Wednesday is the thirty-sixth anniversary of the seizure of the United States embassy in Tehran, Iran. Moreover, it is the thirty-fifth anniversary of what Washington Monthly blogger D.R. Tucker calls “one of the great tragedies in American history”: the election of Ronald Reagan as president. (The two events are, of course, related.)
Tucker asserted in a Sunday post that “Reagan’s election nearly destroyed this country” and commented, “Sometimes you have to wonder if the folks who cast their ballot for Reagan…really knew what they were doing. Did they realize what sort of ideology they would inflict upon this country and world over the course of the next thirty-five years? Did they understand that they were, in effect, voting to hold back the hopes and diminish the dreams of their children and grandchildren?”
From Tucker’s post (bolding added):
November 4 should be a day of mourning.
Wednesday marks the thirty-fifth anniversary of one of the great tragedies in American history, a moment of indelible shame, a choice that harmed so many in this country and around the world: the defeat of President Jimmy Carter at the hands of right-wing former California Governor Ronald Reagan…
…Reagan’s election nearly destroyed this country…
Reagan’s economic agenda literally took from the poor and gave to the rich. His race-baiting on the 1980 campaign trail and his demonization of civil rights as president laid the foundation for reckless Republican rhetoric on race during the Obama era. His illegal wars in Central America and his irresponsible invasion of Grenada served as the model for George W. Bush’s Iraq misadventure. His scorn of environmental concerns put us on the painful path to a climate crisis.
Sometimes you have to wonder if the folks who cast their ballot for Reagan on that horrible November night really knew what they were doing. Did they realize what sort of ideology they would inflict upon this country and world over the course of the next thirty-five years? Did they understand that they were, in effect, voting to hold back the hopes and diminish the dreams of their children and grandchildren?...
…Think about how much stronger we would have been if Carter had been given the honor and the privilege of a second term. Think about the tragedy of November 4, 1980…and ask yourself: are you better off than you were thirty-five years ago?
