Staring Into The Abyss
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I can’t wait to actually know what it feels like to be proud of my President and not embarrassed by him. ~A Giddy Youth
In my 29 years, I have never felt proud of any President, and I truly cannot understand how a politician could make anyone feel giddy (except in the way that standing on the edge of a precipice might give you this feeling). At Reagan and the elder Bush’s best moments, I found that I could respect the President, but then I was very young and impressionable. Except for about a one-year period in Mr. Bush’s first term, I can’t remember even having that respect. What would be a truly remarkable accomplishment for the next President would be if he could cause me to have respect for him. I don’t think people should feel proud of their politicians–this is to ask and to give too much–but it certainly shouldn’t be too much to ask that they earn our respect.
I’m only 30, and to be quite honest I don’t remember Reagan at all. Even Bush during the first Gulf War is fuzzy. I truly became politically aware during the Clinton years. I’m curious, how well do you remember Reagan and Bush I?
My memory of Reagan is very hazy–just a few things here and there. I think the only speech of his I know that I remember from the time, and not from later video replays, was his speech after the Challenger explosion. I remember the Berlin Wall coming down quite vividly, and I recall the build-up and the start of the Gulf War pretty clearly. But most of Bush’s administration except for the war is something of a fog. I was paying close attention during the ‘92 campaign and I remember a fair amount of it. I do definitely remember Bush’s announcement of the Somalia mission, and for some odd reason I remember news stories about John Sununu’s resignation as chief of staff, I think it was. It’s odd what sticks in your mind, isn’t it?
Proud? Please. We have a direct democracy here. Those who would inspire pride simply aren’t going to make it to the highest office.
I was just under 20 when Reagan came into office. I started working part time at 15 and was probably more aware of the economy than most of my peers who had parents supporting them.
The economy was very bad at that time. High inflation and high interest rate with somewhat high unemployment. My paraents had something like a 18% interest rate on their home loan.
Sounds incredible now, doesn’t it?
Foreign imports were flowing in from Japan and there was a lot of fear.
Fact is, when Reagan got into office it got worse before it got better. He stood by Paul Volker (Fed Chairman) as he increased the interest rates, and the economy slowed even more. People lots jobs.
But, after about two years, inflation started to come down and the interest rates started to follow. It was very slow, but the economy started to pick up and things began to improve. I think gas prices even started coming down, but that could be a faulty memory.
The high tech industry was just starting to roll, and over time it seemed like the country was on the rebound.
From that time on, inflation has been under control, more or less. The Bush administration seems to be the first time in a while inflation poses a serious threat once again.
Also, the Iranian Hostage crisis was going on when carter was president and ended right after Reagan got into office. There are obviously lots of speculation regarding back room deals.
The idea of the reducing taxes to increase revenue *the laffer curve) was first introduced at this time.
Reagan was a real deregulator, rather than the corporate shill that Bush is (special treatment for corporations in the name of free market reform).
He was popular in the end, but there was always a group of people who hated him viscerally, kind of like with Clinton.
Honestly, looking back Reagan showed surprisingly good judgement (or his advisers did) on a number of issues and they make Bush’s team look like the nut jobs they actually are.
Reagan’s is celebration as a conservative champion has always bothered me because of the debt to GDP ratio’s explosion during his administration. The standard argument from movement conservatives is the ratio always increases dramatically in times of war, and Reagan ’s Cold War defense spending orgy bankrupted the USSR as they attempted to match stride. I’m skeptical and have seen good arguments that the USSR was much weaker in 1981 than we thought, which undercuts the we-spent-them-into-oblivion argument. These days the that-was-the-beginning-of-spending-ourselves-into-oblivion argument seems more plausible.
Yeah, Reagan was a deficit spender and the war was the excuse.
You need to look at both curves – revenue and spending. When Reagan cut taxes revenue to go down in the short term, but it quickly went back up well past the pre-tax cut number using inflation adjusted dollars.
This would support the idea of the laffer curve.
However, he also spent a lot and most of it on the military. Hence the deficit.
Was the USSR really a threat to the US? Look, that is hard to say now. But let me say this:
The USSR was a credible, if perhaps exaggerated threat to the US. Iraq and the middle east do not pose any real threat whatsoever. Any threat presented by Iraq and the middle is a) bogus or b) self inflicted due to completely lack immigration and policing policies. And even with those lack policies the actual threat in terms of number of people threatened is trivial. It is absurdly small and the risk presented by all sorts of normal activities such as driving and crime is far, far greater.
This is why guys like brad, who are very smart and well informed, are so wrong when it comes to their opinion regarding the war. They are naive (at best). They lack experience and judgement. They don’t see the whole charade for what it is.
Anyone who gives any credence to the idea that our invasion of Iraq was an “Honest mistake” is kidding themselves. It was completely fabricated. Even Bush was trying to send fake UN planes to be shot at to start the war.
The bottom line is that USSR was a credible, if slightly exaggerated threat. Iraq and “Islamofasicm,” on the other hand, is a farce. Ten guys in a tent are creating more fear than 10,000 nukes triggered to go off at a moments notice.
Why that is the case is for another discussion.