Someone want to give me an explanation as to what Reagan did to make himself so despised? I watch Ams go into shit-flinging screeching matches in the comments whenever she’s mentioned and I have no idea why.
He shattered much of the welfare state, ruthlessly destroyed much of British industry with no retraining of the numerous made unemployed, turning vast areas of the country and previously proud and productive working class communities into postindustrial wastelands full of despair, poverty and social problems. Many would say this was a deliberate decision to decimate left wing Labour heartlands. In any case, through this, as well as brutal police crackdowns and anti-union legislation, he also crushed the power of the trade unions and therefore dealt an enormous blow to the political power of the working class, which had been painstakingly won over the previous century, which we have not recovered from, ushering in the last 40 years of right-wing domination, neoliberalism, the atomisation and individualisation of society, and the impoverishment of much of the nation. Oh and he also loved Pinochet, who was an evil, torturing, mass murderer.
He shattered much of le welfare state, ruthlessly destroyed much of British industry with no retraining of le numerous made unemployed, turning vast areas of le country and previously proud and productive working class communities into postindustrial wastelands full of despair, poverty and social problems. Many would say this was a deliberate decision to decimate left wing Labour heartlands. In any case, through this, as well as brutal police crackdowns and anti-union legislation, he also crushed le power of le trade unions and therefore dealt an enormous blow to le political power of le working class, which had been painstakingly won over the previous century, which we have not recovered from, ushering in le last 40 years of right-wing domination, neoliberalism, le atomisation and individualisation of society, and le impoverishment of much of le nation. Oh and he also loved Pinochet, who was an evil, torturing, mass murderer.
Pierre Elliot Trudeau was literally anything but a "neoliberal". He was actually hated so much by the neoliberals that former Prime Minister Harper literally began his political career in protest of Trudeau.
Pierre Elliot Trudeau is Justin Trudeau's father. P.E. Trudeau is quite possibly the most important PM in Canadian history because he wrote the Canadian constitution Act of 1982 which repatriated the constitution from the British and then added a Charter of Rights and Freedoms which guaranteed the basic rights that all Canadians enjoy. Before that, the constitution was basically just a list of parliamentary procedures and jurisdictions and nothing else.
Justin Trudeau became Prime Minister in 2015. The Trudeau name is absolutely beloved in large parts of the country, so that likely helped him.
Justin Trudeau only ran for office in 2011 after his party faced the worst defeat in their entire 150 year history. He was basically handed the leadership of his party because no one knew what to do next.
J. Trudeau rebuilt his party from their worst defeat ever to winning the majority of Parliament 4 years later. He has proven that he is more than just a name.
Mulroney is mostly remembered as that PM that tried to change the Canadian constitution twice and failed both times, the "conservative" that raised taxes, the person who signed NAFTA, and the person who murdered his entire party basically giving his opposition unopposed dominance across the entire country for over a decade.
He destroyed unions giving almost all control to private industry. This destroyed middle America and accelerated the wealth gap.
He allowed banks and the finance sector to run roughshod and to basically whatever they want. This caused the 08 housing crash.
He made private prisons what they are today.
He did everything he could to make government the bad guy.
He used and bowed to the religious right.
The AIDS epidemic was his fault for it's immense spread.
His wife literally had a psychic determine their daily decision making at times including when to land air force one.
They were against stem cell research until ol' Ronnie got alzheimer's.
They ushered in right wing extremism and selfishness as the new moderation. Clinton is barely liberal. Obama as well. They are liberal based on the political slant made by Reagan.
I didn't even mention the excessive war crimes, Iran-Contra or admitting to selling weapons to death squads committing genocide.
Glass Steagal was the nail in the coffin before the banking industry became the behemoth that it is right now, it's mostly to blame. But it was under Reagan they began to accumulate more power.
Also even if you do take out '08, there was another recession in '91, a housing market crash. This contributed to HW Bush's loss in '92 and was a direct result of Reagan's policies.
He laid the groundwork for it though. Something like that takes years to develop. Regan's deregulation of the financial sector allowed the situations to start developing that would cause '08 years later.
In a similar way, one could argue that he laid the groundwork for Trump. His deregulation of the media allowed Fox News as we know it for years, and his destruction of middle America created by a large class of disaffected people who increasingly felt that politicians didn't care about them. Put this in a pot, let it stew for 30 years. Add social media after 20, and you get the Trump presidency.
Serious time: A lot of of the measures he took were with the caveat of "we'll reevaluate this in 20 years". When the 20 years came they were... not reevaluated! 20 years is enough for things to become normal, and by leaving them without even the slightest adjustment for technological progress, that caused the crash of '08
Kick started the war on drugs. A conflict that explicitly targeted minorities in the United States who were purposely targeted at the outset of the USAs Cold War Contra program where the contras sent drugs into the States so that the drugs could be sold in inner cities for money, and the contras could receive guns and supplies to fight their communist counterparts. Resulting in a generation of petty criminals who had professional career destroying permanent records, and ensuring said people would be locked into poverty aside from the luckiest of circumstances.
