It goes back to Reagan

[edhopper]

so many things we have to deal with goes back to Reagan fucking things up.

Trickle Down Economics bullshit (or give the Rich all the money)
Let's destroy Unions and keep wages permanently low
Get rid of the Fairness Doctrine and bring on Faux News
Making Racism cool again
War on Environmentalism
....

Feel free to add to the list of how this evil SOB started the decline of the U.S.A.

[Mme. Defarge]

1. Mourning in America

and that laughable Laffer curve.

[jimfields33]

18. Annoys me to this day that he had a democratic congress for most of his

Two terms. We needed today’s house and senate for sure back then.

[MichMan]

24. The House was Democratic for Reagan's entire 2 terms

[jimfields33]

25. I just can't fathom that. Reagan only signed what was put in front of him.

So frustrating!

[KPN]

34. Yup. Disappointing and hard to forget. The working

class has lost ground ever since.

[jimmil]

41. "The solid south" as it was termed

was hardly even close to Democratic ideals then. Believe it or not the south was mostly democratic because Lincoln was a Republican... seriously!

[LiberalArkie]

45. Reagan benefitted the wealthy, just about all of congress is very wealthy. Probably heavy into

Arms, and Pharma stocks. They know when to buy and sell.

[pansypoo53219]

50. congress made his presidency what it was. see GWB's. + trumps.

[MOMFUDSKI]

2. My daughter, to this day,

talks about raygun classifying ketchup as a VEGETABLE for school lunches. My best friend from high school was a UNION flight controller earning great money with a promised comfy retirement. They went on strike and raygun blackballed the lot of them. That was the beginning of union busting and look around at all the strong unions we have in this country now. I remember my ex-husband who was a Teamster Union member coming home to tell me they were going out on strike but only certain trucking companies in town. The others would continue to work. I said WHAAA? What the hell kind of a strike is THAT? Well, there you go.

[Alpeduez21]

27. What's ironic is the glory days

repukes keep harkening back to were all made glorious by union wages. Fucking idiots

[Ohioboy]

35. You make an excellent point

A strong middle class was the result of workers being able to bargain.

[Rebl2]

40. Yep

They seem to conveniently forget that don’t they.

[jaxexpat]

33. That's the nail you hit on its head. Reagan brought out the "union in name only" types.

The entire concept of collective bargaining was "bargained away" in corporate boardrooms and GOP donor meet ups all across the country. People just smiled and blamed Carter. Stupid, the whole decade, stupid.

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

53. Worse yet, Lane Kirkland, the head of the AFL-CIO

backed Reagan in firing the air traffic controllers. No one can possibly be surprised that unions steadily lost support and membership after that.

[leftieNanner]

3. Mental Health Systems

As Governor of California, he demolished the entire state public health system for mental healthcare. I think you can link a lot of homelessness to that.

[edhopper]

7. I think he did that

on a National level as well.

[BigmanPigman]

15. Yes, he did.

I was going to write that one. Worst POTUS ever!!!!

[OMGWTF]

28. St. Ronnie Raygun also did away with free public college in CA.

My former BFF's husband was in his cabinet for both terms; they're both MAGAts now and we are done being friends. Fuck 'em!

[ymetca]

4. HRC's declaring of a "vast right-wing conspiracy"

seemed to have brought it all back to the surface again. They did not want their ugly agenda dragged into the light of day. From Smedley Butler to the Powell Memo to the latest CRT histrionics --they'd like us all to just not see. "Pay no attention to that man behind the curtain!"

They thought Trump would be their latest "auto-pen" President, like Reagan and the Bushes. Taxes are for saps! Rules and regulations are for the rubes!

The "drown big government in a bathtub" crowd has been revealed for what they actually are.

fascist Nazis

[edhopper]

8. Not enough voters

see that.

[live love laugh]

65. In hindsight our biggest mistake was backing down when they escalated

with Clinton in the 90’s.

They changed the rules of the game then but kept them to themselves. By the time it was apparent in the early ‘00’s it was too late to rope them back in.

[Sanity Claws]

5. IranContragate and its cover up

Enabling Republicans to commit crimes with impunity

[spanone]

6. Republicans screwed their constituents and they blamed it all on the Democrats....

Refucklicans

[Joinfortmill]

39. I like that, "Refucklicans".

[KPN]

46. They still are.

[spanone]

47. Yes they are.

[johnp3907]

9. This is why I get so angry at people who don't vote.

https://www.chicagotribune.com/columns/dahleen-glanton/ct-met-dahleen-glanton-kaepernick-voting-trump-20181022-story.html

[oasis]

52. Thank you. Many don't know how Colin Kaepernick adversely affected Hillary's

chances in the 2016 election. He suggested Hillary should be jailed for "her e-mails".

Furthermore, CK seemed to take pride in the fact that he doesn't vote. How short sighted and uninformed can a public figure be?

[johnp3907]

57. As a rich man a lot of things don't affect him personally.

As a Black man racism does affect him personally, so that’s what he rails against.

