The Democrats have Congressional majorities and maintain them through Romney's reelection, but if Reform votes entirely against their agenda, they aren't particularly large majorities. Reform certainly has the presence to make its issues felt when they stick together as a caucus.
2016: Two Americas, First as Tragedy
The 2012 election had left the Reform Party at an unexpected crossroads. Warren’s performance had been strong, exceeding the baseline set by Ventura despite an incumbent president and a competent Democratic candidate. Moreover, the emerging Reform caucus in...
It's quite a lot of votes! Had the Democrats nominated a real shitshow of a candidate (Edwards comes to mind), it's quite plausible that Warren could have boxed them out and maybe even won. And the fact that a third-party candidate running on a protectionist, economic populist platform won a...
2012: The Apex
While Jesse Ventura’s 2008 run had demonstrated that the Reform Party was still alive and kicking, it hadn’t demonstrated that the party could win a national election. Some unsympathetic observers declared that Reform was a dead party walking, and there were reasons to think this...
2008: Jesse's Last Stand
Aside from the Global Warming Reduction Acts, the 2004 Buenos Aires Climate Agreement, and the 2005 Montreal Accord–finalizing the long Oslo process and giving the Palestinian people a state–Gore’s most significant legacy was likely the appointment of Barack Obama as...
I assume that an aqueduct to ensure Ajaccio has sufficient water is going to be a medium-term priority for Corsica. A strong and growing port city can be an economic engine that makes the rest of the country go.
The mention of Lomellino's popularity among the Genoese masses and the staggering degree of control he has over the Genoese military makes me think that the stalemate perhaps ends due to the collapse of Genoa's ability to fight, due to internal political turmoil. One can imagine Lomellino's...
This (specifically that while raw greens aren't going to be as common, I'd bet cooked greens are) makes me think about something we've seen hinted at but haven't gotten a full chapter on: how African-American "soul food" in particular and American Southern folk cuisines in general stand in...
If we're looking for specifically American symbology that would also shed links to the ancien regime, I can imagine a flag that's red with Liberty's torch on it. Flags like the Abolitionist Stars and Stripes (20 stars, dropping the slave states) could also make a comeback--I can imagine that...
Unrelated to food, but it feels very likely that "Solidarity Forever" will be the national anthem here. It was originally a Wobblie song, it's sung to the same tune as "Battle Hymn of the Republic," and "for the union makes us strong" is a nice patriotic and socialist double entendre.
The way the economy is structured, through worker self-management and decentralized planning, is definitely reminiscent of 60s and 70s Yugoslavia. For a country with more natural endowments that is less war-torn and reliant on a single charismatic authoritarian leader to hold things together, it...
2004: Left, Right, and Center
The world as Americans knew it came to an end on September 11th, 2001: The twin towers of the World Trade Center collapsed, the Pentagon burned, and the US Capitol’s dome shattered as airliners hijacked by al-Qaeda extremists struck near-simultaneously. With...
Threadmarks: The 2000 Election: From One Billionaire To The Next
The 2000 Election: From One Billionaire To The Next
In the summer of 1999, the Reform Party found itself in an awkward position. Ross Perot had made it clear to party leadership that he would not run again. 1996's efforts to draft another prominent candidate had failed, and the pool of viable...