Recent content by Sporian

  1. AHC: Plurality of American Indians in the Americas

    Something else that should be noted in this discussion: In OTL, due to the rapid destabilization of European settler-colonialism, the Great Plains or other associated peoples never achieved a stable societal structure that included the horse. If the horse was introduced earlier and then somehow...
  2. Miscellaneous <1900 (Alternate) History Thread

    I'd like some advice for writing a timeline, potentially! I've ended up learning a lot about antiheretical efforts in the 13th century, including things like the Albigensian Crusade, etc and thought it would be very interesting to do a timeline about a much more incompetent / hardline pope...
  3. Special elections if Booth was (completely) successful

    I do think that a tragedy as severe of this would lead to some level of a political reckoning for the concept of a strong presidency, and I think the sort of surge of support toward federal oversight/intervention (exemplified in the 14th amendment, that great godsend for Federal jurisdiction)...
  4. WI: Franciscans/Humiliati as heretics, worse response to heresy by Innocent III

    Pope Innocent III began the long process of countering dozens of new alternative faith movements that were taking control of Western Europe alongside increasing literacy and new urban classes, from the Waldensians. Though the Albigensian Crusade was the most prominent example of this, the most...
  5. AHC: Aragon/Iberia as one of the "birthplaces of democracy"

    At the beginning of the 12th and 13th centuries, the Crown of Aragon, with their many different jursidictions, began developing an intriguing set of pre-parliamentary institutions, much like the things that became the English/British Parliament. Kings were judged on their oratory skills as they...
  6. Sucesors to Lenin sans Stalin or Trotsky?

    Maybe with a filthy, public battle between prominent leaders like Trotsky and Stalin, there's space for the Soviet system to become more (ironically) collectively determined? I imagine a world where the Lenin succession is incredibly contested and full of people who are kinda prominent, but not...
  7. Map Thread XX

    Glad that this map will expose people to my favorite part of Missoula; the little part of the city where the roads are at a 45 degree angle from every other street for no reason
  8. The Pale Horse: The Northwest Montana Insurgency and its Aftermath (1987-2002)

    It's very hard to explain, but this feels like a uniquely American form of political suppression and self-justification. There's something about pathologizing it, making it clinical and medical, that makes this feel unique and distinctly in-character. Truly excellent writing.
  9. Could Taft Have Won in 1952?

    Good point, I forgot how quickly his cancer got him. If he got the nomination, he'd likely have to go for someone more liberal at the bottom, meaning almost nothing would matter. It's a very sad existence- a powerful senator deemed to be the most irrelevant president of the 20th century.
  10. Could Taft Have Won in 1952?

    This makes an interesting conundrum; a conservative in the executive with not a lot of support in Congress, but a need to pass budgets still. Taft would certainly do what he can do in the Executive Branch to cut costs and welfare programs, but congress would be a lot more hesitant... This might...
  11. 2010 Midterms for a McCain Presidency

    I really don't see that, with: - A stronger recession, prolonged already by a lack of government action - Cut spending on infrastructure - Military involvement in the middle east (reminder that McCain is a hawk and will likely use force to solve most problems in middle east) But if he does...
  12. 2010 Midterms for a McCain Presidency

    But consider this- Obama will now have a full term and a third in the senate before the next election, where it's very likely his pragmatism will get in the way of his idealistic rhetoric. He'll continue to sponsor and vote for bills that he knows the Dems and McCain will approve, while Feingold...
  13. 2010 Midterms for a McCain Presidency

    I don't know much about his personality, but with a crumbling economy continually made worse with free-market hands-off federal management would make me think Feingold could clinch it with what would look most like a Newer Deal.
  14. 2010 Midterms for a McCain Presidency

    I think in a world where Obama loses in 2008 and Feingold keeps his seat in 2010, we see a Feingold candidacy much like a Sanders candidacy in 2012. Perhaps it's even like Clinton-Sanders, with a returning Obama faces a more populist, outside force like Feingold. It would be a hell of a primary.
  15. The Iron Eagle: An Adolf Hitler Presidency

    I'm a proud Montana resident. Rankin has actually become a bit of an antifascist icon in the area for her defeat of Thorkelson
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