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When were you born? Do you recall the 80's? (1 Viewer)

O

Opie

Footballguy
Many of those on the Right look back to the presidency of Ronald Reagan as the last "golden age".

I was just wondering...when were you born and what do you remember of Ronald Reagan's presidency?

I'm not interested at all in what you have read or heard about his presidency, I am asking "what you remember?"

Those of you born later than the early '70's probably cannot remember much more than uncontrollable boners occurring at the most inopportune times and had little knowledge of politics during the time of Reagan's terms..

I am wondering if anyone here was aware of politics while Reagan was POTUS.

If not, who was the POTUS when you truly began paying attention to politics...or first, even took an interest in the political process?

 
I remember the commercials with the big bear and the just say no campaign.  "I learned it from watch you, DAD!".

 
Born in '68, fondly remember the 80's.  It's impossible to compare politics now vs then since our country was no where as divided (at least as outwardly) as it is now.  The USSR was our big uniting enemy and their fall was met by jubilation from everyone.  Also, the sting of the Iranian hostage situation and gas shortages from the late 70's could still be felt.

Reagan became very respected and trusted.  Only on his coattails could a lackluster personality like Bush 1 have become president.  Reagan really did do a great job bringing the US out of a malaise and restoring our confidence in ourselves and how we appeared to the rest of the world. 

 
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Reagan gave the US a strong and charismatic identity in the 80's. Along with a prosperous (albeit frivolous) economy, America was great again... particularly on the heels of the dullard Carter.

 
Opie said:
Many of those on the Right look back to the presidency of Ronald Reagan as the last "golden age".

I was just wondering...when were you born and what do you remember of Ronald Reagan's presidency?

I'm not interested at all in what you have read or heard about his presidency, I am asking "what you remember?"

Those of you born later than the early '70's probably cannot remember much more than uncontrollable boners occurring at the most inopportune times and had little knowledge of politics during the time of Reagan's terms..

I am wondering if anyone here was aware of politics while Reagan was POTUS.

If not, who was the POTUS when you truly began paying attention to politics...or first, even took an interest in the political process?
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Haven't started

 
Tom Skerritt said:
Reagan gave the US a strong and charismatic identity in the 80's. Along with a prosperous (albeit frivolous) economy, America was great again... particularly on the heels of the dullard Carter.
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Yeah, the 70s were kind of crazy. Crazy inflation, gas shortages, the hostage situation. The 80s weren't perfect but Reagan had a way of communicating that put people at ease.

 
I was old enough in the 80s to see Karate Kid & the Back to the Futures for the worthless fluff they remain today, an opinion sacreligious to anyone under 50, apparently.

I had also covered the '76 presidential campaign from the actual press busses of both parties and the Chairman of the 1980 Democratic National Convention was a drinkin' buddy.

Whaddya wanna know?

 
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Born in 70 - At the time, Reagan seemed conservative, but would probably be moderate today.  Both sides of the aisle were filled with long time elder statesmen that knew how to work across party lines to get things done.  As a kid, I remembered being afraid of the Soviet Union and all their nukes.  They felt like our equal.

But there were so many other things going on in the 80's that people probably paid less attention - we felt like we were on the cusp of an all-new future.  Computers were just hitting, experimental music and music videos, cable television (100 channels!  that is crazy!!!), the space shuttle, compact discs, digital everything, clothing, amazing movies.  I think that drove optimism just as much (or more) than Reagan did himself.  Dreams of flying cars and floating skateboards felt like they would be real just a few years away.

And all we ended up with was a juke box on our phone.  That is why we are so grumpy today.

 
I was intoxicated for most of the decade, true also for the 70's.

As for Reagan I remember talk that was bolder than action.  I remember positions staked out, but then compromise reached.  I remember scandal.  I remember his shooting.  I remember him setting the country on the path to the illegal immigrant problem we currently have. I remember confidence and I remember declining mental acuity.  I remember funding cuts to mental health providers that contributed to homelessness and to law enforcement and the courts being inundated with essentially mental health patients presenting as criminals.  I remember him encouraging our reach to exceed our grasp as a nation.  I remember him reaching out to Jerry Falwell and the Moral Majority which was the seed for the destruction of the Republican party as the moralizers took over, slowly, for the political conservatives.

 
I remember him shoving trickle down economics down our throats with gusto. We're still suffering from it. The lionization of that guy and his policies is laughable.

 
Born in 72, I grew up poor in the Midwest and never experienced Reagan's 'trickle down'. 

