HIST 173 Lecture Notes - Lecture 17: Robert Bork, Originalism, Glasnost
Document Summary
The election of ronald reagan in 1980 was an important turning point in modern us history. It also marked the beginning of a new era in which conservatives would set the terms of political debate. Reagan was crucial to this shift in political discourse, attracting new kinds of people to the gop and reshaping the nation"s agenda more profoundly than any president since fdr. But governing proved difficult, and spirited political opposition forced reagan to compromise on many fronts. This was a revival of the policies the gop had followed in the 1920s, in which wealth and prosperity would trickle down to the majority below. While succeeded in getting a substantial tax cut, tilted in favor of the wealthy, through. Congress, reagan was less successful promoting deregulation and reductions in spending. But he cut the budgets of regulatory agencies and put pro-business conservatives in charge of them, ensuring that they acted in ways favorable to the business community.
