BTM 2.0: The Eighth Party System

[libertpaulian]

The GOP regaining strength in SoCal, NOVA, the Tidewater, and the Collar Counties?  Cool!

[Kyle Rittenhouse is a Political Prisoner]

The GOP regaining strength in SoCal, NOVA, the Tidewater, and the Collar Counties?  Cool!

The house elections do have a broad pattern of GOP gains in more urban and suburban areas versus democratic rural gains.

[Kyle Rittenhouse is a Political Prisoner]

Thurstan vs. The State of Mississippi

Ophelia Jason Thurstan was not quite twenty eight years old, and she was already a partner at her firm, a wealthy, successful, and broadly respected figure in her Memphis suburb. She was also, currently, staring a 50,000 dollar per year cost straight in the face, for nothing more than her genes.
   It had been coming for years, now. The state party had ran on it in 2063 and 2067. Still, it seemed impossible, until, faced with the specter of the looming elections, it suddenly became all too possible. It had happened last night. The Governor had signed the bill, there had been a celebration among the state Democrats, and there it was. From May 18th forward, every Mississippi resident who had been genetically modified would face a 3% yearly tax. Check and mate, all in one move for them. They would get money in the coffers, desperately needed, especially among Governor Simmond’s Delta base, and for the puny cost of angering a few wealthy Republicans. In terms of political calculus, it was precisely and brilliantly calculated on Simmond’s part.
   Constitutionally, however, the law was iffy. And Ophelia Thurstan had never been a woman to take things lying down.

In the case of Thurstan vs. The State of Mississippi, this court, the Fifth Circuit Court of the United States of America, finds in favor of the State of Mississippi.

No one had ever said that bringing a case to the Supreme Court would be easy.


Thurstan vs. Mississippi, rapidly seeming to become one of the biggest cases of the century, is still surrounded by a cloud of confusion. Arguments have been ongoing through much of this spring, and the ultimate decision still seems uncertain. We here at Vox have prepared this handy guide to how we think the Justices will vote.


In order of seniority.
Justice Gregg Costa: Costa has been on the Supreme Court since 2025 when Richard Cordray appointed him, and that decades long span appears to have taken a toll on the 98 year old man. He has been notably quiet during oral arguments, and indications on his vote are lacking. However, his few opinions appear to indicate that he favors MS in this case. We are marking him as Leaning MS.
Justice Caroline Bennett: A Castro appointee, Justice Bennett has been a staunch liberal voice on the court for decades, but she appears to frown on Thurstan’s case. She appears Undecided.
Chief Justice Thomas Russell: Russell, a conservative on a liberal court, has always been out of place. However, his opinion on this case is very clear. He solidly sides with Thurstan.
Justice Jasmine Flores: A Robinson appointee but a strong constitutionalist, she appears to decidedly side with MS in this case.
Justice Lexi Scott: Scott has been a radical liberal voice on this court for decades, and here she is strongly siding with Ophelia Thurstan.
Justice Evan Collins: Evan Collins, a Robinson appointee, has excoriated both sides, and appears truly Undecided.
Justice Victoria Ward: Ward has not been very friendly to MS or Derrick Simmonds, and we can mark her down as leaning towards Thurstan.
Justice Eliana Martin: Martin, like Ward, appears to frown on Mississippi’s case. She is also leaning towards Thurstan.
Justice Austin Zheng: Zheng, a recent Williams appointee, has been quiet so far on the court, but we believe he favors the state of MS.

Summing this up, then, our best guess is a 5-4 vote in favor of Ophelia Thurstan, but anywhere from 8-1 in her favor, down to 2-7 against her, appears possible. The outcome is truly up in the air.




SUPREME COURT OF THE UNITED STATES
OPHELIA THURSTAN v. THE STATE OF MISSISSIPPI

Held: The judgment of the 5th Circuit Court is affirmed. 

JUSTICE COSTA delivered the opinion of the Court, with Justices Bennett, Flores, Collins, and Zheng concurring.




