Alternate Wikipedia Infoboxes V (Do Not Post Current Politics Here)

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Hammer and Hoe: Rise of the Communist Confederacy
2. The Familiar Faces


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Background: I've been thinking for a long time about the fact that there's no reason legislative representation has to be regionally-based, even though almost all legislatures, both in reality and in speculative fiction, are. This started as an idea for a legislature where representative apportionment was based on employment, and morphed into this form after I read a fascinating manifesto from the Technocratic movement of the 1930s. Its ideas were too autocratic to really fit any kind of legislature, but I thought a 'reformed' version could do so well. Plus, the idea of a tridecacameral system of government just makes me smile.

I loved this infobox very much, combined with the very informative writeup and table. May I make a country in a map game based on these ideas? I probably won't copy any op this directly, but the ideology would look very similar.
 
Oh hey welcome back @JoeyB2198!

This is pretty cursed but good work as usual. I'm pretty interested in how such an America was formed though, got any ideas on that?

I'm glad you liked it. I have some basic background which is sprinkled through the text a bit, and I had initially planned to do some historical infoboxes to go with it, but time got away from me. The basic idea is that Howard Scott's 1933 Hotel Pierre speech is fantastic rather than terrible, and the Technocrat movement takes off among the middle class as an alternative to socialism in a much worse Depression. A revolution of sort happens in 1941 which sees a janky coalition of technocrats, labor unionists, and communists take power, the latter two of which are purged in a technocrat self-coup in 1946. That's followed by a few decades of experimentation and economic collapse because of wacky economic planning hijinks, and when Scott dies in 1970, the whole thing nearly comes crashing down until it is 'saved' by a coalition of reformist Technocrats (predecessors of the CIR and CCP) and underground labor unions (predecessors of the ASA) and replaced with the current system of government.

I loved this infobox very much, combined with the very informative writeup and table. May I make a country in a map game based on these ideas? I probably won't copy any op this directly, but the ideology would look very similar.

Go right ahead, and link me when you do - I'd be interested to see where you take it.
 
Was messing around with a sci-fi book idea I've had for a while and ended up turning a brother of a certain Kennedy into the Steward of a new nation🤔
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Fyodor Semyonovich Ustinin is a fictional character and the main protagonist of the Russian adaptation of House of Cards, portrayed by Georgiy Dronov; he is based on Francis Urquhart, the protagonist of the British novel and television series House of Cards, from which the Russian NTV series is drawn. Parts of his dialogue are presented in a fourth wall-breaking direct address to the audience. Depicted as a highly ambitious politician who employs deception, blackmail and murder to attain power, Ustinin has debuted in the series' first episode, "Лето" ("Summer").

Born in Kaliningrad to a KGB officer and a teacher, Ustinin graduated from the Dzerzhinsky Higher School of the KGB in 1982 and, subsequently, Moscow State University Faculty of Law in 1987. Billing himself as a reformist politician, Ustinin is elected to the State Duma at the beginning of the series; however, his liberal aspirations and folksy public persona belie a lust for power and a cynical perception of the world. Manipulating the figures and affairs of the fractious State Duma towards his own ends and building trust with President Borovoy before arranging his assassination, Ustinin rises from State Duma Deputy to President of the Russian Federation. Throughout the series, with the assistance of his wife Olga Ustinina and his campaign team, Ustinin spends much of his tenure entrenching his power and removing his political opponents and potential obstructions (including his friends and employees), as well as dealing with criminal organizations at home and foreign heads of state and government abroad.

Although Georgiy Dronov was not the immediate first choice of Volobuyev (as Vladimir Mashkov was initially considered for the role), he was praised for his portrayal of Ustinin, to the point of being included in the top 10 most popular Russian actors of 2019, although the character has been criticized for his one-dimensional nature. On Ustinin's development, Roman Volobuyev has said that he "wanted to experiment with Urquhart-Ustinin's character to [...] make [Ustinin] suitable for Russian realities while keeping him compelling". Volobuyev also stated that he wanted to make Ustinin different from prominent historical figures like President Primakov, and was partially inspired by a number of politicians such as former FSB Director Vladimir Putin.
 
