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Alternate Wikibox Thread

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The Labour Party in this world was stillborn for some reason or another, the LRC couldn't agree and ended up splintering, I guess. But the Liberals are not spared their splintering either (indeed, it was worse), and we end up with a chaotic period in which the Lib-Lab people ended up constructing some sort of "Democratic Party" out of the whole mess. The Lib-Lab-dominated Democrats massively prioritised coordination and compromise, and notably turned violently against general strikes in the 1940s. This created a swirling void, and Socialist Labour emerged.

But by the 1940s, a chunk of the labour movement, especially in Wales, decided that since there wouldn't be a labour party, they would embrace co-operative thinking and try to construct an independent workers-controlled economy. This caught on with wildfire, and managed to divide the movement between those that sought "universality" (aka active political lobbying) and those that sought "locality". Eventually, "universal" unions won out in most of Britain. But not Wales. By some stroke of luck (and some Democrats trying to appease voters), and some unholy fusion of Welsh Liberalism and Welsh "Labourism", cooperatives grew to dominate the Welsh economy by the 1950s, and unions there were dominated by "localist" elements.

Meanwhile with the political right, the splintering of the Liberals also affected the Conservatives as many right-Liberal parties dragged down the Tory vote. The "Anti-Left" Coupon was finally hammered out in the early 1960s and by the mid-1970s, the merger into the Progressive Party was finally agreed by all. The National Liberals, the Social Christian League, the Remembrance Society, the Jacobite Party, the rump Liberal Party, all signed the agreement. But one party refused - the Scottish Unionist Party. By then it was increasingly influenced by more Scottish regionalist rhetoric as a result of a juiced-up Scottish Covenant, and had leaders who had a deep interest in not being merged into the Progressives. In the end, no agreement between the two could be found, and some unwise words were exchanged. The next day, the Progressive Party leader announced they were still committed to being a "party for all Britain", and would run in Scotland. Hence the Scottish right became divided once more.

With the division between universal and local focused unions becoming more and more sharp, the Democrats made their greatest blunder in the 80s. Welsh society by the 80s was widely insulated from the rest of Britain, even economically, due to the domination of cooperatives. The National Health Service in Wales was even ran by a government-reviewed cooperative. But this was judged insufficient by a Prime Minister who kept receiving rumours about corruption in the Welsh economy [later proved correct], and the Welsh NHS was put fully under government control. Two days later, most of the Welsh Democrats left in protest and set up Llafur Cymru, the "Welsh Labour" party.

After the next election in 1986, the Progressives had a shaky minority dependent on hot-and-cold Scottish Unionists which demanded devolution. The Prime Minister realised that this could be a way to further lock out the Democrats from a formerly electorally-rich region for them, and added Welsh devolution to the bill in exchange for Llafur Cymru support. The shoutings of "treason!" from the Democratic benches echoed through Westminster, but the bill passed. And the Senedd of Wales was established in Cardiff, much to concerned cooperatives' relief. Llafur Cymru would, in the 1990s, form a "Westminster fusion" party incorporating all Welsh regionalists and nationalists called Ymasiad Cymru that was just there for two things - first to get every Westminster government to give the Senedd more power. And second to stop any moves against cooperatives. This uniting of that front ensured that YC would dominate Wales for the foreseeable future, even in the more rural north.

In the rest of Britain, thanks to Democratic moderation and a belief that they were too centralising, the Socialist Labour Party started to rise on a platform of "labour unions decide what they will, no nationalising anything worker-controlled, always side with unions". Simple, but the Democrats didn't fulfil it. Their leader, Reg Browne, was extremely popular especially in Manchester. And they did win a few seats in even Llafur Cymru-dominated Wales.

The final party of note emerged from decades of mismanagement of coal by Democrats and Progressives and a reaction against Progressives conceding too much to the separatists, in their mind. The Planetarian Party was clear - there shall not be any moderation on the pursuit of purifying the planet. Workers' rights be damned, corporate interests be damned. Even if it meant firing many workers and ruining the corporate bottom line - So. be. it. This argument caught on with the young generation of middle-class liberals who thought the Democrats sold out, man, and Progressives were reactionaries, and also with the more older sort of rural voter who thought Progressives weren't the right sort of Tory. Too liberal in economics and elsewhere.

