Criticizing Ronald Reagan is almost too fucking easy. Contrary to conventional wisdom, he wasn't a particularly popular president. There's Iran-Contra, the fact that most of his cabinet turned out to be crooks, firing the air-traffic controllers, decimating Americas unions, and so much more.
Still, people rarely talk about the one thing he did that got us in the unholy clusterfuck we find ourselves in today: shit-canning the Fairness Doctrine.
More below the stylized orange fright wig.
For the youngsters in the crowd, once upon a time there was a thing called the Fairness Doctrine. It was created in 1949 and enforced by the Federal Communications Commission. It required that when holders of broadcast licenses presented one side of a controversial issue of public importance, they had to give equal time to the other side.
This wasn't accomplished by having obnoxious pundit assholes scream at each other. The Fairness Doctrine required that the other side be presented on its own in a way that was "honest, equitable, and balanced." If you gave a right-wing maniac ten minutes to express his hatred for poor people, you had to give someone on the other side exactly ten minutes to explain why he was full of shit. Because the Fairness Doctrine requires honesty, you also couldn't let people lie on the air during their segment.
In 1985, FCC Chairman Mark Fowler, who served on Reagan's campaign staff, led the push to get rid of the Fairness Doctrine, Congress opposed the move and passed a law that required the FCC to enforce the Fairness Doctrine. Reagan vetoed the law.
Fox News' motto, "Fair and Balanced," was a private joke referring directly to the repeal of the Fairness Doctrine. It's easy to imagine the drunken, jovial, back-slapping that went on when the assholes thought of it.
By putting an end to the Fairness Doctrine, Reagan opened the door to the wholesale prostitution of the media. It didn't take long for rich fucks to realize that they could buy the media and make it their bitch.
Since poor people couldn't buy media conglomerates, they were fucked, and have been ever since. It's not a coincidence that since the repeal of the Fairness Doctrine, the rich have been doing great and the rest of us have had to face recession, stagnant or declining wages, and unemployment. If you own the media, it's not that difficult to get people to vote against their own interests.
Could the Fairness Doctrine be restored? In practical terms, probably not right now, since the rich now have almost complete control of the media and the conservative majority on the Supreme Court would probably back them up. But the airwaves belong to the public (you and me), and if we get pissed enough, we could take them back.