Bessette Pitney Text

Bessette/Pitney’s AMERICAN GOVERNMENT AND POLITICS: DELIBERATION, DEMOCRACY AND CITIZENSHIP, First Edition, is based on the idea of "deliberative democracy": political systems work best when informed citizens and public officials deliberate to identify and promote the common good. Emphasizing citizenship, the text examines the way that civic culture and immigration impact students and shape the country. It offers solid historical coverage and a close look at civic responsibility.

Wednesday, January 9, 2013

Nixon at 100 -- The Liberal

Today is Richard M. Nixon's 100th birthday. Arguably, he was the most liberal president between FDR and Obama. No joke. Consider:

He imposed wage-price controls.
He proposed a guaranteed annual income, a proposal that would have taken welfare in the opposite direction from the conservative welfare reform that Bill Clinton signed in 1996.
He proposed a reform of health insurance that was a model for Obamacare.
He signed the Occupational Safety and Health Act, establishing OSHA.
He established the Environmental Protection Agency.
He signed legislation indexing social security benefits to inflation.
He signed the Clean Air Amendments of 1970, the Coastal Zone Management Act, t he Ocean Dumping Act, and the Endangered Species Act.
He signed the Equal Employment Opportunity Act of 1972.
He issued Executive Order 11478, which required each agency to "establish and maintain an affirmative program of equal employment opportunity for all civilian employees and applicants for employment."
He signed Title IX, which forbids sex discrimination in federally financed education programs.
He supported the Equal Rights Amendment.