In regard to Reaganomics, there is a great range of potential in terms of how the nation would exist if this policy had never been in place. As is famously known, Reaganomics relied on the premise that, when advantages are given to those holding the most resources, there will be a “trickle down” benefit to all economic classes. While any such supply-side theory may yield immediate and positive results, the underlying assumptions are faulty. Reaganomics depended on a reality not in place, that of a market driven economy, rather than an industrialized one. It denied effective access to individuals of resources, and such access as assured by law is necessary to achieve economic equality (Dugger, 1992, p. 304). Conceiving of the nation without Reaganomics then presents interesting possibilities. It may be argued, for example, that the Reagan/Bush emphasis on assisting the wealthy enabled the recession that would devastate the U.S. in 2008, and whose effects are still felt. Reaganomics essentially empowered corporations as never before, and the result was a greater disparity between rich and poor, and with the rich all the more intent on retaining their assets. This in turn generated the social and political movement of Occupy Wall Street, and the prevailing – and documented – reality that one percent of the population controls the vast majority of the resources. Had this policy never been in place, then, it is possible that the lower and middle classes, receiving more support from the government, would have been enabled to develop more fully, and the “vanishing” middle class would today be firmly in place. It is also likely that, the policy never enacted, the growing tensions between the “one percent” and the public would not have been generated. If the absence of Reaganomics would not necessarily have created economic justice in the nation, there would certainly be less of a division between economic classes.
As to the technology revolution, it is virtually impossible to estimate how the nation would exist had this not occurred, and because communication technology has become an integrated and essential part of everyday living. At the same time, it is possible to project realities, and based on how the technology has actually had certain effects. In terms of politics, for example, technology has created a vast means of monitoring, and politicians understand that any lapse in conduct or speech is likely to become a media sensation and/or a viral video (Cornfield, 2006). Such lapses still occur, but it is arguable that the public would be denied a great deal of important information, and unacceptable conduct would go unknown. The scandal surrounding Michael Brown and FEMA during Hurricane Katrina, for instance, was based on emails, and a highly-placed government director would likely still have his job. Essentially, the lack of technology would go to greater opportunities for officials to mislead the public.
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Without modern technology, the functioning of the society itself would be greatly different, in that business and social activities would rely on the same processes and means traditionally in place. Commerce would remain at the slower levels dictated by access to stationary telephones and ordinary mail services. Similarly, with no social media, people would likely maintain closer ties with literal friends and their communities, just as the need to live in the same environment as the job would promote stability. Basically, life in America would proceed in the ways it had since the 1970s, and the lack of mobile communication and Internet access would also slow social change. As information would be communicated only through TV, radio, and print media, there could be none of the widespread uprisings nationally enabled by the immediate access to millions provided by the technology revolutions. In essence, the nation would remain locked in the slower and more literal processes of living it had known.
- Cornfield, M. (6 Nov. 2006). The Internet and Politics: No Revolution, Yet. Pew Research Center. Retrieved from http://www.pewresearch.org/2006/11/06/the- internet-and-politics-no-revolution-yet/
- Dugger, W. M. (1992). Underground Economics: A Decade of Institutionalist Dissent. Armonk, NY: M. E. Sharpe, Inc.