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A revision of a past infobox.

The Black Abdullah

In a part of the post-Imperial sphere that is traditionally considered "unimportant" according to general consensus, the figure of Abdullah Abdurrauf "the Black" has always struck historians as complex and influential, if erratic. In the ruins of the Russian Empire torn by Civil War and its lingering aftereffects, Abdullah was, perhaps, a success story - rising from a mere smuggler with nine (well, seven) wives to a prominent politician in newly-formed Turkestan as soon as he lent his hand to the nascent country's forces against remaining Bolshevik and "rogue White" holdouts; the newly-legitimized bandit soon became a champion of an united Turkestan, free from Russian imperialism and the spectre of communism - in the eyes of homegrown propaganda and British newspapers, at the very least.

Although Abdullah was hated by urban intellectuals and ethnic Russians, who saw him as a murderous, remorseless mobster and did not like his views on the White movement, his machismo, patriarchal views and "brutal honesty" were greatly admired by many run-of-the-mill Turkestanis, and as the son of destitute peasants Abdullah was seen as a man of the people, a belief that the conservative Kadimists were willing to cultivate; it did help that Abdullah was very quick to align himself with them. Soon enough, despite concerns from Kadimists and Jadidists alike, Abdullah was appointed Chairman of the Military Council of Turkestan with the backing of prominent commanders such as Ergash-bek — to the amusement of Chinese, German and Russian newspapermen, who were quick to paint Turkestan as a "bandit state" funded by the perfidious Brits.

The Black Abdullah's tenure as Military Council chairman was characterized by his ruthless purging of revolutionary elements, minor military reforms on behalf of the British, and an end to active raids against Russian settlements, all of which helped stabilize the young Turkestani nation to some degree, according to Abdullah's supporters. However, Abdullah was distrusted by Jadidists and Kadimists (mainly clerics) alike; despite their continuous infighting, they were able to keep the Chairman of the Military Council from attempting to attain greater political influence (though some historians have argued that Abdullah's own mercurial, vicious nature made him incapable of navigating politics at all), and Abdullah's tendency to act as a power broker for certain criminal gangs, much like the treatment of his wives, weren't appreciated at all. In 1935 Abdullah was found dead in a Tashkent inn, slumped over a table with a Nagant M1895 in his limp hand; allegations surrounding the circumstances of Abdullah's death spread quickly, but ultimately subsided as the Jadidists took power amidst the Great Depression.

Abdullah's legacy continued to influence Turkestani politics for many years after his death, as subsequent Turkestani governments undertook efforts to uncover Abdullah's actions during the War of Independence. Among historians, the Black Abdullah's past and his ethnicity is commonly disputed and has caused many controversies.

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The 2016 United States presidential election was held on November 8, 2016. For the first time in United States history, no winner was returned from the election. The election was contested between former Senator and Chair of the Kentucky Farmers Collective Rosemary Clayton, retired Admiral Alexandre-Lazare Desmond of Texas, and Chicago Deputy Mayor Father Harold J. Fleming.

There had been great political and economic turmoil in the United States in recent years. President Samuel Holliday had been removed from office in 2013 in the fallout of the San Clemente scandal, numerous members of his administration and allies in Congress were also implicated, and his New Federalism Party was decimated in the following elections. The destruction of one of America's two major parties in such a fashion, coinciding with the ongoing 2010s recession indicated that the Farmer-Labor Party (American Collectivist Congress), as the other major party, would easily be able to sweep the elections. However, this was not the case.

