#misrule spoilers | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

afni-fics · 3 years

Text

Elder Scrolls DC - A Reluctant Dragonborn: Chapter 30: Campfire Conversations - Dragonborn and Thalmor

Elder Scrolls DC - A Reluctant Dragonborn: Chapter 30: Campfire Conversations - Dragonborn and Thalmor (38503 words) by C_R_Scott Chapters: 30/? Fandom: Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, Red Robin (Comics), DCU (Comics), Batman (Comics) Rating: Teen And Up Audiences Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence Characters: Tim Drake, Lucien Flavius Additional Tags: Crossover, Crossovers & Fandom Fusions, Skyrim/DCU crossover, Reluctant Dovahkiin | Dragonborn, Not Beta Read, Alternate Universe - Skyrim Fusion, Modded Skyrim, Skyrim Spoilers, Tim Drake is Dragonborn | Dovahkiin, Tim Drake-centric, Trope: It sucks to be the chosen one, Trope: Trapped in another world, Trope: Kidnapped by the Call

Previous Chapter | Masterlist | Next Chapter

Summary:

Lucien and Tim set up camp for the night after their first day away from Whiterun. Their campfire conversation leans into discussion about the Dragonborn and the Thalmor.

After taking care of the bandits at the two towers, the rest of the ride to the crossroads went fairly smoothly. Lucien taught Tim a couple more useful novice spells, including a lesser ward for protection against enemy magic spells and a wild healing spell that would heal both himself another nearby person. Unfortunately he didn't have enough Magicka to learn how to use the healing hands spell yet, but with enough practice and time Tim knew he would.

By the time the afternoon had grown quite late, their carriage had reached the crossroads and it was time to disembark.

"Thanks again for the help with the bandits and getting my money back from them," Bjorlam said from the carriage as Tim and Lucien disembarked. "I really wish I could take you directly to Ivarstead. Next time we cross paths, if you need a lift, I'll take you wherever you want free of charge." Then, with a wave, the horse and carriage were heading up the northbound path.

"So," Lucien started as he glanced at the signpost in front of them and zeroed in on the one pointing the direction of Ivarstead. "Shall we put in an hour or two of walking before setting up camp for the night?"

Tim studied the sky. Now that they had replaced wide open fields for more heavily wooded mountainous terrain it was harder to gauge the time and to see how close the sun was to the horizon. "I don't think so," he mused aloud. "I think it's actually pretty late in the afternoon, and we should use what's left of the daylight to find a safe spot to set up camp before it gets dark."

The pair of them ultimately set up camp just a little ways off the main road closer to the river's edge. By the time the sun had set, their tent was set up, a stew made of dried meats and vegetables was simmering in a pot by the fire, and both Tim and Lucien were reading and discussing a book that the Court Wizard Farengar had gifted to Tim before they left Whiterun.

The black leather-bound tome was called "The Book of the Dragonborn" and had been written sometime in the Third Era. It had a fair bit of information about the term "Dragonborn" and it's history both with the Emperors of Cyrodiil as well as with the Nords of Skyrim.

"So once upon a time all the Emperors of your homeland used to be Dragonborn?" Tim asked curiously as he gave the pot one final stir.

"That was always thought to be one of the hard requirements to be a true legitimate emperor of Cyrodiil," Lucien replied as he watched Tim place some of stew into a bowl. "St. Alessia's descendants were the first Dragonborn Dynasty. Once her line died off, then a new Dragonborn named Reman Cyrodiil rose up, became Emperor, and started his own Reman Dynasty. After that, during the Third Era, it was Tiber Septim, known as Talos Stormcrown by the Nords, who was identified as Dragonborn and started the Septim Dynasty, before that line too died off during the Oblivion Crisis. There hasn't been a Dragonborn identified since then... well... not until possibly you." He took the bowl Tim offered with a grin. "Who knows, I could be here dining under the stars with the next future Emperor of Cyrodiil?"

Tim had just grasped his own bowl, but froze the moment those words left Lucien's mouth. He stared at the scholar wide-eyed before shaking his head slightly. "Don't even joke about something like that," he said uneasily. "I can't be... No... Just no." After taking a seat next to Lucien, Tim glanced at open book that had been resting on a flat stone between them and flipped a few pages over until he was past the portions about Cyrodilic Emperors. The very thought of something like that happening made Tim's skin crawl.

