History Chat - August 20, 2020

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Summary: History of the Republican party after the Resignation of Richard Nixon into Gerald Ford.

Timestamp 2:47: In an effort to revitalize the Republican party, Ford chooses to pardon Nixon of Crimes committed. This is done most likely in effort to save face while he was in office, but paved the road for Presidents without accountability in the future. Ford inherits a lot of issues created by Nixon

Timestamp 5:57: Ford has to deal with inflation that accrued during Nixon. This turns into “stagflation” when the economy is stagnant, and inflation rises. This is followed by a spike in inflation, which created the rise in credit cards.

Timestamp 8:52: Movement conservatism says that changes in the world are not the problem, but rather the liberal consus and the continuation of the New Deal and associated social Programs. They Feel this is the beginning of Communism, and happens around the same time of supporting black and womens rights, which marries people associating one with the other.

Timestamp 12:55: In 1970 there was an association of an activist government and confederacy. This leads to bands like the Allman Brothers and Lynard Skynard supporting candidates on the right, Such as Jimmy Carter.

Timestamp 16:35: Movement conservatism grows in popularity when the inflation rate pushes people into different tax brackets, causing their dollars to not go as far. This pushes the narrative of movement conservatism, including their tax dollars being wasted. THe Christian group “the Family” is committed to mobilizing White Protestants as a voting block. This became important in the 80’s moving forward, and politicians have to heed to their issues for their votes. This was duplicated with Evangelicals.

Timestamp 21:17: Proposition 13 was an amendment to the state constitution that limited the property tax to 1% of the cash value of the property.This allowed them to increase their tax base, therefore funding state programs.

Timestamp 24:19: 52 Americans are taken hostage in Iran as a result of Eisenhower undercutting a popular government. Around the same time, Russia invaded Afghanistan, which was of importance because most would never invade Afghanistan. This gives the impression that the world was previously afraid of the United states, but with the invasion, Russia has center stage. This changes upon the victory of the United states against the USSR in an Olympic Hockey game.

Timestamp 29:36: In an effort to help the economy, instead of putting money at the bottom, they increase production of goods and services which would create more wealthy people. This would pay more taxes, which would eliminate inflation. This would help the common people by creating jobs at the bottom.

Timestamp 36:09: Republican national Primary occurs in 1980. Ronald Reagan runs as a Movement conservative, and his primary opponent is Geoge H.W. Bush who is running with a similar stance to Eisenhower. Upon Bush Reviewing Reagan's plan of slashing taxes and investing heavily in the Military, Bush coined his idea “Voodoo Economics”. Reagan's verbiage is heavily Movement conservative, but his actions are fairly moderate.

Timestamp 45:27: Reagan says the United states are in a spot similar to the great depression, and we got there not from unregulated capitalism, but by taxation and public spending. He emphasizes that government is not the solution to the problem, but rather is the problem, and in an effort to take more power away from the government promised to give more power back to the states.

Timestamp 48:39: Regan gets in office and starts the Movement conservative agenda by slashing federal government, enacts a hiring freeze, cuts regulations, and appoints deregulators for businesses. He then goes to slashing domestic spending by 47 billion dollars, and then proceeds to move onto Taxes. It was advised that cutting taxes would not create a surplus, but rather a deficit. Regan was able to “sell” his tax cuts after his rise in popularity after his assassination attempts.

Timestamp 57:30: Reagan increased defense spending by 40 percent, and the country immediately goes into a depression. This causes Regan to slowly raise taxes back, but he continues to fund “freedom fighters” In strategic locations such as Angola.

Timestamp 1:01: In 1984 the economy made a comeback with the slashing of interest rates and congress lifting regulations on banks so they may lend more. Americans see this as supply side economics working, whereas it was separate. A tax cut was enacted in 1986, which in turn created a deficit, which was caused by “democratic spending” when it was a result of the tax cut.

Timestamp 1:06:25: In 1987 Federal Communication Commision cut the Fairness doctrine, which meant political speech needing to be based in fact is no longer needed. This gives rise talk radio

of Socialism and feminism, and government spending on social programs

Timestamp 1:07:06: By 1988 the government focused on the Christian Coalition to rally Evangelicals behind republicans. They are pro family, anti crime, and financial security and are vehemently against abortion and homosexuality. Regan reflects this by packing the courts with Justices who feel the same, so the Regan doctrine can continue after his presidency.

[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]