Senator Spiral
Spiral
Atlas Politician
YaBB God
Posts: 4,537
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« on: June 28, 2016, 03:28:15 AM » |
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After two months on hiatus, Clash's No Reagan TL is back! Clash and I will now go back and forth on writing the installments going forward, much like Truman and Cranberry with their Hail, Columbia! series. I hope you all enjoy what's to come.
Clint Eastwood would ride into the White House on a wave of public support amid turbulent times. After a recession and a coup within the USSR defined the Ferraro administration, Americans felt that a change in leadership was necessary, and decisively went for the political novice with spunk and worldwide celebrity. Dirty Harry was now the undisputed leader of the free world.
The newly elected President Eastwood went to work right away on fulfilling his agenda, backed up by a Republican-controlled Congress and a sympathetic public. The first major legislative victory was the Economic Recovery Act of 1993, a bill cutting personal income taxes across the board as well as corporate taxes. Eastwood's first year also included significant cuts on federal spending, a freeze on most newly proposed regulations, and a comprehensive welfare reform bill devolving many responsibilities to states and requiring work for able-bodied recipients to receive long-term payments. Through this, Eastwood made great strides in government coming closer to "leaving you the hell alone," and sent shockwaves throughout the political system with how much was accomplished in such a short time.
Eastwood would not be without his challenges, however. In a rebuke to the social conservatives in his party, Eastwood pushed for a end to the military policy on discriminating against openly gay members in the armed forces. The repeal passed by the thinnest of margins thanks to the large majority of Democrats and the swath of moderate Republicans elected in 1992 uniting, but it left many in the Republican base with hard feelings. Republicans also erupted when Eastwood vetoed a partial-birth abortion ban. This would come back to haunt Eastwood, as his proposed ban on assault weapons would unexpectedly fail in Congress after an intense lobbying effort from concerned citizens. Another issue of contention developed through the issue of trade. After negotiations collapsed for a unique trade agreement with Mexico, Eastwood relented and backed the preexisting NAFTA proposal, which subsequently passed but faced backlash from the Buchananite wing of the GOP along with progressive Democrats. In the 1994 midterms, Democrats made moderate gains in both the House and the Senate by capitalizing on Eastwood's radical domestic changes and the dysfunction among Republicans.
By the summer of 1995, an international crisis would emerge that truly tested President Eastwood's leadership skills. The newly formed state of Western Ukraine, having separated from the Soviet Union four years earlier, was in the process of being admitted into NATO after direct encouragement from Eastwood's State Department. The USSR, now led by hardliner Gennady Yanayev, refused to recognize Western Ukraine's sovereignty and still considered it one of its satellite nations. The increasingly strong sabre-rattling from the Soviets over the issue gave the international community reason to fret over conflict and, worse, nuclear fallout over one wrong step. Eastwood, a committed non-interventionist, was put in the uncomfortable position of being either the mediator who would save the day or the one who provoked the end of the world. While NATO forces were mobilizing in preparation for the worst, the US was salvaging the routes of diplomacy with the USSR they had left to stave off an attack, with Eastwood in direct communication with Soviet leaders and diplomats.
Three weeks into the standoff, however, something completely unexpected happened: The Soviet Union imploded. The country's economy was hemorrhaging since the turn of the decade, making for a volatile internal situation. Dissenting voices in the Politburo grew larger over Yanayev's erratic ways and staged another coup, culminating in the assassination of Yanayev with cooperation from rogue KGB members. While the government ate itself alive thereafter, the USSR., for all intents and purposes, ceased to exist. Georgia, Armenia, and Eastern Ukraine were among the states to immediately break off, but even what was left of Russia soon fractured into several mini-states, including the Siberian People's Republic and Republik Moskva. Nothing was left unscathed. As the world was now left to pick up the pieces from a one-time superpower, President Eastwood received strong praise at home and abroad for averting a conflict in Western Ukraine—and quite possibly nuclear war.
