1884 Western Alliance Convention

[H.E. VOLODYMYR ZELENKSYY]

Voted for Harrison, though they all have their strengths: Weaver's the strongest economic lefts AFAIK, Gibson dies so that'll be fun, and Smith will get Zioneer to calm down about Mormons and he looks funny.

[H.E. VOLODYMYR ZELENKSYY]

"In 1881, the major issue confronting Senator Harrison was the budget surplus. Democrats wished to reduce the tariff and limit the amount of money the government took in; Republicans instead wished to spend the money on internal improvements and pensions for Civil War veterans. Harrison took his party's side and advocated for generous pensions for veterans and their widows.[42] He also supported, unsuccessfully, aid for education of Southerners, especially the children of the freedmen; he believed that education was necessary to help the black population rise to political and economic equality with whites. [43] Harrison opposed the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882, which his party supported, as he thought it violated existing treaties with China.[44]
In 1884, Harrison and Gresham competed for influence at the 1884 Republican National Convention.;[45] the delegation ended up supporting James G. Blaine, the eventual nominee.[45] In the Senate, Harrison achieved passage of his Dependent Pension Bill, only to see it vetoed by President Grover Cleveland.[46] His efforts to further the admission of new western states were stymied by Democrats, who feared that the new states would elect Republicans to Congress" - Wikipedia on Harrison.

BTW, I think we should go with either a Mormon/Non-Mormon or Non-Mormon/Mormon ticket. And I support Zioneer's idea, stated in the original conventions thread, about giving ourselves a long-winded name that we can abbreviate. The People's New Freedom Alliance?

[H.E. VOLODYMYR ZELENKSYY]

How about Weaver/Smith?

Weaver supports immigration restrictions, so I've got reservations about him. Perhaps Smith/Weaver or some combination of Harrison and Smith? We could make Weaver Secretary of the Treasury.

[H.E. VOLODYMYR ZELENKSYY]

People's Alliance is good to me. What does Zioneer think?

[H.E. VOLODYMYR ZELENKSYY]

Smithmentum!

[H.E. VOLODYMYR ZELENKSYY]

Weaver/Smith

Is Smith/Harrison or Harrison/Smith not an acceptably liberal ticket for you? Weaver is a nativist, after all.

[H.E. VOLODYMYR ZELENKSYY]

Shall we flip a coin, Zioneer? Smith/Harrison vs. Harrison/Smith? Or shall we wait and see how this plays out?

[H.E. VOLODYMYR ZELENKSYY]

Anyone but Weaver, please. He's atrocious.

Shall we flip a coin, Zioneer? Smith/Harrison vs. Harrison/Smith? Or shall we wait and see how this plays out?

I believe Dereich has my answer right there. But I'd prefer to see how this goes for now, and only do a coin-flip if Weaver is getting too much support.

All right then. As of now it's looking good, though.

[H.E. VOLODYMYR ZELENKSYY]

Weaver/Smith

Is Smith/Harrison or Harrison/Smith not an acceptably liberal ticket for you? Weaver is a nativist, after all.

Weaver would help push one of the major parties in a more economically liberal populist direction.  However, I'll abide by the results of the convention, at the end of the day what matters is beating Cleveland not petty partisan differences  I will admit that Weaver's position on immigration is unfortunate, but I think his positives outweigh his negatives.  We're probably going to be entering an era in which the political debate will be dominated by liberal populism vs. corporatism.  I think folks like Weaver, Bryan, Debs, and especially John P. Altgeld (who will hopefully become President at some point) are better suited for that fight than men like Gibson, Harrison, and Smith (and I don't mean that has a knock on any of those individuals).  On a different note, will present-day Mormons be really liberal in this timeline?  That'd certainly be an interesting (and welcome) development.  I suppose time will tell

I think Harrison and Smith are pretty economically leftist/populist, and Bryan and Debs will come along in about ten years or so. Perhaps we could have Bryan serve 1897-1901 and Debs ascend to the Presidency upon his tragic death, with some random one-termer chosen to fill the gap between Harrison and Bryan? Also, Altgeld was born in Germany, though he does sound cool.

[H.E. VOLODYMYR ZELENKSYY]

Weaver/Smith

Is Smith/Harrison or Harrison/Smith not an acceptably liberal ticket for you? Weaver is a nativist, after all.

Weaver would help push one of the major parties in a more economically liberal populist direction.  However, I'll abide by the results of the convention, at the end of the day what matters is beating Cleveland not petty partisan differences  I will admit that Weaver's position on immigration is unfortunate, but I think his positives outweigh his negatives.  We're probably going to be entering an era in which the political debate will be dominated by liberal populism vs. corporatism.  I think folks like Weaver, Bryan, Debs, and especially John P. Altgeld (who will hopefully become President at some point) are better suited for that fight than men like Gibson, Harrison, and Smith (and I don't mean that has a knock on any of those individuals).  On a different note, will present-day Mormons be really liberal in this timeline?  That'd certainly be an interesting (and welcome) development.  I suppose time will tell

I think Harrison and Smith are pretty economically leftist/populist, and Bryan and Debs will come along in about ten years or so. Perhaps we could have Bryan serve 1897-1901 and Debs ascend to the Presidency upon his tragic death, with some random one-termer chosen to fill the gap between Harrison and Bryan? Also, Altgeld was born in Germany, though he does sound cool.

A key difference between Harrison and the populists of the time was that Harrison favored sharp tariff hikes, whereas populists like Bryan wanted to do the opposite. In addition, Harrison supported an imperialist foreign policy. He had more in common with William McKinley than William Bryan.

Didn't Harrison say that "we have no commission from God to police the world" or something like that?

[H.E. VOLODYMYR ZELENKSYY]

Typical problem with left-wingers in this game is they actively & vocally plan out their world domination to an annoying extent. It's understandable that yes, your guys are due for a victory or two about now, but I've always been uncomfortable with you guys lining up your little social democratic ducks in a row & being so open about it.

Social democratic? You underestimate us, Cathy .

[H.E. VOLODYMYR ZELENKSYY]

Before this ends, I'd just like to repeat my support for a Harrison/Smith or a Smith/Harrison ticket.

This. Weaver may have his time in the future. Or not. Who knows?

[H.E. VOLODYMYR ZELENKSYY]

Before this ends, I'd just like to repeat my support for a Harrison/Smith or a Smith/Harrison ticket.

What about Harrison/Weaver?

And at this moment in history (which will likely remain the same in this instance), many Mormons are British or Scandinavian immigrants.

Would you happen to know why this is/was, for curiosity's sake?

[H.E. VOLODYMYR ZELENKSYY]

So is it Harrison vs. Cleveland? It'll be fun to see how Atlas deals with this one.