the
reagan revolution
*by the end of the
1970s, a decade of social
upheaval and economic stagflation had produced a sense of malaise in
*in general, an
american liberal believes in
the power of the government to improve society:
government regulation and government spending can fix society’s
problems
and help the poor, disabled, and groups that have been discriminated
against. however, this is expensive,
leading either to high taxes or deep deficits.
some people object to this, saying that it robs hardworking
americans to
pay for projects they might not choose to spend their money on. it also gives the government too much control
over people’s lives. many liberals also
tend to demand a strict separation of religion and politics, which
upsets many
religious people.
*in general, american
conservatives believe
in a small government and personal responsibility:
it is not the government’s job to fix
society, but rather the job of each citizen to take care of himself. they dislike the taxes, debt, and inflation
that go with government spending (except for the military, as most
conservatives feel that a powerful military is necessary to defend
american
liberties) and the fact that many people seem to end up dependent on
the
government for their living. they also
do not want to government telling people how to live—at least in most
ways. many conservatives also believe
that religion and traditional morality should play a large role in
society and
that government should take these beliefs into account when creating
policies.
*the union of
religious and economic
conservatives formed the basis of the new right, as moral
traditionalists
rejected the counterculture and middle-class and wealthy americans grew
weary
of government taxing and spending. the
silent majority was no longer silent, as jerry falwell formed the moral
majority in 1979 to encourage conservative christians to get out and
vote.
*in 1980, republican
and democratic
conservatives of all types—religious, economic, libertarian—united
behind a man
who promised a small government, a strong military, and traditional
morality:
ronald reagan, a b-movie actor and
*this was called the
reagan revolution. by building on
goldwater’s conservative
movement and nixon’s southern strategy and appeals to the silent
majority, it
brought white southerners and conservative christians solidly into the
republican party and let him beat carter in a landslide in 1980.
*reagan had asked
voters if they were better
off today than they were four years ago.
as president, he hoped to fix the economy through supply-side
economics: cutting taxes will allow
corporations to increase investment and employment, thus enriching
citizens
(who would also grow richer as their tax rate was cut) and allowing
them to
spend more. furthermore, as people made
more money, the government would get more taxes, because a lower
percentage of
a higher income level would generate more money. some
people described this as trickle-down
economics, reaganomics, or voodoo economics (depending on how they felt
about
it). in his first three years as
president, he lowered taxes by 25%.
*reagan also
supported deregulation of
businesses so that they could be more competitive (and thus profitable)
since
they had less government oversight.
*despite these
policies, there was a bad
recession from 1980 to 1982 (with 10% unemployment in 1982), and
republican
congressmen and senators did poorly in the 1982 elections.
however, by 1983 the economy had begun to
turn around and the economy as a whole grew, although the number of
poor
americans increased (partly due to immigration), while the wealthy saw
their
incomes grow most.
*although reagan
promised that lower taxes
would bring in more income for the government and he promised to cut
government
spending, it was not that simple. while
he did cut spending on some programmes, he increased military spending
to keep
up with the
*two areas where
reagan was criticised for
not spending enough money were on environmental protection (especially
to
combat air pollution that caused acid rain) and on aids research.
*aids was first
reported in the
*the economy also
suffered from the
deregulation of the savings and loan industry.
some of them had executives who skimmed off millions of dollars,
while
others simply made bad loans, and over a thousand collapse. in 1989 (right after reagan left office), the
us government spent $200 billion to bail out depositors who had lost
money when
these savings and loan banks failed.
*despite the deficit,
the many americans felt
they were doing better by 1984 and voted for reagan’s re-election. many admired reagan’s positive attitude, even
after the assassination attempt in 1981.
furthermore, women appreciated his nomination in 1981 of sandra
day
o’connor, the first woman on the supreme court.
*in reagan’s second
term, he began meeting
with the new leader of the