General Discussion
Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsThe greatest accomplishments of Ronald Reagan.
He said the famous quote, "Mr Gorbachev, tear down this wall!" It was so inspiring and full of oratory. It was almost as great as Bush Jr's bullhorn moment, "They will hear all of us now!" Abraham Lincoln could not hold a light to these great orators.
And the wall did come down. But not until George Bush Sr was President. Still, his followers gave the Gipper all the credit. Reagan single-handedly defeated communism and brought down the Soviet Union.
Also, Reagan said that "government was not the solution, government was the problem." Then he went out and proved it. He ran up the largest deficits in our history at that time and cut taxes on the wealthy, which started our slide into huge deficits. His supply-side theories, written on a napkin, became a bible for economic conservatives.
Then, when Bill Clinton raised taxes and balanced the budget in his eight years in office, everyone knew that it was because Ronald Reagan laid the foundation for it. Reaganomics finally worked - under Clinton.
America was the "shining city on the hill" to the Grade B actor turned President. His followers adored him. America would once again be the most powerful nation on earth. We would use our military wherever it was to our advantage. As he did when he sent in our Marines into Lebanon to quell the violence. 241 Marines died in their barracks from a car bomb, as they lay sleeping. Then Reagan withdrew the remaining forces and lobbed bombs into the Lebanese countryside, just to show them how angry he was.
But he didn't stop there. He was intent on stopping communism from spreading across our borders to the South. His accomplices, Oliver North and Robert McFarland secretly sold arms to the Iranian terrorist government so they could get spending money to spend in El Salvador and Honduras. When it was discovered, he feigned ignorance.
Then, when Bush Jr came into power, after stealing an election in Florida with the help of the US Supreme Court, Reaganomics became prominent once again. Taxes were cut and the military was put on a wood floor and fed corn all winter to fatten it up like a bloated hog. The balanced budget disappeared after the first year of new Reaganomics and we were at war once again. Supply-side was once again the economic religion of the right-wing conservatives.
Like Reagan wanted, Bush Jr and the Republicans removed as many regulations as possible to free up the markets. The market was God. After all, government was the problem.
Then the stock market crashed and the economy collapsed. The big money Reaganites were sweating bullets. Their money was disappearing. They came crawling back to the hated "government" begging to be saved from themselves. And the government saved them.
Those are just a few of the greatest accomplishments of Ronald Reagan. He is now a myth. If he were alive, he would walk on wine and turn it to water. Every Republican wants to be like Ronald Reagan. Don't dare criticize this great president.
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William769
(55,841 posts)He's dead and buried.
orpupilofnature57
(15,472 posts)limpyhobbler
(8,244 posts)Reagan played the #1 public spokesman for the corporate takeover of the US government. In this role he enabled the rise of right-wing religious-political fundamentalism as a tactic to politically divide the American people. The way right-wingers worship him creeps me out. We don't have any idols like that on the left. In order to sell capitalist orthodoxy to working people, they actually invented a whole new religion, a whole new version of Christianity. The new fundamentalism emphasised tradtional cultural values. But it also tought as central tenets support for "free-market" supply-side economics, fear and hatred of government, and loyalty to the Republican party. Most of the problems in our country today were either created by or exacerbated by the policies that Reagan sold to the American people.
OKNancy
(41,832 posts)Ron Reagan
Maccagirl
(5,884 posts)I would also add how he changed the judicary for decades to come-with terrible consequences.