2008 Pacific States To 1958

I wonder how news reporting would turn out on both sides, but especially in regards what downtimer journalists and agencies would say about the uptimers. Might G.W. Bush participate in an interview with the likes of Edward R. Murrow, perhaps?

Well, having looked on Wikipedia, I'd speculate that Murrow may have some time left to turn his health around since he died in 1965, and seemed to have lung surgery about two years before then. Unfortunately, I know next to nothing about medical science in general, let alone in that area.

Additionally, it could be hell for the guy to quit his nasty smoking habit of consuming sixty-something cigarettes per day.

Word will get out about this sooner or later, so downtimer America--if not also the Pacific States to some extent--will have to address post-1958 legislation, such as Medicare/Medicaid, federal funding for higher education, and the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965, among a long list of other major policies that have been implemented since their time.

This also includes important economic legislation, such as the supposed mass-deregulation that was initiated under Jimmy Carter, and exacerbated by Ronald Reagan as well as his successors to a certain extent. The repeal of the Glass-Steagall Act for banking ought to face contention, as would the demise of the Fairness Doctrine for news coverage. The latter may be especially hard to apply to online news, such as rampant citizen journalism and digital startups that may not be as prevalent in 2008 as is true nowadays, but have the means of manifesting that are there already.

I agree that Roe v. Wade will be on the forefront of uptimer-downtimer tensions, as abortion--let alone a proudly pro-choice movement--seems to have been exceedingly taboo in the pre-permissive society '50s. As a matter of fact, I'm willing to bet that it'd be yet another reason for the Pacific States and the rest of America to decide that they can't live in the same country together.

As for Alaska and Hawaii, I wonder if the question of whether they should count as states or territories would warrant a Supreme Court case in of itself. And even then, that discounts the fact that they're from 2008 and therefore part of the newfound Pacific bloc.

On the broader topic of the politics of TTL, what might President Bush do as the chief representative for uptimer interests? In addition to talking with Dwight E., addressing downtimer Congress, and introducing himself to the rest of '58 America (maybe agreeing to the occasional interview or two), maybe he'd speak directly to then-disenfranchised groups as well. From what I've read, Dubya seemed somewhat further left on racial issues and was able to capture a fair share of those votes IOTL. If that's actually the case, then it's worth deliberating whether he could do something similar here, i.e. pose in a picture with MLK Jr. or something.

Yeaaah that's definitely bad. I do, however, wonder if that problem could be partially mitigated by informing downtimer authorities ahead of time.

Although, that might make very little difference in the Jim Crow South. I thought I read something once about a significant portion of law enforcement members being KKK members, or at least affiliates back then?

Mm'kay. Similar to sentiments I expressed in an AH.com thread that closely resembles this one, maybe the raging Segregationists will cherry-pick in what they rail against towards downtimer audiences? As in, only screech about the worst areas of the Golden State...while ignoring or grossly misrepresenting the real impressive stuff, i.e. Silicon Valley?

I mean, it's not as if '50s people have smartphones they can whip out or personal computers they can sit down in front of to look up just what this future United States is about--at least, not yet they don't. Maybe downtimer TV outlets will be much more candid and balanced in their reporting (though by no means perfect, of course)? Sources fifty years behind the times are bound to make mistakes and muddy the findings with their own subjective biases, considering that this is 1958 we're talking about.