Ronald Reagan Myth, Facts and the Rewriting of History

Ronald Reagan was 100 years old in February. His birthday was celebrated by conservatives and the Tea Party. I hate to break this to them but the so called "King of the Conservatives" died when he was 93.

If I say this out loud, I risk getting hit in the head by a shovel wielding neocon, but Reagan would never be accepted by the GOP/TP today because of his liberalism! I will break it down into an easy to follow format, the fairy tale, followed by the truth.

As always, I you are welcomed to refute anything printed in this blog. Also please note the absence of any real arguments as it is difficult to prove a fact wrong.

Reagan never raised Taxes:

 As governor of California, Reagan signed into law the largest tax increase in the history of any state up till then.while he nearly doubled state spending.

As president, Reagan raised taxes in seven of his eight years in office.

including four times in just two years! Reagan raised taxes a total of eleven times during his term as President. Reagan, the anti-tax zealot, is mythology

Reagan cut the federal budget deficit:

During the Reagan years, the debt increased to nearly $3 trillion. Reagan enacted a major tax cut his first year in office and government revenue dropped off precipitously.

Despite the conservative myth that tax cuts somehow increase revenue, the government went deeper into debt and Reagan had to raise taxes just a year after he enacted his tax cut. Despite ten more tax hikes on everything from gasoline to corporate income, Reagan was never able to get the deficit under control.

 Reagan’s tax cuts lowered Unemployment rates:

Nationwide, unemployment rose to 10.8 percent after Reagan enacted his much-touted tax cut in 1981! It took years for the rate to get back down to its previous level. Meanwhile, income inequality exploded. Despite the myth that Reagan presided over an era of unmatched economic boom for all Americans, Reagan disproportionately taxed the poor and middle class and the economic growth of the 1980′s did little to help them. 

 Reagan cut federal government spending:

Reagan promised to move boldly, decisively, and quickly to control the runaway growth of federal spending but federal spending nearly tripled under Reagan. He bailed out Social Security in 1983 after attempting to privatize it and set up a progressive taxation system to keep it funded into the future. He promised to cut government agencies like the Department of Energy and Education but ended up adding one of the largest — the Department of Veterans' Affairs which now has a budget of nearly $90 billion and close to 300,000 employees. He also raised defense spending by over $100 billion a year.

 Reagan was anti-abortion:

As governor of California in 1967, Reagan signed a bill to liberalize the state’s abortion laws that resulted in more than a million abortions. When Reagan ran for president, he advocated a constitutional amendment that would have prohibited all abortions except when necessary to save the life of the mother, but once in office, he never signed any anti abortion laws.

 Reagan's dream… a world free of nuclear weapons:

Stemming from the president’s belief that the biblical account of Armageddon prophesied nuclear war — and that apocalypse could be averted if everyone, especially the Soviets, eliminated nuclear weapons. Reagan’s military buildup was meant to crush the Soviet Union and to put the United States in a stronger position from which to establish effective arms control for the the entire world — a vision acted out by Regean’s vice president, George H.W. Bush, when he became president. And don't forget Nancey's psychics.

Reagan was tough on illegal immigrants:

Reagan signed into law a bill that made any immigrant who had entered the country before 1982 eligible for amnesty. The bill was sold as a crackdown, but its tough sanctions on employers who hired undocumented immigrants were removed before final passage. The bill helped 3 million people and millions of family members gain American residency. It has since become a source of  major embarrassment for conservatives.

 Reagan believed in open government:

Reagan and other senior U.S. officials secretly sold arms to officials in Iran which was subject to an arms embargo at the time, in exchange for American hostages.

Some funds from the illegal arms sales also went to fund anti-Communist rebels in Nicaragua — something Congress had already prohibited the administration from doing. When the deals went public, the Iran-Contra Affair, as it came to be know, was an enormous political scandal that forced several senior administration officials to resign.

Reagan vetoed a comprehensive anti-Apartheid act:

This act placed sanctions on South Africa and cut off all American trade with the country. Reagan’s veto was overridden by the Republican-controlled Senate.

 Reagan helped create the Taliban and Osama Bin Laden:

Reagan fought a proxy war with the Soviet Union by training, arming, equipping, and funding Islamist mujahedin fighters in Afghanistan. Reagan funneled billions of dollars, along with top-secret intelligence and sophisticated weaponry to these fighters through the Pakistani intelligence service. The Taliban and Osama Bin Laden, a prominent mujahedin commander, emerged from these groups.  Reagan’s decision to continue the proxy war after the Soviets were willing to retreat played a direct role in Bin Laden' ascendancy which led to 9-11.

Conservatives have the tendency to draw their conclusions first then work backwards looking for validation. If facts get in the way of the conclusions, the facts are then ignored. If you are of the ilk and would like to prove me wrong, please do. The best you could ever do is the same old GOP "dance around the subject"!

 Face it, Ronnie Ray-Gun sucked as has everything tainted by Republicans since his presidency.

Steve