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What If Counterfactuals Never Existed?
New Republic ^ | 20 Sep 2014 | Cass R. Sunstein

Posted on 09/29/2014 1:04:58 PM PDT by oblomov

Altered Pasts: Counterfactuals in History by Richard J. Evans (Brandeis University Press)

As everyone knows, the supreme court 
ruled six–three for Al Gore in the great dispute over the Florida recount in 2000. As everyone also knows, Gore emerged as the ultimate victor in that recount, and with his poetic and moving inauguration address he managed to unify a badly divided nation. For a long period, the Gore years continued the peace and prosperity established under President Clinton, punctuated by the successful prevention of an apparent terrorist plot in 2001, by the enactment of health care reform in 2003 (mocked by critics as GoreCare), and by aggressive steps to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, culminating in the historic Copenhagen Protocol, ratified by the U.S. Senate in 2005.

It was not until the nation’s financial collapse, beginning in 2007, that Gore’s presidency started to unravel. Senator John McCain, a longtime critic of Gore’s “failure to respect free markets,” succeeded in convincing the American public that the collapse was partly a product of the Democratic Party’s “regulatory overreach,” and he was able to trounce Senator Joseph Biden in the 2008 election. Now in his second term, McCain has presided over a successful recovery (with unemployment levels down to 8 percent from their high of 13 percent in 2010). But his own legislative agenda, including repeal of GoreCare and immigration reform, has been stymied by what McCain calls the “do-nothing Senate,” 
which has a slim Democratic majority. Many insiders think that the Democratic nominee in 2016 will be Minnesota Senator Amy Klobuchar. According to University of Chicago law professor Barack Obama, a specialist on election law, “Klobuchar is perfectly positioned to win her party’s nomination—and to triumph in the general election as well. She’s audacious.”

(Excerpt) Read more at newrepublic.com ...


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Editorial; Philosophy; Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: algoreisnotmygod; algoreisnotmyprez; counterfactual; fakebutaccurate; goreloser; historiography; history; liberalism; mentaldisorder; mythmaking; revisionisthistory; sunstein
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To: fieldmarshaldj; GOPsterinMA; Galactic Overlord-In-Chief; AuH2ORepublican; BillyBoy

Forming Black states in the west would have made sense.

2006 in reverse, would have been sweet, yes.

I couldn’t see Jr. Bush getting a rematch in 2004, after 2 of the previous 3 elections had been a loss by a Bush after each had started out as the favorite.

McCain would have run again, George Allen may have run. Given the GOP penchant for rewarding the runner up of the last election, it probably would have been McCain.


41 posted on 09/29/2014 8:57:46 PM PDT by Impy (Voting democrat out of spite? Then you are America's enemy, like every other rat voter.)
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To: cynwoody; fieldmarshaldj; GOPsterinMA

I remember reading now that he liked to wave his junk around. I didn’t hear that he raped a chick though.

I guess good old Jimmuh Carter is only rat President in recent memory that wasn’t a deviant. He only “lusted in his heart”. ;d


42 posted on 09/29/2014 9:04:11 PM PDT by Impy (Voting democrat out of spite? Then you are America's enemy, like every other rat voter.)
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To: Impy

Giving ex-slaves KS, NE, the Dakotas, et al, would’ve also helped fulfill the promise of 40 acres and a mule. I would’ve also thrown in free education (the very least they would’ve been owed) for all ex-slaves, child or adult. In those days, that would’ve truly meant something (sadly, today, education has been debased and dismissed as something to run from or something for “Whites.”).

Removing Blacks from former slave states would’ve also ensured their not falling back into the de facto slavery (via sharecropping) that effectively existed from the Reconstruction period to the modern era. Then again, former slave states probably would’ve compensated by exploiting the lowest White classes or encouraging the kind of mass-scale Hispanic migration to fill those roles long before the modern era (with Hispanics supplanting Blacks as the aggrieved racial class). Heaven forbid they pick their own cotton.


