General Discussion

bvar22

(39,909 posts)

94. We "could" have recovered from Reagan easily...

Sat Feb 23, 2013, 06:12 PM

Feb 2013

..if the Democratic Party had not abandoned the Working Class and Organized LABOR
to the new gods of "Free Trade" and the myth of the "Invisible Hand".

I have many problems with the "Centrist" Clinton Administration,
but I was most disappointed by what he DID NOT do,
which was work to repair the damage done under Reagan.

On Day ONE, Bill Clinton should have:
*put Carter's Solar Hot Water Panels BACK on the roof of the White House,
and
*fired the SCAB Air Traffic Controllers and replaced them with UNION workers.

The Centrist Democrats have proved that America is not big enough for another Republican Party.

[font color=firebrick][center]"There are forces within the Democratic Party who want us to sound like kinder, gentler Republicans.
I want a party that will STAND UP for Working Americans."
---Paul Wellstone [/font][/center]
[center][/font]
[font size=1]photo by bvar22
Shortly before Sen Wellstone was killed[/center][/font]

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Is America in irreversible decline?? [View all] kentuck Feb 2013 OP

I would say it started with Reagan. But the 2000 stolen election was a serious blow. nt raccoon Feb 2013 #1

So American was at it's height under Carter? hughee99 Feb 2013 #50

In some ways, yes Lydia Leftcoast Feb 2013 #57

And everyone forgets Ford's campaign slogan. "WIN" for.... Lochloosa Feb 2013 #90

It was Orwellian double-speak for killing wages and little else. TheKentuckian Feb 2013 #98

When the media was bought by the right-wing. Not for the purpose of informing the populace... BlueJazz Feb 2013 #2

Yep libodem Feb 2013 #43

Exactly, watoos Feb 2013 #45

we will hopefully be saved by an astroid that can't come too soon... corkhead Feb 2013 #3

Answers, yes, and, 1970. Spider Jerusalem Feb 2013 #4

^this Tuesday Afternoon Feb 2013 #7

Yep Strelnikov_ Feb 2013 #22

"be ready for a 10 gal. month gas ration" CrispyQ Feb 2013 #28

I'm on rationing already! For years I used to just get ~10 gals at a time ... Now, RKP5637 Feb 2013 #33

I agree. Jackpine Radical Feb 2013 #34

I admit, it is more my hope how things will be handled Strelnikov_ Feb 2013 #44

Well put. n/t customerserviceguy Feb 2013 #75

All governments/systems peak and decline madville Feb 2013 #5

It's going to be very good or very bad. My observation is that real change generally only RKP5637 Feb 2013 #25

We will probably get a preview madville Feb 2013 #29

I don't believe much good will come after major catastrophes... We People Feb 2013 #39

Nixon killed the Liberal Era. Reagan killed the Great Society. Bush killed the Constit/Mid Class. leveymg Feb 2013 #6

Agreed marions ghost Feb 2013 #76

yes steve2470 Feb 2013 #8

My gut feeling is the US will regionalize to survive. The divides are too great, and as RKP5637 Feb 2013 #18

1980 - when working class americans lost their collective minds and pulled the lever for reagan. KG Feb 2013 #9

I couldn't agree more... Dan Feb 2013 #105

no Coyotl Feb 2013 #10

It started with Reagan, election 2000 was the final nail in the coffin. JaneyVee Feb 2013 #11

Whoever made the first "free trade" deal. Don't know who it was, but that was the beginning of patricia92243 Feb 2013 #12

Nixon's Ambassador to China, George H.W. Bush, was the point man. leveymg Feb 2013 #17

I've thought about this topic and I do trace some of it back to that We People Feb 2013 #41

What's not so difficult to believe is how successful it was. Mission Accomplished. leveymg Feb 2013 #58

Interest rates are too low fadedrose Feb 2013 #13

Interest rates for savings are so low it's not even worth trying to save anything. And the banks are RKP5637 Feb 2013 #19

No Jumpin Jack Fletch Feb 2013 #14

Nnnnnnope cherokeeprogressive Feb 2013 #15

yes. blame entropy...all things go to disorder. NRaleighLiberal Feb 2013 #16

Thank you for posting this. Often I have tried to explain to people (off DU) that RKP5637 Feb 2013 #20

my chemistry PhD is worth something at last! NRaleighLiberal Feb 2013 #26

My background in physics helps me to understand! Now, I mostly take care of my cat! RKP5637 Feb 2013 #30

It may be a good thing to be a country in decline lunatica Feb 2013 #21

it's not irreversible, but it won't be reversed JVS Feb 2013 #23

I tend to think that way too Smll_Ax3 Feb 2013 #24

Yes. Reagan. jsr Feb 2013 #27

No more than it was in the late 1920s, IMO. MannyGoldstein Feb 2013 #31

I would also say that the fundamental decline continued through the Clinton years Jackpine Radical Feb 2013 #37

I agree. bvar22 Feb 2013 #68

Of course you do. Jackpine Radical Feb 2013 #86

I'd say the peak of our accomplishments was the moon landing truebluegreen Feb 2013 #32

