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The Working Class Republican

Page 36

by Henry Olsen


  27. “Roadmap 2.0,” 17.

  28. See “The Path to Prosperity: A Blueprint for American Renewal,” 45–56, accessed at http://budget.house.gov/prosperity/fy2013.htm.

  29. The idea was not forgotten. In one televised debate for the 2012 nomination, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich criticized Romney for not lowering capital gains taxes enough, saying offhandedly “we all know the optimal capital gains rate is zero.”

  30. “The Path to Prosperity,” 35–44.

  31. Ibid., 66.

  32. Ibid., 52–53.

  33. Pew Research Center, “Beyond Red vs. Blue Political Typology,” 4 May 2011 (copy on file with author).

  34. Ibid., 109.

  35. Ibid.

  36. Ibid.

  37. Ibid., 106.

  38. Ibid.

  39. Ibid., 13.

  40. Ibid., 108.

  41. Ibid., 109.

  42. Ibid.

  43. Ibid., 28.

  44. Ibid., 100.

  45. Ibid., 108.

  46. Ibid., 54.

  47. Ibid., 31.

  48. Ibid., 110.

  49. Ibid., 111.

  50. Ibid., 110.

  51. See Ron Elving, “GOP’s ‘We Built This’ Theme Both Puzzling and Telling,” NPR, 31 August 2012, www.npr.org/sections/itsallpolitics/2012/08/31/160370383/gops-we-built-it-refrain-is-both-puzzling-and-telling.

  52. Michael Shear and Michael Barbaro, “In Video Clip, Romney Calls 47% ‘Dependent’ and Feeling Entitled,” New York Times, 17 September 2012, http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/09/17/romney-faults-those-dependent-on-government.

  53. Information in this paragraph is taken from a 2012 CNN exit poll, available at www.cnn.com/election/2012/results/race/president/.

  54. “Growth and Opportunity Project,” Republican National Committee, 2013, accessed at http://goproject.gop.com/rnc_growth_opportunity_book_2013.pdf.

  55. See Page Gardner, “The Rising American Electorate: Game Changers in 2016 Elections,” Huffington Post, 29 June 2015, www.huffingtonpost.com/page-gardner/the-rising-american-elect_b_7688610.html.

  56. John Judis and Ruy Teixeira, The Emerging Democratic Majority (New York: Scribner, 2002).

  57. “Growth and Opportunity Project,” 7–8.

  58. Robert Jones and Daniel Cox, “2013 Hispanic Values Survey,” Public Religion Research Institute, executive summary, www.prri.org/research/hispanic-values-survey-2013.

  59. “Expanding Opportunity in America,” House Budget Committee, 24 July 2014, accessed at http://budget.house.gov/uploadedfiles/expanding_opportunity_in_america.pdf.

  60. Paul Ryan, “Renewing the American Idea,” 15 July 2014, delivered at the Kirby Center of Hillsdale College, accessed at http://paulryan.house.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=387848#.U9FLh_mwJvC.

  61. Paul Ryan, “A Better Way Up From Poverty,” Wall Street Journal, 15 August 2014, www.wsj.com/articles/paul-ryan-a-better-way-up-from-poverty-1408141154.

  62. Sahil Kapur, “Ted Cruz to GOP: Shut Down the Government or You’re Voting for Obamacare,” Talking Points Memo, 23 September 2013, http://talkingpointsmemo.com/dc/ted-cruz-to-gop-shut-down-the-government-or-you-re-voting-for-obamacare.

  63. Burgess Everett, “Cruz Warns McConnell on Debt Ceiling,” Politico, 20 October 2015, www.politico.com/story/2015/10/default-republicans-cruz-mcconnell-214978.

  64. Fred Barbash, “Bad Blood: John Boehner and His Tormentor Ted Cruz,” Washington Post, 28 September 2015, www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2015/09/28/bad-blood-john-boehner-and-the-tormenter-he-called-jackass-ted-cruz/?utm_term=.c046ceddd799.

  65. Tony Lee, “Ted Cruz Urges Boldness in Acceptance Speech for Claremont Institute’s Churchill Award,” Breitbart.com, 19 March 2014, www.breitbart.com/big-government/2014/03/19/ted-cruz-receives-claremont-institute-s-churchill-award-urges-boldness-over-timidity-in-troubled-times.

  66. Ted Cruz, Claremont Institute address, quoted in Henry Olsen, “Forget the Alamo,” National Review, 20 October 2014, www.nationalreview.com/article/390811/forget-alamo-henry-olsen. Material from this article is used in this and the following paragraph with permission.

