Posted on 09/29/2014 1:04:58 PM PDT by oblomov
Altered Pasts: Counterfactuals in History by Richard J. Evans (Brandeis University Press)
As everyone knows, the supreme court ruled six–three for Al Gore in the great dispute over the Florida recount in 2000. As everyone also knows, Gore emerged as the ultimate victor in that recount, and with his poetic and moving inauguration address he managed to unify a badly divided nation. For a long period, the Gore years continued the peace and prosperity established under President Clinton, punctuated by the successful prevention of an apparent terrorist plot in 2001, by the enactment of health care reform in 2003 (mocked by critics as GoreCare), and by aggressive steps to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, culminating in the historic Copenhagen Protocol, ratified by the U.S. Senate in 2005.
It was not until the nation’s financial collapse, beginning in 2007, that Gore’s presidency started to unravel. Senator John McCain, a longtime critic of Gore’s “failure to respect free markets,” succeeded in convincing the American public that the collapse was partly a product of the Democratic Party’s “regulatory overreach,” and he was able to trounce Senator Joseph Biden in the 2008 election. Now in his second term, McCain has presided over a successful recovery (with unemployment levels down to 8 percent from their high of 13 percent in 2010). But his own legislative agenda, including repeal of GoreCare and immigration reform, has been stymied by what McCain calls the “do-nothing Senate,”
which has a slim Democratic majority. Many insiders think that the Democratic nominee in 2016 will be Minnesota Senator Amy Klobuchar. According to University of Chicago law professor Barack Obama, a specialist on election law, “Klobuchar is perfectly positioned to win her party’s nomination—and to triumph in the general election as well. She’s audacious.”
(Excerpt) Read more at newrepublic.com ...
ff
How about:
Killing John Wilkes Booth before he assassinated Lincoln.
And
Killing Joe Kennedy (the father) before he started doing his thing.
What a HUGELY better country this would be.
People just don't get it or listen to what the candidates say. Gore or Bush? A nickle or five pennies? McCain and Obama? A dime or ten pennies? Different names same values same worth. When the 2008 primaries were over it was a disaster fixing to come no matter who won.
Now if a person wants to think about what may have beens there are far more real scenarios to consider. A 1980 United States where a bipartisan group of political activist and religious leaders drew the nations attention back toward GOD or a turning away from where we were headed. It was a reprieve from damage done in the 1960's and 70's.
The ideas of right and wrong choices meaning true right from wrong not just lesser of evils is one which has huge historical significance and proofs of what does happen. Because of the choices we started making in the 1990's and the increased national trend of abandonment of morality we have had bad choice A or bad choice B for leaders. It's called Judgment and we are in one this hour as a nation.
What if America had listened? Two black men were trying to win the White House. One pushed extremes such as Marxism, Islam, Communism, & Socialism. The other pushed personal responsibility, national morality, a Constitutional abidance limiting the federal government. There was a choice. Many forget about it. The nation instead chose to make it about two bad choices ignoring others which would have brought true different outcomes.
I find it heart breaking the poison Obama pushed was acceptable while ones who had been in the trenches so to speak trying to bring this nation back were scoffed at. Alan Keyes the other black man made a few blunders in his campaign. But a moral man as we know in history over comes many hurdles. I do not think we would be in one fifth of the mess had Keyes or similar been elected as POTUS. His election would have reflected a change in national heart is why I say that.
Some person are ordained of GOD to be great and a blessing to nations and their people. Some are quite the opposite. They are chosen as a judgment against us as a nation because wisdom was rejected and evil chosen instead and that as a nation is what we need to wake up and realize fast.
Playing what could have happened with those who are basically peas in a pod gives basically the same outcomes.
Killing Ole Joe wasn’t necessary. All that was needed to have stopped JFK would’ve been Henry Cabot Lodge, Jr. being a Conservative instead of a liberal. JFK ran to Lodge’s right in the 1952 Senate race (Ole Joe was actively soliciting Sen. Joe McCarthy’s support for his son over Lodge).
As for Lincoln, had he not been killed, he would’ve had to deal with the ugly realities of Reconstruction, and it would’ve greatly diminished his stature. JFK’s assassination elevated a creepy and corrupt sexual predator to Lincolnesque proportions. The worst thing that ever happened in the ‘60s. He should’ve been exposed and defeated in the 1964 elections to Goldwater.
As much as I liked Alan Keyes, he really should’ve moved to a state he could win a Senate race in (Maryland and Illinois were not it) and proved his bonafides there to show he was ready for the Presidency (a la Ted Cruz).
Unfortunately, the seeds of our current predicament were planted a long time ago, even before the ‘60s and ‘70s.
True about Keyes residence. But then again at least he tried and had many years more foreign policy experience than Obama. Chicago and suburbs which dictate Illinois politics is a no win situation for anything but what they have now. If we don’t watch it here Memphis and Nashville will have us in the same boat on a state level also. Difference is out state lawmakers have to come home sometime. LOL.
Hmmm. Yes, as usual, you have very detailed analyses DJ.
I think if Lincoln hadn’t been killed, Reconstruction wouldn’t have been as bad as it was (and leaving an ugly legacy still seen today).
60’s: Between the overhaul of the Catholic Church and JFK and The Beatles, the fraying of the fabric began big time.
