Rumsfeldia: Fear and Loathing in the Decade of Tears
- Thread starter Drew
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It was put right on top of the flag. That's an odd bit of editing if it wasn't part of it.
I've been worried about the direction this timeline was going ever since Drew had Rumsfeld annex British Columbia, only to reverse it when some posters expressed skepticism. It felt like he was just making it up as he was going along.
I'm still enjoying the timeline, but I can't really say its a realistic one anymore.
I'm still enjoying the timeline, but I can't really say its a realistic one anymore.
Dr. Strangelove
Banned
People really underestimate the speed and extent things can go to shit in a country when the institutions in charge of keeping civilization in order are consistently eroded in the amount they have been for a decade.
Only five years ago Syria was just a run of the mill authoritarian state with no totalitarian psychopaths running sex slave markets.
In mid-July 1936 plenty of people in Spain were just going on with their lives, perhaps planning a holiday at the beach, unaware that in a few weeks they would be dead in a ditch somewhere, having been detained, tortured and shot by their own neighbours.
The America that has turned into this nightmare is not your America. It has been a hollow shell for at least a decade ITTL. America is first and foremost an idea, and that idea has been killed and dropped into a ditch by Rummy and his cronies during the 80's, with the acquiescence of most americans. Its values and everything she stands for have died well before 1988.
Only five years ago Syria was just a run of the mill authoritarian state with no totalitarian psychopaths running sex slave markets.
In mid-July 1936 plenty of people in Spain were just going on with their lives, perhaps planning a holiday at the beach, unaware that in a few weeks they would be dead in a ditch somewhere, having been detained, tortured and shot by their own neighbours.
The America that has turned into this nightmare is not your America. It has been a hollow shell for at least a decade ITTL. America is first and foremost an idea, and that idea has been killed and dropped into a ditch by Rummy and his cronies during the 80's, with the acquiescence of most americans. Its values and everything she stands for have died well before 1988.
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bookmark95
Banned
Remember, Drew pointed out that the people suffering under this nightmare scenario are the people who offered support to Rumsfeld and the CVs. The areas that successfully opposed Rumsfeldia (Texas, California, the Northeast, the Mountain West) are the areas that are actually free.
It's Middle America, that sought a return to an older time, and the Deep South, that are paying the price for Rummy and the CVs.
Dr. Strangelove
Banned
Middle America is not paying any price. It is just getting what it has signed for during the past decade.
Bingo, Middle America out of desperation clinged to Rumsfy like it was no tomorrow, after all it was the others that payed the biggest price for that.
What's to say, in the end you alwyas need to pay the piper...and boy he is not cheap.
I'm very curious how all the supporter of Rumsfy are faring now; the magnates, the politics, etc. etc.
Working for CV it's very difficult, too fanatics to create lasting alliance with non believers; running away with the money, doable but increasily difficult, with the fall of Rumsfy the card castle of the american economy will fall and much of the money will disappear...plus many will find that beyond USA border what they have had a much much less value due to the different political and economic situation.
Lost Freeway
Banned
I wonder where George Wallace is in all this. Did the theocrats put a bullet in his head, or is he resisting their tyranny the same way he resisted Rumsfeld?
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bookmark95
Banned
If this is really what Drew intended, there are several possibilities:
He was assassinated by theocrats, he has already succumbed to his poor health (he was already weakened by his stint in the presidency, and was uncomfortable talking about it), he's gone underground, or maybe he's running a de facto independent Alabama that is waging war against the CVs.
The final choice would be really awesome: George Wallace would be doing what he and his fellow Dixiecrats claimed to be doing for over a century: resisting a federal tyranny. Only now black and white men are united in the struggle.
In that case, there is another terrible possibility: that Montgomery was gassed, and Wallace didn't survive.
Deleted member 87099
If this is really what Drew intended, there are several possibilities:
He was assassinated by theocrats, he has already succumbed to his poor health (he was already weakened by his stint in the presidency, and was uncomfortable talking about it), he's gone underground, or maybe he's running a de facto independent Alabama that is waging war against the CVs.
The final choice would be really awesome: George Wallace would be doing what he and his fellow Dixiecrats claimed to be doing for over a century: resisting a federal tyranny. Only now black and white men are united in the struggle.
In that case, there is another terrible possibility: that Montgomery was gassed, and Wallace didn't survive.
You know that this TL is pure evil when we end up rooting for George Wallace.
I'm extremely suprised that the Cubans actually took Miami. Though Rummie was terrible, a good percentage of Miamians lived under Castro, so wouldn't think they would take that lying down. Then again, it did get nuked.
Gotta also wonder how much of dystopia Haiti is too, even compared to OTL.
. Then again, it did get nuked.Gotta also wonder how much of dystopia Haiti is too, even compared to OTL.
Lost Freeway
Banned
Somewhere near Robeson County, NC
January 25, 2016
Ronald Stuckey Jr. wiped the sweat from his brow as he pumped gasoline from the tank into his 1983 Lincoln. Fuel shipments to the area had ceased with the breakdown of civil order, making every drop precious.
The old clunker's radio was broadcasting a speech by Governor Jim Hunt. Governor Hunt had held office since 1988-the clause stipulating that governors had to wait four years after two consecutive terms had been abolished in 1991. Not that who was in charge in Raleigh mattered-the state government in Raleigh only controlled an area the size of San Marino. The rest was held by "sheriffs" as many of the warlords liked to call themselves.
