I ramble talking to my wife, Every boomer that voted for Reagan screwed Gen x

[Duncanpup]

These boomers voted Reagan trickledown lies , screwed Gen x and our children. From 1936 to 1980 we had what a 78% tax on corporate America and wealthy.

Today president Biden is asking for 28% and we have musk and bezos going to space. And musk what I gather is getting 4 billion in government subsidies , this is beyond decency we have people hungry close to eviction people can’t afford their co pay on medicine.

Yet let’s subsidize space travel tax breaks and it is so obscene, and we have people hungry. And yet we cannot tax the wealthy as they blow money to travel to space, cut me a fucking break.

Fuck you 🖕shits that cry wealth tax will hurt us. I ramble I’m very left in my belief bread for all.

[Grumpy Old Guy]

1. I couldn't agree more.

What the hell did they think "trickle down" meant?

I've apologized to both of my adult children for what our generation handed them.

[wnylib]

68. And boomers complained loudly about

about what their parents left them.

But was it really boomers who put Ray Gun into the WH? There were still plenty of older generation people around in 1980. I know that none of my boomer friends, nor I, voted for the anti government, pro racist Bozo.

[pstokely]

78. boomers are large in numbers

Last edited Tue Jul 13, 2021, 10:55 PM - Edit history (1)

not every one of them was at Woodstock

[Bluethroughu]

96. Some at Woodstock only went for the party.

They still refer to themselves as a hippie, because they smoke weed, but are Christo-facists.

[whopis01]

83. No. The boomers didn't put Reagan in office.

In the 1980 election the boomer generation was the only one that did not vote overwhelmingly for Reagan.

The op is trying to make some point but is ignorant about the facts.

https://ropercenter.cornell.edu/how-groups-voted-1980

[LisaM]

88. Thank you.

Facts matter!

[wnylib]

92. Agree. I never bought into the idea

Last edited Tue Jul 13, 2021, 02:58 PM - Edit history (1)

that boomers elected Raygun. Too many of us were totally opposed to all he stood for to do that. But our parents' generation voted for him in large numbers according to the chart.

[wryter2000]

90. Never mind

Last edited Tue Jul 13, 2021, 12:51 PM - Edit history (1)

Dumb mistake.

[wnylib]

93. Then you were not the one of the previous

generation that I was referring to, were you?

I was 30 in 1980. I was referring to the parents of boomers, as the "previous generation." My parents, for example, would be 99 if they were still around today.

[wryter2000]

114. Sorry, I misread your post

Maybe I'll delete it. Whippersnapper

[wnylib]

121. No problem, geezer.

[roamer65]

2. THIS.☝️☝️☝️☝️☝️☝️☝️

[LifeLongDemocratic]

3. Never Reagan

The first election I was old enough to vote in was 1984 and I of course voted for the democratic candidate Walter Mondale. Even as a teenager I knew Reagan was awful for our country. All this crap we are in started with Reagan. Nixon was just a crook.

[bamagal62]

7. Yep. It all started with Reagan.

So many awful things.

[FoxNewsSucks]

4. I'm with you, and embarrassed to be one of those who voted for that piece of shit

I was 18, it was my first election vote and all I can say is I didn't know better. I lived in a rural area, and while the media was nowhere near as right-biased as it is now, I remember the coverage of how Carter screwed up the hostages, had inflation, and St Raygun was "tough" and balanced the California budget when he was governor.

No mention of Carter's inflation and budget deficit was largely because the bill for Vietnam came due. No mention of how St Raygun balanced his budget by screwing workers and students. Certainly no mention of the criminal collusion between Raygun's people and the Iranians to keep the hostages until after the election. I didn't pay attention to politics then, and came from a republican family (although I do have to say that came from my grandparents who were Eisenhower republicans). I just read the newspaper, and those things seemed reasonable without the untold truths getting in the way.

It's been an eye-opening trip, from being a Raygun voter to becoming a "far leftist". And I wouldn't backpedal a bit. So I'm very sorry for that vote, and I definitely know better now.

[SharonAnn]

105. No mention of Nixon's wage and price freeze to stop inflation or Ford's

WIN (Whip Inflation Now) campaign to tame inflation. Carter inherited it and was successful in taming it.

So of course they praise Raygun and vilify Carter.

[FoxNewsSucks]

107. Well, that WIN thing was pretty much a flop

as was Ford. But then, I guess you can't expect much from a guy nobody voted for.

Carter was one of the best presidents, and continues to be a good example.

[Diamond_Dog]

5. I agree Duncanpup

That old fool was the catalyst for a lot of very wrongheaded thinking in this country.

He never got a vote from THIS boomer to be sure!

[brush]

6. And GenZers and Millenials are saying the same thing about GenXers.

Let's not start the generations war again. There are Dems and republican voters in every generation. Blaming a whole cohort gets us nowhere.

[Sympthsical]

29. I'm not sure that's true.

I'm a Millennial, and it never crossed my mind to put anything on Gen X. The friends and family I know from my generation and below firmly blame the Boomers for all of this.

They pulled the ladder up behind them.

Now when we need help, it's all, "You just want free stuff!" Oh. You mean like the practically free college you all got? Huh. Weird that. Wanting the same things you had.

Anyway, I could easily go off about this one for days.

[brush]

33. You actually think the GenZers are blaming boomers for covid-19, vote suppression...,

the economic shutdown and all that? No, maybe they're wiser than their years and some millennials as they're just starting to vote and they're blaming the older voters who put that idiot trump in office. And to them older voters are millennials, GenXers, boomers and even Greatest generation oldsters.

That's how it always happens. Boomers used to say, "don't trust anyone over 30."