  67. See Olsen, “Day of the Democratic Dead.”

  68. The material discussing the impact of the Muslim ban and the role of the concepts of citizenship and nationalism in Trump’s appeal is taken from Henry Olsen, “Trump’s Faction,” National Review, 9 May 2016, accessed at https://eppc.org/publications/trumps-faction (used with permission).

  69. Bush dealt with this criticism by saying the nominee had to be willing to “lose the primary to win the general” election. Peter Sullivan, “Jeb Bush: Republicans Have to ‘Lose the Primary to Win the General,’” The Hill.com, 2 December 2014, http://thehill.com/blogs/ballot-box/225681-jeb-bush-lose-the-primary-to-win-the-general.

  70. See the 2016 exit polls for Iowa, Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin on CNN.com, www.cnn.com/election/results/exit-polls.

  71. Henry Olsen, “Setting the Record Straight About the White Working Class,” 17 October 2013, The American, accessed at www.aei.org/publication/setting-the-record-straight-about-the-white-working-class.

  72. See the national exit polls for 2012 and 2016 on CNN.com, www.cnn.com/election/2012/results/race/president/ (2012) and www.cnn.com/election/results/exit-polls (2016).

  73. Between 2006 and 2016, the working-class counties that backed Trump had supported the Democrats Debbie Stabenow and Jennifer Granholm in Michigan, the Democrat Tammy Baldwin in Wisconsin, and the Republican Joni Ernst in Iowa. Demographically similar counties in other states had also backed women such as the Democrat Heidi Heitkamp in North Dakota, the Democrat Amy Klobuchar in Minnesota, and the Republicans Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins in Maine.

  74. The counties in question are Dunn, Pepin, Buffalo, Trempealeau, Jackson, Lincoln, Price, Sawyer, Forest, Door, Vernon, Crawford, Grant, Richland, Adams, Sauk, Columbia, Lafayette, Racine, Kenosha, and Winnebago.

  75. David Nir, “Daily Kos Elections’ Presidential Results by Congressional District for the 2016 and 2012 Elections,” 19 November 2016, DailyKos.com, www.dailykos.com/story/2012/11/19/1163009/-Daily-Kos-Elections-presidential-results-by-congressional-district-for-the-2012-2008-elections.

  76. Goldwater, Conscience, 8 (emphasis in original).

  77. Ibid., 6.

  78. Ibid., 66.

  79. Martin Tolchin, “Retreat in Congress; The Catastrophic-Care Debacle—A Special Report; How the New Medicare Law Fell on Hard Times in a Hurry,” 9 October 1989, New York Times, www.nytimes.com/1989/10/09/us/retreat-congress-catastrophic-care-debacle-special-report-new-medicare-law-fell.html.

  80. Ted Cruz, presidential announcement speech, accessed at www.washingtonpost.com/politics/transcript-ted-cruzs-speech-at-liberty-university/2015/03/23/41c4011a-d168-11e4-a62f-ee745911a4ff_story.html?utm_term=.dbc9aef4bd39.

  81. Ted Cruz, “A Simple Flat Tax for Economic Growth,” Wall Street Journal, 28 October 2015, www.wsj.com/articles/a-simple-flat-tax-for-economic-growth-1446076134.

  82. Rob Portman, “Heading Off the Entitlement Meltdown,” Wall Street Journal, 21 July 2014, www.wsj.com/articles/rob-portman-heading-off-the-entitlement-meltdown-1405983479.

  83. Reagan, speech to California Fertilizer Association.

  84. David E. Rosenbaum, “Reagan’s ‘Safety Net’ Proposal: Who Will Land, Who Will Fall; News Analysis,” 17 March 1981, New York Times, www.nytimes.com/1981/03/17/us/reagan-s-safety-net-proposal-who-will-land-who-will-fall-news-analysis.html.

  85. Mr. Alameda, a funeral home operator, passed away earlier this decade.

  86. Christopher Chantrill, “Annual Federal Deficit Fiscal Years 1900 to 2020,” US Government Debt, www.usgovernmentdebt.us/spending_chart_1900_2020USp_XXs2li011tcn_G0f_Annual_Federal_Deficit.

  87. Christopher Chantrill, “Combined Gross Public Debt Fiscal Years 1900 to 2020,” US Government Debt, www.usgovernmentdebt.us/spending_chart_1900_2020USp_XXs2li011tcn_H0sH0lH0f_Combined_Gross_Public_Debt.

