Introduction
Ronald Reagan’s American presidency was in so many ways similar to Franklin Roosevelt’s. Just like Roosevelt’s, Reagan’s presidency was characterized by grandiose ideas that not only substantially affected the respective political party, but their power and influence caused so much discomfort amongst their rivals. Their international influence on worldly matters was great and their innovative ideas in matters of the federal government redefined the role of government on the citizenry. (Oakes, 301)
Reagan’s revolution is associated with the changes that took place in the United States of America when Reagan became the president. The country experienced a radical change in politics with the introduction of liberal markets and American conservatism. It’s during the leadership of Reagan that the Soviet Union fall and the cold war was ended and this elevated the U.S making her the only superpower country globally. The changes came with many prospects from increased wealth and political control to elevation of capitalism, economy and liberal market (Oakes, 388).
His leadership skills were totally different from those of his predecessor Carter in that he used to delegate some of great working responsibilities to some few faithful staff which is contrary to Carter’s form of leadership who used to do all this work alone. He reduced interest-group influence in decision as this increased government’s spending, political overload and brought inconsistent advancement in liberal causes. During this period of reformation, the country experienced considerable tax reduction, a slowing of the increase in spending on the country’s plans and a high increase in security expenses whose main aim was to realign the country’s main public-policy priorities, a highly difficult responsibility in the age of political instability. Reagan revolution improved the American financial status for a substantial; period of time and therefore Reagan’s revolution brought a lot of changes to the American people and the nation in general (Oakes, 389).
Reagan Revolution
During the Reagan revolution so many changes took place. First, wealth creation increased tremendously with third of the population becoming rich and those who were rich accumulating more wealth which is totally contrary to the past leadership of Carter. The period also experienced increased job opportunities with over nineteen million new jobs created, improved hi-tech, exceptional wealth and many people became proud of their own country. The reformation also led to the dismissal of the lofty paying industrialization employments as companies were given tax breaks to shift their businesses to foreign countries. During the period, the number of millionaires increased until the term became essentially insignificant and by 1988 the number of decamillionares was roughly one hundred thousand. In 1987, the stock market grew exceedingly and the boom continued throughout the 1980s (Oakes, 391).
Despite the progress made by the nation during the revolution, critics indicate that the nation became the largest debtor, an argument that the conservatives claimed didn’t really matter. The debt increased from $269 billion in 1986 to $368 billion in 1987, the greatest miscalculation ever done globally. “The distribution of wealth was also in question as the nation experienced the greatest gap between the poor and rich by 1984 as compared to any other industrialized country globally” (Oakes, 393). The concentration of wealth to a few people during Reagan’s reign was that the primary source of lower and middle class wages that had stagnated throughout in 1986. “It was during Reagan’ time that unearned income as interest earned, dividends, rents and capital gains were at the peak in relation to salaries and wages as a source of wealth and rising financial disparity” (Oakes, 391). The income for men who were working in industries fell due to companies moving to foreign countries when they received tax incentives to operate outside the country. In GAO’s 1988 report, it was evident that there were certain abuses of salaries, health and safety laws and increase in child labor across many US regions. This was attributed to the trade deregulation. As income dropped, the number of people who are financially stable dropped drastically in the 1980s.A city like New York had the highest rate of poverty, with highly unskilled and illiterate population, abuse of drugs and increased apathy. During the Reagan revolution women were also the highest losers receiving very low wages and many marriages also broke by the end of 1989.Apart from the above shortcomings of the Reagan’s revolution, labor recruitment procedure also changed with many companies employing workers on temporary basis rather than on the permanent basis and this led to the underpayment of workers due to lack of organized workers’ union to fight for their rights (Oakes, 392).
How did the Reagan presidency change the nature of American politics?
Ronald Reagan restructured the country’s economy and re-established America’s dominance in global affairs. He has cut price increases and national spending. He has liberalized business in the American land; he has also dealt with waste, abuse and fraud in the government. His leadership revived prospect in the financial growth of the country. He has as well rebuilt the nation’s military. He as well eliminated communism in the Caribbean and the Soviet Union collapsed during his reign. Reagan’s tax cut plan was aimed at increasing financial growth and together with a sharp reduction in government spending would stabilize the budget. The Reagan’s revolution widened the rivalry between the democrats and republicans. The republicans now believe in the preventive abortion liberties, enormous defense spending, reduced taxes, lean governments and stern punishment to those who abuse the flag, a policy which was employed by Reagan during his political era. “The democrats on the hand disagree with death penalty, support fairer taxes, lower defense spending, are pro-choice on abortion and support national health system and believe in affirmative discrimination guidelines. The republicans’ take on the above issues is directly the opposite of the democrats’ policies. Republicans support the supply side money matters and the trickle down effect which entails low state spending and huge incentives to large companies” (Oakes, 394). The democrats on the other hand support the demand side financial matters. The above differences came as a result Reagan’s revolution program. Reagan’s revolution has greatly influenced political operations in the United States of America. In his foreign policy, Reagan succeeded in ending the cold war peacefully and in increasing the military spending by improving the machinery used in the armed services (Oakes, 399).
Conclusion
Reagan’s revolution was therefore a change to the United States of America and made the Americans feel proud of their own country. The revolution shaped the political system of the country raising differences between the democrats and the republicans. Reagan revolution gave the Americans confidence in the government‘s decision to harmonize the executive and the legislature in handling domestic matters as they saw this lead to effective handling of the problems facing the United States of America. We can therefore conclude that Reagan’s revolution succeeded in bringing changes to the country though it had some minor failures. (Oakes, 401)
Work Cited
Oakes, James, et al. Of the People: A History of the United States. Volume II; Since 1865, Oxford University Press. 2010. P.385-401.