Changes

Also understand history as a struggle between two sides.  It is like two wrestlers combating each other on a mat.  The wrestlers rotate on the map as each one tries to gain an advantage over the other.  Same for the two political parties: they rotate their regional support over the years.  At the time of the Civil War, the Republican Party dominated in the North and the Democratic Party dominated in the South.  Now it is the opposite.

Also understand history as a struggle between two sides.  It is like two wrestlers combating each other on a mat.  The wrestlers rotate on the map as each one tries to gain an advantage over the other.  Same for the two political parties: they rotate their regional support over the years.  At the time of the Civil War, the Republican Party dominated in the North and the Democratic Party dominated in the South.  Now it is the opposite.

We have seen several important figures who were Quakers:  William Penn, Susan B. Anthony (who favored women's right to vote), Whittaker Chambers and Richard Nixon.  What was the Quaker religion really about?  It was Protestant against Protestantism.  Every Quaker is his own pastor; every Quaker is his own church using the Bible and his "inner light."  This led to a fierce independence in the character of Quakers, including a pacifism (opposition to war) by the Quakers in the eastern United States.

We have seen several important figures who were Quakers:  William Penn, Susan B. Anthony (who favored suffrage for all women), Whittaker Chambers and Richard Nixon.  What was the Quaker religion really about?  It was Protestant against Protestantism.  Every Quaker is his own pastor; every Quaker is his own church using the Bible and his "inner light."  This led to a fierce independence in the character of Quakers, including a pacifism (opposition to war) by the Quakers in the eastern United States.

What "drives" or "leads" or "causes" history?  Do politicians lead or follow?  Do writers of books lead or follow?  What's the real cause of history?

What "drives" or "leads" or "causes" history?  Do politicians lead or follow?  Do writers of books lead or follow?  What's the real cause of history?

== The 1970s ==

== The 1970s ==

The 1970s, or "the Seventies," is not known to be a glorious time.  America's pullout from Vietnam was humiliating, the Supreme Court issued decisions that have been much criticized (like ''Roe v. Wade''), a president resigned amid a scandal (Richard Nixon), an inept president won the next election (Jimmy Carter), a nuclear power plant called "Three Mile Island" near Harrisburg, Pennsylvania had a meltdown (1979), and the rock music was abysmal.  Styles like "disco" and "bell-bottom" pants that were popular in the Seventies seem ludicrous today.  Sadly, it was the decade when your teacher became a teenager.  It was too early for the internet, and too late for some of the marvelous music of the 1960s.  In many ways it was a wasted decade between the Sixties and Eighties.

The 1970s, or "the Seventies," is not known to have been a glorious time.  America's pullout from Vietnam was humiliating, the Supreme Court issued decisions that have been much criticized (like ''Roe v. Wade''), a president resigned amid a scandal (Richard Nixon), an inept president won the next election (Jimmy Carter), a nuclear power plant called "Three Mile Island" near Harrisburg, Pennsylvania had a meltdown (1979), and the rock music was abysmal.  Styles like "disco" and "bell-bottom" pants that were popular in the Seventies seem ludicrous today.  Sadly, it was the decade when your teacher became a teenager.  It was too early for the internet, and too late for some of the marvelous music of the 1960s.  In many ways it was a wasted decade between the Sixties and Eighties.

Here are some "highlights", or perhaps "lowlights" would be more accurate, of what happened:

Here are some "highlights", or perhaps "lowlights" would be more accurate, of what happened:

Recall that President Lyndon Johnson is known for two things, the Great Society and the Vietnam War.  President George H.W. Bush (the father of President George W. Bush) is known for three things:  breaking his pledge of "no new taxes," winning the Persian Gulf War, and nominating Clarence Thomas to the Supreme Court.  We discuss the first two here, and the last in the next section.

Recall that President Lyndon Johnson is known for two things, the Great Society and the Vietnam War.  President George H.W. Bush (the father of President George W. Bush) is known for three things:  breaking his pledge of "no new taxes," winning the Persian Gulf War, and nominating Clarence Thomas to the Supreme Court.  We discuss the first two here, and the last in the next section.

In 1988 the economy was doing well based on eight years of conservative policies under President Reagan.  President George H.W. Bush, Reagan's Vice President, won the Republican nomination for president and rode on Reagan's successes to win the presidential election in 1988.  But he made a famous promise of "Read my lips, no new taxes," which he later broke as President when he signed a tax increase by the Democratic Congress in response to a massive budget deficit.  Breaking that promise did him enourmous political damage.

