Reagan's Legacy
- JohnJefferson
- spondulix
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» JohnJefferson - Reagan's Legacy
Would anybody care to shar their thoughts on President Ronald Reagan? What do you think his legacy will be? How would you rate his presidency? Does he merit replacing someone on U.S. currency? Should he be on Mount Rushmore? Share your thoughts and opinions.-- posted by JohnJefferson
» spondulix - Re: Reagan's Legacy
In response to message posted by JohnJefferson:I always caution the rating of Presidents that served in our own times. It is easy to rely to much on our own prejudices. When Nixon died I thought he was the worst President we ever had, but time has sofened my perspective somewhat, perhaps in part due to the current occupant. Perhaps the same might apply about president REagan, but for now I see him as extremely over rated by the right and slightly underrated by the left. His most over blown accomplishment is the claim he was responsible for ending the cold war, especially when we know that honor belongs to the BEATLES.
His Legacy left us with
1. Several cabinet scandals
2. The Iran/Contra Crime
3. A mismanaged occupation of Lebanon in which 241 U.S. Marines were killed. (he then rightly pulled them out.)
4. Very harsh social policies that penalised the poor.
5. Huge tax breaks for the very rich, with moderate tax increases for almost all else.
6. Excessive defense spending that helped produce the biggest national budget dificits ever, until now.
7. American hostages held a record amount of time, even though he had campaigned against Carter using the Irainian hostages to lable carter soft and inefective. He vowel to never let Americans be held if elected.
8. He used Carters stolen briefing notebook for their debate that's how he came up with his line "There you go again"
But I think that Hendric Hertzburg said it best. He was a speech writer to President Carter and once said of Reagan's political philosophy, that Reagan had a fixed political idealogy which was a great thing for him to have because it was a real time saver, it told him what to think about things he know nothing about. If it was money for defense spending, simple enough he was for it.
curtis
-- posted by spondulix
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