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

55. I had no idea.

Finding out that he didn't vote in 2016 makes me lose almost all respect for him.

[we can do it]

10. Treat women, poor people and minorities like the enemy.

[turbinetree]

11. And Ronny also went after the two year free college in California that Pat Brown had put in place

The California Master Plan for Higher Education of 1960......

And he went after the air traffic controllers in the 1980's .....

And he started his presidential campaign in Philadelphia Mississippi just to say more racists memes .....

he really was a asshole.....

[WhiteTara]

12. taxing unemployment and social security

[KPN]

48. That's a big one -- especially in light of tax cuts the Rs

have consistently pursued and enacted for the wealthy since Reagan.

[jalan48]

13. I agree. Hard to believe we got a right wing President only a few years after the public disgrace

of Nixon's corruption and removal from office.. Reagan was good at reading cue cards and delivering a line. The real dirty work was done behind the scenes by Bush Sr. and his crew of neo-cons.

[edhopper]

14. Illegal deal with Iran on the hostages

helped.

But 2 years after Bush and the GOP almost brought down the global Economy, voters put the Repukes back in charge of Congress.

[jalan48]

16. Bush Sr had been the head of the CIA in 1976-77. The hostage crisis was manipulated by him

and his cronies to discredit Carter.

[MichMan]

17. I wonder how long it will take to undo everything he did?

It's now been 33 years since he left office

[MuseRider]

20. First we have to try

and I mean REALLY try and not cave at the mention of what the RW thinks of us.

[MuseRider]

19. You are correct.

ALL of this started with him. Before Reagan people had started to really think about each other, not all of them but many of us were all about raising everyone up instead of keeping most of us down.

I remember watching in horror the things that his administration was pushing through and how quickly so very many people jumped on the greedy, I am better than you, bandwagon.

I really have nothing to add except that we should have been so ashamed of ourselves after that we never let anyone near the office without better qualifications. Now look where we are. We were mostly fairly well educated then, we knew our history and civics and how our government worked. They got rid of that along with everything else and we have gone exactly where they wanted us to go.

[Aristus]

21. "The homeless choose to be that way."

He should be burning in Hell just for that alone.

[JHB]

22. The foundations go back farther, but yeah, Reagan is when they launched...

...upward from that foundation. A charismatic, amiable salesman who gave cover to a much more radical agenda.

[bluboid]

23. I worked for the govt when the 1981 PATCO strike happened...

& believe me, Reagan was no longer held in high esteem by govt workers.

[japple]

29. He was always harping on "The Welfare Queen."

https://www.thenation.com/article/archive/josh-levin-the-queen-book-review/

[BlueIdaho]

30. Deregulation everywhere

Businesses allowed to run amok.

[Wicked Blue]

31. Destroy public education and make higher education unaffordable nt

[SeattleVet]

32. He's one of the reasons I left the Air Force after 12 years instead of going for 20 and retirement.

I was stationed in Germany when he was first elected, and I threw a combat boot across the room at the TV that night when it was called for him.

I could see the writing on the wall in 1984, so finished my 2nd 6-year enlistment and got out in May. There was no way I was going to work for that bastard for another 4 years. Worked out for me, though, as I got a very good position where my Air Force training and experience worked in my favor.

I don't believe that I have ever referred to him as anything but 'that bastard Reagan' or 'that S.O.B. Reagan' since he was first elected.

[Skittles]

38. I was absolutely disgusted how many voters fell for the Reagan con

then he proceeded to make greed and ignorance fashionable, and so many stupid, greedy people ate it up

[betsuni]

36. I had a reaction to Reagan's voice that's like when dogs howl at certain sounds.

Couldn't stand it, had to leave the area if he came on TV because it made me feel like instinctually howling and barking.

I remember Garrison Keillor talking about how before Reagan if you had more Halloween candy than anyone else you'd share and be a good person, but Reagan said take all the candy for yourself, all of it, only suckers share.

[Joinfortmill]

37. Agree, but 'we' insist on making a hero of him. He single-handedly broke the middle class.

[NoMoreRepugs]

42. He as much as ANYONE created our toxic culture of

perception is more important than reality.

[SleeplessinSoCal]

43. VOODOO Economics was still the template for the failed tax cut stimulus of 2018

HR1. Cost Republicans the House in 2018. Even puti-puppy Dana Rohrabacher voted nay.. That and trying to end the ACA.

WHY DOESN'T THE DEMOCRATIC PARTY HAMMER THEM CONSTANTLY ON TRICKLE DOWN/VOODOO ECONOMICS?

Today I heard another report on how the housing shortage is screwing the working class. People with enough money to buy homes with cash make the market even worse than it's been.

https://www.axios.com/investors-homes-wealth-families-bc792e11-a91e-4da5-97ad-b6e48e5dfd2a.html

Socialism? Not

[DanieRains]

44. Giving Jesus Whackos All They Want

For starters.

Ignoring Climate Change.

For two.

