Government Is Not the Solution to Our Problem. Government IS the Problem
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FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 4, 2011 A SPECIAL SECTION Government Ⅵ Reagan and his legacy: His enduring impact / 2 is not the Freedom in Europe: / 4 solution to our Tearing down a wall “ problem. Nancy Reagan: A partner for life / 4 Government Commentary: Ed Meese / 8 Michael Reagan / 9 IS the Hollywood: An actor on the world stage / 10 problem.” Democrats: Reaching across the aisle / 12 — Ronald Reagan, first inaugural address, The Reagan library: Simi Valley attraction wows the crowds / 13 Jan. 20, 1981 2 // SPECIAL SECTION A FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 4, 2011 Reagan’s enduring legacy ASSOCIATED PRESS PHOTOGRAPHS Ronald Reagan, who would have turned 100 on Sunday, is remembered by many Americans for his sunny disposition and bold rhetoric. Historians and contemporaries measure his impact BY STEPHEN DINAN “Parts of him have aged very well — to reflect the new name of the airport. tenders who their political hero was — THE WASHINGTON TIMES the Reagan image. Even I, who disagreed At the height of the movement to com- “aside from President Reagan.” with almost all the substance of his poli- memorate Reagan, some wanted his vis- Mr. Dallek, though, said the irony is that rom the granite facade of cies, have come to have a higher regard age on the dime or the $10 bill. there’s not even consensus among his sup- Mount Rushmore to road for his skills. I think those will last, you Historians say Reagan has benefited porters about why he should be revered. signs and school buildings can’t deny them,” Mr. Schaller said. “The from a concerted effort by backers to de- Instead, Reagan is “a bit of a Rorschach in communities across the public Reagan is probably here to stay, fend his legacy, particu- test” for conservatives, country, the push is going like the public FDR, the public Teddy larly against what they per- Reagan is who see what they want to strong to enshrine Ronald Roosevelt. That’s pretty well enshrined ceive as press coverage see in his legacy. Reagan’s legacy in stone and now. I think the substance of the policy stacked against him. For- unique in the Some Republicans, par- Fsteel — a fitting tribute, admirers say, to is still much contested.” mer aides do that for every current time in ticularly those from the the man who ended communism in Eu- Perhaps it’s because Reagan is still president, but Mr. Dallek, tea-party wing of the party, rope and turned the political debate from within the purview of present-day and the historian, said Reagan’s that both appreciate his support of Roosevelt’s New Deal to supply-side eco- historical debate that efforts to enshrine backers are particularly historians and limited government, nomics or, more simply, Reaganism. him have not been mammoth successes. adept and committed. though they tend to look More than two decades after he left His backers are trying to change that. A 2005 Wall Street present-day past the explosion of the office, the 40th president, whose 525 “We aren’t past the number of things Journal survey of an ide- federal bureaucracy dur- electoral votes in 1984 are an all-time re- that ought to be named after Reagan. We ologically balanced group politicians claim ing his two terms in office. cord, is a hot topic for historians, who de- have a ways to go,” said Grover Norquist, of political scientists, his- him as theirs. Hawkish conservatives ad- bate his place among the top chief exec- president of Americans for Tax Reform torians and law professors mire his foreign policy, es- utives of all time, and for lawmakers, and chairman of the Ronald Reagan rated Reagan as sixth pecially his uncompromis- who still spar over who best lays claim Legacy Project, whose goal is to have most successful among the nation’s 45 ing rhetoric about communism. to his legacy. something named after Reagan in every presidents. Liberal historian Arthur M. Reagan also is benefiting from nos- “There is a growing sense that we one of the country’s 3,140 counties. Schlesinger Jr.’s 1996 survey designated talgia for George W. Bush, another two- need to reckon with Reagan, reckon with Mr. Norquist said 600 to 800 public him as “average.” term Republican president who left his legacy to understand the broad po- Historians in a 2010 office scorned by many conservatives. litical culture over the past three Siena College poll ranked In one of the stranger juxtapositions, decades,” said Matthew Dallek, a histo- the greatest and worst Reagan also has become a favorite for rian who has written about Reagan’s presidents. Reagan came those on the left who once reviled him 1966 campaign for California governor. in 18th, three behind but now paint him as a courteous and op- “His presidency and the movement he