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Lists of Heads of Government and Heads of State

Political career of Kshama Sawant

2009-2012: Private citizen, teacher
- lectured at Seattle University and University of Washington Tacoma, later became adjunct professor at Seattle Central College and visiting assistant professor at Washington and Lee University
2012: Socialist Alternative Party Candidate for Washington House of Representatives' 43rd district (Position 1/Position 2) (Write-in)
out-primaried by Frank Chopp (Democratic)
2013: Socialist Alternative Party Candidate Seattle City Council (Position 2)
defeated Richard Conlin
2014-2022: Member of the Seattle City Council (District 2/District 3)
'15: defeated Pamela Banks
'19: defeated Egan Orion (Nonpartisan)
- first socialist to win a citywide election in Seattle since 1916, first socialist on the City Council since 1877
- called for the expansion of bus and light rail capacity via income tax on higher earners
- successfully lobbied for increase of minimum wage to $15 per hour
- repeatedly clashed with Seattle Mayor Jenny Durkan (2017-2031) over Amazon Inc. donating $1.5 million to opposition council members
- arrested on a charge of disorderly conduct at a $15 minimum wage protest in Seatac
- advocated for the 2020 Capitol Hill Autonomous Zone (CHAZ), received criticism and racist remarks from detractors
- retired position to run for House of Representatives, succeeded by Lorena González
2022: Democratic Party primary candidate for Washington's 4th congressional district
defeated Brooke Kuhl, others
- turned down the nomination, ran as Independent (referred to as 'the Sanders maneuver')
2022-2032: Representative for Washington's 4th congressional district
'22: defeated Tim Eyman (Republican), others
'24: defeated Asa Palagi, Dow Constantine (Independent)
'26: defeated Matt Boehnke
'28: defeated Nick Hanauer
'30: defeated Skyler Rude, John Reuter (Libertarian)
- caucused with Democrats and progressive independents
- platform included widespread antitrust reform, expansion of minority (BAME/LGBTQ+/et al.) rights, and radical environmental protection
- was censured twice by the Republican majority senate for 'harsh language', led a total of 19 congressional walkouts
- attempted to file articles of impeachment against both Presidents Harris (for war crimes committed by soldiers in the Middle East) and Hawley (for insider trading whilst in office)
- Cosponsored an Equity Tax on corporations that the Harris administration rejected
2024-2032: Member of the Squad (congressional group)
serving with Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (NY), Ilhan Omar (MN), Ayanna Pressley (MA), Rashida Tlaib (MI), Jamaal Bowman (NY), Cori Bush (MO), Vincent Ashe (VT), Wilmot Collins (MT), Danica Roem (VA), Justin Bamberg (SC), Jade Bahr (MT), Ruben Gallego (AZ) and others
- initially attempted to distance themselves from the group and operate as a congressional independent but eventually made peace for a unified socialist front in congress
2032: Democratic Party primary candidate for Governor of Washington
out-primaried by Varisha Khan, Riley Clubb, others
2032: Socialist Alternative Party candidate for Governor of Washington
defeated by Varisha Khan, Caleb Heimlich, Dow Constantine (Independent)
2033-2034: Private citizen, activist
- considered as a speculative Secretary of Commerce in the Ocasio-Cortez administration but declined
- took a position of Adjunct Professor at North Seattle College
2034: Socialist Alternative Party candidate for Mayor of Seattle
unopposed
2035-present: Mayor of Seattle
defeated Lisa Herbold, Greg Gilday
 
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Trumpism Ten Years Later

2017 - 2025: Hillary Clinton / Tim Kaine (Democratic)
2016 def. Ted Cruz / Carly Fiorina (Republican), Gary Johnson / William Weld (Libertarian), Jill Stein / Ajamu Baraka (Green)
2020 def. Paul Ryan / Nikki Haley (Republican), Don Blankenship / Joe Arpaio (Constitution), Jesse Ventura / Cynthia McKinney (Green)
2025 - 2029: Mike Lindell / Tom Cotton (Republican)
2024 def. Kamala Harris / Joe P. Kennedy III (Democratic), Mark Cuban / Justin Amash (Libertarian), Nina Turner / Marianne Williamson (Green)
2029 - 2029: Mike Lindell (Republican)
2028 Presidential Election: Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez / Mike Levin (Democratic) def. Mike Lindell / Tom Cotton (Republican), Justin Amash / Max Abramson (Libertarian)
2029 - 0000: Paul M. Nakasone (Military leading 'Nonpartisan' Emergency Government)

Hillary gets in and is immediately stonewalled. She makes a deal with congressional Republicans to pass a budget and fill her cabinet. This incenses the left who have a fairly good midterm unplacing Democratic incumbents amid Democratic losses in the general election. Paul Ryan is ushered in over Donald Trump as the GOP establishment rushes to halt the tide of far-right extremism. Trump refuses to endorse Paul Ryan, even after he begrudgingly endorsed Ted Cruz in a very nebulous speech at the RNC. West Virginia Senator Don Blankenship then runs as a splitter campaign with convicted criminal Joe Arpaio as his running mate and the two do shockingly well despite limited ballot access.

By 2024 Hillary Clinton has found limited success as President. While Obamacare has been saved and a modified version of the TPP has been passed, she hasn't been abled to accomplish much else - including being unable to fill three empty supreme court seats. Trump is dead by 2022 but his torch is picked up by far-right pillow magnate Mike Lindell. Lindell coasts through a disastrous GOP field and becomes the party's nominee at the convention that summer on the backs of growing fascist and conspiratorial organizing. Through the late 2010s and early 2020s, 'The Great Awakening' and 'Z-leaks' conspiracy theories had consumed many on the American right and Lindell - a suspected believer in the conspiracies - made use of their support. Kamala Harris narrowly wins the Democratic nomination, barely beating out left-wing insurgent Ro Khanna and a whole host of liberals and centrists. Harris' selection of Senator Kennedy from Massachusetts was seen by some commentators as a poor choice due to the Senator's general lack of charisma and the vehement opposition 'Z-leakers' had to Kennedy due to the (false) alleged connections between his family, the Clintons, and an ambiguous pedophile cabal of global elites.

