Posted on 07/03/2010 9:08:31 AM PDT by Brices Crossroads
No president of the 20th century had a more positive and enduring influence than Ronald Reagan, who was born 99 years ago today. Other presidents, from Wilson to FDR, exceeded Reagan in their impact, but much of it was negative. Sure, they won wars, but they almost destroyed the American economy as well.
Reagan, by contrast, won the Cold War and also revived the American economy from decades of abuse. He was successful both at home and abroad.
When Reagan reached adulthood, he supported FDR for president. People (like those in his family) were hungry and FDR gave them jobs. Big government seemed to be an answer. But as he grew older and worked with the public he saw the tyranny of federal power. Also, he began to realize that no nation could spend its way into prosperity.
Reagan had lived through the 1920s and 1930s and he reconsidered the evidence for cutting tax rates. The Twenties were the prosperous decade of tax cuts and the Thirties were the depressed decade of tax hikes. He began to believe that connection was more than coincidence. When the U. S. economy went into to a tailspin in the 1970s, Reagan saw the price controls under Nixon and the restrictions on oil production under Carter as being a problem, not a solution.
Free up the economy, Reagan argued, by cutting tax rates. In the midst of the Carter fiasco, during a radio show on October 18, 1977, Reagan pointed to history to give his countrymen lessons. “We’ve tried spending our way to prosperity for more than four decades and it hasn’t worked. . . . Twice in this century, in the 1920’s and in the early 60’s we cut taxes substantially and the stimulant to the economy was substantial and immediate.”
Reagan was teachable. He had modified his ideas, and he would use his vision and character to implement these tax cuts when he became president. Sure enough, he brought rates down for all taxpayers and, as he predicted, revenue to the government actually increased when we gave more liberty to Americans to invest in their country. This dose of freedom was somewhat expanded by capital gains cuts under Presidents Bill Clinton and George W. Bush. From 1982 to 2007, the U. S. economy more than doubled in economic growth, and we led the world with an ever increasing standard of living and relatively low unemployment.
We owe that freedom and prosperity that so many of us experienced during those years to the vision, the character, and the teachable qualities of President Ronald Reagan.
Since President Reagan left the White House in 1989, the U. S. has stumbled, so it is wise to ponder why Reagan did so well. Was it natural intelligence or careful political training? Not really—and that fact both galls and baffles his critics. Reagan was a C student at lowly Eureka College and from there he went into small-town broadcasting, and then to Hollywood. He didn’t try to be governor of California until he was 55 years old.
Reagan, by contrast, won the Cold War and also revived the American economy from decades of abuse. He was successful both at home and abroad.
Since President Reagan left the White House in 1989, the U. S. has stumbled, so it is wise to ponder why Reagan did so well. Was it natural intelligence or careful political training? Not really—and that fact both galls and baffles his critics. Reagan was a C student at lowly Eureka College and from there he went into small-town broadcasting, and then to Hollywood. He didn’t try to be governor of California until he was 55 years old.
Reagan had three parts to his genius. First, he was a visionary; he believed that people wanted freedom and would do well when more of it was given to them. Whether he was undermining the Soviets, challenging an unlawful union, or deregulating oil production he tried to move in a consistent direction of greater freedom and less government. According to Dinesh D’Souza, “Reagan’s greatness derives in large part from the fact that he was a visionary—a conceptualizer who was able to see the world differently from the way it was.” Reagan knew where he wanted to go: Jimmy Carter, by contrast, had multiple plans to create energy, to generate revenue, and to cut inflation. Often they were contradictory; all of them failed. Reagan was more consistent because he had vision: He knew where he wanted to go and how he wanted to get there.
Second, Reagan had character, and in the eyes of America’s Founders, character was a necessary ingredient for greatness. Reagan stood for a set of ideas, and when trouble came he looked not to polls, but instead he applied courage, kindness, and persistence to achieve his ends. At the end of his presidency, his critics—from Sam Donaldson to Ted Kennedy—admitted that Reagan had changed the world and had done so with candor and honesty.
Third, Reagan was teachable. That trait was essential. If one has vision and character, he must also be teachable to make his life flow in a constructive direction. Course corrections are needed because none of us has life figured out at age thirty. We have to believe in something and we have force of character, but we also have to be ready to modify.
http://www.siena.edu/uploadedfiles/home/parents_and_community/community_page/sri/independent_research/Presidents%202010%20Rank%20by%20Category.pdf
Ping!
