I was wondering how people think US politics would pan out following a successful Confederate secession. I'm thinking a scenario were the Union is more humiliated than defeated, basically a TL-191 event, with a series of shocking Northern defeats as Lee runs roughshod over the border states, possible Washington is cut off or captured and finally the obligatory European mediation.
Now, there's been a million threads on Johnny Red pulling through but I'm intrgued how it would effect US politics.
You have the Democrats now bereft of their heartlands and painted by partisans as Confederate sympathisers, while the Republicans have in the first term in power overseen the dismemberment of the United States - would either party survive?
I believe Lincoln would be made a scapegoat but I also think the Republicans would split between those trying to assert themselves as moderates and dissenters of Lincoln's warmongering and the radicals like Fremont who will no doubt be keen to keep pressure on the Confederates.
The Democrats have the problem that the enemy's victorious government is made up of their comrades, however I think a lot of spin and rebranding could see many escape political suicide. I imagine an alliance of anti-war Democrats, former Constitutional Unionists and moderate Republicans forming into a centrist, "mostly harmless" grouping dedicated to getting the nation back on its feet and ignoring all that nasty business at Manassas and Camp Hill.
So any opinions? Do you think a Turtledove style revanche could appear, a Red Lincoln? How about Populism, without the alliance of praire smallholders and the white cotton farmers of the South, they lose alot of strength
Now, there's been a million threads on Johnny Red pulling through but I'm intrgued how it would effect US politics.
You have the Democrats now bereft of their heartlands and painted by partisans as Confederate sympathisers, while the Republicans have in the first term in power overseen the dismemberment of the United States - would either party survive?
I believe Lincoln would be made a scapegoat but I also think the Republicans would split between those trying to assert themselves as moderates and dissenters of Lincoln's warmongering and the radicals like Fremont who will no doubt be keen to keep pressure on the Confederates.
The Democrats have the problem that the enemy's victorious government is made up of their comrades, however I think a lot of spin and rebranding could see many escape political suicide. I imagine an alliance of anti-war Democrats, former Constitutional Unionists and moderate Republicans forming into a centrist, "mostly harmless" grouping dedicated to getting the nation back on its feet and ignoring all that nasty business at Manassas and Camp Hill.
So any opinions? Do you think a Turtledove style revanche could appear, a Red Lincoln? How about Populism, without the alliance of praire smallholders and the white cotton farmers of the South, they lose alot of strength