Ronald Reagan: Hero? or Villain?

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Reagan taught us that the more you give to the poor the more dependent they will become.

I really liked Ronald Reagan, in fact I regard him as the best president in modern US history. I agree with his reganomics theory. We should use the way he dealt with the the air traffic control, strike of 1981 as an example for all future generations. In the process of fighting back the reds, he did manage to rack up a major deficit. However, I appreciate his honesty when he said it was the "greatest disappointment" of his presidency. It is a shame that Clinton and Obama have put everything that he worked on to ruins. Overall, I respected him the most as a president. He put an end to red empire and seemed very honest (an oxymoron for a politican). He didn't promise anything and he didn't blame anyone if something didn't work like our Leader, comrade Obama has made a habit of with congress. He also didn't take all of the credit for his reduction of the unemployment rate, he simply gave the private sector the proper tools to work with. I believe that Reagen's defining moment was his presidential address of July 1981. As he explains his tax plan he sits there with a chart promising not what might happen to the unemployment rate but what will happen to the tax rate. He didn't to make false promises and accusations, he only needed to explain himself. Hopefully our leader, comrade Obama can learn from what he calls "social Darwinism" and adjust his policy accordingly. Geese, what am I thinking, our leader comrade Napolean is always right!

So what's wrong with being dependent on welfare ?

Because the right wants people to be independent and to get off of welfare. But if the poor will be with us always and some people will be better at making money than other people wouldn't it be better just to share the wealth?

Villain. He was a president. He was republican. End of story.

Seriously, though, war on drugs, iran-contra, immigration. I don't know, he was before my time, but I don't like him, based on principle.

I too am not quite old enough to remember Reagan's presidency, being born during the presidency of his successor.

But I recommend anyone interested in forming an opinion of Reagan the actual man, as opposed to Reagan as he appeared, and is depicted in the media (by both parties), to read his published diaries that cover the period of his presidency. Yes, they are severely edited, sure they are filtered for sensitive information and of course they are somewhat censored in order to keep in check with the cult of personality, yet they do provide us with a very intimate view of his reasoning (which is often extremely shallow) and his reflections on matters of economics and politics, which, though simple and naïeve, are not quite those of a cunning villain.

Now, from what I have read and seen I cannot really dislike the man. He certainly had charisma, honesty and determination. That last quality alone made him a better presidential candidate then I could ever be. Besides, in contrast to his immediate successor (and his son) Reagan might perhaps indeed be called a hero.