06 Feb 2011

Ronald Wilson Reagan, Born February 6, 1911

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Ronald Reagan, who passed away 7 years ago, would have been 100 today.

Ironically today, Reagan’s spectacular accomplishments and political legacy of reduced government and enlarged liberty are being directly challenged by a representative of the school of politics directly opposed to everything Ronald Reagan stood for and believed. The mismanagement of government by Ronald Reagan’s adversaries has brought the country to a state of economic hardship and has produced a sense of pessimism resembling the era of the late 1970s, shortly before Ronald Reagan’s nomination and successful campaign for the presidency changed everything.

This short video tribute is an excellent reminder of how badly America needed Ronald Reagan then, and how much many of us wish he were here and available to run all over again.

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One Feedback on "Ronald Wilson Reagan, Born February 6, 1911"

Jasph

Reagan actually expanded the federal government, most notably the IRS and DOD. He raised taxes three times in between the fabled tax cuts, and bailed out the savings & loan industry AND Chrysler. He granted amnesty to some two million illegals in this country, offering them a shot at the American dream. After he left office, he even ended up endorsing gun control.

And consider 1987. If the Fed hadn’t poured money into the system to keep it afloat (thank you, Alan Greenspan) and if Reagan hadn’t offered incentives to major corporations to buy shares of their own stock, the October stock crash might well have taken a relatively healthy economy into recession. It took a few more years of exhausting the banking system and Bush Sr.’s feckless policies to get there.

People who venerate Reagan as some arch-conservative religious-right Tea Party icon don’t understand Reagan at all. Compared to today’s so-called conservatives, he was a moderate.

And despite the hysterical rhetoric from the right, so is Obama. His “socialist” health plan comes straight out of the Bob Dole playbook. His stimulus plan comes right out of Reagan’s. And the bailouts are exactly what Reagan would have done (and did do)–and unlike Bush Jr.’s, they require repayment, which is happening right now.

Anybody who admires Reagan should appreciate Obama’s leadership, given the obvious similarities, and especially given the circumstances he inherited, which include two wars and the worst economic crisis since the Depression.

Your laying the blame for today’s ills at the feet of “Ronald Reagan’s adversaries” is complete nonsense, unless you’re including Bush/Cheney, who adored the guy. It’s their legacy the country has been trying to overcome since 2008, before Obama ever came to office.

There’s a great documentary on Reagan that’s been on HBO several times lately. It gives you the big picture of the man, not just the myth-making cliches of the right. It shows his greatness and his failings, too–which is to say, it shows his real humanity. Well worth watching.



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