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Ronald Reagan and CONSERVATISM [APUSH Review Unit 9 Topic 2] Period 9: 1980-Present

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    Well, hey there and welcome back
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    to Heimler's History and, furthermore,
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    welcome to the first topic video of Unit
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    9 of the AP US History curriculum.
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    [INHALES] Mmm,
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    we are so close to the end.
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    Can you smell it?
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    Anyway, Unit 9 covers the time period
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    from 1980 to roughly the present.
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    So, this video is about the resurgence
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    of conservatism in America,
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    and the crowning achievement
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    of that movement was
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    the election of Ronald Reagan.
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    So, if you're ready to get them brain cows
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    milked very conservatively,
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    then let's get to it.
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    So, in this video I'm just aiming to do one thing:
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    explain the causes and effects
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    of continuing policy debates about the
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    role of the federal government over time.
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    And just as a reminder,
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    as we're getting closer to AP exam time,
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    you might wanna have a look
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    at my APUSH Ultimate Review Packet,
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    which has everything you need to get an A
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    in your class and a five
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    It is so tasty, it is
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    so juicy, have a look.
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    Okay, so this resurgence of conservatism
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    did not happen in a vacuum because
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    in nearly all cases, conservatives
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    of any size cannot fit into a vacuum.
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    Nailed it.
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    Anyway, the conservative movement really
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    began with some of the events we talked
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    about in the last unit,
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    starting with the 1964 presidential
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    campaign of Barry Goldwater who gave
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    a name to the movement,
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    namely The New Right.
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    And thanks to all the sorrows
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    of the Democratic presidency
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    of Jimmy Carter, the conservatives
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    would have an easy time unseating him.
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    On Carter's watch,
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    the nation dealt with the economic turmoil
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    of stagflation and then there was the Iran
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    hostage crisis, and then the cherry on top
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    was the longstanding energy crisis due
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    to Middle Eastern oil exporters
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    cutting off the supply to the US.
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    So, in the 1980 election,
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    here comes Ronald Reagan to save the day.
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    Reagan was a former actor and, thus, was
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    very savvy with televised media
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    and, therefore, came off very likable.
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    And Reagan was essentially the embodiment
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    of the three prongs of attack that The
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    New Right had been developing for years.
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    First, there was Cold War conservatism
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    which desired to resist the spread
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    of communism abroad, and we'll talk
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    more about this in the next video.
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    Second, conservatives of the New Right
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    described themselves as
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    pro-business economically.
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    This meant that they wanted to roll back
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    the regulations that liberal
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    administrations had put on big businesses
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    and then decrease corporate taxes
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    and create an economic environment
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    in which big business could flourish.
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    Third was the moral
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    and religious prong of attack.
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    As I mentioned in the last unit,
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    conservatives were pooping their modest
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    pants over all the cultural upheaval
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    occurring in the '60s and '70s.
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    You had the counterculture movement,
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    women's liberation, Roe versus Wade,
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    and the gay liberation movement, just
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    to name a few, and all of this felt
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    to the conservatives like an attack
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    on their traditional values.
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    And so, with Ronald Reagan at their head,
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    The New Right won a massive
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    victory in the election of 1980.
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    Reagan won 489 electoral votes compared
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    to Carter's 49 electoral votes.
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    And so, with all the context I've just laid
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    out for you, it won't be a surprise
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    for you to hear that many historians
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    understand the election of Ronald Reagan
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    as a large-scale rejection of all
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    the social changes that occurred
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    in the previous couple of decades.
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    Now, let's talk about some of Reagan's
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    policies and how they achieved
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    the aims of The New Right.
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    First let's talk about Reaganomics,
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    and hey, you gotta respect the kind
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    of chutzpah that drives a man to rename
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    an entire field of study after himself.
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    Anyway, the more accurate term
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    for Reagan's economic policies
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    was supply side economics.
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    The idea here is that American prosperity
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    will be achieved through tax cuts
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    and decreased federal spending.
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    If those two things happen,
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    then the idea is that there would be more
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    investment in the private sector
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    which would lead to an increase
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    in productivity and jobs.
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    And if you're listening carefully,
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    you can hear that this is a fundamental
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    rejection of the more liberal Keynesian
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    economics which dominated American
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    economics throughout a big chunk
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    of the 20th century,
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    and it argued that prosperity was achieved