It's nothing new, blaming those who came before. And newflash: Every boomer didn't vote for Reagan just as every millennial and GenXer didn't vote for trump. The blame gets spread around though unjustly.

[Sympthsical]

40. You said Millennials and Zoomers in your post

Gen Z is their own . . . thing. They're unhappy about everything and everyone. Don't entirely blame them, to be honest.

But Millennials and Zoomers have a lot more in common than most generations. At least, less antipathy than past generations. I think it's because of the Internet. It allows for more of a shared culture. Millennials and Zoomers both grew up with the Internet and have a lot of cultural touchstones in common as a result. Not in all things, of course.

But more than other successive generations in the past. I have friends, acquaintances, and coworkers in their early 20s, and I never have any problem relating to them or understanding their references. I understand my nieces and nephews just fine. We're all on the same Internet, we all have the same streaming services, we all see the same memes.

It's different these days.

[appalachiablue]

53. I've seen people claim 'Reagan was a Boomer.'

There's a lot of misery from what his admin. and handlers ushered in, decades of it.

Also some confusion, misunderstanding and blame toward people and generations that's not valid.

Forty years of pushing unrestrained Free Market ideology and deregulation and look at the damage we have as a result.

[Sympthsical]

115. I'm not sure who you think older voters are.

Genuinely confused by what you're trying to assert.

Boomers are in their 60s and 70s.

Gen X is mid-40s through 50s.

The oldest Millennials are just starting to turn 40.

The oldest Zoomers are in the very early 20s. The overwhelming majority of them are still under age.

In the Democratic primary alone, Bernie Sanders won overwhelmingly with voters 44 and below. Like, it wasn't even close. He beat Biden nearly 2-1 with the 30-44 cohort, which is the older Millennials. 18-29 voted Sanders 3-1. And that's half of Millennials and the very oldest Zoomers.

I'm not sure you know what the generations are.

Half of Millennials are still in their 20s. I'm hedging my 40s, and I'm considered the upper upper border of Millennial.

When you look at the 2016 election, Trump started winning demographically by the mid-40s. Above that, he won.

That's Boomers (and Gen X). It wasn't even close with Boomers. They went Trump by a large margin.

He got wrecked by under 40 voters. That's Millennials.

I think you're asserting an awful lot wrong either because you're just assuming things, or you just genuinely don't know generational breakdowns.

"Don't trust anyone over 30." Cute in the 1960s. Not applicable to your assertions. Half of Millennials are under 30.

I don't blame Boomers for Reagan. That was all the Silent Generation's doing. They get to own that one. But Bush and Trump? The conservative-leaning triangulation of the Clinton years? Oh yeah. They started that shit.

If anyone's blaming Millennials for anything, they're not "wiser than their years." They're barely bright. Millennials have very little political power. Do you see what our leadership looks like? Speaker Pelosi has been in power since 2003. 2003! Look, I love Pelosi. I think she was exactly the right person to oppose Trump's term. But nearly 20 years as the leader? C'mon.

I don't know any Zoomer blaming Millennials for anything. I do know plenty of Zoomers who make fun of Millennial things. And that's just culture and change and my generation getting older. I think a lot of it is hilarious. So, it doesn't bother me in the least.

But you're asserting an awful lot, and with nothing to back it up.

[brush]

117. And on and on and on. Let's stop with the generation wars. I mentioned oldsters as...

the still around greatest generation who still vote, because of a lack of a better word to distinguish them from the oldest boomers. And I did say GenZers are just starting to vote. And I doubt they and their younger cohort members are blaming boomers on all the crap the nation has gone through in the last year and a half. IMO it would be trump and older generations. The younger ones probably aren't even thinking about politics, voting and generation wars yet.

And the rest of us should stop with the generation wars too as we're all here on a progressive site and should stop with the blame game towards other generations and blame the fucking republican party, the republicans in every generation (see photos of trump rallies, they're mostly clad in trump hats/gear and/or Q-tip stuff and they look like right wing millennials and GenXers to me with a few older and younger ones.

Notice I said right wing millennials and GenXers, not the whole effin generation...meaning REPUBLICANS. They are the ones we should be blaming and battling against, not progressives of different generations. Now I'm done with this generation war/blaming other Dems/progressives for this and that.

Blame republican obstructionists not fellow progressives. Get out our vote, and no more generation war bullshit.

[Sympthsical]

119. I'm honestly not interested in the generational wars

What I'm interested in is self-awareness. When my generation complains about crushing student debt, and older Democrats start chanting, "They just want free stuff!" it pisses me right the hell off. Just look at the costs of the University of California system - a public system! - from 1970 through present. My generation got destroyed by this stuff. I just paid my loans off a couple years ago. My partner, in his 40s, is still paying off his PharmD.

This is objectively crazy.

But older Democrats are constantly jeering at us about the whole thing. "You made your choices!" Yes, we did. The limited ones you fucking gave us!

It's infuriating.

I wouldn't go all in on generational things if there was a little empathy for what we're actually dealing with, and a little self-awareness that their generation had it objectively much easier with education costs and housing prices. I don't think that's a lot to ask.

And I agree with you. Eyes on the prize. Our country wouldn't have been as pulled as far Right as it has been if there wasn't a far Right to pull it to. We need to strategize, be smart, stop compromising, and finally get our heads in the game. The Right is playing for keeps. Sometimes if feels like we're playing for validation and internet points.

Not the same thing.

[rainy]

34. So true!!! A lot of old boomers are all in for Trump.

They just don’t see the irony!

[brush]

45. A lot are, and a lot aren't. Each generation has it Dems and repugs.

DU has its share of boomers and they're decidedly not all in for trump as they wouldn't be here if they were.

