It was not surprising that President Askew would win the presidency over in 1988. He was Vice President during the Udall Administration and he possessed a similar level of charisma and charm, if in a different manner, than his predecessor. While he was a more conservative Democrat than Udall or some of his contemporaries, he never let it get in the way of the reforms that were needed or become dogmatic. He was against abortion himself, but he understood its necessity, especially as growing health studies painted more the complex risks associated with pregnancy, giving birth and other factors that he didn't consider. At the same time, he also change and grew from his time as Florida's governor during the 1970s. His stance toward SATMIN+ folk changed over time, especially over when he would work alongside Udall in dealing with the HIV/AIDS epidemic at the time. Throughout that time, he noted how many similarities SATMIN+ folk shared with people of color regarding being marginalized for reasons out of their control. As such, he threw his weight alongside with Udall in supporting the SATMIN+ civil rights' movement. Askew's more moderate and conservative leanings did make him popular among the moderates and would help cement much of the work his predecessor starting and he was continuing, ensuring a positive legacy. The Brightbangers were coming of age, many of them now in their 20s and early 30s, having children of their own. Their reformatory zeal did not waver and in fact just heightened and refined as they were entering into positions to help influence and shape the next generation. The Freeborn Generation, those born in the late 1970s and throughout the 1980s were now coming of age into beginning to understand politics and for them, President Reubin Askew would be the first major political figure they became familiar with and would set the foundation for political leanings.
President Reubin Askew was there when the National Bureau of Healthcare was made. With all the blood, sweat and tears poured into it, he saw it as upmost paramount to do what he could to maintain it and do a good job so all Americans can enjoy thorough and proper healthcare for all. Thanks to the continued policies of increasing the workforce of people involved with healthcare, it would help bring in a steady wave of medical professionals across the fields to help people. This would ripple across the various other sectors of society such as the economy, infrastructure, society and so much more. Mental health was being taken more and more seriously just as much as physical health and more people were going into different medical applications to help. President Askew didn't need to do much outside of some polish over on some of the subtle aspects of the system along with preparing for some stuff of the future. As technology was becoming more advanced and computers more commonplace, the adminstrative network system across the various levels would need to be maintained and updated. However, the efforts have been paying off and been used to further encourage and help people, especially students to study and get into the fields. On some level, this also affected education to be able prepare and select the minds needed for success. Because of this along with some new studies on the nature of education, the focus was on helping more people get through their studies and educated enough for what is needed to do. After all, the best doctors can only do so much so getting more of them and other medical professionals would tart becoming more and more focused and became of a broader focus on education in terms of helping the students achieve their best.
Meanwhile, the long-term infrastructure projects that were started under Udall and would continue under Askew would begin paying off near the end. The first major nuclear power plants would start going online as they finished construction and newer designs were being implemented and created. Electrification of the expanded network begin finishing in several metropolitan networks and would starting connecting different parts of the USA together, resulting in a faster and more reliable Amtrak system. After all, gas prices were still high and people were looking for however to travel. More efficient urban planning was being updated and multiplexes becoming more common in suburbs and other neighborhoods once more. Major cities and states began supplementing federal initiatives with their own plans and ideas on how to update the infrastructure of their area while adhering to the new ecologically-minded standards. Trolly buses, heavy rail systems and so on were seeing further growth, such as how Atlanta would do quite a boom as a result of the additional benefits gained from hosting the 1996 Olympics. While the economic growth would continue, it would do so in a more slowed-down form and becoming somewhat regular. Major changes were driving this economic shift. The environmental regulations and new status quo created by them was showing more and more. "Disposable" plastic items such as cutlery, containers for perishables and drink bottles and so on were becoming less and less common on store shelves for instance, replaced with containers and substitutes more easily recyclable along glass bottles, aluminum cans and so on, with various companies looking to find new items or clever solutions. At the same time, the growing changes coming systemically, such as the rise of agricultural areas in neighborhoods and the like was showing a focus more toward local production of crops and produce and dealing with food deserts.
Technology would also see growing investments during the administration. More and more people were using computers and the advancements made in the last few years of the Askew Administration not just confirmed that, but seemed to accelerate it, such as the release of Windows 95 by Microsoft, which for many consumers and people not knee deep in this sort of sector, was the first real introduction to using an operating system. However, Microsoft's dominance was coming with a catch, as some were showing concern over monopolistic tendencies that Microsoft was showing. Even the company itself knew this and was privately hoping for their competition to gain some success, lest Microsoft may be targeted for lawsuits regarding accusations of monopolistic practices. For Apple Inc, they were still in a deep lurch ever since the ousting of Steve Jobs and they were trying to keep the company up. As a somewhat desperate move, Apple Inc would merge with Be Inc, a company founded by former
Apple Computer executive
Jean-Louis Gassée , for the purpose of acquiring BeOS for the Apple computers. NeXT Inc, founded by Steve Jobs, was originally considered, but delays and other troubles would cause the deal to fail. As such, NeXT Inc would be switching priorities toward the growing Internet culture along with the company's second headquarters in North Carolina, part of a growing trend of tech companies looking to settle in other states to deal with less competition and have them compete to be settled there. This along with the growing open-source software movement thanks to the groundwork laid by GNU meant there was plenty of promise over in this field, especially as more and more people were getting into it. In fact, as Internet service providers were becoming prominent, Askew himself was considering more development in this. One of his last acts was ensuring funding over for some parts of the Internet, keeping it from being wholly privatized with some potential ideas of the US developing a public ISP to serve the American people. This was encouraged by various companies, who saw this as a chance for them to grow their Internet companies. One would be
Akashica Inc, based in Austin, Texas by Jeff Bezos; a massive "online bookstore", it was growing more as it would expand its reach, including in what sort of literature to promote and the effects this would have over on pop culture.
