History Chat - May 14, 2020
Link to Video on Facebook
Link to transcript
HCR was originally planning to conclude her American paradox series today, but stated
that she will be breaking this up into two sessions. As it is, what she covered in this
session in about 70 minutes might provide enough information for at least 2-3 weeks of a
modern American history college course.
The paradox (equality for some has mandated inequality for others) to perpetuate itself
has always required certain myths and symbols, such as that of the yeoman farmer, the
Western cowboy, and the hard-working taxpayer. In the late 20th century, how this idea
was carried further and took hold of very large segments of the American population was
HCR's major theme in this chat, but as she developed this she tied together (in an
extemporaneous video essay) Reaganomics, voodoo economics, the strategy of tax cuts and
who benefited from these,
the Reagan doctrine, the importance of Norquist and Gingrich, Limbaugh, Ailes and
right-wing media,
the K-street project, economic inequality, the militia movement, the Overton window,
political 'purity' tests, how Clinton scandals were developed, voter suppression,
and recent judicial nominees.
As such, once again, there are many more links than usual,
which provide background for areas she touched.
Links (underlined) related to topics covered in the chat
Education of David Stockman
David Stockman's current twitter account
Voodoo Economics (Supply-side economics, 'trickle-down', 'rising-tide lifts all boats')
“Reaganomics”: The Economic Recovery Tax Act of 1981
Do tax cuts pay for themselves?
Was The 1986 Tax Reform Really Simplification? Was It Fair?
Americans for Tax Reform
Dispelling the Tax Cut Myth
Man On The Street Live On MSNBC: Socialism Is "Anti-Growth, Anti-Family, Anti-American... Anti-Life"
The “Reagan Doctrine” is announced
An article in the New Yorker about Grover Norquist - 'The Ringleader'
George HW Bush’s compromise on raising taxes defied conservatives – and altered American politics
George H.W. Bush was the accidental catalyst that built the new Republican Party
Gingrich's Contract with America
Republicans Get a Pep Talk From Rush Limbaugh
A Sinking Tide Sinks All Boats
K Street Project
Economic Inequality Grew in 90's Boom, Fed Reports
Why we still don’t grasp racial economic inequality
"The researchers found that Americans — especially wealthy white Americans — greatly over estimate how much progress the country has made towards racial economic equality. Basically people think that black Americans are making a lot more, have accumulated a lot more household wealth than they actually have."
Ronald Reagan and the 'welfare queen'
The Price You Pay: On the life and times of the woman known as the welfare queen
'Red Dawn' Movie
The Origins of the Modern American Conservative Movement
Conservatives Hated the Fairness Doctrine. Now They Want One for Social Media
A letter from the author of ‘The Giver’ and ‘Number the Stars.’
The Willie Horton ad
HISTORY OF THE FEDERAL PAROLE SYSTEM
The Myth of the Liberal Media
Limbaugh Debuted “Feminazi” In Early '90s, Saying It Refers To “A Specific Type Of Feminist”
Geraldine Ferraro Broke A Barrier For Women, But Roadblocks Remain
A Christian Manifesto’s Call to Arms
Right-Wing Watch
This is a project of the People for the American Way (PFAW) that monitors right-wing activists
Hatewatch
Hatewatch is a blog that monitors and exposes the activities of the American radical right.
Ruby Ridge, 1992: the day the American militia movement was born
The Standoff in Waco
The 51-day siege at the Branch Davidian compound and the tragedy that followed still haunts those who were there (in 1993)
The Alex Jones Origin Story: On Austin Public Access TV, His Act Was Never an Act
McVeigh Worship: The New Extremist Trend
Discovery Channel Is Promoting “Staunch Second Amendment Defender Ted Nugent”
Oklahoma City bombing: 20 years later, key questions remain unanswered
Newt Gingrich: And His List of Words
The right has been much more effective than the left in winning the battle of words. George Lakoff has spoken about this on many occasions, and one thing he always highlights is Newt Gingrich's introduction of this list, which HCR spoke about today.
What is the Overton Window?