Thankfully, Lucien didn't press the subject and instead started eating. As he ate, he read over the page Tim had flipped to and raised his eyebrows curiously. "Hm. That's interesting."

"What is?"

"There appears to be mention of some sort of prophecy regarding someone referred to as the 'Last Dragonborn'." Lucien pointed with his spoon at the passage that caught his eyes.

Tim placed his own bowl down and picked up the book to angle it better to read in the firelight. He read the passage out loud.

"When misrule takes its place at the eight corners of the world

"When the Brass Tower walks and Time is reshaped

"When the thrice-blessed fail and the Red Tower trembles

"When the Dragonborn ruler loses his throne, and the White Tower falls

"When the Snow Tower lies sundered, kingless, bleeding

"The World-Eater wakes, and the Wheel turns upon the Last Dragonborn."

Tim looked up to Lucien. "Does any of that make any sense to you?"

"Maybe?" Lucien said hesitantly. "If we were at the museum I could probably figure out most of those references. However, the fourth line about the Dragonborn ruler losing their throne has to be about the end of the Septim line in the third era. And the bit about the White Tower falling... That's obvious enough to me because it's talking about the end of the Great War that happened in Cyrodiil about twenty-five years ago. The Imperial City was sacked by armies from the Aldmeri Dominion, which is led by an Elven Supremacist faction called the Thalmor. The White Tower must be referring to the White-Gold Tower, which served as the royal palace and was damaged during the war." At the mention of the Thalmor, Lucien grimaced.

"What are the Thalmor?"

"They're a faction of elves, primarily Altmer from the Summerset Isles, who believe that the races of Mer have supremacy over the races of Men. The faction had been expanding their influence through invasion of other lands for years. The Great War is when they attempted to do the same with Cyrodiil and the Empire."

Then Lucien sighed. "The Great War only ended with what is called the White-Gold Concordat. It was a 'peace treaty' that allowed the Empire to continue overall rule and ended the war, but essentially ceded a great deal of money, land, and influence over the government to the Thalmor and the Aldmeri Dominion."

Tim absorbed all this with a grim expression. "We had something like this happen in my own world's history," he admitted. "Two world wars that took place in the last century, instigated by racial supremacists." He shook his head.

"Were they victorious or were they defeated?" Lucien asked curiously.

"Oh they were defeated, but the costs of the wars, especially the second one, were very, very high."

The pair were quiet for a long moment. Then Lucien broke the silence. "Timothy... I know you are a good young man and hate to see any injustice. But please promise me that you won't throw yourself into any conflicts with the Thalmor."

When Tim looked like he wanted to argue, Lucien raised his hand. "The Thalmor's forces are not like bandits. They're not like the soldiers of the Legion or the Stormcloaks either. Even their lowest ranked foot soldiers are made of elves who wield powerful spells as well as blades, and you have no defense against magic. If you fight them, in your current state, they will kill you or worse."

Tim opened his mouth as if to say something, but closed it without uttering a word for a moment. Then he sighed with a resigned expression. "So what should i look out for? What do they look like so I know who to avoid?"

"Their rank and file soldiers wear a light armor made of a gold colored metal. Their more powerful higher ranked wizards wear black hooded robes with silver or gold trim."

Tim nodded. Then he looked at Lucien. "Y'know, while we're on the topic, who are the other races of men and 'mer' I should know about?"

Lucien smiled a little, obviously happier to leave the topic of the Thalmor behind them. "Well, let's start off with one I know you haven't met yet called the Khajiit. They are quite a fascinating people..."

NOTE: You can read the entire text from "The Book of the Dragonborn" here: https://elderscrolls.fandom.com/wiki/The_Book_of_the_Dragonborn

It is an actual in-game book that can be found at the start of the playthrough in Helgen.

Also, the tent and campfire were all provided by the lovely "Campfire - Complete Camping System" mod found here: https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrimspecialedition/mods/667

#elder scrolls dc#fanfiction#tim drake#skyrim fanfiction#red robin#batfam#crossover#lucien flavius#wip#afewnovelideas

#elder scrolls dc #fanfiction #tim drake #skyrim fanfiction #red robin #batfam #lucien flavius #wip #crossover #afewnovelideas

4 notes · View notes

ashyblondwaves · 3 years

Note

All the odd numbers in the safe stay at home asks :)

Hope your night goes well (or at least quickly)!!

your favourite playlist (made by yourself or someone else) Excluding my main playlist there’s this playlist called Retrowave/Outrun that I just love to listen to. It’s electronic music that sounds a lot like it could be from the 80s, sci fi or horror films. I’ve found some bangers on that playlist.

your favourite “grounding” activity (anything that involves using the hands/doesn’t involve “spacing out” or escapism - something like gardening, knitting, dancing, cooking) Playing Tetris. I don’t play nearly as much as I used to, but I can sit there for hours and play and just zone out.

