Challenge: most left-wing US possible after 2000

[Agonized-Statism]

Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to have the US Overton window shift as far to the left as realistically possible with a point of divergence no earlier than 2000. How much ground could the growing democratic socialist tendency have gained in the early 21st century, and what would it take for their ideas to have gained maximum popularity in the last 21 years?

[Samof94]

Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to have the US Overton window shift as far to the left as realistically possible with a point of divergence no earlier than 2000. How much ground could the growing democratic socialist tendency have gained in the early 21st century, and what would it take for their ideas to have gained maximum popularity in the last 21 years?

Have 2000 go the other way is a start. No 9/11 as well. Have a different Republican win in the 2000’s. 2010 happens under a GOP President. An alt-Covid never happens(but maybe something like a swine flu does). Dems survive in more states. Trying to hold the White House without local levels is not a strategy. Basically, a better hand is dealt.

[Agonized-Statism]

Dems survive in more states. Trying to hold the White House without local levels is not a strategy. Basically, a better hand is dealt.

Are you sure that would help the left? I wasn't proposing more success for the Democrats with conservatives.

[Samof94]

Dems survive in more states. Trying to hold the White House without local levels is not a strategy. Basically, a better hand is dealt.

Are you sure that would help the left? I wasn't proposing more success for the Democrats with conservatives.

I can’t think of any other solution. Maybe have a white person not named Hillary win in 2008.

[dw93]

Gore wins in 2000 and narrowly loses in 2004. 2006 is a Democratic wave like OTL, but thanks to Gore not going to the same extent that Bush did to juice up the economy after the dotcom crash in the early 2000s, the financial crisis is delayed by 6 months, giving the incumbent Republican (likely McCain IMHO) a narrow re election victory over Hillary Clinton in 2008. 2010 resembles 1974, giving the Democrats decent majorities in Congress and at the state level, giving them control of redistricting. The Democrats win a 2008 like victory in 2012 and are able to ram an agenda through in 2013 and 2014. Said Democrat rides an economic recovery to victory in 2016 and possibly does so with both houses of Congress.

[Samof94]

Gore wins in 2000 and narrowly loses in 2004. 2006 is a Democratic wave like OTL, but thanks to Gore not going to the same extent that Bush did to juice up the economy after the dotcom crash in the early 2000s, the financial crisis is delayed by 6 months, giving the incumbent Republican (likely McCain IMHO) a narrow re election victory over Hillary Clinton in 2008. 2010 resembles 1974, giving the Democrats decent majorities in Congress and at the state level, giving them control of redistricting. The Democrats win a 2008 like victory in 2012 and are able to ram an agenda through in 2013 and 2014. Said Democrat rides an economic recovery to victory in 2016 and possibly does so with both houses of Congress.

Also prevent 9/11

[Statilius the Epicurean]

Hillary wins in 08 and governs like a maximally effective economic populist, jailing bankers, stacking the Fed with doves and doing aggressive stimulus. Rupert Murdoch has a heart attack and Fox News is bought by liberal investors. Democrats lose seats in 2010 but there are no divisive cultural flashpoints, America's recovery from the financial crash is the envy of the world and Hillary is re-elected in 2012 in a 1996-esque landslide with no serious Republican challenge. After a midterm setback, Vice President Barack Obama comfortably defeats Mitt Romney in 2016 at the head of the Emerging Democratic Majority. Obama watches the movie Contagion with Michelle on New Years 2020 and as soon as he gets intelligence reports from Wuhan proactively shuts the borders and institutes warp speed vaccine development and covid testing. By election day the United States is the only country in the world to have recorded zero deaths from COVID-19 and the Democratic Party records another comfortable victory on a roaring economy, good government and a successful progressive agenda. There have been strong Democratic majorities in Congress for most of the period. SCOTUS has a 6-3 liberal majority, taking action on guns, abortion, LGBT rights, the death penalty and environmental regulation. The Great Society II is implemented to end poverty and inequality. Amnesty for illegal immigrants passes with bipartisan support. 2008-2024 goes down as the Clinton-Obama Era of Liberal Feelings equivalent to the New Deal era, as the Republican Party is forced to moderate towards government interventionism and cultural pluralism.

[Agonized-Statism]

To get the ball rolling a little more, I'll throw out some of the ideas I've had:

• The point of divergence is the prevention of the 9/11 attacks, but it's at the eleventh hour (weeks or even days before, would have to take a closer look at the sequence of events to see if that's plausible). The PATRIOT Act is still passed and the War on Terror still happens, but on the more controversial justification of what could have happened.
• Kerry wins Ohio, and the 2004 election, by a Florida 2000 margin despite losing the popular vote. A movement to abolish the electoral college gains traction.
• Great Recession plays out as OTL. Mitt Romney crushes President Kerry in the 2008 election.
• Greece, under a Syriza government, defaults on its debt and abandons the euro. A contagion effect in Southern Europe leads to the collapse of the eurozone. High inflation results and mass bankruptcies ensue because of currency mismatches, with many countries experiencing second defaults. The global economy crashes again in 2011 and the Occupy movement is much larger.
• Hillary Clinton secures the nomination in 2012 after narrowly defeating a Sanders insurgency in the primaries. Sanders runs as an independent and very nearly costs Clinton a victory in the electoral college. The electoral college is abolished in 2013.

