A Shift in Priorities

[Decrian]

Another one bites the dust.

[Kooluk Swordsman]

Damn.

Who else is left to Balkanize the US?

[ANARCHY_4_ALL]

Damn you rast lol. I had hopes for that one XP

[Rooster Cogburn]

Yay! What are the odds everyone in the U.S. puts down their guns and joins back together in a great day of celebration?

[ANARCHY_4_ALL]

Originally Posted by Rooster Cogburn

Yay! What are the odds everyone in the U.S. puts down their guns and joins back together in a great day of celebration?

Slim to none lol. Probably more guns less campfire sing alongs.

[Expat]

Originally Posted by Rooster Cogburn

Yay! What are the odds everyone in the U.S. puts down their guns and joins back together in a great day of celebration?

Actually a public holiday sounds like a great idea! Though there's still the South to deal with. Maybe if we can get things sewn up by August, that'd be perfect. I always felt August needed a 3-day weekend.

[Bmao]

DING DONG THE WITCH IS DEAD!! THE WITCH IS DEAD!! THE WITCH IS DEAD!!!!

To be sure, its not surprising that Jack Reed would meet a violent end, considering the sort of lifestyle he leads. I mean, did people like Machinegun Kelly or John Dilinger ever live to be old and grey?

Of course, Jack Reed's unlamented demise isn't the end of trouble for the US, not considering you still have Bradley and President McAdoo along with the extreme Southern racists who can still cause plenty of trouble. I also don't particularly expect him to be turned into a martyr like Alvin York was, since in the public imagination he was probably just another one of those gangsters; a particularly dangerous one but a gangster nonetheless.

In a larger scope, the way Jack Reed died might be a portent as to how the US decides to deal with these undercover enemies. They could do it Wild West style, in which they contact the local governments in order to mobilize the people to ferret out these people, like providing a bounty for them.

Sort of like:

(Forgive me for the sad excuse for an MS Paint job)

[rast]

The publicity I have been getting, a good deal of which is untrue, and the rest of it ill considered, has done me more good than harm.
(George S. Patton)

George Smith Patton stroked the neck of the horse he was riding. Finally, his backside had fully recovered from the lead shot received last year and allowed him to practise equitation again. After a good cross country ride, he was now leading the white stallion around in wide circles in the shade of some trees, so that the fine beast could catch its breath again. Patton felt great, well worked out and pleasantly winded.

That public relations bloke, Eddy Bernays, had done an excellent job in teaching Patton how to win over other people without insulting anybody. Patton himself was still in amazement how easy it was to stoop low and say what people wanted to hear. Once he had got it straight in his mind that he was no longer an officer, and that normal US citizens were not his subordinates whom he had to lead like his soldiers of old, things had fallen in line pretty fast.

Bernays had crafted him an image as man of honour, patriotism and incorruptibility. Obviously, he was no economical or financial wizard, so, why waste effort in this field? He was the new broom that would sweep the country clean – and remove such disgusting criminals like that blasted Bradley.

He had already won the Republican machines of the desert states to support him in the upcoming national convention. Only in California he had still some work to do. The Californians were not that much affected by the terror of the biker gangs, therefore, his promise to end that plague did not impress them terribly much. – But they were encountering increasing problems with begging, stealing and vagrancy; and they were very wary of the Japanese and Chinese immigrants whom they accused of heisting jobs that otherwise might mitigate the misery of the growing lump of poor whites.

Well, he was going to play golf with one of the informal leaders of the California GOP tomorrow afternoon. Racism wasn’t quite his thing, but Bernays had tutored him well. The bloke certainly would understand ‘Gooks’ when Patton spoke of criminals, parasites and varmints. – And tomorrow evening, he was scheduled to dine with another important GOP opinion leader. That dude was a lean state advocate. Patton was dead sure they were going to have a very pleasant encounter.

That the US economy was down for the count didn’t impress Patton at all. He knew this brand of greedy traders, unprincipled industrialists and corrupt bankers; they were going to design something new from scratch in order to fill their pockets. – It was not the task of the state to meddle in matters economical. One had only to make sure that everybody paid his due taxes. Thus, he was going to stand for a policy that left the market to the marketeers and the banks to the bankers. Employment-creation programmes and other such nonsense were stuff for the Socialists and Communists, who were running – and in Patton’s mind ultimately ruining – the European collective theme park, but not for proud Americans.

No, Patton was putting full trust in American individualism and ingenuity. Once the criminal elements had been removed, the state had been cut back to reasonable proportions, and freedom and pusuit of happiness were again the common denominator, the rugged US citizens were going to make their country second to none.

And he, George S. Patton, was going to lead them to this golden future. – Oh, it was not so that he was aiming to become President, not now, not in 1936 already. He was far to unknown in the eastern parts of the country for that. – But being Vice President would suit him well. There ought to be a President, who could spark the economy to life again, and there ought to be a Vice President Patton, who would lead back America to its traditional values.