He should never have been lured into that 2004 IL Senate race. I said at the time that Mike Ditka should’ve been drafted, as he could’ve defeated that execrable monster Zero. For being an intelligent man, Keyes could not see he was being used and wasn’t in on the joke.
There was no magic cure or set of steps that could’ve been followed that would’ve made Reconstruction particularly better, even under Lincoln. A lot of it was simply either/or. Most Southern Whites didn’t want Blacks (many of whom were illiterate slaves) to have political power (and majority power at that, since Blacks outnumbered Whites in many locales, such as SC & MS). Any attempt to give Blacks power and keep them in power would’ve continued to result in a violent reaction by Whites.
Probably one of the few equitable solutions at the time would’ve been relocating the bulk of Blacks to low-population Midwestern states or territories (a la Kansas, Nebraska, the Dakotas) so they could have their own land, government, education systems, et al, without interference. Whites would’ve put up a fight to keep that from happening in those areas as well, so removing all those opposed to that solution living in those areas likely would’ve had to occur.
It’s astonishing with all the well-educated people around at the founding of this nation (if not before) could not see what the madness of slavery would yield within time. I remember looking at some of the population figures in South Carolina, where you had areas outnumbered 10-to-1 by slaves to Free Whites. This was a ticking time bomb for a long time, and no one should’ve been shocked when it finally went off.
I think Keyes was living in the DC/Maryland area before that for his radio work. Work would be the only way I would stay around there. Virgina might have been more politically open for him by getting about 50 miles from Arlington/DC area. Today Radio Talk Sows can be done from a persons home.
Shows just how immature and unwise Cass Sunstein is. He’s still dangerous, but he’s a dangerous dreamer.
Indeed. We’ve discussed a mass shipment back to Liberia before. I know you don’t think that would’ve worked, but I still maintain it was the best of the (bad) options available.
Given that there is really only one party in Illinois (known as the Combine), what occurred in 2004 was precisely what they wanted to happen. When Peter Fitzgerald upset the corrupt Combiner Carol Moseley-Braun (after defeating the designated RINO Combiner ringer in the primary) in 1998, the RINO faction of the Combine spent 6 years undermining Fitzgerald and drove him from office so he wouldn’t seek another term in 2004.
Most of the RINO Combiners in IL were quite happy to see Zero ascend not only to the Senate, but to the Presidency. The leading thug Congressman who waged war against Fitzgerald, Ray LaHood (a Republican), was awarded, by Zero, a Cabinet post for all of his hard work in helping Zero rise to the Presidency.
Keyes had no clue the dynamics of Illinois and what the real goals of the Combine were. If Keyes had the most remote chance of winning, they’d have never allowed him anywhere near the nomination.
You might ask, well how did Mark Kirk (a “Republican”) win back the seat ? It’s because he’s a corrupt leftist Combiner and it was the RINO wing’s turn to get the seat. In IL, it doesn’t matter which party is control so long as the Combine controls the show. Just watch the Gubernatorial race there this year. The Republican, Rauner, is a big time Combiner leftist (and close friends with Rahm Emanuel), and it is expected he’ll “defeat” fellow Combiner Democrat incumbent Governor Quinn. That’s just how things work.
What is the point of rhetorical questions?
Sending back Americanized slaves generations after their removal from Africa was never a viable or truly rational alternative. Even 150 years or so since many former slaves went to Liberia, there has remained a perpetual divide between native Liberians (those ancestrally living there) vs. the “Americans.” There’s never been assimilation and full reconciliation between the two groups.
No, you’d have literally had to locate the very tribes the people were abducted from, but even that wouldn’t have worked unless it was within a relatively short period of time. Bringing back the children or grandchildren or generations after would’ve been utterly alien (and presumably intermixed with other tribes) to those tribes. You begin to see how truly evil it was removing these people from their families and connections and dragged across an ocean... but abducted and captured by their opposing tribes, their own cousins selling them out.
One wonders what disaster of a nominee would’ve run in 2004 to give Gore a second term. Where Cassie is wrong is that I expect it either would’ve been a rematch with Dubya (in which case, he might very well have pulled it off against Gore), or would’ve been McCain (I’m sure he’d have been fine playing ringer to his good friend, Al, just like he did with Zero). McCain would’ve had to have given his seat up in 2004, so that would’ve been the one silver lining. Perhaps it would’ve been Willard in the midst of his single disastrous term in MA.
Add to that I also believe that 2002 would’ve been a disastrous anti-Gore backlash as well, so many open Gubernatorial races would’ve gone our way (so picture no Gov. Napolitano in AZ, Davis’ defeat to Bill Simon, Jr. in CA, Jim Ryan’s win in IL, Vilsack’s loss in IA, Gilligan-Sebelius in KS, Baldacci in ME, Granholm in MI, Richardson in NM, Henry in OK, Kulongoski in OR, Rendell in PA, Bredesen in TN, Doyle in WI & Freudenthal in WY). A whole class of prominent farm teamers for the Dems stalled at the gate.
Johnson was a sexual predator?
Yes, but that’s not what I meant. I was talking about elevating JFK to martyrdom status, not the elevation of LBJ.
http://historyweird.com/1965-move-over-this-is-your-president/
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