Brian Leiter: Roosevelt, Reagan and the Sanders Moment

Roosevelt, Reagan and the Sanders Moment

Franklin Delano Roosevelt was elected president in 1932 in the depths of the Great Depression, and went on to win re-election an unprecedented three times. Far more importantly, the Roosevelt vision of a powerful federal government -- one that intervened aggressively in the economy to insure a measure of basic opportunity and security for all -- reigned unchallenged for thirty-eight years. When it came to domestic economic policy, FDR was president from 1932 until 1980. No Republican Administration--not Eisenhower's or Nixon's or Ford's -- challenged the Roosevelt consensus in favor of progressive taxation of income, social safety nets, and federal regulation that reached all aspects of society, from the economy to the environment.

FDR's presidency ended in 1980 with the election of Ronald Reagan, and Reagan has ruled ever since. As we face another potentially epoch-shifting presidential election, perhaps we would do well to remember that last one.

In early March of 1980, a frontpage story in the New York Times reported that former President Gerald Ford thought Ronald Reagan "a sure loser in November," with "extreme and too-simple views." As Ford declared: "A very conservative Republican can't win in a national election."

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