[Maine-i-ac]

49. The myth of the "welfare mother". Ketchup as a vegetable. Bloated defense budget. More:

Arms for hostages, a la Ollie North.
Central American interventions, Sandinistas, Eugene Hasenfus.
Fire the Air Traffic Controllers. Deregulate everything.
I'll think of more but I'm too stirred up now ...

[mountain grammy]

51. I've always agreed with James Garner on this subject..From his book

'The Garner Files'

“Too many actors have run for office,” he writes. “There’s one difference between me and them: I know I’m not qualified. In my opinion, Arnold Schwarzenegger wasn’t qualified to be governor of California. Ronald Reagan wasn’t qualified to be governor, let alone president. I was a vice president of the Screen Actors Guild when he was its president. My duties consisted of attending meetings and voting. The only thing I remember is that Ronnie never had an original thought and that we had to tell him what to say. That’s no way to run a union, let along a state or a country.”

[Ford_Prefect]

54. Not to mention violating the will of Congress, Federal law, and the will of the people, isn't that

Last edited Sat Feb 19, 2022, 10:23 PM - Edit history (1)

right Colonel North?

Sir, I cannot recall, Sir.

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

56. He also said that government was the problem, which underlies

just about all of the right wing bullshit that's out there today.

[czarjak]

58. Recession and record deficits, racism. The Three R's

[mvd]

59. Rise of religious fundamentalism for sure

No attempt to stop the spread of AIDS
Arming and funding the Taliban, and also helping in the formation of Al Qaeda
Supported dictators, which extended up to TFG
Much, much corruption
Made it fashionable to blame the poor
Debt increase from regressive economics, not social spending

I can’t believe he is looked back on well by so many. He was one of the worst Presidents ever and started this road to Repuke fascism! Fortunately my Democratic parents were never fooled.

[Efilroft Sul]

60. The greatest evil was getting people to believe the government was a separate entity from them.

Two of Ol' Wattleneck's more famous anti-government quotes are "Government is not the solution to our problem; government is the problem" and "The nine most terrifying words in the English language are: I'm from the government, and I'm here to help."

Of course, that bastard had a lot more to say against government, going back decades before he was elected to the height of the republic as President. But his constant propaganda served his paymasters well, as it caused millions of Americans to forget that THEY are the government, and that our government was established to be of, by, and especially for the people.

Thanks to Reagan, many Americans came to believe the government was this arrogant cluster of bureaucrats who saw themselves as being better than the average person, or that it was some alien entity that was among us yet not us. It was Reagan who eroded the public trust not only in its institutions, but in itself, and his poisonous legacy lives on to this day with whoever the right wing co-opts. His selling of this bifurcation to Americans has brought the most egregious harm to this nation.

[mvd]

61. Well said!

[melm00se]

62. The Fairness Doctrine was abolished

in 1987 by a 4-0 vote (which included 1 Democrat) as the media landscape was undergoing a massive shift with the spread of CATV and the available channels.

That increase of available channels/content kicked the legs out from underneath constitutional underpinning of the Red Lion ruling ("spectrum scarcity&quot .

As an aside, the Fairness Doctrine, for the most part, did not do what most people think that it should do. The FD was designed for broadcasters to devote some of their airtime to discussing controversial matters of public interest, and to air contrasting views regarding those matters.

Additionally, the FD would not impact right wing media outlets like Fox News, OAN or Newsmax as these networks are beyond the FCC's scope of enforcement as these networks are all cable/satellite outlets.

Personally, I found that the Fairness Doctrine was a Supreme Court approved discriminatory double standard as it relates to the 1st Amendment.

For example:

Red Lion was a case involving the requirement that broadcasters grant a right of reply to persons attacked during a broadcast of a controversial issue of public importance. Sounds great right? But, in 1974 in Miami Herald Publishing Co. v. Tornillo, a Florida statute mirroring the Fairness Doctrine, required that political candidates the right of reply to personal attacks by newspapers during political campaigns, was struck down as unconstitutional.

So on the one hand, the electronic media must provide the right to respond but if you were a newspaper you got away scot-free for doing the same thing. At a hyperbolic extreme: If a newspaper published a personal attack and that article was read word for word on a TV or radio station, the requirement to provide for a response fell on the TV/radio station, not the print outlet who wrote the original article.

[PlanetBev]

63. Inviting in religious nuts to consolidate power

That’s why we have the Supreme Court we have now and the impending fall of Roe.

I will hate Reagan forever.

[KentuckyWoman]

64. Oh I think it goes back a lot farther.

Of all the constants in my just over 80 years on earth, and of the lessons learned of the past in school - the basic theme is that those that "have" feel entitled to all of it and will tell any lie and cause any pain to anyone in order to get it all. The push is always for the rich to live off the labors of everyone else.

In the 40's union busting went out of favor for a short time because workers were seen as patriotic necessities. Workers made the most of the moment ...thank goodness. Within 20 years a new generation and the doors opened up again to take from workers.

As I see it, the current stage is make sure workers can afford all the screens. Misinformation, rabble rousing and general divide and conquer are much easier that way. It may take a few generations to get it back to the old "company store" days where kids had to get jobs to help out, but the rich can afford patience.