When boomers look back they remember the Great Blue House

[Model35mech]

Younger folks may have no knowlege of that time

Control of Control of
House Senate in that order left to right
73rd (1933–1935) Democrats Democrats
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then

103rd (1993–1995) Democrats Democrats
104th (1995–1997) Republicans Republicans
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106th (1999–2001) Republicans Republicans
107th (2001–2003) Republicans Republicans/Democrats
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112th (2011–2013) Republicans Democrats
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115th (2017–2019) Republicans Republicans
116th (2019–2021) Democrats Republicans

[CincyDem]

1. Oct 26, 1996. FOX news launches. Coincidence? I don't think so. n/t

[Celerity]

2. The Gingrich Revolution of 1994 took place before Fux, Reagan and RW hate radio like Limbaugh

et al. were prime drivers of that.

[nightwing1240]

4. Reagan began all the crap we're dealing with yet today

Reagan begat Limbaugh who begat Fox who begat Gingrich. It really is not hard to follow

[Model35mech]

5. Much of it might have started before Reagan

Without judging Pres Johnson's comment correct or not be he said of his signing of the Civil Rights Bill it meant the Dems had lost the South for a generation'.

[nightwing1240]

7. Yes but

Democrats retained control of the House long after the bill had passed.

[Model35mech]

11. Yes they did. And after Vietnam and Nixon.

The thing that happened to the history of The GREAT Blue House likely didn't happen at the single election cycle where the pattern broke. And it's pretty unlikely that a single event, or politician's comments started to turn the leviathan of the Democratic party.

If it was we could blame the unfortunate President who experienced the flip during his terms. I'd sort of like to avoid that sort of bee hive bashing.

[nightwing1240]

12. I am not bashing

Simply stating Reagan bares a lot of blame for the changes we see now.

[Model35mech]

17. IMO the political weather of Reagan's time as well as Reagan

bares a lot of responsibility.

The bankruptcy crisis of New York City even as Dallas and Atlanta boomed bears responsibility for soiling political sentiment toward liberal policy. Especially in the rise of attempts to ban reasonable tax policy that Reagan crushed.

The rise of the Religious Right in the 70's bears more than a little responsibility.

IMO it's pretty hard to boil any of this down to a single event, as if it all came apart with one swing of the bat, when mighty Casey missed with two strikes against him.

Still many political ideas move within a tide of general trends that allow some tides with their many wave tops to reach higher than others

[Celerity]

9. I go back further, to the devastating loss of the Rethugs in 1964. Starting right after that is when

you can start to clearly see the birthing of the unholy triumvirate

1. The Southern Strategy to peel racists off from the Dems (especially in the South with the Dixiecrats, hence the name).

2. The beginning of rise of fundie RW christofascists into political organising gambits and stratagems, and a combining with anti-communist/ant-globalist orgs like the Birchers.

3. The active RW courting (at levels not seen since things like the fascist Business Plot of 1933) of the emerging modern corporate ruling class, as expressed in:

The Lewis Powell Memo: A Corporate Blueprint to Dominate Democracy

Written in 1971 to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the Lewis Powell Memo was a blueprint for corporate domination of American Democracy.

https://www.greenpeace.org/usa/democracy/the-lewis-powell-memo-a-corporate-blueprint-to-dominate-democracy/

The full text of the Powell Memo is below or can be downloaded as a PDF.

https://www.greenpeace.org/usa/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/PowellMemorandumTypescript.pdf

[Model35mech]

13. Yes. Over the era of Dem control of the House for 54 yrs of 1900s

the Dems faced opposition. Sometimes anti-federal opposition, sometimes dirty politics.

Johnson felt the Civil Rights Act and his Great Society Programs (including now deemed Socialist Policy, such as medicare) would cost votes in the south.

George Wallace, who ran as a Dem after Johnson and his support are good examples of disagreement that existed with the party.