And I'd venture to guess that there are many GenXers and younger in turmp's camp. Hell, the crowd shots at trump rallies don't look like mostly boomers. They're 30 and 40-somethings wearing trump hats and Q-anon tee shirts. And those insurrectionists scaling the walls of the Capitol building certainly weren't boomers.

And then there's the CPAC crowd. And Boebert and Taylor Greene and Gaetz...all decidedly millennials.

Now that's not seeing irony.

[pstokely]

79. and also kids dragged to those

nt

[flying_wahini]

57. Reagan was really the first Corporatist president in Modern times.

And controllable. He took their word on it. Probably having Alzheimer’s symptoms
from the first days in office.

[mac2766]

82. I like that phrase... "They pulled the ladder up behind them."

They really did. The "screw you, I got mine" generation to be sure. I'm an in-between'er. I was born in 64 so I'm between Boomer and GenX. I've watched as things slowly disappear. Well... seemingly disappear. What's actually happening is public programs have been continually defunded so that the wealthy could have more, and more, and more.

The real tragedy is how easily they've shielded themselves from the masses. I've found myself lately not really worrying about the whole liberal vs. conservative thing. I'm starting to believe that divide was created by the rich to keep the masses occupied. I genuinely believe that the whole Donald Trump fiasco was nothing but a diversion. We need to change the narrative and stop arguing.

[brush]

106. You watched things change because republicans/Reaganism and trickle-down...

finally gained enough power to start rolling back as much of FDR;s New Deal programs and LBJ's Great Society programs—Pell education grants, union influence, housing benefits and so on and on and on.

The republicans are still at it. It wasn't boomers pulling any ladder up behind them as the previous generation was in command of the reins of power. Boomers were still twenty-somethings then.

[Bluethroughu]

101. You got it!

My Millennials feel the same. Their grandparents send $50 bucks in a card twice a year through the mail and maybe make the 15 minute ride to visit once a year, and wonder why my kids don't jump up and down to see the strangers that act as if they are owed a loving welcome.

Not all Boomers are like this. There are Boomers that make me proud of the accomplishments of their generation, and have moved this country forward in a positive way. All you need is a ten minute conversation and you know which one you are dealing with.

[Backseat Driver]

46. Oh pff...transgenerational trauma is very real and may be

SNP genetic-changing as well...I'm a boomer of under-educated outlier Greatest Generation (1 of 4 parents graduated HS and one grandparent never came home from WWII) who partook of few benefits afforded vets (mainly housing from which they never ever moved in over 50 years) who came home to government and the public's accolades. To their end, they collectively remained poor role models for their kids. The women never worked a day outside the home for wages nor had active on-going driver's licenses. That old fundie evangelical X-tian religious dogma of guilt and isolation against all manner of diversified "sinners" played up early their authoritarian control against their kids' collective "flailings" to learn life skills and grow social skills among peers. Our fathers each had a single employer and a single marriage their entire lives. Sounds very stable, no? But, it was apparent that their women ruled roost! I never quite figured out if the guys were closet tyrants of control as well??? Where were we to learn flexibility and handling change? We had no notion how to manage long periods of low-wage stagnation but per the life stagnation of depression and war traumatized parents or the new forced mobility and redundancy in employment over several recessions and crises that hit tech and mortgage lending. They got bailed out and faced little consequence for their twisted bookkeeping they still practice. DH's dad kept asking, "What did YOU do wrong?" and my Mom said it was ALL my fault - without regret or apology, she did the best she could?

[brush]

47. So what are you saying, generations blame the previous generation?

I don't quite get your post.

[uponit7771]

48. This doesn't even make sense

[brush]

59. Every generation blames the previous on for their problems. It is what it is.

Many are blaming boomers for Reagan wheh it was mostly the "silent generation" who voted for Reagan.

Does that make sense?

Anyway, these generation warfare threads are so divisive. Why the hell are they even started on this progressive site. If we weren't progressive we wouldn't be here—Boomers through to GenZers.

We're all on the same anti-trump, anti-GOP, anti-Q-tip team, everyone. Let's remember that.

[Bluethroughu]

97. A I know a lot of GenXers that voted for trump...

Not close friends anymore, but they are to stupid to understand trump is the antithesis of what they are angry about, but they won't listen to facts from REAL PEOPLE because they get their news from their friends at Fox.

They are brainwashed and prime for the facist picking, their age group was the make up of most of the insurrectionists.

[Wicked Blue]

8. Please. Not everyone who voted for Ray-Gun was a boomer

Boomers' parents were more likely to vote for him. IMHO. I didn't know anyone my age who did. I was 28 that year.

[LiberalLoner]

10. Exactly this. It was the silent generation that voted conservative in droves and still is the most

Conservative cohort of all time. By far.

[DBoon]

70. They moved to new white suburbs after WWII

and wanted to keep life just as it was then

[TheRealNorth]

13. The data I have seen is that Boomers are Redder on average....

With one exception. Those who would have turned 18 around 1968 are more Democratic. Not sure if that had to do with the fear of being drafted around the Vietnam War, or if it was something else. This was based off of some polling done by Pew.

Https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2014/07/09/the-politics-of-american-generations-how-age-affects-attitudes-and-voting-behavior/

[ShazzieB]

27. Ha! That explains it!

I turned 18 in 1968. No wonder I'm a Democrat. 😁

[phylny]

80. Me too! n/t

[Sancho]

104. When I registered for the draft and was classified 1A, I started paying attention to voting!

I fought hard to get the 18 year old vote, and I almost couldn't go home during college because my father hated that I was a "commie Democrat". I avoided the draft with college deferment.

My father used the GI bill to go to college after WWII, and grew up in rural GA. He hated the idea of Medicare for example example (he was an MD).

