I was 19 years old when Ronald Reagan was first elected...

[MrScorpio]

Last edited Sat Jul 19, 2014, 06:47 AM - Edit history (3)

And although I didn't realize it immediately, it didn't take that long for me to realize that my entire future, as well as that of my entire generation and the generations that were to come after, were all going to have our potential for economic growth and prosperity taken away from us.

It pretty much happened first in Detroit and the rest of the Midwest and spread on from there.

The closing the factories, the destruction of unions and the livelihood of working class wage earners, being ripped away. The crumbling of communities and draining away of spending power and investment, it all being sucked to the top, out of our ability to use it. Low wage earners exploited even more for relatively less and less pay, creating more and more wealth for those at the top and laws put in to weaken the rights of workers to collectively bargain for improved wages and benefits.

Instead of a nation that could inspire more employee owned enterprises, who are able to invest more for their post working lives, their own meager wealth was stolen from them with Wall Street ponzi schemes and risky tricks, with lies of better outcomes. A retirement life, supported by guaranteed pensions are now a anachronism, like Ozzie and Harriet and Leave It To Beaver.

Everywhere the nation, one whose economy towers over every other one on this planet, is rotting from within. And of course, we are all too invested in staying on this same disastrous course, until it collapses under it's own weight. It's the Roarin' 20s and the Gilded Age all rolled into one.

I blame this all on Ronald Reagan. I've seen enough fucking much, even though I'm glad that his rotting corpse is lying in his grave.

He pretty much fucked this nation, and to a greater extent, the whole world.

I was able to get a glimpse of the future while in Detroit as a young man… It still bothers me to this day that so many can't see how much he hurt this nation and most of the people in it.

Today is also SANDINISTA DAY (Liberation Day) in Nicaragua… I'm sure that they're hoping that he's roasting in hell too.

[Sherman A1]

1. I was older and

figured it out on election night. That said I really didn't understand just how bad it was going to be.

[barbtries]

15. me too

my mom always had an expression, the rich get richer and the poor get poorer. i always hated reagan but did not fully appreciate the destruction he wrought.

[Cresent City Kid]

2. I was 15, saw the same things

In a way it's like my whole adulthood was compromised. At the time I figured he was trying to undo the '60's, but his sights were set on the New Deal and all the progress of the 20th century. What makes now worse than the gilded age is that huge numbers of low paid workers aren't needed in the same way due to automation.

Now his political movement has calcified into a seemingly permanent obstruction to any progress. And Reagan himself was a clueless idiot who didn't understand what was going on around him, much less the implications for the future.

[RKP5637]

31. Exactly!!! "And Reagan himself was a clueless idiot who

didn't understand what was going on around him, much less the implications for the future." And was a B grade movie actor ... I actually think, and I'm not being wise here, that he had un-diagnosed dementia setting in early in his presidency.

[Mr.Bill]

66. He was a carnival barker

for corporate America. Nothing more. A salesman and a huckster. Ed McMahon probably could have done it better.

[love_katz]

69. ^^^^This!^^^^ + a gazillion!

[RKP5637]

71. Yep, he was, well put!!! n/t

[AlbertCat]

109. He was a carnival barker

The 1st "Cardboard Cutout" PR president. A GOP invention. There to be in front of cameras and to raise money while others, unelected, ran things.

Dubya was "Cardboard Cutout" PR president 2.0. An "Improvement"..... except he wasn't elected. But so what? He wasn't running anything.


Romney lost, So they're still trying for 3.0.

[niyad]

82. when it was finally admitted that he had alzheimer's, I called a friend, and said, "are you and I

the only ones who knew he had it when he was governor?"

[Gothmog]

123. It was clear to me that Reagan was senile all during second term

[Jackpine Radical]

88. I've wondered about the dementia issue, but it really doesn't matter.

He was a figurehead for his handlers from the beginning. Whether or not he had any frontal neurons left was kinda irrelevant as long as he could remember his lines. I guess that's why I really don't hate him. I hate everything he stood for, but he would have been relatively harmless without the evil men behind him.

As for the personal cost, I had just finished my PhD a year before he was elected, and he destroyed the traditional academic world, forcing me into an entirely different career than the one I had intended. Fortunately, my psych degree was one I could retread into the basis for a clinical psych career.

[RKP5637]

98. ... yes, basically, he was a conduit for evilness tearing at the fabric of mankind. I recall well

being in the company of some managers and directors in a new hi-tech job ... when I remarked how horrific that he had won the presidency and how flawed his ideas were ... the short glares made it well known to me to STFU in that environment if I valued my future career.

[handmade34]

3. ...

"He pretty much fucked this nation, and to a greater extent, the whole world."

[nomorenomore08]

65. Thirded!

[love_katz]

70. ^^^^This!^^^^ + a gazillion!

You've described Ronnie Raygun and what he did, to the 't'.

I HATED him, and would happily piss on his grave!!!!!!!!!!!!

I quit watching television (don't have one in the house, except a very old set that can not be used with current technology), because I was so very angry and horrified at how the corporate-owned M$M had deceived so many people, and at how we'd all been sold down the river.

[deutsey]

4. Yep, and what appalled me then

was how so many people (working people, middle class people, the people his policies were designed to screw over) blindly cheered him on.

We still have idiots today saying what a great president he was (I use the word "idiot" here in its original ancient Greek meaning: "An idiot in Athenian democracy was someone who was characterized by self-centeredness and concerned almost exclusively with private—as opposed to public—affairs." http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Idiot )

Even when Stockman actually revealed what Reaganism was all about (eliminating the New Deal), no one cared. By then, I guess people had forgotten just how we came to have a strong middle class in America and bought into the right-wing lies about New Deal-style programs only helping lazy minorities.

[RKP5637]

32. I have friends? today that still think he was one of the greatest presidents. Brainwashing

is a horrible thing to do to a nation.

[Cosmocat]

38. He was a mean, spiteful person who had the venier of charm

Had the cool and casual way about him, while having a DEEPLY ingrained, destructive ideology.

The perfect storm, the capacity to drive hard right wing policy while smiling and being affable.

Same thing as Bush II, honestly, except he was a complete intellectual lightweight.

