Reagan Centennial
On Feb. 6th, 2010, I celebrated Reagan’s 99th birthday by posting two articles I wrote about Ronald Reagan for that day
http://zbigniewmazurak.wordpress.com/2010/02/06/reagans-lesson-for-us-about-defense/
http://zbigniewmazurak.wordpress.com/2010/02/06/how-reagan-toppled-the-ussr/
On Feb. 6th, 2011, I celebrate Reagan’s 100th birthday by writing and publishing this post on defense issues (it explains what defense policies Reagan implemented as president, why, and what lessons can politicians learn from him):
http://zbigniewmazurak.wordpress.com/2011/02/06/defense-what-would-reagan-do/
I plan to post additional articles, as well as links to works on Reagan produced by other people, after Reagan’s 100th birthday (February 6th, 2011).
Also, I would like to mention that in 2009, the American people ranked Reagan as the best President America has ever had, ahead of Lincoln (ranked 2nd) and JFK (ranked 3rd). Mikhail Gorbachev, Reagan’s Cold War era rival who later befriended him and bid farewell to him as if he was his brother, said that Reagan was “an extraordinary political leader who had decided to be a peacemaker”.
http://www.politicsdaily.com/2011/02/01/thinking-about-ronald-reagan-on-100th-birthday-hes-remembered/; http://conservatives4palin.com/2011/02/wednesday-open-thread-9.html
Lou Cannon explains why Reagan was rated as the best President America has ever had:
“On the eve of Ronald Reagan’s election as president of the United States in 1980, a radio reporter asked him what it was that Americans saw in him. Reagan hesitated and then replied: “Would you laugh if I told you that I think maybe they see themselves and that I’m one of them?”
[Thirty] years and four presidents later, Americans still see themselves in Reagan. In a Gallup poll in 2009 they ranked Reagan as the best president, just ahead of Abraham Lincoln and John F. Kennedy.
This highly generous assessment is based on more than likeability. Reagan left the world safer and the United States more prosperous than he found it. Even some liberal scholars who disdained Reagan when he was in the White House now acknowledge his effectiveness as a leader, especially his role in ending the Cold War.”
- http://conservatives4palin.com/2011/02/wednesday-open-thread-9.html
Dixon Harvey said
Why, pray tell, do Americans think R. Reagan is so wonderful when, during his term and by the time he left office, the National Debt DOUBLED? Hello Tea Party people! Reality check?
Georgiaboy61 said
Dixon, re: “Why, pray tell, do Americans think R. Reagan is so wonderful when, during his term and by the time he left office, the National Debt DOUBLED?” Reagan was a fiscal conservative who governed in an era when Congress was dominated by the Democrats and the powerful and influential Speaker of the House Thomas “Tip” O’Neil. Reagan would have cut more spending from leftist programs, but was prevented from doing so. Your charge is on firmer ground concerning defense spending, which grew significantly under Reagan. However, this can be explained by his anti-Communist stance; Reagan knew that – forced into an economic match-up head-to-head with us – the USSR would lose. They could not afford to match our defense build-up. This policy helped tip the USSR into failing, all without firing a shot. Reagan, like all politicians, hated spending by others opposed to his policies, but had a somewhat more forgiving view of it when the money was spent on programs he cared about. In fairness to Reagan, one of our best presidents of all time, he alone cannot be held accountable for the growth of spending on his watch. Remember, the House controls the pursestrings, not the White House – and presidents, like baseball managers, sometimes get too much blame when things go wrong.