The 2000 election in particular showed a very unsatisfactory outcome. Progressives pipped Democrats to the post, but had no majority, even with the Scottish Unionists. The Democrats bled seats and votes to the SLP as people grew more disillusioned of their moderation. The Planetarians won a seat in Dover, of all places. And despite widespread reports of corruption and backslapping between cooperatives and the Welsh Government, the Welsh voters gave Ymasiad Cymru more seats and votes, most often credited to their personable Westminster leader Heledd Langford.

In the end, Progressives went with top hat in hand to the Fusionists, and cut a deal in which the Welsh NHS would be fully handed back to cooperative hands, and all review would be done by the Welsh Government. Despite outcry from more traditionalist aspects [and those grumbling about the ignoring of the corruption], the sheer desire to return to power overrode all, and the Progressive-Ymasiad Cymru-Scottish Unionist agreement was signed.

The Democrats have just resigned themselves to sulking on the opposition benches of course.

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This is my take on a simple concept - "make a 'no-Labour' political system the most interesting you can". This likely is heavily implausible, but I tried.
 
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I did a thought exercise a while back - "How bad could the election get in the most stupid way humanly possible"

Hackers Claim To Have Trump’s Dirty Laundry And Demand $42 Million To Keep Quiet
- Forbes, May 15th, 2020

Police called to home of Michael Cohen, former Trump Lawyer, in early hours of yesterday morning following reports of 'harassment'
- Politico, Jul 8th, 2020

Anonymous leaks new documents linking Trump firms to Kremlin insiders, accuses British naval forces in Falklands of human torturing
- Vox, Jul 25th, 2020

"Further details revealed there were reoccurring instances of large cash deposits between Columbus Nova, a New York investment company closely tied to Kremlin insider Viktor Vekselberg, and Essential Consultants L.L.C., a shell company used by both Michael Cohen and Donald Trump. While instances of these payments have been made public beforehand during the investigation regarding the payment of pornographic actress Stormy Daniels, pay stubs indicate a possible larger payment plans yet to be disclosed in court."
- excerpts from a summary article published by The Atlantic, July 29th, 2020

Warrant issued for several former lobbyists tied to Columbus Nova
- Law & Crime, Aug 2nd, 2020

Is ICE hiding crucial information on domestic sex trafficking?
- Jacobin, Aug 5th, 2020

Katie Johnson, who sued Trump for rape in 1994 party hosted by Jeffery Epstein, to reopen assault suit
- National Review, Aug 6th, 2020

Fresh allegations of Biden sexual abuse surface, claimants as young as 17 file suit
- Fox News, Aug 11th, 2020

BREAKING: Cybercriminal network using Sodinokibi claim “motherload” of incriminating data on POTUS stolen in recent ransomware attack
- NBC News, Aug 6th, 2020

Trump wire transfers made through private real estate firms:
1. Marib Upstream Services Company, Bermuda
2. Franklin Community Federal Credit Union, Nebraska
3. Ferrous Resources, Brazil
4. Scientia Health Group, Bermuda
5. Brociti Investments Limited, Cyprus
receipts to follow

- @ransomwareleaks, Aug 7th, 2020

James Biden, Biden's brother, caught in FBI sting, also made wire transfers to Brociti Investments Ltd.
- Teen Vouge, Aug 7th, 2020

Biden-Burisma allegations reignite after parent company of natural gas producer named in recent leaks
- Fox News, Aug 8th, 2020

BREAKING: James Biden links to Southern Trust Co. REVEALED
- Fox News, Aug 15th, 2020

BREAKING: Michael Cohen found dead in residential home, suicide suspected
- CNN, September 11th, 2020

White House oddly silent on Cohen death
- DailyKaos, September 14th, 2020

Was a Du Pont hier tied to Biden involved in the death of Michael Cohen?
- National Enquirer, September 15th, 2020

