Which means no reason to give up their proven political system.
Rumsfeldia: Fear and Loathing in the Decade of Tears
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Bookmark1995
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But again, it is likely that any future democracies that spring up will take lots of notes about the failure of the American political system ITTL. The fact that the leader of the free world was not immune to state decay will haunt the world for years to come.
That's western europe though. The US OTL hasn't even been willing to copy basic things like healthcare reform from them, nevermind political systems in this TL.
the lessons they'd learn is that strict discipline, ideological unity and a state for and of(but not by, because they'd vote for conservatives/rumsfeld types) the workers is the answer. after all, the west europeans are paying danegeld to the russians and the USSR is rising...
Bookmark1995
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Uh...
Soviet Russia is going OK ITTL because it abandoned ideology, while America ITTL collapsed because it took on two very destructive ideologies.
Not... quite...
Both Rumsfelds were big admirers of American exceptionalism, and the belief that free trade and the American businesses and military power were the path to true freedom. However, OTL Rumsfeld is just your garden variety neoconservative, meaning giving help to businesses but not to the degree of TTL Rumsfeld. Here, President Rumsfeld is practically an evil genius to the point of parody, going full cyberpunk in terms of letting businesses do what they want, and engaging in some very aggressive and very suspect foreign politics.
I mean, OTL Rummy had an ego, but not to this guy's degree.
Not similar at all. Gumboverse Rumsfeld is basically a parody of Reddit libertarianism-the kind that praises brutal dictators like Pinochet just because they left their precious free markets alone. OTL Rumsfeld was willing to tolerate Bush Jr.'s "compassionate conservatism". Gumboverse Rumsfeld would call Bush Jr. a filthy commie.
You before the nukes are broken out? Not without a military coup. And even then, a civil war is probably inevitable at this point, thought if the CVers are couped, there wouldn't be any use of nukes, maybe.
In-universe, Rumsfeld was radicalized by the Second Great Depression and the long period of political uncertainty during the Agnew, Gavin, and Wallace administrations. That sort of thing can change a person.
Speaking of, one thing that hasn't gotten a lot of attention lately is Vice President Katzenbach's attempt to oust Wallace back during FLG. How has that affected the decline of the US?
Bookmark1995
Banned
Also being the right-hand of an impeached executive would change a person greatly.
By this point, with nukes flying, states seceding, much of America being taken over by a brutal theocracy...that's a hard no! Most Americans TTL have witnessed a horrible tyranny consume their country, and their vaunted Constitution failed to prevent it from happening.
I wonder if the Council for National Policy came about in TTL. In OTL 1981, they became a Mecca for anybody who was anybody in the CV and remain quite influential (and quite secretive) today.
Bill Clinton and Al Gore would certainly get stronger credibility in the TTL 1990s due to the romanticism that comes from being literal outlaws under a tyranny...especially Clinton!
Bill Clinton and Al Gore would certainly get stronger credibility in the TTL 1990s due to the romanticism that comes from being literal outlaws under a tyranny...especially Clinton!
Bookmark1995
Banned
I watched this in high school as well.
But the truth is...we found it funny, at least at first, because of how over the top it seemed.
Remember, Rumsfeldia's fascism was cloaked in good ol'American patriotic swill and talks about freedom, and he didn't sound THAT different from most politicians. To many, he was the usual conservative, but with a bit more edge. By the time he showed his true colors, there was no easy way to dislodge him.
The issue is that Rummy's brand of fascism wore the mask of American identity, just as Hitler's ideology wore the mask of German identity.
Who knows what Rummy's propaganda machine cooked up.
They could either have portrayed him as a great warrior who was destroyed by a communist conspiracy led by Dwight Eisenhower, or they could also slander him as a Soviet agent.
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