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Before They Were ‘Not-So-Bright’ Trumpists, They Were ‘Not-So-Bright’ Bush and Reagan Supporters
Is it a coincidence or just a result of failed Republican policies that our nation is on the brink of ending democracy?
In his first State of the Union address, Ronald Reagan blamed the nation’s economic woes on the “tax and spend” policies of the decades before he became president. Having benefitted from those policies, upon becoming president, he decided that such “hand-outs” weakened the nation, so they had to be ended.
In a way, Ronald Reagan couldn’t have been more spot-on. It was a Roosevelt work program that financed a summer lifeguarding job for the president-to-be as a teen growing up in Dixon, Illinois, which laid a foundation for his future life. Thanks to the “handout,” he could earn money, save it, and advance successfully through life, eventually becoming the governor of California and the president of the United States. America is still reeling from his presidency.
The foundation from which Reagan and several generations in post-World War II America benefitted was America’s finest moment for one reason: income equality across the board dropped to its lowest levels in our nation’s history. The “good old days” of Father Knows Best, when whites reigned supreme, minorities “knew their place,” and women were tethered to the home, was the most economically equal America would ever be.
While, of course, the emancipating of Black Americans in the 1960s, followed by the rise of the feminist movement, were positive developments in our nation’s history, the backlash was one that it would not require an education to predict. White men resented sharing both the wealth and the power with “the Blacks” and women, and the response was Reaganism. For everything that Reagan’s economic revolution wasn’t, it was unquestioningly against minorities and women. It was classicist, and the long-term goal was to protect the white male status quo.
Income inequality has been rising since 1980
Imagine sitting at a blackjack table in a casino. You are dealt your cards, and next, contemplate whether to stay or take a hit.
