Reagan

The rise of Conservatism within the political world of the United States was one of paradoxical ascension.  The standards of shrink government, increase freedoms for businesses and individuals, and allow the economy to grow how it naturally would was contrasted by the increase in federal spending, a continued expansion of the military, and a change in the tax code to greatly favor the wealthy.  The separation between grassroots activists serving Reagan and the wealthy Americans who funded his campaigns was an ideological one, and a red herring at that.  The issue was, and the reason Reagan was elected, was that he spoke to people about tax cuts to wealthier Americans as if they were to get those cuts, while for the most part, those people wouldn’t see a dime of the break he proposed.  The ones who supported him financially, on the other hand, were about to see a large increase in income from his tax policy.  The disparaging conflicts between his grass roots followers  and the upper class supporters was fixed by his use of class confusion within his speeches.  Class confusion allowed the poorer grass roots supporters to feel as if the tax breaks for the upper class were actually for them, because in their mind at the time, both the upper class and them shared income, thus would share in the tax cuts.  This idea that helping the rich helps everyone was the base for trickle down economics, and we can see its effects on today’s economy.