Kamala would lose the general election as both left-wing organizing and centrist cash elevated third party campaigns to receiving more than a tenth of the vote combined. Lindell would win in the electoral college while losing in the popular vote. His presidency would revolve around his immigration crackdown, soft-withdrawal from the international scene, repeal of Obamacare, and obscene tax cuts for the wealthy. While Republican congressional leaders tried to guide the Lindell administration closer towards conventional Republican goals, his base within the party expanded and waited with bated breath for 'The Day of Judgement' a date in which Lindell would work with the military to destroy the Democratic Party and root out the "immoral elites" which sought to undermind his administration.

An issue that Lindell avoided entirely was that of climate change. A wave of natural disasters in the mid-to-late 2020s was enough to catapult Senator Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, the darling of the Democratic left, into the Democratic nomination. Her campaign, while hindered by voting rights laws passed by Republican majorities designed to diminish minority and urban turnout, was still able to defeat President Lindell by a decent margin. Lindell would not have it however, he and his staffers had salted the earth for months prior with allegations of potential voter fraud and now they had their time to set their base loose to save their own jobs. Comically bad lawsuits by the Lindell campaign would gain enough right-wing momentum to be heard by the Supreme Court, which went 7-2 against Lindell's spurious allegations even though he had appointed 4 of the Court's members. Next up, Republicans (who after maintaining strong majorities in both houses of Congress now only controlled the Senate by 3 votes and the House by 10) in Congress planned to object to the current valid count in the electoral college. These plans were thwarted when a dozen Republicans in the Senate and nearly three dozen in the House announced their intent to stand against their colleagues on this issue.

In most Z lore the 'Day of Judgement' occurred on January 6th, 2029 when an army of President Lindell's supporters stormed the Capitol Building during the verification of the electoral college and killed dozens of lawmakers - including Senator Ocasio-Cortez, Senator Levin, and Vice President Cotton. That night, Lindell informed the country that he was declaring martial law and putting the verification of the electoral college on hold. The nation (a majority of which had not voted for Lindell) rioted and the military struggled to maintain control in major urban centers. While the nation burned, Lindell planned his "second inauguration" and informed military leaders that he planned on prosecuting a war against China before the year was out. Lindell's growing madness and paranoia was enough to lead the military to remove him hours before his planned inaugural celebration on January 20th. Lindell's arrest and a brief shootout at the White House traumatized the American right which had come to stand uniformly behind Lindell as their leader.

Support for the 'Nonpartisan Emergency Government' with Chairman of the Joint Chiefs Paul Nakasone at the head was hard to come by. Some centrists and conservatives were relieved by Nakasone's administration - and even some liberals were at first. But now going into early spring the emergency administration has made clear their intent to stay "for the duration of the crisis." A crises, which seems to be growing more dire by the day. Military defections over the past couple months has severely weakened the federal government. Vast tracts of many urban centers have become 'autonomous zones' run by leftists of varied stripes. The situation isn't looking better in rural areas either. Right-wing terrorists in Northern California and across the Great Plains attack rail lines and highways, megachurch pastors corral their flock against Nakasone, and many communities have become base to rudimentary pro-Lindell militias. Rising political figures across the political spectrum have condemned the emergency government in the harshest words from socialists like Governor Lee Carter and Senator Nika Elugardo to more moderate Democrats and Independents like Senator Cory Booker and Businessman Mark Cuban and Lindellists like Senator Matt Gaetz and Governor Marjorie Taylor Greene.

Entering April the Nakasone government had been unable to quell the unrest gripping the country. He now must consider whether to bomb American cities and level American towns or let his government fall.
 
Ready for Government ‘83- Part 1 The Bad Fairy

1984-1987 David Steel (Liberal/SDP Alliance Minority)
Def: Margaret Thatcher (Conservative) Michael Foot (Labour) David Molyneaux (UUP) Gordon Wilson (SNP) Dafydd Wigley (Plaid Cymru) Ian Paisley (DUP) John Hume (SDLP) Ruairí Ó Brádaigh (Sinn Fein) James Kilfedder (UPUP)

1984 was an election that would change British politics forever. The Alliance formed of the Liberals, on the rise again under David Steel and the SDP, formed of Labour’s “Squad of Fourteen,” defectors who saw Labour under Michael Foot and Tony Benn as moving too far to the left. Still, going from a low starting point, The Alliance’s lead in the polls only managed to give them 316 seats, short of a majority government. It was only after several days of talks with both Labour and the Conservatives, both on front and back benches. Some accommodation was found with both of the other parties’ moderates to get bills through government.

Labour would moderate under Dennis Healey, while Thatcher somehow survived the chop following the ‘84 election, something which lead to several Tories such as Norman St John Stevas and Stephen Dorrell to outright defect to the Liberal Party and the Tories to lose votes to the Alliance. The Alliance managed to get through some of its platform such as the streamlining of benefits and their industrial democracy act.

Buoyed by this success and being on track to secure a majority in the next election the Alliance began moves to merge into a single party to further unify their approach. Something opposed by certain voices within the SDP, notably David Owen, the current Foreign Secretary. Despite this the party went ahead and merged, naming themselves the Social and Liberal Democrats. In protest David Owen would withdraw from the party and government, taking thirty seven MPs with him. The government would then face a vote of no confidence, one thing Labour and the Conservatives could agree on, with the SDP abstaining.

