Is Reaganism Finally Dead?

[stopbush]

At its core, Reaganism amounted to nothing more than the self-centered pursuit of personal wealth, fueled by a combination of "every man for himself," "I've got mine, screw you," and "fuck the other guy before he surely fucks you" mantras that viewed the social contract as nothing more than a crutch that allowed "losers" to take from the "deserving."

I'll never forget when Reagan got up as president and said, "I still believe that the USA is a country where anybody can grow up to be a millionaire." That contrasted so unfavorably with what I had always heard as a kid growing up in the 50s & 60s, ie: "This is a country where anyone can grow up to become president."

I really hope this election has put a few nails in Reaganism's coffin.

As bad as junior was, as bad as Rmoney would have been, as bad as the Tea Party and the radical Republics of today are, they wouldn't exist were it not for that asshole Reagan.

[tledford]

1. Agreed -- it has been clear for 30 years that Reagan damaged this country more than

any other single person in the last fifty years.

[left on green only]

22. In one sense, I would agree with you.

There was a lot of damage Reagan did to this country along the lines of the destruction of single entities that may never be able to be repaired. For instance, he decimated The Endowment for the Arts, and he was mainly responsible for allowing the "Truth In Broadcasting" statutes to fall.

[RKP5637]

2. Reaganism was all about $$$ and ME ME ME and F everyone else. Reaganism was

egregious idealism and served only to promote the destruction of the USA for the majority of the citizens. IMO Reaganism endorsed a form of slavery. It was backward and stupid, and who fell for it ... stupid people and the wealthy used them as stupid pawns. And the STUPID lives on today.

[AlGoreRhythms]

3. Don't forget,

he was also the first rethug to lie his ass off and stick to that lie even when someone showed him how full of it he was.

[s-cubed]

4. But his assertion that "government is not the solution, it's the problem"

Was also the beginning of an effort to destroy Americans's trust in government.

[calimary]

14. Yeah, what was that obnoxious soundbite -

About the "most terrifying words in the English language: 'I'm from the government and I'm here to help.'" ASSHOLE!!! We have to mount an aggressive, grand-scale re-education campaign to disabuse as many people of this as possible, after this nauseatingly successful 30-year wholesale public brainwashing. I always thought reagan was one of the most dangerous men in the world, certainly the most dangerous man in America, because of the way he could package the most vile ideas with his nice, friendly, folksy, amiable, avuncular old uncle shtick. SOOOOO many people fell for it, head-first. DEFINITELY head-first. They sacrificed their freakin' brains to the worship of this bastard!

Astounding what damage the skilled copy-reader can do. Even while he's losing his own mind.

[stopbush]

21. Actually, Reagan made a good point when he said that in his first Inaugural speech.

Unfortunately, when that speech is quoted by both Ds & Rs, they forget to offer the whole quote in context. Here it is:

The economic ills we suffer have come upon us over several decades. They will not go away in days, weeks, or months, but they will go away. They will go away because we as Americans have the capacity now, as we've had in the past, to do whatever needs to be done to preserve this last and greatest bastion of freedom.

In this present crisis, government is not the solution to our problem; government is the problem. From time to time we've been tempted to believe that society has become too complex to be managed by self-rule, that government by an elite group is superior to government for, by, and of the people. Well, if no one among us is capable of governing himself, then who among us has the capacity to govern someone else? All of us together, in and out of government, must bear the burden. The solutions we seek must be equitable, with no one group singled out to pay a higher price.

http://www.reagan.utexas.edu/archives/speeches/1981/12081a.htm

The words "In this present crisis" are very important here, because Reagan is NOT saying that government is never the solution! He's saying it's not the solution "in this present crisis." The same could be said about the House for the past two years.

Now, I can see why Rs like to lop off those qualifying words, but why do Ds do so as well? I guess it's to make things simple and to paint Reagan as an anti-government-all-the-time figure.

Personally, I think it would be better to offer the whole quote, because that destroys the RW mantra that Reagan said government is always the problem. He didn't!

[ProudProgressiveNow]

23. I too, hate that soundbite! nt

[Pryderi]

5. I think so, and I'm guilty of voting for him twice. I was young and duped. n/t

[socialist_n_TN]

6. Don't disagree at all with your characterization of Reagan and Reaganism. BUT............

your question is a different story. No Reaganism is NOT dead. By no means. It IS however, finally being questioned by a LARGE group of people. The questioners are just not a majority of the leadership of the Republican OR the Democratic Parties. Yet.

[deutsey]

7. It's on life support

but I think we still need to pull the plug.

[TheKentuckian]

8. I wish but not even close, I don't believe.

It is still the dominate ideology in both parties, one rabid and on crack and steroids and the other playing the old game without the southern strategy bullshit.

[Vox Moi]

9. Before we bury Reaganism let's expose it for the lie it is.

I remember Iran-Contra and the deficits and the taxes.
He wouldn't last five minutes at the Republican Convention.
Charming man, lousy President.

[Sekhmets Daughter]

12. Exactly, and his best role was as the president....

[PatrickS]

18. Reagan was the beginning of the "conservative entertainment complex"

He was its chief star. Future Repub leaders and commentators followed his pattern of success.

[Sekhmets Daughter]

10. Nope....won't be until the last republican who worships at his altar finally

breaths his/her last. And we'll still have the thugs on Wall Street to contend with...all those Gordon Gecko wannabes. Heck Larry Kudlow will keep the flame burning for at least another decade on CNBC.

[Angry Dragon]

11. Raygun was a puppet president

he was so out of it before the end he did no even know what was going on in his administration
the senate investigators knew it so they did not indict him

[krispos42]

13. Call me when the top tax bracket is 60+%

and unearned income is taxed the same as earned income.

[steelmania75]

15. Yes.

The demographics and society are changing in America. I would have never expected to see a state(Washington) legalize BOTH pot and gay marriage in ONE election this quickly. Exponentially this will lead to legalization in other states.

[Canuckistanian]

16. No

But it's REALLY starting to smell bad.

[MineralMan]

17. Well...there you go again...

[Initech]

19. Reaganism can be boiled down to five words: "I've got mine, fuck off."

And yes his stupid arrogance and greedy egomanicism have screwed over the planet and allowed the rich to get richer. It's a truly horrible system and it should rot in the ground with the man who started it.

[Mr.Bill]

20. Someday our great grandchildren will learn in their history books

that Reagan taught this country the false premise of the properity of borrowed money. It will take decades to fix the mess he began and W made worse. They were the only presidents who doubled the national debt while in office.

[hfojvt]

24. I don't see how Reaganomics is dead

in fact, it seems now to even rule the Democratic Party, and has actually since the Traitor Clinton ran for President in 1992 on a Reaganomics platform.

Obama is continuing it.

Look at one of his key platforms - no tax increases for anybody making less than $250,000.

First of all, that continues the Reagan/Republican talking point that "taxes = bad".

and, worse yet,

Second, this is a tax plan that is heavily weighted to the rich. Obama is keeping 73% of the Bush tax cuts, and 53% of the benefits of his plan goto the richest 20%.

Third, because we are all so ecstatic about Romney's defeat, Democratic voters seem to be accepting Obama's embrace of Reaganism without scarcely a peep of protest. As long as Obama won, we don't seem to care that he is betraying the things we supposedly believe in.

Rather than Reaganism being dead, it seems to me that what is really dead now, is liberalism.

[Egalitarian Thug]

25. Or just plain common sense. The fundamental falsehoods that he implanted

in the American mind persist to this day.

[southmost]

26. not dead

And has taken root in the democratic party aka third way

[begin_within]

27. Unfortunately, human selfishness will never die.