  Index<
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  abortion, 139, 155, 172

  Reagan and, 113, 165, 167, 295n70

  Trump and, 251–52

  Afghanistan, 160, 198, 222, 244

  African Americans, 24, 25, 166, 201

  California race relations, 78, 80

  Reagan and, 77–80, 108, 112, 201

  Rumford Act and, 107–8, 112, 201–2

  Age of Reagan, The (Hayward), 20

  Agnew, Spiro T., 293n31

  Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC), 9, 87, 95, 102, 122, 123

  Alameda, Alan, 263, 311n85

  American Conservative Union (ACU), 183, 298n115

  American Independent Party, 104

  American Life, An (Reagan), 273n11

  American Medical Association (AMA), 49, 168

  American Revolution, 8

  Americans for Constitutional Action, 44

  Americans for Democratic Action (ADA), 2, 183, 298n116

  American South

  Bush election (2000) and, 233, 234

  Carter near-sweep of states where slavery had been legal (1976), 181, 297–98n111

  Clinton election (1996) and, 233

  Democratic Party and, 24–25, 181, 233

  Eisenhower and, 24, 25

  Goldwater and, 25, 78

  Jim Crow laws, 24

  Reagan’s landslide win (1984) and, 212

  Republican Party and, 24, 25, 234

  Voting Rights Act and, 201

  working-class for Democrats in, 181

  working-class for Reagan in, 181

  working-class for Trump in, 254–55

  American Veterans Committee, 2, 30

  Anderson, Glenn, 80

  Anderson, John, 173, 181, 297n110

  Angle, Sharron, 307n22

  Angola, 198

  antipoverty programs, 5, 39, 73, 74, 262

  See also Great Society

  Atlas Shrugged (Rand), 291–92n11

  Baker, Howard, 172

  Baldwin, Tammy, 255, 310n73

  Benny, Jack, 228–29

  Bergland, David, 177

  Boehner, John, 250

  Boulware, Lemuel, 35

  Bowron, Fletcher, 27

  Boyarsky, Bill, 20, 78

  Brezhnev, Leonid, 160, 199, 203, 220

  Briggs, John, 166

  Brokaw, Tom, 180

  Brown, Pat, xiv, 43, 80, 81, 82, 101, 143, 177

  campaign against Reagan, 82–83, 92–93

  Buck, Ken, 307n22

  Buckley, William F., Jr., 25–26, 90, 284n13

  disapproval of Reagan-Gorbachev INF Treaty negotiation, 222, 304n104

  as Eisenhower critic, 26–27, 69, 177

  Goldwater and, 90

  on government hunger programs, 89

  incrementalism and, 69

  libertarianism of, 69–70

  mantra of, 69

  National Review’s mission statement, 26

  as Nixon critic, 46

  opposition to civil rights legislation, 79

  Panama Canal Debate, Reagan on Firing Line, 90, 286n52

  Reagan and, 89–90, 187

  “right-to-work” bills and, 43

  bureaucracy

  Congress unable to control, 38

  “first rule of,” 29

  government planning and, 147, 293n29

  interference in private enterprise, 35

  liberalism and, 83, 85

  permanent government not envisioned by the Constitution, 35

  Reagan and, xiii, 18, 21, 28–29, 36, 37, 38, 83, 119–20, 130, 144–45, 158

  Reagan making the enemy, 38–39, 44, 72, 146–47, 164–65

  remedy for, 44

  as threat to freedom, 21, 36, 37, 145, 146

  Burgener, Clair, 300n39

  Burghardt, William, 78, 80

  Bush, George H. W., 172, 197, 220, 230–31, 233

  election results (1988), 231

  presidential bid (1980), 172–73

  Bush, George W., 162, 207–8

  “compassionate conservatism,” 234–36

  conservative support for, 250

  election results (2000), 233–34

  foreign policy, 234

  Iraq War and, 235, 237

  reelection (2004), 235

  Social Security plan, 236, 241, 242

  working-class voters and, 235, 236, 254

  Bush, John Ellis “Jeb,” 252, 309n69

  CAFTA, 196

  California, 121

  abortion law in, 113

  AFDC in, 95, 102, 122, 123

  Bowron campaign, 27

  Brown’s campaign against Reagan, 82–83, 92–93

  budget crisis, 101

  conservatives and Goldwaterites in, ix, xv, 77, 101–101, 109, 111, 124, 126

  Democratic control of legislature, 100, 101, 102, 105–6, 125

