…Al Gore had been president? I thought about this today when I heard that Gore threw his support behind the Occupiers.
This is the guy who won the popular vote in the presidential election of 2000, who went on to win the Nobel peace prize, became a climate change activist, started Current TV, and always seems to come down on the side of the people.
“With democracy in crisis, a true grassroots movement pointing out the flaws in our system is the first step in the right direction,” he wrote on his blog. “Count me among those supporting and cheering on the Occupy Wall Street movement.”
Would Gore have invaded Iraq, as Bush did? Would he have allowed Wall Street to continue its heinous practices with derivatives? If we’d had 8 years of Gore instead of 8 years of Bush, how would our country be different now? Would millions of homes be in foreclosure? Would the financial meltdown of 2008 have happened? Would banks and financial institutions that are “too big to fail” still be operating? Would we be in Afghanistan? Would we have universal health care?
I voted for Gore in 2000. But we had recently moved and had so much trouble at the polling station that we had to return two or three times with proper documentation before we were allowed to cast our votes. After the hanging chad debacle in our county that went straight to the Supreme Court, where Sandra Day O’Connor cast the deciding vote that ushered Bush into office, Palm Beach County switched to Diebold voting machines. Hardly an improvement.
In 2004, when I cast my vote for Kerry – Bush’s name came up. It took three attempts before I was able to cast my vote for Kerry. We all know who won the election in 2004.
But let’s say Gore had become president in 2000. Would he have invaded Iraq? Probably not, since Iraq had nothing to do with 9-11. Would he have invaded Afghanistan? Probably not. I frankly can’t recall the specifics of what we’re doing in that country, but no one has ever conquered Afghanistan. Just ask the Russians. Read James Michener’s novel about the country, Caravans. Gore might have cut off our access to Saudi oil, however, and forced the auto and power industries to find alternative solutions quickly.
I remember the embargo of 1973, when I used to sit at a local gas station for three hours, waiting to fill the tank in my aging Pinto. Between then and 2000, when Gore might have become prez, nothing changed. Gas got more expensive, cars got larger and hungrier, the cost of electricity went through the roof.
After Bush came into office and offered tax breaks that facilitated the purchase of a Hummer, I saw so many Hummers on the road that the vehicle became symbolic in my mind for the militaristic point of view. The local paper interviewed women who drove Hummers. Their consensus?I feel safer.
Really? Safer from what? IEDs? Sorry, wrong country. Another woman replied that she liked sitting up high in traffic, so that she could see the the cars. Uh-huh. And while you’re idling in that traffic, you’re using up the gas in your Hummer, which gets – what? Five miles to the gallon?
I think Gore would have accelerated the creation of alternative fuels, green jobs, all the buzz words you hear these days from Democrats. But if Gore had won, would he be the activist and visionary he is today? How have these events shaped who he is now?If we’d had eight years of Gore, would Obama have won he presidency in 2008? That depends.
If 8 years of Gore had left this country in a more prosperous place, with more peaceful and environmentally aware policies, people might not have been so desperate for change. Then McCain and Palin might have won. Sobering thought, that if Gore had won, we wold now have a Veep who thinks she can see Russia from her front porch.
So in the bigger scheme of things, how would that alternative history play out? I can’t even go there.
In the end, perhaps it comes down a few simple tenets. We are where we are, the U.S. government is like a two-year-old in the midst of a temper tantrum, no one is held accountable for anything. But, oh yeah, there’s a ray of hope in the Occupier movement that grows by leaps and bounds. Maybe it all comes back to that, the grass root movements that usher in real change.
The right wing has stopped just short of calling them terrorists. They are anti-American, un-American, anti-capitalism. Yet, when a few hundred Tea Party protestors got together last summer, the extreme right lauded them as heroes. The left wing has been reluctant to endorse the Occupiers – oops, we can’t rock the boat here, we don’t want to look too much to the left – but more of them are crawling on board each day.
Listen to what Matt Taibi, a writer for Rolling Stone who has been following the Occupiers since the beginning, has to say about this movement.