My thought is that the post-2013 global surveillance disclosures would be a big scandal for the Clinton administration and that in an environment more friendly to a multi-party system, a formal left-wing party would start around Sanders' movement. Plausibility checks welcome, this is just a few ideas off the top of my head.

[GregTheGreat657]

Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to have the US Overton window shift as far to the left as realistically possible with a point of divergence no earlier than 2000. How much ground could the growing democratic socialist tendency have gained in the early 21st century, and what would it take for their ideas to have gained maximum popularity in the last 21 years?

Does it have to be realistic?

[Agonized-Statism]

Does it have to be realistic?

Yes, but realism can include a lot of luck.

[GregTheGreat657]

Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to have the US Overton window shift as far to the left as realistically possible with a point of divergence no earlier than 2000. How much ground could the growing democratic socialist tendency have gained in the early 21st century, and what would it take for their ideas to have gained maximum popularity in the last 21 years?

Gore wins in 2000, after the SCOTUS decides to allow counting to continue in Florida. He doesn't cut taxes and while the Iraq War and 9/11 still happen, Gore does not escalate the Iraq War the way Bush does. McCain appeals to largely the same base as Bush '04 did in OTL. as he runs on a hawkish platform emphasizing his service in Vietnam. He loses re-election to John McCain with this map.
McCain loses re-election to a Nader/Sanders ticket to this map.
Nader greatly increases the corporate tax, and passes UHC and many more environmental regulations. He wins re-election with this map.
The Dems nominate Bernie in 2016, who pledges to continue the Nader agenda plus add in universal preschool, free school breakfasts and lunches, and free college. Trumps tries to paint Bernie as communist and fails. Sanders wins with this map.
COVID goes much better in this election. Bernie pledges to end systemic racism as his main agenda for 2020.

[darklordoftech]

Either:
- 9/11 doesn’t happen (not sure whether or not 2000 would be a poisoned chalice).
- Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld, and Wolfowitz get blamed for 9/11.
- Gore wins and uses the rally-around-the-flag effect from 9/11 to enact a progressive agenda.

[Samof94]

Hillary wins in 08 and governs like a maximally effective economic populist, jailing bankers, stacking the Fed with doves and doing aggressive stimulus. Rupert Murdoch has a heart attack and Fox News is bought by liberal investors. Democrats lose seats in 2010 but there are no divisive cultural flashpoints, America's recovery from the financial crash is the envy of the world and Hillary is re-elected in 2012 in a 1996-esque landslide with no serious Republican challenge. After a midterm setback, Vice President Barack Obama comfortably defeats Mitt Romney in 2016 at the head of the Emerging Democratic Majority. Obama watches the movie Contagion with Michelle on New Years 2020 and as soon as he gets intelligence reports from Wuhan proactively shuts the borders and institutes warp speed vaccine development and covid testing. By election day the United States is the only country in the world to have recorded zero deaths from COVID-19 and the Democratic Party records another comfortable victory on a roaring economy, good government and a successful progressive agenda. There have been strong Democratic majorities in Congress for most of the period. SCOTUS has a 6-3 liberal majority, taking action on guns, abortion, LGBT rights, the death penalty and environmental regulation. The Great Society II is implemented to end poverty and inequality. Amnesty for illegal immigrants passes with bipartisan support. 2008-2024 goes down as the Clinton-Obama Era of Liberal Feelings equivalent to the New Deal era, as the Republican Party is forced to moderate towards government interventionism and cultural pluralism.

That seems about as probable as a Japan that decides to become less hostile to immigration or a democratic Russia.

[Agonized-Statism]

- Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld, and Wolfowitz get blamed for 9/11.

As in the public holds them accountable for dropping the ball and failing to stop the attacks in time, or more people believe some kind of conspiracy happened? The former would probably just lead to more militaristic Democrats dominating the 2000s, but the latter is one of very few situations that could cause an outright revolution.

[Statilius the Epicurean]

That seems about as probable as a Japan that decides to become less hostile to immigration or a democratic Russia.

Kind of the idea of the thread.

[darklordoftech]

- Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld, and Wolfowitz get blamed for 9/11.

As in the public holds them accountable for dropping the ball and failing to stop the attacks in time, more people believe some kind of conspiracy happened? The former would probably just lead to more militaristic Democrats dominating the 2000s, but the latter is one of very few situations that could cause an outright revolution.

I meant the former.

[wimp]

McCain loses re-election to a Nader/Sanders ticket to this map.

How does Nader win the nomination?

[GregTheGreat657]

McCain loses re-election to a Nader/Sanders ticket to this map.

How does Nader win the nomination?

Because the Democratic voters are more liberal in this timeline

[TheElectoralBoobyPrize]

Gore wins 2000 and 2004. Better regulation allows the 2008 recession to be delayed (but not avoided). Romney still wins 2008 due to fatigue and Hillary's weaknesses as a candidate. The financial crisis then happens during his term.