Thurstan vs. Mississippi and Nayara Bustos (550.com)
The Supreme Court has made their weight felt, and now so has Bustos. Whether this was wise is being hotly debated by pundits. Looking at the polls, however, a clear truth emerges. In the United States as a whole, 50% of adults disapproved of the decision, with only 38% approving. Among Democrats, 49% disapprove, with 50% disapproving in Republicans. The bill is unpopular in both parties, albeit by narrow margins. With this in light, Busto’s decision to publicly endorse the decision makes little sense as a move of political calculus, especially given her embattled position. However, Bustos appears to have favored this for decades, and a source close to Former Speaker Thomas leaked that she wanted to push a similar bill back in 2069. It may seem puzzling for a president to take a position unpopular among both their own party and the nation at large, but for Nayara Bustos, it appears that moral convictions override politics.

[Kyle Rittenhouse is a Political Prisoner]

Freefall

   Freefall. noun. Downward movement under the force of gravity only.    The movement of a spacecraft in space without thrust from the engines. The United States Economy in the fall of 2071.
   Prices fell through the floor, and kept falling. Demand collapsed, industry dried up. The economy edged into recession then plunged straight into it. Jobs were lost in the millions, and government action was halting and starkly divided.
   The President, besieged in the White House, tried to fix the problem with the methods that had worked in the Cordray era. Bustos attempted to expand benefits and raise taxes, hoping to set off a virtuous circle. It had worked then. But the economy of the 2070s bore little resemblance to that of the 2020s. Consumer demand in mainland America was not the beating heart of the economy anymore, and her failure to recognize that fact made her effort futile.
   In the house, the Senate, and in state governments, the Republican party had their own plans. The future of humanity was not industry in the Yukon or Michigan. It was not consumer demand in Shanghai or Los Angeles anymore. It was Up. The boom up there had been happening since the Dawson years, but it was only recently approaching overwhelming. And it was not nearly done. The belt that minted plenty of newfound trillionaires, but the staggering wealth up there had the quantity to do far, far, far more. Presidents before Bustos had seemed blind to this. Bustos was actively hostile, vetoing programs from a Daedalus renewal to a space elevator. But a new, energetic, angry Republican Party planned to change all of this. A new macroeconomic order seemed certain as a preordainly doomed presidency drew to a close. Seemingly the only question left was who was would lead it. And for that, there was one name on everyone’s lips. 


[Nyssus]

So Bustos is the female Democratic version of Donald Trump in the 2060s.

[OSR stands with Israel]

So Bustos is the female Democratic version of Donald Trump in the 2060s.

More like Pence , since it was under his presidency where the Reagan Coalition fell apart.

[P. Clodius Pulcher did nothing wrong]

Please don't be Barron Trump

[America Needs R'hllor]

Please don't be Barron Trump

Oh god

[The_Doctor]

Election Night 2070

Maeve Windham sighed.  New York’s Republicans were calling her from all over the country and she was trying to field multiple calls beamed to her smartband on her arm. News flashed across the band and various messages popped up from all over the state. President Bustos was being repudiated across the country.  

The old Democratic coalition was falling apart. In state after state, a pro-business coalition was aligning with urban voters to repudiate the populist insular Democratic Party. In New York, on Election Night, the Republican Governor had swept New York with 61% of the vote. She had made inroads in the city, winning an astounding 44% of the vote in NYC while taking 65% on Long Island. Upstate, she carried 55% of the vote. The Democrats had made inroads in rural America but tonight, in New York, they were voting Republican.

