Author Topic: Why praising Reagan touches a nerve in all of us (over 18, who lived here)  (Read 1609 times)

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Offline Carl

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robbedvoter (1000+ posts)         Fri Jan-18-08 06:40 PM
Original message
Why praising Reagan touches a nerve in all of us (over 18, who lived here)
   Edited on Fri Jan-18-08 07:03 PM by robbedvoter
It's his enduring legacy of BS.
I won't deal with people he killed in wars, Aids neglect etc. They've been brought up by others. It's the think tanks altering the national perceptions - that still at work today. Obama buying into it - doesn't help.
Before Reagan, liberals were the people challenging the establishment - for all the right reasons. They were the rebels, the idealists - and they were cool. Conservatives were - your obtuse parents, missing the point on everything.
By the time RW bought the media and their think tanks spread their memes through it - it was all upside down:
Liberals were irresponsible, dirty hippies guilty of past "excesses". You'd think they meant drugs - but Reagan's base knew it meant civil rights - one of those secret code words like "states rights".
Their think tanks came with the "political Correctness" - another way to legitimize bigotry. It perfectly turned the tables on liberals. Now they were no longer the cool rebels but the prissy schoolmarms who will hit you with the ruler if you "innocently" say "******" - just for laughs. The conservatives became the free spirited, humorous ones that the PC police just wouldn't leave be! (later on this image was reinforced with blonde spokespersons like Coulter et al) The think tank media started calling conservatives "the cool kids" and liberals the PC police. And all the while, they were laughing all the way to the bank, cutting social programs and the rich people's taxes.
The lies have been sustained by the "liberal media " (that's one meme that died!) to this day.
So, I am asking Obama's supporters - in all honesty: can you see why we hit the ceiling when I read stuff like:

"A lot of liberal rhetoric did seem to value rights and entitlements over duties and responsibilities."
and


"Nevertheless, by promising to side with those who worked hard, obeyed the law, cared for their families, loved their country, Reagan offered Americans a sense of common purpose that liberals seemed no longer able to muster."


If you can't, just imagine, years from now, a candidate in your party, praising Bush's resolve in the war on terror and his accomplishments in promoting "family values"
Uhmm no...it meant what it was intended to mean and no amount of your attempts to re-define that will change it.

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DBoon  (1000+ posts)         Fri Jan-18-08 07:01 PM
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10. absolutely
   Edited on Fri Jan-18-08 07:33 PM by DBoon
I lived then:

- Reagan made the word "******" respectable again. During the 1970's, racism was something low class and ignorant. Racists were jerks. Under Reagan, racism became "straight talk" - "cool" "sophisticated" people used racial insults to be "edgy" like liberal black hip hop artists
- The number of homeless skyrocketed during Reagan's first years. You almost never found someone living on the streets out of necessity until then
- Along with skyrocketing poverty was a cultural turn against the poor. Poverty was no longer a national disgrace in the world's wealthiest country - it was the sign of a "loser" who deserved it. and still often is
- The "war against drugs" started, beginning a long period of assault against civil liberties. Once you could start a job without taking a drug test. As long as you met the qualification you were hired. Yep,would like to work everyday alongside someone stoned
- The only people who seemed to do well during the Reagan presidency were financial speculators and defense contractors. Everyone else sort of stagnated.
- The idea of public service vanished. The idea of sacrifice for the public good vanished. Thanks to Reagan, if this country ever faced a challenge requiring sacrifice for a common goal, we would fall completely apart.No,DUmba$$ that would be your treason and disrespect of our troops in Vietnam which might have caused that.

My recollection of the Reagan years involved starting adulthood with a diminishing take-home pay (thanks to Reagan's tax "reform" and social security tax increase), and being increasingly priced out of the housing market, thanks to a flood of financial speculation in real estate.

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Reciprocity (1000+ posts)         Fri Jan-18-08 07:24 PM
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24. I remember trying to buy our first home....
   It was a mobile home and the interest was 21%.

 :lmao: That was the Carter administration idiot.
Needless to say no one is touching that post.  :lmao:

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libnnc  (1000+ posts)         Fri Jan-18-08 07:35 PM
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29. With Reagan within range of the big red button...
   my teenage years were one long, anxious bad dream.

We lived in total fear and knew that he was just one interrupted nap away from destroying the earth.

Bad, bad memories.

I never was worried so guess I missed when the end of the world happened.

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spinbaby  (1000+ posts)        Sat Jan-19-08 11:10 AM
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51. I remember the 70s
   When you could make a decent living at mundane jobs like waitressing. And you good make a very good living indeed if you belonged to a union.

When, even through the gas crisis, gas stations had attendents that checked your oil and cleaned your windshield. And they made enough to live on in that job.

When museums and parks were almost always free.

When we had heard of homeless peope--there were reputed to be hobos--but we had never seen one.

When housing, heat, healthcare, and transporation were affordable, but things like clothing and TVs were expensive enough that you thought carefully before buying. I remember paying over $600 for a color TV in the 70s--that was more than three times our monthly rent at the time.

When drugs were illegal but nothing much was done about it. Fraternities at the college I went to openly grew pot plants in their front windows and there were two head shops on campus that sold a variety of colorful bongs.

Oh for the good old days of drugs and no one expecting responsibility.

Everything one wants to know about the DUmmies vacant and useless train of thought on display.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x2715254
« Last Edit: January 19, 2008, 12:02:01 PM by Carl »

Offline Lord Undies

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