Kategorien: Alle - liberalism - government - conservatism - policies

von India Franklin Vor 5 Jahren

128

Regan hw

During a period of rapid change and ideological division in the United States, several factors contributed to the political environment that favored leaders like Reagan. In the short term, groups like the Moral Majority mobilized politically inactive individuals by opposing Supreme Court decisions and advocating for religious values.

Regan hw

Reagan Factors

Long term reasons:

Population trends
Southern white voters, once Democrats, switched to Republicans following Civil Rights
Republicans tried to gain these moderate liberals (attacked school busing)
More people moved to the suburbs, where they were hit financially by stagflation.
Fast-paced social changes
Caused more people to turn to religion
Many traditionalists felt threatened by the counterculture, mass media, and leftist thought that was popular with younger people
Liberal beliefs become less appealing
People lose faith in the federal government (Watergate, Vietnam, etc), and economy and industry stagnate. additionally, urban riots split the Democratic party's base.
Popularity of social programs
Conservatives saw affirmative action as reverse discrimination, and welfare as rewarding little effort. they thought that it encouraged having children out of wedlock-- leading to the decline of the family.
Conservatives saw them as a waste of money, as endangering the economy, and as encouraging waste
Liberals supported them, especially after WWII
Economic issues
Conservatives blamed liberal policies for stagflation-- angry about unfunded mandates (required but no money to start)
Conservatives favored cutting taxes and limited government regulation of industry
Liberals still favored big government approaches and deficit spending

Short term reasons:

Sagebrush rebels
Believed the government should release control over lands in the West in order to use their economic potential
Moral majority
Reached out to the politically apathetic-- registered new voters
opposed SC decisions such as Engel and Roe, as well as equal rights amendment and homosexuality
political organisation with religious goals
New Right
Although bipartisanship had been common, especially in foreign policy, the New Right emerged as a criticism of liberal policies, and the two parties drifted farther apart ideologically