This was the world Ronald had been born into. He had came into the world in 1992, the same year the "Great Teacher" and his toady the "Acting President" had fled to Israel, where the authoritarian Likud government had welcomed them thanks to the efforts of Ambassador John Hagee. Without the Christian Values to rally against, the various militias had turned on each other. Clinton, Carter, and Dellums had attempted to form a new government, but the extremists refused to acknowledge their authority. Dellums had fled back to California in October 1992 after surviving an assassination attempt by the Black Panthers, who accused him of being a "race traitor" for working with the white Southerners Clinton and Carter. Carter was killed in January 1993 when the church he was attending was bombed by a Christian Values militia. Clinton's fate remained unknown-he was last seen in December 1992 being shoved into a van by Klansmen.
Ever since then, the former Christian States of America had collapsed into what the outside world referred to as a "failed state." The militias scrambled to take control of as much territory as the could. Municipal governments were forced to submit themselves to warlords for protection. Those who didn't were simply steamrolled. The overwhelmed state governments either collapsed or saw their authority dwindle to a small area around the state capital. The rump United States in the Northeast briefly attempted to intervene, along with California and Texas, but threw their hands up in defeat when they realized just how fucked up the situation was.
If you were lucky, the warlord running your neck of the woods didn't care about your race, religion, or political leaning. Other times, you might get a bullet in your head for being black, white, Jewish, "bourgeois", or anything else the "sheriff" found offensive.
Ronald was lucky to even have a car. Most people in the former Christian States had to make do with literal horsepower. Life in general resembled the frontier in the 19th century, the only difference being that the "sheriffs" and their cronies carried assault rifles instead of lever-actions or muskets. The few people with modern communications technology were responsible for reporting on the state of the outside world. The Bozeman communes in the Rockies fared slightly better, being under the management of far saner people than the "sheriffs" to the east.
As he put the fuel hose back, Ronald saw a desiccated corpse hanging from a lamp post. He had a sign around his neck reading "I voted for Rumsfeld in '84."
January 25, 2016
Ronald Stuckey Jr. wiped the sweat from his brow as he pumped gasoline from the tank into his 1983 Lincoln. Fuel shipments to the area had ceased with the breakdown of civil order, making every drop precious.
The old clunker's radio was broadcasting a speech by Governor Jim Hunt. Governor Hunt had held office since 1988-the clause stipulating that governors had to wait four years after two consecutive terms had been abolished in 1991. Not that who was in charge in Raleigh mattered-the state government in Raleigh only controlled an area the size of San Marino. The rest was held by "sheriffs" as many of the warlords liked to call themselves.
This was the world Ronald had been born into. He had came into the world in 1992, the same year the "Great Teacher" and his toady the "Acting President" had fled to Israel, where the authoritarian Likud government had welcomed them thanks to the efforts of Ambassador John Hagee. Without the Christian Values to rally against, the various militias had turned on each other. Clinton, Carter, and Dellums had attempted to form a new government, but the extremists refused to acknowledge their authority. Dellums had fled back to California in October 1992 after surviving an assassination attempt by the Black Panthers, who accused him of being a "race traitor" for working with the white Southerners Clinton and Carter. Carter was killed in January 1993 when the church he was attending was bombed by a Christian Values militia. Clinton's fate remained unknown-he was last seen in December 1992 being shoved into a van by Klansmen.
Ever since then, the former Christian States of America had collapsed into what the outside world referred to as a "failed state." The militias scrambled to take control of as much territory as the could. Municipal governments were forced to submit themselves to warlords for protection. Those who didn't were simply steamrolled. The overwhelmed state governments either collapsed or saw their authority dwindle to a small area around the state capital. The rump United States in the Northeast briefly attempted to intervene, along with California and Texas, but threw their hands up in defeat when they realized just how fucked up the situation was.
If you were lucky, the warlord running your neck of the woods didn't care about your race, religion, or political leaning. Other times, you might get a bullet in your head for being black, white, Jewish, "bourgeois", or anything else the "sheriff" found offensive.
Ronald was lucky to even have a car. Most people in the former Christian States had to make do with literal horsepower. Life in general resembled the frontier in the 19th century, the only difference being that the "sheriffs" and their cronies carried assault rifles instead of lever-actions or muskets. The few people with modern communications technology were responsible for reporting on the state of the outside world. The Bozeman communes in the Rockies fared slightly better, being under the management of far saner people than the "sheriffs" to the east.
As he put the fuel hose back, Ronald saw a desiccated corpse hanging from a lamp post. He had a sign around his neck reading "I voted for Rumsfeld in '84."
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Interesting description of "Somalia America". To quote Dith Pran from The Killing Fields, " This is the Year Zero and nothing has gone before."
It definitely is Year Zero for America. Ironic, given that ITTL Cambodia avoids the Khmer Rouge.
bookmark95
Banned
Yeah, it would be interesting if Sydney Schanberg were to right about his experiences in the former CSA.
While the CSA would probably collapse around 1991, and the vacuum left behind would last up until the late 90s.
Kinnock and Mitterrand are both on the verge of intervening in the American Civil War, and I doubt they would be willing to allow this anarchy to stand.
I also imagine that Japan may take advantage of this whole situation to create a more benevolent version of the "Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere" or as I call it "Tojo's Revenge". I can imagine the Japanese leadership encouraging bigger families by encouraging settlement in the Bozeman Communes zone of the former United States. Now it is their turn to bring civilization to a new world. I also can see Eastern religions undergoing a revival. Some Japanese and East Asians in general will interpret the US' fate as karmic justice for Hiroshima and Nagasaki( not to mention all the CIA coups). I cannot help to recall what Kiang Liu said about the Lesser Mao:" He was not the savior of China but a curse from the gods brought down on us for some arrogance or folly."
. I also can see Eastern religions undergoing a revival. Some Japanese and East Asians in general will interpret the US' fate as karmic justice for Hiroshima and Nagasaki( not to mention all the CIA coups). I cannot help to recall what Kiang Liu said about the Lesser Mao:" He was not the savior of China but a curse from the gods brought down on us for some arrogance or folly."- Status