Barack Obama and five be- timistic statesman willing to cross party led and his ideas really matter.” hind Mr. Clinton. He lines to work with Democrats. During Reagan’s eight years in office, scored high marks on lead- In a House floor debate in January inflation fell from its staggering late- ership, communication over campaign financing in presidential 1970s peak, relations with the Soviet ability and “luck” but was elections, Democrats pointed to Reagan’s Union thawed, the unemployment rate rated near the bottom on participation in the public financing sys- fell and incomes rose. But measured by “intelligence.” tem as ammunition to use against House other standards, income inequality grew Surveys of broader Republicans trying to dismantle the sys- and federal spending ballooned. Histo- America taken over the tem. Rep. David E. Price, North Car- rians still debate how much credit Rea- past decade regularly find olina Democrat, called Mr. Reagan “the gan should get for his management of Reagan immensely popu- best example of this program’s success.” foreign relations. lar among average voters. That prompted some head-scratching More than anything else, though, Rea- On polls asking who the from Republicans. gan’s sunny disposition helped Ameri- greatest president was, “When I find myself on the floor lis- cans recover from the cultural and eco- Reagan’s name is almost al- tening to my colleagues on the other side nomic shocks of the 1970s, and has made ways in the top three or five. declaring Ronald Reagan to be the pa- Reagan an icon for many. Whether he was great tron saint of Democratic Party ideas, I “The last century, I believe, he would or merely average, his in- am bemused a bit because I served here go down as the most effective president,” fluence stretches to mod- when Ronald Reagan was president, and said former Rep. Matt Salmon, an Ari- ern-day politics — so I don’t recall those same words at that zona Republican who in the 1990s spon- much so that Mr. Obama, time,” said Rep. Dan Lungren, Califor- sored legislation trying to get Reagan’s on the campaign trail in nia Republican. face carved onto Mount Rushmore be- 2008, said Reagan In many ways, the fight over Rea- side those of George Washington, Abra- President Reagan and first lady Nancy Reagan, with their “changed the trajectory of gan’s legacy has intensified because of ham Lincoln, Thomas Jefferson and dog Rex, wave to White House visitors on July 27, 1986. America in a way that the rise of the tea-party movement. Theodore Roosevelt. “He certainly goes Richard Nixon did not and For two decades, Reaganism was the down as [among] a handful of presidents in a way that Bill Clinton goal of Republicans — a unifying theme who have shaped this nation’s future.” works are named after Kennedy and civil did not.” During his Hawaiian vacation and a governing philosophy. But over the Some presidents belong to the histo- rights legend Martin Luther King Jr., and in December, Mr. past two years, some of rians — the debates over John F. reaching those levels is his group’s next Obama read a biography that focus has shifted to Kennedy, Harry S. Truman and Franklin milestone. As of mid-January, members of his predecessor, Lou Historians say the tea party, which is the D. Roosevelt have passed from the politi- counted 107 Reagan listings. Cannon’s “President first post-Reagan conser- cians to the academics — and others, “There are 100,000 teaching moments Reagan: The Role of a Reagan has vative governing philoso- such as Bill Clinton and George W. Bush, that flow from these things,” Mr. Norquist Lifetime.” benefited from a phy to emerge. remain firmly rooted in the political said. “Somebody who’s got something “In some ways both “Reagan’s policies do zeitgeist, picked apart in Congress and named after him is important.” Obama and Clinton have concerted effort not sync up with the tea on talk shows. Opponents were enraged when the had to deal with Reagan’s by backers to party’s agenda or Sarah Reagan, however, is claimed by his- former president’s supporters pushed to legacy,” Mr. Dallek said. Palin’s agenda,” Mr. torians and present-day politicians alike have Reagan’s name added to Washing- “Yes, Obama’s supporters defend his legacy, Dallek said. “Sarah — as the proliferation of biographies ton National Airport in commemoration talk about the mess that Palin and the tea party and the ongoing debates in political of his birthday in 1998. They called it an George W. Bush left — particularly are really to Reagan’s weeklies attest. unfitting tribute because Reagan, in one whether it’s Afghanistan, against what they right. They really are It’s one of the ironies that the histori- of the defining moments of his presi- deficits, there’s something more extreme, and so in ans tend to focus on Reagan’s shortcom- dency, in 1981 fired thousands of strik- to that.