A Time For Unity - The Lost Decades - A Tale of a Potential Future

[Dan the Roman]

Omni Shoreham Hotel New York City, New York State March 4th 2023

Former Governor Michael Walton: “Who the hell is Robert Williams. I want whoever was behind this found and punished. They have very nearly destroyed us”

Patriotic Development Corp National Intelligence Director Samuel O’Donnell: “We have no idea who he was, beyond the fact that he was not one of ours. I have spoken with our representatives on the scene and they assured me personally that none of our people carried live ammunition to the event. The Secret Service agrees, they have released all of the Patriots present. As for the assassin a random madman…”

MA Governor Walker Berman“One who knew exactly where to hit us, and at the least convenient time. Rick Perry was our greatest asset, now he is gone, and Martha Coakley has both cause and motive to rain down destruction upon us…

Walton: She won’t. She’s too smart for that. Christ she was probably behind the assassination. She is going to try and split the party, strike a deal with traitors, pass meaningless energy and healthcare bills, and try and steal the credit.

Berman: Which would allow us to pass

Walton: No we don’t compromise. We got this far by standing apart. We need nothing of the  poisoned chalice in Washington. If Coakley wishes to offer us Congress we will take it, but we will not deal nor will we support half-measures on the part of the Administration.

Berman: And if others disagree

Walton: Then we know who the traitors are. They will be deselected, and when they fail as they are destined to we will crush them along with everyone else

[Alexander Hamilton]

ilikethisone

[Dan the Roman]

President Coakley inherited a situation that was substantially better than that Rick Perry had left when he died, benefiting from a substantial amount of sympathy from outrage at the assassination, whatever the motive behind it.

She nevertheless also inherited a  Congress where Republicans remained in the leadership despite holding less than 40% of the House, and a third of the Senate, with the result that the simple act of convening the legislature proved impossible for lack of a quorum. While this had been not only an acceptable situation to Perry, but in many ways a relief, by the middle of March the situation was becoming unsustainable.

A key reason for this lay in Coakley’s ascension itself, which created a vacancy in the Vice President’s office which could only filled by confirmation. By the same token, Coakley was faced as a Democrat with a Cabinet that was almost entirely Republican, and without the Senate it would be impossible to replace any of them.

They were not unaware of this, and President Coakley clashed openly with both her Secretary of State and Secretary of the Treasury when she determined to de facto abandon the embargo on Caliphate oil through secondary sources. Secretary of State Rubio went so far as to publicly reiterate that the United States “stood in defense of private property everywhere against the dark forces of nationalization”. Coming as it did after President Coakley had authorized resuming talks with the Caliphate and was preparing a new Energy bill with a nationalization component, this was seen as an open sign of disloyalty, and she sacked Rubio on April 2nd.

Rubio’s treachery was seemingly less serious than that of Attorney General Ayotte, who rushed out in the aftermath of the assassination to assure gun-rights advocates that the right to bear arms would not be threatened by the response to the assassination. The two woman had not gotten along well when both served as Attorney Generals in neighboring states two decades earlier when they had clashed over the right of Massachusetts to levy sales tax on New Hampshire businesses as well as abortion and gun rights, and they got along no better now. In fact relations were worse. Having entered the Senate at almost the same time, Ayotte felt that she, as a Republican, should have been President, and resented serving under her Democratic rival.

The result was that Ayotte increasingly saw herself as the leader of the Republican party, and of opposition to the President. This elevated into an open clash when a group of Republican activists challenged the President’s decision to allow the purchase by state and local authorities of oil that may have originated in the Caliphate. They argued that the ban was included in an act of Congress which imposed the blockade until such a time as the Caliphate paid restitution for the nationalizations, and as such only Congress could repeal it. Rather than defending the Administration, Ayotte informed the President that she agreed with the plaintiffs and that the President’s decision was unconstitutional. President Coakley responded by ordering the Attorney General to suspend enforcement of the act. When Ayotte refused, the President fired her on April 29th.

Following her sacking Ayotte all but declared for President, as the President found herself unable to appoint replacements. Coakley argued that as the Congress was non-functional, it was not in session, and attempted recess appointments, only to be informed that congress was in session.

