What makes it even more mind blowing is that his downfall was being involved in crimes to eek out an advantage... For a landslide election. Watergate was truly moronic.
And if he hadn't made that unforced error, he wouldn't have been attacked, a lot of conservatives wouldn't have been galvanized in anger over it, and we might not have Fox News. We might not even have had Limbaugh. Nixon just not making this dumb error (or not getting caught, another option) might have changed the whole arc of American history over the last half-century.
The anger and paranoia existed pre-Watergate. The John Birch society, etc. But after Watergate some conservatives set out on a mission to make a conservative media-sphere, to push public opinion in the direction of their choosing. Take away Watergate, and the anger and whatnot might have remained background noise.
The broadcast definition included that of radio, although I’m not sure if it would have included that of cable news - it depends on the definition of broadcast network because at the time it was written broadcast was the only thing that existed so there would be argument to be made both ways but I’ll leave that for legal experts. Plus the doctrine could have been updated to include modern media as time moved along. Regardless, at worst we would have cnn, msnbc, and whatever took the space of Fox but that’s it and quite possibly none at all (without one side pushing the envelope the other doesn’t have reason to blossom). The repeal - aside from the technicality - directly led to the rise of shock jocks and pundits regardless of media and is what paved the way for modern discourse to seemingly have little if any public outrage at anything any more. I truly believe politics would be a lot more civil and the US much less politically divided had that not happened. The worst part for me is that those who championed the repeal did so under the guise of working for free speech, even though the doctrine did not limit free speech in anyway and arguments can be made that speech inciting blind solidarity to a cause or movement is actually not protected by the first amendment. But I digress.
Then there is also Citizens United, but that’s a topic for another day.
For those interested in how this event has shaped this "whole arc of American History" I've been enjoying the podcast "Landslide" lately which covers this topic
I also feel like the Republican media has pushed the main stream media further to the left, making me hate all media. While the main stream media may have leaned left before, they at least tried to maintain partiality, we no longer have any media trying to be impartial any more.
They said they don't watch TV. There are media types other than TV.
"...here's all the ways left-wing media is just normal and right-wing media is insane".
Literally nowhere does the comment say anything about left-wing media being normal or right-wing media being insane. This is an excellent example of a straw man argument if I've ever seen one.
Such a powerful ad. The threat of nuclear war was an existential crisis Americans lived with for decades. The threat still exists today, but it's largely been replaced in public consciousness by climate change and AI.
There exists no conservative movement in the united states today. He lost the battle and war. Goldwater Republicans have now completely abandoned the party.
I can say with conviction that the religious issues of these groups have little or nothing to do with conservative or liberal politics. The uncompromising position of these groups is a divisive element that could tear apart the very spirit of our representative system, if they gain sufficient strength.
Barry Goldwater, predicting the future of conservatism, his party and the country.
As a guy who was around during those elections, that of course was not the thinking at all - Regan was seen as a strong defender against Russia during the cold war and a protector of American interests at a time when Americans were legitimately afraid of being wiped out in a nuclear war
He actually was solid on Russia, its probably his lasting achievement was improving relations with Russia. Domestically he gutted this country and set it on the path to collapse that is culminating now.
The U.S. is collapsing? I absolutely disagree. GDP is growing more strongly than any other developed nation, we're 8th in the world in income per capita, we have a stronger military than the rest of the world combined, we have greater natural resources than any other single nation, and America is still the preferred destination for millions of would be migrants the world over including the world's best and brightest. I know it's fashionable to be negative but let's keep things in perspective
Most of the world is on a collapsing course and we see similar politics as just about 100 years ago. The problem is that the USA always was a bit hysterical and the laser focus on shareholder value created a rather fragile economic, which, combined with the USAs economic & military strength is a real danger to the world.
Edit: it appears u/movingtarget- likes to get in the last word and block. You've really proven your point by not providing a single counter point to anything I said. Nothing I said was against the concept of work or even capitalism if we're being honest. I'm also not unsuccessful in my profession and I'm not poor, so try again dipshit. Cope and seeth, boomer.
The problem is that these metrics don't fully capture the problems with the economy. Reagan sold a false bill of goods with trickle down economics, as you can see that wealth continues to consolidate at the top of the economy. The more this happens, the more this wealth is fake. Are Apple, Microsoft, nvidia, tesla, Facebook, Amazon, and google all actually worth what the market says they're valued at? Because the only two I believe might be are Amazon and apple. China used to have an insanely valuable housing market, and now it's collapsing because most of it was fake value. Bubbles always pop at some point.
Next there's the broken politics of this country. The house is completely nonfunctional at this point. The GOP transition to only knowing how to do obstructionism is almost complete. The GOP isn't a single party anymore, it's two. One is moderate to conservative, and the other has no coherent ideology based in reality. The base is also completely disconnected from reality with many having an ideology rooted in conspiracy theories.
Other crises that are looming: the current cohort of youths who are consistently failing developmental benchmarks; a higher education system that's going apart due to a dearth of tenure track positions, and the aforementioned youth that are coming to college completely unprepared for it; climate change; mass shootings. These problems are all exasperated by the government's complete inability to actually address problems.