5 tv shows that cheer you up The Golden Girls, Nature Documentaries, Frasier, Wandavision, Jimmy Kimmel Live

your favourite board game Cranium. I am a BEAST at that game.

a quote that you would consider getting tattooed or putting in a frame “It’s never too late to be what you might have been.” - George Eliot

a tip or hack you’ve learned that makes cleaning or tidying easier Just don’t do it. I’m kidding. Instead of dragging a vacuum up and down stairs, use a squeegee on them. It picks up pet hair and debris and puts it in a nice little pile for you. I did this all the time before we pulled up our carpeting.

the last so-bad-it’s-good joke you heard It’s not really a joke but we have two Walmarts that are close to us. One is a regular old Walmart and the other is one of the huge super Walmarts. So the other day, my husband called the smaller Walmart “Smallmart” and I wanted to punch him. But it was also kind of funny.

the last tv episode that made you laugh out loud Oh it’s always The Golden Girls lol. I just had them on for my mom when I got her to bed and had a few laughs over it before I came down to work.

a bath, shower, beauty or toiletry product that makes you feel revived, or that you always re-order when it’s running out Lord of Misrule soap from Lush. It’s my EVERYTHING.

the sport or exercise you enjoy the most, and what’s helped you get better at it Baseball remains my very first love. I haven’t played in ages, but now I take solace in just watching it.

a youtube video you find useful, entertaining or relaxing There’s this ASMR video that I always put on when I can’t sleep or am feeling bad. It’s from Gibi ASMR and it’s a role play. She’s making you tea and just making you feel comfy and it’s SO insanely comforting to me. So I watch it a lot lol: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XtXbVyaaII4

the book you just finished and what you thought (no spoilers!) I just finished “Growing Things” by Paul Tremblay. It’s a collection of his short stories and I enjoyed them. They were spooky, thought provoking and fun.

a game you’re playing that takes your mind off things Tetris. Always Tetris.

your favourite flavour and brand of tea There’s this tea by Adagio Teas called “Green Popcorn” and it’s delicious. It tastes like Honey Smacks cereal.

a favourite easy recipe: 5 ingredients or less, or takes less than 30 min to make Ever make little pizzas with wheat thins? Just a dollop of tomato sauce and, a sprinkle of mozzarella cheese and a piece of pepperoni on top and pop them in the oven for about 8 minutes. DELICIOUS.

#asks #reply #let us play #ask games #ooh that was fun #Anonymous

1 note · View note

maryxglz · 6 years

Link

Loki, Loki, Loki, Loki. Loki of Asgard. Odinson (sort of.) God of Mischief. Secret Frost Giant. Rightful King of Jotunheim? It's no secret that many (most) (definitely me) fans of the MCU are huge fans of Loki. It would be hard to argue that any other MCU villain is more popular, to the extent that some heroes (most notably his brother Thor) have been said to lag behind him in fan-love, a phenomenon that can be easily understood by watching this 2013 clip in which Chris Hemsworth pulls a total Thor and talks over Tom Hiddleston when Tom is asked about his own character's popularity. Classic Thor.

**Spoiler warning: The below contains spoilers for Avengers: Infinity War**

And consider this: without Loki there would be no Avengers in the MCU. If Loki had never tesser-acted up, would they have even gotten their acts together in time to save the world? We'll never know, because Loki brought them together. As Nick Fury said of the Avengers at the time, "They may be isolated, they may be unbalanced, but with the right push, they can be just what we need." And that push, my fellow Midgardians, was Loki.

You, God of Mischief, were the blue cube-loving glue that brought everyone together. And now you're dead.

Loki died within the first scene of Infinity War, within the first ten minutes of Infinity War, before the title card had even washed across the screen. For die-hard Loki fans, this was akin to going to see Return of the Jedi and having Darth Vader die in the first five minutes. The stakes for a film are much lower after one of your favorite characters in the entire MCU dies before you even have a chance to shift in your seat. (When other characters died, much later in the film, I found myself wishing Loki's death had been treated as operatically.)

