The Reagan Revolution - I'm sick of it. A rant.

[Ishoutandscream2]

I started college in the fall of 1980. I was just out of high school, and I was about to vote for the first time. That November, the Reagan Revolution begun with St. Ronnie's landslide. A month later, John Lennon was shot. And of course, a month after that, Ronnie was inaugurated, and things haven't been the same.

It seemed to start with the firing of the air traffic controllers, and then the cuts in domestic programs that of course hurt the poor. The military industrial complex, however, sure got theirs. The recession of 82. Our own big recession in Texas in 86. Huge budget deficits. Continued sabre rattling against the Soviet Union. The big stock market crash of 87. Iran contra. Savings and loan crisis. The religious right was a leading political voice. And liberal became a dirty word.

Poppy carried the torch into the 90's. "Voodoo economics" was a staple of the Reagan revolution, and continued through Bush the Wiser. Of course, sabre rattling once again defined the Reagan revolution. Poppy goes to war in the Mid East and approval ratings soar. But the economy suffers, and the "read my lips" pledge is forsaken. Poppy broke an important commandment of the Reagan revolution - "Thou shalt not raise taxes on the wealthy." With this turn of events, the Clinton era was ushered in.

It was only really a two year break from the Reagan revolution. Clinton and the Democratic congress changes the tax code to cut into the deficit. The Reagan revolution is re energized, and Sir Newt takes up the battle flag. "The Contract on America" had begun. The last 6 years of the Clinton presidency was spent in constant turmoil and investigation. Clinton gave up any pretense of a real progressive agenda, and tried to govern from the center. This led to, I believe, his second biggest legislative mistake (after NAFTA), the welfare to work laws. This led to greater hardship for many poor Americans, and the myths of "welfare queens" still resonated in right wing "think tanks," now known as talk radio. Liberal was even a dirtier word in America.

We've seen the affects of the Reagan revolution during this decade. Now, I hope, we have come full circle. It's time for a Democratic majority in the House and Senate, and a Democrat in the White House. This, I pray, will lead to real progressive legislation. I have waited my entire adult life for this, and it is time to make sure the Reagan revolution is dead, just like it's namesake. May it never raise its ugly head again.

8 more months people!!!

[BlueJac]

1. Yes, Milton Friedman economics suck.........

Free markets my ass......non-regulating my ass.....We are now living their fucking dream.....where the middle class disappears. Bring back John Maynard Keynes.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Maynard_Keynes

[polichick]

2. Reagan also removed Carter's solar panel from the White House...

And so, all these years later, Jimmy Carter's goal of getting 20% of our energy needs from the sun has still not been met. The White House solar panel is now in the Carter Presidential Library and Museum.

[MadMaddie]

3. One thing I would add to the list....the total lack of funding to

fight the AIDS epidemic....if Ronnie wasn't so enamored with the religious right....he could have advanced the science to fight Aids...but instead he deemed it as a gay disease and ignored it.

[Ishoutandscream2]

13. I was going to include it, and please forgive me, I forgot

Something that I shouldn't have forgotten. AIDS was totally ignored during his adminstration, and like you said, Ronnie agreed with the fundies that it was strictly a "gay disease." I remember the terrible stigma given to those who contracted AIDS in the 80's. They were shunned and ridiculed by the public, who remained ignorant about the disease while Ronnie was in office.

Did I mention that the 80's really, really sucked?

[Earth Bound Misfit]

4. K & R....

:toast: 3 DECADES of of "The Reign of St. Ronnie" in a succinct, descriptive 5 paragraphs. Great Post!

239 days.

THANK

FV#$ING

GOD!

[izquierdista]

5. Time perspective

Since you were but a child, I won't call you on it, but it's really the Nixon Revolution. The downward trend started on January 20, 1969 and was kept in check by Democrats in Congress and by Carter until Reagan took the brakes off into uncontrolled descent. Every single effect that you point to has a cause that can be traced back to an idea carefully nurtured by Nixon (think Cheney and Rumsfeld).

[Ishoutandscream2]

16. Okay, due to my youth, I will take your word for it

I guess I'm looking toward Ronnie's economic policies (ie supply side), that got his "revolution" going.

[progressoid]

6. Then you'll HATE this email I just received!

Let me this out of the way first :puke:

OK, here it is:

Didn't realize just how much he's missed, until you read and remembered some of the stuff he said... and stood for.

