The Heritage Foundation started in 1973. The 'MAGA' term was theirs & was on Reagan campaign buttons in '80. Trickle-down? Theirs. Project 1981/1985. Every 4 years had a new version. 9/11 deflected from the 2001 plan but they admit to getting +/- 75% implemented. 2025 was the 1st one most heard of.
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The Powell letter was written in (I think) 1971. Cons were very disturbed by the progressive direction of the country in the 50's-60's-early 70's. www.thenation.com/article/soci...
@glinzer.bsky.social You are a political historian... What are your thoughts?
Saul Alinsky authored 'Rules for Radicals' in 1971 which was specific to the uprising left. That book, and his activism, pushed both sides to think differently. Surprisingly that work was co-opted by the right to create 'Rules for Conservative Radicals' (pub. 2009) that was used by The Tea Party.
We desperately need a left version of the tea party and the closest we have is the progressive wing!
IMO it needs to become more centrist because the majority of the right-leaning independents saw progressiveness as something they could not support. Although Trump admitted to manipulation in the swing states Tim Walz shifted the Harris ticket more left whereas Gov. Shapiro would have balanced it.
As a very left progressive, I respectfully disagree. Our Overton window compared to the rest of the worlds is massively behind. Our Democratic Party is more akin to Canada’s Conservative Party. We need to catch up to the liberalism of the rest of the free world. Centrism won’t do that for us.
My opinion was less about political beliefs than it was about putting the winning ticket together. The right has become SO radicalized that a 'fire vs. fire' wasn't a good call. the MAGA brand was already out there so the counter to that would have been connecting people that were undecided.
Yes, they had a short amount of time to decide the ticket but it was known since 2020 that JB was intended to be a one-and-done then hand the reins to KH. They could have solidified a platform long before JB bounced but MAGA was relentless against the 46 ticket and was ready to pivot to either one.
Yes, but the people are desperate for serious FDR style change. There are a lot of parallels to the 1930s-40s right now & it’s going to take a serious political shift in the correct direction (left) to set people’s minds at ease.
Americans are super misinformed, incurious, busy & lazy. They know they want and need change. Many just aren’t at all well informed about how to achieve that change so they fall prey to a demagogue and a cult.
www.goodreads.com/book/show/26... Although published in 2009 it was already in-place as a power framework before then. They borrowed from Alinsky to flip the script for their own purposes to include radicalizing their movement as The Tea Party was the precursor to the modern MAGA movement.
Great book recommendation! Also, I greatly appreciate Saul Alinsky! Thx for a reminder to get serious with my reading list!
I have only passing familiarity with Alinsky’s work, but am not surprised that his tactics were adopted by the Tea Party. However, the Tea Party was not the grassroots organization it appeared to be but was part of a decades long transformation of the GOP. theamericanleader.org/timeline-eve...
Thanks!
The Powell Memo was absolutely catastrophic for the U.S.