Challenge: Fix 1970s-Today, for the United States

IIRC, Connally wanted to invade Saudi Arabia's Eastern Province to get control of the oil fields after the embargo. Not to mention he went on a corruption trial in 1975. He could win in '76 if he takes advantage of the Axe Murder Incident to make Korean War Phase II TTL's version of the Gulf War...

  • Ideally, Humphrey wins in '68. Nixon and Connally were horrible at economic policy. But Humphrey '68 is one of the least done PODs even though it was one of the most likely to happen.
  • No Watergate, so Vietnam is a win.
  • Nixon wasn't very tough on the Big Three car companies, put tougher fuel and performance regulations so they keep turning out good cars
  • Move to nuclear power like France did instead of sticking to oil
  • Renew infrastructure, make HSR
  • Universal healthcare! Whether Nixon or a Democrat does it doesn't really matter
  • No NAFTA or the like. The '70s were when unions gained lots of power, but Carter and Reagan were against them. If you can get Taft-Hartley gone and update the union laws from the '40s, then the US is probably like Germany today: Strong unions, strong manufacturing, strong blue-collar economy.
  • Get a Dem in '76 who is as liberal as the Congress, or have a Republican win in '76, so no Reagan '80. Avoid Reagan at all costs.

I think your bullet points are entirely right. Actually, any one of these by itself would probably help a great deal.

One thing that's much harder to put a finger on is how to prevent the changes in the societal mindset that, essentially, led most Americans to conclude that the steps that led to the present plutocratic order were justifiable. Deregulation and low taxes are things people voted for, after all, and even now that those policies have had catastrophic effects they remain popular as abstract ideas. So what POD(s) would prevent the American populace from making the mistakes it has made since ~1970?
 
I think your bullet points are entirely right. Actually, any one of these by itself would probably help a great deal.

One thing that's much harder to put a finger on is how to prevent the changes in the societal mindset that, essentially, led most Americans to conclude that the steps that led to the present plutocratic order were justifiable. Deregulation and low taxes are things people voted for, after all, and even now that those policies have had catastrophic effects they remain popular as abstract ideas. So what POD(s) would prevent the American populace from making the mistakes it has made since ~1970?

Americans lost their trust in government. To butterfly that away you'll need to stop at least two out of three events; JFK assassination, Watergate, and Vietnam as a quagmire/lose.
 
Neoliberalism happened.

David Harvey wrote a good history of it, fittingly titled "a brief history of neoliberalism." he's got a lecture which goes over the main points which can be watched here
 
Renew infrastructure, make HSR
High Speed Rail, has and always will be a gigantic white elephant at the best of times, when the real rail infrastructure spending has to be made in commuter/mass transit lines and freight, be it direct or supporting infrastructure. HSR sounds good in light minded political speeches, but when actually examined, most of the proposals are either pure pork barrelling exercises or delightfully misguided adventures in spending vast sums of money with little return.
 
Perhaps not, but Kennedy very truthfully was, by 1963, a crusader for Black Civil Rights, and truly believed they must have their Civil Rights and must be given true equality as soon as possible, and that what was going on was absolute and inexcusable injustice.


More importantly, the 1964 elections gave a big boost to the Democrats' hold on Congress, with most of the newcomers being liberals. So unless Goldwater does a lot better against JFK than he did against LBJ (unlikely) things stay much as OTL.
 
I think your bullet points are entirely right. Actually, any one of these by itself would probably help a great deal.

One thing that's much harder to put a finger on is how to prevent the changes in the societal mindset that, essentially, led most Americans to conclude that the steps that led to the present plutocratic order were justifiable. Deregulation and low taxes are things people voted for, after all, and even now that those policies have had catastrophic effects they remain popular as abstract ideas. So what POD(s) would prevent the American populace from making the mistakes it has made since ~1970?

We didn't have any meaningful deregulation. The federal register has massively expanded every year since the 1970s on. If anything that's probably a contributor to the large concentration of wealth we've seen in this country, since the connected few could get waivers or bail outs. So it's harder to start a business and compete with the established. Also, taxes for a lot of people increased under Reagan because of the payroll and gas tax hikes. Of course, his Presidency and O'Neill's whole tenure were basically the point where we jumped the shark in terms of our debt situation.

High Speed Rail, has and always will be a gigantic white elephant at the best of times, when the real rail infrastructure spending has to be made in commuter/mass transit lines and freight, be it direct or supporting infrastructure. HSR sounds good in light minded political speeches, but when actually examined, most of the proposals are either pure pork barrelling exercises or delightfully misguided adventures in spending vast sums of money with little return.

