Conservative Movement Dbq

As the American economy and society evolved, conservatives seized the opportunity to strengthen its influence on the nation’s culture and politics. A newfound enthusiasm for religion led to the cooperative effort to encourage continuities in cultural norms and expectations. On the other hand, the presence of conservative policies and goals in the government gave way to significant changes within the nation’s political system. Similarly, as influence of the Sunbelt increased, its occupants called for recognition of conservative demands, consequently shifting the political balance of the country. The rise of the modern conservative movement played a significant role in the attempt to maintain traditional cultural views through religious appeal,

but its increased prominence in the government and newly developed regions in the nation led to changes within American politics.
In the 1970s, the United States experienced a major religious revival, which led to the rise of evangelical Christianity, in which members believed in eternal salvation with the strict adherence to the Bible. As exemplified by Document One, the religion gathered many followers during the post-World War Two era, which allowed members to more easily pursue social reform. Most notably, evangelical Christians put pressure on the government to repeal the Supreme Court’s decision in Roe v. Wade, believing that abortion was immoral. In addition, shown in Document Four, Christians generally promoted a concept called “pro-family,” which was encouraged traditional familial structures, which also extended to the traditional role of women in their families. Due to this belief, Christians maintained the conservative stance against homosexuality and feminism, continuing the conventional norms of American culture in spite of the equally powerful liberal call for societal change. These notions were shared among evangelical Protestants, Catholics, and Mormons alike, resultingly leading to the collaborative effort to defeat the Equal Rights Amendment in order to prevent guaranteeing females the same rights as males or to oppose the legalization of abortion within the first trimester. Finally, according to Document Two, Christians were able to disseminate their conservative ideals through media outlets, such as radio programs like Focus on the Family. Similar to the notion of pro-family, Focus on the Family supported traditional family values, vehemently opposing gay rights and abortion in its broadcasts. Because this station was created with the purpose of spreading and explaining their conventional views to their audience of conservatives, it followed a pattern of continuity by resisting alterations in the American sense of morality and cultural beliefs.
While the rise of the conservative movement worked towards keeping the American culture stagnant in its views, it also saw to significant changes in the nation’s political activity.

The Economic Recovery Tax Act of 1981, introduced in Document Three, was drafted with the purpose of encouraging economic growth, strategically limiting taxes in ways such that the wealthy disproportionately benefitted in hopes that said recipients of these advantages would put their surplus money into the nation’s economy. This Reaganomics policy corresponded to the neoconservative President Ronald Reagan’s promise to let taxpayers keep more of their money, thus decreasing the government’s financial supply, which would in turn reduce government spending and power. This historic tax and budget reduction set a tone for the rest of the Reagan presidency, whose advocation of the conservatives’ ideal limited government marked the end of new Great Society-like social programs, therefore contributing to the change of American politics to pursue economic growth without government interference. In the 1980s, the increasing federal deficits, shown in the graph of Document Seven, alarmed Americans and well as the Reagan administration. These historically exorbitant national deficits, which reached over 150 trillion dollars more than any other point in American fiduciary history, were found to be caused in part by entitlement programs, such as Social Security, as health care costs increased with the age. This concern led to Reagan creating even more political changes when he contradicted his campaign promise to lower taxes in effort to compromise with Democrats in Congress, increasing taxes by scaling back on previously approved fiscal deductions for businesses so that the government would still be able to sponsor and stabilize the highly favored, yet expensive Social Security Act, as described by Paul Krugman is his opinion piece The Great Taxer, observed in Document Six. This bipartisan

agreement shows how although Reagan was a conservative, he was willing to create change in the political policies of the current American administration by going against the conservative call for reduced taxes and limited government to insure the preservation of the Social Security system.
However, the source of conservatism’s ability to change the nation’s political activities did not solely originate directly from the government. Another cause of change within American politics was the development of the Sunbelt, where the southeastern and southwestern part of the United States slowly gained influence as its population surpassed that of more established regions. The inhabitants of that area were part of the rise of conservatism, passionately speaking out against government regulations, specifically in land development. Throughout the Sunbelt, conservatives mobilized opposition to government control of western lands. The participants of the Sagebrush Rebellion pursued the conservative cause by seeking legal means to increase the amount of say they had in how the government managed their lands. Although the rebellion did not achieve any legal victories, it succeeded in gaining Western leaders and landowners more representation in land management decisions, thus shifting the balance of American politics through fighting to attain conservative aims. Conservatives of this region, specifically California, expressed their discontent with rising property prices with the introduction of Proposition 13. This proposition successfully reduced tax levels, helping with limiting the federal government’s power. This tax revolt also reveals the change of the political makeup of the nation, reflecting the ever-increasing support for limited government power.
Ultimately, the rise of the conservative movement encouraged continuities and caused change in the cultural and political aspects of American society, respectively. In adhering to traditional standards, conservatives used moral or religious reasoning to justify their beliefs in issues about sexuality and gender roles. Conservatives, by striving to limit the size and power of the government, succeeded in changing the nature of American politics. Likewise, development of more conservative societies helped change the balance of the political scale, giving the conservative movement more influence in the national society. In conclusion, conservative policies’ consideration of acceptable governmental power and conformity to traditional values play a part in the constant development of American culture and politics.