Link to Siena fairy tale is below.
The two men who more than any others shaped the last 50 years of the 20th Century and probably a significant portion of the Third Millennium as well.
I love that pic.
Thanks for this terrific piece. The author nails the components of Reagan’s greatness as a leader and none of them include an elite Ivy League education. Ivy Leaguers have virtually wrecked this nation.
At least they have the bottom two roughly right. I’m surprised they aren’t trying to idealize A. Johnson too though.
The placement of Harding and Coolidge are also wrong. Both were far better than Carter and better than Obama could ever hope to be. And way too much weight is given to Hoover.
I think we should make a conservative list of Presidential rankings because obviously this is merely a list of contenders for the most statist with some of the founders thrown into the mix at the top in an attempt to make it appear legit.
The full article at the link is even better.
Didn’t hurt that he followed on the heels of Jimmuh Cahta.
If you don’t know why, you’re part of the problem.....
“If you don’t know why, you’re part of the problem.....”
Unfortunately, the 238 presidential “scholars” (and I use that term loosely) are in the process of EDUCATING (that is, brainwashing) the youth of this country. The same so-called “scholars” show up on MSLSD and other agitprop outlets to try to brainwash the culturally and historically illiterate adults in this country.
These Ministers of Propaganda are being financed by taxpayer dollars and tuition payments, and they are far more effective than Pravda or the Communist Daily Worker ever were. This nation is rapidly becoming a nation of illiterates. The internet and talk radio are the only hope and Dr. O and Congress are aiming at that next
Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction. We didn't pass it to our children in the bloodstream. It must be fought for, protected, and handed on for them to do the same.
Ronald Reagan
Government's first duty is to protect the people, not run their lives.
Ronald Reagan
If we ever forget that we are One Nation Under God, then we will be a nation gone under.
Ronald Reagan
Government is like a baby. An alimentary canal with a big appetite at one end and no sense of responsibility at the other.
Ronald Reagan
Man is not free unless government is limited.
Ronald Reagan
Government does not solve problems; it subsidizes them.
Ronald Reagan
A people free to choose will always choose peace.
Ronald Reagan
ahhhhh, now there are a few words of wisdom to relish. I’d forgotten how real men think. Thank you for posting.
Oh yeah? Bringing about the collapse of a totalitarian state without firing a shot, based on faith that we were right and they were wrong. "The highest form of generalship is to balk the enemy's plans" - Sun Tzu
“Other presidents, from Wilson to FDR, exceeded Reagan in their impact”
I think he means in their negative impact as well Roosevelt turned a recession into a depression, turned Eastern Europe over the the Soviets at Yalta and Wilson was a socialist dreamer and one worlder, who got us into WW I in helped create the conditions for WW II. Their impacts were great and severe.
Reagan undid a lot of their mistakes.
Bump :)
Ronald Reagan:Didn’t hurt that he followed on the heels of Jimmuh Cahta.
- Got the country going again,
- Whipped Inflation,
- Checked the energy crisis, and
- Transcended Communism.
IOW, he came into office with four big things on his plate, and he equaled or exceeded our expectations of what was possible in his handling each of them.
Right. That assured that there was a lot on the table for him to tackle.
In contrast, FDR in his first two terms - the historical standard which should be applied to any president -
- recognized the Soviet Union
- prevented economic recovery from the mismanagement of Hoover,
- failed to prevent WWII (which is what Winston Churchill would have done in his shoes, at all hazard up to and including getting himself impeached)
- broke the precedent set by George Washington against running for a third term, leading to the passage of a constitutional amendment forbidding any successor to emulate his behavior.
Granted that he subsequently won WWII - if you call leaving the USSR in the catbird seat in Eastern Europe "winning."
“This nation is rapidly becoming a nation of illiterates.”
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Their are to much truth in that they’re sentence four me two let it past without a comment. Your sew rite in what you say. You’re words wring with a message to special too ignore. Butt remember, where their is life they’re is hope and change two, sow keep you’re shin up an ever let nobody tale you that it ain’t dawn’s crack in America.
A keeper
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