It is the new version of the Reagan moment. I remember what it was like in 1980. Our company let 50 people go that year, and the rest of us had to take some unpaid leave. Interest rates were double digits, while prices soared and wages stagnated. I remember counting out pennies – literally – to buy gasoline to get to work. It was hard to pay my bills.
It is mostly the younger folks, who aren’t yet in their peak earning years, who don’t own a home, who perhaps have young children to care for, who are impacted the most. It is those on fixed incomes with very little savings who suffer too.
I also remember standing in line to vote on November 4, 1980, with hope for a new beginning. I was 33 years old with a 12-year old daughter, and my widowed mother, living with me. I even remember what I wore: a gray and burgundy plaid skirt, and a gray tweed jacket, a 40’s-era broach pinned to my lapel.
I felt that my vote was important – and it was. Our hopes were fulfilled!
Reagan won the election in a landslide, with 489 Electoral College votes to Carter’s 49 and 50.7% of the popular vote to Carter’s 41.0%.
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