Future Historian story ideas

AndyD273

May 9, 2017 14:20

So, I'm hearing conflicting goals: End the US as a nation, or turn the US into a totalitarian police state... which one?

Future Historian

Well, the former needs to happen so the latter can kick in.

AndyD273

Does it?

Future Historian

If it ends in a worst-case scenario.

Best-case scenario: the States get a new government after a Second American Revolution.

Worst case scenario: the US balkanises as the insurrection worsens.

@AndyD273? So, after the staged bioterror attack, and establishment of a totalitarian state, what are your best and worst-case scenarios for the US at least?

Because as far as I know, the rest of the globe is still going to have a bad time without appropriate distribution of a vaccine.

AndyD273

New idea... you can take or leave any of this :)

Future Historian

Well, I am really actually going to take advantage of the chaos in the rest of the globe, though.

So, @AndyD273? What is your idea?

AndyD273

May 9, 2017 14:28

How about this as a scenario; Trump turns out to be as incompetent as liberals fear. There is a nuke attack (as you planned), and some of the top military leaders get afraid that he's going to botch it and start WW3, and so they decide to stage a coup for the sake of the nation. Martial law is declared, the military is deployed domestically, you get curfews and restricted travel, and this either leads to the second revolution, or your balkanisation as states rebel from the unlawful government

Future Historian

That can work.

:P

AndyD273

He doesn't even have to be that incompetent, just have the right people feel that he is

Future Historian

Oh.

That can work.

But wait, wait, wait.

AndyD273

ok

Future Historian

Where does the nuclear attack happen this time?

Redacted Redacted

May 9, 2017 14:30

@JDługosz worldbuilding.stackexchange.com/a/80409/32097 I don't know, what happened, he just snapped.

@AndyD273 nairobiwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/08/trump1.jpg

Future Historian

You implied it was not Washington, since Trump is still alive somehow.

AndyD273

@FutureHistorian It could be, and he was just away

or got evacuated

Or maybe he's dead and pense is the perceived weak link

Or the secretary of education

Or whoever happens to be left

Doesn't matter really, just that someone thinks that they should be the one calling the shots, possibly for all the right reasons.

Future Historian

Well, I am going to guess Tillerson is the new POTUS after Trump's death, but he gets deposed by Mattis.

Who imposes a totalitarian state and results in an uprising that either replaces him in the form of an insurrection or collapses the States.

AndyD273

As someone else said, the constitution is kind of a big deal here. If the states/people think that someone is trying to overthrow it, even if they have good intentions, that would cause an uprising. Way more than a nuke would.

Future Historian

Agreed.

So, I can roll with that.

So?

AndyD273

May 9, 2017 14:35

I think so. If I was reading this in a story I'd buy it.

Future Historian

Tillerson is new POTUS, Mattis becomes the Secretary of General Affairs (reference to the plans for the Business Plot) and the American public attempts an insurrection.

What happens is purely up to me the minute that insurrection erupts.

Wait, wait, wait.

JDługosz

@RedactedRedacted with what?

Future Historian

So, @AndyD273. If not for Mattis, you are telling me Tillerson would have started WWIII by invading Iran?

Since the terrorists are Iranian.

And the nuke originated in Pakistan.

Redacted Redacted

@JDługosz look at the comment section

-1

A: The Centaur--Let's Get Real, Shall We?

Anatomy traditional centaurs are portrayed as having two torsos. Why? Just...WHY? In genetic engineering, there is no why. Stomach (all four of them) Horses don't have four stomachs, I would recommend a hybrid, human/horse stomach because then they can occasionally munch on grass, and...

I don't know, why he snapped.

dot_Sp0T

@RedactedRedacted because you're provoking him openly..?

AndyD273

May 9, 2017 14:44

@FutureHistorian It's possible. Say the new president feels like they are under a lot of pressure to retaliate with a full scale nuclear launch. Glass the country. Even making the order. They are getting ready to put the launch codes in, and Mattis or whoever decides that this can't happen. Snap decision. "I'm sorry, this isn't right, you're not fit to lead."