43 posted on 09/29/2014 9:19:56 PM PDT by fieldmarshaldj (Resist We Much)
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To: Impy

Jimmuh just likes raping the Jews and Israel. He’s an expert on that.


44 posted on 09/29/2014 9:20:42 PM PDT by fieldmarshaldj (Resist We Much)
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To: fieldmarshaldj; Impy

Sometimes, the can needs to be kicked down the road; this would have been a case where an imperfect solution would have been a solution.

Bottom line is: If the contraband had been dealt with, current situations wouldn’t exist.


45 posted on 09/30/2014 4:10:02 AM PDT by GOPsterinMA (I'm with Steve McQueen: I live my life for myself and answer to nobody.)
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To: Impy; fieldmarshaldj

All RATS are poisonous, one way or another.


46 posted on 09/30/2014 4:14:04 AM PDT by GOPsterinMA (I'm with Steve McQueen: I live my life for myself and answer to nobody.)
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To: fieldmarshaldj

“I said at the time that Mike Ditka should’ve been drafted”


Unfortunately, Ditka thanked those who urged him to run but indicated that he would not run for the Senate. That’s when IL Republicans got desperate and sought out Keyes.

Of course, had the RINO Combine not forced Jack Ryan out of the race he could have beaten Obama even with the swingers-club allegations.


47 posted on 09/30/2014 7:32:00 AM PDT by AuH2ORepublican (If a politician won't protect innocent babies, what makes you think that he'll defend your rights?)
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To: Impy; fieldmarshaldj; GOPsterinMA; Galactic Overlord-In-Chief; BillyBoy

You’re forgetting that had Gore stolen Florida and become president, Republicans nationwide would have made their biggest threshold question “can our nominee win Florida”? I think that the 2004 nomination would have been Jeb Bush’s for the taking (particularly after his massive 2002 reelection).


48 posted on 09/30/2014 7:35:34 AM PDT by AuH2ORepublican (If a politician won't protect innocent babies, what makes you think that he'll defend your rights?)
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To: AuH2ORepublican; fieldmarshaldj

How could I forget Jeb?

Yes, if it would have been a Bush, it would have been him.


49 posted on 09/30/2014 8:36:01 AM PDT by Impy (Voting democrat out of spite? Then you are America's enemy, like every other rat voter.)
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To: fieldmarshaldj; Impy; AuH2ORepublican; cva66snipe; sickoflibs; Clintonfatigued; BillyBoy

Imagine a world where Karl Marx’s mother was a HUGE abortion advocate...


50 posted on 09/30/2014 2:51:41 PM PDT by NFHale (The Second Amendment - By Any Means Necessary.)
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To: GOPsterinMA

How about killing Bill Clinton’s abusive stepfather? Bill would have stayed out of public life and lived a conventional middle class life.


51 posted on 09/30/2014 3:45:04 PM PDT by Clintonfatigued (The War on Drugs is Big Government statism)
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To: AuH2ORepublican

Good point, but I think there would’ve been a problem with the grassroots arguing nominating another Bush after 2 losses (1992/2000) would’ve been committing political suicide.


52 posted on 09/30/2014 4:10:05 PM PDT by fieldmarshaldj (Resist We Much)
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To: Clintonfatigued

Good call!!!


53 posted on 09/30/2014 4:41:15 PM PDT by GOPsterinMA (I'm with Steve McQueen: I live my life for myself and answer to nobody.)
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To: Clintonfatigued; fieldmarshaldj; AuH2ORepublican; GOPsterinMA

I forgot to ask you, if Roger Clinton had died Bill wouldn’t have gone into politics? Or he just would have failed with a name like “Blythe”? ;d


54 posted on 10/02/2014 11:07:15 AM PDT by Impy (Voting democrat out of spite? Then you are America's enemy, like every other rat voter.)
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To: Impy; Clintonfatigued; fieldmarshaldj; AuH2ORepublican

Good one! Yes, yes.


55 posted on 10/02/2014 1:04:51 PM PDT by GOPsterinMA (I'm with Steve McQueen: I live my life for myself and answer to nobody.)
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