'Here's my strategy on the Cold War: We win, they lose.' - Ronald Reagan

'The most terrifying words in the English language are: I'm from the government and I'm here to help.'- Ronald Reagan

'The trouble with our liberal friends is not that they're ignorant; it's just that they know so much that isn't so.'- Ronald Reagan

'Of the four wars in my lifetime, none came about because the U.S.?was too strong.' - Ronald Reagan

'I have wondered at times about what the Ten Commandments would have looked like if Moses had run them through the U.S. Congress.'- Ronald Reagan

'The taxpayer: That's someone who works for the federal government but doesn't have to take the civil service examination.'- Ronald Reagan

'Government is like a baby: An alimentary canal with a big appetite at one end and no sense of responsibility at the other.'- Ronald Reagan

'The nearest thing to eternal life we will ever see on this earth is a government program.'- Ronald Reagan

'It has been said that politics is the second oldest profession. I have learned that it bears a striking resemblance to the first.'- Ronald Reagan

'Government's view of the economy could be summed up in a few short phrases: If it moves, tax it. If it keeps moving, regulate it. And if it stops moving, subsidize it.'- Ronald Reagan

'Politics is not a bad profession. If you succeed, there are many rewards; if you disgrace yourself, you can always write a book.'- Ronald Reagan

'No arsenal, or no weapon in the arsenals of the world, is as formidable as the will and moral courage of free men and women.'- Ronald Reagan

'If we ever forget that we're one nation under God, then we will be a nation gone under.'

[Ishoutandscream2]

12. Idiots. Don't they know that Reagan GREW the government

And up to the Boy King, recorded record deficits in his administration. That shit don't float.

[progressoid]

17. Yeah, I always thought he was a below average actor,

But he sure managed to convince a lot of Americans he was a good president.

Morans.

[JHB]

22. I remembered some of the stuff he said...

...and what a load of horseshit it was, such reeking pandering when it wasn't steaming clouds of paranoia. Worse still, when it was both.

[LWolf]

7. Good rant.

I agree, and if this were GDP, I'd point out the bad fit that both candidates have with this sentiment.

It's not, so I won't say anymore.

[LiberalEsto]

8. It was Devolution

not Revolution

because it was intended to wipe out all the achievements of the New Deal and bring us back to the days of the robber barons. Unfortunately, it has mostly succeeded.

[LeftishBrit]

9. I like your rant - I'm sick of never-ending Thatcherism

I was also a student in the early 80s. The Iron Lady was smashing everything decent; damaging education, health, the public services and British industry; encouraging a new morality of 'there is no such thing as society; I'm all right Jack and everyone who can't pull themselves up by their bootstraps can go to hell- they DESERVE it!'. Some of my fellow students swallowed the line, and aimed to hack their way into politics or journalism, while showing off how ruthless they were.

The crushing of the trade unions, especially the miners; the poll tax; 'Clause 28' and other socially illiberal moves against gays and other 'unconventional' people. Plenty of money for Trident, but none for the health service or the schools. Centralizing power; taking it from the local authorities; even abolishing the Greater London Council because it was led by left-wing Ken Livingstone who wouldn't tow her line.

Eventually we got rid of Thatcher, and things improved a bit, but never to anything like what they were before the whole mess began. Blair is to the right of pre-Thatcher Tories like Heath and Macmillan. I would like to see some REAL change!

[Lydia Leftcoast]

11. Yes, and judging from what I read in your press

there's a significant portion of the population that blames "left-wing policies" for the plight of your underclass.

Where have I heard that kind of line before?

[Ishoutandscream2]

14. Oh, yes, Maggie Thatcher. She and Ronnie were so tight

They would have made a lovely couple. God, I don't miss the 80's.

[Baby Snooks]

20. The "neo-conservatism"

The reality of "neo-conservatism" as reflected in Great Britain as well as the United States is that it really has become "neo-liberalism" but only for the corporations. We no longer really have democracy in either country. We have oligarchy.

Both countries dumped the monarchy. I sometimes wonder if we would have all been better off with the monarchy.

At least your royal family can spell "environment" and can pronounce "nuclear." And understand the threat involved with regard to both.

[ladjf]

10. The Reagan era was bad for America.

[graywarrior]

15. I still can't get over the democrats who voted for Reagan

[Baby Snooks]

18. The revolution that wasn't...

The reality of Ronald Reagan was he was a misguided idealist and at times a very radical one but in his heart, he really believed in the "shining city on the hill" and that was the foundation for what he hoped was a better country for everyone which of course most will argue about but really was what he hoped for.

