Republicans' dark style: Is the Reagan era over?

[bendog]

There’s been discussion about RINOs and Reagan and current gop candidates, and all of it I thought sort of missed the point of conservatism. For example "how can Reagan not be ar Rino since he increased taxes spending and deficits." It’s simple. None of that impacts on whether one is conservative or not. And then I saw this, which imo is truly an unfortunate and sad eulogy for the party of Reagan. And, I like the CSM.

Republicans' dark style: Is the Reagan era over?

"In his 2013 book, "Hail Mary: The 10-Step Playbook for Republican Recovery," Republican strategist Ford O’Connell scolds his party for having what he calls a "Reagan fixation."

"It undermines the candidates, because it becomes a crutch for their inability to articulate an actual agenda or a forward-looking vision," Mr. O’Connell writes."

I think that’s total bs, and the heart of why I think the "Rino/Reagan" stuff is petty. I didn’t vote for Reagan because I thought he spoke with a forked tongue over deficits, and his fixation on the Soviet evil was overkill, and simply old news, and I still think that. But, Reagan’s importance/greatness isn’t tied to "policy" or deficits," which are issues, but they are transient. We could balance the budget in a single potus term, if we had the will to force compromise

Reagan’s importance is his optimism in human nature. He truly believed that the vast maj of all people, from any country race or religion, wanted to make individual choices that they thought would make their families and communities better. That is, PEOPLE ARE GOOD. Fear is poison to the soul. To him, communism was evil because individuals could be sacrificed to the state. In that sense, it’s not much different that fundy Islam. But people, whether they were refugees from the Soviet bloc or SE Asia, were never enemies.

Yeah, it’d be good to try and screen out "evil dooers," but we’ll never get them all. And, it’s good to have a defense. But, Reagan’s deficits .. and even today’s debt ... stem back to building a military and not paying for it, either in cutting social spending or paying taxes. So, accepting taxes and spending doesn’t mean you can’t be in the "conservative club."

What made Reagan, or Goldwater, a conservative was because they wanted the govt to affect those personal decisions to the least possible amount. Just because you think the govt is playing a role in getting healthcare doesn’t make you a conservative or not a conservative. The fact is the govt has been giving employer tax cuts to provide healthcare for about the last 65 years ... so live with. But, the question is who decides how much insurance we need.

And unfortunately, the Donald has kept that from even being an issue in the primary.

 

[Stephanie]

we just lived through the darkest eight years in my political life. Leave Reagan alone the man has passed. Your all's ugly whining is becoming shrill and just as nasty as usual. stupid article

 

[g5000]

Reagan's fixation on Soviet evil was not overkill. If anything, it was understated. I saw the evils of the Soviet Union and its client states first hand.

But you are correct about Reagan's optimism. That, more than anything else, sets Reagan apart from today's Gnu Right.

He was also pragmatic, and not afraid to admit when he had made a mistake. That sets him apart, too.

 

[bendog]

Reagan's fixation on Soviet evil was not overkill. If anything, it was understated. I saw the evils of the Soviet Union and its client states first hand.

But you are correct about Reagan's optimism. That, more than anything else, sets Reagan apart from today's Gnu Right.

He was also pragmatic, and not afraid to admit when he had made a mistake. That sets him apart, too.

I only meant that communism was dying even on his inauguration. ISIS likewise in inhuman, and a perversion. But not having hundreds of nuclear warheads. But the soviets were rational.

But the liberal belief in mankind, that he and JFK shared, is the ticket to defeating fundy Islam.

 

[Correll]

Reagan's optimism and good nature allowed liberalism vileness to continue and grow unchecked during his administration.

He managed to get his policies mostly implemented but did not challenge Liberalism as a force.

That was a failure on his part.


Trump is smashing into head on.

 

[Correll]

Reagan's fixation on Soviet evil was not overkill. If anything, it was understated. I saw the evils of the Soviet Union and its client states first hand.

But you are correct about Reagan's optimism. That, more than anything else, sets Reagan apart from today's Gnu Right.

He was also pragmatic, and not afraid to admit when he had made a mistake. That sets him apart, too.

I only meant that communism was dying even on his inauguration. ISIS likewise in inhuman, and a perversion. But not having hundreds of nuclear warheads. But the soviets were rational.

But the liberal belief in mankind, that he and JFK shared, is the ticket to defeating fundy Islam.

MMM, and how do you see that occurring?

 

[g5000]

Reagan's optimism and good nature allowed liberalism vileness to continue and grow unchecked during his administration.

He managed to get his policies mostly implemented but did not challenge Liberalism as a force.

That was a failure on his part.

Complete, utter nonsense. Reagan smashed liberalism so hard, he won 49 states. No one alive then will ever forget Mondale's whiny little face being obliterated.

You will never be able to say that about the pro-choice liberal friend of the Clintons, Donald Trump.

 

[Siete]

the Reagan era needs to be over .... totally different world requires new rules from ALL politicians, and a new line of thinking from ALL voters.

 

[bendog]

Reagan's optimism and good nature allowed liberalism vileness to continue and grow unchecked during his administration.

He managed to get his policies mostly implemented but did not challenge Liberalism as a force.

That was a failure on his part.

Complete, utter nonsense. Reagan smashed liberalism so hard, he won 49 states. No one alive then will ever forget Mondale's whiny little face being obliterated.

You will never be able to say that about the left wing liberal Trump.

Reagan ended NewDeal liberalism as a political theory. He knew that once medicare was a reality, it'd never be repealed. But the dems had to become DLC centrists to counter the gop. The gop failed to recall that lesson of entitlements in 2009, as America again elected a big govt liberal.

But that isn't really the point. Conservatism to Goldwater and Reagan represented using govt to facilitate how individuals make choices, rather that the govt making choices for them. THAT was the central theme of Conscience of a Conservative. That should be no less relevant today than in 1960.

As for Trump, if you go to his website, there isn't really any policy. His tax proposal doesn't add up, and according to fact checking actually goes more to the top 1%. His immigration policy calls for more govt spending. His VA proposal calls for more spending. But, there's no coherent vision of how the govt impacts the individual. Correll says Trump will "crush" liberals, yet Trump himself talks about forcing compromises from both, and even some Trump supporters say what they like is he's a deal maker. So, who knows what Trump is about besides being Trump.