Over the past four years, the US now stands tall as the world’s remaining superpower and the economy has been on a significant rebound. Americans feel a renewed sense of optimism under Clint Eastwood’s watch, and this is reflected in polling: the President has approval ratings consistently in the 60s and holds commanding leads over all potential opponents heading into the election year. The question that remains is whether anyone can defeat Eastwood.
Your candidates:
President Clint Eastwood is running on the successes of the past four years, claiming that “America is on a path to greatness and we must never look back.” Eastwood is betting that his libertarian bent to government will continue to be seen as the antidote to the country's ailments. The President promises continued efforts to cut taxes and spending on the path to a balanced budget, as well as a revamped post-Cold War foreign policy of gradually withdrawing troops in Europe and pushing for ex-Soviet states to be admitted into NATO. Eastwood also promises to finally achieve an assault weapons ban along with other gun control measures, and, in an effort to attract more liberal voters, a new focus on environmental protection.
Alan Keyes is a longshot for the Republican nomination, to say the least. After bigger names such as Pat Buchanan, Jesse Helms, and Pat Robertson all turned down a run, social conservatives upset with President Eastwood's actions have settled with an unknown—though highly energetic and charismatic—diplomat from the du Pont administration. Keyes is staunchly pro-life and vividly against same-sex marriage, solely focusing on those two issues to hammer the President as "a man without a shred of morality."
Ross Perot, having shocked the political world four years ago for nearly unseating an incumbent president in the primaries, is back for a second run and is considered the tentative frontrunner. The Texas mogul attacks President Eastwood daily for NAFTA creating a "giant sucking sound" in the US manufacturing base and calls for a policy of fair trade. Perot also supports spending cuts and tax increases for a balanced budget, a greater involvement in Eastern Europe, an expansive healthcare policy of "Medicare for All," and the establishment of "electronic town halls" to promote direct democracy.
Senator John Kerry has been in the public consciousness since the Vietnam era. Representing the mainstream liberal faction of the Democratic Party, Kerry plans to invest more in healthcare and education, increase taxes on the rich while reducing the corporate tax to attract business, and heavily promote national service efforts for all Americans. Kerry believes his foreign policy expertise will be a deciding factor and is pushing for a greater focus on multilateralism through organizations such as the UN, as well as a large investment in the rebuilding of Eastern Europe and the Middle East.
Ralph Nader, the legendary consumer protection advocate, has most recently served as Secretary of Labor under Geraldine Ferraro. After long resisting calls for a presidential campaign, Nader is running as a staunch progressive. Nader focuses most on an overhaul of campaign finance to reduce corporate influence, universal healthcare through a single-payer system, free public education from preschool to college, expanding workers' rights, and guaranteeing living wages. As the candidate closest to the Green movement, Nader also advocates large environmental cleanup efforts and building an economy on sustainability. Nader has received flak from some circles over referring to certain social issues as "gonad politics."
Daniel Patrick Moynihan, the iconoclastic senator with a background in sociology and diplomacy, has launched a campaign on an avidly pro-family agenda, believing the home to be the source of many of society's problems. Moynihan advocates large subsidies and tax breaks for parents along with income splitting for married couples. In a grand overhaul of the current welfare system, Moynihan is also proposing a guaranteed minimum income for all citizens. Moynihan has shed much of his hawkishness on foreign policy over time and warns against building up a military presence in Eastern Europe and other regions of the world.
Warren Beatty has never held political office, but he has worked closely with Robert Kennedy and George McGovern. The critically acclaimed actor has long been involved in left-wing politics and now sees himself as the Democrats' answer to Clint Eastwood, celebrity power being the key. Beatty is a "liberal's liberal" in the mold of Paul Wellstone or Bill Bradley: Beatty proposes large tax increases on the rich alongside middle class tax breaks, tax increases on corporations, universal healthcare, public financing of elections, criminal justice reform, and strict gun control measures. Beatty has also called for a modern-day Civil Rights Act.
Two days!
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