By the end of April therefore, Coakley had soured on her cooperation with the Republicans, and had given up any hope of passing the bills she felt necessary to the recovery of the country. As a result, the Administration opened negotiations with Progressive members of Congress offering to support Progressive candidates for the leadership in exchange for a promise to return to the chambers. All the Progressives would offer was a promise to “give the nominees all due consideration.”

The House reconvened on the 1st of May and the Democrats motioned on an organizational resolution to name Progressive Michael Sutton of Ohio Speaker. The Republicans attempted to declare the motion out of order, but were beaten on a floor vote, and Sutton was confirmed as Speaker on a vote of 267-165.
Trouble, however, occurred on the senate side. On May 2nd, the Senate reconvened to find the Progressive Senators returned. The Democrats made a similar motion, but the Republican leadership ruled the motion out of order, and argued that due to the failure to pass an organizational motion this session, the previous one remained in effect, and that had no revision to be amended in midterm.

The result was deadlock as 30 Senators held control of the senate. It also created a crisis situation as it left Michael Sutton next in line for the Presidency, and as was breathtakingly clear, one bullet away. In such an environment the Republicans made an offer to the Administration under which they would confirm a candidate of the Administration’s choice for Attorney General and Secretary of State in exchange for Kelly Ayotte being made Vice President. With no end in sight to the Senate standoff, and the risk of succession clear in her mind, Coakley agreed. As a result, when the Senate next convened on a Progressive motion to reopen the organizational debate, the Republicans countered by calling the question on the Presidential nominees, supported by the Democrats. To the outrage of Progressives, each was confirmed on a 53-47 vote except for Ayotte who won on a 50-47 vote.

Coakley had not intended to abandon her parliamentary alliance, and indicated the Progressives that the Democrats would still support a resumption of the struggle for the leadership, but the Progressives were not hearing it. Michael Walton later remarked that the best thing to ever happen to them was the White House betrayal which united the party when many members had grown concerned about its reputation for extremism. That the Democrats compounded the betrayal by changing the Senate rules on what constituted a quorum to 51 votes by utilizing the Bush developed ‘nuclear option” only further increased outrage.

While President Coakley congratulated herself on picking her own cabinet, breaking the Progressive filibuster of congress and kicking her Republican rival upstairs, these victories had come at a high cost. By the middle of May therefore the Administration had effectively alienated both the Republicans and Progressives something it would discover when President Coakley introduced her legislative agenda the following month.

[Historico]

And so begins the last of the Democrats...Coakley has been almost Nixonian with her cunning and manipulation of the poltical atmosphere of the 2020's. So Ayotte got put back on as Vice President, or was she able to make her own picks, thing's got kinda jumbled with the appointments toward the end of the last installments Dan. Other than that, I Can't wait to see what happens in the 2024 US Presidential Election Dan...Keep it comming.

[Хahar 🤔]

Yes, please keep it coming.

[Dan the Roman]

(Sorry if its a bit rushed, I am trying to hurry up and get the Progressives into office so I apologize for the mixed quality of the last update and this one, they will get much better)

President Coakley’s victory was short-lived, as she soon found herself facing a hostile House, and Senate which was still under Republican minority control, and both parties were irreconcilably opposed to the administration. This ineffectiveness also became clear when an effort to amend the Embargo act of 2021 also ran into trouble when the Progressives refused to support it unless the ban on states engaging in independent trade deals was repealed, which was unacceptable to the Republican leadership in the Senate.

At the same time, the apparent indifference of the Administration, and its Democratic occupant had resulted in an upsurge of military organizing among Republicans, and over the course of the summer, violence broke among Progressives and Republicans, with nearly a thousand hospitalized in the last two weeks of June alone.

Annoyed at Republican intransigence in the Senate, and with her own Vice President leading the opposition, Coakley reached an agreement with the Progressives to bypass the Republican senate. When on June 30th Congress recessed, Coakley issued a series of executive orders, unilaterally authorizing drilling on federal lands, seizing assets of  firms, and moving to purchase oil directly on the international market. Coakley had secured the provisional support of the Progressive senate caucus to keep Congress recessed for an indefinite period, but at a high price; an effective agreement to lift federal restrictions on the operations of the Patriots, and to turn a blind eye to oil smuggling.

