/tag/reaganism

2 quotes tagged 'reaganism'

Collapse Now and Avoid the Rush
Author: John Michael Greer
Publisher: Founders House (2015)
58

That movement [towards sustainability] was backed by a loose coalition with diverse and often conflicting goals, and it faced strident opposition from a large sector of the public, but it had the support of government officials who were worried about the price of dependence on Middle Eastern oil, and who also felt the need of politicians to appear to be doing something about the crisis du jour, which at that point was the high cost of energy. Some members of both parties opposed the movement, though others on both sides of the aisle backed it; some corporate interests opposed it, while others recognized that alternative energy just might turn out to be the next big thing. The entire movement, however, was based all along on the gamble that the American public would be willing to tighten its belt and plunge into the transition to an ecotechnic society even when the bills started coming due in earnest. \n On the other side of the game was a coterie of Republican politicians and strategists who guessed that when push came to shove, the American public would crumple. When a chapter of accidents put their candidate into the White House, they bet the future of their party on that guess, and won. The election that mattered here wasn't Reagan's relatively narrow victory in 1980, but his landslide in 1984, when most of the nation registered its approval of a policy shift that spared them the costs of the transition to sustainability. It was after the latter election that the axe came down on funding for appropriate tech, and Woodsy Owl's iconic 'Give a hoot - don't pollute!' ads vanished from the airwaves.


Hot, Flat, and Crowded
Author: Thomas L. Friedman
Publisher: Farrar Straus & Giroux (2008)
0

Reaganism, which concluded with the collapse of America's mortal enemy, the Soviet Union, ushered in a period of history in which more and more public officials denigrated government and offered painless bromides for prosperity.  The market was always right.  Government was always wrong.  And any policy proposal that involved asking the American people to do something difficult - to save more, drive more fuel-efficient cars, study harder, or be better parents - was 'off the table.'  You could nut utter such phrases (so they claimed) and expect to be elected to any high office in America.