The Reagan Revolution made very powerful rhetorical claims to small government and personal accountability. It also leaned very heavily on conservative ideology, making powerful rhetorical claims to religion and tradition (Nation. Flag. Bible. Gun, etc., etc.)
It has been speculated that the movement was merely using an ideology of freedom, small government and conservatism to seduce voters into voting for what was, unbeknownst to them, a special interest machine that handed out subsidies, monopolies and bailouts to large corporations.
Whether it was the massive funding Reagan got from Big Oil, or the financial deregulation that lead to the S&L crisis, the Reagan Movement was, on some levels, a front for the centralized power of big money. What amazes me is that people bought into the movement's ideology so deeply. What if Reagan was merely a politician who, like all politicians, was merely lying to uninformed voters?
By the time Bush 43 came into office, the Reagan Revolution had institutionalized its message system into a well-oiled machine. This machine channeled corporate money into conservative bromides and scare stories about illegals, baby killers, bureaucrats, gays, Soviets and terrorists. This message system had powerful financial incentives vibrating through every part of its network. Indeed, from Think Tanks to popular media (i.e., from AIE to Limbaugh and FOX News), it doled out the goods to anyone who could convince middle America that their country had been stolen.
So here is my question. Tonight the House Republicans smuggled a provision into the new Spending Bill that provides large financial institutions with bailout insurance. The current law stipulates that if large financial institutions make bad financial bets, than they must accept the consequences and pay the price for their mistakes. This new Republican provision puts the taxpayer on the hook for the bad bets of the banks. It formalizes TARP, extending it into the future as a safety net (and moral hazard).
Why are Republican news sources not reporting this?
Did the Reagan Revolution create an information bubble that has trapped well-meaning conservatives inside a false reality? When will Republicans realize that their leaders have never been conservative - and that they don't care about small government, fiscal restraint, personal accountability, tradition, borders or the Constitution.
That is to say, why are conservative voters so uniquely vulnerable to politicians?
It has been speculated that the movement was merely using an ideology of freedom, small government and conservatism to seduce voters into voting for what was, unbeknownst to them, a special interest machine that handed out subsidies, monopolies and bailouts to large corporations.
Whether it was the massive funding Reagan got from Big Oil, or the financial deregulation that lead to the S&L crisis, the Reagan Movement was, on some levels, a front for the centralized power of big money. What amazes me is that people bought into the movement's ideology so deeply. What if Reagan was merely a politician who, like all politicians, was merely lying to uninformed voters?
By the time Bush 43 came into office, the Reagan Revolution had institutionalized its message system into a well-oiled machine. This machine channeled corporate money into conservative bromides and scare stories about illegals, baby killers, bureaucrats, gays, Soviets and terrorists. This message system had powerful financial incentives vibrating through every part of its network. Indeed, from Think Tanks to popular media (i.e., from AIE to Limbaugh and FOX News), it doled out the goods to anyone who could convince middle America that their country had been stolen.
So here is my question. Tonight the House Republicans smuggled a provision into the new Spending Bill that provides large financial institutions with bailout insurance. The current law stipulates that if large financial institutions make bad financial bets, than they must accept the consequences and pay the price for their mistakes. This new Republican provision puts the taxpayer on the hook for the bad bets of the banks. It formalizes TARP, extending it into the future as a safety net (and moral hazard).
Why are Republican news sources not reporting this?
Did the Reagan Revolution create an information bubble that has trapped well-meaning conservatives inside a false reality? When will Republicans realize that their leaders have never been conservative - and that they don't care about small government, fiscal restraint, personal accountability, tradition, borders or the Constitution.
That is to say, why are conservative voters so uniquely vulnerable to politicians?
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