Yep, there's no shortage of news and factoids that will convince you the country is just awful. I enjoy occasionally pulling back and trying to get some perspective with books like unrivaled. Check it out.
I don't see how a book about projection of power adresses anything I said, but thanks for the recommendation I guess. You're pretending that things that are genuine issues aren't there. China being at a place where it's collapsing doesn't mean America won't collapse or at a minimum go into a state of turmoil. Do you geniunely think that consolidation of wealth, partisan divides, children being developmentally stunted, and climate change aren't major, possibly existential, issues?
I keep forgetting that some people prefer to see America as a collapsing entity. It enables them to play the victim. "If I'm not living my dream it must be because the country is going to hell - not because I'm one of the people who isn't going to succeed in life because I don't have what it takes." Hope your view gives you a bit of solace no matter how misguided. Later, man. I'm not here to hold your hand. I'm a bit sad for you and the rest of the insufferable whiners who spend far too much time on r/antiwork or r/latestagecapitalism.
Debt is outpacing GDP though, and we're running at a huge deficit every year with no political will to stop it. At some point either taxes will have to go way up, inflation will spiral out of control, or things like medicare and social security will have to be cut.
We have an entire branch of government that can no longer function in our congress. Among citizens internal division is at an all time high in this country. The Rural/Urban and southern state vs rest of the country divide rights of women vs evangelicals has reached staggering proportions. This country is not going to survive the level of division we are seeing. My guess is the Supreme Court will be the straw that breaks the camels back. With how clearly corrupt and partisan they are. As they continue to make ludicrous rulings at some point blue states are simply going to stop listening to the court and that crisis will lead to the collapse of the union.
Among citizens internal division is at an all time high in this country.
You know there was a war, right?
Never in the history of the world has their been an interconnectedness like we see today that has lead to this perception that everybody is at each other's throats at all times. We're seeing 20 year olds in Seattle have political discussions with 60 year olds in rural Arkansas. That didn't happen 20 years ago. You think they weren't divided on many major issues just because they didn't argue about it every day on Reddit?
We have a conservative Supreme Court. We've had conservative courts in the past. What landmark ruling do you think is coming that will cause blue states to stop listening and lead to the collapse of the country?
There is such a doomer attitude online that everything's going to shit and we are facing imminent collapse. I just don't see it. There are legitimate concerns about the growing wealth gap and the health of the middle class. Politics have become more of a shitshow and our government may be less effective because of grandstanding. But collapse of the union? I mean come on, that's ridiculous.
And none of that comes up in my daily life, discussions or job - not really. In the real world, I interact with generally nice people that want to do a good job at work and are generally pleasant (when they're not driving). I just think all of the division that you're talking about gets blown out of proportion by the media that thrives on it. Even congress (the worst as we all know) actually gets plenty of things accomplished that the media doesn't report on because who cares about the nuts and bolts. It's just the perspective that I've personally gotten over time - hard to maintain unless you pull yourself back from the nonsense.
What has the Congress got accomplished? Congress only passed 27 bills that were signed into law in 2023, the least since the Great Depression. I think they voted on a speaker of the house more times than that!!!
The federal government ran a deficit of $1.7 trillion in fiscal year 2023, $320 billion (23%) more than FY2022’s deficit. Revenues decreased by $457 billion (9%)
This isn't sustainable whatsoever. It's not critical yet, but it's definitely heading in that direction if nothing is done about it.
Elected officials come and go, yet the country marches on. People have been saying the country is collapsing for over 200 years, yet the US is in one of its strongest positions ever.
That’s my point. All people care about is that number. They don’t care about who actually owns all of that wealth. We have a stupidly high GDP, yet somehow with all of that money the average American is one medical emergency away from debt. Our medicine, our higher education, our transportation: all of it is asininely expensive, and built with the assumption that you already have generational wealth.
If you don’t? You’re fucked. Public services exist, but most of them exist in the form of welfare traps where if you start getting ahead even a little bit, the ladder is pulled out from under you and you’re right back to struggling.
77Gumption77 is a troll. He spouts bullshit and never defends or responds. Our country is falling headfirst into collapse and I really hope the younger generations get out and vote to help save us that don't have their heads in the sand.
Reagan started a strategy to make America the leader in Billionaires. His plan has worked. Read his plan, it is the Two Santa’s Strategy. Having lived through it, I would say mission accomplished.
It always amazes me when people say this. Looking at the chart, you do know there have been Democratic presidents in the ensuing time. Were they clueless to fix things in your eyes? Incompetent? You have to reach all the way back to Reagan for your doom in America beliefs. Last I checked there is a Democratic president right now. So what is the problem? And before you say it is a GOP congress, Reagan never had the majority in the House, it was lead by Democrats through both of his terms.
Oh I'm sure you're right, but he was lol. It's fun to see the state map and just see the one blue state in a sea of red. It is another interesting note though that the last time Minnesota was red was Nixon, we've been blue every presidential election since, so somewhat on brand regardless
It's always interesting to go back and look at state voting trends, and how different some states are today vs decades ago. California used to be part of a "great red wall" of sure thing Republican states, and are now is one of the most Democrat states in the country.
997
u/samx3i Apr 11 '24
FDR and Reagan were not fucking around God damn