USA Swings Left, Not Right

The past eight or so years in the United States has seen a swing to the right of the political spectrum, with some commenting that it's still a reaction against the 1960s and 1970s.

WI the United States becomes more liberal or Democratic in the late 1980s till now instead of Republican? The POD can be yours, but I suppose this could very well rule out Reagan and both Bush Senior and Junior.
 
The past eight or so years in the United States has seen a swing to the right of the political spectrum, with some commenting that it's still a reaction against the 1960s and 1970s.

WI the United States becomes more liberal or Democratic in the late 1980s till now instead of Republican? The POD can be yours, but I suppose this could very well rule out Reagan and both Bush Senior and Junior.

suggested POD: the Iran hostage crisis ends well for Carter.
 

Jasen777

Donor
I think the "past eight or so years" comment isn't correct. I'd argue that the shift to the right peaked in '94 or shortly after, and started to return to a more neutral position a few years after.
 
Probably ASBish... But what if 1968 happens earlier and is somewhat more successful, only to be supressed even more brutally than IOTL? Now we have Pinochets and Greek Junta-type regimes all over Europe... And all failing dismally in early 70's... Now we need some reason for USSR to fail ahead of schedule, to make the mess not just disgusting but not useful as "Our sons of a bitches" against USSR.

Well, if anybody seeing THAT would want right-wing anything in the US... Although I'
m not envying TTL Europeans...
 
the USA went right in 1968 and hasn't really gone left from that point on. it's hard to say what could knock the GOP out of power, they mess up all on their own but are still in power
 

Xen

Banned
Tricky, but not impossible, lets not run Tricky Dick in 1968.

1968: Hubert Humphrey's not RFK is shot and killed, Kennedy really is innocent in the sudden death of Humphrey's. The Vice President was seen as too closely connected to the policies of the Johnson administration, and was shot by a Vietnam veteran who had returned home a broken man.

RFK is nominated the Democratic candidate and goes on to beat George Romney in November (A Catholic-vs-A Mormon). The United States gets out of Vietnam in 1970, more than less the same way it did in OTL, with South Vietnam being swallowed up by North Vietnam in '73.

RFK is re-elected in '72 defeating John Rockefeller.

In 1976 the Democrats put up Vice President Terry Sanford while the Republicans run Ronald Reagan. Reagan wins ending the Democrats long hold on the White House. Unfortunately for Reagan many of the same problems that plagued Carter still plague him, and when the Iranian Hostage Crisis occurs, he leads the United States to war.

Still reeling from the bitter memories of Vietnam, the US is uncomfortable with the occupation of Iran. Reagan is renominated in 1980 but is defeated by Ted Kennedy in November. Ted Kennedy only serves three months as President before being shot by Mark David Chapman in Los Angeles (rather than killing John Lennon to get famous he shoots the President instead). Vice President Jimmy Carter is sworn into office and proves ineffective in dealing with the occupation of Iran, which ultimately mars his time in office.

in 1984 President Carter loses in a landslide to Bob Dole in one of the most boring campaigns in history. A moderate Republican, President Dole is careful not to rock the boat and wins a second term defeating Senator Al Gore in THE most boring campaign in history (America found its cure for insomnia).

Vice President George H.W. Bush takes the Republican nomination but loses to Senator Paul Tsongas in 1992. Tsongas dies in office in spring of 1996, Vice President Clinton takes the helm and wins his parties nomination for the election. Clinton wins in 1996 against Jack Kemp and Lamar Alexander in 2000.

In 2004 Republican challenger John McCain is elected President in a more liberal America.
 
Well the American Right-Wing Antics of the Early 70's to now resulted from the Extreme liberal turn in views during the Sixties. To really do what you want with the latest POD possible would require that the 60's are essentially a Carbon Clone of the 1950's.

Once you do that the 70's become the new 60's, the 80's become the new 70's, etc. etc. (Or at least cultural terms anyway...but what do i know?:D)
 
xen you have WAY too mean PODs. i'll give you Nixon not running (if you can come up with why) and RFK lives past that no way
 
There are two elements to consider:

1. The broader turn from Keynes arising out of the 70s stagflation (Nixon was pretty left domestically)

2. The cultural turmoil of the 70s fatally undermining the New Deal coalition

Leadership and some tweaks could ameliorate "2" but no part of the West I can think of was immune from "1." Still one could imagine a series of changes (no oil shock, for instance) that could lessen stagflation. This, combined with different Democratic leadership (and tweaks to the 60s turmoil) could have kept the American left stronger.
 
An intersting ATL. I was thinking of doing a similar ATL for the UK involving a turn further leftwards in the late 1970's/early 1980's instead of the Thatcherite rightwards move of OTL. This being based on Tony Benn's assertion in the early 1980's that Britain faced 3 choices 1/ Monetarism/Neo-Liberalism, as under Thatcher, 2/ Corporatism, or in other words the basic postwar UK set-up or 3/ Democratic Socialism, involving a fundamental realigment in the economic ownership of society, ie more nationalisation and employee control of major industries.

While the notion of democratic socialism is totally ASB for the USA, given the prevailing political culture, it is quite plausible (though unlikely) that the crisis of social democracy/New Deal liberalism in the 1970's could lead to a shift leftwards rather than rightwards as in OTL.
 
I would say that the collapse of the New Deal coalition had more to do with the backlash against the civil rights movement than anything else.

The rightward shift of the last eight years is due simply to 9/11. Have Gore in office in 2001, and we see a smaller but noticable shift to the left.
 
While the notion of democratic socialism is totally ASB for the USA, given the prevailing political culture, it is quite plausible (though unlikely) that the crisis of social democracy/New Deal liberalism in the 1970's could lead to a shift leftwards rather than rightwards as in OTL.

Isn't democractic socialism another form of Progressivism that was prevalent in the early 20th century particularly in the Wilson Administration?
 
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