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The GOP spent most of 2020 rejecting science in the face of a deadly pandemic; now it's rejecting democracy in the face of a clear election loss. How did we get to this point? One step at a time, of course. But I'd argue that the wrong turn began under Reagan 1/
Republicans have, of course, done their best to beatify Reagan — mainly on the basis of an economic recovery that he didn't cause and the collapse of Communism, which he also didn't cause. What actually happened on his watch? 2/
Well, for one thing it was the beginning of the great mortality divergence. America used to have about the same life expectancy as other rich countries; since 1980, however, we've fallen far behind 3/
One contributing factor was a huge rise in income inequality, partly attributable to Reagan's policies, including union-bashing. 4/
Poverty, properly measured, was higher in 1989 than a decade earlier, especially for children and working-age adults 5/ https://www.povertycenter.columbia.edu/historical-spm-data-reg
People also forget how anti-science Reagan was; he denounced evolution as "just a theory" and wanted creationism taught in schools 6/
And while the practice of equating patriotism with political support for the current president (as long as he's a Republican) didn't start with Reagan — Nixon did it too — it got much more intense, paving the way for the Trump cult of personality 7/
As Adam Smith said, there is a great deal of ruin in a nation. America had and still has many strengths as a society. But given time and persistence, a malign political movement can undo those strengths. I'm very frightened about the future 8/