It was a strange choice to make with such a fan favorite, and though Kevin Feige has said that it was merely Tom Hiddleston's performance that led to the persistence of Loki in the MCU to begin with (more than hinting that his previous two deaths could have originally been meant to be permanent too) when Thanos specifically said, "No resurrections this time," it sent a small dagger into our Frost Giant hearts.

The most comforting thing Tom Hiddleston has said on the subject was the following, recently to Cinema Blend: "Loki is the God of Mischief, the Lord of Misrule, an Agent of Chaos. Chaos isn't something that's threatening to Loki. And... everything's fine."

Which is so vague and indeed, Loki-esque in its evasiveness, as to be not comforting at all. (Though hey, since next year's Captain Marvel is to be set in the 1990s, we'd love to see a timeline in which 'Lord of Misrule' was the name of Loki's hardcore band.) And of course there's always Daily Loki and many other fan sites and costumes to remember him by, but still, in lieu of the overly emotional death scene we wish he'd had, allow me to go full Meredith Quill and make a mixtape about it. On behalf of the Loki-verse: the Loki Awesome Mix: Volume 1...

#tom hiddleston #loki #avengers: infinity war #thor #thor: the dark world #avengers #thor: ragnarok #marvel

283 notes · View notes

warriorcripple · 5 years

Text

If I may I am going to keep talking about Fantasy/Feudal Wisconsin because I have had it in my mind for months and I can’t get it out of my mind.

So one of the guiding ideas of this entire story is the failure of empires because the failure of men. It’s an idea that I have been thinking about for a long time, and I think is an interesting view of history to see that people usually accidentally plunge their respective nations into failure decades to centuries prior. I will probably write another post about just this idea but in the context of Rome, but for the purposes right now let me focus on David and the House of Lowenherz, and this quote about Justinian from Extra History,

“...[Justinian was] the last of them [Roman Emperors] to dream. To dream of a restored Rome; to dream of a unified Christian church; to dream in marble, gold, and steel... But in doing so he may of gambled too many of it’s resources, expended too much of it strength on a dream.”

I (if I ever finish the damn thing) want to play out a tragedy of the Lowenherz, through David. The North was united once, from the Mississippi to Lake Michigan down to the gates of Madison, the name and the word of the Lowenherz kings and queens was heard and respected. But torpor and misrule drove the kingdom and the house of Lowenherz to collapse and to four villages and the walls of the Lowenherz Castle. And in at the end of this slow decline, two able rulers both in Elizabeth and David emerge. But a kingdom can’t hold two rulers, and neither can it hold three. [Spoilers for the end of the series and the story from here], with David’s victory and expansion of the Kingdom he puts too much strain on the already meager treasury of the Lowenherz. And as vigor of youth fades, and old men die, what replaces them? Bills come due eventually, and troops need to be paid, but what if there is just not enough money in the empire because of one person’s dream? What happens when the dream has lost it’s luster, and you can’t remember why you chased in the first place? Justinian’s heir, Justin II had to deal with his, and the Roman Empire/Byzantine would never see the heights it saw under Justinian.

#feudal wisconsin #fantasy wisconsin #extra credits #extra history

1 note · View note

bodashiri · 7 years

Text

The King in Love Ep. 1~4

Historical background to help understand The King in Love (2017 MBC)

Yi Seung-Hyu : You said your name was Han-Cheon? Wang Won : Yes. Yi Seung-Hyu : On the left side of that name, the Chinese character Eon for "speech" is supposed to be added, isn't it? Wang Won : (surprised) Yi Seung-Hyu : Han for "shore" and Cheon for "fountain"... combined together, Won for "endless". Wang Won : You must be thinking further than you should be. Yi Seung-Hyu : I want to boast to you that I found out your identity through Paja (meaning "wordplay"), but I've seen you before, a long time ago. You are still the way you used to be. How have you been, Crown prince.

■ Alias breakdown through Paja ("wordplay")

Paja (파자 破字) is an old-fashioned wordplay using the fact that some Chinese characters are combination of existing characters. According to the Paja rule, our two boys' aliases break down as follow.

謜 원 Won (meaning "endless") = 言 언 Eon ("speech") + 厂 한 Han ("shore, hillside") + 泉 천 Cheon ("fountain, spring")

潾 린 Rin (meaning "clear, crystalline purity") = 水 수 Soo ("water") + 粦 인 In ("goblin's fire, ignis fatuus, will o' the wisp")

That's why Won is Han-Cheon and Rin is Soo-In.