[appalachiablue]

24. Same, exactly and the truth. No Boomers

that we knew went for Dutch, none. And most of our parents were solid Dems.

To add to the misery, I was in DC when it happened and throughout the Raygun- Nancy Reign. For months I couldn't get over the shock of people voting in the old B- movie, TV actor.

Ronnie wore face makeup with dyed hair, two or three colors. A boss who met him at a function early in his admin. told us about it, up close.

When my book is finished, Years of Living Hell During Raygun/Bush I'll give folks a shout..

[mdbl]

116. Rudy should have found out who did Raygun's hair

[appalachiablue]

118. Really, Rudy's a nasty mess. The Gipper

also wore rouge on his cheeks the boss said. Such a gross old man, and Nancy..

[mdbl]

124. Now tbat I think about it, Raygun's makeup may have run too if he had stayed around ...

long enough to experience the global warming he helped create.

[appalachiablue]

126. +1

[50 Shades Of Blue]

30. Same here. My greatest generation parents voted for him. I sure as fuck didn't!

[Calista241]

87. Reagan won 49 of the 50 states in 1984. A shit-ton of people voted for him, not just Boomers.

He won 525 electoral votes and nearly 60% of the total vote. That's the kind of margin politicians can't even dream of these days. You can't blame one generation's voting trends for that type of dominating victory.

[malthaussen]

100. Funny, though, nobody suggests voting fraud to account for such unprecedented numbers. n/t

[Mariana]

98. The OP did not say everyone who voted for Ray-gun was a boomer. nt.

[Metaphorical]

9. That's more true than you may know

GenXers have in general taken the opposite stances of the Baby Boom generation, especially if you redraw the definition of Baby Boom as that generation that was born from 1936 to 1954, rather than from 46-64. 1936 marked the inflection point where the economy began turning around after the Great Depression, and happened to coincide with the births of Elvis Presley, John Lennon and Buddy Holly. That was the Woodstock generation.

The real GenXers (my generation) started in 1955 and ended around 1974, and whereas the Boomers saw nothing but a rising standard of living (in line with the dramatic rise in birthrate), the GenXers saw a declining standard of living, as the birthrate eventually dropped in half. Elementary school funding cut way back in the 1960s. There were too many empty schools and not enough students, even as the expansionary effect of the Boomers on colleges was just taking hold. Boomers filled most of the sales and management positions early on, forcing the GenXers into a more technical track (which ultimately became our calling card), and GenXers in general are considerably more liberal than the Boomers (who an older friend of mine once described as credit card hippies, at a time when credit cards were generally only given to high net worth individuals).

As with any broad generational statements, it's worth noting that there are plenty of exceptions to the rule. Obama was the first GenX president, and Biden, born in 1942, is of the Silent Generation, at least by S&H reckoning, which is more similar to the GenXers than to the Boomers. Kamala Harris, born in 1964, is also a GenXer. I suspect that if you want to see what the political landscape is likely to be in a few years, Harris is a good indicator.

If its any consolation, however, I think the tide is turning. The math gets a little funky, but demographics underlies everything, and the GOP is going to be facing a bigger problem - the politicians that are trying to make a name for themselves on the GOP side are desperately painting themselves as Boomer conservatives, despite the fact that they are in fact younger (by a significant amount) than their constituencies, and their own generation can't stand them.

[ShazzieB]

28. The Baby Boom didn't start until 1946.

Anyone born between 1936 and 1945 is NOT a Boomer.

Not sure if that was a typo or not, but felt compelled to make a correction.

Sincerely,
An Actual Baby Boomer who never voted for RayGun or any other Republican presidential candidate

[Metaphorical]

130. There are a couple of different definitions, non-canonical

I usually measure from inflection points (when birth rate switches from increasing to decreasing or vice versa) because I believe those have a bigger impact upon generational values than the process of going from mid-point to mid-point (which was the mechanism Strauss and Howe (S&H) uses). People born in the mid 1930s to the mid 1950s especially are a lot more homogenous in cultural experiences and expectations. We talk about the Woodstock Generation, and the people that were performing at Woodstock were all in their mid to late 20s, which means that the people they were most strongly influencing were people born in the thirties, forties and early fifties.

According to S&H, because I was born in 1963, I'm a Boomer. However, I was six when Woodstock happened, and was far more influenced by the space program, which had its first heyday from about 1957 to 1975. Most of my contemporaries to within eight years in either direction are very similar.

More to the point, the midpoint to midpoint measure becomes almost meaningless after the GenXers, because the pill dramatically reduced generational birth rates and later primagravida rates blurred the generational boundaries dramatically. I've argued in Forbes and elsewhere that our current generational measurements are wrong, but it's an uphill battle.

[appalachiablue]

39. 'Credit Card Hippies.' The first cc

I had was unsolicited, mailed to me by some bank while in college around 1976, pre Raygun.

See the movie, 'Wall Street,' (1986), the Greed Is Good ethos. Director Oliver Stone said he meant the film as a warning, yet it became admired by many, esp. college students- B-school, and young professionals.

A similar reaction was described by noted American journalist, historian and author Evan Thomas. He said when he was teaching a college English class with a discussion of the movie after it came out, his students were so excited about the Big Bucks emphasized in the film that they hardly listened to his lecture.

Not here, the corporatism of the 80s definitely did not impress or motivate my circle which included people in NYC, DC, Miami, the Midwest, Seattle, France and more.

The influence of libertarianism and Free Market economics ideology via Friedman, the Chicago School and others rose to prominence from the late 70s and then was more widely taught in universities. It didn't largely impact the the Boomer generation in terms of education, most were finished with college by then.

Grouping Boomers born in the late 1940s and 1950s with people who were born earlier in the mid 1930s is a real stretch, invalid.