In 1988 the economy was doing well based on eight years of conservative policies under President Reagan.  President George H.W. Bush, Reagan's Vice President, won the Republican nomination for president and rode on Reagan's successes to win the presidential election in 1988.  But he made a famous promise of "Read my lips, no new taxes," which he later broke as President when he signed a tax increase by the Democratic Congress in response to a massive budget deficit.  Breaking that promise did him enormous political damage.

In 1990, Saddam Hussein thought that America would do nothing when he invaded and easily conquered nearby Kuwait, where there are lucrative oil fields.  President George H.W. Bush, alarmed by the consequences of Saddam Hussein controlling so much oil and the injustice of the invasion, struck back with American troops.  They quickly defeated (and killed) Hussein's army and drove the few survivors back to Baghdad.  American casualties were extremely low, and President Bush was hero.  The combat was code-named Operation Desert Storm.  The Operation never intended to overthrow or capture Saddam Hussein himself, but President George H.W. Bush was later criticized for not "finishing the job," and some say that his son (the current President George W. Bush) wanted to take care of that.

In 1990, Saddam Hussein thought that America would do nothing when he invaded and easily conquered nearby Kuwait, where there are lucrative oil fields.  President George H.W. Bush, alarmed by the consequences of Saddam Hussein controlling so much oil and the injustice of the invasion, struck back with American troops.  They quickly defeated (and killed) Hussein's army and drove the few survivors back to Baghdad.  American casualties were extremely low, and President Bush was hero.  The combat was code-named Operation Desert Storm.  The Operation never intended to overthrow or capture Saddam Hussein himself, but President George H.W. Bush was later criticized for not "finishing the job," and some say that his son (the current President George W. Bush) wanted to take care of that.

Clarence Thomas was and is a [[conservative]] opponent of affirmative action, which is giving preferences to people based on race.  He was and is considered to be an opponent of abortion also, and a conservative on most other issues.  [[Liberals]] seem to grow angrier when confronted with a conservative African American, like Clarence Thomas, or a conservative woman.  They did everything they could to prevent confirmation of his appointment by the Senate.

Clarence Thomas was and is a [[conservative]] opponent of affirmative action, which is giving preferences to people based on race.  He was and is considered to be an opponent of abortion also, and a conservative on most other issues.  [[Liberals]] seem to grow angrier when confronted with a conservative African American, like Clarence Thomas, or a conservative woman.  They did everything they could to prevent confirmation of his appointment by the Senate.

The "smear" campaign against Thomas was one of the worst in American history, and Thomas himself appeared on national television to bitterly describe it as a "high-tech lynching."  In a flagrant violation of the rules of the Senate, the staff of a Democratic member of the Judiciary Committee leaked a confidential FBI background report to Nina Totenberg of National Public Radio (NPR) which contained a vicious personal allegation about Thomas's past.  Nothing was proven and there was much reason to disbelieve the allegation.  But the plan was to intimidate Thomas into withdrawing, or turn the public against him, or give senators enough of a reason to vote against him.  The liberals even scheduled a vote on the nomination almost immediately after the airing of the allegation, which could only be postponed by unanimous consent under Senate rules, in order to force senators to vote before the allegation could be disproved.  But the vote was postponed, hearings were held, and only one senator moved from being for Thomas to being against him: the former Ku Klux Klan Democratic Senator Robert Byrd of West Virginia.  Thomas was confirmed by a vote of 52-48, the narrowest margin in history for a Supreme Court Justice.

The "smear" campaign against Thomas was one of the worst in American history, and Thomas himself appeared on national television to bitterly describe it as a "high-tech lynching."  In a flagrant violation of the rules of the Senate, the staff of a Democratic member of the Judiciary Committee leaked a confidential FBI background report to the National Public Radio (NPR), which contained a vicious personal allegation about Thomas's past.  Nothing was proven and there was much reason to disbelieve the allegation.  But the plan was to intimidate Thomas into withdrawing, or turn the public against him, or give senators enough of a reason to vote against him.  The liberals even scheduled a vote on the nomination almost immediately after the airing of the allegation, which could only be postponed by unanimous consent under Senate rules, in order to force senators to vote before the allegation could be disproved.  But the vote was postponed, hearings were held, and only one senator moved from being for Thomas to being against him: the former Ku Klux Klan Democratic Senator Robert Byrd of West Virginia.  Thomas was confirmed by a vote of 52-48, the narrowest margin in history for a Supreme Court Justice.

Your teacher was in D.C. at the time and had personally met Clarence Thomas a year earlier.  Your teacher, the entire city of D.C., and even the entire nation, was riveted by this drama.  A liberal colleague of your teacher quipped afterward that the media ambush of Thomas during the confirmation process was not likely to make him any less conservative.  Since 1991 Thomas has been part of a conservative block on the Supreme Court that has grown to a total of 4-5 Justices out of a total of 9, sometimes enough for a majority and sometimes just shy by one vote.