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    through increased government spending.
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    Reagan argued that if you get
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    the government out of the economy,
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    then businesses would flourish
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    and that prosperity would
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    trickle down to everyone below.
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    So, to this end, a conservative Congress
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    passed the Economic Recovery Act of 1981,
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    which cut income taxes by 25%
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    over the next three years.
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    It also provided for cuts in corporate
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    income taxes, capital gains taxes,
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    and inheritance taxes.
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    And, in case, you don't know what
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    any of those are, don't worry.
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    All you really need to know is that these
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    are taxes that the very
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    wealthy have to contend with.
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    And so, it's enough to know
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    that, in general,
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    the wealthy disproportionately benefited
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    from those Reagan-era tax cuts.
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    And that makes sense
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    according to Reaganomics.
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    If the top tier are prosperous, then that
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    prosperity will trickle down to others.
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    Before you go canceling Reagan over that,
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    you should know that such a thing did kind
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    of happen in the prosperity of the 1920s,
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    so it's not without precedent.
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    But I should mention that while Reagan
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    worked hard to cut federal spending,
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    it really depends on what kind
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    of federal spending you're talking about.
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    His administration did cut federal
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    spending on welfare programs like food
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    stamps and public transportation,
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    and that saved the federal
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    budget about $40 billion.
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    But here's where I tell you
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    that Ronald Reagan did enjoy getting
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    the federal wallet out and spending metric
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    butt loads of government money, just as
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    long as that money was
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    spent on the US military.
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    While he saved 40 billion on food stamps,
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    he simultaneously racked up 150 billion
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    in military spending over
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    the course of his two terms.
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    So, when I say that Reagan wanted
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    to decrease federal spending,
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    it really depends on the kind of federal
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    spending you're talking about.
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    And with this kind of spending,
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    the federal budget began running a 200
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    billion to 300 billion dollar deficit a year.
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    And with that kind of deficit,
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    that meant that any new talk about social
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    programs to aid the welfare of lower-income
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    Americans was really off the table.
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    And furthermore, deregulation was a key
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    tenet in Reagan's economic policy.
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    Remember, by Reagan's reckoning,
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    the private sector was king, and anything
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    he could do to get the stinking
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    government out of it was a win.
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    He led the charge on reducing regulations
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    on the auto industry by lowering standards
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    of car emissions and safety regulations.
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    Additionally, Reagan's administration
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    opened federal lands for coal mining
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    and lumber extraction and also opened
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    offshore waters for oil drilling.
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    Remember, there was a big push
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    for environmental regulations in the few
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    decades prior to 1980,
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    and so Reagan was like,
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    "[LAUGHTER] Y'all so crazy."
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    And went ahead and rolled back dang
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    near every one of those regulations.
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    It was truly a massive shift in policy.
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    Okay, now let's look at how the Reagan
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    administration manifested the moral
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    and religious aims of the New Right.
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    One of the key strategies in conservative
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    groups like the Moral Majority was to have
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    conservative judges appointed
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    to the Supreme Court, and oh baby
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    did Reagan deliver on this one.
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    He appointed no less than four judges
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    to the Supreme Court: Sandra Day O'Connor,
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    William Rehnquist, Antonin Scalia,
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    and Anthony Kennedy.
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    This major conservative victory led
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    to the scaling back of that nemesis
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    of conservatism known as affirmative
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    action and the state-level restrictions
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    of abortions, which rolled
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    back the provisions of Roe v.
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    Wade, which is why if you ask any
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    conservative since 1980 what they think
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    of Ronald Reagan, their response is,
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    "[CRYING] I love him so much."
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    Anyway, the point is this: the presidency
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    of Ronald Reagan was a watershed moment
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    in the modern history of American politics
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    because it was a fundamental rejection
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    of the liberalism that dominated
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    the '60s and '70s.
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    Okay, that's what you need to know about
  • 6:23 - 6:24
    Unit 9 Topic 2 of the
  • 6:24 - 6:26
    AP US History curriculum.
  • 6:26 - 6:27
    If you want help getting an A in your
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    class and a five on your exam in May,
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    then click right here and grab
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    a free preview packet.
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    If you want me to keep making these
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    videos, then by all means let
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    me know that by subscribing.
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    Heimler out.
Title:
Ronald Reagan and CONSERVATISM [APUSH Review Unit 9 Topic 2] Period 9: 1980-Present
Description:

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Video Language:
English
Team:
BYU Continuing Education
Project:
APHIST-062(BYUIS)
Duration:
06:35

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