But, the smarmy charm is what got him to where he could let other people do the damage.

[Generic Brad]

68. He was nice to people he knew personally

But when it came to people he did not know personally, he was a mean spirited, selfish, antagonistic prick. He appeared to me to be unable to think in the abstract or convey empathy to anyone he was not personally acquainted with. That has become a common trait among Republicans since then.

[rickyhall]

5. I was 25. He took my college funding & I went back to work.

Things have been worse & worse ever since. Now I get 12 hours a week at MW, no retirement but SS, hopefully.

[villager]

102. My last year of financial aid for college was under the first full year of Reagan. Funding was cut

...even by then.

Remember seeing my financial aid counselor at the end of my junior year, and he said the Republicans had already started cutting a lot of the funding that we middle-classers had relied on to get through college...

90's bubble(s) aside, the screws have been tightening ever since. And Americans put up with every dollop of shit flung in their faces...

[ALBliberal]

6. I was 18

And a business student learning of the fabrications of trickle down economics about how that would destroy the economy. I went on to work as a CPA in a large firm and saw the tax law overhauled to benefit the wealthy and screw the middle class particularly in lifting the maximum level of income that social security could tax and eliminating deduction for consumer interest expense. Yes it was a difficult time and to this day its tough to see the unfair tax code and people's blindness and disaffection toward that issue.

[Freddie]

7. I was 23 and you are indeed correct

The rot started the minute he took office with the mysteriously coincidental release of the hostages.
Another lasting legacy of destruction is the unholy alliance of the Religious and the Repugs, which may have been fomenting before but went into full bloom under Saint Ronnie's watch. A man who rarely set foot in a church found a way to get people to vote against their own interest because Godless Democrats Kill Babies, and countless millions still vote the same way.

[Roy Serohz]

8. Yep, we've been fucked over REAL good

[safeinOhio]

9. I was 31 and remember

my dear old dad saying he was an asshole..

[Trust Buster]

10. I was 20 and in the grips of Bruce Springsteen heralding the decency and contentment.....

.....of being middle class in the U.S.A. Today those same people Bruce celebrated have been reduced to the human equivalent of a cheap disposable lighter. I long for a peaceful revolution. National labor strikes and wide ranging boycotts.

[Blanks]

85. I think you're on the right track...

Starting with boycotts, but it's difficult to get people to agree on any particular course of action.

[AllyCat]

11. I was 14 and my parents liked him

But he seemed like a man who hated the poor. When 1984 came around and I could vote, I realized I was not alone: my small college erupted with protests over him and South Africa. I hoped things would improve after he gained a second term. My parents suffered under his policies. They now realize how disastrous his presidency was. But many don't, even now.

[RKP5637]

33. That is such a huge WTF to me, that many, in fact a lot, still don't get what

Reagan was all about. He fucked them over and they still say thank you. WTF!

[Arugula Latte]

77. Same, age, same story. My parents both voted for him in '80 -- I instantly despised him.

He turned me into a liberal like that *snaps fingers* because I realized I hated everything he said and everything he stood for. Even as a young teen I could pick up on his hatred for the environment, the poor, women, etc. By 1984 he'd lost my mom, and we both voted for Mondale. By '92 Clinton got the vote of both my parents.

[Chisox08]

12. I wasn't born yet, but his legacy is still screwing us all.

[JustAnotherGen]

13. I was seven

And was subjected to eight years of my father screaming at the CBS Evening News - every time Reagan came on. My parents detested Reagan.

[hobbit709]

14. I was 30 and he made me quit hating Nixon and start hating him and Bush.

[Trust Buster]

86. That was funny. Thanks

[mercuryblues]

16. I was

about 15. I did not realize the economic impact. I did take a step back with the foothold the Xtian right gained into government. I knew that was not a good thing and people cheered the so called moral character of the politicians that road in on his coat tails.

[BumRushDaShow]

17. I was 18 starting college

and I watched as the legacy of Carter was stripped away as Raygun came in and carpet-bombed D.C. with his bullshit. He effectively unleashed insidious policies that wiped away all the work and sacrifices others made over a century, to promote access to justice and equality for all.

As a sidenote, yesterday was Nelson Mandela Day, and I recalled how much Raygun fought against sanctioning South Africa for apartheid while doubling down to implement policies that in essence, re-instituted a new apartheid right here in the U.S. - with massive shifts of funding for education, health, housing, infrastructure, and environmental reclamation, designated for the urban and rural areas, all handed over to the corporations and wealthy. I watched public hospitals close, public schools close, public housing starved and eventually closed, public parks close while private versions of each of these proliferated along with the rise of the private prisons to put those who protested.

It's ironic that I just saw a headline about the remarks from a loon... I.e., little-reported comments from Santorum while here in Philly a couple days ago on his book tour -

[font size="4"]In GOP idea mix, Santorum says it's time to think blue (collar)[/font]

By Thomas Fitzgerald, Inquirer Politics Writer
Posted: July 16, 2014

<..>

It's time to move beyond Ronald Reagan, he says. Labor should be valued as much as capital. Rising income inequality is a problem.

The former Pennsylvania senator and 2012 GOP presidential candidate has not quite turned Marxist, but he is pushing the argument that in order to win the White House again, the Republican Party must focus its message and its policies on working-class Americans.

"You have to remember, Ronald Reagan was a man of his times," Santorum said in a recent interview. "America is a very different country than it was 40 years ago." He said it's not enough to rely on cutting capital-gains taxes or income taxes on the wealthy in hope of spurring the economy.

"I just don't think that works, and it doesn't make a lot of sense to people, because in times when the economy has done better, not everybody has," Santorum said. "A lot of Americans are in fact falling behind, particularly in the middle."

http://articles.philly.com/2014-07-16/news/51549439_1_rick-santorum-2012-santorum-eventual-republican-nominee

Santorum has burned all of his legitimacy bridges, but it's interesting to note what happens when you go so far to the extreme right, there's no place to go but back to the left. And apparently he has decided to try to tap into the Elizabeth Warren phenomena.

