Miscellaneous, Non-Frivolous ASB Ideas

Indeed, there will be. In addition to having to sort out the normal implications of a mass time-travel ISOT, it just so happens that 1952 is an election year as well. So, who might the uptimers--those deemed eligible to vote due to different minimum ages, anyway--support? With some exceptions, I doubt that Obama would do too well with downtimers because of their racist attitudes. For God's sake, they were debating whether civil rights was the right thing to pass, never mind the fact that, where and when the uptimers came from, America elected its first black POTUS in 2008 !

Even discounting the upcoming presidential election, the US's political landscape has changed dramatically relative to what the downtimers must be used to (obviously, sixty years of progress tends to do that). For one, the Deep South has transformed from a reliably Democratic stronghold to an arch-Republican bastion, while the parties themselves have adopted much different social and fiscal stances by 2012.

On economic policy, I'm aware that modern America gets a rap for being more right-wing than its counterpart from forty, fifty, sixty years ago. To my knowledge, however, there were areas in which there was actually less government intervention back in the 1950s as well--no War on Poverty yet, less pollution controls, shorter copyright terms, and not nearly as much federal student-loan assistance, just to name a few. Further, even though it doesn't operate by the gold standard anymore, 1950s America still allows foreign governments to exchange dollars for gold, which uptimer America finally disallowed in 1971. Maybe this will fuel the inevitable debate over how to manage currency and whatnot, even if it ultimately plays second fiddle to disputes over foreign policy, the Sexual Revolution, Silicon Valley, and future Supreme Court cases (among others)? Official legislation aside, I predict a Culture War that'll make the OTL Sixties version look tame by comparison--this time between the (socially) progressive, technocratic 2012 crowd that includes fully-grown Baby Boomers and idealistic young Millennials, and the (socially) conservative, Red Scare-ridden population of 1952 with its myriad World-Wars veterans and reverence for American values and "pro-family traditionalism".

Oh, yeah; good points. Actually, it's probably to Obama's benefit that he wasn't sent along for the ride due to the Racist Derangement Syndrome that he'd be bombarded with 24/7. The likes of Alex Jones and the Tea Party suddenly look pretty tame now that the pro-Jim Crow Segregationists have returned, huh?

Insofar as separate governments go, I can see 2012 America initiating secessionist proceedings first, while D.C. protests before eventually coming around once they realize just how incompatible uptimer society is with their values and objectives. That, and they presumably don't have the firepower or economic clout to bludgeon "WUSA" into submission--quite the opposite, in fact.

However, I do wonder if they could hash out a trade deal anytime soon, though what the uptimer states would need to import from them, I don't know. By contrast, "EUSA" would want to get its hands on 2012 technology and scientific knowledge--with computers, smart devices and internet standing out the most. Of course, I expect they'd be a whole lot less permissive when it comes to legislating the WWW assuming that they allow the public to access it at all. Also, how might they reconcile broadcasting regulations like the Fairness Doctrine with the rise of online media, namely citizen journalism and digital outlets primed to compete with the small assortment of "Legacy Media" firms they're familiar with? To that end, SCOTUS might also reexamine their OTL rulings on future cases like New York Times Vs. Sullivan, due to the fear that heavier burdens of proof for public figures could embolden news tabloids and whatnot.

There's also the post-1950s space exploration efforts like the Moon landings as well as deploying robots on Mars and unmanned spacecrafts into the greater solar system, so maybe downtimer NASA would vie for uptimer assistance in those areas (i.e. beating "those dirty Reds" to launching the first space satellite this time around).