The Reagan Myth Continues to Grow

March 9, 1987 cover of NewsweekAs former President Ronald Reagan's hundredth birthday approaches, Republicans continue to mythologize his political successes. Conservatives like to portray Reagan as the man who brought down the Berlin Wall, cut taxes and saved the economy. But when Reagan negotiated with Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev over nuclear arms, many Republicans at the time felt he was wrong for his willingness to negotiate with an evil dictator. Many people forget that Reagan was divisive for the country and won almost no support among African-Americans. Conservatives also fail to acknowledge that Reagan raised taxes throughout his presidency, including one tax hike that at the time was the biggest in American history. Reagan's legacy is one of unprecedented federal budget deficits fueled by tax cuts made at the same time the federal budget grew due to massive increases in military spending. Reagan also willingly worked with Democrats on major policy issues, like Social Security. Praise for his economic policies is inflated, according to Lou Cannon, author of several books on Reagan. Cannon points out that the domestic accomplishment most attributed to Reagan -- ending runaway inflation in the late 1970s -- occurred not as a result of  the "supply side" economics that conservatives embrace as part of Reagan's legacy, but because Federal Reserve Chairman Paul Volcker drastically tightened interest rates at the time.

Comments

i remember being horrified a few years ago hearing reference on radio to the "iconic reagan". during his presidency i was usually very angry at everything he did. bush tenure aroused same irate indignation.

Repu[gnant]blicans... as long as they exist, "we"--"the others"--will suffer... along with those who "real" Repu[gnant]blicans manage to convince/brainwash (through "Christianity", mass media Corporate control and unrelenting propagation of their Repu[gnant]blican LIES, or other means) that THEY are "real" Repu[gnant]blicans. THAT is the TRUE Ronald Reagan Rep[ugnant]blican "legacy"... THAT is their GOAL... as is evident by the worldwide disaster to humanity and our environment today, yesterday, and will be evident for the next many decades to come... and they continue working hard every moment today to destroy the shreds that are left for the rest of us to try to grasp... Rep[ugnant]blicans... Corporate American Nazi dictator plutocrats... their control and destruction continues... JLH 20110217Thu1717PT ~~~~~ ><(((;> ~~~~~

started with his first inaugural address on Tuesday the 20th of January 1981: "...In this present crisis, government is not the solution to our problem, government is the problem."

Increasingly from 1981 to 2011, many Americans have become anti-government to the virtual extent that Glover Norquist's dream of drowning it in a bath is fast becoming a reality (figuratively speaking).

Reagan and the Republican mantra of no-tax and the smallest government possible has crippled government at all levels making this country less than what it was- less healthy, less educated, less environmentally friendly, less pacific and less democratic.

The "wealth" of America (and indeed much of the world) has been funneled from the Middle Class- the Working Class- directly to the Elite Class creating what a Scientific American article referred to as a "tidal wave of inequality". Economically, the United States is a "has been".

BTW,

Reagan and the Republican anti-government mantra is also indirectly responsible for the second worst terrorist attack on American soil.