[Bluenorthwest]

23. Eliazabeth Warren voted for Reagan twice, she was a Reganomics Republican. After Ron she voted

for Bush. She agreed with the South Africa policy, the anti gay policy, the anti choice policy, the vicious and ignorant economics, the right wing religion in politics, she was a major supporter of Reagan and of Bush, she made millions during their administrations.
So that's the 'phenomena' that is Liz Warren. I for one do not care to vote for her. She still avoids saying 'gay' as if the word was toxic.

[navarth]

103. Reagan started on the left didn't he? But he fulfilled the dreams of the right when he changed.

I'm just sayin'. If Saint Reagan can change that much and the change is genuine, maybe Senator Warren can do the same. It's a fair question isn't it? I ask that without any intention of invalidating your opinion.

[PowerToThePeople]

18. "we are all too invested in staying on this same disastrous course"

I do not believe this statement is fact. Maybe for a certain subset of the population, but certainly not the population as a whole.

[TBF]

19. I posted yesterday -

I'm 5 years younger than you - I was 18 when he was re-elected Agree 100% with your analysis.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/10245522

[Bluenorthwest]

20. Just a couple years older. You leave out the worst of it. Reagan = Death

Reagan's ignorant, hate based apathy toward the AIDS crisis, and that of his entire Party, is the most damning aspect of his tenure. Liz Warren voted for all of it twice. Warren enthusiastically vote for that horrible bigotry twice. Then again for Bush.
He destroyed this nation. He tried to see my community obliterated. He hoped for us all to die. I know that the Warren backers are too young to remember or too hateful to care. I dare them all to go watch The Normal Heart, learn what they don't know about Reagan era policy, come back look me in the eye and tell me they support some character who voted for all of that shit. I dare them. But they won't. They don't give a shit, which is why they support a Republican who tried to see us all put in the grave. They are as apathetic as the Republicans they admire.

Knowledge = Life

[Zambero]

24. Reagan was a liberal who was lured to conservatism

Warren rejected that era's conservatism and became an activist and spokesperson for progressive causes. I'll take the latter any day. People can change when confronted by reality, and deserve credit for doing so. I just wish that it was more commonplace.

[Bluenorthwest]

25. Reagan was a Republican going back to the 1950's. Warren voted for him eagerly, as she was

a conservative and still it. People who change can speak of that change, state they were wrong, list their errors and unlike Warren, they do not hesitate to make apology to those they harmed with their viciousness or pure ignorance. She thought Reagan policies were better than Democratic policies, that includes the intense racism, the shitty economics, the crazed homophobia and the anti choice vehemence.
I have never heard her express any regrets over those acts of electoral aggression, never so much as a word about her process of change, never heard he explain why she used to be anti choice and anti gay nor what changed her mind if her mind did change, not sure that it has.

What are these 'progressive causes' she has been an 'activist' for? List them, show her work. All I hear her talk about it money. Which is not surprising, considering she's so rich. Millionaires tend to talk about money when others think of human beings.

[JustAnotherGen]

29. Those are fair points

And her full process of "change" would be interesting to learn about.

I would also be interested in learning about how she reconciled her focus on personal wealth with the disregard for "the other" that to me Reagan embodied. How did he get her to ignore what an all around awful human being he was?

That interests me.

[Bluenorthwest]

30. She did not ignore it, she embraced Reagan's views.

She cared about money, thought his policies would profit for her, she agreed with the anti gay and anti choice policies, the racism and the xenophobia.
Those who claim she's a Progressive hero were the folks who were also ignoring reality during Reagan. Heartless fuckers all.

[JustAnotherGen]

36. Here's the thread I mentioned

http://www.democraticunderground.com/10025257843

I've been very clear in the past - I stand with the GLBT community. Black Americans MUST - because we too have a history and experience of being the "other". Resistance to Warren from the GLBT community is a strong influence on me.

[JustAnotherGen]

34. Embraced or Igonored

She owes BOTH of us an answer. There is an interesting thread in GD (I think by 1Strng) that explores the impact of certain voters on the Democratic Primary.

I'm in that voting block - and I want her answers.

This ran rah rah Wall Street Sucks stuff is only going to get her so far. She's preaching to the choir with that. And it is very pragmatic of her. Very pragmatic. But outside of Massachusetts - where the choice to vote for her was clear . . . She owes us some answers as to where she sits on social justice issues. And those have to be expanded beyond the middle class.

[Zambero]

43. Excerpts from Warren's address to Netroots

Per Warren's stance on key social issues, I find very little with which to disagree:

- "We believe that equal means equal, and that's true in marriage, it's true in the workplace, it's true in all of America."

- "We believe that immigration has made this country strong and vibrant, and that means reform."

- "And we believe that corporations are not people, that women have a right to their bodies. We will overturn Hobby Lobby and we will fight for it. We will fight for it!"

[JustAnotherGen]

46. I've seen it all

Still doesn't explain how she voted twice for a raging blatant racist.

[Tommymac]

94. People Change. That was 30 years ago. It's no secret, give it a rest.

I could bring up a certain vote for a certain war...but I won't, because people do change.

[JustAnotherGen]

120. Go ahead

I'm not on board with Clinton either.

Funny - my mom is in the same age range as both Clinton and Warren but she was never a Goldwater Girl or Saint Ronnie fan. She's only become more liberal with age.

[Zambero]

105. Nearly 60% of the country voted for him in '84

Last edited Sat Jul 19, 2014, 11:42 PM - Edit history (2)

Explain that one if you will. The fiasco known as the Reagan years can't be attributed to any one person. Some still consider him to be a saint. Others, formerly conservative, are exponentially wiser than when they voted for the guy, and know Reagan to have been a figurehead and mouthpiece for corporate interests and upward wealth redistribution. Good that they finally caught on and will not be repeating their mistake. Ironically, even the most delusional conservatives hold no grudge against Reagan for being a former Democrat.

[JustAnotherGen]

122. Still concerned

See - when I was three - I became his target. I've had to live within his culture all of my life. We aren't talking slavery or Jim Crow - we are talking about a very subtle and snide and downright evil blame placing for all of America's ills on a very narrow group in America since 1976.

I'm not trying to fight you on DU. You are obviously one of her boosters and I would guess will be out knocking on doors and making calls on her behalf.

This is information you are going to need - and need to address: http://reaganandracism.blogspot.com/

If the Republican candidate is in their 40's - they won't have the burden of that vote.

