With all do respect to Reagan, he did not shrink government. We need something far more conservative.
Reagan is best appreciated when viewed in relation to what happened before, from FDR onward.
As bad as things seem now, at least there is a ghost of a chance for a government rollback.
When Reagan left office federal spending as a percentage of GDP was down 1% and non-defense related spending, welfare state and discretionary spending, was reduced 3.7% from the Carter years. Reagan accomplished that with strong support from real "Blue Dog" Democrats who joined Republicans in passing those spending reductions. The Dems are still pissed off about those cuts. Historic achievements in the age of Liberalism. A lot of what the Dems rejected in the 1980`s Reagan agenda was resurrected in the 1994 Contract With America.
Paul Ryan should embrace the Reagan agenda and not reject or ignore it.
He did everything he could to do so I think. I don't know how you could be more conservative than Reagan unless you were a Nazi.
But the ground maybe softer now for more anti-government reform. Maybe now someone could come along and shut down most of the cabinet posts, the unconstitutional executive regulatory agencies, and the IRS and change to a 10% flat tax (preferably sales tax).
That would be a nice revolution.