Although the argument can be made that Nixon was actually more liberal than conservative, it is clear by his actions that he looked to appeal to conservative voters. Some might argue that because his justices turned out to be liberal and ruled for Roe v. Wade and Brown v. Board Nixon was also liberal 11. This is untrue, as these justices were originally conservative, yet may have changed their stance due to the changing times. This can not be a fault of Nixon. Nixon stated his support for the Civil Rights Act of 1964: “At the same time, Congress also added to the impetus of desegregation by passing the Civil Rights Act of 1964, an act that as a private citizen I endorsed and supported.” 12 However, this only proves that he as a “private citizen” …show more content…
Like Nixon and Goldwater, Reagan promised to reverse the growth of government as well as committed to free enterprise and individual freedom 13. For his first executive order, Reagan abolished price controls, reduced taxes, and worked with the Federal Reserve Board to slow federal spending 14. It was very important to Reagan and conservatives everywhere that spending on nonessentials was cut. This was a characteristic of both modern and traditional conservatism. Reagan was heavy on military spending; he poured money into defense for the sake of combating communism and protecting those oppressed by the Soviet Union 15. However, this military budget was unopposed by Americans who feared the communist revolution taking place around the globe. Reagan’s policies appealed to conservatives, which helped expand support of the Republican …show more content…
He refers to awakening the "industrial giant" which means he plans to take down regulations blocking the free market 16. Reagan attempted to break down hurdles that business had to overcome through his strike of price controls and taxes. Under Reagan, the price of oil reduced by 50%, which saved consumers about $100 billion per year 17. Conservatives approved of such reductions because they helped business all over the country and most importantly rose production. With increased production and a boosted economy, the standard of living rose and Reagan became a celebrated leader. By leaning libertarian in his economic policies, Reagan appealed to conservatives everywhere and attracted new voters to the Republican Party. Later in his speech, Reagan comments on his reluctance to become involved in a conflict 18. This shows that he wants to avoid war while also having a huge military, which is another modern conservative belief. Although he was against communism, the communist war did not involve too much fighting. The need for a huge military was more of an intimidation factor as well as a comfort for those panicking about the possibility of communist attack. The federal budget, specifically the military budgets, were important to Reagan’s agenda and his supporters
This is specifically in regards to poverty and welfare. His views were very similar to the extremely influential televangelists of the time such as Jerry Falwell, who suggested that many of the more democrats and progressives of the time influenced young people “to believe that the world owes them a living. ”(DOC 4). Many of the most ardent proponents of these “New Conservative” views were religious women, who placed a lot of value on their traditional places in the household, such as Teddi Holt, who said “God, liberate us from the liberatorrs!”(DOC 6) Reagan believed that economic growth, created through tax cuts and reduced regulation, would ultimately lift people out of poverty. He opposed government programs like welfare, which he viewed as promoting dependency and discriminatory towards everyday American taxpayers, who were having their tax money going towards “welfare cheats.
The President of the United States of America in the 1980’s was none other than Ronald Reagan. Reagan is often remembered for the idea of ‘Reaganomics’, which was a set of economic policies that Reagan used in the 1980’s in order to fix the economic issues at the time. The New Right Conservatives was a group of conservatives that was against the Soviets and wanted to make economic and foreign policy changes. Reaganomics wasn’t perfect in all respects, but it certainly allowed Ronald Reagan to achieve the goals of the New Right conservatives, which were to increase tax cuts and military spending temporarily and to defeat the Soviets in the Cold War. Ronald Reagan achieved the economic goals that the New Right conservatives wanted, which was
This tax relief helped upper-class Americans. Under the Reagan Administration, the tax rate was reduced further to 28% all the while investors were investing at the most $2000 yearly in IRAs (Individual Retirement Accounts) w/o paying taxes. Republicans and conservative Democrats (boll weevils) cut $40 billion from domestic aid programs (food stamps, student loans, mass transportation), but they increased heavily in the military. Despite the cuts to aid programs, he help strengthen Social Security by increasing the amount paid, raising the age for benefits to 67, and taxing some benefits given to upper-class. The Reagan administration reduced business regulations through banks, trusts, and environmental protection, which in turn helped to make the government have a smaller role in people’s lives.