The reaction was mixed. Many were concerned about the methods, but as the economic situation improved, less by the decision of the Administration to purchase several million barrels of oil on the open market and then release them than the emotional effect of it, public confidence increased.

Ironically, had the threat of a Progressive takeover seemed imminent, the President might have been able to rely on Republican support, but the very success at getting things done began to worry them. Republicans became increasingly paranoid that the Administration was selling out the country to the Progressives, and began speeding up their own efforts to secure weapons, while also organizing protests against the "unconstitutional government.

[Historico]

Hey...I was wondering Dan, what are the Former President's Clinton, Bush, and Obama's opinion's on the rapid, unraveling of the US Poltical System as we know it. I know both Bill and Dubya would be pushing 80 but they still should have some insight to give by the way...Here's a little fun poke I came up with for the 2024 Presidential election...

"If you want to keep this nation together, vote for the only candidate the be made up of the same stuff as Annie Oakley...Vote Martha Coakley in 2024!!!

[Dan the Roman]

The President’s position at the beginning of fall then was exceptionally weak. Without the support of the GOP, she was dependent on the neutrality or at very least the toleration of the Progressives, and therefore obligated to pay more or less whatever price they demanded, which in this case was federal neutrality in an upsurge of violence that increasingly targeted conservative publications and media figures. Over the course of the summer, leading conservative publication either adopted an increasingly neutral stance between the GOP and the Progressives, or moved south. Those that did not faced harassment from local governments, and an indifference to burglaries and arsons. The situation reached its height when Bill Kristol was kidnapped outside a New York hotel and beaten for hours before being dropped outside Union Station in retaliation for a column in which he called the Progressives Marxists, compared Michael Walton to Hitler, and suggested any Jew who voted for them was the equivalent of a Jew voting for a Nazi.


Such actions increased anger among Republicans at the White House and conspiracy theories spread that Coakley was reviving old Massachusetts alliances in order to purchase Progressive support. The reality was much more inauspicious for the Administration. Without any sort of official agreement, and increasingly without the bargaining chip of an accommodation with the Republicans in congress, Progressive support was set to last as long as it was convenient. And the convenience of the alliance was decreasing rapidly as the fall approached. As a result, the Progressives continued pressing their luck, and engaging in ever more extensive organizing for the following year’s campaign, which they were certain, they could win if the Democrats and Republicans ran separate candidates.

Their support for  Coakley was calculated on that basis, and why they continued it after any possible trust had been destroyed by the Cabinet and Vice Presidential nominations. In September this changed, as the Progressives announced that in anticipation of a Supreme Court decision over whether Congress could be kept in recess indefinitely, that they were “dedicated to constitutional government” and would oppose any efforts to subvert the “constitution”.

The upsurge in violence was also causing frustration  for the Administration, with violence undermining the limited economic recovery.  As chaos rose, with nearly 1500 hospitalized in the last two weeks of July alone, the attack on Kristol proved a step too far, and  Administration was forced to take action against the "lawlessness" with the President signing an executive order setting up special tribunals to try political offenses. 

This was sufficient pretext for the Progressives to break with the Administration openly and join the Republicans in opposition.. The result was a combination of incredulity and panic at the concept of cooperation between the parties, sufficient incredulity that the White House did not block the reconvocation of Congress, stating simply they would not defer to a dysfunctional body.

When the Congress reconvened on the 1st, rumors of dysfunction proved exaggerated. Progressives and Republicans cooperated to conduct an orderly session in which they moved  to reject most of the Administration's Executive orders, and for good measure, impeached the Secretaries of State, the Treasury and the Attorney General for violating federal law, moving all three through the House in 35 minutes, and with the Senate passing them with between 67 and 70 votes.

The Administration maintained that the votes were illegal as no proper hearings were conducted and no trial was held. The President responded by keeping the impeached officials in office, and ordering the doors to the Capital chained.


