WhatIfAltHistism

WhatIfAltHistism is the ideology of YouTuber WhatIfAltHist.

He is on the Lib-Right quadrant, being  economically libertarian,  civically libertarian, and  socially conservative. In this, he shares many similarities with Paleoconservatism, particularly due to his Pro-American stances.

Being a historian, his political opinions are primarily based on his interpretation of history, which is primarily a traditionalist, western centric, pro-American, pro-Christian and moderately conservative perspective. Whilst he acknowledges these biases, he goes to great lengths in his videos to justify these conclusions through rigorous evidence and hard data.

[[File:Cball-US.png]] Pro-Westernism [[File:European Federalism.png]]
WhatIfAltHist believes that the achievements of the west in the realms of living standards, human rights, wealth, technology, women's rights, and military power are immediately obvious, and is strongly opposed to the modern day 'self loathing' that educated westerners have of themselves.

He rejects the hypothesis that Europe got rich through the slave trade and imperialism, pointing out that:

1. Most of Europe's economic superiority preceded colonialism.

2. If participation in the slave trade and large amounts of colonies were the key determinants of modern day wealth, then Portugal would be wealthier than Denmark, which is clearly not the case.

3. Empires were the norm throughout history, so it is very unfair to judge the actions of European powers by today's standards rather than the standards of their time.

He also points out that European, Christian civilisation was the largest driving force behind abolitionism in history, as well as movements to improve human rights. The fact that the modern west hates itself for sins of the past shows just how more self aware, compassionate, and humanistic it is compared to other cultures.

[[File:Culchrist.png]] Cultural Christianity [[File:Christy.png]]
Whilst WhatIfAltHist doesn't completely reject Jared Diamond's hypothesis of natural geography determining the development of civilisation in areas such as South America and Africa, he views it as insufficient to explain why Europe surpassed the Islamic world, India, and China. He instead puts this in large part down to the culture of Christianity, (in addition to being spared the destruction of the Mongols).

He points out that the Christian religion established restrictions on cousin marriage (weakening clan structures), the equality between classes in terms of god's judgement, its relatively good treatment of women, and never being very comfortable with the idea of slavery, leading to its end at the fall of the Roman Empire and the abolitionist movements of the 18th and 19th centuries.

WhatIfAltHist views the decline of Christianity to be a negative development for the western world, as it has led to a lack of shared values and an intellectual void that more destructive ideologies like Marxism and Woke Liberalism have tried to fill.

[[File:Anticommunism.png]] Anti-Communism [[File:Necon.png]]
WhatIfAltHist is very anti-communist. He believes it should be obvious to anyone who looks at the data that attempts to establish communism have always failed, leading to totalitarianism, mass starvation, and economic stagnation, and that countries that embraced capitalism have ended up far wealthier.

He also thinks that Russia and  China would be much richer and more evenly matched rivals to the United States if communism had never took hold, as the regimes had the brightest members of society executed, made agriculture very inefficient through disastrous collectivization policies, and depressed birthrates before the countries became wealthy.

Pro-Americanism
WhatIfAltHist believes that Western Europe and Canada are way too harsh on the United States, saying they're blind to the military support that America provides for them and that it's only because of that they are able to fund their generous welfare systems.

He also credits Pax-Americana for creating the most peaceful and prosperous period in history, stopping countries from annexing one another and borders frequently shifting. He thinks that when America withdraws from unstable regions like the Middle East, powerful actors will have no fears of invading other countries and re-establishing empires.

Focus on Demographics
Being a keen follower of Peter Turchin's Secular Cycles, which focuses on structural-demographic phases of civilisations and theorises that history is defined by cyclical changes caused by demographics, this determining levels of political stability, power of elites, and collective solidarity in any given society.

Economic Views
WhatIfAltHist is fairly laissez-faire and free market in his economic views, although not extremely so, and attempts to be balanced when it comes to talking about leftist and rightist perspectives. His views can be best described as    Classical Liberal, believing strongly in economic freedom but also being against monopolisation. He's an admirer of Theodore Roosevelt and his break up of the robber barons.

In terms of global trade, WhatIfAltHist believes that high levels of immigration, as well as offshoring industries abroad through globalisation, has done a huge amount of damage to living standards in the west, as it has enabled corporations to have vast supplies of cheap labour and being able to avoid raising wages. He thinks that if not for those policies, an ageing population would lead to an increase in real wages for the everyday worker due to the shortage. Both his free market positions domestically and his protectionist stances to foreign trade puts him firmly in the camp of Paleoconservatism.