Defeat of Trump Was Reaganism in Reverse


One of the most interesting thing I remember about the rise of Ronald Reagan was an observation about idealism. While business interests had long campaigned for lower taxes and less regulation, Reagan used words about idealism to promote these ideas. A shining country on a hill, the individual is the strength of our country, etc., was his schtick. He was really only about lower taxes and less regulation but use of words from idealism caught liberals off guard.

Now, right wing religious zealots and alarmed because the secular left is using idealism just like they have done since forever. The right does not like it. The link says critical thinking taught in schools today is more dangerous than secularism because it teaches equality and fairness as a moral value. 

The Governor here is Iowa is an enthusiastic Trump supporter and expresses herself much like Trump. When unaccompanied minors were piling up at the border and there was talk about distributing them to various states for school and safety reporters asked the Governor if she would spear head an effort to take some children into the state.

The context of this needs a bit of explanation. Decades ago the Republican Governor Bob Ray was an advocate of welcoming refugees to Iowa. He said our hearts are big and we can make a home for people from around the world. This set the stage for a large international community and, so far as I know, positive economic development. The second and third generations of these immigrants are prominent leaders. 

The current Governor's reply was, "No, we will not take any children because we're not responsible for this problem." Liberals created a problem and they can solve it she continued. This was a big departure from the tone set by previous governors, Republican and Democrat. She would have been better off to frame her decline in some form of idealism. For example, she could have said the State of Iowa thinks the children are better off near the border where they might be retrieved by parents and her state will support good treatment of them there. Like Trump, she expresses only settling of scores over political grievances. 

It seems to me Trump suffered from the inability to understand and express idealism. Governor Reynold's poll numbers have fallen since her remarks about refugee children.

Comments

  1. Matt NoahApril 23, 2021 at 7:26 PM

    Isn't it time to bring up abortion? How many babies are you responsible for having killed over your lifetime?

    ReplyDelete
  2. Jon LindgrenApril 23, 2021 at 9:12 PM

    Matt "How many babies are you responsible for having killed over your lifetime."

    Good question. I don't know. I have given money to lots of abortion rights groups like Planned Parenthood. I have given money to the fund in Fargo to pay for abortions needed by women without money to pay for one. Some of this money might have gone for administrative needs and not directly to individual abortions.

    The Turnaway Project, the only long term study of women who had or wanted but could not have abortions, found it common for women who had first time pregnancies ending in abortion to have babies later on when their lives were more stable. The women often said the abortion made it possible to have these later children when their lives were better. So, if I paid indirectly for abortions should I not get credit for later successful births that likely would never have happened unless my abortion provided a better life?

    I know your thought pattern is simple: abortion, bad, no abortion, good. Thinking more deeply about abortion rights and a wholistic approach to women's lives is not something we will expect from you.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Bryan KApril 28, 2021 at 4:45 AM

      The correct answer to this question, Jon, is "zero".

      Delete

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