General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: I was 19 years old when Ronald Reagan was first elected... [View all]BumRushDaShow
(128,443 posts)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 -
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.