[COPY] The Reagan Revolution

From Paradise to Purgatory

This is the first in a series of posts examining what I consider to be the most destructive revolution in American history. Far more damaging than any that preceded it, the so-called Reagan Revolution marked the beginning of the end of America’s experiment in representative self-governance and its global role as an inspiration for those yearning to be free of dictatorship. It set the country on a course toward oligarchic rule, where wealth - not citizenship - became the currency of power. And that course has now been successfully run.

The doe-eyed romanticism of old-guard Republicans aside, the architects of the Reagan Revolution were explicit in their intentions. The country they sought to build is precisely the one in which we live today. They sought to dismantle the economic foundation of the American middle class, consolidate power in the hands of the ultra-wealthy, and gut the safeguards that had once ensured a more equitable distribution of prosperity.

The vanguard of the assault was a cadre of firebrands - useful idiots - financed by oligarchs to “burn it all down.” Among them was a history professor with the nickname of a small lizard, whose presence alone should have been a warning of the agenda at play. They were not interested in governance or improving the lives of their constituents. Theirs was the bullying ideology of the schoolyard, a zero-sum game in which true believers were allies and all others were enemies.

Paradise, Hard Won, Was Once Here

In the five decades before 1980, American society had given rise to one of the most remarkable creations in human history: a vast and expanding middle class. By that pivotal year, over 60% of Americans could legitimately claim middle-class status. The American Dream had become reality: accessible education, a single-income household affording a comfortable suburban home, steady upward mobility, and the promise that each generation would fare better than the last. The United States was a beacon of economic security and opportunity. It all seemed permanent.

Then came the Reagan Revolution, and with it, the slow unraveling of that dream.

The Disease That Was Never Eradicated

The struggle against oligarchy in America is not new. Since the country’s inception, there have been those who sought to restrict democracy, to ensure that wealth - not citizenship - determined political power. In the early 19th century, John C. Calhoun championed the interests of wealthy plantation owners, arguing that those with greater wealth deserved a greater say in government. This ideology helped propel the nation into the Civil War. The defeat of the Confederacy ended slavery, but the ambitions of the wealthy to rule unchecked merely went into hibernation, waiting for a new opportunity.

The Rise of the Robber Barons

The late 19th and early 20th centuries saw the emergence of the robber barons - powerful industrialists and financiers who amassed fortunes by monopolizing industries, exploiting workers, and bending the government to their will. Some had sympathies with European fascist movements, viewing democracy as an impediment to their control. Eventually, voters fought back, electing champions who broke up monopolies and restored balance through antitrust legislation. For a time, democracy flourished again. But, as before, the oligarchs were not defeated - only temporarily restrained.

Nixon’s Premature Attempt

By the 1960s, American society had reached an unprecedented level of social and economic mobility. Education thrived, civil rights advanced, environmental protections were enacted, and government functioned as a guardian of public welfare. But the forces of oligarchy had not disappeared. The Nixon administration attempted to reverse the gains of the New Deal and concentrate power within the executive branch. Watergate exposed the corruption of these efforts and forced Nixon from office, but the dream of an imperial presidency and corporate dominance endured. The Reagan Revolution would complete what Nixon had only begun.

Then Came the Revolution

In 1980, Americans were seduced by a charlatan. They surrendered the American Dream for an illusion, exchanging gold for lead - liberty for indentured servitude. The Reagan Revolution was the vehicle through which the oligarchs finally cemented their rule.

Reagan’s first great success was dismantling the public’s faith in government itself. “Government is not the solution to our problem; government is the problem.” With that simple declaration, Reagan began a systematic campaign to weaken the institutions that protected ordinary Americans. Labor unions were broken, social safety nets were slashed, and financial regulations were gutted. Wealth flooded upward, while wages stagnated, and the middle class began to shrink.

The redistribution of wealth that followed was not a byproduct of failed policy - it was the goal. The Reagan administration, with its tax cuts for the rich and deregulation of corporate America, facilitated the greatest transfer of wealth from the middle and working classes to the ultra-wealthy in modern history. Billionaires and corporate interests seized control of the political system, ensuring that their dominance would be permanent.

The End of American Exceptionalism

The transformation of the United States from a republic to an oligarchy is nearly complete. The institutions that once protected the common citizen have been hollowed out. The so-called opposition party - the Democrats - has long since abandoned any meaningful resistance. Castrated and impotent, they now function as little more than caretakers of the status quo, offering only the illusion of choice.

The Reagan Revolution was not an accident or a mistake - it was a meticulously designed project to strip power from the many and hand it to the few. And it has succeeded beyond its architects’ wildest dreams. The final vestiges of representative self-governance are fading, and the nation is slipping into the rule of a permanent aristocracy.

This is not hyperbole. This is the end of American exceptionalism. The belief that the United States was uniquely immune to oligarchic rule has been proven false. The warning signs were always there, for those willing to see them. As Orwell wrote:

"If you want a picture of the future, imagine a boot stamping on a human face - forever."

And so, we arrive at the present, where the great battle is not being fought with muskets or ballots, but with the soft tread of a billionaire’s loafer in the halls of government and stamping on the human face of the American citizen.

Future Posts will focus on areas where the Reagan Revolution successfully worked to reduce American citizens to indentured servitude, accelerate the upward transfer of wealth, gain complete control of the government, replace Madisonian representative self-governance with oligarchic rule, and to dismantle the programs that were put in place during the years from FDR to JFK – to create a government of, by, and for, the wealthy and politically powerful.

These are no longer the times that try men’s souls. The verdict is in and the jury has been dismissed.

© Earl Smith