American politics 1976-2008?

This is a strange time period that you have chosen. I would probably have picked 1980 to 2008, the rise of conservatives in power and their destruction of the U.S. country... just kidding.

But yes, I would have picked 1900 as the start of the rise of the strong conservative influence in the U.S. with Bush and his conservative Congress as a high point for the movement.

Originally posted by hugoestr But yes, I would have picked 1900 as the start of the rise of the strong conservative influence in the U.S. with Bush and his conservative Congress as a high point for the movement.

Originally posted by Kevin [QUOTE=hugoestr] I would say the real rise of modern conservatism was in 1994 when the Republicans under the leadership of the the very conservative Newt Gingrich siezed by the Senate and the House away from the Democrats. Also as you may know the reason the Democrats suffered such a huge poltical defeat was due to Clintons very low apporval ratings at the time which were brought on by a health care plan that failed miserably due to the Administration not being able to get support for it,Also Clinton was beginning to become plauged with controversy and scandel,In addtion to a failed US-backed peacekeeping mission in Somalia which resulted in the deaths of 18 US troops.

I will respectfully disagree with you here. Reagan is a major turning point for the American conservative movement. The previous 20 years was one of Democratic dominance with the hiatus of Nixon, who rose to power due to the unpopularity of the Vietnam War and the Republicans embracing the racist segregationalists in the South; a decision which is euphemistically called, "the Southern strategy." But even Nixon was pretty liberal in many of his policies.

Reagan marks the beginning of a well organized electoral machine for the conservatives. It brings a coherent ideology and program for conservatism, which it had previously lacked. And it also marks the hardening of Republican party discipline.

From 1980s to the present, Clinton was the anomaly in what has been a solid Republican rule of the country. Clinton won thanks to an economic recession that made George H. Bush unpopular and because Ross Perot spoiled the conservative vote.

I will agree that 1994 was an important moment for the conservative movement, but it only happened thanks to Reagan.

Smart but cynic and amoral.

Gingrich is a wildcard. He is very smart, he does have some great ideas, but he has many bad ones--it is part of being creative. He also seems not that good at sensing the political winds, and sometimes makes big mistakes. After all, it is ironic that when you bring impeachment against the president, you are the one who ends up losing your job.

However, he can only take some credit for the Contract with America. The Contract with America was the result of about 25 years of work from the conservative think tanks, which to this day write policy and talking points for the Republican Party.

What I am trying to say is that the program that Gingrich wrote is the result of many decades of work from a great number of people. Gingrich, at the time, was able to tap these ideas and bring them together in that document.

I think that strategists and thinkers like Grover Norquist and Karl Rove, and the rise of the Christian theocrats have a lot to do with the recent era.

Originally posted by konstantinius I think 1984-2007 makes more sense. These are the years of GOP dominance of the Congress with the Clinton years in between. But to include Carter is a bit, well, "pistachio-like": too much effort for too little of a result PS@Kevin Why Rommel?

Edited by Kevin - 13-Aug-2007 at 12:50