A simple question. Did they always have some vested interests in working together yet appear as red vs blue or were they separate then slowly coalesse over the years into becoming a unified deep state?
You're viewing a single comment thread. View all comments, or full comment thread.
Comments (32)
sorted by:
The last proper republican was Herbert Hoover. The party lost its spine in the following decades.
You have to understand one thing: Eisenhower was not a Republican. He was Eisenhower. Now, he did believe old guard Republican things (ie, he wasn't a racist democrat) but economically he was a New Dealer.
Nixon was probably the smartest of the Cold War presidents when it came to foreign affairs, but he should have handled inflation by keeping the dollar peg. He knew NOTHING about economics and trusted the wrong people.
By the time you get to Reagan, the party has already been transformed. Reagan was just a tough talking sock puppet.
Donald Trump, republican, was a 90s democrat.
Ronald Reagan, republican, was a 50s democrat.
It's tiresome to realize people have been propping up false republican saviors longer than I've been alive. And I don't even hate Trump.
Not to mention Reagan was complicit in something nefarious, given that CIA Director Bush was his VP.
Trump and Reagan really are the perfect examples of how todays Republicans are yesterdays Democrats.
Whether or not someone idolizes Reagan is a great test to see if he is just repeating talking points or has actually thought about what is going on.
One guy who doesn't get enough shit is Jack Kemp.
If you were to look at all the things that suck about the current congressional republicans, he would be patient zero.
Rush Limbaugh idolized Reagan to the point of calling him Ronaldus Magnus.
There, fixed that for ya. Hoover portrayed himself as a conservative, and was portrayed by the Left as a rabid, uncaring man... but a lot of his policies and people were kept on by FDR. Kinda like how a lot of people in the Dubya government were kept on by Obama.
Meanwhile, Coolidge did a lot of radical things, and was vilified for them. Every department in the Executive Branch got a 10% budget cut per year, and all office supplies were rationed (to keep people from stealing them and selling them). The end result was ostracism to the point that lifetime Federal employees quit rather than work for Coolidge.
Your grievance against Hoover's response to depression is understandable but blind to magnitudes.
Yes, Hoover did create many of the programs that FDR rolled with. But under Hoover's government they were all very small.
I understand that there are some people, probably even yourself, who adopt a "size matters not" attitude with regards to government programs, but, well, that's irrational absolutism, and we're never going to agree on that.
The more I learn about Reagan the more I dislike him especially since most conservatives worship him.
Hoover was the first director of the FBI and a corrupt faggot.
Wrong Hoover. You're thinking J.Edgar Hoover.
Herbert Hoover was one of the founders of Consolidated Zinc (now Rio Tinto Group), the Commerce Secretary who standardized radio, and then President.
It could be argued that Hoover was the first conservative shock jock. Guy loved giving radio speeches, and he was chummy with all the radio execs during FDR's government. Even with all the blame FDR threw at him for the depression, if Hoover wanted a radio address, he could get it. It was partly why the GOP was in such shambles during FDR, because Hoover was (much like Trump today) just so much better at being a public figure than anyone they could find to actually run.
"Blessed are the young for they shall inherit the national debt." -HH