The impact of Johnson's prediction didn't happen right away. More complicating history which may be because Nixon was a great distraction for people with a history of voting for progressive social policy in the South (and benefits of Dem policies including rural electrification, industrialization, improved housing, healthcare and education)

Now, to be clear, all that potential discussion was my purpose in this thread. My goal was trying to make people younger than boomers and people unaware of the Dems history of House control aware of a time when The Great Blue House was the order of the day.

[Celerity]

18. well, if you look at 1994 as the first major true turning point in terms of House control, then all

Gen Xers grew up under the Great Blue House too.

The VERY oldest Gen Xers (born in the first 4 days of 1965) were 30 years old by January 3, 1995 (you legally turn your age the day before your birthday, so a January 4th, 1965-born person was 30yo on January 3, 1995), and then the rest (born January 5, 1965 to December 31, 1980) were between 29 and 14yo on that day.

You even could say that many of the oldest Millennials at least remember at least some of their lives under the GBH, granted they not old enough to vote yet (as were the youngest Gen Xers).

88th (1963–1965) Democrats Democrats
89th (1965–1967) Democrats Democrats
90th (1967–1969) Democrats Democrats
91st (1969–1971) Democrats Democrats
92nd (1971–1973) Democrats Democrats
93rd (1973–1975) Democrats Democrats
94th (1975–1977) Democrats Democrats
95th(1977–1979) Democrats Democrats
96th (1979–1981) Democrats Democrats

Rethugs claw back the Senate, but we continue to hold the GBH

97th (1981–1983) Democrats Republicans
98th (1983–1985) Democrats Republicans
99th (1985–1987) Democrats Republicans

Normal service resumes (Dems control both chambers again)

100th (1987–1989) Democrats Democrats
101st (1989–1991) Democrats Democrats
102nd (1991–1993) Democrats Democrats
103rd (1993–1995) Democrats Democrats

paradigm shift:

104th (1995–1997) Republicans Republicans

years ending in 5


1965 - Peak Great Society Era (Civil Rights Act of 1965, etc etc), plus the beginning of the rise of the unholy RW triumvirate

1975 - First full year post Nixon, Peak Dem Congressional control post Nixon, we had over 2/3rds of the House seats

1985 - Peak Reaganism, first year of his second term after the crushing 1984 win

1995 - First year of the new RW paradigm in the House (interrupted at times down the road) The first full year of the rise of internet (as net shopping malls came in 1994), and thsi the beginning of the Dot-com bubble, which burst in March, 2000

2005 - Peak Bush the younger, first year of his second term, and last full year of the peak noughties housing bubble, prices started to go down in 2006, and systemic risk started to flood in

2015 - The rise of Trump, starting with the escalator ride in Trump Tower, on June 16, 2015, but even with that (still not a sure thing then) 2015 was overall the last somewhat 'normal' US political year. On May 30th, 2015, a HUGE overlooked (in terms of long term impact) event occurred. Beau Biden died, which led to Biden not running (and I truly think winning both the primary and the general, thus no Trump) in 2016. Aslo 2015 was the last full pre Brexit year.

2025? - IF Trump or DeathSentence wins (especially the monster Trump), and IF we do not take back the House AND do not hold the Senate (the Senate will be so hard to keep due to a horrific map in 2024) this could be the first true year of the end of the US experiment. All sorts of crazy shitbaggery could errupt no matter what, but a Rethug sweep, led by a deranged Trump, bodes so ill it is almost beyond words.

[Model35mech]

19. Looking at the point a flood breaks over a river bank usually isn't the point

when the flood began building. Typically it's not even the immediate geographic origin of the waters which make up the flood.

IMO politics and political events are much the same. Everyone wants the simplicity and facility of having some one thing to point at. But, that thing is typically -the outcome- of a series of other events. As true of politics as it is of war, election losses, building collapses, floods and divorces.

