to pardon Nixon brought us directly to several Republican scandals and ultimately to Trump. THAT nightmare is going to be a long time getting over. I hope, but am not sure, it will completely destroy the R party.
Reagan and his "advisors" (many of whom showed throughout gov't up to and into Junior's admin) were involved in all of these scandals and did more to damage the United States in a covert, existential manner than Ford pardoning Nixon, IMO. Reagan's trickle down theory, Iran-Contra, the rise of the Heritage Foundation and Federalist Society, the stripping of the "welfare state," as Reagan put it, the continued chipping away at aspects of the New Deal, the shutdown of the mental health institutions, the killing of Unions, the blessings of huge mergers and loss of monopoly protection, and all the rest of it... not to mention the recession and unfair tax changes... these were things under Reagan and continued under every Republican administration since. In fact, each succeeding R admin has tried to out-Reagan Reagan. Remember -- "Conservatism" can't fail; it can only BE failed. Of course, what practice isn't really conservatism. It's radical Authoritarianism; Plutocracy at its highest form. But they're either too stupid to know that or high enough on the ladder to not care.
So both speak easy and skittles, to my mind, have it correct. Both of these Republicans did inordinate damage to our country. Most of us here at DU are old enough to have lived through the Nixon hearings. We remember and were outraged when he was pardoned. We wrestled with the National Security issues. We also were young enough to be offended by the reasoning. And most of us, I daresay, wanted Nixon tried on terms of treason back then. But he WAS smart, and he had smart advisors. They were smart for Nixon. However, most of them went to prison. We had to take heart at that, and at the laws that came afterwards because of what Nixon did.
Not enough was done about Reagan, because it was done on the down-low, or under cover of law by the Republican Congresses. And we live with so much of it even today. That's why I call it existential. Unless and until we can get rid of those bad laws, we will never recover. Just take one. Monopolies, or near monopolies, HAVE to be made absolutely illegal again. No more mega-mergers. Oligopolies absolutely must not be allowed to exist. We have to have new bank laws, and not those that have been softened by repugs.
We have to start undoing what was done by Reagan before we can begin to rebuild this nation. To do that, we have to have the Presidency the House and Senate. And all three must be people by representatives who feel this as keenly as we do. I don't care whether these reps are young or old. There's good and bad to be said for both sides of the age scale. The young feel the keenness of the injustice. The old have lived through the injustice for decades. But we have to be united in the cause. And we HAVE to bring the center back to the center. No more of this "center" leaning towards the right.
My god... do you know the word is Nixon would have been seen as a democrat these days? That's how far skewed politics is these days!!!
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