The Flaws of the Overton Window Theory - How an obscure libertarian idea became the go-to explanation for this year’s crazy politics
QUOTE from article: For conservatives, by contrast, the Overton Window has always been about strategy. Though Overton himself never committed his most influential idea to paper, his Mackinac Center colleague Joe Lehman continued his work after Overton’s death in 2003 at age 43. Lehman not only coined the term “Overton Window,” he weaponized it, setting up training sessions on the concept for other right-leaning think tankers. The term filtered into the conservative blogosphere in 2006, when Josh Trevino enthused about the window as a tool for the right. “Step by step, ideas that were once radical or unthinkable—homeschooling, tuition tax credits, and vouchers—have moved into normal public discourse,” Trevino declared. “The conscious decision to shift the Overton Window is yielding its results.” The concept did not reach a wider audience, however, until Glenn Beck cast Overton’s ideas as the bogeyman in his 2010 best-seller, The Overton Window. The villain of Beck’s tale is Arthur Gardner, an aging PR guru who plots to use the Overton Window to foist his own objectives (“criminalize dissent,” “reinforce dependence and collectivism”) on an unsuspecting and gullible public. In his afterword, Beck urges readers to watch out for manipulation in their own lives and to set their own priorities.....This is perhaps the Overton Window’s biggest drawback as a theory of change: It tells us more about the handful of activists who supposedly move the window than the voters whose opinions actually change...The more divided we become, the harder it is to locate the Overton Window, let alone move it. There is now a window of policies that are acceptable to the Republican base, and another for Democrats, but on the national level, there is no window. Instead of a consensus edging one way or another, we have a choice between two poles [see also "Horseshoe Theory"]
Review: 'The Brainwashing of My Dad' Explores the Human Impact of Right-Wing Media
The Republican Noise Machine
Fox News 1.0: Revisiting TVN, Roger Ailes’ first stab at running a TV news operation
Lewis Powell memo
Ailes memo
Norquist's Wednesday meeting
Fairness doctrine
Talk radio's America
How Conservative Think Tanks Helped Create the Age of Trump
Rush Limbaugh now has a Presidential Medal of Freedom. Here are just 20 of the outrageous things he's said
Clarence Thomas and Rush Limbaugh
20 years of the telecommunications act
Clinton’s ‘Right-Wing Conspiracy’ Comes Full Circle With Trump Shake Up
How Roger Ailes Built the Fox News Fear Factory
Brainwashing, by Kathleen Taylor
This is Sinclair Media
Right-wing media figures are making unhinged connections between the coronavirus and climate action
Former Fox News chief political correspondent reveals that the network "foments fear and anger"
5 facts about Fox News
War on Men (an example of the the type of narrative that HCR spoke about today)
Is Fox News an entertainment or news channel?
Trump Criticizes Voting by Mail. Here’s How It Works
Trump’s Vendetta Against Mail-in Voting Could Cost Him the 2020 Election
The new conservative purity test
Clinton Scandals: A Guide From Whitewater To The Clinton Foundation
Paula Jones, Reconsidered
Clinton’s impeachment barely dented his public support, and it turned off many Americans
Why Republicans Are So Afraid of Vote-by-Mail
Top Trump adviser: Republicans have 'always' relied on voter suppression
The Myth of Voter Fraud
Republican Cries Against Voter Fraud Go Mostly Quiet After Scheme Tied to Party
Florida: An Outlier in Denying Voting Rights
Brooks Brothers Riot
How Shelby County v. Holder Broke America
'Gerrymandering On Steroids': How Republicans Stacked The Nation's Statehouses
Operation Red Map (This is the Republican State Legislative Commmittee's site about this operation)
"The REDMAP 2010 program worked by taking advantage of a political wave environment through the RSLC’s effective strategy and deployment of resources. The RSLC spent $30 million to flip 21 chambers, nearly the same amount each Party and its allies spent in the GA-6 special election fighting over one seat in Congress. It paid off."
What Happened With Merrick Garland In 2016 And Why It Matters Now
GOP Judicial Nominations Race Clock Amid Campaign, Virus Demands
[From wikipedia] Richardson’s first book, The Greatest Nation of the
Earth (1997), stemmed
from her dissertation at Harvard University. Inspired by Eric Foner’s work on
pre-Civil War
Republican ideology, Richardson analyzed Republican economic policies during the
war. She
contended that their efforts to create an activist Federal Government during the
Civil War
marked a continuation of Republican free labor ideology. These policies, such as
war bonds
and greenbacks or the Land Grant College Act and the Homestead Act,
revolutionized the role
of the Federal Government in the U.S. economy. At the same time, these actions
laid the
groundwork for the Republican Party’s shift to Big Business after the Civil War.
