Reply #5: Well, can you be more specific about which policies/laws/bills? [View All]

[belle]

I think it's a good question, too; I expect it depends what we're talking about.

Things that were decided by the President alone can obviously be reversed by the next Pres, just as Bush reversed a lot of what Clinton himself did. I *think* things like the gag rule on birth control/abortion for U.S.-funded helping agencies abroad are among those.

If they pass a bill allowing drilling in the Arctic, say, I don't know what it would take to reverse that, especially if they've already started drilling.

And of course, it's a lot harder to take back the Iraq war now, isn't it, or even stop it.

Things like funding cuts to near-dying remnants of the New Deal (and descendants) can be restored. If an entire structure is made extinct--say, if they managed to starve the NEA (or god forbid Social Security, though that's looking less and less likely) completely to death instead of just leaving it on life support--it would be a lot harder to recreate it from scratch. Depending on how vigorous and numerous a majority we had, I suppose, it might be possible and even necessary to do just that. That would also depend on the general climate, and how far we've collectively fallen in the meantime.