BTW - not a Clinton fan either.

[Enthusiast]

58. We should prefer HRC to Warren? Is that what you are getting at?

[Zambero]

106. Do politicans ultimately disqualify themselves?

I guess that would be the case, if every nuance of their past record and/or former political allegiance is considered. Hillary certainly has some baggage as well, but I'm unable to name someone who does not. However, I would support either one of these two as the party's 2016 nominee, and enthusiastically. People, the smart ones anyway, will learn from past mistakes. I would include both Hillary and Liz in that category -- fallible as humans are, but smart.

[mulsh]

21. I got to get a preview during his 2 terms as CA Governor. It was disastrous he left

the state in a financial shambles. He and his policies gutted out excellent university system and it was the beginning of the long downward trod for public education in general. His policies got lots of help from Howard Jarvis and Prop 13. Many of my friends blame Reagan for consistently screwing them for 16 solid years.

I remember watching his first presidential inauguration at work. One of the more conservative workers who loathed Reagan blurted out "kiss America goodbye" as soon as Reagan completed the oath. Her distain for these people has grown exponentially as the years go by as has mine.

[blue neen]

22. My son says that his first memory

is of me shooting rubber bands at the TV set every time Reagan was on. I couldn't stand to look at him or hear that phony folksy voice.

The damage Ronald Reagan did to this nation is inestimable.

[LiberalElite]

26. 29 and I still remember

the actual pain in my gut when I saw the headline.

[RoverSuswade]

27. I lost faith in him when he screwed over Carter with the hostage "deal.".

I renounced him when he OK'd ketchup as a vegetable.

[RKP5637]

28. I was a little older and had been lucky enough to be with a couple of companies

that really cared about employees, that we were their most valued asset. And then in my career I watched that rot away until what we have today where in many companies employees are garbage to be dealt with ... and I've watched towns and cities rot away, people trampled, lives ruined, all IMO starting with this asshole Reagan.

I recall well hearing trickle-down economics first discussed and thinking WTF ... just WTF ... none with riches are going to share that with their fellow mankind. The entire thing was a deranged delusional concept that sadly caught on ... it appealed to the hucksters, the cheaters, shenanigans to fuck over millions and rewarded those that love to climb over dead bodies ... and here with are today with this fucken mess.

[Applan]

35. I was 18 years old when Margaret Thatcher was first elected.....

In fact you could substitute Thatcher for Reagan, Detroit for Liverpool and the Midwest for The North and you would have a very accurate description of Britain in the 80s.
A very dark time in her history indeed.

[Jeff In Milwaukee]

37. Same here...

Can you imagine how different the world would be if that ass-clown hadn't been elected? We'd be living in solar-power houses driving 50 mpg cars. We wouldn't give two shits about fossil fuels halfway around the world. Trillions in debt would have never happened. Our entire foreign and domestic policy would be nothing at all like we have today.

[moondust]

39. I knew at the time

that he was all about helping the rich (white Republicans) get richer at everyone else's expense; it wasn't that hard to figure out. I remember a couple years into his term the studies started to come out that indeed showed the rich getting richer and the poor getting poorer--as expected. I knew the future was going to be bad for working people like myself; I just didn't know how bad. After Vietnam and Reagan I pretty much lost confidence in the U.S. establishment.

[kimbutgar]

40. I remember seeing him announce on Tv he was running for President

It is a very vivid memory. Because the next day my Dad drove me to work ( i was lucky, my Dad drove me to work for 5 years) it was a 20 minute drive on the way downtown. I told my Dad I was interested in RR. He told if I voted for Reagan he would kick me out of his house and disown me. He proceeded to tell me how RR hurt California. The cuts in higher education, closing of Mental institutions, cutting their funds and putting the people on the Street. It was such an enlightening conversation. I never knew my Dad was so well informed. A Minority WW2 veteran. He had 1 semester left to get his college degree but he didn't finish. But he got the 2 daily papers, and watched the evening news. We always had magazines and books around our house and yes, my Dad loved his Playboy magazine. But I will never forget my Dad being so against RR to the point of disgust. He always had this look on his face when he saw RR or heard him on TV. Dad's been gone 17 years. And his head would be spinning
to see RR saintifized. Dad would have been proud of President Obama but appalled by Faux and the dirty stinking lousy republican party as he used to call them.

But I myself , was close to find RR appealing until I was enlightened as to who RR was really all about. I don't blame others who didn't have an informed person to point out the difference between words and actual deeds. But RR was the beginning of the end of America for the people. He opened pandora's box of corporations running the country and bush ripped the lid off and threw it at the American people. Sadly 45% of Americans think RR and his policies are great for the country even though the majority of them have gotten hurt by St. ronnie.

[greatlaurel]

42. Great post.

Thanks for the post. You should write an OP about your dad and how he was not fooled by the right wing propaganda machine. He was a very smart man.

[Zambero]

44. I recall his pre-recorded spot in '66 announcing for the CA governor's race

He used a bottle of ketchup as a prop, ironically (given current right-wing sentiment on immigration) objecting to the fact that fewer low-wage migrant workers from Mexico were being allowed into the state under then-governor Pat Brown. Less tomatoes picked meant less ketchup bottled, meaning less jobs at the bottling plant, contributing to increased unemployment. But apparently tomato pickers were still in short supply, jobless rate notwithstanding. Hey, pursuit of poverty wages as a means to boost bottom line profits was the rule then as now! The speech was immediately received as the best oratory heard since the Nixon Checkers speech the preceding decade. Gullible voters took the bait and the rest is history.

[dfgrbac]

41. But are we upset enough to actually reform politics?

Many of us talk about the corporate takeover of America since Reagan took office, the mega-mergers and control of our media, and the inability to get the candidates we want into office. With the country continuing to slide deeper into the pit of fascism and the majority of us seeming to not get it and trying to work within politics as usual to recover, when will we finally realize we can shift the power structure only with democracy!

The majority of Americans actually can understand specific problems when presented clearly. But media propaganda has us totally bewildered believing the Democrats and Republicans are incompatible, when we actually are all just people and not that different. For example, most of us would not have voted for war in 2001 or 2003. Millions of us marched for peace and were ignored while our TV media news announced TARGET IRAQ!