In this 2001 book, Richardson "focused on the “Northern abandonment of
Reconstruction.” Building
on the earlier work of C. Vann Woodward, she argued that a more complete
understanding of the period
required appreciation of class, not only race. As Reconstruction continued into
the 1870s and
especially the 1880s, Republicans began to view African Americans in the South
more from a class
perspective and less from the perspective of race that had driven their earlier
humanitarianism. In
the midst of the labor struggles of the Gilded Age, Republicans came to compare
“the demands of the
ex-slaves for land, social services, and civil rights” to the demands of white
laborers in the
North. This ideological shift was the key to Republican abandonment of
Reconstruction, as they chose
the protection of their economic and business interests over their desire for
racial equality."
[From wikipedia]
In this 2007 book, "Richardson presented Reconstruction as a national
event that
impacted all Americans, not just those in the South. She incorporated the West
into the
discussion of Reconstruction as no predecessor had. Between 1865 and 1900,
Americans re-imagined the
role of the federal government, calling upon it to promote the well-being of its
citizens. However,
racism, sexism, and greed divided Americans, and the same people who
increasingly benefited from
government intervention—white, middle-class Americans—actively excluded
African-Americans, Native
Americans, immigrants, and organized laborers from the newfound bounties of
their reconstructed
nation." [from wikipedia]
In this book, published in 2010, Richardson "focused on the U.S.
Army’s
slaughter of Native Americans in South Dakota in 1890. She argued that party
politics
and opportunism led to Wounded Knee. After a bruising midterm election,
President Benjamin
Harrison needed to shore up his support. To do so, he turned to The Dakotas,
where he
replaced seasoned Indian agents with unqualified political allies, who
incorrectly assumed
that the Ghost Dance Movement presaged war. The Army responded by sending one
third of its
force in order to avoid spending cuts from Congress. After the event,
Republicans tried to
paint the massacre as a heroic battle to stifle the resurgent Democrats."
[wikipedia]
In this 2014 book, Richardson "extended her study of the Republican
Party into the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. This book studied the
entire life
of the GOP, from its inception in the 1850s through the presidency of George W.
Bush.
The party’s founders united against the “slave power,” a small group of wealthy
white men
who controlled all three branches of government. These Republicans articulated a
new vision
of an America in which all hardworking men could rise. But after the Civil War,
Republicans
began to emulate what they originally opposed. They tied themselves to powerful
bankers and
industrialists, sacrificing the well-being of ordinary Americans. A similar
process took
place after World War II, when Republicans sought to dismantle successful New
Deal policies
and prop up the wealthy. However, in both cases, reformers within the party were
able to
return the GOP to its founding vision of equality of opportunity, first Theodore
Roosevelt
during the Progressive Era, and then Dwight D. Eisenhower, who enforced
integration and
maintained the New Deal. The Nixon and Reagan administrations have represented
yet another
fall from the GOP’s founding purpose. It's ironic, Richardson points out, that
Republicans
treated Barack Obama with an unprecedented level of disrespect, as Obama's rise
from humble
beginnings to the highest office in the nation embodied the vision of the
original
Republicans." [wikipedia]
In her most recent publication, Richardson argues "that America was
founded with
contradicting ideals, with the ideas of liberty, equality, and opportunity on
one hand,
and slavery and hierarchy on the other. United States victory in the American
Civil War
should have settled that tension forever, but at the same time that the Civil
War was
fought, Americans also started moving into the West. In the West, Americans
found and
expanded upon deep racial hierarchies, meaning that hierarchical values survived
in
American politics and culture despite the crushing defeat of the pro-slavery
Confederacy. Those traditions--a rejection of democracy, an embrace of
entrenched
wealth, the marginalization of women and people of color--have found a home in
modern
conservative politics, leaving the tremendous promise of America unfulfilled."
[wikipedia]