And since Gore didn’t win and Bush did and Obama did and I’m living in this version of history, I’m off to make an Occupy sign to stick in my front yard.
Interesting post, there are always a lot of ‘what ifs’ in life. From this side of the Atlantic Mr. Gore doesn’t appeal to me – but what do I know!
https://www.earth-policy.org/books/pb3
“Lester Brown tells us how to build a more just world and save the planet from climate change in a practical, straightforward way. We should all heed his advice.” –President Bill Clinton
Lester Brown is very extreme (actually, more aware than usual) about the urgency of renewable energy. Only future or former politicians anywhere have radical ideas. If I recall correctly, Mr. Clinton’s wife is very busy with spreading democracy, human rights and beauty all around the world (protests in Iran closer to her heart than those in America).
My thanks to all for this very interesting discussion thread. The “What if” is always a good place to begin and those are probably the words that inspired the Occupy movement.
I was fascinated at the theory behind Nader’s motivations – huge what if! And I agree that when any person steps into the role of President of these United States there are a whole pile of agendas, secrets, and processes that take the individual visionary who earned a majority vote, into a tenuous job of huge responsibility. Obama is a young man, with young children, and will still be living in America after his time in office is complete. He may then become a new and powerful advocate for change when he is back in the role of private citizen where he would again have some power to create change.
The Occupiers are on the right track. Large corporations and the financial institutions are creating an implosion effect as they are recording record profits while cutting more jobs. Huge amounts of money are being horded instead of being invested in the flow of commerce and innovation. Academia, journalists and the mediocrity of the general population has increased the implosion effect.
I personally feel that mediocrity is the biggest issue because it will sway to the biggest fear of the moment, whether that fear is antioxidants or volcanoes. The Occupiers have a vague and diverse enough agenda that I hope inspires the mediocre to at least pay attention and remember, they are the people referred to in “We the People” and consider there is merit to the old phrase “United we stand, divided we fall” on a very personal level in our own backyards.
I voted for Gore, it was the first election I was old enough to vote in and I remember being completely dismayed when Bush took it through the electoral college. My own disgust at what has happened in this country and the world since I have become an adult is palpable and mirrored in much of my peer group, if not MOST of my peer group.
I can only say that I am incredibly heartened by the fact that the movement is spreading and not going away. What started as Occupy Wall Street and then Occupy (insert your city here) has now become OCCUPY THE WORLD with people joining together in nearly 1600 cities in over 82 countries to march and protest tomorrow in a show of solidarity. I want the “change” and “hope” we were promised when we put the most recent puppet into office.
It’s the 20somethings who are making this happen!
Very serious post but I have issues with some of Gores Climate Change info. I did vote for him and was beyond angry with his loss. I lost a lot of faith in our govt. When this happened and have yet to get it back. I recall seeing a black woman saying that she was being harassed because she was for Hilary over Barack.
Just for everyones info Palin actually said about Russia the following, ” They’re our next door neighbors, and you can actually see Russia from land here in Alaska, from an Island in Alaska.” I am not a Palin fan but I am tired of people quoting Tina Fey.
I sometimes wish that we could completely clean out the Whitehouse and start over.
I also wish that all people running for office had to use the same amount of money to fund their campaigns. It shouldn’t just be about the wealthiest.
In regards to the protesters I say “Right On”. I am glad to see people speaking up for what they believe.
for me personally – i don’t see anything funny about this issue – nor do i think the mood here – or there – needs to be lightened – as a matter of fact, i see that as one of the biggest issues – that the situation as it exists in corporate america was/is not taken seriously in the first place –
about gore – such an interesting question – what if – what if – and you’ve set it all out so explicitly here – thanks so much –
now, off to make my own occupy sign!!! 😉
great post, macgregors!
I’m pretty certain that had Gore been president, 9/11 would not have happened. He would not have ignored the CIA daily presidential briefs like Bush did. Also, there were terrorist attacks planned for New Year’s 2000 in Seattle, Los Angeles and Washington, D.C., but as we all know, nothing happened. This is because the Clinton Administration took terrorism seriously.