By the way, San (珊 산) means "coral" in Chinese character. So, there is a scene where Crown Prince Won presents her with a coral dagger in the original novel. Her alias in the drama is So-Hwa (소화 小花), but the English subtitle made a mistake. It is not So-Ah (little kid) but So-Hwa (little flower).

■ Bo-Gyeokgu 보격구 步擊毬

A Korean traditional ball game with mallets similar to modern-day golf or field hockey. Gyeokgu (격구 擊毬) was introduced from Persia during 3 kingdom period and got popular in the Goryeo and Joseon Dynasty. Even the horse Gyeokgu (마상격구 馬上擊毬), a polo-like ball game with mallets, was a regular event for state examination to hire military officers in the Joseon Dynasty.

"The king was so mad that he threw his wooden pillow at him, and even with blood dripping from an open wound on his forehead, he continued to call out the king's faults. Even as he was being dragged out by armed men, he shouted "Your majesty, your foolishness is this. Your misrule is like this" on and on."

■ Yi Seung-Hyu 이승휴 李承休 (1224~1300)

Goryeo's civil administrator, diplomat, scholar, and historian.

Dong-an-geo-sa

(동안거사 動安居士) is his pen name, and

Yong-an-dang

(용안당 容安堂) is his personal residence in Mt. Doota (두타산 頭陀山). In 1280, he got fired after angering King Chungnyeol by his

10 theses of expostulations

to criticize the king's misrule as well as the corruption of the people around the king. After the incident, he secluded himself in a mountain hermitage and wrote

Je-wang-un-gi

(제왕운기 帝王韻紀), the famous history book which has a distinctive value to represent how Goryeo people perceived their independent history during that turbulent Mongol intervention period. He was reinstate after Crown prince Wang Won ascended the throne and invited him to the court for political reform.

■ Arak-ju 아락주 亞刺吉酒

The liguor's name was "Arag" in Arabic, "Araki" in Mongolian, and "Arak-ju" in Korean. It was translated as "Arabian wine" in the English subtitle, but strictly speaking, it is “

distilled liquor

(증류주 蒸溜酒)” introduced from

Persia (Arabia)

via

Mongols

. Arak-ju is the prototype of

Soju

(소주 燒酒) but it was quite rare and expensive at that time.

■ Yumil-gwa 유밀과 油密果

Korean traditional oil-and-honey pastry. It was very popular among the Mongol aristocracy as Goryeo‘s special snack (고려병 高麗餠) after King Chungnyeol treated them at a Yuan imperial party. San loves these snacks so much and eats them later in Wang Dan's tea party (Ep 5~6).

■ Song In 송인 宋璘 (?~1307) & Song Bang-Young 송방영 宋邦英 (?~1307)

The archenemies of Crown Prince Wang Won. They are real historical figures, but I have to save my words about what they did because it would be a big spoiler. Their collusion with Wang Jeon (Rin's second brother) is also historically true. The original novel is quite accurately written based on thorough historical research. Ok Bu-Yong (옥부용 玉芙蓉) is also a real person in history with a different name (Mubi), but it is not certain whether she was in love with Song In or not. Probably not.

■ The Wolf-dog analogy

Wang Won : My family raises a flock of sheep with the help of some sheep dogs. But one day, a wolf came and had a cub with one of the sheep dogs. Yi Seung-Hyu : A wolf-dog then huh? Wang Won : Will the wolf-dog follow the shepherd dog's footsteps and be a good shepherd dog? Yi Seung-Hyu : How would I know? It's up to the wolf-dog to choose. Wang Won : There is a problem. Yi Seung-Hyu : A problem? Wang Won : The flock of sheep are scared of the wolf-dog. Yi Seung-Hyu : Of course they are. Wang Won : What should be done to the wolf-dog? Kick it out? Or... due to the fear of the future... Kill it?

In the mythology of the Mongols, blue wolves were believed to be the ancestors of Mongol people. Therefore, Won is now comparing himself to a wolf-dog which is neither a wolf (Mongol) nor a sheep dog (Goryeo royal). It also implies that he always think about committing suicide not to become the fear of his father & Goryeo people. (Sigh)

Wang Won : My very birth was a crime. If you kill me, there should be so many people who shed tears of joy. I always kept these thoughts. If it is for them, wouldn't my dying be a best?

