Prof. Faris,
I read your article with interest, thanks to a post from Facebook friend.
I think the Movement Conservatives go back further than Reagan. He inherited the mess and pulled it together after the 1964 debacle of the Goldwater Presidential run.
I would posit however, that this Conservatism goes all the way back to the Civil War when Reconstruction was abandoned and the South was left to its' own devices to do as they pleased with the now freed slaves. The Civil Rights movement of the 1960's and LBJ's Civil Rights Act and Voting Rights Act slammed up against Southern politics and the Dixiecrats left the Democratic Party for the Republican Party. What we see now with the current Republican Presidential Candidate ilk is the natural culmination of that history. We'll see how it plays out, but I'm hoping the public gets engaged and goes to the polls for the Democrats. However, given that this nation has an average rate of 25% post high school education and even fewer with a post-graduate degree and the antipathy towards actual thinking I'm not holding my breath.
Prof. Faris,
I read your article with interest, thanks to a post from Facebook friend.
I think the Movement Conservatives go back further than Reagan. He inherited the mess and pulled it together after the 1964 debacle of the Goldwater Presidential run.
I would posit however, that this Conservatism goes all the way back to the Civil War when Reconstruction was abandoned and the South was left to its' own devices to do as they pleased with the now freed slaves. The Civil Rights movement of the 1960's and LBJ's Civil Rights Act and Voting Rights Act slammed up against Southern politics and the Dixiecrats left the Democratic Party for the Republican Party. What we see now with the current Republican Presidential Candidate ilk is the natural culmination of that history. We'll see how it plays out, but I'm hoping the public gets engaged and goes to the polls for the Democrats. However, given that this nation has an average rate of 25% post high school education and even fewer with a post-graduate degree and the antipathy towards actual thinking I'm not holding my breath.