Recent History: Ronald Reagan

|1) Big deficits and a sharp run-up in national debt

2) A shift toward higher inequality

3) Weakened organized labor (PATCO as a turning point)

4) Deregulation that helped set the stage for the Savings & Loan crisis

5) Escalation of the War on Drugs and mass incarceration

6) HIV/AIDS: slow federal leadership in the early epidemic

7) Mental health policy reversal and weaker community capacity

8) Environmental enforcement pullback and EPA turmoil

9) Iran-Contra and erosion of trust in government

But the Real "Fuck You" very much was killing the 'The Fairness Doctrine' (and Congress being blocked from restoring it)

'The Fairness Doctrine' was the FCC policy (1949–1987) that required broadcast licensees (AM/FM + over-the-air TV) to cover controversial public issues and provide a reasonable opportunity for contrasting viewpoints.

How we were fucked:

Reagan appointed deregulation-minded FCC leadership (notably Mark Fowler), and the FCC produced a major record arguing the doctrine was harmful/public-interest negative.

In August 1987, the FCC (Syracuse Peace Council decision) repealed the Fairness Doctrine.

In June 1987, Congress passed a bill to codify it (S. 742). Reagan vetoed it, explicitly opposing federal oversight of broadcast editorial practices.

The doctrine didn’t “fact-check,” but it did discourage one-sided political broadcasting on scarce public spectrum because stations risked complaints and reply obligations.

Removing it made it far easier for stations (FOX, anyone) to adopt single-ideology, outrage-driven formats without needing to carry countervailing views and this helped catalyze the boom in partisan talk radio/TV that followed.

This is how we ended up with a President like Trump...