http://www.dailykos.com/story/2005/3/7/162038/6562#67 snip>>>
"To make possible the Great Society--and then to cheer when Ronald Reagan rolls back 10% of it--Goldwaterism was the greatest own-goal and act of political delusion by conservatives in the twentieth century.
The Republican Party, chastised by their continual defeat, swung back towards the middle, with Presidents Nixon and Ford governing as domestic-policy and economic liberals. But the conservatives had tasted power, and eventually captured the party after the bitter and divisive primaries of 1976 and 1980. Their views never changed. George W. Bush ran for Congress on 1978 claiming that Social Security would be broke in 10 years, and that phasing it out with private accounts was the only answer. He was soundly defeated in that election.
Ronald Reagan was a conservative in the Barry Goldwater mold, and when he was elected in 1980, slash-and-burn government became the modus operandi of the Republican Party. But liberalism had long since won the day, even while the continuous rhetorical assault on the name "liberal" succeeded.
And so when Reagan moved Social Security to the front of his agenda in 1981, and proposed $200 billion in cuts, he found himself isolated from his Congressional allies. His proposal included a reduction of early retirement benefits, a delay in cost of living adjustments, slashed eligibility for disability pay, and a 10% cut in guaranteed benefits for all new retirees. The Senate quashed his proposal 96-0.
With their big assault blunted, the President and Senate Republicans proposed cutting benefits by $40 billion over three years. And in 1985, the GOP-controlled Senate voted to eliminate cost of living adjustments, as a first step in phasing out the program. Vice President Bush cast the tie-breaking vote, and the measure cleared the Senate. The House was firmly Democratic, and the bill was defeated."<<<<snip
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