Posted on 09/28/2024 7:43:38 AM PDT by Starman417
I would argue that aside from 1860, 1984 was the most important election in American history thus far. Ronald Reagan was running against Jimmy Carter’s vice president Walter Mondale. America, at the end of the Carter administration was beleaguered, both emotionally and economically. The Iranian Hostage countdown had Americans glued to their television sets and the combination of double digit inflation and interest rates would knock them for a loop through the first couple of Reagan’s years.
But then Reagan’s policies began to kick in. Lower taxes, less regulation and increased energy output put the country on a path that would generate GDP growth of 7.2% in 1984, a number not seen since 1951 and one we’ve not seen since. At the same time, Reagan’s rebuilding of the American military and his unwavering support of freedom in the face of Communism made Americans feel confident on the world stage for the first time in two decades.
All of this translated into something unprecedented in American history.
In 1788 and 1792 George Washington won both elections by unanimous Electoral College votes. Following that, in 1820 James Monroe won every state and every Elector except for one.
From that point forward no president ever won every state or the Electoral College by a unanimous vote. A couple came close, including FDR winning all states but two in 1936 and Nixon winning 49 states in 1972, losing one state, Massachusetts, and DC.
In 1984 Reagan equaled Nixon’s feat and won every single state other than one, Minnesota, Mondale’s home state, and DC. So, since 1968 the GOP had triumphed in 4 out of 5 elections and in only 12 years had twice won with 49 of 50 states. For Democrats, that could not stand…
They knew that if they didn’t do something, they’d find themselves in a wilderness like they’d never seen before. And do something they did. The first thing they did was to dupe Ronald Reagan into signing the 1986 Immigration and Border Control Act into law. In “exchange” for making 2.7 million illegals citizens, the Democrats (assisted by worthless Republicans led by the feckless Alan Simpson) promised to build a wall on the southern border.
The Democrats got their 3 million new voters, but Reagan and America didn’t get their wall. As a result of that, today we have upwards of 30 million illegals in the country and Democrats who want to let them vote and or make them citizens! And it worked. In 1992 California, Illinois, Massachusetts and other immigrant heavy states turned blue for the first time since 1964 and have never turned back.
But lying to Reagan wasn’t the only thing Democrats did. Always keeping their eyes on the long game, they recognized that having millions of new illegals doesn’t help them a lot if they can’t vote. (Although they skew Congressional apportionment, typically towards Democrats.) So they set in place a plan that would eventually allow them to register to vote. That plan was the 1993 Motor Voter Act, signed by Bill Clinton and ostensibly sold as a law make it easier to register “underrepresented” voters.
At the time illegals weren’t allowed to get licenses in the United States, but again, Democrats were playing the long game and today 19 states and the District of Columbia do provide them. And to no one’s surprise, almost every one of those states is blue. Together these states represent 230 of the 270 Electoral College votes necessary to win the White House and eventually the law morphed into a vehicle facilitating immigrants and illegals registering to vote.
But like any good insurgency, the Democrats had multiple areas of attack. Beyond flooding the country with new Democrats, they were doing other things as well.
One of those was extending the voting window. This one would seem like it’s bipartisan as it applies equally to everyone. But not so much. There’s a reason most negotiators will tell you to let the other person make the first offer in a negotiation. Aside from the power dynamic, it gives you insight into what cards your opponent is holding. The same holds true here. It’s much easier to understand how many votes you need to manufacture if you know in advance what the numbers against you are. That’s exactly what we saw in 2020 when as the 3rd of November closed out Donald Trump was ahead in a handful of states that flipped to Joe Biden by just enough votes to win. Georgia with 4.9 million votes was decided by 11,800 votes or less than .2% of the total votes. Arizona, with 3.3 million votes was decided by 10,400, or .3% of the total. Similarly Wisconsin, with 3.2 million votes cast was decided by 20,000 votes, or .6%. Together those three states represent 37 Electoral College votes, which are exactly the number necessary to flip the election from Trump to Biden. (A 269 tie would have sent the election to the House, where states vote by delegation and where the GOP had a majority.) To understand how they pulled this off, read Mollie Hemingway’s Rigged.
(Excerpt) Read more at floppingaces.net ...
The liberals I was working with then were appalled at the time. LOL!
Talks about going to the supermarket and gas station
And imagining if inflation was still out of control in 1984
Straight to the point
Well it is out of control now right now
Video Ronald Reagan 1984 Campaign Ad “Supermarket” inflation
https://rumble.com/v5dag59-ronald-reagan-1984-campaign-ad-supermarket-inflation.html?e9s=src_v1_ucp
It was a different public in 1984. The indoctrination factories we call schools hadn’t had time to churn out the idiots that are in the public now.
Reagan even won New York.
Of course, that’s back when they had one-day voting, analogue machines, and voter ID
It was a different public in 1984, no doubt about it.
Can we clone Reagan and run him again? Please? Best President of my lifetime.
Yup. You nailed it.
I miss that man.
It was his sense of humor and delivery that stood him apart.
He sure knew how to unite people and bring us together, and put a spring in our step and an eye to the future.
Prayers that President Reagan and Rush are pulling for US to overcome the democrats.
I didn’t, and I still regret that choice today. I did vote for Reagan in 1980. It was my first Presidential vote ever and I still haven’t come close to being as proud of a vote as I was that one.
In 1984, I knew Reagan would win easily. So I voted for Ron Paul, aka “Dr. No!” He was my local Representative. I loved him because I feared hyperinflation and overspending. He was the only person in Congress who also seemed concerned about it. I volunteered on his campaign staff and fought like hell to force my employer, Dow Chemical, to donate money to him from our employee PAC. They eventually did, $5000.
I’m not ashamed of that choice. I knew it was symbolic. If Reagan had been in ANY trouble, I would have voted for him in a second. But now, many years later…. I wish I could say I voted for Reagan twice. He is such a hero to me.
We don't need a clone of Reagan. We need clones of ourselves from 1980 to put someone like Reagan in office.
Very good point. In 1984:
1. Schools weren’t communist training centers
2. We didn’t have 30 million permanently embedded illegals living here and many of them voting.
3. The Dems had not yet turned “California, Illinois, Massachusetts and other immigrant heavy states” rabidly Dem.
People got their news from TV, mostly the 3 broadcast networks and voted on election day.
It’s way more than 30 million. Probably more like 50 million, or more.
Agree
Wrongo! That process started in about 1910. All of the "luminaries" of public education structuring teachers' colleges were socialists.
Don’t forget the other mistake Reagan made, selecting Bush as his running mate.
Reagan ‘80 was my defining moment as my conservative being even though I was 8 years from voting age. I DIDN’T like Bush after his “new world order” idiocy. Bush Senior extinguished Reaganism. President Reagan warned us.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.