[brush]

51. Baby Boomers started in 1946. The term comes from servicemen who got home after the war...

ended in 1945 and immediately started having babies who were born in the next year. 1946.

It's called the post-war baby boom.

I have no idea why some think boomers started in the 1930s. Some need refresher courses on their history.

[malthaussen]

99. Apparently confusing the economic "boom" with the birth boom.

The "economic boom" in question being really the beginning of the recovery from the Depression, not the economic boom that occurred post-war. It's an odd way of looking at things, and I agree, ahistoric.

-- Mal

[xmas74]

128. What you're talking about is Generation Jones.

Boomers were 1946-1964, with a smaller subset generation from the late 50s through 64 that some refer to as Generation Jones. Jones mostly identifies as Boomers but they do have a few commonalities with Gen X.

Gen X has something similar with its Xennials, born between 77 and 80. (Sometimes it's all the way to 1982, depending on the source.) They identify mostly as X but have some commonalities with Millennials.

Gen X did not start in 1955.

[TheRealNorth]

11. I think Gen x's ( particularly white Gen X'rs) are pretty conservative.

I would draw the Gen X birth cohort to be between 1965 and 1980. But these are kids that grew up during the rising crime rates of the 70's and 80's, the Hollywood's love affair with gun culture (Dirty Harry, Death Wish, etc), and the beginning of the religious right.

They may have not voted for Reagan, but they were bathed in the pro-corporate, jingoistic environment of the 1980's.

[meadowlander]

65. A lot of Gen X men got swept up in the backlash against feminism and "political correctness"

that started in the 80s and 90s.

I don't think the cohort as a whole is particularly conservative though. It's the generation that loved Nirvana and Rage Against the Machine too, cheered when the Berlin Wall fell, supported increasing rights for same sex couples, cast their first votes for Bill Clinton, embraced the internet, etc.

[calimary]

12. Yep. I knew he was trouble from the very beginning.

All I ever saw was SALESMAN! Beware! SALESMAN ALERT!

People fucking worshipped that bastard! I could never figure it out. I never saw ANYTHING even to like, much less worship.

My dad used to sit at the dinner table and say “what do you think of Reagan now? How do you like hi now?” And he was serious. And mostly all I could do in response (unless I wanted to start a argument at the dinner table) was to look at him as though he had three heads.

I always thought Ronald Reagan was the most dangerous man in America. Until trump, that is. But Reagan set the stage for a jerk like trump to try to take up where Ronnie left off.

[Wicked Blue]

120. He was a horrible governor in California and my generation knew it

Once elected (governor), Reagan set the educational tone for his administration by

•calling for an end to free tuition for state college and university students
•annually demanding 20 percent across-the-board cuts in higher education funding
•repeatedly slashing construction funds for state campuses
•engineering the firing of Clark Kerr, the highly respected president of the University of California
•declaring that the state “should not subsidize intellectual curiosity”

Reagan slashed spending not just on higher education. Throughout his tenure as governor he consistently
and effectively opposed additional funding for basic education. The result was painful increases in local taxes and the deterioration of California’s public schools. Los Angeles voters got so fed up picking up the slack that on five separate occasions they rejected any further increases in local school taxes.

The consequent underfunding resulted in overcrowded classrooms, ancient, worn-out textbooks, crumbling buildings, and badly demoralized teachers. Ultimately half the Los Angeles Unified School District’s teachers walked off the job to protest conditions in their schools. Mr. Reagan was unmoved. Ronald Reagan left California public education worse than he found it. A system that had been the envy of the nation when he was elected was in decline when he left.

From THE CUTTING EDGE
The Educational Legacy of Ronald Reagan
by Gary K. Clabaugh

https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/EJ684842.pdf

[calimary]

129. Just kicking so I can kick more shit on Reagan's "legacy."

But he sure could read a piece of copy…

[Orrex]

14. Number of billionaires that the world needs: zero

[MichMan]

15. There is a lot of blame to spread around

Reagan had a Democratic house for the entire eight years he was in office. Every single piece of legislation he signed into law was approved by them first.

The last 2 years of his term, the Democrats held both the House and the Senate

[jalan48]

16. Yep. Makes you wonder who is in charge at the top.

[Crunchy Frog]

17. The oldest Gen Xers were old enough to vote for Reagan, and some did.

I'm technically a boomer, and my first vote was for Mondale in '84.

I can recall loads of young college Republican Xers.

I'm not getting the purpose of these generational warfare posts, other than to contribute even more to arbitrary divisions in our society that the Rs are trying to foment.

[ShazzieB]

31. Not in 1980.

The first Gen Xers were born in 1965, making them only 15 in 1980. When he ran for reelection in 1984, they were old enough to vote for him, and I'm sure some of them did.

I'm sick of these generational warfare posts, too. They are both divisive and pointless.

[Crunchy Frog]

49. I was born in 1963, and none of us were old enough to vote in 1980.

And I was in college with plenty of people 2 years younger than me, quite a number of whom were Reagan addled little campus Republicans, who quite eagerly voted for him in 1984.

So I'd really appreciate not getting lumped in with the "boomers who voted for Reagan", or getting blamed for wrecking the world for people 2-3 years younger than me.

Dividing people up into rigid categories and judging them on that basis seems more like what I would expect of the other side. I'm always very dismayed when I see people on our side doing it.

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

18. This Boomer sure as hell did not vote for Reagan.

I'm not willing to take responsibility or blame for a terrible President I didn't vote for. So that includes both Bushes and Trump as well.

[ShazzieB]

35. Same here.

This Boomer is REALLY sick of being blamed for everything bad that ever happened in this country since the end of the Vietnam War (which OUR protests helped bring an end to, btw). I wish people would cut it the fuck out.