They even justify it as protecting the nation. "We need to do a full investigation. We need to make sure that we don't nuke the wrong country. Or kill a lot of innocents just because of a small group of crazies."

He doesn't have to be a bad guy to be the bad guy.

JDługosz

I was just interrupted by a phone call, “<long pause> hello this is customer service! You have been selected to win a free vacation!! …” rather than hanging up, I gave the phone to Diamond.

AndyD273

Who's Diamond?

Future Historian

I know that, @AndyD273. And that is a good suggestion.

In fact, we could safely say that this means that the Mattis leadership had good intents but bad means of achieving them.

Many rebel groups, however, are only seeking vengeance on the nation responsible, and they feel General Affairs Secretary Mattis is only stopping them.

AndyD273

Right, and it could be a pretty gradual decline into madness/dictatorship. He takes over and stops a war, some people are happy, some are upset. There are protests and some violence. Call up the national guard to try to calm things down, but it doesn't. "He's trying to take over more power!" More riots. Martial law is declared. The military is deployed, things go from bad to worse...

Future Historian

Agreed.

Besides, in Mattis' America, POTUS is merely symbolic, but he has all the real power.

Similar to the Business Plot's idea back in 1933 - 1934.

Remember that?

AndyD273

May 9, 2017 14:55

I don't know if I've seen that one

Future Historian

Business Plot

The Business Plot was a political conspiracy in 1933 in the United States. Retired Marine Corps Major General Smedley Butler claimed that wealthy businessmen were plotting to create a fascist veterans' organization with Butler as its leader and use it in a coup d'état to overthrow President Franklin D. Roosevelt. In 1934, Butler testified before the United States House of Representatives Special Committee on Un-American Activities (the "McCormack-Dickstein Committee") on these claims. No one was prosecuted. At the time of the incidents, news media dismissed the plot, with a New York Times editorial...

This.

AndyD273

Interesting

Future Historian

This was under discussion at the time, though whether it was close to execution is...unknown.

AndyD273

It'll be interesting to see where you end up going with all this.

Future Historian

I will. I am going to ask about foreign involvement now, though.

So, what are some foreign powers you could see being involved in the Second US Civil War/Second US Revolution?

AndyD273

May 9, 2017 15:00

Hmm, that's a good question

And may depend on where you want the story to go

Like, if it's the people taking back their government that's one thing.

If it's states deciding they want to leave the union that's another

Future Historian

Well, alright.

Also, question: where would the new US capital be, now that Washington is destroyed?

AndyD273

and which states makes a big difference

hmm

Do you know which way to want it to go?

Future Historian

Can I have both?

AndyD273

That's a possibility

Future Historian

You know: some states in the Western US, along with Texas want to leave the Union, while the remaining states fight an insurrection to stop Mattis.

I wonder what that would be called. The Second US Revolution or Second US Civil War?

AndyD273

May 9, 2017 15:05

Say some states decide to take back the government, some want to leave, and then after mattis is overthrown then they decide to bring those states back in, one way or the other...

Civil war seems possibly more fitting

Could be both, for the two stages

Future Historian

Well, alright.

So, I am thinking: the overall conflict is the Second US Civil War.

AndyD273

I'm trying to think who might want to step in internationally... UK and EU might step in to help overthrow Mattis, maybe Canada too. Russia and maybe Mexico on the side of people who want to leave?

Or China

Basically anyone that want's the US to be weaker

heh, you know, if you don't want to use Iran and the usual Islamic terrorist organizations, you could say that it was North Korea, and lil kim finally snapped.

Future Historian

Well, alright.

I still used Iran already, though.

AndyD273

Just a suggestion

:)

Anyway, I gotta get some stuff done for a while. Maybe outline it a little, and the pieces might clarify some...
Please don't think that I'm trying to change how you want your story to go.
As I start thinking of stories ideas just pop in and I throw them out there.

The Factory Floor

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