In his first inaugural address, Ronald Reagan said, "In this present crisis, government is not the solution to our problem; government is the problem." He was referring specifically to the rising debt through deficit spending, but in a general sense he was also expressing his desire to reduce the government even if we had sufficient tax revenues to balance the budget. Although he spent a number of years as the head of government at both the state and federal level, Reagan openly expressed his contempt for government. He's also famous for saying, "The nine most terrifying word in the English language are 'I'm from the government and I'm here to help."
Remarkably, Reagan was somehow able to preach the Gospel of anti-governmentalism while simultaneously convincing people that happy days were here again. His sunny optimism was infectious even as he conveyed the disturbing message that our freely and fairly elected government, of which he was the leader, was plaguing us like a disease. It takes someone with Reagan's skills to convince people that a central institution of our society was destroying us but we could still rejoice because, as his reelection campaign trumpeted, "It's morning in America." Alas, the conservative Republicans who have followed in his footsteps have mastered the hatred of government but they lack Reagan's jovial nature that allowed him to work with people of all stripes. This has become a serious problem.
Even with all of his charm, Reagan failed miserably in his effort to reduce government and rein in the debt. On the contrary, the national debt skyrocketed under his administration and we went from being the largest creditor nation on earth to the largest debtor nation. He presided over huge tax code changes, steadily increasing government spending and, despite all of his bluster about reducing government, no peacetime president before him was anywhere near as reckless with the ballooning debt as he was. His conservative Republican successors, both named George Bush also did their damage, although George H.W. Bush did far less harm than his son. Democrat Bill Clinton did a much better job as illustrated here and here. You may also find this interesting.
We shouldn't be surprised that Reagan proved to be a complete hypocrite when it came to controlling the debt. Running this country is hard and I can't imagine anyone with such disdain for government being particularly good at governing. Likewise, I wouldn't expect Pope Benedict XVI to be an effective head of Planned Parenthood, and PETA president Ingrid Newkirk wouldn't be the go-to person to run a meat packing plant. Reagan is also to blame for much greater problems than just runaway debt. Ronald Reagan is the father of modern governmental irresponsibility. He and his ideological followers did damage that will likely be measured in decades because they not only left us with severe problems, they largely gutted our ability to create solutions. They conditioned the public to believe that we shouldn't have to sacrifice; we should have all the bloated military spending and other pet projects we want, and if any responsible grownup comes along suggesting that we need to raise revenue to pay for the shiny new toys we buy ourselves, he or she must be ferociously condemned as a communist hell-bent on America's destruction.
Like it or not, we need a strong public sector. While Reagan harmed the institution of government, those who claim to be his disciples are far worse. The GOP should change its logo from the elephant to the Trojan horse because conservatives now seek entry into elected office in order to wreak havoc, not as the people's representatives they purport to be, but as saboteurs. They campaign their way into government's inner sanctum in order to smother government with a pillow.
For the past 30 years, the very rich have done extremely well while the rest of the country has struggled. As Warren Buffett said, the richest Americans have seen their wealth take off like a rocket ship while lower income workers have been on a treadmill. This is the sad legacy of Reaganomics, which is clearly not the trickle down system it was alleged to be, but instead a siphon up system where the broadly shared prosperity that once typified American society has been replaced by increased struggle for the many so that the few can live like sultans. Somehow the character flaw of outsized greed became a virtue consonant with Reagan's philosophy that the poor had too much and the rich had too little.
Today, on the centennial of Reagan's birth, we should resolve to put the American dream back within the grasp of most Americans and stop sacrificing it on the altar of wretched excess.