The day the first Native American was killed so we could live on their land? n/t jtuck004 Feb 2013 #35

I'd go back further and say mgardener Feb 2013 #36

Only reason Nixon wasn't impeached was he resigned first. eShirl Feb 2013 #46

Yes. CrispyQ Feb 2013 #38

I've thought the same thing. truebluegreen Feb 2013 #52

It was a "trifecta." CrispyQ Feb 2013 #104

You forgot marions ghost Feb 2013 #83

I have a different view John2 Feb 2013 #40

For me it was the day Mockingjay Feb 2013 #42

The Powell Memo HomerRamone Feb 2013 #47

+100 nt truebluegreen Feb 2013 #53

Ronnie Raygun doubling the national debt kairos12 Feb 2013 #48

I'm with Hunter S. Thompson in thinking that Nixon killed the American dream. Snarkoleptic Feb 2013 #49

This started Livluvgrow Feb 2013 #51

America still has the capacity to do great things think Feb 2013 #54

American certainly has the capacity, but not the willpower. OceanEcosystem Feb 2013 #60

I remain optimistic that the tide is turning think Feb 2013 #64

America is in irreversible decline just like the Roman Empire. OceanEcosystem Feb 2013 #55

No. H2O Man Feb 2013 #56

I would exclude the 'spiritual' part. ronnie624 Feb 2013 #74

You would; I wouldn't. H2O Man Feb 2013 #87

You are mistaken. ronnie624 Feb 2013 #88

Spirituality does not H2O Man Feb 2013 #92

I can't accuse you of ignorance, as I have read many of your posts, ronnie624 Feb 2013 #110

SOME people had recovered from Reagan by 2000 Lydia Leftcoast Feb 2013 #59

Not irreversible Benton D Struckcheon Feb 2013 #61

The main reason for America's decline is attitude, not circumstances. OceanEcosystem Feb 2013 #62

The Banksters and hedge fund managers and CEOs are the worst offenders Lydia Leftcoast Feb 2013 #66

American exceptioalism is JEB Feb 2013 #79

No, but a rough patch treestar Feb 2013 #63

We would need three things to stop declining or at least to decline in a way that Lydia Leftcoast Feb 2013 #65

DURec for Post #65 by Lydia Leftcoast! bvar22 Feb 2013 #69

That too, and we've seen all of those in our lifetimes Lydia Leftcoast Feb 2013 #73

Being an empire is a hard act to perform. We're getting booed off the stage. That's showbiz. Tierra_y_Libertad Feb 2013 #67

No we have the tools to change... Kalidurga Feb 2013 #70

IMO yes. Started in the 1970s or at the latest 1980s. n/t ProfessionalLeftist Feb 2013 #71

It started when CalFresh Feb 2013 #72

It started when teenagers started going to co-ed dances Quantess Feb 2013 #78

bullshit. nebenaube Feb 2013 #109

I think TV's a bigger factor than most suppose. hay rick Feb 2013 #108

I blame Reagan. We've never totally recovered from the blows he dealt us. kestrel91316 Feb 2013 #77

We "could" have recovered from Reagan easily... bvar22 Feb 2013 #94

Ha, during the Reagan administration, Lydia Leftcoast Feb 2013 #95

If you let Conservative ideology Shankapotomus Feb 2013 #80

NAFTA, and failure in the 1970s and 80s for an energy policy davidn3600 Feb 2013 #81

When women JEB Feb 2013 #82

The country never recovered from Reagan, not even close. Motown_Johnny Feb 2013 #84

It began in the sixties Justpat Feb 2013 #85

I'm inclined to agree that it was the Sixties. Noam Chomsky reminds us that "historical amnesia" ancianita Feb 2013 #89

Dallas, November 22, 1963. Scuba Feb 2013 #91

not comatose media datasuspect Feb 2013 #93

Agreed... elzenmahn Mar 2013 #114

After WW II we had the world's only intact industry and all the gold in Fort Knox FarCenter Feb 2013 #96

Yes. lonestarnot Feb 2013 #97

Probably. moondust Feb 2013 #99

we can fix it just as easily as they fucked it up,by doing the exact opposite Fight2Win Feb 2013 #100

Yes to in decline, it was on the march by the 70's, and no it isn't actually irreversible TheKentuckian Feb 2013 #101

Name the date - August 15, 1971 OutNow Feb 2013 #102

Bluto/Animal House "Nothing is over until we decide it is! IADEMO2004 Feb 2013 #103

Different parts of our decline started at different times ShadowLiberal Feb 2013 #106

All humanity is. stuntcat Feb 2013 #107

it started with reagan Skittles Feb 2013 #111

Unless we can get the Republicans and the corporations under control and restart democracy� MrScorpio Feb 2013 #112

Definitely not FreeJoe Feb 2013 #113

The decline isn't irrevisible. valiberal26 Mar 2013 #115

irreversible? no. but have the economic & political masters of the universe targeted it for HiPointDem Mar 2013 #116

Since Katrina, and yes, a few years earlier.... Amonester Mar 2013 #117