1987-1991 David Steel (Social and Liberal Democrat (Later Liberal Democrat)- Labour coalition)
Def: Margaret Thatcher (Conservative) Dennis Healey (Labour) David Molyneaux (UUP) Gordon Wilson (SNP) Dafydd Wigley (Plaid Cymru) Ian Paisley (DUP) John Hume (SDLP) Ruairí Ó Brádaigh (Sinn Fein) James Kilfedder (UPUP)

The 1987 election was a messy one, with four different parties going up for most seats, more so outside of England.

In the end, conflict with the SDP meant the SLD lost seats on ‘83 and it was concluded that they’d need to form a full coalition with one of the parties. With many of the anti Labour voices gone and many of the anti SDP voices in Labour further from the leadership Steel and Healey came to an agreement on a platform of moderate left wing policies. Social Liberalism was a common ground, with a greater focus on women and minorities in government with the Coalition creating the position of minister for women. Facing the protest vote of the Green Party the government also invested in a Ministry of Environmental Protection and a greater focus on energy conservation.

Referendums were held in Scotland and Wales over devolution with the Scottish Parliament holding more powers than the Welsh Assembly. The former was approved by an overwhelming majority and the latter by a slim 1%. The first elections were held in 1990, leading to a Labour-SLD coalition in Scotland and a Labour minority government in wales

The coalition also saw the radical overhaul of the House of Lords, removing the power of hereditary peers, limiting the house’s size and phasing in elections for the house of Lords, starting in 1989. Lords would be elected by proportional representation, every five years, to 15 year terms, phasing out 80% of appointed peers.

The SLDs, being the larger party put their foot down on electoral reform and the compromise of a two stage referendum was agreed on, going to the polls at the same time as the Scottish and Welsh devolution


Electoral Reform referendum
Replace: 52% Keep: 48%
Single Transferable Vote 37% Mixed Member Proportional:: 32% Alternative Vote: 31%

The SLDs had two things going in their favour in the electoral reform referendum. Firstly they had won the popular vote twice but the system still favoured Labour and The Conservatives. The SLD’s awkward ex partners the SDP, the Greens, the SNP and Plaid Cymru and some Labour back benchers. also backed electoral reform as did the Alliance, Sinn Fein and SDLP, making for a broad coalition for reform.

The other thing was the argument that electoral reform would lead to coalition governments was negated by the existence of the Coalition Govt. in power at that time.

In the end a slim majority decided they wanted to get rid of First Past the Post. The second question was more divided on which system to replace it with. In the end the SLD’s choice of system would win. Owing its success in part to branding it “The county system” in much of the country (Similar branding elsewhere such as “The borough system” in London would also help.

Believe it or not, the coalition would stick together before calling it quits in 1991 amid favourable polling for both parties and go to the polls under the new system.
 
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"From a Rose, an Empire Grows": the Tudor Empire (1485-1707)

Kings of England (House of Tudor)

1485-1509: Henry VII

1509-1547: Henry VIII “the Great”

1547-1590: Edward VI “the Puritan”

1590-1599: Thomas I*

*Kingdom merged with Scotland to form Empire of Great Britain


Kings of Scotland (House of Stuart)

1488-1513: James IV

1513-1542: James V

1542-1580: Mary I “Queen of Scots”

1580-1599: Thomas I*

*Kingdom merged with England to form Empire of Great Britain


Emperor of Great Britain (House of Tudor-Stuart)

1599-1616: Thomas I [1]

1616-1635: Frederick I “the Dragon/the Fallen” [2]

1635-1670: Thomas II** “the Cavalier” [3]

1670-1674: Frederick II [4]

1674-1707: Catherine I*** [5]

**Disputed by Prince John Henry of Albany (1641-1645)

*** Succession disputed between Princess Margarette and Henri of Anjou, and Princess Eric of Denmark


[1] Progeny of the last Monarchs of independent England and Scotland, Thomas I had far from an easy time of it. The Union of the two Kingdoms into one Empire was not the certainty that later scholars wrote, and animosity on both sides was deeply engraved despite the efforts of Edward and Mary to the contrary. To a certain extent, the religious differences between the co-monarchs even exacerbated the problems: as Mary became the champion of Catholic dissidents in the English nobility; and Edward encouraging greater extremism in Scottish bishops and ministers like John Knox. However, all was not wholly bad, as a joint Anglo-Scottish foreign policy became an intriguing new development on Europe as an counter weight to Hapsburg power in the Netherlands and joint ventures into Ireland.

The death of Mary and the succession of Thomas I to the first of his two thrones brought about a pause in cooperation, while the new King got his ducks in a row over the religious questions, taking a more moderate and tolerant view than his paternal Protestantism might have suggested. Many Scots were happy to go along with their new King as he demanded a separate Scottish Church from the Anglican, and Edward was fairly content to leave his son to his devices as he launched further campaigns into the Netherlands and the French wars of Religion. The new calm on the Northern side of the border would prove useful for the English especially, as Thomas led an army of 30,000 to bolster his Father and eventually threw out the Spanish after the Armada landed in 1588.

Thomas I's part in this victory won back the support of English nobles who felt he'd "gone native" since holding court at Edinburgh, and many were happy to fall in line when he sent peace envoys to Phillip II when he in turn ascended the English throne two years later. Firmly ensconced on two thrones, Thomas then took the plunge to consolidate them into one - a difficult feat and one he spent almost a decade jumping and cajoling various political factions into accepting the union of the two nations. Scottish nobles were granted assurances that they would retain positions of influence and government, or otherwise bribed with large grants of land in the new Irish territories; the English proved much less keen on the endeavour, unsure of the Union’s financial viability, worries about the legal position of Parliament or its being watered down with the addition of new Scottish members.