 The attempt backfired as the Progressives joined Republicans on the streets, creating a situation that the army had neither the will nor the ability to control. This was made clear when on September 6th the House Speaker and Senate Majority Leader convened a session in the Virginia State House in Richmond of around 300 Representatives and 55 Senators protected by nearly a thousand Patriots and Sons of Liberty. The session declared the orders given to the military to be illegal, and voted to impeach the President. Rather than use federal troops, President Coakley had instead had Pro-Government para-militaries who she had encouraged Democrats to organize bussed in to contest the gathering. The result was violence that resulted in the dispersal of the gathering, but also in the injury of 11 members of Congress, and the death of one Progressive Congressman from New York.

The situation was made worse when the Supreme Court ruled 6-3 against the Administration on September 12th. The Administration had argued that normal government was impossible, but the court cited the ability of Congress to function on the 1st of September and the existence of a Progressive-Republican coalition there, stating that the undesirability of a majority did not de-legitimize it. Furthermore they ruled that the impeachments were illegal.

The President rapidly reappointed the impeached cabinet members as  recess appointments but she could do little against the coordinated protests that were being launched by both opposition parties.

The Irony was that the country was being brought to a standstill by protests and strikes against a President who maintained significant popularity, showing how power had shifted from the electorate to the street. With few other options therefore, President Coakley resigned herself to the inevitable and allowed Congress to reconvene on the 19th.


The GOP’s hostility had destroyed whatever hopes she had for reelection, and by this point frustrated with what she saw as self-destructive determination there, she more or less resigned herself to a Progressive victory the following year. This did not mean she resigned herself to leaving office. She had reached an understanding with the Progressive leadership before recalling congress, and therefore it was little surprise when the Progressives in the house killed the Republican impeachment resolution on the floor before it even reached the Senate. Michael Walton preferred a weakened President to a strong one.

Especially if that weak President increased the likelihood of a three way split the following year. Walton wanted Coakley to run for reelection, or at least for a Democrat to do so, and therefore having effectively destroyed her ability to run as a republican, he was happy to give her support. With Progressive backing, the amendments to the embargo act were passed in October out of the House and a week later by discharge petition out of the Senate.

The Progressives had an ulterior motive. They had shown they could stop others from governing, now they were trying to show that they could govern. The polls for the following year’s elections showed them in a strong position, if they still had not recovered from Perry’s unfortunate end.

President November 17th 2023
Michael Walton  39%
Martha Coakley   27%
Kelly Ayotte        26%

Undecided            8%
Nevertheless, the performance in the November elections was mixed. They managed to hold the Governorship in Kentucky but failed to make much headway in Mississippi. They made the run-off in Louisiana, but lost it in December 51-49.

[Хahar 🤔]

I think that the Supreme Court voted the impeachments legal, no?

[Dan the Roman]

I think that the Supreme Court voted the impeachments legal, no?

They did, but that did prevent Coakley from reapointing them as recess appointments. If you mean a move against Coakley, the Progressives blocked that both in the September 1st session and when Congress reconvened.

[Хahar 🤔]

I think that the Supreme Court voted the impeachments legal, no?

They did, but that did prevent Coakley from reapointing them as recess appointments. If you mean a move against Coakley, the Progressives blocked that both in the September 1st session and when Congress reconvened.

You wrote that the Supreme Court ruled the impeachments illegal. I think that that's a typo.

[Historico]

Coakley seems pretty good at digging her own grave lol, Looking forward to the elections Dan...

[Person Man]

Bump...it appears that my computer has been repaired.

[Dan the Roman]

Here was where the likely candidates stood in November of 2023.

Preference for President November 17th 2023
Michael Walton  39%
Martha Coakley   27%
Kelly Ayotte        26%

Undecided            8%

The thing that stood out about the numbers was that the Progressives seemed weaker than they had been the previous year, and Republicans and Democrats alike began to hope that the tide had been turned.The performance in the Fall elections supported this interpretation. While the Progressives managed to hold the Governorship in Kentucky they failed to make much headway in Mississippi, despite having recruited a former Democratic State Senator. In Louisiana they made the run-off, but in a race in which Progressive and Republican volunteers streamed into the state, and every mainstream politician in the country endorsed the GOP standard bearer, they were defeated in December 51-49.

