Project Draft update 5

Ronald Regan

The Conservative movement/the New Right/Affirmative Action
A. The conservative movement really grew during the presidency of Ronald Regan. This movement revolved much around the theme that the government was not the answer but the problem and that the federal government should be allowed less power. During this time period the government put into process affirmative action which gave minority's freedoms because it would require employers and educational institutions to give special consideration to minority groups.
B. The new right was a group of people that formed to support key interest and contriversal social issues. They took responsibility for there beliefs and formed these groups to influence others including the government. They protested idea that they felt strongly about such as protest against affirmative action. While manysupported there conservative there was also an uproar of people that saw there conservative veiws as wrong and took up there own personal responsiblity as they created anti moral majority protest such as creating buttons like the ones below. This button clearly showed that they other sided belived the moral majority to neither the moral thing or the what the majority of what people wanted.
C. Affirmative action brought around the phrase "reverse discrimination". Though affirmative action was seen by some as showing great respect for minority groups that has struggled in our country for so long, other saw at as a kind of reverse discrimination by favoring one race or gender over another. This action became a strong source of debate over how just it is.

The Moral Majority
A. The Moral Majority were formed by mostly evangelical and fundamentalist Christians. They believed that over the course events over the growing times of the last century with the growing rights of the government and the growth of more liberal views that they should try to preach there beliefs of trying to regain "traditional values". They supported things like more national defense strength and having prayer come back the schools. In ways it seemed there goals would diminish what others would consider gained freedoms, like the separation of church from school, a freedom that allows more freedom of religious expression.
B. One thing that the Moral Majority did find important was encouraging individual responsibility. They viewed responsibility as people trying to make the correct moral desicion. They encouraged this due to the fact of the high increase in out of wed lock pregnancies and the high divorce rate. They hoped that spreading there ideas would influence many to take on a greater individual responsibility.
C. This contriversal belief could show either a strong growth in respect for human dignity because it had people preaching more traditional respectful views and higher morals but it also could be showed as having a negative effect of respecting human dignity because there conservative views were not always things that ran smoothly with other peoples more liberal views.


(anti- moral majority button)

In all I think that the conservative movement that took place around Regan's presidency was something that showed even more growth in individual responsibility as many individuals stood up for there beliefs. Though i do believe that it yielded some negative effects in the growth of respect for human dignity and personal freedom.