Republicans have amnesia when it comes to President Reagan
Fox News asked their viewers today who their favorite President is, and the answer was overwhelmingly not Obama, but for those who actually answered the question the majority said their favorite was President Ronald Reagan and George W. Bush as a close second. The real question would be — why?
And there you have it — in Conservative fantasy land Obama is ruining the country while Reagan was a Conservative savior, but it couldn’t be further from the truth, many of the problems our country has these days are due to the lingering effects of the downright greedy climate Reagan created.
7 Reasons Republican’s love for Ronald Reagan makes no sense:
7. Ronald Reagan believed in aliens and Astrology: And that’s not very Christian! After the assassination attempt on Reagan, First lady Nancy Reagan started consulting with astrologer Joan Quigley to plan Reagan’s schedule. Many Christians view astrology as flirting with the occult, yet Reagan is hailed as being the saint of American Christian values.
He was also afraid of an alien invasion, and every good Christian knows God only made humans for worship on our 6,000 year old Earth and tiny universe. In the video below, Reagan addresses the UN on the alien invasion threat:
6. Created the largest tax increase in history of U.S.: Reagan inherited a rather large budget deficit when he became Governor of California, and rather than follow Conservative’s ideology of cut, cut, cut Reagan increased taxes across the board. The top income tax rate saw a raise of 7 percent to 10 percent, the sales tax rate was raised from 3 percent to 5 percent, the alcohol tax was raised from $1.50 to $2 per gallon, the cigarette tax was increased from 3 cents to 10 cents per pack, the bank and corporate taxes rate rose from 5.5 percent to 7 percent, and the inheritance tax increased from a range of 2 percent to 10 percent to a range of 3 percent to 15 percent.
How “liberal” of him.
5. Reagan raised taxes almost every year of his presidency: Reagan’s field day with tax increases didn’t stop when he became POTUS, first he gave a rather large tax cut in 1981 and 1986, which created a large budget deficit, so he raised taxes twice in 1982 and then raised them again in 1983, 1984, 1985, 1986 and 1987. Despite these tax hikes, he never closed the gap on the deficit his original tax cut created. Most of the tax burden was also shifted to the middle class under the Gipper.
Reagan’s tax hike was at 18.2 percent at the end of his presidency, compared to a 40-year average of 18.1 percent. In layman’s he raised taxes so high, it usually take 40 years to generate that much revenue from taxes. And yet he’s known as the patron saint of lower taxes. If we know anything about Conservatives of today, they’re very critical of tax increases and the deficit under Obama, but very forgiving of Reagan’s record. Very interesting.
4. Increased government spending: One thing Conservatives are always on about with Obama is that he has increased government spending, but they excuse that Reagan also increased federal spending astronomically. Under Reagan’s leadership he increased federal spending to 22.4 percent of GDP, while today’s 40-year average is only 20.7 percent of GDP. Even Carter’s spending was 20.8 percent of GDP. Most of the spending was allotted to defense, which considering he presided over America during peacetime seems a bit overzealous. But I guess that’s not too surprising given that Conservatives would rather have stockpile of unused war toys rather than feed the needy in their country.
3. Friendly with future enemies: Conservatives are quick to forget that Reagan was friendly with Osama bin Ladin AND Saddam Hussein. U.S. funded the training of the mujaheddin, which would later become the Muslim Brotherhood, Al-Qaeda and the Taliban, but once again this severe lack of oversight is forgiven and Conservatives feign amnesia to this fact. But Russia! But the Cold War! Sure, there were reasons for creating the ally, but it doesn’t excuse that Reagan set America up for the worst terrorist attack on U.S. soil in all of history.
2. Increased restrictions on guns: Reagan signed into law two major restrictive laws on guns, though he was a staunch supporter of Second Amendment rights. The first was the Gun Owners Protection act which banned fully automatic weapons in the U.S., the second, the Brady Bill, introduced in 1987, said gun owners must pass a background check and go through a waiting period before taking possession of their firearm.
Much to the chagrin of Conservatives today, who like to exploit American’s safety with ultra-relaxed gun laws. Where’s the open-carry outrage over Reagan’s federal gun laws?
1. Reagan raised the debt ceiling 18 times (compared to Obama’s five): Every single time President Obama asked Congress to raise the debt ceiling, Conservatives across the country threw toddler-sized tantrums, yet Ronald Reagan raised the ceiling 18 times over the course of his Presidency. Once again, only crickets from the far right are heard when this fact is presented.
So even though Saint Ronnie increased spending, restricted guns, had high unemployment, and screwed the middle class by shifting the tax burden to them instead of the wealthy, he remains a Conservative darling to this day. It makes zero sense, but nothing from the right-wing usually does.
Photo: Wikipedia
Send to Kindle