Plus there's just a general lack of demand. I love riding on trains personally, but it's clearly not financially viable for most of the country. Unless maybe we instituted substantial gas tax and other incentives, but that would be politically unpopular and a drain on our economy.

Now back to OP's point: I'm not sure you could really salvage the country by the 1970s. Our problems are complex and extend earlier than that even if a lot of things like wage stagnation (yes, even taking into account rising "health benefits"), inflation, the debt, loss of social cohesion, loss of social capital, the beginning of our migrant crisis, the drug war (putting aside Carter), etc. all becoming noticeably worse. McGovern winning could produce at least a slightly better outcome than OTL, but I see his presidency being a disaster too - although mostly for reasons outside of his control like our inevitable humiliation in Vietnam, OPEC and the general unsustainable nature of our economy by that point.
 
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NothingNow

Banned
Plus there's just a general lack of demand. I love riding on trains personally, but it's clearly not financially viable for most of the country. Unless maybe we instituted substantial gas tax and other incentives, but that would be politically unpopular and a drain on our economy.

Actually, the planned HSR line down here would have made back the expense within the decade of it's opening and turned a profit the year after, and had excellent ridership. If the same happened in the north east corridor, you'd see much of the same effect. It's more convenient than flying and faster than driving if you're going somewhere. Of course, it's poltically untenable because that means Newport News or Pascagoula can't build another Destroyer, or because some Bumfuck, Alabama can't cut their taxes this year for the 30th straight year in a row.

Indeed if there is any problem with the US today, the blame lies almost entirely with the Baby Boomers, and not their parents. Engineer a long and hard recession starting in say 1970, caused by a freak series of Category 5 hurricane fucking over the Texan and Lousiana Gulf coast as OPEC decides to raise prices and cut production, and you'll either fix everything and forge the nation anew, preventing the worst of the rot, or watch as the US crumbles piece by piece.
 
I think the JFK assassination is where things began to spiral out of control. You can certainly point to many things prior to that and say they contributed, but clearly I think 11/22/63 was the day things began to take a turn for the worst.

I think with Kennedy in office Vietnam wouldn't have been nearly what it was. I don't buy this idea that he wouldn't have sent more troops, but he wouldn't have let it go as far as it did without seriously re-evaluating it the way his brother did in the OTL.

I don't know if Nixon still wins in '68, but I do think Bobby Kennedy ends up in the White House in either '72 or '76 regardless. Without his coming out so hard against Vietnam he wouldn't have been labeled as the 'anti-war' candidate and could have gained a broader support base and without Vietnam/Watergate would almost certainly be in a better position to bridge many of the divides the country was facing at the time.

I think Ronald Reagan runs earlier, likely against RFK, and likely loses in a close race, although that'd depend on the year of the election and how things played out with the energy crisis and hostages if they even happen in this timeline.

I think a big part of where we started losing our way a bit goes back to what Jimmy Carter spoke about in his 'pep talk' to the nation. I think much of this attitude was encouraged by Reaganomics in the 80's and has since become commonplace. I think a more moderate direction for the country in the 70's and 80's would do wonders, frankly. I hate to pick on the republicans here, but during this period of negative change in the 70's & 80's we had just one democratic term. I think more balance politically would have been a big help rather than taking the rather sharp turn to the right we took with Reagan in the 80's in terms of deregulation, tax cuts, and continued spending.

And obviously you have to bring 9/11 into the discussion in more modern times. Of course, the previous changes could change the discussion altogether.

I also think one thing that often goes overlooked is the role the media has played in this. Something changed in the media from the 60's up through the 70's, 80's, 90's, and into today. The public - and public officials - should have held them more accountable and demanded a higher standard YEARS ago, as early as their coverage of Vietnam/Watergate.

Basically:

- JFK survives
- Avoid Johnson/Nixon administrations, thereby avoiding Vietnam/Watergate
- RFK as POTUS in the 70's
- Public demands higher standards/integrity from media
- No Reaganomics in the 80's, more moderate politics/economics
- Beginning of serious alternative energy R&D as early as the 80's
- Increased infastructure development during the 90's
- No 9/11 = no Iraq/Afghan wars; higher taxes = smaller, if any deficit
- Same regulation levels from 60's/70's = no (or milder) recession
- Less extreme politics today (tea party/OWS), more moderate, intelligent national debate
 
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