[getagrip_already]

19. you are off by a generation.....

Boomers were in their 20's and 30's in 1980. We were a fairly small part of the electorate overall. And the republican portion of that group was even smaller. It was the generation that came before us that was largely responsible.

But for the record, this boomer did vote, but not for reagan, in eaither election.

[diane in sf]

20. I'm a boomer, never was dumb enough to vote Repug. It seemed to me more Xs were voting for him

than people I know my age. So let’s not have the generation blame game.

[jaxexpat]

38. It's not the generationism. Its the regionalism.

That Harrison out in the west riding on Tyler's coattails. The west is out represented by far. What next? War with Mexico? I did like his All Things album, though.

[Warpy]

21. They screwed themselves, too

by voting for the largest transfer of wealth from working people to the rich in the history of the planet.

People who could do math didn't vote for him. We knew it was all snake oil.

Boomers who can't do math were aided by the Silents and the "Greatests." Boomers didn't exist in a political vacuum.

The older Gen X who couldn't do math happily voted him back into office in 1984, screwing themselves the way the Boomers who can't do math did.

[Wounded Bear]

22. Doubled SS taxes, too...nt

[Warpy]

36. He raised payroll taxes SIX TIMES

to try to cover up the catastrophe to the treasury his reckless and ridiculous tax cuts for fat cats had caused. For years, Congress has robbed those payroll taxes, which Republicans assured us would go into a fund so that Boomers would be protected.

Ha.

Clinton did jack shit about fixing any of this mess and made part of it even worse, turning banks into casinos.

[TNNurse]

23. I am not proud of every vote I have cast,

but this boomer has never voted for a Republican for President. My first was for Hubert Humphrey as a college student, I voted absentee. Still proud of that first vote.

[Peppertoo]

25. Early Xer. First vote was for Mondale

[IronLionZion]

26. If conservative boomers are unvaccinated

there may be fewer of them soon.

Trickle down means GOP pees on their voters and tells them it's raining. Then while fabulously wealthy people get wealthier they tell American workers to blame immigrants or foreigners not the American employers who decided to send jobs to low wage countries or use contracting to outsource work previously done by employees.

[jaxexpat]

32. Should be a bounty on "inheritance made" millionaires as well as ALL billionaires.

So many benefits. So little downside.

[Sherman A1]

37. Reagan was the worst President in US History

No Reagan, No Trumpy Bear.

[malaise]

41. and svrewed small farmers across the globe

Time to tear down the myths about Reagan

[RANDYWILDMAN]

42. He did much worse

Busted unions and they never gained back the bargaining power they lost
Changed to bankruptcy laws to benefit corporations
Borrowed from social security
basically opened the door to the oligarchy that we currently see
refuse to regulate industry, anything including Wall street which crashed on his watch, but he could give a shit


Treated the Aids crisis and people with aids like lepers

Took down the solar panels on the white house and pretended our impending climate crisis didn't exist.

[appalachiablue]

56. +1 Good list of the misery

[Tikki]

43. Absolutely...and reagan lit up their bigotry, racism, greed and cruelty.

reagan was a horrid person.

The Tikkis

[pressbox69]

44. Ventured out

into a deluge to vote against Reagan in 1980. Couldn't believe the country sided with the 20 muleteam Borax boy.

[notinkansas]

50. Frankly, I'm just sick and tired of the ageism.

Boomer bashing is the thing these days. Electing a washed up b-actor as president was ridiculous. So blame the people who voted for him. It most certainly was not an entire generation.

[brush]

58. Yep. Can't blame the entire cohort. A poster here today said, and I'm paraphrasing...

that boomers are selfish people who got theirs and pulled up the ladder behind them.

There's a lost of silliness in the generational warfare, and boomers get blamed for a lot of the damage the so-called "silent generation" who came before them did.

Boomers were split during Reagan's time as they were the hippies/activists and on the other side, the hardhats, gung-ho militarists and young republicans on campuses.

[notinkansas]

62. I also expect that the increasing power of

lobbyists and the unchecked ability of corporations to buy politicians is a large part of the reason for why things are so bad now. And also the election of a demented b-actor.

[Roy Rolling]

52. From the World Wide Interweb today

Maybe on DU, I forget.

[Hulk]

54. Generations and literally centuries of corrupt politicians...

...and now the laws and rules are so skewed to protect those with money and power. We have to "beg" for that 28%. You would think we are asking for their first born and every cent the gathered through grifting, inheritance, good fortune, or corruption themselves.

The ship turns slowly...but we won't ever see a significant change in our lifetime even if progressives maintain control of our government and laws and rules are changed.

Voices like Sen's Warren and Sanders are ignored and labelled heresy. And a large minority are just too g'damned ignorant to even see reality.

Glad I'm 73. Too bad my kids and grandkids and their grandkids are going to have to suffer even more with this inhumane system we have to live under.

[LittleGirl]

55. Add me to the list of posters here

That are boomers and NEVER voted for Reagan.
I voted for Jimmy Carter on ‘80 and stopped voting until Obama.
That’s how disgusted I was with politics.
Reagan raised my taxes and I was a waitress trying to finish college. I finished when I was 45 years old. Reagan ruined our government and trump put the bullet in it. Ugh.

[ffr]

60. The $2.9B contract that SpaceX won, is to build a Moon lander, not a subsidy.

SpaceX beat Bezo's Blue Origin and one other contender.

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-space-exploration-spacex-dragonxl-idINKBN21E3B8

If you want to ding Musk for subsidies, it would be related to consumer tax credits for electric vehicles, solar panels and things of that sort, things that get the public off of fossil fuels...something that the U.S. government, under GOP stewardship, has worked to put a stop to for the past four years!!! Yet, Musk is not swayed in his determination in making a greener, sustainable energy future, one that all of humanity will benefit from.