Admiral Alexandre-Lazare Desmond, a well known and widely respected nonpartisan figure who had been involved in exposing San Clemente, formed the "Good Morning America" movement after retiring from the Navy and resigning from the Holliday administration. The Good Morning movement fielded hundreds of candidates in state, local, and federal elections and won many of these races, upsetting the Collectivists' hopes for easy domination. Initially, Desmond and the movement focused on anti-corruption reforms and transparency in government. However, the degree to which they succeeded transformed their position from a small, but loud, watchdog bloc to a big tent political party. As a serious political party, they now had to take positions on serious political issues. The party's members, no longer united by one common goal, were divided by their disparate views. Desmond was unable to pull them together as he personally held many eccentric views which he had never had to express before. The incoherent party messaging was one problem, but it was compounded when Desmond was pressed on the critical issues and came down on the unpopular side of each. Angering urban workers by questioning sectoral bargaining, angering the farmers by opposing price control, and angering almost everyone with offhanded remarks about reversing banking regulations which had been in place since the 1983 crash. Desmond would have surely lost, if it had not been for his opponent being almost as unpopular as him.

Rosemary Clayton was born in the White House. Her father, Colton Clayton, had become the first president from the Collectivist Congress after the union of the Farmer and Labor parties. His untimely death two years into his term from a heart attack made him an almost mythical figure. It's JFK. Did you get it? That it's JFK? John F. Kennedy? You got it, right? John Fitzgerald Kennedy. That guy. It's him. Except like, he didn't get shot, he just ate too many steaks. After Colton Clayton's death, his wife Jeanie assumed his legacy and would become president for two terms of her own, becoming the great Collectivist president by whose standard all her successors would be measured. Rosemary grew up in the public eye during this time and was known as America's Baby. So why did everyone hate her when she ran for president?

Well, for a lot of reasons. Mostly it came down to her tenure as Secretary of War in the Morgan administration. Morgan had inherited the Third Bush War from his predecessor, which had been popular early on, but had become unpopular as the freedom fighters America was supporting became exposed for brutality matching and surpassing the dictatorial regimes they were fighting against. Clayton and Morgan had both ran for the Collectivist nomination as peacehawks, yet when they came into power, they found themselves unable to make peace. Withdrawing American troops appeared impossible without destabilizing the region, which would only prolong the war. Instead, Clayton became the face of Morgan's controversial troop increases. Though she eventually resigned in protest, she was permanently tied to the war. Another issue was that many Collectivist voters were uneasy with the feeling of dynasty, which was cited as a key factor in her failure to win the nomination in 2008. This time she prevailed against weaker opponents.

The big issue both main candidates had was in Nevada. Clayton had advocated for storage of nuclear waste in Nevada. The project was highly unpopular in that state, for obvious reasons, but popular everywhere else. The War Department oversaw the completion of the project and operation of the site, and their point man on the project was General Alexandre-Lazare Desmond. Desmond also held this responsibility early in the Holliday administration, but left as San Clemente unfolded. Nevertheless, he had been there long enough to make plenty of enemies in Nevada.

With two of the most hated politicians in Nevada running against each other, the state seemed to be ripe territory for a third candidate, Harold J. Fleming, known nationally as Father Fleming. A Catholic vicar, Fleming was officially the Deputy Mayor of Chicago, but was also the boss of the Chicago Democratic Party, the last bastion of the oldest political party in the world. The Democratic Party controlled all aspect of politics in the country's second largest city, and Fleming controlled all aspects of the Democratic Party. Internationally, he was known as a radical firebrand of the Catholic Church, and had many enemies in Avignon and beyond. His entry into the presidential race was surprising, as many remarked that he would be giving up power, but he insisted his campaign was "bring Christ back to America." To prove that he wasn't only appealing to Catholics, he had Alabama Senator Jubilee Carter, a Baptist, as his running mate.

However, Fleming was also unpopular in Nevada. He had quarreled with the local archdiocese, but more importantly he had quarreled with Las Vegas, the City of Sin. Nevada's new governor, Max Kaiser, was the owner of dozens of hotels, casinos, brothels, and the state's three professional sports teams. He was Las Vegas. The people of the state elected him to save them from their corrupt partisan politicians, pull them out of the recession, and tackle the problems created by people like Clayton and Desmond. He had massively taxed the Las Vegas business community to fund programs to restore the state, partly out of a genuine desire to do good, and partly to destroy his competitors. Fleming was feuding with this man for profiting from vice, and thus by extension was feuding with his whole state.

