New Media A Key Element In Reagan Legacy
Howard Wolfson, a very savvy Democrat political operative, was recently quoted as frustrated that the ability to blame all of our current economic troubles on George W. Bush is not working for President Obama. He noted that his party was able to run against Republican Herbert Hoover’s Depression-era presidency for 30 years.
“That doesn’t seem to be the case here,” he said.
What does Wolfson’s concern and the legacy of Ronald Reagan have to do with the big picture of transforming the United States today as FDR and the New Deal did in the 1930s? A brief history refresher may be in order.
The Republican Party in the Civil War era really up to Theodore Roosevelt used Union soldiers, their wives and descendants to maintain a strong hold on the legislative and especially the executive branch of government for more than a generation. Waving the “bloody shirt” was effectively employed (along with the true first genuine welfare state expenditures of widows and children pensions long after the Civil War) for decades. This was replicated to perfection by the Democrats in the 1930-1934 “New Deal Civil War” all of the way into the 1960′s.
Blaming Herbert Hoover and having it stick electorally until 1966 and in the political class even to this day is a testament to the cohesive nature of the New Deal historians. However, it could never have had such lasting power without a hammerlock on the flow of information,. This is the real legacy of what is derisively called the mainstream media. The old media barons could repeat the false narrative that market capitalism led to the Great Depression, Hoover fiddled and then FDR rode in with a cavalry of white horses and saved this great nation.
Today, the remnants of the New Deal coalition, morphed into secular university elites, coastal states, and large urban areas are completely indifferent to what institutions have made the US great, exceptional and a beacon of hope around the world. These forces are trying to bring back the Bloody Shirt and Hooverism for the 21st Century to push more statism on the American people. This narrative can be summed up as “we inherited this economic mess from George W. Bush, don’t blame us.” One of Ronald Reagan’s many great legacies is blowing up the mainstream monopoly on news information. The left simply cannot get majorities of Americans to believe firmly and over time that George W. Bush is solely to blame for our current economic troubles. It is the plethora of new media outlets in print, online and even television that are not allowing the Hooverism charge to stick this time around.
Whether this is enough to block the current health care monstrosity currently pending in the Congress is uncertain. What is crystal clear is the days of a handful of elite media bosses deciding what news what relevant to report and which narrative would be pushed over and over are gone. For this and so many other changes, we can thank yet again the late, great Ronald Reagan. From ending the “Fariness Doctrine” to deregulation, the climate-altering policies of the Reagan Administration in the early 1980s have borne the fruit that is the best chance of maintaining the American Republic for future generations.
Hoover and the GOP were blamed for the Depression because they had complete control of the U.S. government since 1920. Hoover succeeded Harding and Coolidge, and his acceptance of the GOP nomination was best remembered for this famous promise:
"We in America today are nearer to the final triumph over poverty than ever before in the history of any land. The poorhouse is vanishing from among us. We have not yet reached the goal, but, given a chance to go forward with the policies of the last eight years, and we shall soon, with the help of God, be in sight of the day when poverty will be banished from this nation. . . ." http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,…
Hoover and the GOP were blamed for the Depression because they had complete control of the U.S. government since 1920. Hoover succeeded Harding and Coolidge, and his acceptance of the GOP nomination was best remembered for this famous promise:
"We in America today are nearer to the final triumph over poverty than ever before in the history of any land. The poorhouse is vanishing from among us. We have not yet reached the goal, but, given a chance to go forward with the policies of the last eight years, and we shall soon, with the help of God, be in sight of the day when poverty will be banished from this nation. . . ." http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,…
The GOP also had a stranglehold on Congress. After the 1920 election, they had 59 seats in the Senate and 300 in the House. Though they lost a lot of that in the wake of the ethics scandals of the Harding administration, they built their margins back up and after the 1928 election had 56 senators and 267 congressmen.
Simply put, there was absolutely no way that the GOP could avoid the blame for the Depression. The current political situation is much less clear cut, and President Obama was elected right at the beginning of the downturn (instead of at the bottom), meaning that people are likely to hold him responsible for the decline instead of President Bush.
The GOP also had a stranglehold on Congress. After the 1920 election, they had 59 seats in the Senate and 300 in the House. Though they lost a lot of that in the wake of the ethics scandals of the Harding administration, they built their margins back up and after the 1928 election had 56 senators and 267 congressmen.
Simply put, there was absolutely no way that the GOP could avoid the blame for the Depression. The current political situation is much less clear cut, and President Obama was elected right at the beginning of the downturn (instead of at the bottom), meaning that people are likely to hold him responsible for the decline instead of President Bush.
It's like hearing your kids whine and cry….it is always someone else's fault….adults tire of this behavior quickly when they have the ability to decern exactly what the situation is….and with the communication tools available to us now….and the wide range of people who voice their opinions one more than likely will be exposed to trains of thought that make everything clear…and when that happens the shell game is over.
It's like hearing your kids whine and cry….it is always someone else's fault….adults tire of this behavior quickly when they have the ability to decern exactly what the situation is….and with the communication tools available to us now….and the wide range of people who voice their opinions one more than likely will be exposed to trains of thought that make everything clear…and when that happens the shell game is over.