[Celerity]

21. Of course there are a multiplicity of underlying events that lead up to an event, and I've discussed

some throughout my replies on here, but to list off major events (caused by those multivariate inputs) is not without merit.

I also am not going to write full monographs on DU.

Everyone wants the simplicity and facility of having some one thing to point at.

That does not describe me at all. I am constantly probing for the underpinnings of socio-political, socio-economic, and socio-cultural manifestations.

[doc03]

26. January 1994 NAFTA took effect. That is the point we lost many union people that voted

for Democrats for decades. I argued that with a Republican just yesterday when he
started blaming Democrats because he lost his good union job. I asked why he blames Democrats
for NAFTA when it was a bill from GHWB, he says Clinton signed it. I told him it was passed with
mainly Republican votes, he still says Clinton signed it. Clinton supported a Republican bill and the
Republicans have hung that around our neck ever since. I don't know how that really affected manufacturing
jobs since China is not in North America but that is the perception. I am assuming my post will be hidden for
bashing Democrats but that is not my intent, I am just saying the Republicans have successfully hung that around our
neck ever since. Republicans have convinced people the Democrats are to blame for the loss of good union
jobs because of that. I live in an area that has flipped from solid Blue to Red the last 3 decades.
The EPA also plays a part in this too. This year the EPA paid a local Coke producing plant to close
in Follansbee WV putting 500 people out of work. But guess what, Biden shut it down.

[Genki Hikari]

33. The Democrats had already started losing

The white blue collar vote with Ronnie the Dunderhead in 1980, and they never looked back.

You're right that Clinton didn't sign NAFTA, but seem confused about what he actually did there. After GHWB negotiated and signed NAFTA, and the Senate (barely D) ratified it, all Clinton did was sign the implementation order. That's the equivalent of Pence reading out the electoral college votes on J6: A formality for carrying out something that's already decided by someone other than you. He had no choice about doing that. It was the law of the land, a done deal. He just said, okay, I'm verifying that all the boxes have been ticked so that this becomes a law.

That's all Clinton did.

As for the EPA--well, maybe those morons should have done their jobs right, and they wouldn't have lost them. No sympathy for people who can't do their job in a way that isn't filthy and harmful to others.

Next time, do the job right, or sod off.

[doc03]

34. That is not what happened. GHWB tried to get NAFTA pressed and never did. I don't know if you are

old enough to remember the debate between AL Gore and Ross Perot and the Giant Sucking Sound? When Clinton took office he actively promoted NAFTA and was able to
convince just enough Democrats to get it passed. You can argue that Clinton was just like Pence if you want but the Democrats own it and it has turned
Blue areas to Deep Red. This Congressional district was held by Democrats for decades. The Tea Party flipped it Red with two issues Obamacare and NAFTA.

You totally misunderstood what I said about the EPA. I repeat the EPA paid the plant to close not Biden but the Republicans are saying Biden shut it down.
Then you blame the 500 people that worked there for it being shut down. Sure it was dirty but the employees were just doing their job. I worked there myself for awhile
back in the early 80s I did my job it isn't my fault coal is dirty.

The point I am trying to make NAFTA was a Republican bill but once it went into affect they disowned it. Nixon created the EPA but now we own that.
Even though China is not in North America people that lost their good paying jobs blame NAFTA.

[yardwork]

30. The Civil Rights movement freaked out a lot of white people.

Many of those who had been ok with the idea of equality in theory turned out to be cowards. When Black people starting getting some equal rights, it frightened a lot of people. I think it's the greatest weakness of our country, a foundational flaw - that we were built on slavery and genocide. It is woven into our culture. An original sin. It might take us down.

[yardwork]

28. Definitely hate radio. I saw the effect on my dad.

He had been a progressive Democrat all my life, but under the influence of Reagan and hate radio he changed. I remember him talking positively about Newt Gingrich and the Republican Congress. We couldn't talk about so many things after that. He began saying racist things... it was like he became a different person.