After 9 years back and forth, Thomas I’s political acumen managed to sooth the English ego and both Parliaments passed Bills which announced the Union of two separate Kingdoms into one Empire spanning the island of Great Britain, with Thomas as its first Emperor, crowned in a special ceremony on 31st December, 1599 at Westminster Abbey. The years that followed were quiet in comparison to the Emperor's time as Dual Monarch, and he spent the remainder of his reign keeping the peace with Spain and tying up the legal and legislative consequences of the Union, as well as tightening his grip on non-Imperial land in the still separate Ireland, and French territories given to the English to end their Continental expeditions in France and Hapsburg lands.
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[2] While Thomas the First was a quiet, practical and humble administrator who planned on peace and prosperity and cultivating resources already in his possession, his grandson and heir Fredrick was anything but.

Born scant months before the coronation of his predecessor as Emperor, Fredrick grew up in his Grandfather’s court and took his view that the new Empire’s future would be secured by a centralise, Protestant monarchy, with Parliament as a legal means to establish his authority. However, where he differed was means: while Thomas aimed for financial security, trade and diplomacy; Fredrick was a student of the Edwardian school of diplomacy, and from an early age showed an aptitude for military affairs which largely starved but for infrequent reports of violence in Ireland.

Nevertheless, Frederick’s enthusiasm troubled the Peace Party in the Empire, led by the Emperor which only grew deeper after the death of the Prince of Wales in 1615. When the Emperor followed his son a year later, Parliament became increasingly concerned as Frederick I began taking a more hawkish line toward Spain.

Despite the expectations of many, and the Emperor’s wishes, he held off diving straight into the Thirty Years’ War, as the condition of the Empire’s military situation was revealed to be truly woeful after the years of neglect. Military reform became Frederick’s initial focus, building up British ordnance to match continental armies and refitting the navy that had been going underfunding since its poor showing in preventing the Armada landing decades previous. Much of this funding was pushed through Parliament by Fredrick’s endorsement of the increasingly Protestant extremist legislation that effectively ended the more tolerant religious policies of Thomas I.

As the continental war began to turn in Catholic favour, Britain signed a Treaty with Sweden, and both countries invaded Germany in aid of the Protestants. While Gustav II smashed through the Catholic coalition in Brandenburg and Saxony, Frederick I won his own fame by clawing his way to restoring his brother-in-law, Elector Fredrick V, to the Palatine with a British-Dutch Army in 1633. After Gustav’s death, Britain quickly took the sole mantle of leadership and his banner of a Welsh dragon clutching a rose and thistle in either claw soon transitioned into his famous moniker and rallying banner for the Protestants. Had Fredrick now decided to make Peace it was very likely that a Protestant victory could have been assured, however the new conqueror prevaricated, and his brother-in-law began insisting on his restoration to the throne of Bohemia.

In this interval, a revanchist France launched attacks on British possessions on the mainland. Forced to leave many of his German troops behind, Fredrick turned around to save the English line to the sea. Although France’s army was defeated at the what the English call the 2nd Battle of Agincourt (or what the everyone else prefers to call the Siege of Boulogne), Frederick the Dragon would be counted among the fallen after a cannonball struck him from his horse, and the war bumbled along for another 13 years, while Britain fell into mourning and then Civil War.
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[3] The sudden shock of losing the Emperor almost immediately plunged the fledgling Empire into chaos. While on campaign, Frederick I had ruled mainly by dictates announced to Parliament and implemented by his Council, nominally led by the Earl of Warwick, but there had been no official leadership or designated regent for the 10 year old Prince of Wales. With the power vacuum, the formerly stable situation began to unravel, with the Continental War becoming suddenly static but with British territories still in the line of fire.

For the next two years, serious political infighting broke out between new factions that sprang out of the woodwork and all voices of authority were made powerless to reign it in: the King was isolated from the centre of power at Ludlow; Warwick was removed from his position by his fellow councillors and sent to salvage the rabble that had become of the Army in France; in protest, Parliament voted a halt to new taxation and held off funds to continue the war. Enraged, as the turn of the decade brought increasingly bad news from Germany, the Council showed a brief spurt of unity as they tried to circumvent Parliament and forced the Emperor to name an Imperial Regent of their choice: Prince John Henry, Duke of Albany, was the oldest Royal Uncle and had been a councillor in his own right, though rarely made appearances at Court and had spent much of his brother’s reign as Viceroy of Ireland, profiting from the religious changes to confiscate lands of those too Protestant or too Catholic.

Ultimately, the new Regent did what his noble backers wanted, dismissing Parliament and ruling personally as dictator, however to enforce his will on the nation he needed an army, and summoned troops from the mainland to do so. This in turn ignited the tinder box as the troops sent to fight Catholics abroad, now returned to collect their own pay and soon spread out of control. Attempts by Parliament to reconvene in London were outlawed, the House occupied by the Regent’s soldiers, and some members forced to flee abroad.

In order to restore stability, Warwick, the Elder Statesman and opponent of Albany, now went to the now mature(ish) Emperor himself to request an end the Regency – if only as a measure to remove his Uncle from the reins of power. Prince John’s refusal, and announcing his claim as Emperor, are considered the start of the British Civil War between Henricians (or Roundheads, for their increasingly spartan appearances as the war went on) and Loyalist (or Cavaliers, romanticised mainly for the number of foreign nobility, princes and exiles who visited or fought alongside them). It was a war of attrition that Henricians were bound to lose as his formerly fresh army eroded in absence of support from every religious, political, diplomatic or financial avenue he pursued. John Henry ended the War after surrendered his army at Dover, unable to flee after Loyalist aligned Dutch Fleet blockaded the Channel. He was executed at Tyburn by the restored Thomas II, who now undertook the task of Restoration.