 
Reagan just had "it". He was great when giving addresses from the oval office. I don't remember much about policy. I remember the iran-contra affair. He used to do this thing where he pretended not to able to hear reporters shouting questions. He'd touch his ear, give them a strained look and shake his head.  Then he'd smile and wave. Pretty good shtick for avoiding questions.

 
Born in 1973. I remember the 1980 election being on TV and seeing pictures of Reagan and Carter. I remember thinking i wanted Carter to win because he looked like a good guy. I don't think i followed politics at all in the 80's....well maybe 88. I do remember the 92 election and having to research the candidates the for school and write why i supported Clinton or Bush based on some of their policy positions. Oh, I also remember being in 6th grade and we had a vote in our classroom. Jesse Jackson ran away with it.

 
Born in the early 60's.  I make no secret that Reagan was/is the worst president of my lifetime.  Bush 2 comes close.  I know one thing, Reagan didn't like poor people, or at least thats the impression I got.

 
Born in '76.  I remember He-man, Papa Smurf, and GI Joe....real American heroes.  

 
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I was in college when Reagan took office. He couldn't get nominated by the Republicans of today. 

 
Poor Friday topic but I'll play along.  I was in my 20s during the 80s.  I personally remember the decade fondly but I think most people enjoy that phase of their lives.

The West won the Cold War so the ends may justify the means but there was much greater fear about nuclear war then than now.  I don't know how much of Reagan's saber rattling was legitimate but we're all fortunate that the USSR was going through a period of transition at the time.  If someone like Putin was in power, things might have been very different.

He could have shown better leadership in the federal government's initial response to the AIDS crisis.  I acknowledge the politics were more complicated than the typical public health issue but people died because Reagan was unwilling to alienate his base.

 
An important thing to remember is that Goldwater conservatism was as fringe as Socialism when Reagan grabbed America by the horns after the Iran hostage crisis, misery indexes, gas lines and various Watergate hangovers had American confidence lain low as deez nuts.

 
lakerstan said:
Born in 70 - At the time, Reagan seemed conservative, but would probably be moderate today.  Both sides of the aisle were filled with long time elder statesmen that knew how to work across party lines to get things done.  As a kid, I remembered being afraid of the Soviet Union and all their nukes.  They felt like our equal.

But there were so many other things going on in the 80's that people probably paid less attention - we felt like we were on the cusp of an all-new future.  Computers were just hitting, experimental music and music videos, cable television (100 channels!  that is crazy!!!), the space shuttle, compact discs, digital everything, clothing, amazing movies.  I think that drove optimism just as much (or more) than Reagan did himself.  Dreams of flying cars and floating skateboards felt like they would be real just a few years away.

And all we ended up with was a juke box on our phone.  That is why we are so grumpy today.
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The internet, 75" 4k TV's, every song/video/game/book/etc. available at our fingertips, cars that are safer, get 5x the MPG, and will drive themselves soon, virtual reality, drones, mapping of the entire DNA, cures for diseases, etc.

But no, we haven't got flying cars or hoverboards yet.

 
'71, lived in NY area.  The city was a ####### ####hole with agressive homeless people everywhere and a crime rate that makes today pale in comparison.  The only thing that trickled down was a taste for cocaine.

 
elbowrm said:
'71, lived in NY area.  The city was a ####### ####hole with agressive homeless people everywhere and a crime rate that makes today pale in comparison.  The only thing that trickled down was a taste for cocaine.
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Tru dat. Lived in SoHo in '82-3 and, in that time, kids on 42nd st were hacking off bejeweled hands with machetes, a fad developed after a Columbia coed had been killed by a falling brick from a deteriorating building of dropping cinder blocks on pedestrians and i couldn't get into the Spring St subway station one time cuz there was someone had been shot dead four times by bow & arrow in the stairwell.

 
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cstu said:
The internet, 75" 4k TV's, every song/video/game/book/etc. available at our fingertips, cars that are safer, get 5x the MPG, and will drive themselves soon, virtual reality, drones, mapping of the entire DNA, cures for diseases, etc.

But no, we haven't got flying cars or hoverboards yet.
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I want my flying car!

 
Remember it/him very well. 

Reagan was good and Reagan was bad.  Same with almost every other president. 

 
Tom Skerritt said:
the dullard Carter.
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You may want to choose a different adjective. Carter was unsuited to be President of the United States, but he's not a dullard. He probably possesses the most raw intelligence of any president we've had in the last 60 years.

 
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El Floppo said:
.goodposting.

reagan didn't dislike poor people. he disliked paying for services and programs for poor people.
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No, Reagan like paying people to be productive.  He championed and greatly increases things like the earned-income tax credit, which rewarded poor people for working.  Which is a much better idea than subsidizing people not to work. 