Bombshell: Individuals detained during Operation Rescue claim they received donations from Cohen shell company
- MSNBC, September 22nd, 2020

Trump retweets 4chan conspiracy claiming trafficked children identified Biden, Hillary after rescue
- CNN, October 1st, 2020

BREAKING: Photos surface of Hunter Biden partying with Vitaly Kurskov, ex Russian MP and convicted child molester
- Fox News, October 2nd, 2020

Study: Almost half of Americans 'firmly' believe in conspiracy theories, more than a third 'aware' of context
- Pew Research Center, October 9th, 2020

Did you just copy and paste the numbers from the 1972 Election box?
 
McGovern got 17 and all of those numbers are the exact same as 1972
In that case it's crazy how politics do that
How did Bundy fare in the primaries?
Initially, well enough. But when Hawley came through and smashed the first super tuesday into bits he kinda fell off. His people scrounged up some blackmail that gets him put on the ticket, tho.
 
John Lennon gets assassinated in 1975? :)
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An account where, in Wikipedia?
My sandbox?

Yes.

It's basically a place where you can store unfinished wikipedia pages and boxes. So instead of having to create an actual page all at once, you can slowly work on it in your sandbox and see how it looks there. For fake infoboxes, you can either save them there, or just use it as a place to display them before taking a picture (I use the Snip tool and Paint to arrange thing).

Fair warning, I've heard accounts of wikipedia editors deleting them if they're obviously not real wikipedia articles in the making.
 
Well At Least Everything Isn’t On Fire; 1988 Election
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(Wikibox by the ever excellent @rosa who made it for this idea)
To say 1988 was a mess was an understatement. What was meant to be a slam dunk for Jerry Brown ended up being a slog that brought forth the 90s in the eyes of most Americans. After 8 years of Joe Biden’s Middle of the Road Presidency, Americans wanted change. It’s what Reagan had offered in 1968, McCall in 76 and Biden in 80. Jerry Brown looked to be that man at first, the face of the Reform movement within the Democratic Party and Biden’s caustic Vice President, Brown easily won the Primaries against the flailing of Hart, Argan and Milk. Brown looked like he could win over the people of America with his Populist Reform rhetoric. He just had two problems; Nader and Weicker.

Nader thought that Brown wouldn’t go far enough, believing his rhetoric was all show. He drafted himself to join Jesse Jackson’s Citizens Party, created in the wake of the 84’ upset. Unlike Jackson, who had a number of substantial problems, Nader had the charisma and clean image that could allow the Citizens to get on the road again. Nader decided to fight the election on a manifesto influenced by the radical Kinnock Government with advice from the two Gould’s that had left the charge. Nader’s Pragmatic Left Wing message would deflate Brown’s awkward Populism.

And there was Weicker.

Since 1976, the Republicans had been out of power and were competing with Unity on there ‘Left’ and Duke’s Populists on there ‘Right’. Meanwhile the Unity Party had become pretty tired since 1981 and were needing to revitalise. Weicker decided that he would be that. After some backdoor deals Weicker would be endorsed by the Republicans in return for Jack Kemp being his running mate. Weicker would fight on a policy of Social Liberalism, Fiscal Conservatism which took the winds out of Brown’s sails.

The debates would be a nightmare, Nader attacked Brown on his failure to fix systemic issues as Governor of California and Weicker attacked Brown on his more outlandish plans like a Moon base and Solar Energy satellites. The polls would fluctuate constantly and what would end up being a Brown slam dunk became a nail biter of an election. In the end Brown would lose to Weicker. Brown would lose by a slim majority and despite blame being placed upon the Citizens Party as being a Left Wing spoiler (as Sanders and Fulani managed to gain Vermont and New York for the Citizens) in the end it would come down to Brown’s Populist rhetoric backfiring as he attacked an establishment he had helped establish.

Weicker’s chapter as President would help bring in the “Nut Nineties” as the schizophrenic nature of his ticket would backfire on him in time and Citizens party was able to gain a louder more popular voice...
 
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