I believe that Bush had a motive to ignore the warnings, because his whole reason for running for president was to get America into Iraq. I believe that is why the 2000 election had to be stolen. Bush “had” to be president so that we could set up permanent basis in Iraq in the age of dwindling oil supplies as China’s and India’s energy needs increased. The neo-conservatives spelled everything out in their Progress for a New American Century document (it stated that Americans would not support a war in Iraq unless a “Pearl Harbor-like event happened”).
If Gore had come into office losing the popular vote and squeaking out a win in the electoral college, the conservative Republicans would not have accepted his presidency at all. Gore would not have given tax cuts to the wealthy, he would not have squandered the surplus (he wanted to shore up Social Security and Medicare).
However, in alternative history speculation, I don’t believe McCain would have picked Sarah Palin. In 2008, after 8 years of Gore (if he would have even won reelection, which based on historical precedent, he might not have), Hillary would have run for president and probably got the Democratic nod, which would’ve made Palin irrelevant (McCain waited until after Obama picked his V.P. before he picked his, probably because he was waiting to see if Hillary would get the spot).
The only mystery is the career trajectory of Obama. His stature grew because of the beautiful speech he gave at the 2004 DNC, which was a response to the Bush years. His anti-war views helped him beat Hillary, who had voted for the Iraq War. Without that Iraq War vote and the Bush Administration, we might not have heard about Obama and Hillary would have been the nominee in 2008.
But here we are…
I read that Nader’s motive for running in 2000 was to pull enough liberal votes away from Gore so that Bush could win the presidency. I read that Nader believes that Republican policies are so bad for the country that it would speed up our demise so that people would wake up and rebel, rather than sleep walk through a slower decay under the Democrats. I can see his point, if he really believes this. We are still seeing the effects of Bush / Republicanism. If the rightwing is successful in convincing Americans that Obama is blamed for Bush’s mess, then we are going to have a new Republican president to continue the corporatization of American government. At that point, I’d worry about a return to feudalism and perhaps the creation of “debtor’s prisons” or other forms of an “acceptable” slavery to keep us poor, in debt, with no way of getting out. I would go so far as to say that voting Republican at this point is equal to TREASON against everything America has been about and against our Founding Fathers!
Nicely put! If any of these repubs get in, then this country is really headed for third world status.
it’s called equilibruim
Nader should have stuck to his role as a consumer advocate. Interesting points about Hilary and where Obama’s career might have gone. That speech he gave in 2004 was stunning. I agree with u about voting republican.
I don’t think this movement has anything to do with either party. This is about the fact that both parties are the same. Hope & Change turned into more of the same – bombing of foreign countries, insurance company boom, protection for the banking system, etc. Our Supreme Court is made up of individuals that are reinforcing the power to corrupt our political system. The housing bubble, healthcare, education, infrastructure, unemployment, underemployment, are all symptoms of a crumbling empire. I’m not sure things would have been that much different with Gore. I’m not sure the President of this country has much power, to tell you the truth. I think they get elected and then THEY are told what the agenda will be.
And since Al created the internet while serving as mere Vice President, just imagine the amazing technological wonders he could have brought us had he been elected President….
🙂
(Note the smiley, folks – that’s a joke, so please don’t be offended. Just trying to lighten the mood).
🙂
The problem I have when people make such a joke is that I don’t know if they actually believe that Gore had made such a remark (which he did not). Its the same with the joke about Palin seeing Russia from her house. Do people who repeat the joke really believe that those statements were spoken by the person being joked about?
Palin actually did make that crack about Russia. That was the extent of her foreign policy experience.
No, I remember the comment Palin made. It was during her interview with Charles Gibson, who asked about her foreign policy experience. She had said that there are a few islands in the Bering Straight where you could actually see Russia. That’s slightly different than claiming to see Russia from her house in Wasilla!