While it has become traditional to paint Thomas II’s reign as a mirror image of Thomas I, a genuine comparison proves the idea sheer laziness. Certainly, after the Civil War a general amnesty set in, and Thomas II quickly agreed to the terms at the Peace of Westphalia that he was determined to abide; as well as not quite tolerance but more indifference in religious matters, as Protestant and Catholic extremists left to settle the New World with Henrician exiles.

The end of Thomas II’s reign is the arguable high point of the Tudor dynasty, as the post-War stability, twinned with the Freedom from French heirlooms in Picardie and Calais, meant that new opportunities in the West and East had to be found. More Sugar Islands were settled, and a new effort to revive the failed Tobacco colonies at the River Thomas boomed, as did British efforts to get in on the Spice Trade making outposts the East Indies, Africa, China and Bengal. This change in the economic situation of the Empire however did result in a change of its typical diplomacy, and France rapidly became the new ally as the Dutch and Swedish became colonial rivals and interest in what happened in the German states declined after the Empire’s ability to deploy a large army to the continent had died at Westphalia.

Thomas II is also credited for the rise in Power and standing of Parliament, using it as the perfect sounding board and balancing act from many of the disgruntled factions after the Civil War. The lessons of his early reign stayed with him, and he increasingly grew to abhor violence on a personal level as he advanced in age which accounted for his promotion of many reconciliatory figures like Warwick, Hobbes and Richard Cromwell within his inner circle.
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[4] The black sheep of the Early Emperors: history has given Fredrick II a poor reputation he did not deserve. Mainly due to his disputed sexuality, developed from his closeness to certain male courtiers and his lack of heirs, or even arguably consummation of his marriage. Nevertheless, we owe a debt to Fredrick. Late Tudor architecture owes much to his sponsorship, as does much of the Art and Culture best remembered from the time and even earlier. Fredrick personally funded the refurbishment of the Globe Theatre and brought about the Thomasian revival of works by Fletcher, Jonson and de Vere that have since endured. He also encouraged the settlement of foreign artists in London on a scale not seen since Henry VIII.
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[5] The first Empress of Great Britain and last ruler of the Tudor-Stuart dynasty, Catherine I’s reign can be split into two halves. The first, wherein she was largely absent from the country, and ruled absently from her husband’s kingdom of Denmark-Norway; and the second, when she returned from Copenhagen after John III died in 1691.

Originally, the reason for the Empress not returning to her land of birth was because of the on-going blockade of Zealand by the Swede-Dutch fleet in the War of Hanoverian Succession. But even after the peace was signed Catherine still remained reticent to leave. Historians continue to disagree over the exact reasons for why Catherine only returned briefly for a coronation before returning to Denmark, but the most common explanation remains the Empress’s devotion to her family which was experiencing turmoil at the time: John III’s fragile mental and physical health (he has been since posthumously diagnosed as manic depressive, schizophrenic and haemophilic); her son Eric’s collapsing relationship with his own wife and the Danish nobility; and the death of her youngest daughter, Augusta.

Despite the monarch’s personal trouble, her Empire flourished as she deputized rule to Parliament and Sir Anthony Woodward. European distractions meant that Britain was able to step ahead in the spice trade across India and made encroaches into the Dutch monopoly in the East Indies. At the same times more land was settled across the Americas, River Thomas tobacco colonies becoming increasingly profitable as treaties with Powhatan Indians meant integrating with the colonists, and the lands assimilated under the British flag, as well as the flourishing of the Plymouth Colony further North in what would later become Fredricksland. South, Britain also profited from acts of supreme hypocrisy, despatching a fleet that seized the Spanish privateer port on River Plate while encouraging British pirates in the Caribbean to increase their attacks on Spanish sugar and slave trade. These enterprises became the backbone that achieved London and the Royal Exchange surpassing the Antwerp Bourse as Europe’s biggest trading house.

The architect of much of this was Catherine’s regent, Francis Calvert: the Duke of Cleveland, and one of many prodigies that were cultivated under Fredrick II. Yet this was not accomplished without much opposition. While much of the nobility, particularly in the North of England and Scotland were behind Calvert, the Church, South of England and Ireland, and the religious factions in the Commons gradually coalesced into a single unit around Sir Anthony Woodward. And when the Empress returned, Cleveland fell from grace, and Woodward’s star rose.

Anthony Woodward was an iron bottomed puritan and traditionalist, who tried his best to hold off much of the emerging social, political and economic changes of what we now call the Enlightenment. His main method of doing this was by forcing heavy taxes and tariffs on imported goods to impact the growing Coffee House culture that was at the spearhead of the changes. He also instructed magistrates to introduce curfews in certain city districts known for their theatres and public houses, and new legislation for ports meant to restrict piracy, the latter of which had little impact on events in the New World. The new oppression brought about a steady increase in social unrest that culminated in the ‘Blythe Affair’ (an attempt to impound the ship of Captain Marcus Blythe led to attacks on officials in Bristol that culminated in a lynching) and the ‘Avon Rising’, where resistance to closure of Avon Coffee House in Campden led to locals clashing with militia, in a scuffle that ended with dead on both sides.

Ultimately, the rise in violence led to a collapse in parliamentary support for Woodward, and he was duly removed from power by the Empress, with the Duke of Cleveland put in place as Chief Minister. Interestingly, Catherine had little quarrel with Parliament as it became its own beast that could challenge the Monarch on certain prerogatives and make policy for the nation itself: the fact being that by now, it was impossible to govern Britain without Parliament. This was something she clearly understood, but foreigners did not – such was the cause for the diplomatic crisis that followed over the succession.