If anything though, the retreat of the Progressives destroyed whatever pressure for unity there was. President Coakley had hoped that despite her unpopularity at the elite level, the GOP would support her reelection as the best bid to prevent a Progressive takeover, and kept to this hope despite their opposition to her Administration during the summer and Ayotte’s positioning. In this hope, she had the support  of Former Presidents Perry, Pence, and George Bush, as well as Former Governor Mitt Romney. Her decision to enter the primary therefore was well-justified, even if it showed the tendency to gamble that was common to her entire career.

She was, however, disadvantaged by the primary calendar. Iowa was the center of social conservative power, while New Hampshire was Ayotte’s home state and South Carolina was a southern state inhospitable to northerners and Democrats. Therefore, despite national polls showing her leading Ayotte 41-38 with Republican Primary voters, she faced the prospect of a long string of defeats.

Her Democratic flank was not protected either. Senator Goldmark of Washington announced a challenge, and with the Democratic primary electorate a liberal rump, he had a stronger chance than might well have been suspected.

Despite these inauspicious sign, the results in Iowa nevertheless came as a disappointment to the President, lost the GOP contest 59-36, and won the Democratic contest 65-31. The following weeks, the news got worse. Despite massive efforts, the President lost the Republican contest 53-41 and only won the Democratic one by an underwhelming 58-39, while in South Carolina she lost the Republican contest 59-34, and won the Democratic one 63-34. This was followed by Florida, where the President suffered another GOP defeat, losing 51-44.

Coakley therefore entered Super-Tuesday having lost every GOP contest, the nomination of which was the determinant of whether she could win. Her performance improved that day, but her victories in California and the NE were counteracted by her losses everywhere else. With little to no prospect of winning in the south or west Coakley called a Press Conference on February 13th.

Most had expected her to pull out of the Republican nomination, but there was surprise when she announced that she would not be a candidate for reelection. Convinced that she risked a third place finish in the general, Coakley had no desire to repeat Cuomo’s indignity.This left the Democrats without a candidate and raised the likelihood of a coalition.

Ayotte however, was acceptable neither to the President who detested her, nor to the Congressional Democrats who saw her as a backstabber who had betrayed the Administration. Nor was Goldmark acceptable to the Administration. As a result, the negotiations that dragged on for the next three months led almost nowhere, all the while the Progressives campaigned on the lack of differences between the major parties. The talks were ended when the little-known Democrats in the race jointly agreed to drop out for Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who had been convinced that she could act as the savior of the party. Some nevertheless, still pushed for a common alliance with the GOP.

The scene was set for a showdown at the Democrat’s July convention which would determine the fall election. Would Democrats make common cause with the GOP or would they run their own candidate, and guarantee a Progressive victory.

In this, both the polls, and the low-turnout in the Democratic primary told against coalition. The Delegates were an extremist rump, and militantly anti-Republican. A motion to declare the Progressives a threat to Democracy and to urge all voters to work to defeat them in November lost 2011-1655. At the same time polls showed Hillary doing well, associated with better times and the view that had she won in 2008, the country would have gone in a much better direction, a feeling demonstrated when former President Obama was booed off the stage.

Furthermore, the polls showed Clinton tied with Ayotte or even ahead, and furthermore indicated that many Democrats would vote Progressive before they voted Republican, making the outcome far from clear.

July 23rd 2024 Poll
Michael Walton(P)  37%
Hillary Clinton(D)         29%
Kelly Ayotte®             28%

Two-Way
Kelly Ayotte    46%
Michael Walton 45%

In the end the floor fight was not really much of a battle. Hillary Clinton was nominated on the second day with nearly two-thirds of the delegates, and gave a speech full of promises to “go back to the golden age of the 1990s”.

This had substantial appeal to older voters, at least as much as the Republican platform, which again stressed the need to prevent the Progressives from taking office. They had run on the same platform the last time as well, and this time their warnings of chaos and economic collapse ringed hollow and sadly ironic.