Culturally, things were settling down for the most part. While legislation such as the SATMIN Civil Rights act would give protections against discrimination, it would still be up to the people to change and handle. Not everything was rosy as it was still not unheard of for SATMIN+ youth being kicked out, running away and or abused while the adults struggled and dealt with subtle and indirect means of discrimination. At the same time, there was still progress and optimism. More and more organizations were being formed to help deal with the people and their problems. Average Americans were showing growing and greater support over for their SATMIN+ friends and family members along with the growing acceptance, especially among the youth while communities began working toward safeguarding and accepting these people. In fact, even a growing number of churches were showing acceptance, tolerance and friendliness toward SATMIN+ folk, showing a generational and even religious gaps, such as the Mainline/Oldline Protestant churches showing greater acceptance and tolerance compared to evangelical churches, which have been showing a noticeable decline for a number of reasons (including growing critiques of televangelism and prosperity gospel, as both were given rejected by Askew ). The media would also be growing on their side with more sympathetic portrayals in film and television though still somewhat based on stereotype to a degree. However, this was also shown to be a generational gap issue as more and more of the younger looked for experimental means or breaking the mold, beginning some new trends and patterns that would become evident over time. Though speaking of media, Hollywood would be experience a sort of decline in the administration. The controversies and scandals in Hollywood regarding abuse of stars and other workers have provided a rare chance for other major cities and states to potentially grow their equivalent to Hollywood, such as Ted Turner with Atlanta and other cities trying to have their own regional counterpart for it, especially as some sought to diversify their economy in the faces of a shifting manufacturing sector.
Politically, it would be his biggest impact. His victory would end the chances of the Reagan Republicans within their party, adding another death knell for their major supporters such as religious reactionaries and the like, who would lose even more significant influence and remaining alliances would fracture. As such, it would be a long period of rebuilding during Askew's presidency, who himself would prove to be popular even among conservatives. Beyond the Republicans and the Democrats, a third party would be born to try and fill the void, that of the United Citizens' Party under Ross Perot, trying to align themselves to the center. Over the years, the Unizens as they would be called would end up growing their numbers from across both parties and taking place of ther perceived antiquated nature of both main parties. Their growing wins over in Congress along with local levels would be inspirational. Additionally, their changes would grow with Askew would lead the charge for passing two amendments to the US constitution; one focused on getting rid of the Electoral College and changing the US voting system to Instant runoff voting on all levels while the second one added term limits on various politicians and appointments along with recall votes on Senators. With these two amendments, the stage was set for a new American political paradigm to be established, especially as much of the old guard would be forced into the background. But how would this new field would look like, who could say? Another political note was on the concerning rise of domestic terrorism. While certain incidents were handled non-violently, the Oklahoma City Bombing would be viewed as a turning point, especially as it would shine a light on groups of people motivated by hateful ideology. People who's radical viewpoints led them to become more reactionary and isolated and so they began turning to violence, increasing becoming the public villains. Their bigoted mix of ethnonationalism and national theocratic tendencies would be similar to those of the Middle East, thus them being given the moniker "munafics", coming from
munafiq, a Muslim word referring to false believers and hypocrites. This cultural reflection would also be causing some various changes as some had to face the various ugly aspects.
In pop culture, comics would enter a rebirth with relatively new slates and being gradually taken more seriously. The Brass Age would begin early in Askew's term and would be defined by the time along with the changes of his predecessor. From exploring more serious topics and expanding on new and more diverse heroes along with new genre going beyond from the superhero genre, it would be an intriguing time. Movies kept on going despite the issues of Hollywood, with plenty of large successful films there. The television industry was also growing there with more serious and intriguing shows, both over in live action shows with various fantastical themes or more serious shows, but also the boom in animation as new talent was leaking in and providing an expansion of new ideas. Video games would also become more and more prominent, even getting an official ratings system as they were becoming complex enough to require such for visual content or story reasons. Pop culture was settling in with the new norms that were established and put into place over by the Askew Administration and many people. The world was still changing after all. The Askew Administration would see the Soviet Union fall and from its ashes the Sovereign Union. They would become involved indirectly in the Yugoslavic Wars and also essential in the creation of Khalistan from the ashes of Pakistan. They would even increase bonds with China as they were gradually democratizing. The world was not wholly at peace; after all, the Middle East was still a hotbed of conflicts and competing ideologies along with some troubles in Africa though with some victories with the restoration of the Solomonid dynasty in Ethiopia and the end of apartheid in South Africa. And now the reigns would be given to Arlen Specter, who seems poised to continue the prosperity though also raise the question of what comes next, especially as age keeps catching up.