■ What King Chungnyeol said to Won in ep 3.

King Chungnyeol : If you were less smarter, if you were a little bit duller, it would be mutually beneficial for you and me. (조금만 덜 영민했더라면, 조금만 더 둔했더라면, 좋지 않았겠느냐. 우리... 서로가.)

The English subtitle is wrong. What he really means is, the king is already aware of his son pretending to be a drunken idiot. The king wants to love his son, but he can't because his mixed-blood son is the biggest threat to his throne (due to the Mongol empire behind Won and his mother).

So, he is unconsciously lamenting that if Won were a really dull idiot unworthy of the throne, their father-son relationship would be more amiable without any political feud.

So, it has totally different meaning from the English subtitle. "Translation is sacred." by Jay (Okja)

■ The Title of Nobility

The following is the peerage title of Goryeo nobility.

-Gong 공 公 (Duke) : Gangyang-Gong 강양공 江陽公 (Won's half-brother who was sent to a Buddhist temple)

-Hoo 후 侯 (Marquis) : Seowon-Hoo 서원후 西原侯 (Rin's father, Wang Young), Seoheung-Hoo 서흥후 瑞興侯 (Rin's second brother, Wang Jeon)

-Baek 백 伯 (Count) :　Eunyoung-Baek 은영백 (San's merchant father)

-Ja 자 子 (Viscount)

-Nam 남 男 (Baron)

By the way, Susagong 수사공 守司空 (referring to Rin's father in the drama) was the name of a government post. I made a mistake when drawing the Goryeo's royal family tree chart in the historical background post. I'll correct it soon. To sum up, Rin's father has the nobility title Seowon-hoo (Marquis of Seowon) and his government post is Susagong.

#the king in love #the king loves #historical background #wang won #original novel