The world had changed a lot, after all. It was the 2070s and two generations after the Cordray Administration had  changed the world. The old GOP coalition of the 1980s to 2020s was long since dead. For nearly fifty years, the populist liberals had ruled the nation. They had built everything - the hyperloops, the high speed rail, the mass broadband connections, developed out the AI machines that dotted the globe, and interconnected the world even more tightly. And then, as if in fright of what they had done, they had swung towards the insular and become populist … social conservatives and economically, progressive. The descendants of the bra burners and the hippies were frightened of the rapidity of social change and wanted to preserve their gains. Meanwhile, the GOP had fifty years after the historic crash and burn of the 2020s. They had come to bitterly understand that they could no longer be a insular Southern only party. But true to their business roots, they were slowly clawing their way back to the top. The Party was no longer a rag tag team of Southern interests and business leaders but emerging as a true urban party rooted in creating an international global business order. It had been in the foreshadowing Republican Presidency that the Moon and Mars colony had been launched. (To nobody’s shock, they voted like Wyoming and Idaho).

To the lady of the hour, then.

Eliza Arechiga Castile. A lady everyone thought was the leading GOP frontrunner for the White House. The daughter of a prominent one term New York Governor who had died in office, she had been an improbable choice for New York Republicans to be their leader. Tonight, she was demonstrating strength after four years in Albany. Regulations instituted by Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) was now considered obsolete and she had chipped away at them - to the delight in many in New York City itself. The old unions were dead, had been for a generation, but stifling regulations and populist liberal policies had caused the city to stagnate.

But tonight was not the night to think of all that.

“Madam Governor?” Maeve knocked on the door. Immediately, the door slid to the right. The Governor and her two children were watching the holographic TV and watching the newscaster deliver the results.

“Maeve,” the governor said without looking up. She was intently watching, taking notes mentally. She was dressed in white. Strange. Eliza always dressed in deep red or blues or whites. Deep, bold colors. One might say, like her personality.

The chief of staff sighed.

“Governor, there are people calling all over the country…” she began.

[America Needs R'hllor]

#Castile2k72!

[Boss_Rahm]

Wow, it seems the Republicans are going back to their pre-1912 roots. At the ripe old age of 74 I might be inclined to vote GOP.

[Kyle Rittenhouse is a Political Prisoner]

The Democratic Heart and Soul

If the 2068 Democratic parties had set a new record for nastiness, then 2072 smashed that record. Senator Sean Miller had been Senate Majority Leader until William’s ethical issues forced him out. He had attempted to move to the presidency, only to be denied this honor by Nayara Bustos. He was then forced to work with, then edged of his position by Bustos after a personal feud. And as Bustos faltered, he began to make his move.

The Democratic National Committee was not keen on two straight presidents being primaried, and they pulled out all the stops to prevent it from happening again. Attack ads bathed the airwaves, Miller was smeared and scandals were found. And still he rose. The polls as election day approached showed them within the margin of error. It seemed a war for the heart and soul of the democratic party, and no one knew what would happen. The world was changing at an unprecedented rate. Whether the Democratic party would change with it remained unknown.


The Results of the 2072 Democratic Primary

Nayara Bustos: 55.20%
Sean Miller: 39.86%
Other: 4.94%

The numbers were counted, and even as Miller screamed fraud, Bustos had won. The Democratic party was hers to lead against Castile. And with that, the last election of the 7th party system began in earnest.

[Nyssus]

Please don't be Barron Trump

Oh god

[Former President tack50]

[King Lear 2069 voice]It's clear that the collapse of the Off-Earth economies can only serve to help President Bustos and the Democrats. The workers on Earth are going to see pay raises, and that's where the vast majority of electoral votes come from. The short-sightedness of the middle class will reward the Democrats. I wouldn't be surprised if we see a huge rebound in Earthside manufacturing as a result of Bustos's reforms.[/King Lear]

If this site even exists in 2070 I sure hope it still looks like it's straight from the late 90s or early 00s

[wjx987]

hate to be that guy but is this still a thing? I'm very interested to see where this is headed!