Technically, after Catherine, the Crown should have gone to her eldest son, be he had abdicated the right after being crowned King of Denmark, which had thrown the matter into some doubt, as the twins, Prince Eric and Princess Margarette fell next into place. Catherine favoured her daughter, as did Parliament for her marriage to the French Protestant war hero, Prince Henri. The Danes, however, and their Dutch allies, advocated Prince Eric. Diplomatic pressure from foreign courts increased on Catherine to confirm Eric as her successor, in spite of the 1701 Act of Parliament that defined Margarette as heir to the Throne, to rule as co-Monarch with Henri. The crisis continued to simmer another six years before Catherine died, and the War of British Succession began…
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Chief Commissioner of the British Republic

The Chief Commissioner has been the head of government of the British Republic since the post was created in the 1936 Constitution creating the Third British Republic. The Chief Commissioner is the head of the Executive Commission of the British Republic, otherwise known as the Cabinet. The Chief Commissioner is appointed by the Lord President after receiving a vote of confidence from the National Assembly and is usually the head of the largest party in the Assembly. There are no fixed-terms for Chief Commissioner.

1. Frederick Pethick-Lawrence | 1936-1942
National Spencean Alliance

2. Alfred Robens | 1942-1951
National Spencean Alliance

3. Harry Crookshank | 1951-1961
National Conservative Union

4. Peter Thorneycroft | 1961-1967
National Conservative Union

5. Hilary Marquand | 1967-1972
National Spencean Alliance

6. Barbara Castle | 1972-1973
National Spencean Alliance

7. Peter Thomas | 1973-1984
National Conservative Union

8. Eric Varley | 1984-1988
National Spencean Alliance

9. John Wakeham | 1988-1991
National Conservative Union

10. Eric Varley | 1991-1993
National Spencean Alliance

11. Ann Taylor | 1993-2001
National Spencean Alliance

12. Chris Smith | 2001-2010
National Spencean Alliance

13. Peter Hain | 2010-2014
National Spencean Alliance

14. Patricia Scotland | 2014-2019
National Spencean Alliance

15. Charlotte Vere | 2019-Present
National Conservative Union
 
Mere Anarchy
1961-63: Hubert Humphrey/Hale Boggs (Democrat)
1960: Richard Nixon/Henry Cabot Lodge Jr (Republican)
1963-65: Hubert Humphrey/ (vacant) (Democrat)
1965-69: Hubert Humphrey/Robert Wagner Jr. (Democrat)
1964: Henry Cabot Lodge Jr./Roman Hruska (Republican), George Wallace/Albert Watson (Independent)
1969-73: George McGovern/Terry Sanford (Democrat)
1968: Barry Goldwater/Ezra Taft Benson (Republican)
1973-81: Ed Gurney/Charles Percy (Republican)
1972: Terry Sanford/Henry Jackson (Democrat)
1976: Stewart Udall/Tom Eagleton (Democrat)
1981- : Tom Turnipseed/Hyman A. Pressman (Democrat)
1980: J.B. Anderson/Bill Brock (Republican), Eugene McCarthy/Earl Ravenal (New Liberty)
1984: Dick Cheney/Ed Zschau (Republican), Hunter S. Thompson/David Bergland (NLP)
1989-91: Edward J. King/Barry Goldwater Jr. (Republican/Fusion NLP)
1988: (Democrat), Mike Gravel/ (Continuity NLP)
1992: (Democrat)
1997- : Barry Goldwater Jr./ (Republican)
1996: (Democrat)
 
Northern Irish Labour Party Leaders (1987-1999)
1987-1992: Paddy Devlin
1987 def: *Unopposed*
1992-1999: Mark Langhammer
1992 def: Peter Hadden
*Merger with Democratic Left*

Northern Irish Labour Party Leaders (1999-)
1999-2005: Seamus Lynch
1999 def: Mark Langhammer, Malachi Curran, May Blood
2005-2010: Jane Morrice
2005 def: Mark Langhammer
2010-2015: Paddy Lillis
2010 def: Dr Paul Arthur
2015-2019: Dr Paul Arthur
2015 def: Anna McAleavy, Conor McGinn
2019: Claire Hanna
2019 def: Conor McGinn

The awkward red haired step child of the British Labour party, the Northern Irish Party was created in 1987 when the SDLP started making airs towards the FF and Charles Haughey, Kinnock decided to make the Labour 87' thing official and it would manage to do...okay on the council level (helped by entering into a electoral pact with the Alliance). Much of Labour would forget about the party's existence until it merged with the nascent Democratic Left in the North and subsequently elected Seamus Lynch leader. Having a former O/C from the OIRA be your party leader was an awkward look even if Lynch hadn't taken part in any OIRA for about a decade, but Lynch didn't care what the Left or Right of the Labour Party said about him, he was going to ensure that Northern Irish Labour held a place within the Northern Irish society, through a number of local projects, working with trade unions and generally becoming one of the few parties in Northern Ireland who was Anti-Sectarian. It would do okay and Lynch would retire happy, he was replaced by Jane Morrice who couldn't find a way to make Northern Irish Labour fit within the Brownite Conesus and was cast aside as a result. Paddy Lillis would also be an attempt to awkwardly jam the NILP into contemporary British Labour and yet again, it didn't happen.

Dr Paul Arthur would be elected on a voice of cool, calm Left Wing ideals as the former civil rights activist, former PD member and History/Politics professor tried to make NILP a thing as the SDLP became officially Fianna Fail in the North. It did well amongst the grumbly Northern Irish Left and the young folk tired of the same old sectarian politics. 2019 would see the NILP rocket up like never before alongside there partner, The Alliance. Arthur would step down a happy man and his successor Claire Hanna seems set to continue on his legacy.


*Dr Paul Arthur is my grandad's brother, he wrote a book on People's Democracy and is definitely on the Northern Irish Left. He's like a number of those Civil Rights Activists who didn't like the whole 'Nationalist' discussion either*
 
So this has grown somewhat in the telling given this was initially a mental shitpost, but the core concept remains deeply silly. I'm up to 3 or 4 pages of notes, I'm not out the 20s and I keep thinking of more things to add, so I might do something similar to this, or at least with this PoD and general shape, as an actual honest-to-goodness short TL, probably with a different format. But I figured I'd get this out there in the meantime.