118 notes · View notes

thedeadshotnetwork · 6 years

Link

Ralph Nader might have saved the Democratic Party The mere mention of Ralph Nader's 2000 campaign for president is enough to send most Democrats into a state of caterwauling rage. After all, Nader's presence on the ballot in Florida almost certainly narrowly cost Democratic nominee Al Gore the state and thus the election, and inflicted on America eight endless years of George W. Bush, a self-described "compassionate conservative" who turned out to be neither particularly compassionate nor particularly conservative (nor particularly adept at running the country). Nothing can ever change Nader's role in that election, nor can he ever be absolved of his share of the responsibility for the endless series of calamities that unfolded under Bush's misrule. Nader's contention that there was no meaningful difference between Gore and Bush was sharply, almost prophetically wrong. If I had a Ralph Nader voodoo doll, I would have put a pin it every day for the last 17 years and slept like a baby. But even I must concede that it's time for a reappraisal of Ralph Nader's place in history. Nader was more than just the spoiler in 2000. He was also likely responsible for placing Democrats on a long-term trajectory of moving back to the social-democratic space the party occupied during and after the New Deal, a position that helped mid-century Democrats eliminate political threats from far-left parties. Today's Democratic Party platform is eerily and unmistakably similar to Nader's set of signature issues, and credit must be given where credit is due. 2000 was Nader's second run for president. An activist most famous for his indictment of car safety in 1965's Unsafe At Any Speed (you can also thank Nader for, among many other things, getting vouchers when your flight is overbooked ) he first sought the presidency in 1996, received less than 1 percent of the vote, and wasn't even the most successful third-party candidate on the ballot — Ross Perot got over 8 million votes. But the general languor of Bill Clinton's second term, and the sense that Vice President Al Gore was insufficiently committed to making aggressive progressive policy created a completely different environment for Nader the next time around. Nader spoke to packed rallies full of true believers, refused to take part in what he called the corrupt campaign fundraising system, and boasted a roster of celebrities like Susan Sarandon who spoke on his behalf. Sound familiar? Indeed, 16 years before Bernie Sanders staked his Democratic primary campaign on a "Medicare For All" plan, Nader pushed for a Canadian-style reform of the American health-care system. Speaking to an audience in Philadelphia outside of the Republican National Convention on July 31, 2000, just months before the election, Nader argued forcefully that "the time is long overdue for Americans to join other Western countries and get universal health-care coverage. The best way to advance health care in this country is to get these giant corporations out of health care and replace them with nonprofit institutions." Gore, meanwhile, spoke mostly about preserving Medicare and incrementally increasing the number of people with insurance. Health care wasn't the only issue Nader was ahead of his time on. During the campaign he railed against the "criminal injustice system" at a time when national Democrats were still confident that their 1994 crime bill was responsible for bringing the rate of violent crime down rather than, as we know today, exploding the prison population and adding trillions to state and federal budgets. Nader's thinking on crime and prisons has slowly become the default conventional wisdom within the Democratic Party, albeit with a more explicitly woke anti-racist appeal than Nader made, with last year's nominee, Hillary Clinton, promising systemic reform to address racist policing practices and their disproportionate impact on minority communities. Nader was also the first national figure to endorse a financial transactions tax , which will be one of the most important tools future Democrats will use to pay for their expansive plans to extend the social safety net. While Democrats remained reflexively pro-trade into the Obama administration, Nader pushed for a renegotiation of NAFTA to strengthen labor protections. He called for a significantly higher minimum wage and European-style parental leave and daycare policies. Nader ultimately scored only 2.7 percent of the vote in 2000. He was completely oblivious about issues of race, gender, and sexuality that would evolve to be so critical to the contemporary Democratic coalition, and irritatingly read every single issue through the lens of social class. Though he publicly argued that he didn't care if Bush won, he could not, ultimately, have been happy that the race was so close that his voters appeared to cast the decisive ballots in Florida and poisoned the reputation of Nader and the Greens for a decade. The party hasn't even sniffed 1.5 percent of the presidential vote since. Political scientists have long wondered why the aggregate vote share of third parties declined over the course of the 20th century. Prior to the New Deal, it was not uncommon to have a significant number of third-party legislators in Congress, mostly from left organizations like the Progressive Party and the American Labor Party. In a 2007 article , political scientists Shigeo Hirano and James Snyder argued persuasively that it was the Democrats' sudden shift to the left under FDR that deprived these parties of their signature issues and thus led legislators to switch parties, voters to change their allegiance, and organized labor to support Democrats almost exclusively. That leftward tilt, and the elimination of third-party threats, helped the Democrats thoroughly dominate national politics from 1932 to 1968. The Democrats' move to the center starting in 1984 may have helped Bill Clinton win the presidency in 1992 — although it is important to note that Ross Perot's 18.9 percent of the vote was at least as important a factor — but abandoning their New Deal-era commitment to government interventionism seems, over time, to have cost the party the allegiance of millions of disillusioned leftist voters. Rumblings of dissatisfaction with the party's orientation have been obvious since at least 2003, when Howard Dean sought the nomination and claimed he was "from the Democratic wing of the Democratic Party." Barack Obama became the first Democrat since LBJ to unify economic and social progressives but watched a Republican Congress stymie any possibility of further change after 2010. And then last year, Bernie Sanders made Nader's arguments to an audience of millions of enraptured young people and progressives who wouldn't be able to pick Ralph Nader out of a lineup of two people. While Sanders was also a sometimes-awkward messenger for the party's message of racial and gender equality, his campaign represented progress on those issues for the economic left. Bernie's breakthrough also teaches us something else about third-party strategy in America: Railing against the two-party "duopoly," a staple of Green Party rhetoric from Nader to Jill Stein, is a dead end. The undertow of strategic voting — where voters will eventually settle on one of the major-party nominees to avoid wasting their votes — is impossible to swim against at the national level. Bernie Sanders was able to reach mainstream, center-left Democrats with his message, and to permanently change the conversation about health care and inequality, because he operated within the Democratic big tent rather than shivering in the cold outside it. Notwithstanding any lingering grievances generated by Clinton's loss, his standing with the public, including most Democrats, remains high because he endorsed and campaigned for Clinton after the primaries finally concluded. The Nation 's William Greider, in a 2000 endorsement of Nader , argued that "third-party presidential candidates do not attain power themselves, but they can move national politics in new directions if their message draws the kind of popular support that threatens the entrenched order." Whatever else you want to say about Ralph Nader, that he pushed the conversation in a new, progressive direction is at this point hardly disputable. The evidence is all around us. And in 2020, Democrats must once again find a candidate who appeals credibly to both economic and social progressives — and critically, can also speak the language of today's ascendant coalition of women, LGBTQ activists, and minorities as a first language. If that person can also carry a wave of progressive legislators into office, they may yet bring Nader's hopeful, long-ago vision to fruition, and heal the lingering fractures of 2016 — and 2000. November 28, 2017 at 02:10PM

#Blogger

0 notes