of a fixture on the then nascent (at least in the US) GCN.

The crowning glory of course was the American Communist Party's HQ in Milwaukee. The building was a massive structure that could produce and broadcast TV, radio, and print newspapers as well as a campus to teach party members from across the US. It was even outfitted with a massive underground complex that was apparently capable of taking a nuclear blast with enough storage space filled with supplies to outfit a brigade worth of troops for a week or three.

Beyond that, they also realized that if they stirred up controversy that other networks would pick up the news. And so the research began. At first it was a politician here or there, mostly nobodies or local politicos. Sometimes it was businessmen dumping waste from their factory into a lake and giving people chemical burns, sometimes it was payoffs for easier access to this or that government incentive. But it was building an argument against Meese and his sort of thinking.

This was a good thing and a bad thing for the American Communist Party. Like most Communist Parties in a free and developed society, they were about to enter the midst of an ideological struggle. The PCF, the CPGB and so on all suffered from a massive split down the center with revolutionary Socialists who follow Moscow's orders on one side and those who came to appreciate parliamentarianism on the other. The old versus the new.

Gerry Healy, head of the CPGB from 1964 until its fracturing in 1983. The CPGB now follows a different path to socialism. Today Healy heads the Revolutionary Socialist Party of Great Britain which maintains connections to the Soviet Union as an official satellite party.​

Coming into 1989 Angela Davis was anxious to reaffirm her support from within the party as the General Secretary of both the American Communist Party and Worker's Party. Her new policies were considered to be exceptionally successful and so she hoped that a dual party conference in Milwaukee would lead to her faction being strengthened before the upcoming midterms.

In reality radicals had other plans. They were to seize control of the party and then right it on a revolutionary course with the end goal of causing civil war in the US. This wasn't some rag tag group of angry geriatrics plotting in a broom closet, mind you. This secretly came straight from Cheddi Jagan himself. Jagan had wide ranging plans to promote and create revolutions all over the world, and the weakness of the US would be a major element of that plan. Though she wouldn't enunciate her concept of Neo-Communism until the 90's Jagan and the Soviet security apparatus had already marked her as a deviationist of some sort by 1988.

What Davis was unveiling before the party conferences was big, big enough to cause the revolutionary faction to be ordered to stop their palace coup. It was previously secret enough that those outside of the investigation had no clue. It wasn't kept secret for the sake of factionalism, of course, rather that releasing the information before it was ready would cause issues.

Two days before the conference on the People's Nightly the great conspiracy was revealed. Other networks and newspapers quickly picked up the info.

The NTA and most of America's political class was incredibly corrupt. The emerging business class even more so.

It was a conspiracy of three different aspects. The NTA had worked to give preferential treatment at the blind auctions to those who bribed the agency, even worse the head of the agency and his supporters and business partners were acquiring companies left right and center at fire sale prices by rigging auctions or simply never paying what they bid. Even worse? Meese was found to have invested heavily into a strip of land which was then bought by oligarch Harold Hamm at incredibly inflated prices. The land was worthless marshland, almost entirely underwater.

Davis' faction was strengthened and Washington was ablaze in confusion and chaos. Protesters being directed by the Worker's Party and the other opposition parties descended upon DC.

President Meese stood firm and went with martial law. DC was shut down and the protesters were removed by force. The subsequent midterm elections were a bloodbath even despite some heavy handed tactics employed by the Neo-Federalists to keep themselves in a good position.

Meese was enraged.

But he wasn't at risk of any criminal charges. The courts had been thoroughly emasculated and the Presidency was a licence to commit crimes.

