I’m genuinely convinced Ronald Reagan is the reason for at least half of America’s current issues after writing this.

I'm a Senior Staff Writer based in New York City, where I've been covering classic BuzzFeed-style content since 2020.

Thank you to Reddit user amc_visions for their thread on propaganda; many of the examples below are from those comments. We also used this Reddit thread, along with suggestions from the BuzzFeed Community.

*There's a chart here that looks at income growth in the top 10%.

Suggested by Anonymous, 63, Rome, Georgia

Of course, many Mexican people became US citizens after the Mexican-American War, which made large parts of Mexico part of the US, and the people within it now Americans.

Many Mexican Americans actually left without being deported, sometimes due to coercion, threats, or promises of land in Mexico. Plenty of the people who were driven out or deported were US citizens — around 60%.

Deportations have also historically been ineffective, with many immigrants later coming back due to the demand from US companies and sometimes illegally sanctioned programs like the Labor Program.

*The full papers weren't declassified/available until 2011.

Powell later expressed regret for his remarks, which he had been misled about himself.

Many states have since moved to roll back mandatory sentencing or lessen the ratio.

This op-ed calls D.A.R.E. "police propaganda," saying it has the "goal of legitimizing police authority through drug education and prevention," and in my opinion, it's fair. The abstinence taught in the program supports the same War on Drugs mentality that puts drug users in prison for nonviolent offenses and perpetuates mass incarceration in the US. 

D.A.R.E. is still around, but has changed to a more evidence-based approach.

Suggested by u/WatchTheBoom, u/Q_G_, and u/Sasha_NotSoApropos

Also, Thanksgiving used to be celebrated with fasting and prayer, and it only became what it's known as today because descendants of the Pilgrims in Plymouth wanted to make it more of a festival to ensure New England's place in American history and increase tourism. It wasn't declared a national holiday until the Civil War, by President Abraham Lincoln, because he wanted to unify the states.

There were other major ways the two parties essentially "switched" over the 1900s, not only in response to the Civil Rights Movement and Democrat Lyndon B. Johnson signing the Civil Rights Act, but also in response to FDR's New Deal. Overwhelmingly, minorities, northerners, and wealthy white city dwellers found their causes reflected in the Democratic Party, and poorer southern white people in more rural areas found their values in the Republican Party.

Suggested by u/metdear and u/Beesindogwood

Officials claimed the symbol was added to make sorting plastic easier, not to claim it would all be recycled and reused.

*In the US, this number is closer to 95%.

Suggested by u/gavinwinks and u/cilantroprince

*Milk can help with bone density, but it is not necessary, and does not appear to prevent fractures.