Republicans and Evangelicals I The Failure of Supply-Side Economics

Republicans and Evangelicals I The Failure of Supply-Side Economics

Author: Chris Staron May 20, 2025 Duration: 31:30
Give to help Chris make Truce Gerald Ford's administration was in trouble. The country was experiencing stagflation, where prices were going up but employment was going down. What could he do? He announced his desire to lower taxes. This proposal was met with opposition by... Ronald Reagan. Reagan was worried that these cuts would increase the national debt. Then, just a few years later, Reagan changed his mind. Two major things happened. One was the invention of supply-side economics (also called trickle-down economics) and the other was the tax revolt of the 1970s. Supply-side economics was invented by an economist named Arthur Laffer. His ideas were based on an old concept but with a new twist. Laffer and his friends published their ideas in The Wall Street Journal and shared them with people like Dick Cheney. Author and historian Rick Perlstein joins us for this episode. His books are The Invisible Bridge and Reaganland. Sources: The Invisible Bridge and Reaganland by Rick Perlstein NPR story about Laffer's napkin legend International Inequalities Institute study of supply-side economics Investopedia article comparing inflation rates Reagan's "Restore America" speech Ford Library's documents about Reagan's inaccuracies in his speech Federal Reserve article about inflation. Here's another History of COVID stimulus payments Investopedia article on Keynes Zombie Economics by John Quiggin Historical tax bracket rates Proposition 13 article Discussion Questions: What is supply-side economics? How does it compare to Keynes' ideas? Does the Bible specify a tax policy? Where did you first hear about trickle-down economics? Who benefits from it the most? Rick Perlstein, former President George HW Bush, John Quiggin, and many others say that supply-side economics is bogus. What do you think? Why might supply-side economics appeal to some evangelicals? To people of the 1970s? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Hosted by Chris Staron, Truce-History of the Christian Church is a deep, journalistic look into the forces that have shaped American evangelicalism. This isn't a simple timeline of events; it's an investigation into the surprising intersections of faith, culture, and power. Staron digs into movements from fundamentalism's roots to modern political campaigns, and even examines connections to phenomena like pyramid schemes, revealing a complex history many listeners may never have encountered. Each episode is built on thorough research and thoughtful interviews, aiming to understand not just how the church arrived at its current moment, but how that story might inform a better path forward. The current season focuses specifically on the rise of the Religious Right, meticulously tracing the evolving alliance between evangelicals and the Republican Party. To tell this story, the podcast features conversations with notable guests like historians Rick Perlstein and Frances Fitzgerald, or journalist Jesse Eisinger, who bring their expertise to this nuanced narrative. Listening to this podcast feels like joining a rigorous yet accessible conversation, one that respects the subject's gravity while pursuing clarity and truth. For anyone curious about the real stories behind today's headlines concerning faith and society, this series offers essential context.
Author: Language: English Episodes: 100

Truce - History of the Christian Church
Podcast Episodes
Republicans and Evangelicals I Reagan's Shibboleths [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 39:05
Give to help Chris make the show! Ronald Reagan was an odd choice for evangelicals. For one, he and his wife regularly consulted a medium. He was a Hollywood actor, which should have put him at odds with fundamentalists.…
Republicans and Evangelicals | Ronald Reagan's Double Cross [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 36:27
Give to help Chris make Truce Before he became president, Reagan was the head of the Screen Actors' Guild. When it came down to backing his followers or helping big business, he chose business. The same was true when he…
Republicans and Evangelicals | Why Christians Didn't Vote for Carter [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 42:51
Give to help Chris make Truce Boy, the Religious Right did not like Carter, at least by 1980. Some of them, like Pat Robertson, had high hopes for him at the start. But they quickly grew to distrust the man from Georgia.…
Republicans and Evangelicals | The Many Plagues of Jimmy Carter [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 43:48
Give to help Chris make Truce President Jimmy Carter's presidency (1977–1981) faced several major challenges, both domestically and internationally. One of the biggest domestic issues was the struggling U.S. economy. Car…
Republicans and Evangelicals | The Battle for the Mind [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 53:02
Give to help Chris make Truce Tim LaHaye wrote different kinds of books. Books on marriage, sexuality, the end times, and those involved in social and political movements. In his young years, Tim LaHaye taught for the Jo…
Republicans and Evangelicals | What Scared Tim LaHaye [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 36:54
Give to help Chris make Truce Tim and Beverly LaHaye were a prominent American evangelical Christian couple known for their influential work in ministry, literature, and conservative activism. Tim LaHaye, born in 1926 in…
An American Coup in Guatemala [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 41:35
Give to help Chris make Truce Given the recent events in Venezuela, I have decided to run a classic episode from season 3. The question of our era is not "why did we do this?" but "why do we keep doing this?" Why does th…
Republicans and Evangelicals: Bill Bright, Campus Crusade, and Cru [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 53:52
Give to help Chris continue to make Truce William R. “Bill” Bright was born in 1921 in Coweta, Oklahoma. Though raised in a religious environment, he initially pursued business success and personal ambition. While attend…