With the arrival of 1986, more and more changes were coming onto the world, especially with the revelations from the previous year. The Udall Administration was now motivated by the support of the people to make steps toward dealing with the possibility of manmade climate change, focusing on the beginnings of long term plans to deal with it. Plans including infrastructure changes and renovations mixed with ecofriendly developments and efforts. One such effort was by implementing a plan to replace property taxes with land value taxes, thanks to that having a large mix of support. Other plans included significant increase on dividends & capitalgains taxes to increase government income to deal with debt along with the plans for electrifying the line and construction of nuclear power plants to replace coal plants by working with certain companies and groups on the matter. Another challenge brought by the people is the creation of a new piece of legislation focused on expanding civil rights for the SATMIN Americans, protecting them from discrimination because of their sexual orientation and or gender identity, including regarding employment and so on. While American perspective on the SATMIN folk was still a bit mixed or unknown, they went along through a combination of trust in the administration and that it was a reform based on protection and the like. However, the Second Civil Rights Act would have greater rammifications as it would serve as a cultural signifier of the changing times and would send a signal to the pop culture forces that would cause a cycle to start spinning. Another would be the formation of Pixar Animation Studios, especially with how much of the team assisted in the computer animation affected of
Land of the Wild.
It was just the start in showcasing the power of the people that would be going on. Over in the Philippines, the early months would see the power of peaceful revolution go. The
snap presidential election in the Philippines earlier announced by President
Ferdinand Marcos woulf be held despite the controversy and would lead to a chain of reactions. This would become known as the
People Power Revolution. Civil resistance against the campaign fruad and the rule, it would be a strong message over to Marcos. After weeks of protesting, Marcos would go into exile in Hawaii after 20 years of rule. As such,
Corazon Aquino becomes the first Filipino woman president, first as an interim president with
Salvador Laurel becoming her vice president.
[1] This would not be the only example regarding the changes in politics. Over in Haiti, the infamous President
Jean-Claude Duvalier or "Baby Doc" as he was called, would flee, ending 28 years of family rule. Meanwhile, more eyes turned to the Soviet Union with Gorbachev would begin announcing some of his plans for reforms within the USSR:
glasnost and
perestroika. The former was regarding the USSR's increased openness and transparency like in terms of information while
perestroika would be also for the economic reforms to help end the stagnation. One major project was some planned reforms that would see a modernized version of the NEP from Lenin's era be introduced to help bring a bit of fresh life into the economy along with taking notes on what China was doing. Another was the further interactions with the US and USSR for potential economic deals, primarily in the Soviet Union's need to catch up in the development of computer sciences. One fascinating outcome of this would be the Udall Administration actually inviting the Free Software Foundation for consultation for assisting the Soviet Union on the field of software, believing that the goals would align without asking for other computer companies to potentially get involved.
Of course, not everything was pleasant going right now. "Brain", the first ever PC virus would be unleashed onto the world of computers, showing that even this new technology has some enemies it will need to face though Brain itself was created not for malign purposes as it would be discovered. Meanwhiler, the launching of the
Challenger was delayed due to a scandal going on in NASA. There have been growing concerns over the O-ring seals in one of the solid rocket boosters and anonymous calls for investigations would be answered. It would turn out that the concerns were wholly justified. Test data from as early as 1977 had revealed a potentially catastrophic flaw in the SRBs' O-rings, neither NASA nor
Morton Thiokol, the SRB manufacturer, addressed or corrected the issue. NASA managers would also disregard warnings from engineers about the dangers of launching in cold temperatures and did not report these technical concerns to their superiors. Many noted that had it not been caught in time, the
Challenger could've been seriously damaged or worse, killing everyone inside. As such, under the orders of Udall, NASA established the Office of Safety, Reliability and Quality Assurance to better address safety concerns, and commercial satellites would be launched on
expendable launch vehicles rather than deployed from the crewed orbiter.
[2] Many noted that this also came about because of the increased desire for people to call out irresonsible superiors and to uphold accountability, likely from how the Udall Adminsitration was able to hold Exxon accountable with the help of people doing the right thing and reporting unethical practices. However, one of the biggest shocks was the assassination of Swedish Prime Minister Olof Palme, causing investigations and even some conspiracy theorists blaming the apartheid regime in South Africa due to Olof Palme's speech a week before he was murdered calling for apartheid to be abolished andhelping support for the African National Congress. This would bring to mind more the calls for the end of apartheid, with the United States becoming more firm in standing against it.
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[1]- Informaton coming from here:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1986
[2]- Information and phrasing coming from here:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Space_Shuttle_Challenger_disaster
