Now, what exactly did he accomplish? Let's go one by one. First
he lowered taxes by a huge amount. When Reagan entered office in
1981 the highest marginal tax rate was around 92%. When he left it
was around 30%. Looks like he did what he said he'd do there,
David.
Next, he took a military that had been devastated by low moral,
poor pay, old equipment, and increasing budget cuts that had
happened after the Vietnam war and the Carter presidency, and
turned it into the finest military in the history of the planet.
When Reagon took office, the Soviets were spending 50% more on
military spending than we were. They were the dominent force in
the world at the time in conventional weapons. Reagon fixed that
and made our military what it is today. Looks like he did what he
promised again, David.
Moving on to opposing the Soviet Union and communism. When Reagan
entered office the Soviet Union was expanding everywhere. They
already had control of all the countries behind the iron curtain,
had succeeded in North Korea, Vietnam, and were beginning to
encroach on South America in El Salvador and others. Reagan
brought the Soviet Union to its knees in the 8 years he was in
office. He wasn't afraid to stand up to them. He knew their
economy was in shambles and the policy of detente was only helping
them recover and enslave the Soviet people even longer. He fought
them in Grenada, El Salvador, and forced them to spend themselves
into bankruptcy with his military build up. He refused to deal
with Gorbachev in Iceland when Gorby offered Reagan the largest
cutback in nuclear armaments EVER. All Gorby wanted in return was
for Reagan to give up his "Star Wars" project. Reagan looked him
in the eye and said, "No." The Soviet Union ceased to exist two
years later. Millions of people were freed from the bondage they
had endured since the end of World War II and Stalin's evil regime.
Looks like Reagan delivered BIG TIME on this one, David.
As far as making the federal government smaller, Reagan did his
best to ensure that the federal govenment took less money from the
people in taxes so that more money would be available for the
state, county, and city governments. Reagan believed that
government should be as close to the people as possible. Shrinking
the federal government did not happen when he was president even
though he tried. You have to remember that the Democrats
controlled both the house and the Senate during his years in
office. The fact that he got done as much as he did was a miracle.
And finally, Reagan appointed many conservative judges to the
federal bench. One of the best was shot down by the liberal
hysterics in the Senate. Robert Bork was one of the finest federal
judges and constitutional scholars at the time. He still is.
Sandra Day O'Conner on the other hand has been so-so. She gets
more liberal by the year. I'd have to say she was a mistake, even
though she has come down on the right side on many occasions. But
Reagan did follow through on his promise to appoint judges to the
bench who followed the constitution and not a liberal agenda. And
the economy went from shambles to booming. It lasted all the way
through George H.W. Bush's administration and most of Clinton's. I
would say that he followed through on the conservative things he
said he'd do, David.
I just have to ask again where you are coming from? Can you refute
anything I have said with facts or are you going to continue with
the stupid little one-liners? And please quit with the "Nuff said"
line. It's irritating.
Can you believe the comment DavidP made
about Ronald Reagan PRETENDING to be a conservative?
--
http://www.neonlightsimaging.com/artshow/final.htm
Extrapolation from few solid data points is best left to those with
years of training and experience in such things.
