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Gop Pros And Cons

Decent Essays

Q-1: The support of religious conservatives leaning more towards the GOP rose during Reagan’s 2-term presidency and the years that followed. By capturing the religious right, Reagan set precedence for expanding the conservative base of the Republican Party (McAdam and Kloos 212). By stressing their activist and organizational movement skills, the Christian Right were able to develop and solidify more of an influence over the GOP, pushing the GOP in a rightward direction.
Termed as “Reagan realignment” moved the South from majority Democratic electorate to a reliably Republican region due in part from Reagan’s growing popularity with southern constituents (213). However, this realignment came after Reagan left office, capitalizing on a slow-release …show more content…

Reagan reimagined the meaning of social programs and taxes. Taxes became a way for the government to take hard-earned money and give it to those who were deemed as less motivated in an effort to stress an unfair tax system. Social programs also became a vehicle that nurtured this illegitimate transfer of wealth rather than a humane answer to those disadvantaged. These ideas such as the demonization of tax hikes were so successful that many of his presidential successors have had to adopt similar economic policy to please constituents. As with the slow-release revolution, as part of the way he changed the political landscape, wealth income inequality rapidly rose after Reagan left office, “revers[ing] five decades of reductions in income and other forms of inequality” (228). Clinton’s election into office is a great indicator of how appealing the new ideology adopted by Reagan, the demonization of taxes and social programs, was to the American …show more content…

Economic inequality seemed to be in a decline or general phasing off starting from the mid-1930s. However, in part due to the Reagan presidency and regime changes, starting 1981 we have seen a steady rise in economic inequality in America between the haves and the have not’s. Economic inequality is only emphasized as data shows severely concentrated gains as those in the top .1 and .01 percent “earn[ing] four and a half, and nearly seven times, respectively, that of their counterparts of three decades earlier” (234). McAdam and Kloos only emphasizes this growing inequality over a multitude of statistics that offers compelling evidence that convinces me that not only economic inequality has been on the rise for some years now but also shows that there is a possible connection to the slow-release revolution of the Reagan administration. While I do not believe that all economic inequality can be traced back to the Reagan administration, I do believe that it had a key part in changing the political landscape that would only seek to provide a prime breeding ground for economic inequality to flourish in America. Poverty also has a way of rising health inequality, as those with lower income do not have the discretionary spending

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