With Tesla vehicle deliveries constantly doubling, Musk's Tesla company is reinvesting most of its profits to grow the company, finding local lithium sourced ores two build more vehicles, and expanding its supercharging vehicle charging network for it's customers and any other company willing to design an EV to charge on it.

Tesla confirms plan to open Supercharger network to other automakers next year

So while the likes of Marketwatch, CNBC, Fox News and the entirety of the right-wing media empire promote every negative story about Tesla in an attempt to suppress sales, be skeptical of the motivations behind such stories. They're almost always tied to some fossil fuel industry shill who has ulterior motives.

[Texaswitchy]

61. Anyone born in 1965 could vote in 1983.

I have never voted Republican and my parents either.

They were FDR Democrats, young adults who voted for him for their first time.

They are plenty of younger republican types, just look at the crowds at Trump hate gatherings.

It was not easy being a young woman or POC in the 70's.

We were the ones being the first none white males in a lot of jobs.

It was hard.

Thank the baby boomers for kicking open a lot of doors that younger people take for granted.

See a lot none white males on TV newscasts?

I didn't see them when I was growing up.

Only white men, maybe a weather girl.

I was in the first group of women in a union training program, talk about sexism.

We had to be the best or we would be washed out.

I have younger family members who vote republican.

To bad younger people didn't vote in the 80's, I voted at 18.

We try to register younger to vote and they would not be bothered.

Anyone born in 1965 could vote in 1983.

[Skittles]

64. I remember the "weather girl"

she was never a meteorologist

[Texaswitchy]

66. We had one here.

Weather girls were eye candy for the men.

Only white males had the tv jobs.

Now the whole nightly news crew can be white woman and POC.

Times changed.

But not without a fight.

[Skittles]

63. it absolutely disgusted me how many Americans fell for Reagan's con

I was very young and it was the first time I realized just how many stupid, greedy people there were.

[JI7]

67. Most White People of ALL Ages voted for Reagan

[totodeinhere]

74. Most white people still vote Republican.

Trump even carried the white vote in liberal California both in 2016 and 2020. If it weren't for the minority vote Democrats would be screwed. And that of course is why the GOP is trying so hard to suppress minority votes.

[DBoon]

69. Complete Bullshit

Here is the vote breakdown by age in 1980 per https://ropercenter.cornell.edu/how-groups-voted-1980

Group Carter Reagan Anderson
18-21 6 45 44 11
22-29 17 44 44 11
30-44 31 38 55 7
45-59 23 39 55 6
60 & over 18 41 55 4

Boomers supported Carter = 18 meant you were born in 1962, 29 meant 1949.

Those over 30 (born before 1950) supported Reagan. Some of those may have been boomers born 1945 - 1950, but many more were the so-called greatest generation.

[Pinback]

84. Thank you. The only reply needed for this waste-o'-time myth.

Trashing thread.

[malthaussen]

102. Makes one wonder what would have happened if Anderson had not run.

But people 30 and over comprised 72% of the engaged electorate, and they loved them some Ronnie.

-- Mal

[tiredtoo]

71. Sad to say I voted for him

The first time he ran. Shortly after he took office I realized my mistake. Haven't voted for a republican for any office since. Forgive me for I knew not what I was doing.

[love_katz]

72. This sounds like divide and conquer b.s.

I am a Boomer. I began voting when I turned 18. I HAVE NEVER VOTED FOR ANY REPUBLICANS, EVER!!!!! Not for any office, of any kind. I am SICK of my generation being blamed for the huge mess in our politics! Most of my generation knew that the personal is the political. That means that we knew that what we chose to believe and how we lived our daily lives would have effects that spread beyond our personal sphere. We did our best to stand up against injustice and environmental destruction. We were up against the most wealthy nation on the planet, that had the most powerful military force in the world. That force was used against us, many times. Kent State, and Jackson State, anybody? The police riot and attack on protesters at the Democratic convention in 1968?!? The election of Ronnie Raygun (deliberate misspelling, because that's what many Boomers were calling him) happened because of a deliberate campaign on the part of money bags groups like the Heritage Foundation to stop the social and political progress that was gained in the 1960's. I could rant on and on, but I would rather make my main point: STOP helping Putin and the Russians!!! We need to stand together to save our democracy, let alone move forward on the many issues that need to be dealt with. If blame must be handed out, then let it be given to those who deserve it, which is the 74,000,000 people who voted for the Orange Turd. I think that the problems that TFG inflamed have always been with us. Nixon ramped all of them up. The Heritage Foundation and other wrong wing stink tanks poured money into the cause of figuring out how to stop and turn back social progress. From what I have observed, over the years, is that most of the initial support for regressive politics came from the so-called Greatest Generation, and the Silent Generation. They have been aided by anyone who fears the changes brought by social progress, and these fears are spread and fanned bythe fundy fantastic churches, and propaganda media that pose as 'news'. The final piece of this shit-show is the corporate owned media who continue to peddle the huge lie that "both sides do it". Like the informant Deep Throat said during the Watergate trial, "Follow the money ".

[totodeinhere]

73. I think that it's really cool that these private companies are going to outer space.

I don't consider it a waste of money. However, I think that the top tax rate does need increasing but we should be able to do that and continue space exploration at the same time.

[seta1950]

75. Exactly

Why don’t they pay taxes, that’s obscene

[Renew Deal]

76. I'm not worried about wealthy space travel.

Someone has to go first. Is it any surprise it’s them?

[electric_blue68]

77. Boomer here. Never voted for Reagan, or any Republican.

[whathehell]

81. This Boomer never voted for Reagan, & I don't know any who did

Let's not start this 'generation war' shit again, 'kay?