Gimmich should become pretty obvious by the end.

1908-1919: H.H. Asquith (Liberal)

Jan 1910 (Liberal minority) def. Conservative (Arthur Balfour), Irish Parliamentary (John Redmond), Labour (Arthur Henderson), All-For-Ireland (William O’Brien)

Dec 1910 (Liberal minority with Irish Parliamentary support) def. Conservative (Arthur Balfour), Irish Parliamentary (John Redmond), Labour (George Barnes), All-For-Ireland (William O’Brien)

1914-1916 Wartime Ministry of all the Talents (Liberal, Conservative, IPP and Labour, opposed by Independent Labour after 1915).

1916 (Liberal-IPP-Labour “Home Rule Coalition”) def. Conservative(Andrew Bonar Law), IPP (John Redmond), Labour(Arthur Henderson) Sinn Fein (Arthur Griffith), Independent Labour (J.R.Clynes)

1919-1922: Andrew Bonar Law† (Unionist)

1919 (Unionist Minority with National Liberal support) def. Liberal (H.H. Asquith), IPP(John Dillon), Labour (Ramsey MacDonald), National Liberal (David Lloyd George), Sinn Fein (Éamon de Valera)

Wartime Ministry of all the talents (Unionist, Liberal, IPP, Labour and National Liberal, opposed by "Peace" Labour and Sinn Fein)1921-1924

1922-1925 H.H. Asquith (Liberal)

May 1924 (“Well-Hung” Parliament) Unionist (Edward Carson), Liberal (H.H Asquith), Labour (Ramsey MacDonald), IPP(John Dillon), National Liberal (Ian MacPherson), Sinn Fein (Éamon de Valera), Independent Labour (J.R.Clynes)

Dec 1924 (Liberal-IPP-Labour “Radical Coalition”) def. Unionist (Austen Chamberlain), IPP(John Dillon), National Liberal (Ian MacPherson), Sinn Fein (Éamon de Valera)

1926-1928: Ramsey MacDonald (Radical)

1926 (Radical Minority, with defacto Sinn Fein support) def. Unionist (Austen Chamberlain), Sinn Fein (Michael Collins), National Liberal (Herbert Samuel), Independent Radicals (David Lloyd George defacto)


1928-1938: Samuel Hoare (Unionist)

1928 (Unionist Majority) def. Radical(Ramsey MacDonald), National Liberal/Imperial Radical alliance (Herbert Samuel/David Lloyd George), Sinn Fein (Michael Collins), Independent Labour (Arthur Henderson defacto)

1934 (Unionist Majority) def. Radical (Clement Attlee), National Liberal/Imperial Radical alliance (Herbert Samuel/Winston Churchill), Sinn Fein (W. T. Cosgrave), Social Democratic(Arthur Henderson)

1938-1944: Anthony Eden (Unionist)

1939 (Unionist Majority) def. Radical (Clement Attlee), Liberal Imperial(Archibald Sinclair), Sinn Fein (W. T. Cosgrave), Social Democratic(R. Palme Dutt)

1940-1942 Wartime Ministry of All the Talents (Unionist, Radical, Liberal Imperial and Social Democratic (defacto) opposed by Sinn Fein and Social Democratic (de jure)).

1944-1954: Clement Davies (Radical)

1944 (Radical Majority) def. Unionist (Anthony Eden), Liberal Imperial(Archibald Sinclair), Sinn Fein (W.T.Cosgrave), Social Democratic(Harry Pollitt)

1948 (Radical Majority) def. Unionist (Alec Douglas-Home, Lord Dunglass), Liberal Imperial(Michael Donnellan), Social Democratic(Harry Pollitt), Sinn Fein (W.T.Cosgrave)

1952 (Radical Majority) def. Unionist (Robert Gascoyne-Cecil, 5th Marquess of Salisbury), Social Democratic (William Norton), Liberal Imperial (Rhys Hopkin Morris), Sinn Fein (Richard Mulcahy)

1954-1957: Stafford Cripps (Radical)

1957-1963: Selwyn Lloyd (Unionist)

1957(Unionist- Liberal Imperial “Liberty” Coalition), def. Radical (Stafford Cripps), Liberal Imperial(Jo Grimond), Social Democatic (Aneurin Bevin), Sinn Fein (Richard Mulcahy)

1960 Irish Republic Plebiscite (43% Republic, 57% Remain)

1962 (Unionist Majority) def Radical (Megan Lloyd George), Sinn Fein (Jack Lynch), Britannia Sui Iuris (Enoch Powell), Social Democatic(Aneurin Bevin/Barbara Castle), Liberal Imperial(Jo Grimond)

1963 United League of Nations Referendum (53% Depart, 47% Remain)

1963-1965: Harold MacMillan (Unionist)

1964 (Unionist Minority) def. Radical (Hugh Gaitskell), Sinn Fein (Jack Lynch), Liberal Imperial(Jo Grimond), Social Democatic(Barbara Castle/James Wilson), Britannia Sui Iuris (Enoch Powell)

1965- : R. A. Butler (Unionist)

1966 (Unionist Majority) def Radical (Hugh Gaitskell), Sinn Fein (Jack Lynch), Liberal Imperial (Jeremy Thorpe), Social Democatic (Barbara Castle/Leonard Callaghan), Everlasting Hope (Edward Heath), Britannia et Imperia Renovator (Enoch Powell)
 
JeffreyArchersnemesis said:
I might be really dumb but I think I missed the gimmick here...
Click to expand...

So the other day I was comparing the current leaders of the opposition to past ones, and came to the conclusion that the current political setup seemed to map quite well to that of the late 1950s and early 1960s. That was until I looked a bit further, and realised that this meant I was comparing Jeremy Corbyn to Hugh Gaitskell.

