It may strike some as peculiar, at least it does me, as to how the Republican Party always profess to be the party of Regan while in the same voice recreate history saying he fought against a government that over-taxed. How quickly we forget that after Regan cut taxes in his first term, seeing the ballooning budget short-comings, he raised taxes; in fact eleven times during the remainder of his presidency. This point is either forgotten or overlooked by most.Now I can take this from a person that doesn’t know any better like Sarah Palin – since she is spoon fed info and obviously couldn’t read an entire Dr. Seuss Book. Just like the claim that Republicans tend to be pro-trade or that they can all wily nilly like pick $100 million or billion dollars to cut from the budget by September of this year, out of the air without any forethought, examination or critical evaluation regarding its impact on jobs lost, gained, created or how it will impact our economic recovery. I mean they just pick it out of the air and I suspect just because it is an even number and 100 sounds good.
I could never see Reagan behaving like many of the Republicans currently in office. Like Jeff Sessions of Alabama and Mitch McConnell of Kentucky fighting over sleeping bags. Session’s blocking the Generalized System of Preferences (GSP) – which gives preferential treatment to $20 billion worth of imports annually from some developed countries and McConnell threatening to block the Trade Adjustment Assistant Program which provides training and income for Americans whose employers cannot compete with increasing foreign imports. Although such behavior is untoward in a period when we need jobs, these folk still proclaim to be what they are not – Regan Republicans. First, regardless of how Regan may have felt in his later years, he did sign into law that legalized abortion in the state of California in 1967 when he was governor. Not to mention that he assisted in getting 3 million plus undocumented workers legal status and was a firm proponent of amnesty for this segment of the population.
In plain speak, Regan was an optimist. An optimist in the same nature as the picture painted of America and its future by Obama in his recent State of the Union Address. Yes Obama too is an optimist. And in this time of a growing economic divide when more Americans are being left by the side of the road via rising unemployment and under employment; having little if any job security; schools and libraries closings and police and firemen being laid off across the nation – we need an optimist.
Yes Obama is more like Regan than the GOP, in particular and Tea party member of potential Presidential candidate. All they seem to do is play politics instead of dealing with and solving the problems confronting our great nation. It was Newt Gingrich who wrote of Obama as being “a threat to America as Nazi Germany or the Soviet Union.” I do not know about you but such discourse is not helpful and untoward in general.
The GOP and their new flunkies the Tea Party are out of touch and self-centered. I guess one can say they are a perfect match for each. It is as Boileau stated, “un sot trouve toujours un plus sot, qui l’admire”… [a fool can always find a greater fool who admires him].