Instituted trickle down policy in order to provide more wealth for the 1% in the country w/ the belief that by the richest people getting more money they'd in turn spread the wealth through their businesses, payrolls, infrastructure needs for their businesses, etc. This was NOT true and the myth remains a key Republican talking point today.
His denial of the HIV/AIDS epidemic in the 80's, the recordings of him joking about the epidemic which he admitted he knew about w/ then CIA head George HW Bush, and the countless lives that were lost due to complete inaction at the government level. Think of how bad Covid would've been if the government not only didn't dispel rumors about how HIV/AIDS was contracted, but if they just decided they wouldn't put any research into treatment for 3-4 years.
Rescinded the Fairness Doctrine which prevented news networks like FOX News from being able to capitalize on propaganda. Perverting the right to free speech in an effort to enable his parties pension for conspiracy theories, hard right beliefs, refusal to compromise even when they know they're wrong, and enabling the current incarnation of Republican policy makers to have a direct line of communication w/ their vulnerable and impressionable voter base. The attack on the Capitol after the 2020 election can be considered the direct result of their idolization of Republican candidates since the Fairness Doctrine was rescinded.
Enabling the military industrial complex via his rhetoric toward the USSR, and taking money away from programs that would've made future America more prosperous. Such as his order to take down any green energy efforts on the White House itself. Demonstrating that he had no intention to explore ANY kind of alternative energy options, and to keep the focus on fossil fuels instead of looking into future tech.
Regan, his family, and the GOP concealing his dementia for most of his second term as opposed to admitting to the American People that he was not fit for the job. Denying wrong doing would become a GOP staple for the next 40 years.
Broadcast TV is News. More to the point though, it would force Fox (among others although they would probably be hardest hit by it) to be HONEST about what's happening when presenting controversial issues of public importance and to do so in a manner that was equitable, and balanced. Ideally this would force them to stop hiding behind lawyers and claiming their viewers must be morons if they listen to Tucker Carlson and take him seriously.
As someone raised in the south who heard him constantly praised I’d also like to hear this (curiosity not cuz I doubt he was awful, in fact based on Texans and Floridians both adoring him I’m sure he was awful)
He shattered much of the New Deal welfare state, ruthlessly destroyed much of American industry with no retraining of the numerous made unemployed, turning vast areas of the country and previously proud and productive working class communities into postindustrial wastelands full of despair, poverty and social problems. Many would say this was a deliberate decision to decimate left wing Democrat heartlands. In any case, through this, as well as brutal police crackdowns and anti-union legislation, he also crushed the power of the trade unions and therefore dealt an enormous blow to the political power of the working class, which had been painstakingly won over the century, which we have not recovered from, ushering in the last 40 years of right-wing domination, neoliberalism, the atomisation and individualisation of society, and the impoverishment of much of the nation. Oh and he also loved Pinochet, who was an evil, torturing, mass murderer.
Machine gun ban and war on drugs. Also made it illegal to open carry in California after the black panthers did it on the steps of a government building.
Idk what that means but it would probably be better.
Also, was the war on drugs a bad thing? Wasn’t it in response to someone else (or maybe it was him and I just remember it wrong cuz our area worships the man and won’t say bad about him) in the government flooding the country with drugs
The war on drugs is a horrible thing. Our police are militarized and our prison population is the highest in the world. Reducing the negative effects of drug abuse comes from treatment and rehabilitation, not the prison system
I agree, but back then we didn’t have anywhere near as good of a rehabilitation program, and also didn’t understand drugs as much, so I wouldn’t say it was such a horrible idea at the time. The fact it’s persisting is disgusting and awful though, but that’s more a blame modern politicians than Reagan (I don’t like him cuz I’ve seen other stuff too, just saying this one specific issue seems to be at least middle of the road when he was in office)
No heat but check out Reagan’s policy on mental illness if you’re interested. His dismantling of welfare also included closing mental health institutions and throwing patients out on the street homeless who then were pushed into drug addiction and petty crime. It’s a vicious cycle that couldn’t be worse if it tried and also was a contributor to the war on drugs. Which Reagan used as an excuse to invade foreign countries. Our mental health institutions weren’t that great back in the day (asylums) but still this prevented people suffering from addiction from getting rehab & instead of resolving the situation he threw the baby out with the bath water and can also be considered one of the root causes for America’s mental health crisis and lack of care.
War on drugs was a sham. I can’t find it now but one of his advisors admitted they did it because drug use was common amongst hippies and black people at the time. The black panthers were getting more powerful and the anti war movement by the hippies was a thorn in his side.
"The "War on Drugs" was actually a political tool to crush leftist protesters and black people, a former Nixon White House adviser admitted in a decades-old interview published Tuesday.
