Opinion of Ronald Reagan

[Franzl]

Probably a necessary evil.

Yeah, we get it, you're not a "True Leftist".

[Oakvale]

Probably a necessary evil.

Yeah, we get it, you're not a "True Leftist".

Okay?

[MATTROSE94]

FF

[Snowstalker Mk. II]

Anyone who wins 49 out of 50 states in a Presidential election, and 59% of the popular vote, obviously a massive Freedom Fighter.

putin won every province of russia and 64% of the popular vote in 2012, so by your logic he's an even bigger freedom fighter.

Well Chavez was actually a FF.

[Grumpier Than Uncle Joe]

One of my favorites.

[TNF]

Union-busting thug.

[Phony Moderate]

I'm not a fan of any of the alliterative Presidents.

[Oldiesfreak1854]

Mild FF (not a hack).

[All Along The Watchtower]

I'm not a fan of any of the alliterative Presidents.

Not a fan of Richard Rickson?

[Atlas Has Shrugged]

The narrative of Reagan doesn't match the actions, but FF on the balance.

[Starbucks Union Thug HokeyPuck]

Let me add on and say that I think him to be our worst President by quite a fair share. 

[Donerail]

Nix nailed it already. HP.

[Oswald Acted Alone, You Kook]

Let me add on and say that I think him to be our worst President by quite a fair share. 

Fillmore, Pierce, Buchanan, Andrew Johnson, Harding, Hoover, Carter (who for some reason has an absurdly high rating despite being a failure) and of course, Bush.

[SPC]

Ron Paul may be a little too kind to Reagan.

[AggregateDemand]

Liberals: Awful President
Conservatives: FF President!
Libertarians: Great rhetoric. Horrible President.
Other: FF or HP

Liberals believe he's awful because they believe the world would have stayed the same, if Reagan hadn't been elected.

Stagflation changed the world. Reagan was the beneficiary, and he accomplished quite a bit with the political power he inherited.

[Potatoe]

Liberals: Awful President
Conservatives: FF President!
Libertarians: Great rhetoric. Horrible President.
Other: FF or HP

Liberals believe he's awful because they believe the world would have stayed the same, if Reagan hadn't been elected.

Stagflation changed the world. Reagan was the beneficiary, and he accomplished quite a bit with the political power he inherited.

Like what?

[AggregateDemand]

Like what?

His most important achievement was back-channeling a deal with Saudi Arabia (through HW Bush) that mitigated the threat posed by oil shocks and collapsed the price of oil, which brought down the USSR.

He increased military spending by increasing the size of the standing force and raising cash/non-cash benefits for active duty personnel. Military is about the only lower-middle class entitlement we have.

Tax reform and tax efficiency improvements. Social Security reform of 1983, the most recent Social Security solvency reform. Supply-side macro economic policy tools that we still use today.

Unlike other presidents, Reagan actually used the War on Drugs to combat narco-terrorism in the Americas, which at least created some moral equivalency for the persecution of drug users in the US.

[DevotedDemocrat]

But Reagan didn't really do all that much. I mean compared to say Lincoln or FDR, Reagan didn't change the country itself. His election changed a lot politically, but I don't think he effected any real societal transformation through legislation, in the way that the New Deal did. Reagan's legacy is mostly image and a political coalition.

[Peter the Lefty]

The scumbag who gutted all of our social welfare programs, bloated the defense budget, re-legitimized voodoo economics, busted unions, empowered the Religious Right, traded arms with Iran to fund murderous, rapist, torturous, fascist thugs in Nicaragua, supported countless far-right dictators across the world (including South Africa), and essentially made the Democrats cozy up to the neoliberal elite (a position from which they have not, and probably will never, retreat)?  A disgusting, vile, piece of trash.

[Lincoln Republican]

Anyone who wins 49 out of 50 states in a Presidential election, and 59% of the popular vote, obviously a massive Freedom Fighter.

putin won every province of russia and 64% of the popular vote in 2012, so by your logic he's an even bigger freedom fighter.

Only a completely uninformed individual would compare a Russian election with a U.S. election.

[AggregateDemand]

But Reagan didn't really do all that much. I mean compared to say Lincoln or FDR, Reagan didn't change the country itself. His election changed a lot politically, but I don't think he effected any real societal transformation through legislation, in the way that the New Deal did. Reagan's legacy is mostly image and a political coalition.

Think about how much people hate him for modest reform, and how badly he is vilified for the decline of American manufacturing, during Japan's rise to global prominence. I doubt he would have lived, if he had pursued the neoliberal Republican platform.

Can you imagine if Republicans had implemented a universal income or negative income tax? People lost their minds when Reagan decentralized welfare planning. It's probably for the best that he didn't personally believe in negative income taxes.

[Sasquatch]

The worst!

[Lincoln Republican]

The only thing this poll and commentary show is the extreme leftist bias on this forum.

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

HP for reasons so obvious they don't even need to be stated.

[Oswald Acted Alone, You Kook]

These results are terrible. There's no way he's worse than some of the others right now.

But maybe I should be thankful he isn't in single digits given how leftist this place is.