Entering Into the 21st Century (1980-Present)

#Overview of Period 9 (1980-Present)

#Political Changes

#Seattle Public Library PATRIOT act notice (2001)

#(Credit: Creative Commons)

If the mid-20th century was defined by the New Deal and its liberal legacy, the end of the 20th century was defined by the Reagan Revolution and its conservative legacy, especially after 1980. The conservative legacy of the Reagan administration continued through the presidency of Democrat Bill Clinton who declared “the era of Big Government is over.”

Following the Terrorist Attacks of 9-11-2001, the federal government was expanded with the creation of the Department of Homeland Security and the passage of the USA PATRIOT Act. Increasingly, many facets of American political life came to be influenced by security and/or terrorism related concerns.

In the 21st century, domestic politics saw an increased focus as groups sought access to civil rights protections extended previously to women and racial minorities in the 1960’s. In 2015, the Supreme Court overturned the Defense of Marriage Act (1996—itself a part of the conservative legacy of the Reagan Revolution) in the decision Obergefell v. Hodges, which legalized same sex marriage 👨‍❤️‍👨👩‍❤️‍👩

In the Obama Administration, Congress passed the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (“Obamacare”), which mandated that all Americans obtain health insurance, prohibited insurers from denying coverage from those with pre-existing conditions, and extended health insurance for dependents to age 26. This development fits in with health care reforms attempted by every Democratic since and starting with FDR 👩🏾‍⚕️

#Economy & Demography

The US economy continued to be the world’s largest and advanced rapidly thanks to new technology, especially related to computing. Globalization 🌏as a new trend emerged, especially in the 1990’s with the growth of increasingly dense economic, political, and cultural connections between nations. Globalization fueled the rapid growth of multinational corporations. These corporations, in turn, had the effect of both spreading American culture worldwide and encouraging the outsourcing of American production jobs. The combination of computing technologies, globalization, and outsourcing combined to further the shift of the American economy from a “blue c...