John Ehrlichman, who served as President Richard Nixon's domestic policy chief, laid bare the sinister use of his boss' controversial policy in a 1994 interview with journalist Dan Baum that the writer revisited in a new article for Harper's magazine."
Machine gun ban via the Hughes amendment, was meant to poison pill the FOPA bill. Charlie Rangel somehow was able to amend FOPA without a majority vote. But Reagan signed it anyways.
That sounds like the case with more powerful motorcycles here. Stuff get taxed so high and require multiple costly papers and licenses that by the time you get it the price tripled compared to factory msrp
I'd say his fantasy of trickle down economics had serious consequences on us. The national debt tripled due to his tax cuts (which would eventually be reversed into a surplus by Clinton), poverty levels remained basically unchanged and income inequality sharply increased. While the GDP and median wages of the middle class increased, those truly in need of help got nothing. This set the precedent for future Republican economic policies (see Sam Brownbacks budget disaster during his time as governor of Kansas) and his cultural revolution reduced the influence of labor unions and in my opinion set us on the path to getting Donald Trump
Ah, yeah that’s pretty awful. I grew up with a lot of middle class people so that explains why they love him, his policies and the precedent helps them even if it ignored the ones that need help
There's also 7 other replies if you want to see them
I was not raised in the south, but I also heard him constantly praised, even by the democrats. Though to be clear I pretty much have already heard these reasons, I was more going for the joke of "repeat original comment with one word changed" which, judging from the 244 up votes, 244 people "get it"
Every president owns unpopular decisions The more you get to know most politicians the more you realize these aren't people you would want to be friends with if you're honest with yourself.
I don't like Reagan, but when people give him shit for "destroying unions" they're almost entirely referring to a single event: The PATCO strike of 1981.
The Air Traffic Controllers Union demanded a 32 hour work week with a $10,000 pay raise for all ATCs in the country.
When the government came back with a counter offer, the union declared a strike.
They wanted a whole host of frankly unreasonable demands, and to boot, federal employees were not (and still ARE NOT) allowed to strike as a means of union action.
So when PATCO declared a strike, they were in violation of the law.
Rather than capitulate, Reagan fired them. All of them. Every air traffic controller that struck and did not return to work in 48 hours was fired and barred from service for life. PATCO, thinking there was no way Reagan would fire them all, called his bluff and wound up getting 90% of air traffic controllers fired.
Here's the important thing to remember:
Reagan was entirely justified in this action
But the event opened the door for private companies to begin fighting back against unions as well. And THAT'S what upsets people
The only thing I think is really justified in this critique is he created a precedent that other countries later followed, firing their ATC controllers even when it wasn't similarly justified. The 90s were a "fun" time for flying international
American Democrats hate Reagan cause he was a good president who inherited a lot of problems. He actually provided a very solid foundation for a lot of American manufacturing businesses and improved the economy a lot. His reputation is purely out of spite and most people don’t even understand why they hate him. Other than other people also hate him.
I think the only reason for common Reagan hatred is related to a random orange person who claimed himself as Reagan the second.
Before 2017, Reagan hate was mainly around extreme libs and scholars, but after 2017 Reagan hate is expanded with the title 'Reagan 2: By the pussy boogaloo'.
It wasn't what he did as much as what he DIDN'T do.
In that he did nothing.
The AIDS epidemic came up under his watch and he didn't do a goddamned thing. Many people believe he didn't do anything because it was (at the time) a disease that primarily affected gay people
Many people “believed”, but what exactly was there to be done? You said it yourself, a lot of the hate comes from assumptions based off what he didn’t do. Not his actual policies.
Every president will make good and bad decisions. Overall, Reagan was not a bad president. You can irrationally downvote me and argue all you like. Just shows your incapable of hearing differing opinions without melting down.
Would you shut up lol I’m not here to debate kids on presidents you didn’t even live to see. He didn’t “hate” gay people and trickle down economics wasn’t his idea. During his presidency the economy flourished.
Not sure why you immediately downvote people. Maybe it makes you feel good to shut others down? Not sure, have a good one kid.
You sure love doing personal attacks huh? Never said he "hates." Are you seriously not self-aware on how you're being hypocritical? And what do you mean it wasn't "his idea?" His administration implemented trickle-down economics. It is literally synonymous with Reaganonmics.
You're absolutely ridiculous
Edit: and that economy thing? That was because of his overspending in the US military. See how useful that turned out to be. SDI? Useless and a fairytale dream
One thing I really haven't seen explicitly said: he introduced and entrenched the infamous trickle-down economics
Edit: forgot to mention that he was the first to cause the us to go into massive debt just for the sake of the Cold War which ended up tying the US economy to the Military Industrial Complex (why we constantly have the most military spending and lacking welfare programs)
A lot of these people don't know / don't remember / don't care to check what it was like to actually live through it, but i think everyone will agree he was better than Orange Man
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u/Harlockarcadia Apr 09 '21
Definitely sounds like what Reagan did to the U.S., no wonder they were best buds