There has been much mythologizing about Reagan, but he was a bad president. Outside of the handling of the air traffic controller strike, being a great cheerleader for the USA during crazed interest rates and his dealings with Gorbachev, Reagan played his part in pushing the USA further away from representative democracy and more toward empire.
Reagan's Worst Sin
Perhaps his worst sin as President, Reagan signed into law amnesty for illegal aliens (Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986). In doing so, Reagan ended up legalizing about 3 million illegals. And the law became yet another exercise in bureaucratic stupidity by having citizens fill out useless I-9 forms.
With a stroke of his pen, Reagan betrayed US citizens knowing full well that amnesty would lead to millions more illegals. With a stroke of his pen, Reagan cheapened the fractional sovereignty and the worth of citizenship of all U.S. citizens.
And to add insult to injury, Reagan used the bullying force of a likely unconstitutional executive order to legalize the status of minor children of parents granted amnesty under the IRCA when the Constitution is clear as to who has the authority to devise legislation for naturalization.
When Reagan took office, the USA population was slightly over 80% white and Christian. Two years after Reagan left office, the USA population had fallen to 75%. Reagan set the stage for the drastic change which now has the USA population at 61.3% white.
In the Preamble of the United States Constitution, the framers wrote this:
"WE THE PEOPLE of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America."The framers created the USA after fighting for independence from the English parliament for themselves and their sons, that is, their descendants, their posterity. And the framers were Anglo-Christians. They were not Third World foreigners.
Reagan Let Terrorists Slaughter US Soldiers and Helped A Christian Country Fall to Mohammadans
Though the Lebanese Civil War had started in six years before he took office, Reagan had approved of an internationalist United Nations led peace-keeping mission for US military in Beirut, Lebanon. Reagan cut and ran from Lebanon after Mohammadan terrorists killed 241 U.S. military personnel there. Reagan never ordered a strike against Hezbollah, Iran or Syria, the sponsors of the bombing. In short, Reagan emboldened terrorists.
Reagan Ushered in Identity Politics
Reagan signed into law Martin Luther King, Jr., Day. Not only did it give lazy federal workers another day off and by extension, state workers, but also it enshrined the idea of identity politics. With a stroke of his pen, Reagan legalized racism and instituted de facto anti-white racism.
The FBI believed King, Jr to be a closet communist, and a philander who enjoyed orgies. Certainly King was pro-black racist.
Other Sins
What are some of his other sins of the fortieth president of the United States?
- He signed into law budgets that added $3 trillion to the debt of Congress and thus is responsible for keeping income tax rates ridiculously high.
- He did not end the Department of Education nor the Department of Energy, both conservative goals, and upon which he campaigned.
- He did nothing about abortion though he campaigned against abortion.
- He continued Carter's foolish policy of funding of Mohammadan mujahidin fighters in Afghanistan.
- He was an internationalist and did nothing to pull the US out of entangling alliances.
Reagan's Abysmal Economy Record
In True Dollars™ terms, the economy actually shrank under his presidency and that is in spite of a couple of years of growth over his eight years (see: TRUE GDP UNDER THE PRESIDENTS). The economy shrank -7.8% under his watch.
Reagan was the first president since the great depression president FDR to preside over a shrinking economy. Only Obama was a worse president than Reagan with respect to the the economy. The economy shrank a whopping -37.6% under Obama.
Reagan Was a Champion of Big Government
The myth about Reagan says he was a champion of smaller government. Reagan is well-known for all kinds of quips deriding big government.
"I hope we once again have reminded people that man is not free unless government is limited. There's a clear cause and effect here that is as neat and predictable as a law of physics: As government expands, liberty contracts."
"You can't be for big government, big taxes and big bureaucracy and still be for the little guy."
"Government is not a solution to our problem government is the problem."
"Government does not solve problems; it subsidizes them."
"The problem is not that people are taxed too little, the problem is that government spends too much."
But Reagan's actions proves how he loved big government. Here are some of Reagan's lowlights in hard numbers.
- The budget for the Department of Education, which candidate Reagan promised to abolish more than doubled to $22.7 billion.
- Social Security spending rose from $179 billion in 1981 to $269 billion in 1986.
- Farm programs went from $21.4 billion in 1981 to $51.4 billion in 1987
- Medicare spending in 1981 was $43.5 billion; in 1987 it hit $80 billion.
- Federal entitlements cost $197.1 billion in 1981—and $477 billion in 1987.
- Foreign aid rose from $10 billion to $22 billion.
- 230,000 more civilian government workers in 1988 under Reagan than in 1980.
- He approved of 11 tax increases after signing a bill into law cutting marginal rates.
Reagan Was a Disloyal Republican
Even before Reagan ran against Jimmy Carter, shamefully, Reagan ran against a sitting Republican president, President Ford, for the nomination. Doing so only helped Carter.
Worse, Reagan picked a liberal, Dick Schweiker, Rockefeller Republican to be his running mate (VP) in a virtue-signaling move to the Red Tory Republicans
Reagan, a Summary
Reagan was a bad president. He joins the ranks of John Adams, Van Buren, Taylor, Pierce, Buchanan, Grant, B. Harrison, T. Roosevelt, Hoover, Kennedy, and Bill Clinton.
Reagan did nothing to reverse the trend of the USA set into play going all the way back to John F. Kennedy. And Reagan stuck us with GHW Bush, one of the worst POTUSes in history.
Reagan did not pivot the USA back toward Americanism and away from Europeanism (the citizen is subordinate to government; a caste system; a continent divided into many contending nationalities; entangling alliances).
Deep down, Ronald Reagan was a left-center liberal who increased taxes and liberalized immigration. Reagan talked a good game and suckered many but he did not deliver on conservatism nor Americanism at all.
For my take on the presidents, see my True Dollar Journal work: U.S. PRESIDENTS, THEIR PARTIES AND THE FAILURES OF TODAY'S PRESIDENTS - TRUE DOLLAR JOURNAL
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