With three of the most hated politicians in Nevada now running against each other, many wanted Kaiser himself to enter. He declined, not wanting to be embarrassed by losing and only winning his state. Plus, he was enjoying his current job. Clayton and Desmond both tried to reach out to him to see if they could right their wrongs, but he rejected them. Knowing that despite the expected low turnout, the state would still be won by one of the candidates. Kaiser came up with the brilliant idea to tell them all to go fuck themselves by rallying Nevadans to their special ballot option: NONE OF THESE CANDIDATES. Already being proposed as a joke campaign by local activists, Kaiser jumped onboard and convinced all of Nevada's representatives and their two Senators, all of various parties, to join him. "Nevadans must stand up for ourselves and send a message that we will not be abused by Washington anymore," he declared. The campaigns weren't overly worried, even as polls began including NOTC as an option. It was a fun idea, but still unthinkable.

Then the unthinkable happened. "None of these candidates" had receive more votes than any candidate. Desmond had come in second, falling short by 1500 votes. Nevadans of all parties and affiliations rallied together to uphold their right to rejection and accordingly appointed a slate of electors for nobody. An automatic recount reaffirmed the result and the election went to the House.

Not so fast! "None of these candidates" isn't a legitimate option, Clayton and Desmond argued. Elections are contested between people, and votes for NOTC are the same as not voting. Desmond argued that all votes cast for NOTC had to be thrown out, while Clayton argued that NOTC was valid, but only for Nevada elections, not for national elections, as it was not an option in any other state or DC. Therefore, there should be a redo of the presidential election. Clayton v. Redding (Oscar Redding being the Secretary of State of Nevada) was fought in a lower court, where it was decided that Nevada had the right to have an option different from other states, as each state is allowed to appoint electors however they choose. Clayton's appeal was rejected from the Supreme Court. Desmond v. Redding challenged this ruling, arguing that Nevada could appoint electors how they wanted, but that NOTC was not a legitimate option as electoral votes had be given to a person. The Supreme Court rejected this 10-1 and upheld NOTC as a valid option. Thus, the results were finalized and the contingent election in Congress began.

In the House, there was a Collectivist majority, but they lacked control of enough state delegations to win the election. The other states had Good Morning majorities or no majorities. Most of these states went for Desmond, but Tennessee, Iowa, and New Mexico decided to join Nevada in voting for none of these candidates. Several ballots followed this trend, with more states from both sides eventually joining NOTC, to the point where NOTC had 23 states, Clayton had 14, and Desmond had 13. 3 more states breaking would give this unprecedented option a "victory." Seeing that it was lost, and that they were likely to win the Senate election, some Collectivists decided to throw their support to NOTC and finish the election. Legal experts on both sides agreed that it would be treated as if a president had simply vacated the office and the vice president had ascended.

The vice president was to be elected by the Senate from the top two options, meaning NOTC was not a choice here. In the Senate, there was a Collectivist plurality and an assortment of other parties and independents. Ultimately, Good Morning failed to unite the anti-Collectivist bloc and Malachi Wood was elected by his party and some independents. As the elected vice president, he would have become acting president under normal circumstances, but with NOTC "winning" the presidential election, he would directly ascend to being the actual president. However, before he could be sworn in, he was assassinated because that makes the story more chaotic. Actually, he was murdered by his mistress due to matters unrelated to the health of the body politic. Or Clayton had him killed out of vengeance. Or Doc Holliday's New Federalism boys did him in. He died. As such, at the end of President Caleb Doughtry's term, the Emergency Succession Act of 1986 was activated and former Vice President Tommy Ray Dixon was appointed Chair of the Presidential Transitional Authority by a majority vote of the whole Congress (272-245-18). Per the text of the 27th Amendment to the United States Constitution, a special election to fill the remainder of the term was scheduled for May 2017 and all candidates who stood in the 2016 election were barred.
 
ok first off, this is cursed.
but second off, I love the None of These Candidates option and it should already exist irl.
Yes, this is a real option they have in Nevada elections OTL! I wanted to demonstrate this and started doing an election with real people and circumstances before I realized it would be pretty hard to get it to "win" on such a big scale without setting everything up in a very different way.
 
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