I then decided to build a world where this comparison made sense.

So for Gaitskell to be considered a mad radical, this means that Labour never fully breaks through, and so he's considered a mad radical in the context of a Liberal rather than (at least nominally) Socialist party, hence the Radicals. My 1966 is pretty much exactly 2019, with Rab = BoJo, Gaitskell = Corbyn, Lynch = Sturgeon, Thorpe = Swinson, Castle and Callaghan = Lucas and Bartley, Heath = Chuka Ummuna, Powell = Farage. I then worked backwards.

The actual PoD is Galipolli is a success - WWI ends by 1916 - Easter Rising is avoided and Home Rule passed.
 
kratostatic said:
So the other day I was comparing the current leaders of the opposition to past ones, and came to the conclusion that the current political setup seemed to map quite well to that of the late 1950s and early 1960s. That was until I looked a bit further, and realised that this meant I was comparing Jeremy Corbyn to Hugh Gaitskell.

I then decided to build a world where this comparison made sense.

So for Gaitskell to be considered a mad radical, this means that Labour never fully breaks through, and so he's considered a mad radical in the context of a Liberal rather than (at least nominally) Socialist party, hence the Radicals. My 1966 is pretty much exactly 2019, with Rab = BoJo, Gaitskell = Corbyn, Lynch = Sturgeon, Thorpe = Swinson, Castle and Callaghan = Lucas and Bartley, Heath = Chuka Ummuna, Powell = Farage. I then worked backwards.

The actual PoD is Galipolli is a success - WWI ends by 1916 - Easter Rising is avoided and Home Rule passed.
Click to expand...

Excellent!
 
Blackentheborg said:
Political career of Kshama Sawant

2009-2012: Private citizen, teacher
- lectured at Seattle University and University of Washington Tacoma, later became adjunct professor at Seattle Central College and visiting assistant professor at Washington and Lee University
2012: Socialist Alternative Party Candidate for Washington House of Representatives' 43rd district (Position 1/Position 2) (Write-in)
out-primaried by Frank Chopp (Democratic)
2013: Socialist Alternative Party Candidate Seattle City Council (Position 2)
defeated Richard Conlin
2014-2022: Member of the Seattle City Council (District 2/District 3)
'15: defeated Pamela Banks
'19: defeated Egan Orion (Nonpartisan)
- first socialist to win a citywide election in Seattle since 1916, first socialist on the City Council since 1877
- called for the expansion of bus and light rail capacity via income tax on higher earners
- successfully lobbied for increase of minimum wage to $15 per hour
- repeatedly clashed with Seattle Mayor Jenny Durkan (2017-2031) over Amazon Inc. donating $1.5 million to opposition council members
- arrested on a charge of disorderly conduct at a $15 minimum wage protest in Seatac
- advocated for the 2020 Capitol Hill Autonomous Zone (CHAZ), received criticism and racist remarks from detractors
- retired position to run for House of Representatives, succeeded by Lorena González
2022: Democratic Party primary candidate for Washington's 4th congressional district
defeated Brooke Kuhl, others
- turned down the nomination, ran as Independent (referred to as 'the Sanders maneuver')
2022-2032: Representative for Washington's 4th congressional district
'22: defeated Tim Eyman (Republican), others
'24: defeated Asa Palagi, Dow Constantine (Independent)
'26: defeated Matt Boehnke
'28: defeated Nick Hanauer
'30: defeated Skyler Rude, John Reuter (Libertarian)
- caucused with Democrats and progressive independents
- platform included widespread antitrust reform, expansion of minority (BAME/LGBTQ+/et al.) rights, and radical environmental protection
- was censured twice by the Republican majority senate for 'harsh language', led a total of 19 congressional walkouts
- attempted to file articles of impeachment against both Presidents Harris (for war crimes committed by soldiers in the Middle East) and Hawley (for insider trading whilst in office)
- Cosponsored an Equity Tax on corporations that the Harris administration rejected
2024-2032: Member of the Squad (congressional group)
serving with Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (NY), Ilhan Omar (MN), Ayanna Pressley (MA), Rashida Tlaib (MI), Jamaal Bowman (NY), Cori Bush (MO), Vincent Ashe (VT), Wilmot Collins (MT), Danica Roem (VA), Justin Bamberg (SC), Jade Bahr (MT), Ruben Gallego (AZ) and others
- initially attempted to distance themselves from the group and operate as a congressional independent but eventually made peace for a unified socialist front in congress
2032: Democratic Party primary candidate for Governor of Washington
out-primaried by Varisha Khan, Abigail Spanberger, others
2032: Socialist Alternative Party candidate for Governor of Washington
defeated by Varisha Khan, Caleb Heimlich, Dow Constantine (Independent)
2033-2034: Private citizen, activist
- considered as a speculative Secretary of Commerce in the Ocasio-Cortez administration but declined
- took a position of Adjunct Professor at North Seattle College
2034: Socialist Alternative Party candidate for Mayor of Seattle
unopposed
2035-present: Mayor of Seattle
defeated Lisa Herbold, Greg Gilday
Click to expand...
I like it, but there are a couple of issues.

1. Washington elections operate under a blanket primary system, so those House elections are a bit off.

2. Why does Abigail Spanberger, the Representative from Virginia, run for Governor of Washington?
 
rosa said:
I like it, but there are a couple of issues.

1. Washington elections operate under a blanket primary system, so those House elections are a bit off.

2. Why does Abigail Spanberger, the Representative from Virginia, run for Governor of Washington?
Click to expand...
Thanks

1. My bad.

2. Also my bad - it was a rouge copy-paste and meant to be Riley Clubb, who's currently sitting on the Walla Walla City Council
 
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