What do you guys think about Ronald Reagan?

[canadian4ronpaul]

do americans view him as a good president? I know he was a "libertarian at heart" or whatever, but wasn't his administration full of corruption?

whats the deal?

 

[jkr]

2 BIG thumbs down.

shot 69 days after taking ofice, he was kept in line after that...

 

[surf]

two words: big government.

i'd say he talked the talk, but didn't walk the walk. look at the dep't of education - something he said should be eliminated....

 

[ClockwiseSpark]

i'd say he talked the talk, but didn't walk the walk.

This.

 

[lucius]

Ronald Reagan was an ardent “New Dealer”, B-grade ‘actor’, in his greatest life-long role as controlled-opposition for Fabian Socialist machinations, who defined the new right, spokesman for the ‘free’. His administration reeked with corruption and scandals, making a mockery of the office of presidency. He used “I do not recall” something like 108 times during Iran-Contra testimony; I was astonished watching that shill in action.

I would rather listen to the real deal,

“In the contemporary arena of political chicanery, reality counts for little and illusion is frequently king, but in the struggle for the survival of Western Civilization, it will be the real world, not illusions or delusions, that will determine which way the future will go...” Congressman Lawrence Patton McDonald

 

[paulitics]

He was an outstanding magician and an incredible liberal if one were to measure the term liberal as increasing government spending and power. He was a trojan horse.

 

[Kludge]

Did some good at slashing regulation, and tried to eliminate some government programs, but his social politics were terrible, and his drug war and other "family values" legislation hijacked the GOP.

 

[BuddyRey]

Everyone so far has gotten it right. Reagan was a brand-front, and nothing more. With the way the GOP candidates so shamefully bowed and scraped at his altar during the debates, is there really any question that he was in line with their warped and twisted view of government?

 

[AdamT]

Totally overrated.

 

[Original_Intent]

Despite all the negative, he was still probably the best president we have had in my lifetime. I mean there isn't much competition honestly.

 

[lynnf]

those pesky.....

have to agree with most of what has already been said.

voted for him twice, was disappointed with his results. back then we blamed it on those pesky Democrats, thwarting him. now we found out that was coupled with the fact that he wasn't really trying.

and letting astrologers call the shots? very disappointing. seems that he was a delegater and he may have delegated much to GHW Bush. let himself be co-opted.
became more image than substance.

my opinion

lynn

 

[Brian4Liberty]

Read this book:

http://www.amazon.com/Supply-Side-R...7857566?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1231385941&sr=1-1

Quick synopsis: NWO, big government Republicans dominated the Reagan adminstration, and under-mined him at every turn (Reagan had no choice but to put many establishment Republicans in his administration, as there weren't any other options). Top of the NWO list: David Stockman, Bush Sr., James Baker, Bob Dole (and most of the Senate Republicans), Larry Kudlow, Art Laffer, etc...

 

[AdamT]

Every one of the RNC chair candidates said Reagan was their favorite president. When the neo-cons worship someone (at least in lip service) watch out.

 

[StudentForPaul08]

Great speaker, loved it. He did not to do good in terms of acting on his talk.

Despite all the negative, he was still probably the best president we have had in my lifetime. I mean there isn't much competition honestly.

Yea that's true.

 

[Stary Hickory]

Reagan was a good president, he was too consumed with combating communism thiugh. And so he spent heavily on the military, and as a compromise with Democrats he had to go a long with social spending to get his defense budgets through.

I listened to the Reagan diaries on CD. He was not the embodiment of Lbertarian ideals but he was very very close. But his cold war really prevented him from making lasting internal changes to the government.

 

[fr33domfightr]

I think when you talk about RR, you need to remember where we were in history:

Carter was just president, we had hostages in Iran for 400 some-odd days being paraded blindfolded down their streets, one failed attempt to rescue them made the U.S. look weak and inept, Carter had imposed the 55 mph speed limit, we had gas lines, Cold war, etc., etc., etc.

Here comes RR, talking like a Libertarian yet speaking with inspiration like Obama, even many Dems liked him. Once he took office, hostages were released immediatly, 55 mph speed limit lifted (woohoo), no gas lines (woohoo), there was a feeling of hope, etc.

Since he was the first president I could vote for, I thought of him as the starting point for a Republican transformation of government. I always considered his libertarian leaning as actually republicanism. In hindsight, yes there are things he could have done better, but maybe the country wasn't ready for those changes, toward libertarianism.

If each president getting elected keeps doing what they've been doing (talking one-way, then doing another), then we need to seriously understand what in the hell is going on in Washington D.C. This could have been Reagan's achilles heel as well.


FF

 

[FindLiberty]

Was it all just an act, a lie? RR managed to get credit for "cutting taxes" while massively increasing gov spending (by running the printing press at full speed... Bonzo pooped in Jimmy Carter's shoes BEFORE he went to bed).

RR talked well, many fun quips.

 

[fr33domfightr]

Was it all just an act, a lie? RR managed to get credit for "cutting taxes" while massively increasing gov spending (by running the printing press at full speed... Bonzo pooped in Jimmy Carter's shoes BEFORE he went to bed).

RR talked well, many fun quips.

The way I remember it is, RR wanted to increase military spending after what was perceived as a lack of funding. Due to the majority of dems in the Congress, to get what he wanted, he had to accept the budget they proposed. And as we might expect, the dems liked to spend money on their own pet projects. In the end, the budget gets bloated.


FF

 

[RevolutionSD]

do americans view him as a good president? I know he was a "libertarian at heart" or whatever, but wasn't his administration full of corruption?

whats the deal?

He talked a good libertarian game but like every other politician he did the opposite while in office. The national debt skyrocketed and tax rates actually went UP under Reagan, despite the legend.

 

[RevolutionSD]

Another point about Reagan is that Bush ran his presidency. Reagan WAS an outsider to the elite crown but Bush was one of their own. Bush was who the elites wanted as president in 1980 but they settled for Bush as VP due to Reagan's popularity. Bush was forced on RR by the elites, and his cabinet was made up of, you guessed it, mostly CFR members.

There are no good guys in politics unfortunately, outside of RP.