Timeline for One Party Rule--A Look Back

Sorry for the slithering shape of the chart.  It's legible enough.  It's not comprehensive enough.  Add your own thoughts.

1964                Goldwater Republican nominee-Reagan delivers fiery speech at convention.

1976                Buckley v. Veleo: No restrictions on contributions from individuals and groups could be set so long as the contributions were not directly part of an election campaign.

1978                First National Bank of Boston v. Bellotti: Corporations had a first amendment right to make contributions in an attempt to influence political processes.  Prohibiting the expenditure of corporate funds for “influencing or affecting”voters’ opinions infringed on corporations’ “protected speech in a manner unjustified by a compelling state interest.”

1980                Reagan elected—“The gov’t is the problem, not the solution”—Reagan lowers marginal tax

                        rate from 70% to 28%.  Deregulation—“Trickle-down theory”—Voodoo Economics 

1986                Greed is good—Private citizen Grover Norquist starts Taxpayer Protection  Pledge.                         All Republicans must sign loyalty oath to survive.

                       

1992-2000       Clinton President; Robert Rubin Treasury Secretary; Larry Summers Ass’t TS

                        The great triangulator—the third way

                        NAFTA

                        Ended welfare

                        Ended Glass Steagall

                        Giant budget surplus

2001-2008       George W. Bush President

                        9/11 pretext for everything: 2 wars; revocation of habeas corpus; enemy combatants

                        Tax cuts for the rich—tremendous wage gains for top 1% (esp. 5 of 1%); all other wages flat

                        or decline.

                        Giant budget deficit—unfunded mandates

                        Unitary president—the president is absolute monarch—signing statements; torture memos.

                        Alan Greenspan (1987-forever): Ayn Rand acolyte; the market knows best.

                        Real estate bubble bursts—Lehman goes bankrupt—TARP—Trillions spent to bailout banks

                        Foreclosures begin/unemployment keeps going up.

                       

2008-Present  Obama President

                        Obama wins presidency with 56% of the popular vote and a clear mandate for change.
                        Passes $787 billion stimulus package derided as "too big" and "too little".
                        Passes Affordable Care Act amid slurs of "death panels".
                        Foreclosures continue.

                        Unemployment doubles.
          

 2010                Citizens United vs. Federal Election Commission: Political spending is considered a form of protected speech under the First Amendment and the government may not keep corporations or unions from spending money to support or denounce individual candidates.
   
                        While corporations or unions may not give money directly to campaigns, they may seek to persuade the voting public through other means, including ads, especially when those ads were not broadcast.

Tea Party starts up funded by Koch Brothers, multi-billionaire mineral excavators descended from John Birch Society

Necessary for super-majority (60 votes) in Senate under threat of filibuster.
Obama's legislation is obstructed across the board.

Every Obama initiative blocked including judicial confirmations.

Osama Bin Laden eliminated.
Qaddafi eliminated.

Mitch McConnell-Senate Minority Leader: Defeat Obama at all costs.
Republicans refuse to bring any Obama initiatives to the floor, let alone put them to a vote.
Republicans veto raising the debt ceiling, causing an S&P currency downgrade to AA status.
Republicans' strategy is to destroy the economy to win the election.