The creation of this economic system also resulted in major draw-back of government assistance, and tax lessening's; it cut social welfare and federal government entitlement. Part of his plan, Reagan created one of the largest military spending programs known to history, earning nearly 1.5 trillion dollars mostly due to his being greatly anticommunist. A branch of this, the Strategic Defense Initiative, also received much support from this financial military aid plan. President Reagan also lived under the illusion that "supply side economics" could have a positive effect on the country; this theory stated that a reduction in taxes could improve many aspects of industry. However, by cutting taxes, this also cut many of the government funds; therefore, the government was forced to take out loans which led to our great nation being in very deep
He tried to use trickle-down economics which creates tax cuts for the wealthy and would allow them to spend and invest more. This spending would spark the economy and create new jobs. Reagan believed it would generate even more revenue for the federal government. Congress was not confident in this policy, but did pass cuts during his presidency. “The top marginal tax rate on individual income was reduced from 70 percent to 28 percent.
During his campaign, Reagan was outspoken with his conservative which prompted his pundits to name his presidency the Reagan Revolution. He had the ability to transform his victory to legislative achievements which testified to his skills. Many compared his charisma and leadership in his campaign to Roosevelt and Reagan made it a priority to compare himself to the New Deal President. During his Republican National Convention speech, he wanted delegates to continue the promise of the Roosevelt in his speech, “eliminate the unnecessary function of government.” Reagan’s comparison to Roosevelt fueled his desire to a leader like Roosevelt, exploiting the modern presidency and move the United States to “rendezvous with destiny.”
Another reason to the success of Reagan’s
Paul Conrad, an editor for the LA times, illustrated Ronald Reagan’s changes through a plane and signifying all that had been done in order to reduce the budget for basic needs such as medicare, legal service, and other social services (2). During this time, many people, including the New Right Conservatives, complained that the government was spending too much on many things including student loans, social security, and various other social services. When the government “decreased” spending, they also cut off funds for essential necessities such as aid to cities and education, and instead used that money to pay for the military, as demonstrated with “medicare” funding being used for the nose of the plane. Through this, it showed that Ronald Reagan failed to decrease spending, as his policies simply shifted the government spending from social services to the military. In addition, the LA times also depicted Ronald Reagan as a cowboy constantly firing at either like or do not like for policies such as civic rights, federal aid to education, and other social welfare programs (5).
Reagan stood firm because he was sure of the outcome; Reagan believed that the faltering Soviet economy persisted by high prices of oil exportation, gold and other commodities. Therefore, to end with inflation was not only vital to the health of the US economy, but also necessary to defeat communism. The economic achievements were the most important in the presidency of Ronald Reagan. When he assumed the presidential position, the US economy suffered from many problems, including slow growth, high inflation, rising unemployment and higher interest rates than ever before. Economists thought it would take decades to fix many problems and that the political cost of doing so was impossible for a democracy.
He did this to reduce the money spent so that we would be able to benefit from it. Reagan did make a lot of changes that really helped the people better their money problems.
Reagan knew that they would run out of money in some type of form and fail trying to compete with America's Free Enterprise
Republican President Ronald Reagan is known for ending the Cold War and also for increasing the USA’s national debt. This extended essay aims to investigate why the debt after the cold war was so high. Ronald Reagan was nearly killed in an assassination attempt, which resulted in many politicians to feel sympathetic towards Reagan. This would have resulted in an advantageous position for Reagan to pass his bills.
Unemployment rates began to increase. Over time, Reagan had increased taxes 11 times, mainly on the middle class. When Reagan had left office, he had tripled the national debt of United States. This had affected the United States and led to several issues later on. This is the reason Reaganomics had both aided some and destroyed others.
The increase in military spending cut in taxes, Reagan said that he would balance the budget. He did this through cutting benefits for the poorer United States citizens. His administration cut one hundred forty billion dollars in social services while increasing the military budget by one hundred eighty one dollars. As a result, three hundred fifty thousand United States citizens lost social security disability benefits. During the Bush Administrations, the United States took an active military role in the Gulf War, resulting in greater military spending that would be better used helping the suffering American families that were struggling with the cut in social
These factors of production are what the administration believed would benefit everyone. “Reagan reshaped the nation’s agenda and political language more effectively than any president since Franklin D. Roosevelt” (Foner, 1036). Citizens could tell that Reagan truly wanted to strengthen