 
BTW, Reagan did virtually everything wrong but get America its confidence back, an amazing achievement and one which shows how powerful American confidence and focus can always be. Worst: unleashing mergerism. Best worst: crashing the Soviet by getting its defense expenditure above 30% of GNP but taking the lid off deficit spending by doing so.

 
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cstu said:
The internet, 75" 4k TV's, every song/video/game/book/etc. available at our fingertips, cars that are safer, get 5x the MPG, and will drive themselves soon, virtual reality, drones, mapping of the entire DNA, cures for diseases, etc.

But no, we haven't got flying cars or hoverboards yet.
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The internet - which makes us waste time on boards like this.  On the other hand....pron.  I'll give you that one

75" 4k TV's - to watch the Kardashians.  Although Sunday Ticket on my big screen is awesome.  OK - you can have that one too.

every song/video/game/book/etc. available at our fingertips - Not going to the record store or renting videos at blockbuster at least got me out of the house.

cars that are safer - Meh - I liked by '68 Mustang just fine

get 5x the MPG - but gas is 3X the price

and will drive themselves soon - I thought the same thing about the flying car

virtual reality - I'm not sold until it becomes a Star Trek holodeck

drones - is that supposed to be a good thing?

mapping of the entire DNA, cures for diseases - are we really curing diseases?  All I see is a bunch of "promising studies in mice"

NOW - get off my lawn...  :P

 
People don't seem to remember the long gas line, the 18 percent mortgage rates, the double-digit unemployment rates, and the 70 percent federal income tax rates of the late '70's.  People don't remember the cold war and how down this country was before Reagan.  Reagan brought this country hope.  He was a brilliant speech maker/giver.  He lifted this country spirits up.  He provide lower tax rates so people could move from the middle class and become rich enabling the American dream again.  His tax reforms and structure are basically in place today and have helped paved the way for the decades of prosperity which followed.  He had points worth criticizing, but those who hate Reagan are just hopeless  partisans who have a ridiculously unbalanced world-view. 

 
jon_mx said:
No, Reagan like paying people to be productive.  He championed and greatly increases things like the earned-income tax credit, which rewarded poor people for working.  Which is a much better idea than subsidizing people not to work. 
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I'm not disagreeing that he wanted to change the welfare system. but I'm not just talking about welfare... there are other progams for the poor that suffered.

I need to look it up- but I also remember in 86' that a federally, reagan sponsored initiative changed who was allowed to be institutionalized (cost-cutting to pay for increased tax-breaks for middle class and up, and increased defense spending). this dumped literally overnight a whole population who previously had been deemed requiring care and oversight onto the streets. with social services cut, homelessness was rampant. crime was also rampant back then (at least in NYC and SF)... but I can't claim to know enough as to whether this was because other social services like policing got federal funds chopped (I know schools did). homelessness, crime and the unfortunate arrival of crack all created a perfect storm for a real #### show. all a coincidence, I guess, and nothing to do with a cut in the programs and services- again- not just welfare- that supported these people. 

 
jon_mx said:
People don't seem to remember the long gas line, the 18 percent mortgage rates, the double-digit unemployment rates, and the 70 percent federal income tax rates of the late '70's.  People don't remember the cold war and how down this country was before Reagan.  Reagan brought this country hope.  He was a brilliant speech maker/giver.  He lifted this country spirits up.  He provide lower tax rates so people could move from the middle class and become rich enabling the American dream again.  His tax reforms and structure are basically in place today and have helped paved the way for the decades of prosperity which followed.  He had points worth criticizing, but those who hate Reagan are just hopeless  partisans who have a ridiculously unbalanced world-view. 
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http://s2.quickmeme.com/img/f7/f765aa7cf727808b2177092e90d5d3fdc20e4f511f8b314a0cbcfaa177216cd7.jpg

 
jon_mx said:
People don't seem to remember the housing crisis, the 6 percent mortgage rates, the double-digit unemployment rates, and low income tax rates for the rich in the 2000's.  People don't remember the Iraq war with Osama Bin Laden on the loose, how down this country was before Obama.  Obama brought this country hope.  He was a brilliant speech maker/giver.  He lifted this country spirits up.  He provide lower tax rates so people could move from the middle class and become rich with the highest stock market ever, enabling the American dream again.  His tax reforms and structure are basically in place today and have helped paved the way for the decades of prosperity which will follow, unless Trump gets elected.  He had points worth criticizing, but those who hate Obama are just hopeless  partisans who have a ridiculously unbalanced world-view. 
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Fixed.

 
Eephus said:
Poor Friday topic but I'll play along.  I was in my 20s during the 80s.  I personally remember the decade fondly but I think most people enjoy that phase of their lives.