I have stated this many times over the past decades, we desperately need democracy! We should all be supporting enactment of the National Initiative by convincing everyone we know to do the same and spread the word.

My friends, time is running out.

[greatlaurel]

45. We drove through the Midwest farm belt during the start of the farm crisis created by Reagan cronies

The destruction of small family farms was an important part of the destruction of the American middle class. The money from small family farms flowed through the community 7 times, according to a farmer I know. We saw the destruction that was going on. It was eerie. The causes of the farm crisis were ignored by the media or misdirected by blaming fuel costs or some such absurd excuse. Never did they discuss the true cause which were the farm loan policies ut in place by the Reagan administration. It was just fly over country and they deserved it by not being clever enough to have real jobs like the Wall Streeters. Pretty soon this devastation flowed through the economy across the country and many of the media people who stood by while the Midwest was destroyed were soon out of work at newspapers, radio stations and magazines as the massive media corporations swallowed up their employers.

Houses, farms and businesses were abandoned left and right. The notices for auctions of farms were nailed up by the dozens at every remaining gas station and restaurants. We saw people begging for food at restaurants, something we had never seen before.

It was obvious this was a manufactured crisis to destroy the Midwest economy for the benefit of a very few people. Unfortunately, even the people impacted by this were easily distracted by abortion, gays, and racism. A common theme in right wing circles was the reason the economy was bad was because all those laws were passed to give women and minorities their jobs. Worked like a charm and is still in use to this day.

Reagan will someday be given his correct place in history as the biggest traitor to the American people. Most people who voted for him refuse to admit how badly they were duped.

[joanbarnes]

47. Sadly, I remember laughing at the improbability of his election in the 70s. I NEVER laugh now.

[AllyCat]

52. I remember doing that with Bush the Lesser

Rolling Stone had a candidate bio for each one running in 1999. Of all the Repugs, his bio was the one that made me laugh out loud at how unqualified he was. He'd never run a company in the black. People hated him. His father was an awful President. Like you, I never laugh now.

[benld74]

48. I voted for Carter,

and when I heard about the failed hostage rescue attempt I knew it was up for him. Then the release of those same hostages by Reagan, I KNEW he was in it up to his eyeballs.

[MrScorpio]

49. 1980 was my very first election

I voted for Carter too.

[hfojvt]

50. silly to blame it all on Reagan

just as silly as blaming it all on Falwell, or Limbaugh, or Bush or my Uncle Kochs.

The speech from V comes to mind. "There are certainly those who are more responsible than others, and they will be held accountable, but again truth be told, if you are looking for the gulty, you need only look into a mirror."

Millions of people voted for Reagan, twice. And for Bush twice. And for JR Bush twice.

Then there was Clinton. He also embraced Reaganomics. "Tax cuts are good". He promised a "middle class tax cut" and attacked Bush for going back on his pledge to not raise taxes. It was Clinton who promised to "end welfare as we know it" and in his SECOND term, when he need not fear re-election, he proposed and signed into law, tax cuts which favored the rich. http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1002&pid=2665533

And it is Obama who gave up on "yes we can" and has continued the slide.

[Curmudgeoness]

57. OK, so we can't blame it "all" on Reagan,

but when we look for a starting point of the downward spiral of this country, it comes back to the Reagan years.

And as for that worn out "look in the mirror" meme, I would bet that there are very few people here who voted for Reagan, or for Bush I or Bush II. We were not to blame for that one.

[hfojvt]

115. point is that Reagan could not have done what he did

without the support of a whole lot of American people.

and my other point is that we, the Democrats, often give Clinton, and now Obama a pass for continuing the policies and rhetoric of Reagan.

[BumRushDaShow]

79. Raygun took the top tax rates from 70% to 50% and then to 28%

Obama managed to get the rates back up to the 39.6% from Shrub's 35% (similar to that under Clinton, who got it up from Poppy's "No New Taxes" 31%).

The Obama = Raygun nonsense is absurd.

[hfojvt]

117. well, he got the rates back up

except on dividend income, which is now PERMANENTLY taxed at a lower rate.

And for rhetoric, Obama dishonestly calls that permanent tax CUT a tax increase.

Oh, and there's also the permanent cut to the estate tax.

Signed by Obama.

Obama has spent too much of his term spreading the Reagan/Republican message - that tax increases are bad and will hurt the economy and that tax cuts are good and will create jobs.

Check out this "Jobs plan" http://www.whitehouse.gov/sites/default/files/jobs_act.pdf

Starts with tax cuts, ends with "tax relief" and has a whole bunch of tax credits in the middle. That's pretty darned Reaganesque.

[BumRushDaShow]

119. Nothing is ever "permanent"

but you know that, although your continue to argue that fallacy, right?

And thank you for correcting yourself with respect to your assertion that the Bush tax cuts didn't expire although you and others continue to equivocate about it.

And you do know the difference between regressive taxes versus progressive taxes? The current system finally attempted to correct some of Raygun's and Shrub's regressive rates, where the top 1% manage (with all the loopholes) to pay a lower effective rate than everyone else. So "cutting" the taxes and rates for lower incomes *should* happen to try to get back to more progressive taxation, with corresponding increases for the top 1%. But you intended to obfuscate that point, eh?

And how about checking out the FULL text of the bill that you linked to - http://www.whitehouse.gov/sites/default/files/omb/legislative/reports/american-jobs-act.pdf

because when you don't link to that, the uninformed would miss what was not shown in the summary - i.e., the closure of some of the most egregious tax loopholes (e.g., "close loophole for corporate jet depreciation", "repeal of oil subsidies", etc&quot and it redirects that money to stabilizing the employment of teachers, to infrastructure, to vets, to training for long-term unemployed, etc. But that doesn’t fit the argument, because your argument, by omission of critical information, insinuates that the tax cuts are only directed to the top 1% when they aren't at all (particularly if the closure of the loopholes ever happens)?

[hfojvt]

128. I never say anything about "the 1%"

I think that is a nonsense meme, since the 2% are pretty damned rich as well, and so are the 3%, the 4%, the 5%, the 6%, etc. Even the 20% are richER than 80% of the population.

