Opinion of Ronald Reagan

[AggregateDemand]

FF

Brokered the deal with Saudi Arabia (along with HW) that brought down the USSR. Legitimized supply-side economic policy. Simplified the tax code. Beat down the cocaine cartels and the military despots in the Americas. Helped restore economic integrity in the US without abusing inflation. Immigration reform.

Unfortunately, he had a case of hypermorality which caused him to associate "wrong" with "evil". If he thought you were wrong, he was only interested breaking you. It was a valuable characteristic for foreign policy, but it wasn't terribly useful for domestic affairs.

On balance, he was a patriot, and we were lucky to have him.

[AggregateDemand]

Massive HP.

It's true, but the only reason Tea Party exist is because Keynesian liberals pushed until America broke. Those policies continue doing damage to this day. CRA anyone?

[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.

[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.

[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.