The Real Legacy of Ronald Reagan.

Before I get into a discussion of Ronald Reagan, the president, I would like to make a few remarks about Ronald Reagan, the man. His death, though not a surprise to anyone, has surely grieved his friends, family, and a good deal of folks around the world. For that, I am sorry. Despite my ongoing opposition to nearly every one of Reagan's policies, there was one incident during his presidency that I truly enjoyed. During a joint press conference with Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev in which a nuclear missile treaty was discussed, Reagan tossed out the phrase, "Trust, but verify." Having heard Reagan use that phrase too many times when discussing the Soviets, Gorbachev rolled his eyes and said, "You always say that." Reagan's reply: "Well, I like it." This remark was a graceful and good-natured deflection of a mild criticism delivered from the principle adversary of Reagan's time. I will miss the man who said that. However, I will surely not miss the leader who began the degradation of the office of the President of the United States.

At this point, I'm going to skip the accomplishments of the Reagan administration. If you want to believe that Reagan won the Cold War, I'm not going to argue. If you think Reagan should have been impeached for selling arms to Iran and diverting the profits to the rebels in Nicaragua, be my guest. What I am going to assert is the following: Reagan's purported belief that less government is better than more government has been completely ignored by the membership of his own party. Moreover, Reagan's belief that government is the problem, rather than the solution, has become a self-fulfilling prophecy. After three Republican presidents (actually I count three and a half by adding Clinton to this group), the United States government is bigger, less efficient, more burdensome on the average American, and much more dangerous to us all.

While Reagan spoke of making government smaller and more efficient, Republicans instead exploded the size of government. Since 1980, government expenditures have increased fourfold. Sixty percent of this government growth occurred under "conservatives" Reagan and Bushes, Jr and Sr. With government under the control of a "conservative" for 16 of the last 24 years, shouldn't we have a smaller government by now? We certainly would if Republicans really believed in smaller government.

While Reagan spoke of making government more efficient, Republicans today have made the government less efficient than ever. Our government's efficiency, when examined by the most basic measure of dollars-in versus services-out, is a disaster. With a $7.2 trillion deficit, taxpayers are seeing over $300 billion tax dollars a year go to pay interest on the money that America borrowed to run the government. Almost 65% of America's debt since the Revolutionary War was created during the presidencies of Reagan, Bush I, and Bush II. In rough terms, over 8% of the taxes Americans pay this year will go toward paying interest on the conservative legacy. Imagine that: If Reagan and the Bushes would have practiced actual conservatism, our taxes could be lowered 8% across the board with absolutely no impact on the government. The next time you are admiring the chunk of money that the federal government takes from your paycheck, remember that 8% of that was mandated by your "conservative" government. And while you're at it, remember that the 8% buys you absolutely nothing, and that tax money is due every year for the rest of your life. So much for efficient government.

I guess the most dangerous legacy of Ronald Reagan was that he ushered in an era in which a president suddenly didn't need to be particularly smart. He didn't need to know anything about foreign affairs. He didn't need to know anything about the federal government. Heck, he didn't even need to enact policies that most Americans supported. After Reagan, all a president needed to be elected was charm, wit, and a "can-do, but won't" attitude. Throw in the ability to read a teleprompter while looking fairly sincere, and America is suddenly renaming an airport after you. Simply put, Ronald Reagan sold America on the idea that intelligence, a strong work ethic, expertise, knowledge, and experience weren't necessary for one to hold the most difficult job on the planet. Reagan wasn't a strong president, but he played one on television. And to the shame of America, that was good enough for most of us.

Without the Ronald Reagan presidency, there would certainly be no George W. Bush presidency. After Reagan's presidency entered the history books, Americans started believing that presidential candidates no longer needed a strong political resume. True, Dubya brought down the presidential qualification bar to an all-time low when he entered office. But if an actor could run the nation for eight years, electing a dim, arrogant frat boy who recently traded alcohol for Jesus actually seemed within the realm of possibility. I mean, how hard could being the most powerful man on earth be, anyway?

Unfortunately, America has seen that question answered after September 11. It turns out that competence is a still virtue for the leader of the free world. For instance, if you want to stop terrorism, wouldn't it be a good idea to send troops to where the terrorists are? Instead, we've seen a flustered Bush trying to kill everybody he misperceives as a threat to the United States. A competent president could have easily figured out that Saddam Hussein represented no threat to the United States and therefore concentrated America's resources on fighting the real terrorists. Bush, on the other hand, has wasted the lives of over 800 American soldiers and about $200 billion tax dollars. He has destroyed the reputation of the United States all over the world with lies, threats, and baseless preemptive war. He has littered Iraq with bodies, each one a tribute to his inability to understand the nature of the threat to our security. And in doing so, Bush is making new enemies of America faster than he can kill the old ones. The bottom line here is Bush has made America weaker and less safe because he isn't remotely up to the job of running the United States. And the mighty door that once kept incompetent people like George W. Bush from becoming president was battered down by one Ronald Wilson Reagan.

That door wasn't locked, by the way. It just had a sign above the handle that said, "Pull."

6/08/04

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