[OSR stands with Israel]

Yes.

will you revive this

[Kyle Rittenhouse is a Political Prisoner]

The 2064 Presidential Election

   The GOP had not won three presidential elections in a row since HW Bush, all the way back in 1988. Nonetheless, they were hopeful in January of 2064. Max Overton boasted a 55% approval rating. They held a trifecta for the first time since the Pence Administration. And, of course, they had a promising candidate in Vice President Adam Davis. Davis, a former three term Senator from the hills of East Tennessee, was popular among the nation as a whole. He did, however, have a few issues. Chief among them was that Davis was two months short of 81, and had acquired a reputation as a dinosaur, a man who was in office during the Pence Administration and still bore the stain of that time. His age and general indisposition broadly prevented him from campaigning, and his run for the nomination had more of the stench of a coronation than any real enthusiasm. Third, his relationship with Overton was rough. Overton had picked him more to balance the ticket than out of any real fondness, and it showed.
   Still, Adam Davis was the sitting Vice President, a well respected and enormously experienced figure, well liked by nearly everyone who met him. Sure, Overton refused to make an endorsement in the primaries. Sure, other candidates ganged up on him during debates. Sure, polls consistently showed him falling short of 50%. Still, surely the Republican party would make the right choice? Right? Right?

   Wrong. No candidate would clear 50% in the first round. Davis was close, but he had not cleared it. There were two months left, and he was in a race for his political career against Maya Wilson. He had age, decades of experience and broad respect. But Overton still refused to make an endorsement. Davis seemed adrift, his campaign overflowing with money and yet running on fumes. His voice seemed to tremble every time he spoke. He was a representative of a time long since passed, of the ghost of Ronald Reagan, the man whose shadow he was born under. And the party was not Mike Pence’s GOP anymore. Maya Wilson was young, energetic, relentlessly active on the campaign trail. She held rallies in every state, and her crowds overflowed stadiums. With the Democratic race long since settled, she made a play to the old school Obama Democrats who had propelled her to two gubernatorial victories in Washington. The gap closed, day by day. In March, Davis had beaten her out by 16%. There were three weeks to go, and it stood at 6%.
   Then, the unthinkable happened. At a campaign rally in New York, Adam Davis suffered a heart attack. He was rushed to a hospital in front of the crowd. It took two weeks for him to get back on the campaign trail. Maya Wilson temporarily ceased campaigning out of respect for her opponent’s troubles. It did not matter. Adam Davis was a dinosaur, a man who had been in politics for a lifetime. Wilson was the future, and the Republican base heard that siren call.
   
   The convention bore the air of triumph, but failure was all that awaiting. Wilson was new, energetic, exciting. She was also the most conservative Republican nominee since Barry Goldwater a century ago. She proposed to slash tax rates by 20%, to fundamentally dismantle the welfare state and reshape America’s role in the world. In 2064, she was a radical.
   Alex Williams, for all of his faults, could not be accused of the same. A Connecticut atheist turned Tennessee good ole boy, he was a moderate to the core, a pragmatic and transparently ambitious man. He had plans for a issues based campaign against his friend Adam Davis. That was long gone. Williams saw an opportunity for a mandate, and he was not the type to shy away from the jugular. Adam Davis had not made an endorsement, but that did not stop Williams from airing images of them together. He had not been planning to win this election using the South as his base, but if he needed to, Williams would.
   Then, as sweltering July slowly faded, the race received a shock. Evan Jenkins Jr, the Republican institution of West Virginia, a notorious red dog and influential politician, was launching a run for president as an independent. He immediately lit a spark within the electorate. Red Dogs across the nation were not on board with Wilson or Williams.
   Through the fall, the race stayed surprisingly constant. Jenkins was hovering between 10% and 15% of the electorate, Wilson around 30-35%, and Williams around 40-45%. It was clear throughout that Williams would win, and that the coalitions in this election had shifted. Thus, Williams concentrated more on boosting down ballot performance than gaining a larger margin of victory.

   

Ultimately, Election Night was unsurprising. Although Wilson had done surprisingly well for such an extreme candidate, she had lost in a landslide. Jenkins had made little difference in the election, failing to win even WV. Down ballot democrats, predictably, managed substantial victories. They gained 8 seats in the Senate, and nearly 55 in the House. The election was not a shock to those who followed politics. It was, however, a seismic shift in the party coalitions, one that would reverberate for decades to come.