Regan's Revenge

“Regan’s Revenge”, is the title of a very insightful essay published in June 1994 by historian Alan Brinkley. For generations American conservative leaders – from Herbert Hoover to Barry Goldwater had appealed for support by warning of the dangers Government programs posed to individual freedom. But attacking Government programs failed to topple the liberal order. Almost everyone had a stake in some of them. The biggest and most expensive programs – Social Security, Medicare, veteran’s benefits and others – had the strongest support. During the 1970’s, however, certain antigovernment conservatives figured out that attacking taxes – and the politicians and ‘bureaucrats’ who spent them in supposedly ‘wasteful’ ways – would work much better than frontal assaults on government programs. Conservatives seeking to defeat liberals and roll back government programs could promise huge tax cuts and starve existing public undertakings of resources…the crusade went national as Ronald Reagan made tax cuts, along with attacks on ‘welfare’ for the poor, the center piece of his successful drive for the presidency… With no money to throw at problems, federal rules were thrown at them instead…the future of inclusive social policies, including healh reform, depends on americans coming to believe that governemnt can offer minimally intrusive solutions to the heartfealt needs of individuals and families. - Theda Skocpol, “Boomerang”