Incoming Congressional Makeup, 1989
500 Members total, 251 for a majority
New Democratic Party - 165 (+4)
Social Democratic Party - 117 (+34)
Neo-Federalist Party - 108 (-44)
Worker's Party - 59 (+39)
Party for Ecology - 27 (+12)
Conservative Party - 10 (+10)
Liberal Party - 8 (-48)
Independent - 4 (-1)
Other - 2 (-6)

Through the discovery of the deep corruption in the government, the unhappiness over how privatization was handled, and the subsequent drop in American living standards, the Meese administration was left bleeding and crying like a stuck pig. The political capital he once enjoyed had been eroded considerably even within his own party. In fact, rebels inside the party even went as far as breaking off to form the Conservative Party. Threats and bribes brought the remaining members into line.

Before this Congress was more or less dysfunctional as it was. It was only able to pass bills occasionally and the government relied on a steady stream of executive actions to do Congress' job. Now they wanted to try to wrest control away from Meese. But they hadn't the numbers to impeach him and they couldn't openly call for the military to return. So they were stuck with the bastard.

Meese didn't give two hoots or hollers about the law at this point though. Too much money had changed hands and too many people had been silenced. Meese went to war with Congress.

By executive order he reformed the shut down FBI and CIA into a single entity, the Information Bureau - IB. The IB was then divided in two under its leadership, one entity for domestic security (Federal Bureau of Investigations, FBI) and one for international intelligence (International Bureau of Intelligence, IBI). The beginnings of a 'return to form' for the US and its love of secret police had taken place under Meese's watch. Now they had to play by the rules and make sure his critics shut their mouths.

When the newly elected Congress attempted to take their seats the new FBI was there to block up the doors and keep them out. After several minutes of bickering the news cameras showed up and pre-approved members of the Neo-Federalist Party, the New Democratic Party, and the Liberal Party were allowed inside to take their seats. The others were still rejected.

The rejected Congressmen left the area and regrouped instead at the Olsen Performing Arts Center several blocks away. It was usually a place for theater and opera performances but the size was accommodating enough that it could work as an impromptu work space for several hundred politicians in a pinch.

The opposing congresses immediately began to draft condemnations of the other and their own opposing legislation declaring the other illegal. After the pro-Meese congress signed the approved legislation, the FBI moved in and began to surrounded the Olsen Performing Arts Center...

 

[President Earl Warren]

NO meese, you were supposed to destroy the Authoritarians, Not Join them...

 

[Leon Trotsky]

NO meese, you were supposed to destroy the Authoritarians, Not Join them...

Meese is the new Louis XVI!

 

[TripleCitizen]

Did the US support Arab Nationalists? Like did they try to aid the Egyptians during the Sues Crisis? Because even if Britain is keeping control over it’s colonies, Egypt was already independent, along with most of the Middle East.

Is the US less hypocritical in this world? Do they support actual freedom fighters against colonialism and communism?

 

[TransUral]

Did the US support Arab Nationalists? Like did they try to aid the Egyptians during the Sues Crisis? Because even if Britain is keeping control over it’s colonies, Egypt was already independent, along with most of the Middle East.

Is the US less hypocritical in this world? Do they support actual freedom fighters against colonialism and communism?

Probably. To be honest, it's been so long that I have to reread certain parts of the posts to get reacquainted with the story and my plans for the TL. The map I posted earlier isn't necessarily canon and anything that isn't written is not set in stone yet.

On the subject of the US in Africa, it's less that they're less hypocritical but that they used to (I feel that there's still some thinly veiled animosity there) oppose the Europeans who were perfectly content with using bloody dictators and they opposed Soviet communism so they naturally fell into the niche of supporting the democratic reformer types.

If anything though, the way that the US treated South America as her geopolitical 'backyard' and then supporting the less terrible option shows that the US is just hyper-Machiavellian. I only make one remark about it, but Chandler's foreign policy was strongly in the 'realist' school - so basically mirroring OTL's Russian foreign policy in its approach.

Anyway, I am still working on this, hence why it's in my sig. It's just going very slowly and I go from periods of having some interest to having none whatsoever. Anyway, a brief history of the Dixie Wars is in progress. After that is Release the Meese II, assuming I ever finish lol