  Democratic voters in, 93–94

  Douglas campaign, 2, 22

  education in, 40, 95, 96, 103, 105–6, 124

  environmental issues, 100, 116, 119–20, 121, 123, 124–25, 127, 289n53

  expansion of government and, 96

  Kennedy presidential race, 94

  Kuchel-Rafferty Senate race, 119, 288–89n52

  Medi-Cal, 95, 102, 106–7, 111, 122, 123

  mental health treatment programs, 103, 123, 127

  Mexican Americans for Reagan, 93

  New Deal programs in, 96

  Nixon’s gubernatorial race, 46–47, 94, 117

  property taxes, 80, 124–26, 127

  Proposition 6 (anti-gay, Briggs Initiative), 166, 296n77

  Proposition 18 (right-to-work), 42–43

  propositions on state spending and taxes, 124–26, 127, 291n7

  race relations in, 78, 80

  Reagan accused of racial bias, 77–78, 81

  Reagan as governor (1967–75), xv, 94–97, 99–128, 133

  Reagan attacking government waste and inefficiency, 100, 102, 104–5, 109, 118

  Reagan’s approval ratings, 126

  Reagan’s budget defense, 109

  Reagan’s “Creative Society,” xiv–xv, 72, 83–92

  Reagan’s critics, 103–4, 109–13, 124, 177

  Reagan’s gubernatorial campaign, 70, 71–97

  Reagan’s gubernatorial election, xiv, 93, 94, 121

  Reagan’s inaugural addresses, 102, 123

  Reagan’s platform, xvi, 75–76, 96

  Reagan’s political consultants, 75

  Reagan’s presidential bid (1968), 117–18, 127

  Reagan’s ranches, 128

  Reagan’s spending cuts, 101–4, 124, 133

  Reagan’s spending increases, 103, 105, 109, 110–11, 118

  Reagan’s tax hikes, xv, 103–4, 109, 110, 118, 124

  Reagan’s tax reductions and rebates, 113, 118, 125, 133, 193

  Reagan’s welfare reforms, xv, 95, 107, 122–24, 128, 133, 150, 284n13, 293n27

  right-to-work laws, 42–43, 83, 294–95n57

  Rumford Act, 77, 78–79, 80, 107–8, 110, 112, 201–2

  San Fernando Valley, 93, 120

  Santa Clara County GOP, ix

  student protests, 80, 81, 114, 148, 288n40

  voter concerns (1960s), 80

  Warren as governor, 95–96

  Watts riots, 80

  working-class communities, 82, 93, 94, 121

  working-class support for Reagan, xvi, 93, 94, 121, 162

  workman’s compensation insurance, 96

  California Air Resources Board (CARB), 119

  California Association of Realtors

  Reagan’s speech to (1963), 49

  Rumford Act and, 108

  California Fertilizer Association, Reagan’s speech (1958), 39–40, 163, 261, 300n18

  California Republican Assembly (CRA), 109, 113

  Cannon, Lou, 20, 22, 78, 196, 288–89n52
r />   Caribbean Basin Initiative, 196

  Carter, Jimmy, 32, 172

  attacks on Reagan, 92–93, 177–78

  concession call to Reagan, 182

  election of 1976, 181, 297–98n111

  election of 1980, xvii, 174, 177–78, 180, 181, 298n112, 298n113

  foreign policy of, 162

  Reagan debate with, 178–80

  Reagan’s criticism of, 149, 170–71, 174

  Reagan’s “There you go again,” xvi, 178

  Soviet Union and, 160

  Castro, Fidel, 148

  Catholics, 8, 18, 24

  CBS

  Town Meeting of the World, 115

  “What About Reagan” documentary (1967), 110

  Chancellor, John, 180

  Cheney, Dick, 234

  Chicago Tribune, Reagan interview (1948), 32, 33

  Christian Right, 167, 233, 234, 239, 247

  Christopher, George, 76–77

  Churchill, Winston, 129, 182

  citizenship. See self-government

  civil rights

  Civil Rights Act of 1964, 77, 78, 79, 108, 117, 177

  conservatives opposing legislation, 78, 79, 109–12

  Democratic Party and, 25

  desegregation and, 166

  Eisenhower and, 25, 112

  Kennedy and, 112

  liberals and, 77

  Reagan’s policies on, 108, 112, 113

  Republican Party and, 46

  Voting Rights Act of 1965, 73

  Voting Rights Act extension, 201

  Claremont McKenna College, 160–61, 294n49

  Clark, Ed, xvii, 131, 177

  Clinton, Bill, xvii, 96, 185–86, 196, 231, 239–40, 298n112

 

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