To say that the Bush tax cuts expired is the nonsense. MOST of the Bush tax cuts were made permanent, and that ACT, which Obama signed, was a tax CUT. A tax cut that heavily favored the rich. Yet Obama would claim that he increased taxes on the rich.

Not compared to what would have happened if he had done nothing.

And no, you do not make income taxes more progressive by giving little tax cuts to people at the bottom and much bigger tax cuts to people at the top.

But post Reagan, now, we are ALL tax cutters.

That is how Reagan won, by converting the Democratic Party to Reaganomics.

But I don't blame that on Reagan. I blame it on the Quislings who converted and who continue to peddle the bullsh*t to an unaware public.

[BumRushDaShow]

129. "MOST of the Bush tax cuts were made permanent"

That's complete bullshit. Just the fact of the change in the capital gains tax from 15% to 20% for the highest tax brackets, was significant enough, let alone the increase in the marginal rate.

Raygun raised the 10 - 11% tax rate on the lowest incomes to 15%. And he lowered the tax rates on the wealthiest from 70% down to 28%. POS Stockman sold the policy that he is now running around (not unlike a Ravitch) trying to make amends for after pushing such egregious policies. Those Raygun eara rates are no longer in effect.

It's interesting how the argument now changes to insist that the entire nation must be "poor" via this -

I think that is a nonsense meme, since the 2% are pretty damned rich as well, and so are the 3%, the 4%, the 5%, the 6%, etc. Even the 20% are richER than 80% of the population.

In essence, you would promote deprivation of some of the best public servants in teaching and science and medicine and tech, of a higher income for their work, by comparing their salaries of $100K or more to salaries/compensation packages of $10,000,000 or more. The so-called "top 1%" has an income >$400K and the top 10% is just barely over $100K. I suppose fantasizing that the U.S. must be a fiefdom of 318 million wretched poor and a couple hundred at the top, is more dramatic.

[hfojvt]

130. oh those poor, poor public servants making over $100,000

I weep for them. Can I donate some money somewhere to make sure they get a daily latte or something?

I am not sure what at all you are talking about with your "the whole nation must be poor".

Fortunately, Obama followed in Reagan's footsteps by raising taxes on the poor by getting rid of the "making work pay credit". Something he promised in his campaign, this making work pay credit.

Only in the campaign he never said "It will only be for two years and then we will switch to tax cuts that favor the rich".

[BumRushDaShow]

131. "oh those poor, poor public servants making over $100,000"

So a teacher or principal with 35 years experience who may have started with a salary of $14,000/yr and worked their way up through the system getting post-secondary degrees, Union-negotiated COLA increases, and promotions, is supposed to be in your fantasy "everyone must be poor" world? And this from the same folks who lament about "wage stagnation"???

I suppose this gives those with that perspective a raison d'etre, in essence, tossing grenades from the sidelines because it's fashionable.

And as a FYI - the "Make Work Pay" credit was done under ARRA (the "stimulus&quot and none of those actions put in there to "stimulate" the economy in the middle of the crash, was expected to be permanent although Lord knows folks tried to keep some of the stimulus in place, but Congress wouldn't allow it. And similar efforts included the temporary 2% decrease in the SS payroll tax.

This is why extreme positions argued in a pretzel-twisted way, means that people eventually stop paying attention to such nonsense.

Keep grasping at those straws.

[hfojvt]

135. again I have no idea what you are talking about

with this "everybody must be poor".

As for "wage stagnation". Well somebody who was making $14,000 a year 35 years ago was doing pretty darn good.

$14,000 in 1979 is the same purchasing power as $45,000 today. About 50% more than I make, and with a long summer break.

Sure the "making work pay credit" was passed under the stimulus, but when Obama proposed it during the campaign it was NOT supposed to be temporary. But he quickly abandoned it in favor of the accursed payroll tax cut which was much more favorable to the rich.

But I guess asking a President to favor the bottom 80% of America over the top 20% is an "extreme position".

[BumRushDaShow]

137. Now you are arguing for arguing's sake

It's remarkable how hard you are trying to justify your untenable ideology by moving goal posts, deflecting criticism of that rigid ideology, and posting without any practical strategies or solutions. Seems some of the very ones who bemoan class warfare are also the ones who actually engage in it.

Your insistence on comparing campaign bullet points with reality is that you continue to miss the process of how a bill becomes a law and the functioning of a tricameral government. This is very common on DU where OPs lack any sort of civics knowledge in order to actually argue intelligently, and they invalidate all of their own arguments because of this lack of knowledge.

As a FYI, teachers here in Philly (and probably in other places) have had a choice of how they are paid to include a "long summer break". Either they get bigger paychecks during the year and nothing over the summer (where they can work another job at places like rec centers, tutoring, coaching, camp, etc) or they get a lesser paycheck that will remain the same throughout the year, including the summer. Ironic that you would throw teachers under the bus in an attempt to validate your ideology, but this is what happens with those who project ODS.

[lordsummerisle]

87. I totally agree

with all of the Reagan criticisms, but he's been out of power now for over 25 years. Almost everything he did was supported by the electorate and bi-partisan Congresses. Some seem to feel that all of his policies and legislation he supported had an addendum that said "this shall be permanent and cannot ever be undone".

I like the "look into the mirror" quote. We, the people, have had decades to undo what Reagan has done to the country. If Reaganomics is still in effect after all these years then I guess that's what we collectively want.

[ymetca]

51. Ronald Reagan was my first presidential vote...

...and I naively voted against him thinking to myself surely everybody sees through this guy, with his ridiculous government IS the problem mantra".

Then for years I wandered in the zombie apocalypse of people and the TV media landscape idolizing that idiot, who spent his entire second term in an Alzheimer's haze spouting "well... I don't recall". Our real life Chauncey the gardener.

Now (thanks to Al Gore.. heh heh) we have the Internet as our latest weapon against the zombie horde.

All hail the rising of the Noosphere!

[AllyCat]

53. Don't forget the astrologer who made important decisions for him.

And the Fundies love him still.

