Are you aware that in 1983 he signed the largest tax increase in american history?
I didn't say that he was perfect. I just think that he was the best, up to now. In fact, there are other places where I disagreed with him. But, his administration had a net positive effect on the nation. In the end, he had reduced, however slightly, the size of government, boosted the economy and brought about the downfall of the Soviet Union, in the process. I think that had Barry Goldwater won, he would have been even better, though still not my idea of perfect.
Reagan was also the first President to declare war on drugs, who actually followed through and did something about it. At the time, I thought that it was a good idea, as did most conservatives, of that era. As history has now show us, that has turned out to be a disastrous failure, that every President since then, has built upon. However, since it had never been tried, it is hard to blame him for at least attempting to do what several Presidents before him had threatened to do and never followed through. At least he did what seemed logical, at the time.
I didn't agree with his amnesty program. But, there was a problem and as with the drug problem, he tried something that had never been tried before. That, as we all know, also failed in a big way. But, the key is that, in both cases, he was trying to do something that had never been tried before, rather than just repeating prior administrations' mistakes.
Dubya, on the other hand, has those failures as rock solid proof that those approaches won't work and yet, has increased spending on the failed War on Drugs and is pushing yet another amnesty, that is doomed to fail, just as Reagan's did. It wouldn't be near so bad if he would make his own mistakes, but he seems determined to repeat the mistakes of the past.
Furthermore, Dubya has not seen a spending bill that he didn't like. He has not even threatened a veto of a spending bill, let alone, actually vetoed one. While Reagan actually managed to slightly reduce the size of government, Dubya has increased the size and power of the federal government more than even klinton. The Reagan era saw record prosperity. Under Dubya, the value of the dollar is plummeting, foreign investors are switching to Euros and other foreign currencies, over 360,000 US citizens and permanent residents permanently left the US last year (the vast majority were moderately wealthy to wealthy) and more jobs are being shipped offshore than ever.
Personally, I would like to see the GOP nominate Tom Tancredo (CO) for President. He is a traditional, small-government, Constitutional Conservative. He probably would not be perfect either. But, even if he did something stupid, it would probably be his own mistake and not a repeat of someone else's mistake. And, like Reagan, some of his new ideas would probably work great. I think that we could also count on him to push through a repeal of about half of the (ANTI)Patriot Act. I know for certain that he would clamp down on illegal immigration, as that is one of his pet issues, of which he is extremely well informed. Unfortunately, RINOs now control the GOP leadership and they will do anything they can to keep Constitutional Conservatives like Tancredo and Ron Paul (TX) out of any position of power in the party.
The GOP still controls both houses of Congress and will likely keep that majority, regardless of the outcome of the presidential race. So, even if Kerry wins, we will be back to gridlock and after four year of the free-spending, power-grabbing Dubya and a docile GOP Congress, that followed his orders, gridlock seems positively enchanting.