[DownriverDem]

85. Very disappointed

in the Boomers who went repub with reagan and stayed repub. Many have fat pensions and are not hurting. They are just full of hate.

[The Jungle 1]

86. Why didn't the unions did not shut down the nation.

After Reagan broke the air traffic union. I was working in a large union shop at the time and no one wanted to even talk about it.
Because they voted for him. That union shop is gone. The company bled the union over several contracts and then ran to china. Basically the union financed the move by giving into the pay cuts.
REAGAN'S UNION BUSTING WAS THE END OF UNIONS.
The middle class has been robbed ever sense.

The part I don't understand is why we can't get the middle class to understand that they are getting screwed.
I am retired but I have young friends who are thrilled to make 20 dollars an hour. I was making 20 in the late 80s.

Reagan tripled the deficit and broke the unions.

[TheRealNorth]

122. Why the blame the elite and accept your own culpability in electing them...

When you can blame colored people and foreigners.

[The Jungle 1]

123. Yea Reagan even beat that horse.

His attack was on the welfare queens.

It is stunning that the repukes are still getting away with the trickle down lie.

[wryter2000]

89. Spot on

This boomer knew better

[WhiskeyGrinder]

91. OP: "Every boomer that voted for Reagan..."

Butthurt boomers who didn't vote for Reagan: *I* didn't vote for Reagan!!!!!

Great discourse, y'all!

[NewJeffCT]

94. the income tax rate was 91% after WW2 until JFK/LBJ lowered it to 70%

However, there were so many loopholes that the wealthy only very rarely paid anywhere close to 90% or even 70% JFK/LBJ had a good reason to lower taxes because the World War 2 debts had been paid off.

Believe it or not, because of the Obamacare surcharge on the wealthy, the actual percentage paid by the wealthiest Americans was HIGHER than it was at any time since the JFK era. So, even though the top tax rate was 70% for nearly 20 years, the top 1% paid a higher percentage of taxes annually from 2012-2016 than they did in any year from 1964-2011.

[Bluethroughu]

95. Right on the money.

Gen Xer here...and have been talking about this since the early 2000s. We can't seem to get ahead, and just because we are resilient, doesn't mean we'd like to enjoy life a little more from the fruits of our Labor.

We are the generation that raised ourselves along with our siblings and household chores. Now, we are expected to care for our parents that didn't have the time to invest in us, while trying to pay for college for our own children.

Raygun republicans made a mess of our society and economics. Third world politics is what the republican't party is all about. Plunder for their benefit.

End the filibuster and take back our country from the traitors.

[Sancho]

103. I voted for Carter, and I'm exactly in the middle of the boomers...we weren't responsible for Reagan

...the 70s were very tough, and I remember how much was "blamed" on Carter. Reagan was simply a mouthpiece.

In my view - Carter was sabotaged by some of his own party, everyone was still confused over multiple assassinations, a crazy economy, oil embargo, the hostages in Iran, and cancelling the Olympics. There was simply an opening to take advantage of the mess. I would not have been surprised if any other repub had won that election. There was no clear Democratic message in 1980.

Virtually no one really thought Reagan was some kind of economic genius - he was just good on TV - and Carter was not a great speaker (I met Carter at a rally when I was in college). Carter was way ahead of his time, but the message was completely lost on most people of all generations. There were a lot of characterizations of Carter that hurt him: Bible thumper, nerd, naive on business ("the US is not a peanut farm&quot . The 70s were not ready for solar panels, peace treaties, and unions.

The boomers won the vote for over 18, and tried to get the ERA ratified, and were happy to be out of Vietnam. To me, Reagan was really the first TV President, and he took over the media of the time with new cable networks and more TV channels. A lot of mainstream voters fell for it. Every time the TV was on, there was Reagan, including reruns of his war movies.

The tax on corporations is only a small part of the current imbalance. It may seem to have started with Reagan, but a string of GOP Presidents and governments have allowed money laundering, undermined collective bargaining, given subsidies to corporations, and let polluters off the hook. Reagan was just one of many.

[Marrah_Goodman]

108. I don't think Reagan was all the Boomers fault

I think the reason there is such anger being put towards them is that they were the last generation able to really make it. I am gen X, born in 1970. By the time I became an adult, working yourself through college was a thing of the past, buying a home was out if reach for many and wages stagnated. Being able to be a stay at home mom was nearly impossible. Pensions and unions became a thing if the past.

For each generation since it has just gotten worse.

[Martin68]

109. And every Gen Xer who didn't vote for Clinton screwed the nation.

But enough of the generation bullshit.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2021/07/07/generation-labels-mean-nothing-retire-them/

[Polybius]

112. I didn't vote for Clinton

I became a Democrat by 2000 though. I was young and stupid once.

[Martin68]

127. So was I. Welcome to the club.

[kimbutgar]

110. I remember thinking about voting for Reagan in 1980 after seeing his speech when he announced

He was running for President. I told my Dad and he sat me down and told me how Reagan screwed over California as Governor and then reminded me that ALL Republikklans are dirty, stinking and lousy people. And if I voted for him I’d have to move out. Dad set me straight about party even then. Whenever I see a repuke on TV I can hear my Dad saying those words and he especiallyl hated Nixon and had a drink the night he resigned, my Dad was a social drinker only around friends did he ever drink.

[FakeNoose]

111. Yes but they also screwed the boomers as well

Repukes voting AGAINST their own interests - that didn't just start in 2015. It's been happening since at least 1980, possibly before that. So stupid, they don't even know it.

[kpete]

113. "bread for all"

YES!!!

[Mysterian]

125. Like my brother, who became a dittohead

Right-wing propaganda made him an angry, unpleasant and unhappy person.