You Don’t Know Ronnie

Reagan on Horseback

Ronald Reagan recently eclipsed Jesus Christ as the man that Republican presidential candidates most want to emulate, marking a new high for the legacy of America’s fortieth President. Nearly every GOP debate has become an odd contest in which the candidates try to out-posture each other on who is more Reagan-esque. Even President Obama referenced President Reagan in a speech during the height of the debt ceiling talks, citing the Gipper’s compromises with Democrats in Congress.

Pop culture is also abound with references to President Reagan’s greatness. In Season 5 of 30 Rock, Alex Baldwin’s character, Jack Donaghy, finds himself in state of perfection in which he is able to solve everyone’s problems with remarkable ease, a process he refers to as “Reaganing.”

As the remaining GOP contenders continue to battle to fill the 40th President’s shoes, it is worth looking at Ronald Reagan’s record to see why he is so revered and referenced.

Historians consistently rank Ronald Reagan among the better Presidents, rating him 10th (between Woodrow Wilson and LBJ) on a recent survey conducted by CSPAN. Indeed, Reagan was able to achieve many remarkable successes as President. He presided over a period of economic growth after the stagflation and recession of the late 1970s. The Reagan administration achieved numerous economic policy achievements by drastically lowering marginal tax rates on the wealthy and eliminating income taxes for a significant number of the nation’s poor, while getting Congress to pass a broadly supported reform of the tax code. Reagan’s commitment to the arms race likely hastened the collapse of the Soviet Union, bringing an end to the Cold War.

Reagan on Horseback
How every conservative sees Ronald Reagan. | Photo courtesy White House photographer via Wikimedia Commons.

The painted picture of Reagan is one of a pure, strongly-principled, conservative stalwart responsible for moving the country right after years of leftist politics following FDR’s New Deal. While Reagan’s success as President helped bring about the modern Republican platform, his record as a conservative is much more complex.

Reagan famously said in his 1981 inauguration address, “Government is not the solution to our problem; government is the problem,” and indeed achieved successes in cutting some federal spending on social welfare programs.

Yet, when Reagan was in office, the federal government grew immensely. Federal spending increased by 2.5%, a new cabinet agency was created (the Department of Veterans Affairs), the federal debt increased from $700 billion to nearly $3 trillion, and the number of federal employees increased by 200,000. While this was largely due to the defense buildup, which is looked upon positively for its connection to the Soviet Union’s downfall, it shows that Reagan was hardly the fiscal hawk that Republicans today claim he was.

Reagan’s record on taxes is even more telling of how his legacy has been distorted. While Reagan’s first major move in office was to drastically cut marginal tax rates while the economy was hurting in 1981, Reagan raised taxes 11 times throughout his two terms. In 1982, Congress passed the Tax Equity and Fiscal Responsibility Act, placing Reagan at the forefront of the largest peacetime tax hike at the time. Reagan also raised payroll taxes in 1983 as part of a deal with Democrats to keep Social Security solvent.

These actions do not indicate that President Reagan was not genuine or a true believer in conservatism. They show that Reagan understood that in order to be a successful lawmaker, he had to make deals with the opposition and craft policy to fit the current climate. If that sounds like the exact opposite of what those who claim to be Reagan incarnate propose, that’s because it is. Today, the question “What would Reagan do?” has simply become a question of who passes the Republican base’s unrealistic litmus test.

A number of former Reagan staffers have been critical of conservatives who claim the mantle of Reagan. Past Reagan aide Haley Barbour, a former Mississippi governor and one-time potential GOP presidential candidate, attacked those who use Reagan’s name as a measure of conservative purity, stating that “in politics, purity is a dead-dog loser,” further criticizing House Republicans for their refusal to compromise with President Obama and Democrats in Congress, noting that Reagan “had to compromise to get big things passed.”

The conservative characterization of Reagan’s presidency is not only absurd but has also proved a detrimental source of policy. Reagan’s economic policies and their relative success in achieving growth during his 8 years as President (3.4 percent per year vs. 2.9 percent in real GDP in the previous 8 years) was no doubt an inspiration for the disastrous Bush tax cuts that were supposed to induce growth but instead accelerated the most recent trend in income inequality and contributed nearly $2 trillion to the budget deficit.

One of my personal favorite political writers, Bruce Bartlett, a former Treasury official under Reagan and Congressional staffer who worked with him on tax reform, has been particularly critical of the Republican party’s unwavering anti-tax, anti-compromise approach to economic policy. In a recent column in the Washington Post, Bartlett scolded Republicans, urging them to stop invoking Reagan’s economic policies. Bartlett argues that while these policies were successful at curbing inflation and inducing growth at the time, the current economic situation is entirely different than the one Reagan faced and thus a different approach should be used.

President Reagan was extraordinarily successful at communicating his conservative beliefs through his penchant for sound bites and witty remarks, but the fact remains that there was quite a bit more to his legacy than anti-government speak and tough talk in foreign affairs. The 4oth President’s legacy has become so distorted by campaigning politicians that the compromises, dealmaking, and coalition-building that made him successful have become totally forgotten.

5 Myths about Ronald Reagan via The Washington Post.

About Ian Moskowitz

Ian is a senior in CAS studying political science.

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