Your teacher was in D.C. at the time and had personally met Clarence Thomas a year earlier.  Your teacher, the entire city of D.C., and even the entire nation, was riveted by this drama.  A liberal colleague of your teacher quipped afterward that the media ambush of Thomas during the confirmation process was not likely to make him any less conservative.  Since 1991 Thomas has been part of a conservative block on the Supreme Court that has grown to a total of 4-5 Justices out of a total of 9, sometimes enough for a majority and sometimes just shy by one vote.

Enjoying big Democratic majorities in the House and Senate, Clinton aggressively pushed a liberal agenda.  He raised taxes on both individuals and businesses.  In 1994, he signed a federal gun control bill into law known as the "Brady Bill," which imposed a national five-day waiting period for handgun purchasers and required a criminal background check.  He signed into law the "Violence Against Women Act," which authorized women to sue institutions like colleges in federal court over alleged incidents that were never charged or proven as crimes (this provision was later held unconstitutional), and authorized the spending of billions of dollars in taxpayer money to encourage women to charge men with crimes.  He signed into law the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) in 1993, which created a "free-trade zone" encompassing Mexico, Canada, and the United States and submitted the United States to control by an international tribunal to decide disputes in trade.  This resulted in a big increase of importation of illegal drugs (like cocaine and marijuana) from Mexico, and was later used to order the United States to allow mostly never-inspected trucks to enter from Mexico to flood the American highways.  NAFTA was unable to obtain the 2/3rd vote required in the Senate to be ratified as a treaty, and instead it was (perhaps improperly) passed as an ordinary federal law with mere majority votes.

Enjoying big Democratic majorities in the House and Senate, Clinton aggressively pushed a liberal agenda.  He raised taxes on both individuals and businesses.  In 1994, he signed a federal gun control bill into law known as the "Brady Bill," which imposed a national five-day waiting period for handgun purchasers and required a criminal background check.  He signed into law the "Violence Against Women Act," which authorized women to sue institutions like colleges in federal court over alleged incidents that were never charged or proven as crimes (this provision was later held unconstitutional), and authorized the spending of billions of dollars in taxpayer money to encourage women to charge men with crimes.  He signed into law the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) in 1993, which created a "free-trade zone" encompassing Mexico, Canada, and the United States and submitted the United States to control by an international tribunal to decide disputes in trade.  This resulted in a big increase of importation of illegal drugs (like cocaine and marijuana) from Mexico, and was later used to order the United States to allow mostly never-inspected trucks to enter from Mexico to flood the American highways.  NAFTA was unable to obtain the 2/3rd vote required in the Senate to be ratified as a treaty, and instead it was (perhaps improperly) passed as an ordinary federal law with mere majority votes.

In the "midterm elections" in 1994 (called "midterm" because it is halfway between the presidential elections), there was a voter backlash against the liberal policies of President Bill Clinton.  Republicans swept to victory in a landslide, and captured large majorities in both the House and Senate.  Then, in a "lame duck" session of the Democratic House and Senate in December 1994, they passed a law requiring the United States to join the World Trade Organization.  Like NAFTA but on a world-wide scale, the WTO aims to promote world trade by lowering trade barriers.  In practice, it forces the United States to submit to the authority of an international tribunal comprised mostly of nations hostile to America, and that court has ruled against the United States in nearly every trade dispute.  Also like NAFTA, the WTO was passed as a regular federal law rather than obtaining the 2/3rd vote required to pass treaties.

In the "midterm elections" in 1994 (called "midterm" because it is halfway between the presidential elections), there was a voter backlash against the liberal policies of President Bill Clinton.  Republicans swept to victory in a landslide, and captured large majorities in both the House and Senate.  Then, in a "lame duck" session of the Democratic House and Senate in December 1994, they passed a law requiring the United States to join the World Trade Organization.  Like NAFTA but on a world-wide scale, the WTO aims to promote world trade by lowering trade barriers.  In practice, it forces the United States to submit to the authority of an international tribunal comprised mostly of nations hostile to America, and that court has ruled against the United States in nearly every trade dispute.  Also like NAFTA, the WTO was passed as an ordinary federal law rather than obtaining the 2/3rd vote required to pass treaties.

'''Debate:  Do you think Congress should pass treaties as ordinary laws when unable to obtain the 2/3rd vote necessary under the Constitution to ratify a treaty?'''

'''Debate:  Do you think Congress should pass treaties as ordinary laws when unable to obtain the 2/3rd vote necessary under the Constitution to ratify a treaty?'''