History of the United States II / Unit 18 USH2 2588 worked example, 60 to 90 seconds
Same Policy, Different Coalitions
The idea
The course's later units show the same policy held by opposite coalitions. A Republican, Eisenhower, kept and expanded the New Deal, entry 1830. A Democrat, Clinton, signed welfare reform, entry 2301, and, entry 2462 records, the laws repealing Glass-Steagall's separation of banking and exempting credit-default swaps from regulation. The health care law of two thousand ten, entry 2441, adopted a formerly conservative model of subsidised private care, like plans put forward by Nixon, Gingrich and Romney.
In practice
A Republican expanding Social Security, a Democrat ending welfare as we knew it, and a conservative health plan passed by Democrats.
Where people slip
Entry 1863 adds an earlier case: in the nineteen forties and fifties anti-communism crossed party lines, and the Yawp records a liberal anti-communism that purged Communists from the labour movement. The confusion to avoid is assigning each policy permanently to one tradition.
Your place on the trail
Every lesson rests on earlier ones and opens later ones. Tap any to jump.
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