[Model35mech]

3. Yes and I suppose other things as well

Gingrich did put out his Hit On America. Rahm discovered the key to corporate fund raising... etc

But I am not looking to grind an ax.

I would like DUers to see that the Great Blue House was a reality. It's a thing in Boomers memories, and surprisingly many still respond positively to the notions driving progressive programming that took place across a GREAT Democratic era.

[old as dirt]

20. 1996 IIRAIRA

VOX: The law that broke US immigration

This is the law that led to a series of violent ethnic cleansings, which led directly to tfg, and which nearly broke America.

[tritsofme]

6. It's also something of a chimera

For many of those years a “conservative coalition” of Southern Democrats and Republicans were able to move their priorities through the House. It was a whole different world.

[Model35mech]

8. Yes and toward the end of that run Super Tuesday had taken hold

over its modest beginnings to give Southern states more sway in party politics.

I see a complex storm history of many factors, my point isnt to argue any of that, but rather to show people who came of political age in the past 30 years that 1) it hasn't always been 'this way' 2) the party does have a great history and 3) the many people who came of age in that time still hold the same progressive sentiments about governance.

[nightwing1240]

14. With an electorate as split as today is

Not to mention very divisive, duplicating the Big Blue House of the past is going to be very difficult. It can be done of course but will take a long long time to do.

[Model35mech]

16. True. And I am not pushing for that.

What I am pushing for is an awareness of the real history, and the impact that living in that history had on boomers, whose sentiments are now based on generalizations as if feelings across an entire generation can be homogenized.

[arlyellowdog]

10. I met so many amazing people in my generation

And we will be remembered as the generation of Donald Trump.

[Model35mech]

15. Where peoples memories and sentiments lie isn't a function of the vote

No generation is all Red or all Blue. The same remains true for Boomers. I don't belong to the part of the Boomer generation that went for TFG. Political people can and will think what they wish... I welcome that, especially after they've acquired a reasonable understanding of history and issues.

[Texaswitchy]

22. Not really

Gen X and millennials are a big part of the Trump Generation.

Their generations have a lot of Republicans.

I am just tired of blamed everything.

Now the Republicans are taking over the house.

Mad Marge Green and her crowd.

[Elessar Zappa]

23. Studies show that the older one gets

the more likely they are to support Trump and the Republicans. There’s Trump supporters in every generation, of course, but you can’t deny the obvious which is that older generations are more pro-GOP.

[Texaswitchy]

24. No.

The Proud Boys

The Oath Keepers

The Charlottesville crowd with tiki torches

The people who attacked the Capital.

The people who tried to kidnap the Governor of Michigan.
I checked their ages and none of were boomers.

Look who were attacking the drag shows and the libraries.

This myth that younger people are more liberal is not true

The two women who died at the capital were not boomers.

[Elessar Zappa]

25. It is true. Sorry.

Every single analysis shows that Trump receives more support for older generations. It’s a fact whether you believe it or not.

[Texaswitchy]

27. No

No passing the buck.

Gen X and millennials are equally responsible for Trump.

They are the Trump Generations.

They did attack the capital for him.

Not all boomers voted for Trump.

Not one boomer on this board voted Trump either time.

A lot of young white women voted against Stacy in Georgia.

A lot of them did.

Stacy should have been governor.

[Act_of_Reparation]

32. Cool story, bro.

[yardwork]

31. That's an incorrect interpretation of the data, I think.

It's not that people as individuals become more conservative and Trump supporting as they age. I don't know if anyone who didn't support Trump and now does as a result of their aging a few years.

I think that older people in the U.S. are more supportive of Republican policies because many of those policies speak to older people.

[A HERETIC I AM]

29. Remember that the 80th Congress enacted one of the most hurtful acts ever for the labor movement

The Taft Hartley Act.

Started the ball rolling for "Right to Work" states and severely restricted unions and union organizing.