The thought occurred to me that the true architects of the GOP control of government is not our current president--or a reaction to the pecadillos of our most recent president before him, but Ronald Wilson Reagan and Jimmy Carter. Carter is to blame for energizing the evangelical base. Although they are completely opposed to his brand of politics, Carter woke the beast during his 1977 campaign. Those who were old enough to understand, cannot forget "I have lusted in my heart." Confessions of a dangerous mind. Reagan truly had the evil genius of foresight--destroy the unions and decimate the Democrats' strongest base. So this two-pronged attack on the party of Jefferson, first, coopting the energized evangelicals and second, emasculating the labor and trade unions' political gravitas, has achieved the purpose of reducing the democrats to a minority party. The great struggle ahead for the conservatives is trying to hold together their coalition. It's tenuous at best. They have the gays to unite against--and that's a huge issue, though probably not as important to the evangelicals as getting Roe v. Wade reversed.
However--the cycle turns. As the corporations garner more power, and more jobs go off-shore, discontent will fulminate. If they're not careful, the GOP could inflict real class warfare in the United States. When people have nothing--they have nothing to lose.
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