Robin PottratzWhat great things did Ronald Reagan actually do?
November 2nd 2008 18:43
Over the past few months, I have been listening to a great deal of right wing talk radio. Being based in Minneapolis, there is one right wing station that has quite a triple header of republican blowhards. The lineup of this station begins at 11A.M. with 3 hours of Rush Limbaugh followed by a 2 hour block of Sean Hannity and finally capped off with a 3 hour block featuring Minnesota's own "Mr. Right" Jason Lewis. When listening to these personalities, there is one pattern that is seeming to repeat itself during all of these programs...an almost homosexual admiration for Ronald Reagan. Limbaugh doesn't mention Reagan often, so to lump him with that description is unfair. The latter two however are for lack of a better term...gay for Reagan.
Hannity frequently plays Reagan audio sound bites during his show and usually follows the bites by saying something like "You're so right Ronnie" or "What a great man." Jason Lewis frequently mentions Reagan and says that the only good part of an Obama presidency is that it might lead to another conservative having an 8 year term a la how Jimmy Carter supposedly begat Reagan. This love that they have for Reagan would seem a little odd...if it were limited to just talk radio, but every conservative person I know seems to feel the same way about the actor turned President.
This begs the ultimate question of this post: Why was Ronald Reagan so great? What did he do during his presidency to warrant so much admiration? I am not trying to knock Mr. Reagan. I would be more than willing to listen to an argument in his defense. When I look at the legacy of Ronald Reagan, there are two huge missteps that come to mind. For starters, there was the Iran Contra fiasco, where members of the executive branch engaged in a weapons for hostages agreement with Iran as well as the U.S. reimbursing Israel for sending weapons to a radical Iranian opposition group. The U.S. also recieved payment from Israel which they used to fund anti communist rebels known as the contras in Nicaragua. To be fair, no evidence was ever found to determine the extent of Reagan's involvement in this fiasco, but even the poor judgment and ignorance in allowing Lt. Col. Oliver North run the show should call his legacy into question.
The larger mistake of the Reagan years comes in the form of his idea of Reaganomics, which included the reduction of non military gov't spending, reduction of tax rates, reduction of regulation, and a control of money supply. Reagan also instituted tax cuts for the wealthy in a hope that there would be a reinvestment in order to create jobs. That was an assumption that was very dangerous and to a degree didn't work, which I will theorize later. The national debt tripled from $1 trillion to $3 trillion. He also emphasized building up arms for defense against Russia during the waining days of the cold war...and quite speciously has been credited with ending the cold war.
The legacy now of Reagan and his economic policies comes in the form of our current economic downturn. One of the cornerstones of "Reaganomics" was less regulation. If that legacy had not been implemented, there would have been more regulation on companies like Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac and the economy and housing markets wouldn't have collapsed like they have. However the greatest legacy that I see now, is that people of a conservative persuasion now have a figurehead in which to site in order to rave about their political ideology.
I admit that unemployment had tempered under Reagan, but not to such a degree that he warrents such undying gratitude. In fact, conservatives now are so blind to his long term economic ineptitude that they blame the Democrat Bill Clinton and the (partially corrupt) Democrats in congress for our current depression. Not only should the brunt of the problem be blamed on George W. Bush, but we could also look to the economic ineptitude of both George H.W. Bush and Ronald Wilson Reagan.
I encourage anyone of a conservative persuasion who reads this post to please respond with a counterargument. I'm sure Mr. Reagan was a nice man, but in retrospect was he that great of a President? None of the blind Reagan followers will change their minds and I wouldn't expect them to. I just feel that to reference Reagan every time there is a problem in this country is just stupid, seeing as that he was incompetent when it comes to the types of issues that are damaging the country today. I don't believe he could handle this economic crisis, and I think that his shoot first, ask questions later approach to foreign policy was dangerous then and would be even more dangerous now. I don't understand why he is as admired as he is...but I am confident that the ignorant admiration for Ronald Reagan will continue for years and years to come.
Hannity frequently plays Reagan audio sound bites during his show and usually follows the bites by saying something like "You're so right Ronnie" or "What a great man." Jason Lewis frequently mentions Reagan and says that the only good part of an Obama presidency is that it might lead to another conservative having an 8 year term a la how Jimmy Carter supposedly begat Reagan. This love that they have for Reagan would seem a little odd...if it were limited to just talk radio, but every conservative person I know seems to feel the same way about the actor turned President.
This begs the ultimate question of this post: Why was Ronald Reagan so great? What did he do during his presidency to warrant so much admiration? I am not trying to knock Mr. Reagan. I would be more than willing to listen to an argument in his defense. When I look at the legacy of Ronald Reagan, there are two huge missteps that come to mind. For starters, there was the Iran Contra fiasco, where members of the executive branch engaged in a weapons for hostages agreement with Iran as well as the U.S. reimbursing Israel for sending weapons to a radical Iranian opposition group. The U.S. also recieved payment from Israel which they used to fund anti communist rebels known as the contras in Nicaragua. To be fair, no evidence was ever found to determine the extent of Reagan's involvement in this fiasco, but even the poor judgment and ignorance in allowing Lt. Col. Oliver North run the show should call his legacy into question.
The larger mistake of the Reagan years comes in the form of his idea of Reaganomics, which included the reduction of non military gov't spending, reduction of tax rates, reduction of regulation, and a control of money supply. Reagan also instituted tax cuts for the wealthy in a hope that there would be a reinvestment in order to create jobs. That was an assumption that was very dangerous and to a degree didn't work, which I will theorize later. The national debt tripled from $1 trillion to $3 trillion. He also emphasized building up arms for defense against Russia during the waining days of the cold war...and quite speciously has been credited with ending the cold war.
The legacy now of Reagan and his economic policies comes in the form of our current economic downturn. One of the cornerstones of "Reaganomics" was less regulation. If that legacy had not been implemented, there would have been more regulation on companies like Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac and the economy and housing markets wouldn't have collapsed like they have. However the greatest legacy that I see now, is that people of a conservative persuasion now have a figurehead in which to site in order to rave about their political ideology.
I admit that unemployment had tempered under Reagan, but not to such a degree that he warrents such undying gratitude. In fact, conservatives now are so blind to his long term economic ineptitude that they blame the Democrat Bill Clinton and the (partially corrupt) Democrats in congress for our current depression. Not only should the brunt of the problem be blamed on George W. Bush, but we could also look to the economic ineptitude of both George H.W. Bush and Ronald Wilson Reagan.
I encourage anyone of a conservative persuasion who reads this post to please respond with a counterargument. I'm sure Mr. Reagan was a nice man, but in retrospect was he that great of a President? None of the blind Reagan followers will change their minds and I wouldn't expect them to. I just feel that to reference Reagan every time there is a problem in this country is just stupid, seeing as that he was incompetent when it comes to the types of issues that are damaging the country today. I don't believe he could handle this economic crisis, and I think that his shoot first, ask questions later approach to foreign policy was dangerous then and would be even more dangerous now. I don't understand why he is as admired as he is...but I am confident that the ignorant admiration for Ronald Reagan will continue for years and years to come.
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