The Progressives at their convention took direct aim both at the Clinton nostalgia of the Democrats, and the Republican warnings of apocalypse. Michael Walton, in his acceptance speech, accused America’s political and social elite of three decades of treason, declaring:

   In 1991 we stood at the forefront of a new era. The Soviet Union had fallen, Saddam Hussein’s Iraq, the fourth most powerful country in the world had been crushed almost effortlessly. Iran had a new leadership wishing to engage with the West, and Russia had a new democratic government, determined to join the family of nations. At home an unprecedented dividend of peace and technological progress promised a new golden age. And President Bush stood before us to promise a new world order, one in which war, poverty, and economic and ethnic conflict would be a thing of the past. I was 11 years old.

What has happened to this “golden age”?. What has happened to the promises made twice over to provide every American healthcare, to safeguard our industries from collapse, to ensure that jobs were created, trade was free and fair, that our children would be judged not on what or who they were but on what they could be, free from recourse to race?

It is a tragic tale, one of promises broken, hopes betrayed, and dreams destroyed. Of a political class that sold out America, a punditocracy who patted themselves on the back at their fancy Georgetown houses on the glory of their political consensus that was destroying America. It was the time of politicians like Bill Clinton, Joe Lieberman, John McCain, and George Bush who stood for nothing except the promotion of parasitism. Their moderation ensured three lost decades of budgets busted, unprovoked wars of choice launched, and unnecessary confrontations forced. They turned Russia and China into enemies, murdered innocent Serbs, bankrupted this country, and passed a healthcare plan so incomplete that it was worse than nothing at all. And then they were saluted for their “moderation”.

And of the extremes? On the Right, it was also the time of hucksters and demagogues who paid by the same economic parasites who kept the Washington class in power spread lies and poison into the ears of the American people, driving them to serve their interests, and bankrupting our future. It is our view that the Limbaughs and Hannities of the World were no better than traitors and should have met the same fate. On the Left, racial hustlers turned us against one another, while others attempted to force nihilism in the guise of secularism upon us all.

But now this will change. Now is our time. We will storm Washington until those pundits hide in their mansions shaking with fear, and shatter their precious consensus. We will crush the demagogues, hucksters and pawns of the special interests and exterminate them utterly. We will destroy the parasites who have feeding off the lifeblood of this country. But most of all we will return government to the people, and to them we will return their treasures, their sovereignty and their very dreams themselves. For the promises broken, for the hopes betrayed, for trust abandoned, we can do no less……

[Хahar 🤔]

You did this on Word, didn't you?

[Dan the Roman]

Yeah, shoot did not come out as well as I expected. Well I will fix it up.

[Historico]

Awesome Update Dan, Hillary would be 77 at the time of the election, but she would be good as the last Sacrificial lamb candidate. The General Election should be very interesting...Keep it comming

[aaaa2222]

Nice speech, nice timeline.

[JWHart]

In this hope, she had the support  of Former Presidents Perry, Pence, and George Bush, as well as Former Governor Mitt Romney.

From beyond the grave?

Otherwise, good stuff -- disturbingly plausible

[Historico]

So when can we expect the next installment Dan?

[Person Man]

It will be neat to see how the Progressive pull it off. Nostradamus allegedly spoke of three anti-christs. Many say the first two were French Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte (1799-1815)and German Chancelor-Fueher Adolf Hitler (1933-1945). Could American President Michael Walton (2025-2043), with his non-orthadox, authoritarian and aggressive views and methods be the third?

[Sewer]

lol

[CultureKing]

more please

[Psychic Octopus]

It will be neat to see how the Progressive pull it off. Nostradamus allegedly spoke of three anti-christs. Many say the first two were French Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte (1799-1815)and German Chancelor-Fueher Adolf Hitler (1933-1945). Could American President Michael Walton (2025-2043), with his non-orthadox, authoritarian and aggressive views and methods be the third?

No cuz we alredy had muslom markist prez hussein obama.

No, but seriously, I'm excited where this is going.

[Person Man]

It will be neat to see how the Progressive pull it off. Nostradamus allegedly spoke of three anti-christs. Many say the first two were French Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte (1799-1815)and German Chancelor-Fueher Adolf Hitler (1933-1945). Could American President Michael Walton (2025-2043), with his non-orthadox, authoritarian and aggressive views and methods be the third?

No cuz we alredy had muslom markist prez hussein Scary n obama.

No, but seriously, I'm excited where this is going.

I am too.