[MisterP]

61. he also never went to church, even in the WH: he said the Libyans would get him if he went

out in downtown DC

Reagan worked with Quigley AND Dixon--the latter of whom adopted John Schmitz's abused and disinherited love children

[AllyCat]

97. Schmitz. Now there is another thing I didn't know.

[MisterP]

113. that was Mary Kay LeTourneau's dad, in fact (and the abandoned kids are her half-siblings)

[JustAnotherGen]

126. Gets better

Mary Kay's brother went on to work for Blackwater.

The Rushdooney fans are all connected.

[polichick]

54. Didn't take me long to figure it out either - that's why...

it's troubling imo that Elizabeth Warren remained a Republican during those years, and only left the party when she decided that Dems were better for the markets. That's when Clinton ushered in the present era of corporate Dems.

And of course there was Obama's admiration of Reagan in an interview while campaigning. The mess we're in wouldn't have been possible without the help of Dems.

[emsimon33]

55. Very well said!

[Enthusiast]

56. Even worse than Reagan's attacking the unions was

adopting supply side economics.

Those that don't remember would probably be shocked by Reagan's arrogance. He acted as if he had been elected emperor rather than president.

It was a very different nation then, people were far more socially conservative, so he could tap into fundamentalist religion as a political ally.

[Skittles]

59. I was not too long out of the military

Reagan absolutely disgusted me, and I was appalled how many people fell for his act, and how many people TO THIS DAY fail to see how destructive he was.......and I feel the same way about Dubya

[geretogo]

60. I was 34 when Reagen was anointed King of the Fascist Kingdom . I remember his saying " the problem

with government is government " . I watched the factories disappear , the homeless , the wages held down ,
the unions busted , the all out attack on working people , and the sickening feeling we were becoming a third word
country . One man with the ability to fool the people with the help of the Corporate media in 34 years has destroyed this country . Any thing short of a
violent uprising , the country is going to continue down and down . MrScorpio is exactly right on .

[noiretextatique]

62. i was 21, fresh out of college

and absolutely appalled, disheartened, and shocked by his election. the mood of the country literally changed overnight...it got meaner and more hateful. he was the worse president ever....until bush.

[love_katz]

75. Your reaction was exactly the same as my reaction.

I was 26. I could NOT believe that Raygun had actually been elected.

On the west coast, he received a boost from the M$M media, who proclaimed him the winner before the polls had even closed. I believe many people who would've have voted for the democratic candidate either stayed home, or voted for Nader because, hey, if the main democratic contender had lost, then why not?

And, you are right, the mood of the country changed overnight to meanness and hate. It was horrid, and anyone who tried to disagree was shouted down, even though 9/11 had not happened yet. I wanted to leave the country, but did not have the $$$$ to do so, and wasn't sure were I could run that would be far enough from the debacle that I knew was coming.

[bayareaboy]

63. So most of you folks are talking about when he became Presidente!

But a lot of us got to see him screw over California first.

He was a genuine jerk who should have known better, and the public should have known better, well when he told folks how he was a union kind of guy before he became a RePUG.

I guess I was 20 when he had the California National Guard bring a big copter down on the UC campus and spray out CS gas that filled most of the area hospitals. You see, Ronnie didn't like the idea of people's park.

25 years later, I became the resident gardener, handyman, and guidance counselor after the City of Berkeley made it a park.

[NBachers]

92. When James Rector was shot to death, I was running down Telegraph Ave. while pigs shot at us

That night, Reagan went on TV and assured the nation that all gunfire came from the demonstrators.

[FailureToCommunicate]

104. We were soon learning it wasn't all peace and love from California...

[blkmusclmachine]

64. Barack Hussein Obama STILL preaches the Gospel of Reagan's Trickle Down Economics. Par for the

course for the 1%...

[harun]

84. No one who doesn't tow that line will get anywhere near the Presidency.

[47of74]

67. Fuck him.

And everyone who worships him too.

[Zorra]

72. Recommend. Reagan was a shallow, evil, sociopathic pig. nt

[MissDeeds]

73. He was a pathetic tool

who never had an original thought. I once read that he was groomed by the GOP because they wanted someone who was not too bright and could remember lines that were fed to him.

I hate the term "Reagan Democrat". No real Democrat would ever go along with his policies.

[jen63]

74. I was about the same age

I have to credit him and U2s Joshua Tree with making me the proud leftie I am today. Isn't that strange? My parents declared that my Repub mayor grandfather would be turning over in his grave. Strangely enough I think he'd be proud that I was able to think for myself. My parents, however have remained faithful Fox News watchers. We don't have much of a relationship. My brother has followed dutifully in their footsteps.

[Arugula Latte]

76. Fuck Reagan, that evil bastard.

[surrealAmerican]

78. I was 17, and I still consider us just lucky ...

... that he didn't start a nuclear war. If the Soviets had been as powerful as they were said to be in 1980, it was a way too real threat that his foreign policy could have ended humanity. We were just lucky that they were in far worse shape than our intelligence had been been portraying them.

I was too hung up on the nuclear threat to pay a lot of attention to the economics at the time. You're right though, and I still wonder what the country would be today if he had lost in 1980.

[easychoice]

80. Poison your Minorities and pay for hidden wars...

Gary Webb's book, "Dark Alliance"

'Ol jello head sucked even more after they shot his worthless ass.

"Let the looting begin!!!"

[niyad]

81. I was a lot older. I remember sitting in stunned horror watching the returns, and looking at my

wine collection, and knowing that wasn't going to help. I wore a mourning band for a year, but even I had no idea how utterly devastating his tenure would be.

[harun]

83. He may have fucked the nation but he gifted the 1% with the keys to the kingdom

The 1% needed a way to make Joe Sixpack think he was going to be a 1%'r someday too. If they could do that, then Joe Sixpack would vote for the interests of the 1%, since he was going to be one someday.

Enter the 401k...

Now every American with a 401k thinks that if they invest long enough they too with be a 1$'r.

Joe Sixpack isn't taught what a pyramid scheme is in school. That is saved for the Ivy Leaguers, who are the true inheritors the 1%'r crowns.

