AHC: best possible 1990s and 2000s

The challenge, with a POD after 1975 or later, is to create the best possible 1990s and 2000s. I've seen quite a few Worst possible challenges so I thought I'd invert it.
 
Wait, you're giving us as early as 1975 to make this happen? I'd say that's pretty generous. I suppose the obvious place to start (given the makeup of this board) is to suggest Ford eeks out a victory in 76, giving the US a Democratic President in the 1980's. That would go a long way toward making the 90's and aughts more liberal, anyway.

If you want to pose a greater challenge and delay the PoD, I'd go with a PoD where Zhao Ziyang's policies of liberalization and democratization are more successful (so, at the very least, Tiananmen Square does not go as OTL); in the US, meanwhile, Democrats do slightly better in 1990 and 92, giving us a more successful first two years for President Clinton (including comprehensive HCR). To start.
 
I will just do the best 2000s. Gore is elected President of the United States in 2000. The 9/11 attacks are foiled by US forces and Osama Bin Laden is killed in Afghanistan by US special forces in a police action and not a war. Energy prices do not increase around the world either.

The US economy thrives for years to come under the Clinton tax policy and the Federal surplus continues to increase. More humanitarian efforts are given in areas where it is needed such as Sudan and China.
 
Find a way to deal with the Middle East easily and quickly (which is highly improbable) and everything else falls into place.
 
Maybe we should think about problems in the 90s then so we know what to fix.

Yugoslavia, Somalia, and Rwanda were embroiled in war
The US was attacked several times by al-Qaeda
Race riots in LA
Cults and crazies in Waco, Colorado, and OKC
Japan's and Russia's economies were faltering
US Congress was becoming more dysfunctional
Israel and Palestine came really close to peace but then fell apart after that assassination
Economic policies of the Clinton administration and Congress laid the groundwork for the financial crisis later on

That's all I can think of off the top of my head. Sorry that it's a bit US-centric. Any other big items I missed (there's probably a few)?
 
Wait, you're giving us as early as 1975 to make this happen? I'd say that's pretty generous. I suppose the obvious place to start (given the makeup of this board) is to suggest Ford eeks out a victory in 76, giving the US a Democratic President in the 1980's. That would go a long way toward making the 90's and aughts more liberal, anyway.
I second this one. Both Ford and Carter had the exact same goals of turning back the Panama Canal Zone, and its political baggage. Neither would have been able to turn back the Iran crisis or petroleum-based inflation of the late seventies. Both were considered the weakest presidents of the last half century. So, with double-digit inflation, the opposite party takes it in 1980.

A Democrat becomes president in 1980 and when inflation comes to a grinding halt a few years later (as a result of market changes in petroleum and real estate), is guaranteed re-election in 1984. Without names, let's only say there is no supply-side Reaganomics and the economy moves without it.

The greatest benefit is that nobody raises the issue that the government is bad or evil.
 

tenthring

Banned
Honestly, if you offered anyone in 1975 the actual history we've had they would take it. This doesn't make it ideal, but given butterfly risk I might not do anything to change it with a time machine.
 
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Beginning in the mid 1970s the Shah begins treatment for cancer and starts a program of modernisation in the economy. As a result he manages to avoid the unrest of the late 1970s, preventing the revolution of 1979.

Upon arriving in the White house, president Carter decided to focus on inflation head on, appointing Vogel in 1977 rather than 1979. This combined with no iranian oil crises means that Inflation drops in the late 1970s. This combined with the success of the Camp David Accord allows Carter to Defeat Reagan in a close election.
Carters second term sees a period of economic recovery. Carter's energy policy sees the Untied States as a world leader of Solar energy and alternative energy. The Early 1980s sees a program of investment in Mass Transit and High speed Rail in the 1980s. Meanwhile there is a steady program of deregulation, combined with a small tax cut as part of the early 80s job program, dropping the top rate from 70 % to 65 %.

The Passage of the ERA in 1983 and a Gun Control bill, following the near assassination of Carter by John Hinckley in 1981, see a new period of liberalism in the United States. In 1983 Carter managed to achieve successful healthcare reform, working with Ted Kennedy. Carter also passed a program to successfully deal with aids in the early 80s, resulting in the containment of the disease by the early 1990s.

With the success Of President Carter, Walter Mondale is elected in 1984, defeating former Reagan running mate George H.W. Bush. Mondale oversees a period of economic prosperity in the 1980s. Investments in new technology allowed the US to proposer while Urban America experienced a period of revival due to the economy and federal programs. The Cold War begins to cool during this period with the economic woes of the USSR worsening, combined with the War in Afghanistan. Mondale was able to defeat the republican ticket of Dole/Robertson in 1988, which was hurt by the Religious conservatism of the platform. Mondale's second term saw the collapse of the USSR Boosting Mondale's popularity. During this period the Untied States supported the transition of several nations Including Afghanistan, with Ambassador Charlie Wilson gaining millions of dollars for education and investment in the country. Meanwhile the Mondale Administration put pressure on China following the crackdown of 1989, resulting in a series of sanctions, which ultimately led to the Liberalisation of the early 2000s. However Democratic party fatigue and the economic slowdown results in the Republicans regain the white house in 1993.


The Martin Administration oversaw a period of economic de-regulation and entitlement reform. However the Administrations attempts at finance reform were stalled, pushing only a watered down version of de-regulation for Wall Street. The Economic boom of the 1990s continued, while president Martin Oversaw a re-aligemnt of the GOP to the centre, abandoning the Culture war politics which hurt the GOP in 1988.

Martin was an active president in the field of foreign affairs. The US deployed troops into Yugoslavia in the 1990s and Rwanda in 1994. The Iraq regime, weakened by the collapse of the USSR,began to disintegrate with Kurdish resistance fighters in the North weakening the regime. In 1995 the Shah of Iran, Reza Pahlavi, declared War on iras, following terror attacks on targets in Iran, including the US embassy. America provided military support, and Saddam was toppled with weeks. The threat of Terrorism soon emerged in the late 1990s, following attacks on Russia and Iran by the Terror group Al-quida. Initially supported by the Taliban, the Afghan government expelled him in the mid 1990s. After seeking refuge in Baghdad, and participating in the attacks of 1995, He fled to Sudan. In Sudan he was eliminated by A US task force, working with the Iranians. However Martins real achievements during tis period was the successful peace accord between Israel and Palestine, signed in 1999. These successes enabled Vice President Lamar Alexander to ascend to the Presidency in 2001.

Gerald R Ford/Nelson Rockefeller 1974-1977
Jimmy Carter/Walter Mondale 1977-1985
Walter Mondale/Elizabeth Holtzman 1985-1993
Lynn Martin/Lamar Alexander 1993-2001
 
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