The West won the Cold War so the ends may justify the means but there was much greater fear about nuclear war then than now.  I don't know how much of Reagan's saber rattling was legitimate but we're all fortunate that the USSR was going through a period of transition at the time.  If someone like Putin was in power, things might have been very different.

He could have shown better leadership in the federal government's initial response to the AIDS crisis.  I acknowledge the politics were more complicated than the typical public health issue but people died because Reagan was unwilling to alienate his base.
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I was younger but I was going to bring up Aids.  That was tough.

 
born tomorrow back in 1974. 

I remember enough about the alter 80s. And it was a great time as I remember it, but i was still looking at it though kids eyes. So while I perceived the country as united and Regan as a great president, I can't say for sure if everything was great b/c i didn't know any better. 

However, if you compare my age then to kids the same age today, I would say that I had a more 'pure' childhood bc i was able to learn and explore and there were not the threats, or pressures or information overload there is today.

 
glvsav37 said:
born tomorrow back in 1974. 

I remember enough about the alter 80s. And it was a great time as I remember it, but i was still looking at it though kids eyes. So while I perceived the country as united and Regan as a great president, I can't say for sure if everything was great b/c i didn't know any better.
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Yeah...we really weren't. 

 
El Floppo said:
I'm not disagreeing that he wanted to change the welfare system. but I'm not just talking about welfare... there are other progams for the poor that suffered.

I need to look it up- but I also remember in 86' that a federally, reagan sponsored initiative changed who was allowed to be institutionalized (cost-cutting to pay for increased tax-breaks for middle class and up, and increased defense spending). this dumped literally overnight a whole population who previously had been deemed requiring care and oversight onto the streets. with social services cut, homelessness was rampant. crime was also rampant back then (at least in NYC and SF)... but I can't claim to know enough as to whether this was because other social services like policing got federal funds chopped (I know schools did). homelessness, crime and the unfortunate arrival of crack all created a perfect storm for a real #### show. all a coincidence, I guess, and nothing to do with a cut in the programs and services- again- not just welfare- that supported these people. 
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It is fair to criticize Reagan for his slow response to AIDS or for cutting mental health services, but his tax structure increased revenue and social spending kept increasing.   

 
El Floppo said:
I'm not disagreeing that he wanted to change the welfare system. but I'm not just talking about welfare... there are other progams for the poor that suffered.

I need to look it up- but I also remember in 86' that a federally, reagan sponsored initiative changed who was allowed to be institutionalized (cost-cutting to pay for increased tax-breaks for middle class and up, and increased defense spending). this dumped literally overnight a whole population who previously had been deemed requiring care and oversight onto the streets. with social services cut, homelessness was rampant. crime was also rampant back then (at least in NYC and SF)... but I can't claim to know enough as to whether this was because other social services like policing got federal funds chopped (I know schools did). homelessness, crime and the unfortunate arrival of crack all created a perfect storm for a real #### show. all a coincidence, I guess, and nothing to do with a cut in the programs and services- again- not just welfare- that supported these people. 
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Most of the work creating rampant homelessness was done by Carter's 'decentralization' of mental health and indigence. Reagan closed the barndoor by defunding the pretty awful new infrastructure put in place to help the decentralized.

 
Gr00vus said:
You may want to choose a different adjective. Carter was unsuited to be President of the United States, but he's not a dullard. He probably possesses the most raw intelligence of any president we've had in the last 60 years.
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Had many personal conversations with President Carter while covering his '76 campaign and, while he was extremely bright and capable, he was a genuine pain-in-the-### prig and had a dullard's moral center. A very 'just so' guy until his estimable humanitarian efforts - the Carter Center will always be my go-to charity - softened his heart.

 
Reagan was the first president I admired and it had nothing to do with politics - it was more about presentation.  It was really during the Reagan years that cable tv became popular so from Reagan forward the political division in our country is much more visible due to instant access.  Such an interesting figure in history though as so many idolize the guy and so many demonize him - there just isn't a lot of middle ground.  Considering I was 12 when he was elected and 19 when he left office, my opinions of him are based on the innate respect most kids of that era were taught to have for the office of the president (at least the kids that were growing up on military bases).  It was a cool time to be a teenager though. 

 
wikkidpissah said:
Most of the work creating rampant homelessness was done by Carter's 'decentralization' of mental health and indigence. Reagan closed the barndoor by defunding the pretty awful new infrastructure put in place to help the decentralized.
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This. The movement towards decentralization and deinstitutionalizion was largely a '70s movement, caused by libertarians both civil and economic. 

 
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