(C) Daily Kos This story was originally published by Daily Kos and is unaltered. . . . . . . . . . . A Supplement to “How did Reagan Screw up America?” [1] ['This Content Is Not Subject To Review Daily Kos Staff Prior To Publication.', 'Backgroundurl Avatar_Large', 'Nickname', 'Joined', 'Created_At', 'Story Count', 'N_Stories', 'Comment Count', 'N_Comments', 'Popular Tags'] Date: 2023-04-11 Jerry Falwell Senior's Unlimited Access to Ronald Reagan's Ears As I was composing a comment to post on JohnRichardson excellent diary – “How did Ronald Reagan Screw Up America? Let me count the ways” – I had a number of points to add that made my comment too long. So, following recommended practice, I decided to turn it into a diary. JohnRichardson’s diary centered on economic policy. I’ll focus on politics and governance. This is my short list of some other ways Reagan and the GOP have screwed up America. Embracing the Christian Right Led by Reagan, the GOP fully embraced the Christian Right (CR) and allowed its leaders unrestricted participation in the internal workings of the Party [read: allowed its leaders to infiltrate the GOP]. It was a Faustian bargain that provided the GOP with a sizeable and reliable voting bloc but, in turn, surrendered to the CR the power to determine the Party’s political platform, and made the GOP totally dependent on the Evangelical vote. The CR’s agenda: Reconstructing the USA as a Theocratic Christian nation. Eliminating the separation of Church and State. (Banning abortion is just the tip of the CR’s agenda iceberg.) Promoting Radical Partisanship Led by Reagan, the GOP advocated the organized promotion of radical partisanship as an electoral and governing strategy. This dreadful scheme succeeded in creating a deep division in the USA body politic by splitting Americans into two irreconcilable political groups that were assigned the indelible labels “conservative” or “liberal.” Conservatives were to be considered the good people (“us”), and Liberals the bad people (“them”). A democratically elected government is supposed to represent ALL of its citizens, regardless of political affiliation. That requires advocating for a workable level of unity to be achieved by accepting some degree of compromise. Otherwise, long-term social and political stability are at risk. Reagan’s rhetoric and subsequent GOP actions eliminated the democratic tradition of rational debate and compromise solutions, destroying civility in the process. Revocating the “Fairness Doctrine” The polarization was accelerated and magnified by the revocation of the “Fairness Doctrine” – the policy change that allowed the proliferation of right-wing propaganda mass-conduits. The most prominent and influential being Rush Limbaugh on radio, and FOX News on TV. Compromise became synonym with capitulation. The artificial provocation of anger became the driving force for mass manipulation of susceptible audiences. Advocating for Distrust of Government Led by Reagan, the GOP promoted distrust of government and disrespect for our civic institutions. In his inaugural address he said, “the government is not the solution to our problem, government is the problem.” While it is fine to criticize the government, elected Presidents should not attack the government as an institution. They should propose ways to improve it. Achieving social stability in large populations requires some level of law and order enforced by some form of government. Starting with Reagan, the GOP has been rooting for the USA government to fail. It is mind-boggling that almost half of Americans still vote for their candidates! Introducing Fascist-Inspired Propaganda Reagan’s dividing and polarizing attitudes established the framework for the GOP to embrace the propagandistic work of Frank Luntz – a man with an exceptional talent with words and an uncanny ability to create highly effective messaging that promotes party and ideology above all, with no regard for ethical considerations or adverse consequences for ordinary people. Luntz could have been the Thomas Paine of our time, instead he chose to become Joseph Goebbels 2.0. That’s how history will remember him. Economic Policy I refer you to JohnRichardson’s diary where he lists in detail the many ways Reagan’s economic policies were harmful. I’ll just add that although the GOP peddles itself as the party of fiscal responsibility, the economic policies they implemented during Reagan’s administration were the height of fiscal irresponsibility. You can read JohnRichardson’s diary here. Thank you for your attention and I look forward to any comments… [END] --- [1] Url: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2023/4/11/2163417/-A-Supplement-to-How-did-Reagan-Screw-up-America Published and (C) by Daily Kos Content appears here under this condition or license: Site content may be used for any purpose without permission unless otherwise specified. via Magical.Fish Gopher News Feeds: gopher://magical.fish/1/feeds/news/dailykos/