[Bmao]

Hmmm...seems like a pretty mixed bag with Patton. For one, I like his ideas to deal with the Grunts, and his hands off so long as you pay your taxes notion to the economy. However, I'm surprised that Patton's putting so much emphasis on the Chinese and Japanese Americans. The Latinos would still probably form a greater percentage of the minority population, not to mention blacks, then the Asian Americans and I imagined that focus would be placed on them first. On the encouraging note though, Patton seems to be playing more lip service to the whole racism card, considering it would probably be an added government expense to actually go and enforce it.

As for Chinese and Japanese immigrants, what immigrants? The Chinese exclusion act wasn't repealed until the late 40s of OTL.

[Shogo]

It'll be good if he gets rid of the Grunts, and by extension Bradley. If only because, through absolutely no fault of his own, every time I see Omar Bradley's name I get a little annoyed.

Why?

Well, there's this RTS game I played and one of the Army units was the Bradley. And the most common thing they'd say is "It's Omar Bradley, not Omar Sharif."

So yeah. I automatically think back to that and get annoyed.

---------------------------

But yeah, ultimately I have to agree that Patton will be one hell of a mixed bag if he ever becomes President.

[Jotun]

Great, Patton didn't learn squat from the fiasco. Clean the country up, implement taxation and then let things run just like before. Hell-o, next crisis. Nice

I don't know it has become an axiom of economics, but when there are taxes, people will do their utmost to not having to pay them...

[Expat]

Originally Posted by Bmao

As for Chinese and Japanese immigrants, what immigrants? The Chinese exclusion act wasn't repealed until the late 40s of OTL.

Probably a mistake. I assume he means the existing communities.

I'm not certain, but I believe a lot of the Latino minorities were actively chased out of the country during the Mexican Intervention. Also, the Great Migration hasn't spread very far and most African Americans are still located in the South. Therefore, when talking about minorities on the west coast, the combined Asian American community is probably the biggest game in town. And especially on everyone's mind after the Hawaiian incident.

Like the wanted poster, btw.

[Bmao]

Originally Posted by Expat

Probably a mistake. I assume he means the existing communities.

I'm not certain, but I believe a lot of the Latino minorities were actively chased out of the country during the Mexican Intervention. Also, the Great Migration hasn't spread very far and most African Americans are still located in the South. Therefore, when talking about minorities on the west coast, the combined Asian American community is probably the biggest game in town. And especially on everyone's mind after the Hawaiian incident.

Like the wanted poster, btw.

Heh, glad you like it. I actually think something like that could work, considering that it would be a relatively cheap way to get the population involved into catching these criminals.

That being said, I still think that Patton's efforts would be focused far more upon dealing with Bradley and the Grunts, given that his grudge against them is personal, and that anti-Asian rhetoric is mostly lip service to gain votes in California than anything else. There are probably still a large number of Latinos in So-cal and in the rest of the southwest US though, even with the McAdoo border fence, because given the activity of the Grunts making the federal agencies weak and that they have no impulsions doing drug business with them.

Patton himself admits that he knows very little about economics, which is in fact better than him pretending that he's an expert, so very likely if he gets into office, or at least the vice-predency, he'll surround himself with people who do, and I'm not about to pretend that we'll see a New Deal, but they're probably smart enough to realize that given the catastrophe of the McAdoo Administration, something clearly was not working properly.

[Rooster Cogburn]

I'd vote for Patton

[DarkAvenger]

Question: What happened to Conrad Hilton, founder of Hilton International and great grandfather of you-know-who?

[rast]

Originally Posted by DarkAvenger

Question: What happened to Conrad Hilton, founder of Hilton International and great grandfather of you-know-who?

Is struggling hard to avert bankruptcy for his Texas-based hotels.

[Bmao]

Originally Posted by rast

Is struggling hard to avert bankruptcy for his Texas-based hotels.

AT the same token, I'd expect that the motel business is booming in the West, because you know, the Disgruntled Grunts need a place to stay during the night and they're cheap, and also a place to stay for the policemen and county sheriffs trying to track them down.

[DarkAvenger]

Originally Posted by rast

Is struggling hard to avert bankruptcy for his Texas-based hotels.

The same situation he was in IOTL. I have a feeling he'd lose everything, so there probably not be a 'Hilton International'.

[Archangel]

Patton might stabilize things but won't solve the economy problem.

[Expat]

Originally Posted by Bmao

AT the same token, I'd expect that the motel business is booming in the West, because you know, the Disgruntled Grunts need a place to stay during the night and they're cheap, and also a place to stay for the policemen and county sheriffs trying to track them down.

I dunno. Ownership has to be the way to go from a legal standpoint. And property has to be super cheap.

At the same time, almost everything was probably booming until fairly recently with the consumer economy bubble. That's something I was trying to show with the list of tallest buildings, which are significantly taller than OTL for the era. Everyone's been building bigger, taller, and more opulent.