However, Tina Fey was brilliant by turning that claim into a memorable joke. It was such an absurd claim by Palin (that being able to see a tiny part of the world’s largest country from a remote island is the equivalent of foreign policy experience). After she had made that claim, I remember someone online posting a nighttime satellite photo of the planet, and you could see where all the major population centers were by the light. And it was DARK over Siberia and Alaska and northern Canada, meaning very few people live there.
Palin had also claimed in her debate that Alaska would be the first state attacked when Putin invaded America. That was another absurd idea. For one, Putin was not even the President of Russia at the time. For another, that’s a long way to travel for an invasion, since most of Russia’s population is near Europe. Anyone who’s ever watched Ewan MacGregor’s documentary about motorcycling around the world can see that he had the most trouble in eastern Russia because the roads were bad, if they existed at all. Siberia is not easy to get to from anywhere!
Well, his exact words were “During my service in the US Congress, I took the initiative in creating the internet.”
Although the internet in its earliest form did exist well before Gore’s first term in congress (1978, I think?), he does actually deserve some credit for being one of the more technologically-inclined congressmen during the late 70s and 80s, and has always supported policies that rely on technology to achieve their objectives.
So yeah, when taken out of context, his words do sound like he was taking credit for creating the internet, but I think most reasonably educated people would agree that was not his intent.
And as for Sarah Palin…well, I don’t want to use the phrase “reasonably educated” and “Sarah Palin” in the same comment…so I’ll just leave that one alone…
Here are the facts about Gore and the internet. In 1988 he sponsored the National High Performance Computer Act which created a national computing plan and began connecting other universities and libraries to the existing ARPANET network.
Then, Gore began to craft the High Performance Computing and Communication Act of 1991 (commonly referred to as “The Gore Bill”) after hearing the 1988 report toward a National Research Network submitted to Congress by a group chaired by UCLA professor of computer science, Leonard Kleinrock, one of the central creators of the ARPANET (the ARPANET, first deployed by Kleinrock and others in 1969, is the predecessor of the Internet). The bill was passed on December 9, 1991 and led to the National Information Infrastructure (NII) which Gore referred to as the “information superhighway.” SO, while quite amusing to see ignorant people who know nothing about the history of the Internet perpetuate the lie that Al Gore had nothing to do with it. Al Gore did in fact take the initiative in creating the the internet.
He is actually owed quite a bit of thanks and credit for there being an internet today.
Read more: https://wiki.answers.com/Q/Did_Al_Gore_really_say_he_invented_the_internet#ixzz1amFRKuld
Thank you for this information! I had always wondered what the story was.!
Gore was one of few very forward thinking members of the U.S. Senate. We truly have no idea the loss we’ve suffered because we did not get to have such a visionary man as our president.
Gore was instrumental in seeing a civilian usage of the internet technology. Had it not been for his leadership on that, it might still be in the hands of the military for their exclusive use.
Another bit of irony…Gore was instrumental in getting Russia to open up their country for Mormon Missionaries to proselytize there. The Russians were hesitant about it, but because of Gore’s personal friendship with a high up official in the Russian government, he was able to convince them about religious openness, even for religions as strange as Mormonism. The irony is that most Mormons voted for Bush, who views the Mormon Church as a cult.
If more people knew the personal details about Gore, I’m certain that he would have won a more decisive victory. The election occurred the way it did because of the stain of Monica Lewinsky. Enough Americans felt “remorse” about turning the father out of office in favour of Clinton that they must’ve felt that the only way to apologize or “repent” was to vote for the ne’er-do-well son with little experience over a loyal Vice President who had a visionary outlook.
me thinks MIT created the internet there Zach,, me thinks he ( Mr. Gore) was in power for those 8 years from 92-00, at least the center of it,, me thinks that the man (elected president) doesn’t influence the times NEARLY as much as he is choosen (placed) to facilitate (and if NOT then) me thinks that just about (99% of) any of the occupiers had themselves a 100 K a year job,, it B
cock tails rather then protest tonite,,, just what me thinks,,, synchr L N otter…