Deceptacon
Dyke to Watch Out For
- Location
- the 520
- Pronouns
- they/she/he
Hey you! Yes you! Are you tired of seeing Clintons in every timeline, universal Kennedys or infinite Bushs?
Tire no longer, for here's a thread for figures who could've become something markedly more! Figures who are lesser-used or obscure and could've had their place in the sun under the correct circumstances, because it's always exciting to use and see new faces. Inspired by a thread over at The Other Place™.
If possible, describing their views and other interesting tidbits is always appreciated. Let's give these poor people some love. I'll start out with a few of my own:
- Jerry Litton - Jerry, Jerry, Jerry. Yes, I know, he's been seeing more action recently (most prominently in Enigma-Conundrum's excellent and pulpy The Beaten Path) but seldom elsewhere. Born into a Depression-era tiny town without electricity, Litton got involved with Symington's '60 run before finding fortune in the cattle business. He then ran and won a House seat in '72, becoming most famous for his TV show Dialogues with Litton in which he sought to increase government transparency (perfect material to get to know the guy, he had interviews with Humphrey and Carter). He then ran in the Senate primary to succeed Symington in '76 before cruelly dying in a plane crash along with most of his family on their way to a celebration. Endlessly witty, personable, and the perfect foil to the whole tax-and-spend liberal image, Litton would be viable presidential material anytime from 1980 onwards if his tragic death is prevented.
- Tom McCall - More of a hipster third-party candidate than a hipster president, but I digress. Former Governor of Oregon from 1967-75, a Republican with a fiercely independent streak (famously being the first Republican governor to call for Tricky Dick's resignation) and 1970s zeitgeist made manifest. BClick wrote an excellent thread here about how he mulled over creating a third party in the era of Watergate. He strikes me as a Jerry Brown type figure with the environmentalism and such, albeit on the other side of the aisle and without all the downsides being Jerry Brown entails.
- Peter Navarro - One of my personal favorites. He's most infamous today as Trump's Director of the Office of Trade and Manufacturing Policy and before that as a fringe anti-China economist, but Navarro tried his hand at a few races in the 1990s, from Mayor of San Diego to a House seat. The fun part about Navarro is how much of a loose cannon he is, going from a Democrat to nonpartisan to Republican to nonpartisan again to Democrat again, you get the picture. He's described himself as both "proud to be carrying the Clinton-Gore banner" and as "a Reagan Democrat abandoned by (his) party." The only constant about him that I can discern is this strong pro-working class, socially progressive nature. He's a great pick for an outsider, anti-establishment populist candidate for either party, although his baggage - namely his abrasive, uncompromising, and generally unconventional nature - would likely make a Navarro presidency just generally miserable for all involved.
- Guy Vander Jagt - Republican Representative from that part of Michigan that seems to churn out politicians with Dutch surnames en masse for some reason. Described by both Nixon and Reagan as the best orator they ever met (the Gipper once joked that he feared having to follow him to a podium as POTUS), delivered the '80 RNC keynote entirely from memory and tried a run for House Minority Leader that same year. If he had won, he could've easily become a prominent Congressional Republican and set himself up for a run in '88 or so. Alternatively makes a solid running mate for Republicans from the 1970s onwards.
I've got plenty more, but I'll save it for now. Excited to see what unfamiliar faces get conjured up, especially for times and places I'm not too familiar with (read: not midcentury American politics) :^)
Tire no longer, for here's a thread for figures who could've become something markedly more! Figures who are lesser-used or obscure and could've had their place in the sun under the correct circumstances, because it's always exciting to use and see new faces. Inspired by a thread over at The Other Place™.
If possible, describing their views and other interesting tidbits is always appreciated. Let's give these poor people some love. I'll start out with a few of my own:
- Jerry Litton - Jerry, Jerry, Jerry. Yes, I know, he's been seeing more action recently (most prominently in Enigma-Conundrum's excellent and pulpy The Beaten Path) but seldom elsewhere. Born into a Depression-era tiny town without electricity, Litton got involved with Symington's '60 run before finding fortune in the cattle business. He then ran and won a House seat in '72, becoming most famous for his TV show Dialogues with Litton in which he sought to increase government transparency (perfect material to get to know the guy, he had interviews with Humphrey and Carter). He then ran in the Senate primary to succeed Symington in '76 before cruelly dying in a plane crash along with most of his family on their way to a celebration. Endlessly witty, personable, and the perfect foil to the whole tax-and-spend liberal image, Litton would be viable presidential material anytime from 1980 onwards if his tragic death is prevented.
- Tom McCall - More of a hipster third-party candidate than a hipster president, but I digress. Former Governor of Oregon from 1967-75, a Republican with a fiercely independent streak (famously being the first Republican governor to call for Tricky Dick's resignation) and 1970s zeitgeist made manifest. BClick wrote an excellent thread here about how he mulled over creating a third party in the era of Watergate. He strikes me as a Jerry Brown type figure with the environmentalism and such, albeit on the other side of the aisle and without all the downsides being Jerry Brown entails.
- Peter Navarro - One of my personal favorites. He's most infamous today as Trump's Director of the Office of Trade and Manufacturing Policy and before that as a fringe anti-China economist, but Navarro tried his hand at a few races in the 1990s, from Mayor of San Diego to a House seat. The fun part about Navarro is how much of a loose cannon he is, going from a Democrat to nonpartisan to Republican to nonpartisan again to Democrat again, you get the picture. He's described himself as both "proud to be carrying the Clinton-Gore banner" and as "a Reagan Democrat abandoned by (his) party." The only constant about him that I can discern is this strong pro-working class, socially progressive nature. He's a great pick for an outsider, anti-establishment populist candidate for either party, although his baggage - namely his abrasive, uncompromising, and generally unconventional nature - would likely make a Navarro presidency just generally miserable for all involved.
- Guy Vander Jagt - Republican Representative from that part of Michigan that seems to churn out politicians with Dutch surnames en masse for some reason. Described by both Nixon and Reagan as the best orator they ever met (the Gipper once joked that he feared having to follow him to a podium as POTUS), delivered the '80 RNC keynote entirely from memory and tried a run for House Minority Leader that same year. If he had won, he could've easily become a prominent Congressional Republican and set himself up for a run in '88 or so. Alternatively makes a solid running mate for Republicans from the 1970s onwards.
I've got plenty more, but I'll save it for now. Excited to see what unfamiliar faces get conjured up, especially for times and places I'm not too familiar with (read: not midcentury American politics) :^)
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