He had a dream. Like so many others have. The problem is his dream became a nightmare the day he was inaugurated. The Reagan Revolution quickly became the Bush Revolution.

When George HW Bush ran for president in 1988 he promised a "kinder, gentler" nation and 20 years later, as reflected by his son, we have ended up with a "meaner, nastier" nation.

Keep in mind that Ronald Reagan was at one time a Democrat and some of those values remained with him when he switched parties - the reality is that just as the Democratic Party left him, the Republican Party left him as well.

The real danger of Hillary Clinton is the associaton with the Bushes. A picture is worth a thousand words. And there are thousands of pictures at this point of the Bushes and the Clintons.

?

April 24, 2008

[fascisthunter]

19. The Reagan Revolution=Fascist Coup

[Hidden Stillness]

21. Why are These Things so Hard to Fight, and Take so Long to Stop, Nowadays?

The thing that was always so perplexing and maddening about this whole horrific Reagan/Republican/corporate era, was why it took so long, so long, almost 30 years, to really start the large-scale, organized, popular fight against it, and rejection of it, even when there was evidence of widespread hatred of it, and that Reagan was not popular with the majority of the American people even at the time. Why did highest-level Democrats remain so flummoxed, so duped, that they thought Republicans were "brilliant," "popular," and "so powerful that we could never win against them," and why did they stumble onto and stay on this disastrous "game-plan" of only acting like Republicans/conservatives, and only agreeing with whatever they did, every time, no matter how much evidence there was that the American people wanted them to fight? Why did they think that the anger of Americans telling them to fight Republicans, came from "a small group," when really it was the growing majority, and why were they so completely cut off for so long, even as they pretended to be "framing masters"?

This merciless destruction of Government and all that it can do to help, killing of whole categories of law and regulation, laughing at all the victims it caused, and replacing every single public system, forum or way, with an unregulated profit-making corporate opportunity, allowed this horror to develop so far, so badly, needlessly--if it had only been faced and fought as soon as it was clear what it was. There has now been at least one generation exposed to nothing but commercial propaganda that Government is bad, incompetant, that taxes are bad, Government is the enemy, anyone who proposes programs to help people solve their problems is "making people dependant on Government," "corporations are fun, exciting, new, it is where all the good/fun comes from," regulations are just keeping us back, we would be flying in a Heaven on Earth if "we" just cleared away all the laws. Everything is competition, we need to remain competitive, "we need to lower our standards to remain competitive," "we" need to outsource "our" jobs to remain "competitive" (?), everyone is your competitor, a bizarre new attitude, everything everywhere is competition, competition. A total corporate-Communist style "re-education camp," learning only the corporate way. Deregulate everything, "privatize" (commercialize) everything, lower taxes to nothing, so nothing can be funded--why? I don't know; "it works," yes, "it works," even though there is only evidence going the other way, that it only destroys.

All Government programs should now be shifted, to only give money to corporations--subsidies, tax cuts, bailouts--because they are now the focus of all; but people are unemployed, hungry, unable to pay bills... Give it to the corporations, and they will just hire people, even though they don't. How will that help people? "Dependant on Government for handouts..."--but you give handouts to corporations.. "No, that is an 'investment'..." Corporate management "creates jobs," like saints; but don't the employees create wealth by doing all the work? "No, employees are a drain, an expense.." We are ALWAYS "BAD," they are ALWAYS "GOOD." "We neutrally, and unbiased, support the markets when they fail"--no you don't, you bail out individual corporations you have ties to. Floating in an unending sea of mind-numbing corporate propaganda, turning to mush everything you know. "Corporations Fun--Fun! Don't oppose us, or we'll make you pay like you never imagined..." "There are no 'crimes'; there is only competitive advantage. The only question is whether it works or not."

Started under Reagan--"Greed is Good"--continued under Clinton, who got advice from "D"LC consultants, and sent us down a tragic course we might have avoided, and now to the most horrific, but completely inevitable consequences, where the rich capitalist pricks do not even care if they kill people by the thousands, just to "increase their markets" (euphemism), and now finally, finally, cutting so many people out of the process, hurting so many millions so badly, that now at last, people understand what the argument against it is, by their bitter experience. Why were these things so hard to answer--anything!--by the top-level Democrats, up until this very moment, when the Reagan Republican attitude is so stupid, and so easily dismissed?