Tea Party Wouldn't Welcome Reagan

I'm always amazed with the reverence that Ronald Reagan gets from conservatives. especially the Tea Party. During my research I can trace the group's affection for our 40th president back to the words of Sean Hannity. Mr. Hannity waxes poetically about how the Republican party has lost it's way and needs to return to Reagan's ideals. But what I've heard from him is a selected reading of history. Mr. Hannity ignores Reagan's record on taxes and government spending.

First of all, let's get this straight. If Reagan were alive and running for president I would vote for him in a second. I liked Ron. He was known as the "Great Communicator" and he really was. I loved the way he stood tall against the Soviets, Khadafi, and the Cubans in Grenada. To steal a line from Lee Greenwood, I was proud to be an American. That surge of patriotism led me to join the military. Probably the best years of my life.

So what did Reagan really do? After taking office he cut government spending by $39 billion and taxes by 25% over three years. This was his "trickle down" theory. Unfortunately Reagan didn't cut government enough but cut taxes too much This lead to the recession of 1982. To counter this, Reagan repealed some of the tax cuts and began spending mostly on military programs to stimulate the economy. It worked. The US had six plus years of economic growth. But that had a cost. The national debt went from $700 billion to over $3 trillion during his administration.




As for taxes, in 1982 Reagan reversed course when his 1981 budget was too optimistic. He repealed around a third of his previous tax cuts. In 1983 he raised FICA tax. The Tax Reform Act of 1986 removed the deductions from the middle class, which, in effect, raised taxes.

As for social programs, Reagan increased spending by 18% during his administration.



As President, Ronald Reagan raised taxes, engaged in deficit spending, and spent money on social programs. This is a no-no by Tea Party standards. While he definitely would never be called a liberal, Reagan would fall into the RINO (Republican In Name Only) group. Besides Democrats, RINOs are the other group that the Tea Party is trying to remove.