[Jamaal510]

89. Reagan would've fit in perfectly with today's GOP.

I don't care what anyone says about him not conservative enough, or him somehow being to the left of Obama, or whatever...the guy was a true regressive. The RW-nuts still adore him, and his agenda continues to poison the country's politics long after his death. Some of the people he put on the SC court have also been tainting our politics and turning it into an activist court. He just inspired an entire political party to embrace hate-mongering and to justify selfishness. And I'll never forget about him starting the trickle-down scam, and how hostile he was towards the Black Panther Party.

[Hekate]

90. I was older, and had already seen him in action as Governor of California

Having him gain the presidency was a bitter pill.

Occasionally I have quoted St Ronnie from his governor days, and there are people who absolutely do not believe me. Redwood trees, the mentally ill, beggars on the street with the "freedom" to forget to take their anti-psychotics....

I have to stop before I begin to cry.

[annabanana]

91. Here,here!

The nail is well & truly hit upside the head in this OP. "Truth in Advertising" vanished. You, for the first time, had more questions AFTER you watched the news because they stopped naming names. (Specifically of corporate entities.)

Even as a high school student I could tell that a bad change had taken place.

[The CCC]

93. I was 19 years old when Ronald Reagan was first elected...

I was 16 when he was elected Governor of California. Watched first hand his destruction of the UC system. Then as President I was 31, and experienced first hand his destruction of the rest of the country's future. Yes he is rotting in Hell.

[SHRED]

95. "Reagan for Shah"

My friend went to hear that asshole speak in Eugene OR at a campaign stop 1980. That is what was on his protest sign. It made the front page of the local paper.

[heaven05]

96. I totally agree

kudos on a very succinct analysis. Down to earth and to the point.

[handmade34]

99. 10 reasons why Ronald Reagan was the worst president of our lifetime

http://www.examiner.com/article/8-reasons-why-ronald-reagan-was-the-worst-president-of-our-lifetime

[MillennialDem]

100. I was 0. Similar happened to me and GWB though.

[fizzgig]

110. that was my first presidential election

[villager]

101. I was maybe a year older, and knew my adulthood had just been fucked...

Of course, I grew up in California, and already knew what disaster awaited the nation...,

[Snarkoleptic]

107. Reagan was a whore who sold out his principles for money and power.

Here's an anti-Republican radio spot advocating the middle class, social security, fair employment practices, veterans issues, the unfairness of top-loaded tax cuts, milk for school lunches. He was also president of the Screen Actors Guild (union). I was in high school when he was elected and even with my limited worldview, I saw him for the doddering idiot he was. Now they're trying to polish this turd with the Reagan legacy project, which is working on renaming infrastructure after him...man THAT pisses me off!

[JDPriestly]

108. So, let's tell our friends and neighbors what we think and get out the Democrats to vote for

Democrats in November. This is a big year. Young people who are suffering from the aftermath of the Reagan years should vote against Republicans this year. If they don't, the suffering will continue. Don't let Republicans ruin our country any more.

[kairos12]

111. Raygun opened to the door to Cheney and the rest of the crazies. A trojan horse that fooled the

working class and destroyed the country.

[6000eliot]

112. His election was the first moment I felt that I was on an alien planet.

I just couldn't get it. What did people think they were voting for? I've felt that way a lot ever since.

[Iwillnevergiveup]

114. "Well, I've read all this malarky

you people have posted, and I only have one thing to say: There you go again."

-Ronald Reagan

Those 4 words during a presidential debate always come to mind when his name is mentioned.

K&R for the OP and all the memories and comments that followed.

[Rex]

116. I was 10 but by 13

I knew the man was a no good piece of shit, D class actor. It always amazed me how older people would fawn all over Ron and Nancy. They were two of the most shallow people on this planet. He was a spiteful asshole, one of those that seemed to be happy when people were suffering the most.

The Bush family proved to be even worse versions, horrible robber barons that left states and the nation in horrible shape.

Yet still morans love them some Ronny Raygun and Poppy!

[Cha]

118. You were smart.. you knew what was going on. I didn't know

shite.. didn't pay attention in my own little world. I just remember some band in OB, California playing a song that had "Ronnie Rayguns" in the lyrics and that he wanted catsup as a vegetable for school kids. smh

Silver Tongued Monster.

[LWolf]

121. I was 20.

That's the way I remember it happening.

[butterfly77]

124. and then he gave them cheese...

[Gothmog]

125. I was in my first year of law school

I remember being very upset at this result. It is also clear that Reagan was a bad president and I really wonder why the current GOP and tea party types worship this man

[HockeyMom]

127. I did laugh at him once

Born in the USA is NOT a Patriotic Song. Did he ever listen to the lyrics? Guess not, and just went with the Title of the song for his own agenda.

[Zambero]

132. Reminds me of ill-advised wedding songs

"Every Breath You Take". My brother performed this at a wedding once, even after trying to explain to the couple what the song's lyrics actually implied. Still they persisted, since it was "their" song.

[HockeyMom]

134. Stalker song for a Wedding?????

[yurbud]

133. He was the first president I voted for in 1984, but sometime after that...

I read that he shifted the emphasis of college financial aid from Pell grants to loans, and realized he was screwing me.

Without federal financial aid, I would not have been able to go to college and then grad school, and if I did, I would be even further in debt than I am now.

That was the first step toward breaking from the GOP for me.

The second was when I went to work as a commercial fisherman in Alaska one summer, but ended up wiping oil off rocks and collecting dead birds instead. One day a helicopter landed on the beach, and a Coast Guard admiral or whatever got out with a greasy looking, young Exxon exec. Since Exxon did the damage, I expected the Coast Guard guy to be leading the exec around and rubbing his nose in the mess they made, but instead, he was "yes, sir!" and "no, sir!" to the Exxon guy, and the Exxon guy got to declare the beach we were working on clean.

I had great respect for the military as a kid, and to see it at the command of a company clearly in the wrong pushed me further to the left.

[Rex]

136. What was it about Carter that you did not like? If I may ask.

First POTUS I voted for was Bill Clinton.

[yurbud]

138. I was too young to vote in the Carter/Reagan match. It was Mondale/Reagan

I think I didn't look too deeply at the issues beyond the rah-rah America stuff though at the time, I was an evangelical, so abortion was a factor too.

I figured out too late you can't pay your tuition with an American flag bumper sticker.