Conservative Resurgence in the United States in Reagan Era Essay

Conservative Resurgence in the United States in Reagan Era - Essay Example This essay presents one of the best examples of the analysis of the reasons behind the rapid shift in policies of the US government, following the election of the President Reagan. It also aims to critically assess the effectiveness of the new conservative policies, employed by the Reagan administration. Prior to the 1970s, conservatism was not really an issue of much concern and republicans could only ascend to power by choosing a moderate president like Nixon or Eisenhower. However, the rise of conservatism in the 1970s through 1980s was basically a response to many different situations both in this period and in the earlier years of the 1960s. It was generally felt that liberals had exceeded limits and taken things a bit too far. As a consequence there was a general call for a resurgence of conservative policies which subsequently followed. As a result various policies came into play on the social, political and economic fronts. It is certainly imperative to realize the manner in which conservatism resurged in the 1970s and 1980s. Several major events in much of this period actually contributed to the highly conservative climate that was thereby realized. In the United States, the Reagan era was characterized by several cuts in the social programs and major anti-regulation policies that were geared towards most American companies. On the economic front the 1970s had some of the worst recession since the Great Depression and some of these conditions actually recurred in the 1980s . In this regard, there were various calls and campaigns as people sought for the reemergence of the conservative ways of operations in order to address the situations. In the same way, the hard economic times made people to adapt to the more conservative spending habits which subsequently contributed to the conservative resurgence. In a way, the 1970s and 1980s were characterized by several events in the American situation. The rise of conservatism was basically a reaction to the several events of that period which forced the people to turn away from some of the more liberal policies of the time. The economic stagflation that plagued the United States had many effects on the people. The Vietnam War had many political and economic effects on the people as they felt it was basically a loss. In this regard, most people began turning away from the liberal policies of the Democratic Party and turned into republican policies as was realized in the 1981 presidential elections when Reagan w as elected. The Reagan era nevertheless became unpopular on certain grounds due the various policies that put into place address the situation. In foreign policy, the United States sold arms to Iran and used much of the money to support the left wing rebels in Nicaragua. However, this was in violation of the congressional budget authority and the Boland Agreement. This act caused a much drop in the popularity of Reagan despite the many economic reforms the administration had put into place. Earlier on during Carters administration, the Iran hostage crisis was a symbol of the failed presidency of Carter due to the then unpreparedness of the United States in addressing emergency situations. The republican administrations of Nixon and Ford were majorly characterized by conservative policies especially in economic intervention. This was mainly achieved through the use of price and wage controls. However Ford’s decisions of pushing the detente policy with the Soviet Union did not go down well with most conservatives. Following Carter’s election in 1974, different thoughts emerged on the whole subject on conservatism. In a way, the Southern Baptists felt that Carter was too liberal while the mainstream of the Democratic Party felt he was too conservative and was thus incapable of addressing American foreign affairs programs. In any