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Post Liberal Era Essay

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The Post Liberal Era begins with the presidency of Ronald Reagan. Although Ronald Reagan was one of the most popular president in United States history, the years he served were not beloved by many. One example of this was Reverend Jerry Falwell. Reverend Falwell believed that “our grand old flag from going down the drain.” according to the Reverend Jerry Falwell, Moral Majority Fundraising Letter. He was against homosexual people and the distribution of pornography and R/X rated movies. He seemed to believe that the sex and violence they contained were bad for America as a whole. Lastly, he brought up the controversial subject of abortion, believing it to be synonymous with murder. Something extremely chilling that was shown in the …show more content…

Another huge, relevant problem that began budding under the presidency of Ronald Reagan was mass incarceration. Incarceration rates rose quickly during his term but skyrocketed when President Bill Clinton passed the “Crime Bill” according to the sources. The post-war period revealed huge rises in the number of people imprisoned. From a mere 338,029 in 1970, the figures rose to a shocking 2,042,479 in 2001 according to the information supplied by Dr. Barrett. In the document Why Mass Incarceration Matters by Heather Ann Thompson, it states that “Between
1970 and 2010 more people were incarcerated in the United States than were imprisoned in any other country.” What was not surprising was the fact that African Americans once again were the ones who were the most unfortunate, recording the highest imprisonment rate among all races and sexes. The numbers before the 1960s do not even compare to the numbers following. For example, numbers taken from the document show that 35 years before the 1960s, the number of American people imprisoned had increased by 52,249 people. However, the 35 years after, the same group had increased by a drastic 1,266,2435. Even with the massive numbers documented in statistics of the numbers of American citizens incarcerated, historians have ignored this integral piece of the post-war period and failed to recognize its impact. For example, mass incarceration had a direct effect on how thriving American urban centers became full of poverty

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