One of the causes of extreme conservatism

[Ohiogal]

I suppose this isn't anything new, but yesterday my middle son was here, and he and I and his dad started talking about politics a bit.

We were discussing how Ronald Reagan got the ball rolling towards today's extreme conservative agenda in so many ways. Hatred of unions -- remember the air traffic controllers -- hatred of the poor -- remember the "welfare queen" remark -- hatred of government in general -- remember him saying that "government is the problem" -- one-sided and biased information -- remember he got rid of the "Fairness Doctrine" ...........hatred of regulations on business ...... I always cringe when I hear anyone praising old Saint Ronnie as such a great president. I think many people in that generation liked his patriarchal presence and "tough talk" on the poor and on Russia. I think he was the catalyst in many ways to today's hyper partisanship.

Anyway, I'm always encouraged by my adult kids' ability to see through all the crap out there and think for themselves.

That's all I wanted to say!

[notdarkyet]

1. I Isaw the same things you did. But his war on poor people was a backdoor attack on minorities too.

[AJT]

9. He did make a "states rights" champaign speech in Mississippi

Not exactly subtle.

[Ohiogal]

14. Of course. Republicans despise both.

[Freddie]

2. St. Ronnie started the present path to destruction

I hope we can recover someday.
My town has a Ronald Reagan Blvd. I drive by there quite often and the sign always gets a certain gesture.

[sharedvalues]

3. Yup. And the airport in DC is National or DCA

And if anyone asks why, Neshoba County and collusion with the Iranians are good stories to tell.

[Ohiogal]

13. Ha! Good for you!

[CrispyQ]

4. At the same time, the right wing started funding think tanks to craft their disingenuous message,

and they bought up as many radio stations as they could to broadcast it. Thirty-five years later, we now have a huge segment of the population that hate democrats and liberals as much as they hate Satan. Last week I read an article where they interviewed farmers about the trade tariffs & they were Trump voters & most said they wouldn't vote for him again, but they wouldn't vote dem either. The author of the article stated that the dems are good at policy but terrible at politics. I agree, & if they don't sharpen up, we're going to lose our country.

[Ohiogal]

12. I've always wondered

why the Left never followed suit in regards to the talk radio circuit.

[CrispyQ]

17. It's a problem the dems continue to ignore. Fox is just the evil step-child of hate radio.

The rw focused mostly on AM radio which is listened to more in rural areas than metro areas. (Someone told me that is partially due to the fact that AM waves are more suited for open spaces & FM waves do well in cities where there are lots of buildings. That makes sense, doesn't it?) Also, I know from growing up on a farm that the rural community has a radio network that I suspect lives on today, in spite of the internet. They go to radio for weather, crop/livestock reports, farm sales, country music. You get the idea. It's a bigger part of their life, than just listening to the radio on your way to work.

I feel like the dems have dropped the ball for 35 years now. I read that there are some democratic groups who are strategizing to fight lies on social media & I was glad to hear that, but they need to get their marketing shit together. Like it or not, marketing is a huge part of our lives now & has impacted everything, including politics.

[BSdetect]

5. He was a hollywood "war hero". Never served. Phoney patriot.

[disillusioned73]

6. I agree almost completely..

I love when Thom Hartmann rails on Ronnie.. he was definitely pivotal in what we have today.. I am not sure about the "fairness doctrine" though - I think that may have been Bill Clinton that repealed that..

I can't stand how the media fawns over Ronnie as well.. he did so much damage, definitely the catalyst of the rightward shift that continues to this day..

[Ohiogal]

10. I looked it up on Wikipedia

The Fairness Doctrine was abolished by the FCC in 1987. The FCC suggested that because of so many media voices in the marketplace,

"The intrusion by government into the content of programming occasioned by the enforcement of [the Fairness Doctrine] restricts the journalistic freedom of broadcasters ... [and] actually inhibits the presentation of controversial issues of public importance to the detriment of the public and the degradation of the editorial prerogative of broadcast journalists."

Also

"The FCC vote was opposed by members of Congress who said the FCC had tried to "flout the will of Congress" and the decision was "wrongheaded, misguided and illogical.".[21] The decision drew political fire and tangling, where cooperation with Congress was at issue.[22] In June 1987, Congress attempted to preempt the FCC decision and codify the Fairness Doctrine,[23] but the legislation was vetoed by President Ronald Reagan. Another attempt to revive the doctrine in 1991 was stopped when President George H.W. Bush threatened another veto."

So evidently this all happened before Bill Clinton took office.

[disillusioned73]

15. OK.. I didn't look it up..

maybe I was thinking about Glass-Steagall, thanks.

[Ferrets are Cool]

7. Amen to everything you said.

[Ferrets are Cool]

8. Also don't ever forget this...

In November 1980, Republican Ronald Reagan overwhelmingly defeated Jimmy Carter, who received less than 42% of the popular vote, for president. Republicans took control of the Senate (53 to 46), the first time they had dominated either chamber since 1954. Although the House remained under Democratic control (243 to 192), their margin was actually much slimmer, because many southern “boll weevil” Democrats voted with the Republicans.

One month prior to the election, President Carter had signed the Mental Health Systems Act, which had proposed to continue the federal community mental health centers program, although with some additional state involvement. Consistent with the report of the Carter Commission, the act also included a provision for federal grants “for projects for the prevention of mental illness and the promotion of positive mental health,” an indication of how little learning had taken place among the Carter Commission members and professionals at NIMH. With President Reagan and the Republicans taking over, the Mental Health Systems Act was discarded before the ink had dried and the CMHC funds were simply block granted to the states. The CMHC program had not only died but been buried as well. An autopsy could have listed the cause of death as naiveté complicated by grandiosity.

Excerpted from "American Psychosis: How the Federal Government Destroyed the Mental Illness Treatment System" by E. Fuller Torrey with permission from Oxford University Press USA. Copyright 2014 E. Fuller Torrey.

This led to so many disasters in the US. Homicides went up drastically and homelessness went up exponentially. Never let anyone get away with praising this bastard of a pResident.

[Ohiogal]

11. Another wrong-minded atrocity to add to the list. Thanks!

[Exotica]

16. The Powell Memo in 1971 was a major start

https://www.greenpeace.org/usa/democracy/the-lewis-powell-memo-a-corporate-blueprint-to-dominate-democracy/

Along with

Nixon's Southern Strategy adopted full stop by the Rethugs

Fundie RW Christian political organisation in the late 60's to early 1970's

Rise of the Chicago School econ theory, combined with the RW neoliberalism/privatisation schemes and then the Shock Doctrine at internarional levels

[dajoki]

18. At that time I lost a great job...

because of his union busting. I always hated him.

[jalan48]

19. I always thought Reagan was just the mouthpiece for those powers truly running the country.

He looked good, could read cue cards and was ready to deliver the well-timed quip. He was an actor playing the President and the conservatives bought it. A friend told me once he thought that George Bush Sr. was the smartest President ever, he figured out a way to get elected President three times and almost a fourth.