Drew totally should have made it a Volga, at least it looks nice.
Rumsfeldia: Fear and Loathing in the Decade of Tears
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Maybe, but the Lada is more "proletarian".
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These are good ideas. The thrust of Soviet entertainment at this time that capitalism has been discredited by Rumsfeldism, and the subsequent mess it has made out of the United States, with the added propaganda theme that the Soviet way is the only way.
In Western Europe popular entertainment would trade on these themes as well, although with a less overtly pro-Communist message, and more a mixture of left-leaning and socialist themes. There may be much disagreement about what is the "right" way here - and criticism of the Soviet cultural heavy-hand - but all agree that Rumsfeldism (which has come to be a synonym for runaway, unregulated capitalism and indeed pro-market orientations in general) is not the way to go.
Yes, it is a long list.
Isaiah Berlin – a professor at Oxford College and a persistent critic of Rumsfeldism.
Chrystia Freeland – She probably moved from Harvard to Oxford as quickly as possible to get out of Rumsfeldia.
Conrad Black – A Canadian economic Rumsfeldite now having to walk back his earlier support of Rumsfeld’s economics. Could still move into publishing to launch a conservative voice alternate to the Rumsfeld view, though this would have a limited reach outside of the US.
Robin Leach – Annoying in any reality. Probably stayed in tabloid journalism.
Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi - This is hard to say, because very little is known about his early life. He might be a madrasa teacher at this point, or a draftee in the Iraqi Army who defected to the rebels in Saudi Arabia.
Phil Collins – Genesis pre-dates the POD so they would still have been active in the UK, but more marginalized in Rumsfeldia. Might have started a solo career in Europe, may have done some pieces critical of Rumsfeld’s America (solo and with Genesis).
Guy Ritchie – Cutting class and entertaining girls in his room.
bookmark95
Banned
In practice, Rumsfeldia wasn't "free-market", by which people can invest and distribute resources efficiently, it was "creating monopolies for Rumsfeld's corporate backers".
In Rumsfeldia, the laws were being used, not for the creation of an ideal system of regulation, but for helping Rumsfeld's corporate backers become owners of monopolies. The laws of regulation were only being enforced as long as it could benefit. Rumsfeld didn't hesitate to use the regulatory state against business and individuals he didn't like.
The problem these monopolies discovered is that shredding the regulatory state, they were robbing themselves of a reasonable forum in which they could negotiate freely. And when the Christian Values comes to power, this absence of regulation will bite them when the CV start using it to seize their assets.
I think the Libertarians would be more successful in creating an actual free market. My guess it that they would push laws that strengthen a person's control over their property. I think they would be aghast at things like asset forfeiture, or loss of property. They would also reduce the costs of starting a business. The testament to this success is the existence of Bozeman communes.
While corporatism may not be a thing, the success of Libertarians would also be a counter to Soviet state capitalism.
Would Isaiah Berlin change his mind on his emphasis on the necessity of "negative liberty" due to how its excessiveness in the US has lead to collapse and stagnation or argue that Rumsfeldia was in fact a form of "positive liberty" due to its usage of coercion to achieve the alleged utopia of negative liberty?
Also, I think Black would be turned off by the anti-Roosevelt stance of Rumsfeldia and its withdrawal from international commitments (i.e. NATO).
I think it would interesting to see how a cabinet meeting goes under Canada's grand coalition (sort of) government in a future update.
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Actually, we had this discussion before in this thread. Rumsfeld represents corporatocracy under the guise of a free-market ethic (which is actually very un-libertarian, even though many of its proponents are called libertarian and think of themselves as such). However, since he called it free-market the whole idea would acquire the taint (just as Soviet-style "socialism," especially during the Stalin years, gave the whole broad spectrum on the left a bad name). Many critics of capitalism wouldn't draw the distinction.
Can such a thing ever really exist, or is it more of a utopian ideal?
- Possibly in the later stages, but he would have embraced the opening-up of the "free market."
bookmark95
Banned
Yes, I get that free-markets will be discredited, but in areas that you described as being under Libertarian control, a bunch of communes emerged that could successfully distribute resources and resist the slimy tendrils of the Rumsfeld-CV coalition.
One the dust clears, these communes could provide an alternative to corporatism and MBA communism, since they emerged under a libertarian government.
One should consider the fact that the Libertarian communes follow free-market principles but are democratically-structured as opposed to the fundamentally hierarchical and authoritarian model of most businesses.
IMO, based on current OTL world trends, we may see something like a transition to the old late 19th and early 20th century ideals of Industrial Democracy and especially "Co-Determination" models for businesses to be obliged to maintain some level of noblesse oblige.
Last we heard he was still in exile in Gorky.
P.S. I wonder if the USSR creates "special economic zones" like OTL China. If they do, it would be an interesting question where they put them, considering the fact USSR doesn't have many ports. Places like Black Sea, Baltic republics and Sakhalin come to mind.
yes, the libertarian communes resemble a lot more the socialist ideal than the right-wing capitalist model.
Jennifer Government; The Quillan Games, Fritz Lang's Metropolis
All of which are works of fiction. Are you asking if they exist in this TL? (Metropolis pre-dates the POD)
He might be allowed to assume the role of "House Dissident"; being allowed to publish and speak openly as a way of showing a more "open" Soviet Union (mainly for foreign consumption), provided he doesn't challenge the primacy of the Communist Party. In fact he might be allowed to go abroad to speak, to provide some international view of the Soviet human face. (He might even be encouraged to stay abroad). His licence to speak his mind would not be extended so openly to lesser known dissidents. Ryzhkov has no place for a political Glasnost.
No, I merely wanted to reference sources of fiction that resemble the quasi-cyberpunk vision of Rumsfeldia much like you cited the fictional examples of Buzz Windrip and Jake Featherstone in another update.
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